What a great night it was to be in Central Park last night: cool, clear, with the tiger lillies and hibuscuses (hibisci?) out in full bloom. And, just as the sun set over the Great Lawn and it's wall-to-wall picnickers, the NY Phil took the stage for the first of two free Parks Concerts, just like they have each July for the past 50 years (with one or two exceptions.)
The performance, led once again this year by Music Director Alan Gilbert, was strong by almost any standard. Instead of opting for standard summer fare like "Pictures at an Exhibition" or some Tchiakovsky symphony, Gilbert started off with a pair of Strauss tone poems: Don Juan and Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks. These are no simple potboilers: both works have wide-ranging emotions and demanding solo passages, delivered flawlessly here by Acting Concertmaster Sheryl Staples. Later, the Phil played Smetana's rarely heard Vyšherad from Ma Vlast, with Nancy Allen's harp floating over the 40,000-strong crowd met by the Phil's majestic brass and strings. Gilbert, who conducted from memory, kept things moving at an impressively fast clip, with the Phil sounding crisper and sharper than they have in a long time. Is it me, or has the Phil gotten significantly younger over the past couple of years?
Ok, they did play Tchiakovsky's Romeo and Juliet to close. Sappy? Sure. Fitting? You bet. The crowd ate it up almost as much as the fireworks which followed.
The Phil will be back on the Great Lawn on Monday with an entirely different program, featuring Joshua Bell playing Bruch's Violin Concerto. Better get there early if you plan on seeing anything.
More pics on the photo page.