I've just returned from a concert at the Boston Symphony Orchestra, conducted by BSO's new (and 15th) music director Andris Nelsons - Beethoven's 8th, Bartok's Suite from The Miraculous Mandarin and, after the intermission, Tchaikovsky's 6th (Pathetique). I loved it. I'm not a music critic, so I can't be very sophisticated in my comments, but there is no doubt Nelsons enthralled many concert-goers. Beethoven's 8th in particular was received with great applauses and bravos. Nelsons singled out certain members of the orchestra for extra praise and it was endearing to see the first player who was singled out (a woman in the first row of cellos) look all surprised by the attention, although she clearly deserved it. I had never heard Bartok's Suite from The Miraculous Mandarin before and it was fascinating to recognize in the music the actions, mentioned in the program, that would have normally been shown on stage through a pantomine (Bartok composed the work for the stage). Finally, I found
Tchaikovsky's 6th life-affirming and vibrant in spite of the much darker last movement, which depicts death. In fact, after hearing the Boston Symphony play the piece, this may become one of my favorite symphonies of the moment. The one little quibble I had was that I think Nelsons held the silence after the last note a bit too long and I wondered if that didn't play a role in how subdued the applause was afterward - people applauded for a long time, but in a very parsimonious way, although the playing and conducting had all been spectacular. Or maybe Bostonians don't like Tchaikovsky? Maybe it's too emotional for them? (On the platform waiting for the T afterward I heard elderly concert-goers praise the first half as one of the best concert halves they had ever attended, but they weren't as thrilled by Tchaikovsky, although I couldn't figure out why.) The symphony is indeed very long and every time I hear it I think it's done after the 3rd movement - the darker 4th movement never resonates with me as much as the dynamic 3rd does, and the symphony would be of very respectable length (around 38 minutes) without it, although of course its meaning would be completely changed. But perhaps the audiences, mostly elderly people, were just tired after a long period of attentive listening. I really thought the BSO did a great job with it.
I was reading Chekhov's Three Sisters during the intermission and had almost reached the end of the play, I've seen it already so I know how it ends and maybe it's something about Russian creative types from another century but the three sisters' disappointment with life and their ultimate determination to go on living without answers as to why their dreams didn't come to pass seemed like the perfect accompaniment to Tchaikovsky's music. That might also explain why the symphony resonated with me to the extent it did.
Nelsons came across as energetic, engaged and inspirational - using the full space available to him on the podium and often leaning toward the players. Maybe it is only due to his relatively young age and, one assumes, his desire to shine in his brand-new role as music director, but he seemed far more attuned to his orchestra than many conductors I've seen elsewhere, and I've seen a lot. Obviously the BSO must have rehearsed a lot for his first season as music director, while guest conductors often only have a few hours with the orchestra before the audience arrives, but even when I've seen Alan Gilbert conduct his own New York Philharmonic, the (very successful) concerts didn't have the same quality of buoyancy and verve. Anyway, I thought the concert marked an excellent beginning to Nelsons's tenure at the BSO.
Catch a repeat of the program on Thursday 10/2 at 8pm and on Friday at 1:30pm. Watch Nelsons lead his first BSO rehearsal on the Boston Globe YouTube channel:
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