Orpheus at Carnegie Hall: Bach, Schumann, and Theofanidis
Christian Zacharias
Last Saturday night, I was frankly sorry for every music-lover who wasn’t on hand to hear Orpheus and pianist Zacharias reinvent Robert Schumann’s Piano Concerto. I doubt that any conductor could have led an orchestra through the minute shifts in tone and tempo that made the performance sound as though Schumann were improvising it on the spot — unless, that is, the orchestra already knew the work as well as Orpheus, in which case there would be no need for a conductor. As with the Beethoven Violin Concerto and Schumann’s own Second Symphony from last season, I’d really, really like to have a recording.
¶ Orpheus at Carnegie (Bach, Schumann, and Theofanidis, with Christian Zacharias).