New York Philharmonic Perform Tchaikovsky & Shostakovich at Lincoln Center

Details

Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Reviews

Published on Wednesday, 25 March 2026 13:27

Written by Jack Angstreich

Photo by Chris Lee

At Lincoln Center’s wonderful David Geffen Hall, on the night of Thursday, January 8th, I had the privilege to attend a superb concert presented by the New York Philharmonic under the sterling direction of Gianandrea Noseda.

The event started splendidly with an exhilarating account of Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s dazzling Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor, Op. 23—which reached its ultimate revision in 1889 and was dedicated to the German pianist and conductor, Hans von Bülow—here brilliantly performed by the eminent soloist, Behzod Abduraimov. The first movement begins with a celebrated fanfare and then a statement of passionate Romanticism; a moody, solo passage for the piano is followed by a recapitulation of the opening theme. The next section starts with a lilting, balletic theme and the music becomes more playful; the development is complex and elaborate with numerous, highly virtuosic passages and the movement concludes forcefully. The ensuing slow movement is lyrical and—like the concerto as a whole—melodious; it soon acquires a waltz-like quality and an accelerated tempo—it closes softly. The Allegro con fuoco finale is propulsive and dance-like in rhythm, ultimately culminating in an expression of intense emotionalism, ending triumphantly. Enthusiastic applause elicited a marvelous, dazzling encore from Abduraimov: Franz Liszt’s famous Étude No. 3, “La Campanella,” from the collection Grandes études de Paganini.

The second half of the evening was maybe at least equally impressive: a magisterial realization of Dmitri Shostakovich’s extraordinary, seldom performed, very ambitious Symphony No. 4 in C minor, Op. 43, which was finished in 1936. The initial, Allegro poco moderato movement opens urgently with a suspenseful march but it also has ludic elements that sometimes come to the fore as well as more subdued passages; towards its finish, a quieter march unfolds and it ends abruptly. The sequence of the next (and last) two movements is restrained at the outset but becomes more powerful—again there are seemingly jocular moments even as an ethos of great seriousness pervades although the music is also often quite lively. Later, the music becomes exuberant and affirmative followed by an extended, more gentle episode, closing pianissimo.

The artists deservedly received a standing ovation.

• Next >