(Mostly) French Music at the Boston Symphony Orchestra Concert

(Mostly) French Music at the Boston Symphony Orchestra Concert

Saturday, Jan. 16, 2016

Francois-Xavier Roth, conductor; Renee Fleming, soprano

Program:  

Debussy:  Jeux

Dutilleux:  Le Temps L'horloge

Canteloube: Selections from Songs of the Auvergne

Stravinsky: Petrushka

I was excited to go to this concert because it was my first opportunity to hear Petrushka live.  I heard it on recordings--countless times.  I heard (and played through) the piano version.  But never the orchestral version live.

When I was a teen, I got my hands on the LP of Petrushka played by the Israel Philharmonic with Lorin Maazel conducting.  That was my education for the piece.  I could practically see the fair and the puppets.  It was cinematic and visual.  The fade-ins and fade-outs were perfect.  The rhythm and the meter just so.  This is the performance that is ingrained in my inner ear, and perhaps no other version will ever quite match that.

But there are other reasons why tonight's performance was somewhat disappointing to me.

Let's be clear:  The BSO is a fantastic orchestra. That's a fact. However, I was disappointed by Petrushka. It was bombastic and strangely lacking in nuance (in sound, meter and emotion). The brass section blared uncontrolled, with balance and melody suffering for the hyped up volume. Individually, there was great playing and there were wonderful moments.  Elizabeth Rowe's flute solo was superb, and the tuba was magnificent.  The trumpet section glows.  So it came as an unpleasant surprise then when the last trumpet solo didn't quite make it notewise.  It also wasn't quite menacing enough, but both of these are really the conductor's fault.  Roth's interpretation reached for volume, not nuance.  At moments I felt that the orchestra was uncomfortable with the tempos Roth chose.  I find that so many performers (that includes conductors) simply don't let the music breathe or tell its story.  They force the sound instead of allowing the music to speak for itself.  Listening is the most important part of being a good musician.  The sound doesn't have to go wall-to-wall; you can leave some room for silence at either end of the spectrum (especially the loud end).  And phrasing!  That is so much a function of breathing.  The trumpet solo failed mostly because Roth didn't let it happen.  He forced it.  It wasn't Petrushka's spirit shaking its fist menacingly from the top of the marionette theater--it was some giant dragon trying to issue one last roar and flame.  That's not what it is supposed to be.

 Renee Fleming has a gorgeous voice, but it was not well suited for the dark blocks of sound of the Deutilleux. The Songs of the Auvergne was lovely but weak on character. Ms. Fleming's dark green gown, however, was a beauty.  Entering the stage, the gown seemed almost black. But as Ms. Fleming approached the center of the stage, the color became apparent.  Would that the music was so nuanced.

By far, the jewel of the evening was Jeux by Debussy. The BSO and Francois-Xavier Roth captured the sparkle, the sound bursts, the colors, the sinuous lines, the flames. That was worth the entire concert. Now that showed the orchestra in its best light... er... sound. 

Did I say the BSO is a fantastic orchestra? Because it is.