THE ARTS ETC
__________________________________________________________________________
TANGLEWOOD
SUMMER HOME
OF THE
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
LENOX, MASSACHUSETTS
2011 SEAS0N
SMETANA, MOZART, TCHAIKOVSKY
Conductor, Lionel Bringuier
Soloist, Emanuel Ax
AUGUST 7, 2011
REVIEWED BY DEBRA TINKHAM
Tanglewood was hot today and we’re talking about more than the weather!
Once the orchestra was settled for a stellar and varied menu, the Associate Concertmaster, Tamara Smirnova, and Concertmaster, Malcolm Lowe, welcomed French- born conductor, Lionel Bringuier. Although he has an impressive resume, today happened to be his Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) debut. Prior to today’s spectacular performance, he conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and is currently music director of the Orquesta Sinfonica de Castilla y Leon, in Spain. His future conducting venues are planned for Munich, Oslo, Helsinki, Cleveland, Hamburg, Zurich, Birmingham and Rotterdam, to name a few. Did we mention he is 25 years old?
Probably unknown to many, Bringuier started the program with “The Moldau” from “Ma Vlast” (My Country) by Czech born Bedrich Smetana. Hugh MacDonald, a guest annotator for the BSO said…”it was not his sole ambition to ‘be Czech’…he was shunned by some as being too German or too Wagnerian.” The bottom line is this work was majestic, with whimsical variations on the theme and interesting recapitulations.
Walking towards an abbreviated orchestra – less strings, no trombones or tubas, just trumpets and French horns -- plus a Steinway grand piano, Bringuier accompanied Emanuel Ax, pianist extraordinaire onto the stage for their interpretation of Wolfgang Mozart’s Piano Concerto in E-flat. The most notable features of the Allegro were the rapid arpeggios and lovely and graceful hand action of Ax. Light and dark moods were the tone of the Andante, ending with a playful Allegro. Ax continually, visually, addressed the orchestra with emotion and had Bringuier not done such a fine job conducting, Ax could have easily pulled it off. Of note was a beautiful flutter tonguing solo by the flutist, with Ax joining in for a fitting duet.
This stunning performance called for a standing ovation. Bringuier humbly recognized Ax and the separate sections of the orchestra.
With the return of the full orchestra, Tanglewoodians settled in for Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s dark, emotional, high-powered, false endings of his Symphony No. 5 in E minor. This four movement, lengthy symphony got off to a slow and dark start. As the dynamics built, so too did the tempo. The recapitulations throughout were nice variations from strings, brass and woodwinds.
The third movement Scherzo was atypical in tempo and style with pleasing variations of dynamics. Tchaikovsky is synonymous with adjectives such as violent, energetic, charged, fateful, rhythmic, exciting, suspenseful, broad and majestic. He makes musicians work hard – very hard. He made Bringuier work very hard, but it was worth it.
With all the electronic gadgetry -- ipods, ipads, iphones, hard rock music, violent movies -- it is nice to know there’s a place where you can hear really fine music, performed by state-of-the-art musicians and at this particular concert, a young conductor we are certain to hear more about.
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