I attended the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s concert this afternoon at Symphony Hall in Boston. Jiri Belohlavek conducted.
The first work on the program was Harbison’s symphony no. 5 for baritone, mezzo-soprano, and orchestra (2008), on texts of Czeslaw Milosz, Louise Glück, and Rainer Maria Rilke. I had attended the work’s premiere in 2008 (see notes below) and was interested to hear it again. Both soloists were very good, but I felt that I had enjoyed the symphony more the first time I heard it. In 2008, and I’m just guessing here, maybe the conductor James Levine and the baritone Nathan Gunn had a higher opinion of the work and were doing their best to give it a good performance. Maybe Belohlavek and Finley did not quite share Levine and Gunn’s appreciation of the work. And of course maybe not at all. As I said, I’m just guessing. Finley did enunciate the words very clearly, as did Nathan Gunn in 2008, but Nathan Gunn has a more pleasant voice that it is easier to listen to for twenty minutes or so when the music itself is not very interesting. I thought that Finley did not like the notes he was asked to sing in a couple of places, one of them being the line about descending many floors. Sasha Cooke has a lush voice that it was a pleasure to hear.
After the intermission, Beethoven's piano concerto number 4 was given a beautiful performance, with Jonathan Biss the piano soloist. Then came Beethoven's Leonore Overture no. 3, which Belohlavek conducted from memory. The orchestra sounded especially wonderful in that work.
This was an afternoon performance. All the men on stage wore business suits, except Gerald Finley, who wore a frock coat with a purple tie and a white shirt with buttoned cuffs. He looked better in a frock coat than Dmitri Hvorostovsky did in his recital last February. Sasha Cooke wore a black evening gown.
My notes on the April 17, 2008, concert:
I attended a performance of the new Harbison symphony tonight (i.e.
Thursday night). It is in four movements, with singing in every
movement. The baritone sings in the first two movements, the
mezzo-soprano sings in the third movement, and they both sing in the
last movement. It lasts roughly 40 minutes, give or take a few
minutes. Nathan did very well, I thought, even though it may not be
the ideal piece to show off his voice. The symphony held my interest
throughout and was never unpleasant. He wore white tie and tails and
looked more rested, but the hair looked about the same. No dancing,
but he did sway his hips a few times while he was standing and
singing. Kate Lindsey was quite impressive.
Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde was performed after the intermission.
Johan Botha was not there because he was ill. He was replaced by Ben
Heppner. Anne-Sofie von Otter was very moving, especially in the last
movement. She looked spectacular in a red silk dress that appeared to
be of Chinese design.
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