The National Symphony Orchestra's evening at Carnegie Hall opened with Alban Berg’s string orchestra arrangement of the second, third and fourth movements of his Lyric Suite, a six-part piece for string quartet and a masterwork of the 20th-century chamber repertoire. Gianandrea Noseda’s treatment minimized the work’s more jarring, dissonant features while spotlighting the NSO’s rich strings. A crisp, smartly balanced rendering of the opening Andante amoroso, distinguished by some tender solo passages from concertmaster Nurit-Bar Josef and other string principals, was followed by the skittish themes of the second movement Allegro misterioso, hushed and seductively delivered. The obsessively passionate third movement, which quotes a glowing melody from Alexander Zemlinsky’s Lyric Symphony, featured some especially fine contributions from the ensemble’s violas and cellos.
The lush harmonies of the Berg served as an inspired introduction to Erich Korngold’s 1945 Violin Concerto in D major, which heralded the prolific film composer’s return to art music after his 1934 flight from his native Austria to Hollywood. All three movements include themes from his film scores. Soloist James Ehnes’ sound was appropriately yearning In the opening Moderato nobile, which begins with the solo violin shaping the melody heard in the 1937 melodrama Another Dawn with Errol Flynn and then goes on to quote the more expansive ‘Maximilian and Carlotta’ love theme from the historical drama Juarez (1939). Ehnes' playing was particularly impressive in the movement’s cadenza, with splendidly executed double-stops and fast detaché passages.
In the nostalgic Romance, whose main theme is taken from the Academy Award winning score for Anthony Adverse (1936), Ehnes displayed admirably delicate tone, but his performance was most admirable and athletic in the vivacious Finale, which incorporates swashbuckling cinematic sounds from another Error Flynn vehicle, The Prince and the Pauper (1937). Noseda and the orchestra were in agreement with the soloist throughout the entire composition. The violinist responded to the extended ovations with two encores: a virtuosic delivery of the Eugène Ysaÿe’s soaring Violin Sonata no. 3 in D minor, “Ballade” and an expressive rendition of the serene Largo from Bach’s Third Violin Sonata.
Noseda’s brisk, nicely articulated account of the Eroica Symphony incorporated all the repeats indicated by Beethoven, making the lithely rendered first movement sound even more monumental than usual. The lengthy Marcia funebre was relatively quick paced without losing any of its darkly tragic intensity, and the vigorous playing in the thrillingly fast Scherzo, along with the infectiously joyful horns in the trio section, impressed. The energetic finale romped along to an exuberant conclusion.
