Symphony Hall, Boston. First Balcony (Seat G24, $63).
Grosvenor and Nelsons at the conclusion of the Grieg piano concerto.
Program
Finlandia, Op. 26 by Sibelius (1865-1957); conducted by Ross Jamie Collins.
Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16 by Grieg (1843-1907).
From Holberg's Time, Suite in olden style, Op. 40 by Grieg; conducted by Na'Zir McFadden.
Symphony No. 7 in C, op. 105, in one movememt by Sibelius.
This was the second concert we attended for the day. It was a much better experience compared to the Messiah concert we did earlier.
The singers sounded weak at the Messiah concert, that it was due to bad acoustics at the seat got dispelled tonight. Our seats were one row behind (Row G), on the left side of the center balcony section. The music came across loud and clear. We moved to Row C after Finlandia, and enjoyed the rest of the concert from there.
Grosvenor was a substitute because the pianist originally scheduled had to withdraw. It was not an issue at all as Grosvenor put in a thoroughly enjoyable performance. For encore he played Ravel's Jeux D'eau. (I could tell it was Ravel, but needed Google to identify the piece.)
Grieg's Holberg Suite is not nearly as well-known as his Peer Gynt Suite. For one it doesn't have as many hummable or "exciting" melodies. While Peer Gynt was based on an Ibsen drama, Holberg was written as a tribute to the Norwegian Ludwig Holberg (1684-1754), considered by many the founding father of Norwegian letters. Grieg specifically harkened back to the music of Holberg's time - think Bach and Handel - and indeed the piece has a strong baroque feel to it. It was first composed for a solo piano, which Grieg adapted for a string orchestra. The movements indeed reminds one of the markings of baroque music: (I) Praeludium. Allegro vivace; (II) Sarabande. Andante - Un poco mosso - Tempo primo; (III) Gavotte. Allegretto - Musette. Poco piu mosso - Da capo. (IV) Air. Andante religioso; and (V) Reigaudon. Allegro con brio - Poco meno mosso - Da capo. I do wonder if the piece was performed with period instruments during Grieg's time.
Tonight's program concluded with Sibelius's Seventh Symphony. It was a 22-minute single movement work, with tempo markings Adagio-Vivacissimo-Adagio-Allegro molto moderato-Allegro moderato-Vivace-Presto-Adagio-Largamente molto-Affectuaoso-Tempo I (I hope I didn't miss anything in the transcription). The Program Notes advises against listening for all the tempo changes, but instead describes an overarching three-movement design: Adagio, Vivacissimo, and Allegro Molto, with Presto as a coda.
Sibelius's Finlandia was conducted by Ross Jamie Collins.
Grieg's Holberg Suite was conducted by Na'Zir McFadden.
Conclusion of the concert. Time stamp: 10:14 pm.
What is particularly interesting - for me anyway - is the choice of pieces for the program. My first reaction after seeing Grieg's and Sibelius's names was that it would be a depressing program. Turns out it was mostly composer writing "patriotic" music under somewhat unpleasant circumstances (Grieg's Norway against Sweden, and Sibelius's Finland against Russia).
A couple of additional remarks. Two of the pieces were conducted by BSO Fellows. For the young composer it's rare to have opportunities to work with a world-renowned orchestra, and the two gentlemen made good use of the short time they had in the lime light. I have seen Nelsons conduct several times before, this was the first time he spoke to the audience expressing his appreciation of being where he was. He mentioned that he was a "middle-aged man," and I found out he just turned 46, which meant he was named the BSO music director at 36.
With the piano encore and Nelson's speech, the concert didn't end until around 10:15 pm. We were in the Symphony Hall vicinity from 2:30 pm to 10:30 pm, it didn't feel long.
No comments:
Post a Comment