People’s Symphony Concerts Return!

If New York is the classical music capital of the world, then perhaps the best bargain in the world for music lovers is the series of concerts presented by People’s Symphony.

The Peoples’ Symphony Concerts series was founded in 1900 by the conductor Franz Arens to bring the world’s finest music to students and workers for minimum prices.  That winter, more than 7,000 people jammed into the old hall at Cooper Union to hear Arens, the son of an immigrant farmer, conduct his series of five Peoples' Symphony Concerts.  Subscriptions for the five concerts ranged from $.25 to $1.25 and single tickets went for as little as $0.10 each. 

Arens himself started out a poor student in Europe who had been too broke to attend many concerts.  When Arens returned to New York, he was determined to find a way to bring music to students, teachers, workers, and others unable to pay normal ticket prices.  Since those early years, hundreds of thousands of Peoples' Symphony Concerts audience members have heard the world's foremost concert artists and ensembles at the lowest admission prices of any major series in the country.

Your correspondent has been going for nearly 25 years, and has heard such world class masters as Richard Goode, Garrick Ohlsson, and Marc-Andre Hamelin.  There are three concert series, two taking place on Saturday evenings at the spacious (and newly-renovated) theater at Washington Irving High School in Gramercy Park, and one on Sunday afternoons at Town Hall in midtown Manhattan.

The season opened last week with a magnificent performance by the Musicians From Marlboro, the touring extension of the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont.  This group is comprised of exceptional young professional musicians together with seasoned artists in varied chamber music programs. Each program is built around a work performed in a previous summer that Artistic Directors Richard Goode and Mitsuko Uchida and their colleagues felt was exceptional and should be shared with a wider audience. The resulting ensembles offer audiences the chance to both discover seldom-heard masterworks and enjoy fresh interpretations of chamber music favorites.

The concert opened with a relatively new work by Svervánszky, the Trio for Flute, Violin and Viola.  This piece was filled with a rich, folkloric, Middle European flavor, and was played with great brio by the troup.

The was followed by the Sonata for flute, viola and harp, L. 137 by Debussy.  This was, perhaps, my favorite piece of the evening – offering a lush, yet limpid, interval of pure aural pleasure.

The evening progressed with Officium breve in memoriam Andreæ Szervánszky, Op. 28 by Kurtág which, frankly, went in one ear and out the other.  However, as with most contemporary pieces, mileage varies depending on user.

The concert ended with a gripping rendition of Beethoven’s String Quintet in C Major, Op. 29, which was greeted by the crowd with long, loud and lusty applause.

Artists for the evening included David McCarroll, violin; Nikki Chooi, violin; Kim Kashkashian, viola; Wenting Kang, viola; Karen Ouzounian, cello; Marina Piccinini, flute; and, Sivan Magen, harp.  These are exceptionally talented young people.

Many of my readers support the New York Metropolitan Opera, WQXR and/or Tanglewood, but few seem to know this wonderful reasoure for people who are serious about music. 

There are still tickets available for this season; visit http://pscny.org  or call (212) 586-4680 for more information.  

Garrick Ohlsson at People’s Symphony

Last week we told you about People’s Symphony Concerts – which have been in existence since 1900, when they were founded by conductor Franz Arens.  World class musicians – both emerging talents and old masters – have been the mainstay of People’s Symphony, and each and every year the lineup grows more impressive.

So, I was greatly excited when an amateur musician friend told me of a concert he heard in San Francisco where Garrick Ohlsson (born 1948) played.  That same concert was in the offering at People’s Symphony and the early verdict was … it was not to be missed.

Nor did Ohlsson disappoint.  The concert at Washington Irving in Gramercy Park last Saturday evening was simply splendid.  Dressed in impeccable tie and tails, Ohlsson is showman enough to command the stage in any venue, and once he sat behind the Steinway piano, he held the audience spellbound for more than two hours.

Ohlsson opened with the very familiar Two Rhapsodies, Op. 79 (1879) by Johannes Brahms (1833-1897).  This warhorse is a mainstay of classical music stations, and one would expect its allure to dim with over-familiarity.  Not so under Ohlsson’s skillful playing; it was fresh and alive and the line of Brahms’ music clean and clear.

Ohlsson followed with Fantasia on Ad Nos, ad salutarem undam, S. 259 (1850) by Franz Liszt (1811-1886), easily my favorite piece of the evening.  This is Liszt at his most ornate and outlandish, and Ohlsson played the Adagio with tremendous gusto and the Fuga with deep sensitivity.  If you are not an aficionado of Liszt or his music, this piece may well change your mind.  It demands quite technical virtuosity, and Ohlsson plays it with brio.

