All Gershwin. All good.
That pretty much describes the line-up as well as the outcome of Wednesday night at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center. It was Charles Dutoit’s penultimate program as artistic director and principal conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra’s annual summer season and also a rare immersion into all-American terrain.
Opening the program was “An American in Paris.” The honking strains of its opening bars are so ubiquitous that the rest of the piece felt revelatory, if still quite familiar. Beyond the bouncing appeal, the piece is actually quite a workout for the orchestra and, no surprise, the Philly musicians made easy work of it. The whirlwinds in the percussion, the sassy muted brass and the heavy stride of the tuba were among the many highlights.
Somehow the score got Dutoit to engage his players in a different kind of choreography than usual. A fluttering left hand and a sudden, deep bend of the knees were some of his more startling podium antics not seen previously. His mix of economic understatement and spontaneous drama are something to savor.
Dutoit’s regular collaborator, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, was the pianist in two works. It was no accident that Thibaudet has a new Gershwin album. He probably wishes there were enough repertoire by the composer to release a boxed set. Gershwin’s mix of classical gestures and blues-inflections suit the French showman very well.
The Piano Concerto in F came first and Thibaudet began it with a restrained and austere sound. But that was just a tease to make the fast runs in the treble all the more sparkling and pronounced. A standout passage came in the second movement when the piccolo echoed notes Thibaudet had just played and with the very same inflections.
After intermission, pianist and orchestra united again for a brief romp in the “I Got Rhythm” Variations. The tune is so catchy that this is one set of variations it’s almost impossible to get lost in. The major second dissonances in the piano part stood out in Thibaudet’s interpretation.
Robert Russell Bennett’s symphonic picture from “Porgy and Bess” ended the program. When the strings played “Summertime,” the loud August crickets didn’t feel out of place. The arrival of a pair of saxophones midway through the suite was a dollop of fresh color in a night already saturated with vibrancy
Originally appeared in the Times Union.
By the way, Jean-Yves looked smashing as usual, wearing a blazer with a variety of black tones, textures and unusual seams to it. The garment is surely an original by Vivienne Westwood, his favored designer. At his waist he wore her line’s distinctive logo, fashioned out of crystals. On Monday night at the Saratoga Chamber Music Festival, Jean-Yves wore a different sport coat for each half of the program. First it was a charcoal grey number with light trim and then it was the same jacket he wore Wednesday with the orchestra. Somebody should do a fashion shoot with him.
