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Pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet was the soloist in music of Bernstein and Gershwin with the New World Symphony Saturday night.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The legacy of conductor Michael Tilson Thomas and philanthropist Lin Arison was the focus of the New World Symphony\u2019s final program of the season Saturday night, as the orchestral academy paid tribute to two of its pivotal co-founders.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Although the program of works by Leonard Bernstein and George Gershwin at New World Center was planned more than a year in advance, it proved wholly appropriate for the occasion. Bernstein was a mentor and close friend of Tilson Thomas, who died<\/a> April 22. The music of Gershwin was one of Tilson Thomas\u2019 specialties and passions.<\/p>\n Artistic director St\u00e9phane Den\u00e8ve introduced a video from the 1980 Kennedy Center Honors telecast of Tilson Thomas conducting Bernstein\u2019s Overture to Candide. <\/i>(Bernstein was one of that year\u2019s honorees.) In typical fashion, Tilson Thomas\u2019 brisk rendition captured the comedic opera brio of the score. Den\u00e8ve then asked the audience to stand for a moment of silence in Tilson Thomas\u2019 honor. That tribute was followed by Nicholas Hersh\u2019s orchestral arrangement of \u201cMake Our Garden Grow,\u201d the finale of Candide, <\/i>Bernstein\u2019s finest theatrical work next to West Side Story. <\/i>Like Bernstein, through his mentoring and encouragement of gifted young musicians, Tilson Thomas made many artists\u2019 gardens grow.<\/p>\n Bernstein\u2019s Symphony No. 2 for piano and orchestra (\u201cThe Age of Anxiety\u201d) is one of his best works concert works, not written for the theater. (While it has been adapted by many choreographers, including Jerome Robbins, the symphony is best heard as pure music.)<\/p>\n The prominent piano part requires blazing technique and virtuosity and Jean-Yves Thibaudet provided exactly that. (French president Emmanuel Macron recently awarded Thibaudet the Legion of Honor, France\u2019s highest honor for cultural, civic and military achievements.)<\/p>\n Den\u00e8ve subtly evoked the bluesy opening of Bernstein\u2019s symphony. At the piano\u2019s first entrance, Thibaudet evidenced a breezy, light touch with a wide color spectrum. The string sonority was rich and enveloping and the brass impactful, matching Thibaudet\u2019s spirited articulation of the fast segments. He delivered fleet pianistic power one moment and supple, sensitively contoured shadings the next. Den\u00e8ve was in full command of Bernstein\u2019s variations of meter and pace.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Dirge,\u201d which opens the symphony\u2019s second part, is one of Bernstein\u2019s first flirtations with atonality. Thibaudet and Den\u00e8ve brought decisiveness to this section with the conductor drawing tremendous decibels in the climaxes. \u201cMasques\u201d is quintessential Bernstein and Thibaudet demonstrated his versatility, playing with the idiomatic flair and ease of a veteran jazz pianist. Den\u00e8ve made every strand of the accompaniment for two harps, celesta, percussion and bass totally audible and transparent. The Epilogue was given broad definition, the keyboard line eloquently phrased. A standing ovation greeted this masterful realization of a fascinating score.<\/p>\n In a pivot from the announced program,\u00a0Den\u00e8ve dedicated a performance of Debussy\u2019s La cath\u00e9drale engloutie<\/i> (\u201cThe Engulfed Cathedral\u201d) to the memory of Lin Arison who passed away last October. Along with her husband Ted Arison (founder of Carnival Cruise Lines), Arison co-founded the orchestral academy with Tilson Thomas.\u00a0 Den\u00e8ve adapted Leopold Stokowski\u2019s orchestration of this Debussy piano Prelude into a version for piano and orchestra. Thibaudet drew multiple hues from the instrument, bathing Debussy\u2019s impressionistic shades in Technicolor.<\/p>\n To open the concert\u2019s second half, conducting fellow Ziwei Ma took the podium for Gershwin\u2019s Variations on \u201cI Got Rhythm\u201d<\/i> in William C. Schoenfield\u2019s arrangement. Ma\u2019s snappy direction and Thibaudet\u2019s verve and ease brought Gershwin\u2019s final completed classical work to vivid life.<\/p>\n The scheduled program concluded with a performance of An American in Paris<\/i> that perfectly captured the iconic piece\u2019s mix of French elan and American exuberance. With the orchestra in top form. Den\u00e8ve\u2019s reading was alternately boisterous, gentle and lyrical. The solo trumpet in the blues section emerged strong but finely controlled and there were excellent spotlight solos from violin, trombone and tuba players. An entertaining video collage of scenes from the French capital and movies from the period accompanied the music-making.<\/p>\n As an encore, Den\u00e8ve led the Overture to Girl Crazy, <\/i>Gershwin\u2019s 1930 musical which made stars of Ethel Merman and Ginger Rogers and contained several classic Gershwin songs. The conductor\u2019s idiomatic affinity for this brand of Americana was fully evident. \u201cEmbraceable You\u201d flowed with natural lilt and the leisurely sway of \u201cBut Not for Me\u201d seemed exactly right.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n After acknowledging the players multiple times, the conductor waved goodbye to the audience. The evening proved a fitting tribute to Michael Tilson Thomas, a seminal artist whose legacy through the New World fellows, past and present, will be felt for decades to come.<\/p>\n The New World Symphony repeats the program 2 p.m. Sunday at the New World Center in Miami Beach. <\/b>nws.edu<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n