Let’s Call This …

I went to the final Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) post-Thanksgiving holiday performance of Schumann, Harbinson, and Wagner on Tuesday with my friend JFK (not that one). James Levine returned this week to lead our fine orchestra in Robert Schumann’s Symphony No. 3 “Rhenish”, John Harbison’s Symphony No. 1, and Richard Wagner’s Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde.

It was my first performance of Schumann’s Symphony No. 3, though I admit I was a bit underwhelmed by it. No. 4 remains my favorite so far, and No. 2 on Thursday will complete the Schumann symphonic cycle this season at the BSO, which I am looking forward to.

Harbison’s Symphony No. 1 was written in 1981, and therefore, it is a more modern piece. I admit I’m not the most adventurous modern classical music fan in the world, and while I enjoyed his Double Concerto premiere last season, I did not enjoy Symphony No. 3 as much earlier this year. However, the first symphony definitely had moments I appreciated, especially in the first movement, which i did enjoy. Harbison uses percussion in this piece in interesting ways, and it almost sounds like jazz drums at times behind the symphony orchestra. There’s a lot of audible turbulence in this piece, and one thing that can be frustrating and at least emotional provocative is the movement from one tense phrase to the next. There’s little if any time to fully pause and appreciate the gravity of each little piece of the movement. This is almost more of a general commentary on what I do not enjoy about a lot of modern Western art music: much of it seems to share this mood. Once again, Mr Harbison was in the audience, as we saw him disappear from his far audience right orchestra seat shortly after the conclusion of the piece’s performance, only to have him emerge on the stage for an admittedly languishing audience reception.

Again the gem of the evening came from where I least expected. While my premonition was to favor the Schumann last night, I ended up really enjoying the finale, Wagner’s Prelude and Liebestod from the opera Tristan und Isolde. I do not know the story of Tristan, despite it being well-known, but it must be a solemn affair. The BSO and Symphony Hall both performed exquisitely in this regard, wringing out the emotional intensity of the piece. In the prelude, there is a slow build that culminates in an explosion of strings, and in the silent wake of each phrase is a wrenching longing, in equal parts beautiful and painful. There are hints of a theme forming in the prelude that I hope is revisited at later times in the opera. In the Liebestod, I hear a longing that manages to retain a sense of hope. I’m not sure if this is accurate, but it too is quite a beautiful piece. I had no expectations for this piece and did not even know which Wagner would be performed, but I was delighted and now have a piqued interest in the full opera.

Overall it was a night of near-misses and small triumphs, but the surprise of finding such a great piece with which I wasn’t before familiar always makes it more than worthwhile.