Sibelius 7, Brahms 2

Benjamin Zander and the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra consistently excel with three composers: Tchaikovsky, Mahler and Sibelius. The conductor seems to respond to the extroverted dramatics of their output. The first half of Sunday's concert featured three works by Jean Sibelius, and the musicians never sounded better. The opening bars of Finlandia were exactly the way I want to hear them (reference John Barbirolli and the Halle Orchestra in their 1966 recording): swell—hit—silence [repeat]. The acoustics of Sanders Theatre embraced the volume of sound without blurring the force. It was like a beast breathing down your neck. The Swan of Tuonela, with Peggy Pearson's harrowingly calm English horn solo, and Symphony No 7 were equally captivating. I didn't dare turn my back on the orchestra. Maestro Zander was visibly affected at the close of the symphony. There must have been pride in his orchestra, but also perhaps a feeling of letting go. He is of an age where any concert might mark his final performance of a given work.

I changed seats for the second half of the concert in order to get a better view of the soloist for Brahms's Piano Concerto No 2. My mistake. I moved behind a family with three sons; let's call them six, eight and eleven years old. The boys were well behaved, in that they were quiet during the concert. When they whispered to each other it was a true whisper, not a throaty stage whisper. The middle son was apparently a musician. He had a notebook of hand-written music and drawings. It looked like during the Sibelius he had sketched one of the double-bassists, and during the Brahms he drew the back profile of the conductor. The elder son spent the entire concert playing a racing car game on his mobile device. Granted, it was in silent mode, but I had to tune him out of my peripheral vision. The youngest was playing a video game on his mother's phone right in front of me, so I held up my program to block his display. He settled down and tried to nap for the the second movement, so the mother took the phone to check her email. The six-year-old got an attack of the fidgets during the third movement and was in desperate need of a jungle gym during the finale.

I don't understand why a family would pay several hundred dollars for an afternoon of video games. If they wanted a shared classical music experience, why not listen to the radio together in the living room, or watch a video of the Berlin Philharmonic? Very puzzling.

How was the piano soloist, HaeSun Paik? Okay, I guess.