MUSIC

New York Philharmonic: Vikingur Ólafsson Plays Ravel

WEDNESDAY & FRIDAY – SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 23 & 25 – 26, 2022
7:30 PM WEDNESDAY
8:00 PM FRIDAY & SATURDAY

David Geffen Hall, Lincoln Center
10 Lincoln Center Plaza, Upper West Side, Manhattan

$63.50-$192.50
TICKETS + INFORMATION

I’m Listing this for Guillaume Connesson’s Céléphaïs, from Les Cités de Lovecraft: Connesson is one of those imaginative contemporary tonal composers, working well within existing systems (in his case the French orchestral style showcased in the remainder of the program) but freshly, whose lack of renown (he’s stuck here with a short opener) makes you wonder anew at the calcification of the mainstream classical audience. Guest conductor Stéphane Dèneve is a longtime champion. But of course the real draw here is the concerto: if there’s a currently active pianist I’d rather hear play Ravel’s glittering jazzy piece (melting into Mozart in the Adagio assai) than Vikingur Ólafsson, I can’t think of them. There’s some Roussel: you never get to hear Roussel, so that’s welcome. Ravel’s Daphnis e Chloé Suite No. 2 — a stereo demonstration piece back when people used to demonstrate stereos — should show off the new hall’s overly clear and rather brittle sonics, which in a way sound more like those of a stereo system than a concert hall.

MAKE A NIGHT OF IT: Kwame Onwuachi’s in-house Afro-Caribbean restaurant Tatiana (not to be confused with the one in Brighton Beach) isn’t open late enough for post-concert dining — a scandal if you ask me (maybe you can eat and drink and then concentrate hard on music for two hours, but I sure can’t) (to me, this is emblematic of Lincoln Center’s inability to conceive of the classical music segment of its audience as comprising anything other than the suburban and the decrepit). For an urbane experience, go to Bar Boulud after the show and eat and drink to your heart’s content.