The BSO makes a festive return to Symphony Hall

The most moving moment at the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s concert that marked its return after an 18-month (568-day, to be exact) absence in its large concert hall was the long standing ovation the audience gave the musicians during their appearance on stage Thursday evening, September 30. More ovations were to come, but the most enthusiastic was the one who greeted the orchestra before it played a single note. Everyone seemed very happy to be in this room. Music Director Andris Nelsons, in his Latvian-tinged English, thanked the audience for “fostering an environment of acceptance and inclusion”.

The program touched on a lot of basics: history, discovery, fame, popularity. It started with Beethoven’s cutting edge selection of the end of the overture, the aptly named ‘The Consecration of the House’, which kicked off BSO’s very first concert in 1881. It was followed by a recent piece and ambitious, John Williams’ Violin Concerto No. 2. , winner of the beloved Boston Pops conductor. The star soloist was violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, for whom the piece, as Williams writes, was “Specially composed. “The grand finale was arguably the most popular work ever commissioned for the BSO, Bartók’s Orchestral Concerto. And there was even a surprise world premiere. Nelsons compared the BSO to a five-star restaurant, in which “music is the food of our souls”.

We had the privilege of hearing many beautiful sounds, although the one that struck me the most was the reverberating Beethoven opening chord, that rare combination of breadth, warmth and depth allowed by the sumptuous acoustics of Symphony Hall.

We had the privilege of hearing many beautiful sounds, although the one that struck me the most was the reverberating Beethoven opening chord, that rare combination of breadth, warmth and depth afforded by acoustics. sumptuous Symphony Hall – a sound impossible to reproduce electronically. We were finally back in the unamplified, non-reproducible world of live music.

The Beethoven overture had a few good qualities, especially the wide dynamic range elicited by Nelsons, from delicate strings to huge kettledrums. Beethoven’s culminating fugue – more like Handel and Mozart than like Bach – had exceptional transparency. But there was also some detuned solo work, and an occasional thick texture blurred important details. Especially in the music of this period, I wish Nelsons would divide the violin sections in an antiphonic way, as the composers intended. It was ultimately an indiscriminate performance of a striking piece that we don’t hear often enough.

The Williams Concerto is a grand, four-movement opus that Williams, at the age of 89, first conducted at Tanglewood last summer. At Symphony Hall he was back (although this fact was accidentally omitted from the program booklet and an apology insert must have been included), as was Mutter. After the performance, Williams called her “one of the greatest instrumentalists on the planet”. I wonder if a warmer, more emotionally engaged, or more nuanced soloist than the technically phenomenal Mutter could have moved or excited me more. The most compelling music seemed the intricate part of the harp, and Jessica Zhou, the main harpist of the BSO, with her harp in front and in the center rather than to the side, was a wonder. I wish Williams would write him a new harp concerto (in 2009 he wrote one for the retirement of Zhou’s predecessor, Ann Hobson Pilot). The hushed end for violin and harp reminded me of Brahms. But much of the music seemed to imitate what the great violin concertos sound like. I kept telling myself “I think this is meant to be beautiful” and “I think this is meant to be touching”. But little of my first hearing of this piece stayed with me.

After the concerto, Williams returned to the stage to announce the very first performance of his new arrangement for Mutter and the orchestra of one of his old film scores: the love theme he wrote for the neo version. Robert Altman’s 1973 noir from “The Long Goodbye” (lyrics by Johnny Mercer). This sheet music had one of the most spiritual uses of movie music – the sheet music is practically a character. Wherever Philip Marlowe (Elliott Gould ) goes – a nightclub, an elevator, a supermarket, or even when someone turns on the radio – that’s what happens, arranged in a dazzling variety of appropriate styles. This super saturated theme is so lush that even a as cool and tough player as Mutter couldn’t lessen his romantic load.

More applause, then intermission. Old friends and much missed staff all in masks and hugging happily. In the Cabot-Cahners Room, a classic bust in a display case seemed happy to watch the crowd behind his own mask!

Then, back inside for the Bartók.

Serge Koussevitzky, the legendary musical director of the BSO from 1924 to 1949, commissioned Bartók’s Concerto for orchestra for the BSO in 1943. Between its premiere on December 1, 1944 and this first performance, the BSO and Boston Pops played it close to 200 times. And it always sounds fresh.

It is a “concerto for orchestra” because practically every musician is a soloist. Elizabeth Rowe (flute) and John Ferrillo (oboe) were particularly noteworthy (and not for the first time) – phrasing with imagination, charm and rhythmic zest.

This Bartók is a Nelson specialty, and he started well, with a sense of mystery in the opening ropes. His tempos were a bit slow, but this decision allowed us to hear intricate details. But then the tempos started to drag. In the fourth of the five movements, the Intermezzo (“interrupted intermezzo”), one of Bartók’s most fleeting melodies, seemed slower than fast. What “interrupts” the intermezzo is a sudden satirical quote from Shostakovich’s Seventh Symphony, in which Shostakovich himself quotes the popular holiday song from Franz Lehár’s operetta “The Merry Widow” (“I’m going to Maxim’s ») And transforms it into a relentless military assault, music illustrating the hateful German invasion of Russia. We know Nelsons knew Bartók was joking because the passage started with a strong raspberry from the trombone. But then the satire evaporated. The presto Finale was certainly fast, but this time the speed is hazy rather than energized.

Nelsons lingered to give each player their own moment to bask in the applause.

Here is a new season at Symphony Hall. For the next concerts, don’t forget your proof of vaccination or your negative test results (very skillfully and efficiently handled by the people at the door). And your own mask.