Vienna Philharmonic Gives Two Transcendent Concerts in SoCal
/By Truman C. Wang
3/13/2025
Photo: classicalvoice.org
The Vienna Philharmonic returned to the Segerstrom after a ten-year hiatus, having played a week prior at UC Berkeley’s Zellerbach Hall. I attended their 2014 concert conducted by Lorin Maazel (Mahler Fourth), 2011 with Semyon Bychkov (Mahler Sixth), and 2002 with Bernard Haitink (Bruckner Eighth, at the old Segerstrom hall). Each time I thought I had heard the finest performance of the work at hand. I had the same reaction after their two concerts this week (3/9 and 3/11).
The Sunday, March 9 concert was a black-tie, red carpet gala event followed by a Viennese Ball at the Westin Hotel next door. Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the conductor on both dates, would not be my first choice to conduct this orchestra, but he is youngish (just turned 50), energetic, and a lot of fun to watch in action. He does not put a strong personal stamp on his interpretations, and prefers to let the orchestra run with the music. And that seemed to work well with the Viennese players, who have this music in their blood. Rare among today’s major orchestras, the Vienna Philharmonic is culturally homogeneous, uncolored by the introduction of foreign virtuosos with their different techniques and differently constructed instruments. And they recruit new members exclusively and locally from the Vienna State Opera orchestra.
photo: classicalvoice.org
The hall on day 1 was decked out with lavish floral extravaganza, and on day 2 with giant poster boards of the Golden Hall (Musikverein), home of the VPO, and no flowers or fancy ball gowns.
The orchestral seating was modified traditional: first and second violins on either side, cellos in middle, violas and basses all clumped together to the right, with winds and brass in middle on elevated platform. In the old films of Richard Strauss conducting the VPO, the double basses can be clearly seen lining the orchestra rear behind the percussion. From a sound balance perspective, that would be the ideal seating layout, but would not be possible today due to bizarre union regulations. For what it’s worth, there were, count them, twelve female players for this three-city American tour, including the concertmaster. (She was moved, inexplicably, to second chair on day 2.)
Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3 opened with a long orchestral melody, showcasing the unique velvety sound of the Viennese strings blending with the absolutely homogenous woodwinds. Yefim Bronfman, the pianist, played on an American Steinway that sounded strong but clangy at times; however, the great virtuosity and poetry of his playing made up for the deficient instrument. The middle movement Largo was particularly moving, with a hushed intimacy that held the audience rapt. Bronfman’s encore, Debussy’s Images II: Goldfish, was a glittery delight.
Richard Strauss's tone poem Ein Heldenleben (A Hero’s Life) was exquisitely and powerfully played – blending luxurious strings, silvery winds, mellow brass into a masterpiece of tone painting. The extended violin solos near the end were lovingly phrased, its serenity marred by an unsteady final E-flat. Unlike the Berliners, the Viennese are not perfect; they are human. For the obligatory encore, they played the ‘original’ Strauss (waltz “Roses from the South”) in a relaxed and lilting manner that only the Viennese know how, conductor optional.
The Tuesday, March 11 concert was plagued by a cough pandemic in the audience, likely caused by a sudden turn in the weather. But that did not dampen the high enthusiasm and standard of the playing. Conductor Nézet-Séguin took the Schubert Fourth (numbered 3 in German-speaking countries) at a brisk tempo, with tremendous Sturm und Drang in the slow introduction and closing allegro, and the minuet sounding like a scherzo. The strings sang the cantabile line softly and movingly, a piqant oboe and silvery flute adding to the tragic undertones.
Dvořák's beloved Ninth Symphony, "From the New World” was next. The English horn solo in the famous Largo was soulful and unsentimental, the finale reached its blazing conclusion in a sublimely intoned final chord that brought the audience to its feet. Dvořák's Slavonic Dance No. 1 was a fitting encore, played with irresistible verve and charm.
photo: classicalvoice.org
I have heard many great orchestras in the Segerstrom, including the London Symphony Orchestra last month, but the unique “Viennese sound” stuck to the mind. Its brass and woodwinds sound different from those of other orchestras – especially the horns and the oboes. The blend, the suppleness, the absence of bite remain distinctively Viennese. The woodwinds are less reedy and the brasses broader (some think their tuba too loose and plump of tone, but I like it.) In terms of playing, the orchestra is supremely virtuosic, but prone to sloppiness (called “organized sloppiness” by Zubin Mehta). Despite its faults and conservatism, these two days of concerts devoted to great music that lies at the center of Western civilizatioin inspired nothing but gratitude and euphoria.
Official press release from the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra:
Truman C. Wang is Editor-in-Chief of Classical Voice, whose articles have appeared in the Pasadena Star-News, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, other Southern California publications, as well as the Hawaiian Chinese Daily. He studied Integrative Biology and Music at U.C. Berkeley.