A Night of Rhythm and Dance

Kent Nagano, one of the younger generation of American-born conductors who have made careers for themselves in Europe, here conducts the Berlin Philharmonic in an eclectically international outdoor concert from 2000, spotlighting music with a firm, strong beat. The most conventionally Western “classical” pieces are two works by Ravel—La Valse and the second Daphnis et Chloé suite—both of which receive lush, evocative readings. At the other extreme are three colorful examples of far Eastern rhythm, two of which feature Eitetsu Hayashi, a virtuoso on a Japanese drum called the wadaiko (one is an instrumental piece by Isao Matsushita, and the other a solo effort written by Hayashi himself). The third Eastern work is a suite from the score to Chen Kaige's 1993 film Farewell My Concubine, which includes contributions from vocalists as well as traditional Chinese instruments. Finally, there are selections focusing on George Gershwin—a sort of fantasy-pastiche for two pianos and orchestra called “He Got Rhythm,” which opens the concert, and a group of familiar songs to close it, sung by mezzo Susan Graham, whose creamily operatic voice doesn't really match the jazzy popular music (but she certainly makes a big sound here). The concert concludes with a local standard—Paul Lincke's Straussian “Berliner Luft,” to which Nagano just offers a downbeat before leaving the podium and giving the magnificent orchestra free rein. Boasting rich audio (with Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS, and PCM stereo options) and excellent camerawork, this weirdly diverse program unfortunately never achieves much coherence, and is enjoyable more in parts than as a whole. Optional. Aud: P. (F. Swietek)