"It’s quite a lot of fun to play –
it gives me a rush when playing or hearing it," says Alisa
Weilerstein – a virtuoso 20-year-old cellist whose playing has
already inspired praise for its technical prowess and its unimpeachable
passion – about the First Cello Concerto of Camille Saint-Saens,
the centerpiece of the New York Philharmonic’s July 31 concert
in Prospect Park.
Since the summer of ’65, the Philharmonic has visited its audiences
in all five boroughs, Long Island, Westchester County and New
Jersey, playing free parks concerts for over 14 million people,
many of whom don’t get the chance to hear the orchestra in its
usual home at Lincoln Center.
This year is no different, as the 38th summer season of the Philharmonic’s
"Concerts in the Parks" finds conductor Asher Fisch
leading his first New York Philharmonic concert in the July 31
Prospect Park program. In the grand tradition of summer classical
music, the program is an entertaining mixture of the familiar
and the pleasant – no dissonant Bartok, no minimalist Philip
Glass allowed.
Opening the performance is the overture from Rossini’s opera,
"William Tell." While that gargantuan grand opera is
rarely heard in its entirety, its grandiose overture may be the
most well-known piece of music of the late-20th century (even
though Rossini wrote it in the early 19th century). Its triumphant
trumpet fanfare and galloping march are better known as the "Lone
Ranger" theme, but the entire overture is a complex creation,
deftly showcasing themes from the long opera.
Closing the concert is the "Symphonic Dances" of Sergei
Rachmaninoff. Known for his glitteringly melodic music, Rachmaninoff
gets less acknowledgement for his truly unique style; this work
– the last he would compose – shows off all of his influences
and techniques in a wonderful, toe-tapping coda to the evening.
In between comes Saint-Saens’ cello concerto. Cellist Weilerstein,
who is also making her New York Philharmonic debut at this performance
as soloist, waxes rhapsodic about this major piece of cello music
literature.
"It’s very beautiful, and it’s perfectly crafted,"
she told GO Brooklyn in a telephone interview from a hotel room
in Houston, Texas. "All the movements flow into each other,
so it’s 23 minutes of straight playing for me."
That’s no problem for Weilerstein, who made her Carnegie Hall
debut at age 15, and often plays chamber music with her parents
Donald and Vivian as the Weilerstein Trio.
Not much lately, though. "We’ve cut back on our performances
[as a trio], because of my studies at Columbia University,"
the cellist said. "I’m doing more solo concerts right now."
About that hectic schedule, she said, "I’m a history major
at Columbia in 20th century European history and I take cello
classes at Juilliard, and I do 50 concerts a year as well."
Weilerstein notes that this jam-packed slate of activity is nothing
she would ever have dreamed of before she started.
"I’m often e-mailing my papers from faraway places to my
professors," she said. "There are times when I curse
myself for having thought of doing this!" Then she laughs
and reconsiders the alternative. "I think it’s very important
to have a life away from the music."
Even so, the 20-year-old has no doubts about her career path.
"I was always serious about what I wanted to do," she
said firmly, not surprising from someone who made her public
concert debut at the age of 4, only six months after she began
playing the cello.
Although Weilerstein’s first recording – as part of the "Debut"
series on the EMI Classics label – was released to good notices
a few years ago ("It’s a standard recital disc," she
noted, "but I also did a piece by [Czech composer Leos]
Janacek, since I’m a fanatic for his music"), she’s unsure
when she’ll be venturing into those waters again.
"I’d like to record again soon, but in a way, I’m glad that
I’m not," she said. "If you put a recording out there,
it’s permanent. I’m perfectly willing to give it time, to think
about what I want to do and what I want to say. I was 16 when
I did my first recording, and my playing has changed since then."
On July 31, that ever-evolving playing will be on display – without
a price tag – in Prospect Park.
The New York Philharmonic performs Rossini,
Saint-Saens and Rachmaninoff in the Long Meadow Ballfields in
Prospect Park at 8 pm on July 31. Enter the park at 9th Street
and Prospect Park West. For more information, call (212) 875-5709
or visit www.newyorkphilharmonic.org.
This performance is free.
