Philadelphia Orchestra on a sugar high in Dresden
What goes around comes around? Usually in Philadelphia, that means that some underhanded piece of skullduggery is coming back to haunt you. At the Dresden Semperoper, it means that the Philadephia Orchestra musicians arrived for its Sunday night Dresden Festival concert, greeted by a huge strawberry and coconut cake. Apparently, the Dresden Staatskapelle, one of Europea's best and most distinctive orchestras, felt so warmly received at the Kimmel Center during its guest engagement during the 2010-2011 season that it felt compelled to offer some sweet payback after a typical three-buses-and-a-plane travel day from Cologne.
Whether because the tour continues to pick up steam – or the orchestra was on a sugar high from the cake – the concert was perhaps the best yet, including a Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 5 with great control and definition but hair-raising energy. Music director Yannick Nezet-Seguin seems to have a special knack for demanding more from the orchestra without it slipping into overkill or vulgarity. Pianist Jan Lisiecki, in his only appearance on the tour, played the Grieg Piano Concerto in ways that went to as many extremes as possible – taking into account that the piece itself doesn't really offer much opportunity for extremes. It was a daring, poetic, high-drama performance - and a bit self-indulgent - that recalled young Lang Lang before the backlash and without the physical histrionics.
Footnote: Nezet-Seguin seemed to have discovered a new look on Saturday in Cologne – a white, open-neck shirt with a well-tailored vest. In fact, it was an accident. He had a new suit tailored for him in Luxembourg, and just before walking onstage in Cologne, discovered that one of the sleaves was inexplicably sewn shut. So he went on without the jacket. He looked great and some of musicians said they appreciated the greater arm visibility that the white sleaves gave him. However, it remains unclear whether this look will continue. "I don't want to look like a waiter," he said today.