Zubin Mehta brings the Munich Philharmonic to Carnegie Hall for Brahms

The Munich Philharmonic has not visited Carnegie Hall since 2019, when Valery Gergiev was still its Chief Conductor. In the interregnum waiting for Lahav Shani to take over the reins, the orchestra has not stopped its touring activities, inviting the esteemed Zubin Mehta, its Honorary Conductor since 2004, to helm two all-Brahms programmes at Carnegie Hall.

Historically, Mehta’s performances have spanned a wide spectrum, varying from brilliant to superficial, imaginative to random, meticulously managed to episodic. His energy level, however, was never in doubt. Now 87, moving with difficulty, conducting while seated, with precise gestures reduced to the essential, his vitality seemed as great as ever. After many decades of conducting Brahms, Mehta’s interpretations, have achieved, as proven on Saturday night, a remarkable balance between a wholesome approach to the score and attention to individual details. The composer’s intricate harmonies and rich melodies were deeply and expertly chiselled on a monumental bas-relief of great structural integrity.

Mehta was helped in his endeavour not only by his very effective Munich orchestra, but also by the soloist, Yefim Bronfman, a pianist who made his international debut with the Montreal Symphony under Mehta's baton back in 1975. In those early years of his career, Bronfman gained renown for his technical prowess, for his vivid and powerful Prokofiev and Rachmaninov. More recently, his steely fingers have been draped into velvety gloves, to spectacular effects.

In the evening’s rendition of Brahms’ First Piano Concerto, Bronfman infused his collaboration with Mehta and the Munich Philharmonic with qualities that exemplify the great chamber music player that he truly is: the capacity to listen to others, the desire to cooperate rather than dictate as a soloist. His interactions with the woodwinds and horns were exemplary in this regard. Bronfman skilfully conveyed the restless energy of Brahms' solo writing, while also treating introspective passages with sensitivity, but not undue sentimentality. Occasionally one could hear Mozartian or Chopinesque reminiscences (Bronfman’s encore metamorphised the devilish fingerwork of Chopin’s “Revolutionary” Étude into an ethereal soundscape).

Despite Mehta being a responsive accompanist and the reduced orchestral apparatus, the orchestra occasionally overshadowed Bronfman’s playing. Overall, however, this excursion into the already well-defined symphonic universe of the 25-year-old composer was meritorious. The ambiguities of triumphant moments held back by visions of a deep abyss, while melancholic sequences embracing hope were well captured.

Ambiguities that require interpretive resolution are also woven into the fabric of the Symphony no. 4 in E minor. How does one approach a Scherzo marked giocoso that still feels heavy despite the addition of piccolo and triangle to make the texture lighter? How can the indication of energico e passionato at the beginning of the fourth movement be reconciled with its embrace of the cumulative power of a many-times repeated motif and moments of prevailing lyricism? Unfortunately, Mehta and his musicians did not provide any new insights into these types of questions, despite delivering a solid rendition of the score, which included some beautifully rendered segments, such as the solo flute in the Finale or the strings’ pizzicato chords supporting the woodwinds’ melody in the second movement.

An encore – Brahms’ Hungarian Dance no. 5 – elicited long ovations in the sold-out Stern Auditorium as an expression of admiration for the frail conductor and his many accomplishments over time.