Tanglewood, Lenox, MA
August 4-5, 2018
by Michael J. Moran
Guest conductors can bring a special excitement to
Tanglewood, especially when they’re accompanied by world-class vocal and
instrumental soloists. All this and a major BSO and Tanglewood conducting debut
made for two memorable concerts over the past weekend.
On Saturday evening genial British-born maestro Bramwell
Tovey opened his program with the next installment of this season’s “Bernstein
Centennial Summer,” a stirring rendition of that composer’s 1977 “Songfest,” a
40-minute “cycle of American poems for six singers and orchestra.” While these
twelve colorfully orchestrated settings of diverse writers were brilliantly
executed by all the musicians, soprano Nadine Sierra’s lively “A Julia de
Burgos” (by herself), bass-baritone Eric Owens’s magisterial “To What You Said”
(Walt Whitman), and mezzo-soprano Kelley O’Connor’s touching “Sonnet: What lips
my lips have kissed…” (Edna St. Vincent Millay) were especially memorable.
A majestic performance of the second symphony by Sibelius
ended the program on a note of epic grandeur. Written in 1901, the symphony can
be heard as a Finlandia-like protest against contemporary Russian domination of
Finland. Its dramatic arc was vividly conjured by Tovey and the BSO, from the
pastoral opening “Allegretto” movement, to the turbulent “Tempo Andante, ma
rubato” and the nimble “Vivacissimo,” to the triumphant “Finale: Allegro
moderato.”
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| Dima Slobodeniouk |
On Sunday afternoon rising young Russian-born maestro Dima
Slobodeniouk made an impressive BSO and Tanglewood debut with soloist Joshua
Bell in a sweeping presentation of Wieniawski’s 1862 second violin concerto.
Bell brought his trademark warmth to the opening “Allegro moderato,” tenderness
to the central “Romance,” and exuberance to the closing “Allegro con fuoco.”
Slobodeniouk’s communicative baton and graceful gestures elicited playing of
deep emotion and finesse from the BSO.
An exciting version of Borodin’s Polovtsian Dances from
“Prince Igor” opened the program, which ended with a riveting account of
Prokofiev’s 1945 fifth symphony. Slobodeniouk and the orchestra revealed new
insights into this most familiar of the composer’s seven symphonies, from a
dark undercurrent in the opening “Andante,” to a touch of sarcasm in the
“Allegro moderato,” a sense of mystery in the “Adagio,” and a hint of protest
in the closing “Allegro giocoso.” This is clearly a conductor to watch.
