Concert Review: Asher Fisch conducts the Boston Symphony Orchestra

The Schumann First formed the capstone to conductor Asher Fisch’s conspicuously satisfying Boston Symphony Orchestra subscription series debut program

Conductor Asher Fisch leading the BSO in a performance of Avner Dorman's "Astrolatry." Photo: Stu Rosner.

Conductor Asher Fisch leading the BSO in a performance of Avner Dorman’s “Astrolatry.” Photo: Stu Rosner.

By Jonathan Blumhofer

In the dead of winter, the weekend after a blizzard, surely there are fewer more welcome symphonies – or, really, symphonic concepts – than Robert Schumann’s First. Subtitled “Spring” because the opening motive sets a line of a vernal poem by Adolf Boettger, it’s a symphony filled with music of great warmth of character, boundless energy, and not a little charm. On Saturday, the Schumann First formed the capstone to Asher Fisch’s conspicuously satisfying Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) subscription series debut program.

There’s much that can go wrong in any performance of a Schumann symphony. His orchestrations are famously bottom-heavy, so finding correct instrumental balances can be tricky. What’s more, Schumann’s melodic writing tends to be motivic and requires a sure understanding of his unique melodic style. Most difficult, though, is capturing the intimate, chamber music-like quality that’s inherent in his writing for orchestra, because that’s, essentially, how Schumann approached the ensemble: the orchestra as a giant chamber group.

Much credit is due Fisch and the BSO, then, for realizing all these facets in this Symphony on Saturday night. There was fine layering of textures throughout. Fisch, an accomplished Wagnerian, navigated Schumann’s leitmotif-like melodic writing with ease and assurance. And, especially in the first and third movements, there was a nice sense of the music’s poetic content, particularly in the curious coda that appends the latter and leads into the finale.

Overall, Fisch’s was a taut, stirring account of this “Spring” Symphony; the rather tepid response from Saturday night’s audience came as a bit of a surprise. Perhaps they were bothered by the sometimes-ragged ensemble work over the finale’s main theme or the early trombone entrance in that movement’s coda? We’ll likely never know. The whole performance certainly more than compensated for those lapses, with much visceral energy and moments of sheer, luxurious beauty (like the trombone chorale towards the end of the second movement).

There was much energy and beauty in Julian Rachlin’s interpretation of Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto no. 2, which came before intermission. This weekend’s was the third major program on which this concerto has appeared in Boston since November (the other local performances of note were by the San Francisco Symphony and Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra). And, appropriately, Rachlin delivered a distinctive exegesis of this familiar piece.

Violinist Julian Rachlin with the BSO. Photo: Stu Rosner.

Violinist Julian Rachlin with the BSO. Photo: Stu Rosner.

If Gil Shaham’s reading (with the SFSO) was meditative and introspective, and Yevgeny Kutik’s (with Pro Arte) was marked by a questing spirit, Rachlin treated this score as a big-boned, established, quasi-Romantic warhorse. His playing in the outer movements was aggressive in the best sense of the word, commanding but flexible and mighty of tone. And Rachlin’s account of the slow middle movement was mesmeric, marked by elegance of phrasing and sweet, supple lyricism.

Fisch and the orchestra sometimes covered their soloist – the orchestral string contingent was a bit big for this piece – but they justly teased out the acidity in Prokofiev’s contrapuntal writing in the outer movements and delivered a pleasing reading of the involved scoring in the middle one. The finale packed a sturdy rhythmic kick, to boot.

Saturday’s concert opened with Avner Dorman’s Astrolatry, a luminous, fourteen-minute-long curtain raiser that takes its inspiration from the practice of star worship. Cast in two connected movements, it opens with the haunting texture of double bass harmonics and marimba. Flecks of percussion and wind instruments intrude; gradually the whole orchestra enters. Latin and Middle Eastern gestures appear – a klezmer-ish solo clarinet and tango rhythms – before the worship ritual begins. The music in this second part builds to a Sensemaya-like froth with bass drum and other percussion leading the way. Fragments of the first movement abruptly calm things down before one more ritualistic outburst, and Astrolatry ends with a mysterious, “celestial” chord.

In form and content, it’s a straightforward piece and not a little cinematic (again, in the best sense of the term: think of the opening of Shostakovich’s Symphony no. 11). Dorman handles all his materials with great creativity. His scoring is consistently fresh and confident, always showing off the whole orchestra expertly and to fine effect, and Fisch, who’s championed Dorman’s music for some time, conducted with gusto. The BSO took to the piece with palpable enthusiasm: the ovation Dorman got from the orchestra afterwards was nearly as enthusiastic as the considerable cheers he received from the crowd in the hall. With Astrolatry, he’s written a piece of substance that’s also simply fun to listen to – it ably satisfies the head as well as the heart – and makes a strong case that Dorman is a composer with whom the BSO should seriously consider cultivating a long-term relationship.


Jonathan Blumhofer is a composer and violist who has been active in the greater Boston area since 2004. His music has received numerous awards and been performed by various ensembles, including the American Composers Orchestra, Kiev Philharmonic, Camerata Chicago, Xanthos Ensemble, and Juventas New Music Group. Since receiving his doctorate from Boston University in 2010, Jon has taught at Clark University, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and online for the University of Phoenix, in addition to writing music criticism for the Worcester Telegram & Gazette.

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