Spring Break
BSO conquers during its recent concert
by Hannah Kirsch
Deputy Editor
Arts | 10/28/08
Posted online at 1:33 AM EST on 10/28/08
Time and time again, I review Boston Symphony Orchestra concerts for the Justice, and time and time again, I can't help but gush onto the pages all the delight I can muster. The role of a review is, of course, to provide criticism along with praise, but tonight's concert featuring three mavens of French music unlocked an almost childlike capacity for wonderment that makes finding fault difficult.
Olivier Messiaen's Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum merges the composer's love of textural music with his talent for unique melody. The five movements based on resurrection-related Bible passages speak to our spiritual intuition; under James Levine's baton, the piece was appropriately solemn and stimulating, grand and gorgeous.
Conductor and composer Pierre Boulez writes thorny music whose listenability is, to be polite, the subject of debate. But the four Notations exude cataracts of harmonies along with sheer sonic aggression to marvelous effect. The talent of the BSO brass made these short movements memorable, bolstered by the ever-expanding and contracting sound from the strings.
It was Steven Ansell's solo work in Harold in Italy, though, that capped off the evening. Berlioz's "symphony" of sorts provides an opportunity to hear music both derivative and symphonic. Evoking pastoral Italy with a Byronic twist, Levine and the BSO brought the concert to a soaring Romantic finish.
Maybe I would be a better reviewer if I found more to criticize. Maybe the Messiaen was occasionally dour, the Berlioz occasionally disorganized, but the only displeasure I can remember involved a neglected cell phone ringing in the hall. Nevertheless, it should signify something when music inspires enough wonder not necessarily to avoid fault, but enough to erase all memory of it.
Olivier Messiaen's Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum merges the composer's love of textural music with his talent for unique melody. The five movements based on resurrection-related Bible passages speak to our spiritual intuition; under James Levine's baton, the piece was appropriately solemn and stimulating, grand and gorgeous.
Conductor and composer Pierre Boulez writes thorny music whose listenability is, to be polite, the subject of debate. But the four Notations exude cataracts of harmonies along with sheer sonic aggression to marvelous effect. The talent of the BSO brass made these short movements memorable, bolstered by the ever-expanding and contracting sound from the strings.
It was Steven Ansell's solo work in Harold in Italy, though, that capped off the evening. Berlioz's "symphony" of sorts provides an opportunity to hear music both derivative and symphonic. Evoking pastoral Italy with a Byronic twist, Levine and the BSO brought the concert to a soaring Romantic finish.
Maybe I would be a better reviewer if I found more to criticize. Maybe the Messiaen was occasionally dour, the Berlioz occasionally disorganized, but the only displeasure I can remember involved a neglected cell phone ringing in the hall. Nevertheless, it should signify something when music inspires enough wonder not necessarily to avoid fault, but enough to erase all memory of it.
Be the first to comment on this story