Gala opens Carnegie season

NEW YORK -- Cellist Yo-Yo Ma was tilting at windmills even before playing his first notes of Richard Strauss' "Don Quixote."

Sitting center stage at Carnegie Hall, Ma swayed with his eyes closed during the five-minute introduction played by the Philadelphia Orchestra under the baton of Christoph Eschenbach.

Then he extended his 271-year-old Montagnana cello, made eye contact with Eschenbach and concertmaster David Kim . . . and started to play, depicting Cervantes' chivalrous knight like no other cellist in the world.

That was only part of Wednesday night's program that opened Carnegie Hall's 114th season, a gala concert taped for national broadcast on PBS-TV's "Great Performances" (check local TV listings for date).

Soprano Renee Fleming gave a moving account of Strauss' "Four Last Songs" for an audience that included Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Barbara Walters, Henry Kissinger, Beverly Sills and Peter Jennings. And Eschenbach led the fabulous Philadelphians in a powerful performance of Strauss' "Don Juan."

The orchestra almost didn't make it to the concert. The musicians' contract expired last month, but a strike was averted when both sides agreed to an extension until Oct. 20. The outcome of the negotiations are crucial because the Philadelphia contract helps determine those of several other major orchestras.

The program was a bittersweet beginning for Carnegie's 2004-05 season. The year's roster of some 200 concerts was the first one planned by Robert J. Harth, who became Carnegie's executive and artistic director in 2001. He died in January at age 47 in his apartment above Isaac Stern Auditorium, days before he was to announce the schedule. So Strauss' tender songs about love, idealism and the inevitability of death were appropriate.

The concert began with "Don Juan," completed in 1888 when Strauss was 24. Unlike the heartless don in Mozart's opera, Strauss' anti- hero felt compassion for his love conquests. Eschenbach, in his second year as music director of the venerable ensemble, exuded passion as he beat broad strokes with his baton while pushing the musicians to a vigorous pace.

The orchestra responded to their 64-year-old leader, who wore a black Nehru jacket and resembles Star Trek's Captain Picard. Particularly effective were the cadences, especially the long one that depicted the fatal stabbing of Don Juan. Strauss' scoring of the solos presented a showcase for the orchestra's talented players, in particular the flute, oboe, clarinet, horns and concertmaster Kim.

In the next piece, "Four Last Songs," Fleming's voice shimmered much like her dark blue Gianfranco Ferre gown and flowing cape. The songs, settings to poems by Hermann Hesse and Joseph von Eichendorff, tell of the flickering passions of the twilight years and the encroaching final slumber of death.

Strauss composed them in 1948, a year before his death. He never heard them performed. Had he heard Fleming on Wednesday, he probably would have been enraptured by the 45-year-old soprano's heartfelt elegance and the orchestra's sensitive accompaniment.

For an encore, Fleming, the reigning queen of American sopranos, sang Strauss' ecstatic plea of desire "Cecilia." "If only you knew / what it means to dream of burning kisses . . . you would soften your heart."

After intermission, Ma joined the orchestra in Strauss' tone poem "Don Quixote," which in essence is a theme with 10 variations. The piece is built around a simple five-note statement that Strauss twists and turns with irregular rhythms and occasionally grotesque harmonies.

The orchestra's principal violist, Roberto Diaz, was impressive in playing the solos that represent Quixote's sidekick Sancho Panza, as was Kim in his portrayals of Quixote's love Dulcinea.

Just like Quixote, Strauss made the cello part whimsical, mysterious, confounding, eerie and lovable. Performing on the eve of his 49th birthday, Ma heroically made the most of all those emotions, not an easy task considering the complex score.

In the story, the Spanish knight of La Mancha, who battled windmills that he imagined to be giants attacking Dulcinea, dies on his quest for the impossible dream.

Ma reaches it.

On the Net: www.carnegiehall.org; www.philorch.org

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