Estonian Conductor Paavo Rehearses NYPhil and Russian Pianist Andsnes with Starts/Stops and Exegeses

Sergei Rachmaninoff (b Russian 1873-1943) completed his Piano Concerto #4  in 1926.  It premiered with the Philadelphia Orch with Rachmaninoff playing the piano.  That was a remarkable debut.  Today's rehearsal conducted  Estonian conductor Paavo Jarvi (b 1962) with pianist Leif Ove Andsnes (b Norway 1970) was notable for its apparent unsureness.  Perhaps something was getting lost in its interpretation.  Andsnes along with several other lead violinists in the orchestra had questions for the conductor.   There were numerous stops & starts and plenty of conferring between the soloist & the maestro, the soloist and the orchestra and violinists & the conductor.  The estimated 25 minute estimated duration of Rachmaninoff's concerto lasted nearly an hour with frequent halts to confer directly over the musical score.  Andsnes oftentimes straddled the piano bench to face the orchestra head on to semi-conduct.  It was clear conductor Jarvi had uncertainties or wasn't achieving what he sought.  With the repeated phrasing in the Largo movement, I was able to discern variances.  What wasn't clear, but curious, was how influential was the pianist at the rehearsal.  The first movement, the Allegro vivace was played without hesitation at a fast tempo.  But, with the Largo and the Allegro vivace, there were repeated phrasings.   From the back of the theater it was notable the numerous  collaborative conferrals & hesitations.   The discussions weren't bombastic but I sensed uncertainties amongst the musicians.  At times the conductor deferred to Andsnes' playing to instruct the members of the orchestra.  The woman seated next to me commented "he {conductor Paavo Jarvi} was struggling with the composition in a number of places.  But I've seen this sometimes happens during rehearsals".   I was transfixed by the exegesis between conductor & soloist.   I've never witnessed musicians from the string section approach the conductor.  The rehearsal of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto #4 ended after a few minutes of Andsnes & Paavo conferring on the podium and a hearty handshake between the two artists.