The program continued with Selection from Etude for Piano (1915) by Claude Debussy (1862-1918), which I found amusing, but undemanding.  Debussy has never been wholly to our taste, but the Pour les sixtes was quite wonderful and almost enough to make me reconsider my opinion on this polarizing composer.

Ohlsson ended with Fantasy in F minor, Op. 49 (1841), by Frederic Chopin (1810-1849).  It is a work of deep, emotional tenderness, and it was beautifully rendered by the pianist.

Garrick Ohlsson has a worldwide reputation for his Olympian interpretive and technical prowess.  He was born in White Plains, NY, and began his piano studies at age 8.  He has won too many awards to be fully chronicled here, but they include the Chopin Competition in Warsaw and the Avery Fisher Prize.  His 2013-14 season will include recitals in Montreal, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Los Angles, Seattle and Kansas City, culminating in February at Carnegie Hall.  In January, with the Boston Symphony, he will present the world premier of a concerto commissioned for him from Justin Dello Joio; he will also play, this year, works by Beethoven, Schubert and Charles Tomlinson Griffes.  If you have even the remotest interest in virtuoso piano playing, be sure to see out Garrick Ohlsson this year.

One parting word about People’s Symphony.  There are still some tickets let for their three, concurrent series, but numbers are limited.  It remains the best deal for New Yorkers passionate about music that I have ever come across, and subscriptions will not be regretted.  The can be found at:  http://pscny.org/.

The New Season of People’s Symphony Concerts Opens with Pianist Lise de la Salle

We have covered the wonderful work done by People’s Symphony Concerts in these pages before.  The series was founded in 1900 by conductor Franz Arens.  The goal of People’s Symphony was to bring the best music to students and workers at affordable prices.  In its first year, more than 7,000 people squeezed into the old hall at Cooper Union to hear Arens, the son of an immigrant farmer, conduct the first series of People’s Symphony Concerts.  As a music student in Europe, Arens was too poor to attend many concerts in his youth.  When he returned to New York, Arens was determined to find a way to bring music to students, teachers, workers, and others unable to pay high ticket prices.  Since those early years, hundreds of thousands of Peoples' Symphony Concerts audience members have heard the world's foremost concert artists and ensembles at the lowest admission prices of any major series in the country.  During the first season, subscriptions for the five concerts ranged from $.25 to $1.25 and single tickets went for as little as $0.10 each. 

Current manager Frank Salomon, ably assisted by David Himmelheber, continue a tradition of incredible (and increasing) value to New Yorkers who are serious about music.  The duo run the program, which includes two different series that play Saturday night at Washington Irving High School, near Gramercy Park, and a third series which runs Sunday afternoons in Manhattan’s Town Hall.  The auditorium at Washington Irving has just been fully renovated, with new seats, refinished floors and an upgrade of the doors and trims.

Each year, some of the most prestigious names in classical music participate in People’s Symphony Concerts.  In more than 20 years your correspondent has attended PSC, I have seen such leading lights as the Guarneri String Quartet, Garrick Ohlsson, the Julliard String Quartet and Richard Stoltzman. 

The 2013 season started last Saturday with a wonderful performance by French pianist Lise de la Salle.  La Salle, 25, has emerged as one of the most acclaimed artists of her generation.  She began playing piano at the age of four and gave her first concert at nine in a live broadcast on Radio-France.  At 13, she made her concerto debut with Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in Avignon and her Paris recital debut at the Louvre before going on tour with the Orchestre National d’Ile de France. At 16, she came to international attention with her Bach/Liszt recording for Naive which was selected by Gramophone as "Recording of the Month."

De La Salle has given recitals in Berlin, London and Paris, as well as New York, and has made concerto appearances in Lisbon, Copenhagen, St. Petersburg and Lyon, and is equally renowned for her frequent performances in the Far East. She will soon make her Philadelphia Orchestra debut and her first appearance at Carnegie Hall as soloist with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.

In her first PSC concert, de la Salle played the Bach/Busoni Chaconne with perhaps an expertise that was a bit too cold-blooded to be emotionally moving.  The 6 Preludes by Claude Debussy was played with a sure hand, richly conveying the delicate, solitary notes that resounded throughout the hall.  (Washington Irving has, perhaps, the best acoustics outside of Carnegie Hall.)

De la Salle was most masterful in her playing of Robert Schumann’s Variations on the name "Abegg" in F major, and his Fantasie C Major, Op. 17.  Her understanding of the rich vein of romanticism and feeling to be found in Schumann was quite remarkable – I have seldom heard Schumann done with such empathy and virtuosity.

The pianist made a fetching impression in her gold and purple evening gown, and her regal bearing set the right tone for the evening.  All-in-all, it was a wonderful start to what promises to be another sterling season of People’s Symphony Concerts.

Jade Sphinx readers interested in tickets for this year’s season can log onto: http://pscny.org/home/index for more information.