Jonathan Blumhofer
With its Opera Annex productions – presenting unfamiliar operas in unconventional performance spaces – Boston Lyric Opera really seems to have found its niche.
Under Michael Tilson Thomas’s leadership, the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra’s sound has been refined and tightened; its repertoire has grown to embrace American music of all stripes.
Saturday’s attendance hopefully warms the hearts of the BSO’s management. Not only was the house very full, but the assembly also included a healthy proportion of younger heads.
Quibbles about some characteristics of the new pieces aside, hats off to Richard Pittman and the New England Philharmonic for daring to present a program like this..
As they often do in repertoire that doesn’t turn up too frequently, the orchestra responded to the music with heightened sensitivity and attention to detail.
The orchestral playing, a couple moments of questionable intonation notwithstanding, was commanding and, at times, exhilarating.
The BSO played with palpable enthusiasm. Andris Nelsons conducted with characteristic energy. There was, by the end of the evening, certainly, quite a bit about which to be happy.
At least waiting for Andris Nelsons to take over the orchestra is done. And we don’t have to bide too much time before we get to hear more from him: his first subscription series with the BSO kicks off on Wednesday.
Music Commentary: “I’ve neither seen nor heard it, but I don’t like it. (And neither should you.)”: “The Death of Klinghoffer” Meets the Know-Nothing Protest
What we seem to have here is one of the glories of our democracy in action: the blind leading the oblivious; aping distortions and downright falsehoods about the opera.
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