Boston Concert Reviews
By Nelson Brill
February 5, 2019
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Moving from the intimate world of a string quartet performance ( in Part 1 of this review) to the energy and colors of a full orchestra in flight, two recent orchestral performances in Boston highlighted the richness and vibrancy of classical music in our region.
On November 30th, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (“BMOP”; http://www.bmop.org ) and its Artistic Director Gil Rose presented a dynamic and vital program of new classical music in New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall. Founded by Rose in 1996, the BMOP is one of this country’s eminent ensembles that commission, perform and record music of contemporary composers. I was familiar with BMOP from listening to a number of their superb recordings on their BMOP/sound label (http://www.bmopsound.org ), all of which consistently deliver audiophile quality sound and great sonic treats. Engineer Joel Gordon is a master of capturing the BMOP’s crisp, layered sound and its vibrant musicianship within the airy spaciousness of historic Jordan Hall, where many of these recordings are produced. The sound of these recordings will leap from a quality audio system’s loudspeakers with great tactile aliveness.
Two of my favorite BMOP recordings are Mothership (BMOP 1045; hybrid CD/SACD), exploring the music of composer Mason Bates (b.1977), and O’Keeffe Images (BMOP 1039), reveling in the music of composer Elena Ruehr (b.1963). Both of these recordings are audiophile gems and deliver music that is fresh and innovative. Bates’ compositions employ dashing electronica touches; the piquant sounds of classical Chinese string instruments and the innovative use of field recordings of natural sounds to create his lyrical, meditative and sprawlingly colorful canvases. Ruehr’s music spins and wheels freely on her own fresh combinations of frolicking patterns that also sing in lyrical and sumptuous ways. (Listen to her “Ladder to the Moon” for a blast of resonant percussion galloping with brass and string choruses in expansive flight). The BMOP captures this astonishing music with their superlative musicianship and collective sense of adventure on these two superb recordings.
This same freshness and musical dynamism was vividly on display in the BMOP’s live performance held in November at Jordan Hall. The first piece they performed was Carlos Surinach’s (1915-1997) ballet, Acrobats of God, (commissioned by Martha Graham), in which Surinach employs several mandolin players, plucking and strumming, within the orchestra. The clarity and briskness of the playing was superb as the mandolins reeled and swung freely against the bolder colors of the orchestra. The percussionists were also noteworthy: Timpanist Craig McNutt thundered lightly in one corner of the stage while Robert Schulz and Nick Tolle dazzled with their light snare, triangle hits and cymbals from another corner. The mandolins flowed in jazzy uplifting rifts into violinist Gabriela Diaz and harpist Ina Zdorovetchi’s quiet duet, which floating lightly over xylophone runs in Surinach’s creative dance of lightness and pluck.
Cellist David Russell then joined the BMOP in a performance of Lukas Foss’ (1922-2009) Cello Concerto, a prankish, unpredictable piece that involved (as Rose artfully explained beforehand to the audience) Floss’ wide-ranging interests in exploring the intersections of jazz improvisation with his music. During the performance, Rose held up various numbers of fingers to signal to the orchestra which sections of the score he wanted them to play at any given time. Russell met this unfolding drama with his own rapid-fire plucks or oblique drones. His cello’s sound was rich and expressive and he dueled not only with the orchestra but also with a pre-recorded second cello (from a speaker placed on stage) that Floss provided to mock (or mimic) the soloist’s interjections and flourishes. Russell and his recorded cello companion ended the piece in a shared Bach-like serenade, highlighting Russell’s nimble play and Floss’ return to his classical roots from which he had woven such a spunky creation.
A second special guest at this BMOP concert was the intrepid-minded violinist, Jennifer Koh, who has many superb recordings to recommend. One of my favorites is Koh’s recording with her twinkling partner, pianist Reiko Ichida, on their superb CD, Violin Fantasies [Cedille Records]. This is a glorious adventure, filled with beautiful soulful playing and great chemistry between these two virtuoso players.
Many young violinists were in the audience at this evening’s BMOP performance to hear Koh and the BMOP in their performance of Vijay Iyer’s (b. 1971) piece, Trouble. In this composition, Iyer and Koh explore in music civil rights leader Rep. John Lewis’ theme of “Good Trouble”. As Lewis is quoted: “Dr. King and others inspired me to get in what I call good trouble, necessary trouble.”
