Zacharias conducted Ballet Music I and Entr'actes II & III from memory and without a baton. He drew a detailed balance from the orchestra that lifted this incidental music to a higher level. The interplay among the wind instruments was particularly ear-catching.
After the Schubert suite there was a brief pause as the lower strings left the stage. Stage managers cleared a wide path, struck the podium and wheeled in a Steinway concert grand. The players came back in followed by Zacharias, who went to the piano to perform Mozart's Piano Concerto No 17 in G major, K453. The keyboard faced the orchestra, with the piano lid removed to give the musicians a clear sight line to the pianist/conductor.
Zacharias stood and conducted the first seventy measures, again batonless and from memory, then sat to prepare his first piano entrance. The BSO didn't need much guidance to continue in tempo, but the soloist would use a free hand, a head nod or body language to emphasize downbeats or shape the dynamics. He played Mozart's own written cadenzas, showing that there is no need to improve on the master. Zacharias loves this music, the musicians loved playing it with him, and I loved being there to hear it.
The piano disappeared during the intermission, and the second half of the program returned to Schubert. The orchestra played Entr'acte I from Rosamunde as a pre-movement to Symphony in B minor, 'Unfinished'. I was again struck by the textures that Zacharias got out of the musicians: a whisper of a tremolo from the violas and cellos in the entr'acte; the singing tone of the cellos in the main melody of the symphony's first movement. The softs were delicate, the louds were full but never overblown.
I go to Symphony Hall in the hope of witnessing excellence.This evening it was hope fulfilled. If you get a chance to attend Saturday's concert, or at least listen to the live radio broadcast, you will be rewarded with exemplary music-making.
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