Vail – Familiarity reigned supreme Friday evening as the celebrated New York Philharmonic opened an eight-day residency at the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival with an exhilarating all-Beethoven concert.
Back for its fourth year in a row, the orchestra might not yet be a summer fixture in this resort community, but it’s getting close. If anything, its popularity just keeps growing, as a packed Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater made clear.
On the podium for the first of three weekend appearances was someone Colorado audiences know well – guest conductor Marin Alsop, who served 12 years as music director and music director laureate of the Colorado Symphony.
And if all that wasn’t familiarity enough, the program was devoted to three oft-performed works by Ludwig van Beethoven that even people who know little about classical music have almost inevitably heard at some point.
With such well-known chestnuts, it’s easy for complacency to set in, especially for an orchestra that has played each of them dozens, if not hundreds, of times. But Alsop and the ensemble ensured that didn’t happen.
Especially in the Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67, one of the most popular symphonic works ever composed, she and the orchestra compelled the audience to sit up and listen anew with a propulsive performance marked by taut phrasing and precise articulations.
Alsop strived to put her distinctive interpretative mark on the piece, deftly shaping the easy-to-overlook slow second movement and anticipatory lead-up to the work’s triumphant conclusion.
The evening’s highlight, however, was arguably the Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58, with Jonathan Biss as guest soloist. The self-assured 25-year-old brought maturity, depth and finesse to his playing.
He and Alsop clearly have a strong rapport, which was especially evident in the famed slow movement. They emphasized its inner drama, creating a kind of entrancing moodscape.
Opening the evening was an unexpectedly substantive version of the “Leonore” Overture No. 3.
Alsop and the philharmonic return for a slightly more adventureseome program at 6 tonight, with works by John Adams, Maurice Ravel and Johannes Brahms.
Fine arts critic Kyle MacMillan can be reached at 303-820-1675 or kmacmillan@denverpost.com.
