Boston Symphony Orchestra
Charles Dutoit, one of the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s favorite guest conductors, drew playing of high energy and vivid color.
Saturday’s pairing demonstrated exactly the kind of risky programming the Boston Symphony Orchestra shouldn’t be afraid to explore, even when it doesn’t all quite come together.
The Boston Symphony Orchestra lacks a composer-in-residence. There are many local composers the orchestra might draw on were it to establish such a position, but few have the international reputation of someone like Thomas Adés.
If Thursday’s performance of Mahler’s Second Symphony by the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus was marked by some untidiness, the broad picture to emerge was one of often thrilling, Apollonian grandeur.
In conductor Christoph von Dohnányi, the BSO has one of its most trusted guests and thoughtful collaborators.
To my ears, the Boston Symphony Orchestra—supplemented by saxophones, guitar, and mandolin—sounded overblown and unbalanced, oddly tinny at times (perhaps because of the amplification), glorious at others.
The selection of Andris Nelsons, 34, as the BSO’s next chief is an inspired choice and bold, and not just because of his age.
The return to the standard repertoire, which, since January, has been the orchestra’s primary focus, is safe, unassuming, and (potentially, at least) creatively stifling.
Next season’s stale programming certainly derives from the BSO’s lack of a music director guiding and shaping the overall course of the season.
Fuse Commentary: 2013-1014 Orchestral Season Preview
So, even though certain pieces by Mendelssohn and Beethoven seem to be turning up with greater frequency than perhaps may be healthy, there is still much to admire and look forward to in the upcoming orchestral season.
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