The piece involved six short movements. The first, a prelude entitled “Erasure,” found Koh holding a pitchless wheeze of a sound (created by drawing her bow slowly and obliquely across one string), and accompanied by ghostly holds from a lone flute and ominous single peals from the piano. In the second movement, a sputtering blast of violin notes turned into flowing bluesy riffs as the orchestra joined Koh in ricochets of sounds. In another section, Koh delivered a solo full of tart clear notes and runs, her bowing alternating between feverish and a slow glowing throb. Koh possesses this special quality in her playing of capturing both muscular power and expressive force with the ability to also communicate a beautiful litheness and tenderness at the music flows. Trouble ended on an optimistic push of life forces and unity, with Koh and the BMOP joining in upbeat soars and major chord leaps. All the struggles, victories and defeats of a people seemed wrapped up in this bracing piece of music, with Koh and the BMOP confidently at its helm.
Following this dynamic evening of music with the BMOP, I ventured on January 4, 2019 to Boston Symphony Hall, to hear the Boston Symphony Orchestra (“BSO”; http://www.bso.org), led by guest conductor Shiyeon Sung, in a concert that highlighted women composers and performers.
For the first piece, Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel’s Overture in C, conductor Sung led the orchestra in a strong melodic performance. The small ensemble assembled on the Hall’s stage created an intimate sound, lovely in its coherency, buoyancy and collective glow. The violins, led by First Associate Concertmaster Tamara Smirnova, were a lithe, graceful unit. At one point, the score called for the violins to descend softly and deliberately from a high held note to their lowest registers and this was done with silken, united shimmer by the BSO violins, (accompanied by bassoonist Richard Svoboda’s own reedy descent). Mendelssohn’s Overture was filled with many such tender moments, ending in a romantic roll of thunder from timpanist Timothy Genis and his nimbly struck drums that roared to the back wall of Symphony Hall.
Franny Mendelssohn’s Overture was followed by a performance of her brother, Felix Mendelssohn’s, Piano Concerto No. 1, with Argentine pianist, Ingrid Fliter, making her Symphony Hall debut. This romantic juggernaut was the perfect vehicle for the BSO and Fliter to collectively mine all its glittering melodies and drama, and they succeeded beautifully at this performance. Each of Mendelssohn’s dynamic flourishes were captured radiant and propulsive. At the piece’s most buoyant crescendos, Fliter propelled her whole body upwards in a leap to emphasize her buoyant strokes. She loved to dance at her keyboard, swaying to her lithe touches; her velvety runs and her pinpoint note attacks. She also beautifully conveyed Mendelssohn’s tender moments, particularly in Mendelssohn’s s slow Andante movement. She possessed a sweet singing quality in her high twinkling registers while the BSO’s poignant cellos and violas accompanied her. At the conclusion of this slow movement, Fliter softly faded her last held note into silence, with perfect control over her graceful touch. The final movement, with all of its bravado and light melodies tossed from soloist to orchestra, was played with collective glee (with Sung lifting her hands higher to signal more volume and dancing power from the orchestra).
The concert concluded with a vibrant performance of Antoine Dvorak’s Symphony No. 8 where Sung and the BSO dug into the character of each glorious chapter with verve. There were many great solos during the performance: Cynthia Meyers on her opening piccolo solo and Principal Flute Elizabeth Rowe’s light frolics (piercing the air with their beautiful silvery tone); oboist John Ferrillo and clarinetist William Hudgins in shimmering duet on the swaying folk dance of the third movement and trombonists Toby Oft and Stephen Lange, (along with trumpeter Thomas Rolfs; Mike Roylance’s tuba and the entire horn section) in their propelling of the regal gallop in the final movement.
To enjoy a good slice of all this magic of a BSO performance at Symphony Hall, take a listen to the BSO’s new CD collection exploring the complete symphonies of Johannes Brahms under the baton of Andris Nelsons [BSO Classics label; No. 1701/03].
The sound on these recordings is full bodied, layered and clear. They deliver a dollop of Symphony Hall’s golden ambience as well. (Take a listen to the beginning of the final movement of Brahm’s Symphony No. 1 to hear how deep string plucks resonate golden to the back of the Hall). The full expressive power of this world-class orchestra is on display in these recordings, exploring every nook and cranny of Brahm’s great melodies, his calm valleys and his tumultuous flurries.
This is music of the heart, and the BSO (along with orchestras like the BMOP) are testament to the enduring power of classical music and its continuing evolution and inspiration.
*UPCOMING CONCERT ALERT*
The BMOP’s next concert is on February 23rd at NEC’s Jordan Hall and featuring music by composer John Corigliano. The program includes a guest performance by virtuoso guitarist Eliot Fisk, a faculty member at NEC and one of our region’s treasured classical guitarists. When Fisk joins with the BMOP, it will be a night of soulful and intrepid music-making to be sure.
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