Making his BSO subscription series debut, conductor John Storgårds leads pianist Martin Helmchen in Mozart's gregarious, large-scale Piano Concerto in E-flat, K.482, composed in late 1785 when Mozart was also working on his comic opera The Marriage of Figaro. The Finnish Storgårds also brings three Finnish works to Symphony Hall, beginning with Kaija Saariaho's gorgeous study of orchestral color Ciel d'hiver ("Winter Sky"), an arrangement of a movement from her earlier, symphony-like Orion. Jean Sibelius's final two symphonies, nos. 6 and 7, are two of the greatest works in the symphonic literature. Though very different from one another, both demonstrate the composer's distinctively rich orchestration and organic, fluid transformations of material.(Some emphasis added.)
Whether the Sibelius symphonies are "two of the greatest works in the symphonic literature" and "very different from one another" are matters of opinion, and mine differs from that of the writer of those words. To me, these symphonies were not nearly as engaging or interesting as his earlier symphonies. There was nothing very unpleasant in them, so they are certainly easier to listen to than a lot of 20th century music, but at one point I was reminded of what a critic said of a symphony of Bruckner: it's like a walk in the forest — you see nice things, but nothing happens. In other words, I found them dull. Perhaps I will feel differently if I can listen to them again during the rebroadcast on February 4. The Saariaho piece could have seemed dull too, but for whatever reason, it didn't. I thought it lived up to its name.
The reviewers don't agree with me about the Sibelius being dull, although the Globe doesn't seem to think they are very different from one another. Other than thinking that the Mozart concerto, while well performed, didn't belong with the other three works, the reviewer was very happy. The Intelligencer gives extensive analyses of the Finnish pieces (expressing more positively my Bruckner comparison). Overall, the review is positive, with some specific reservations.
By the way, there were women freelancers playing second flute, third horn in the Saariaho, and second, third, and side horns in the Sibelius. There was also a freelance tympanist for the Saariaho and the Sibelius 7th. In the 6th, percussionist Kyle Brightwell did the honors on the kettledrums, and gave an interesting contrast to the stranger. Throughout the symphony, young Mr. Brightwell could be seen almost constantly checking the tuning of his instruments by putting his ear close to the surface of a drum and tapping it with a finger. Usually, it was okay, but occasionally, he adjusted the tuning with a mechanism at the top of the instrument. The interloper, OTOH, apparently didn't have perfect or absolute pitch, so he relied on a little electronic device to check the pitches of the drums, and he felt no need to keep checking. He checked them before the symphony began, and only once during the piece.
Anyway, I think the concert, even if it isn't quite at the "must hear" level, is worth listening to when WCRB provides it on air and over the internet at 8:00 p.m. EST, live this evening, and recorded on February 4.
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