Orchestra Review
Judith White, The Saratogian, 8/12/2010
There was a degree of irony in the programming for Wednesday’s Philadelphia Orchestra concert at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center.
Mm-hm. Irony, you say? In the programming? Do tell.
The all-Gershwin program of American music began with the orchestra playing the well-known “An American in Paris,” and then moved on to feature French-born Jean-Yves Thibaudet as piano soloist with the orchestra for other Gershwin works, including the Piano Concerto in F and a set of variations to “I Got Rhythm,” all conducted by a Swiss-born, Montreal resident conductor.
I see. I don't know about the construction "Montreal resident conductor," but that's neither here nor there [in Montreal, apparently].
And the ironic part was...?
I’m certainly not complaining: just commenting on how things can work out with really good music — which transcends geography and culture.
Um. Let's back up, because, apparently, the ironic bit was in that last large paragraph.
The all-Gershwin program of American music began with the orchestra playing the well-known “An American in Paris,” and then moved on to feature French-born Jean-Yves Thibaudet as piano soloist with the orchestra for other Gershwin works, including the Piano Concerto in F and a set of variations to “I Got Rhythm,”...
Okay. An American orchestra was playing a Gershwin program, which, after "An American in Paris," featured a French pianist playing the Concerto in F. So...it's like there was a Parisian in America! Oh, except he's from Lyon. But still, he did go to the Paris Conservatoire!
So a Frenchman (who's been to Paris) in America! Playing "An American in Paris!" Er, well, no...actually playing the piece after that one on the program...which is sort of...a coincidence? But not irony.
...all conducted by a Swiss-born, Montreal resident conductor.
A Swiss-Canadian in Saratoga is sort of like an American in Paris, insofar as the sentences have parallel construction...which is ironic?
No. No, it's not.
The most ironic thing going on here is that something that's not really in any way ironic is being described as such.
We don’t require American interpreters of Gershwin’s compositions, no more than we require German interpreters of Brahms.
True, I suppose. We don't wear gigantic purple hats either, but it's not relevant, so we don't write sentences about it.
We got what we wanted...
Speak for yourself. I was led to believe there'd be irony.
— a brilliant pianist with a sensibility for Gershwin’s talent for rolling classical sensibility into the music of his time, and a conductor who literally threw himself into directing the music.
I guess I was really willing to be nice about this, but, sadly, no.
Because...look:
"Literally" does not mean "figuratively" or "metaphorically." Quite literally, "literally" literally means "literally."
Figure 1: Better.