Looks good on paper

The Boston Philharmonic closed their 2014-2015 season with three standards from the Romantic repertoire: the Overture to Tannhäuser by Richard Wagner, Cello Concerto no. 1 by Camille Saint-Saëns and Symphonie Fantastique by Hector Berlioz. This program looked good on paper, and in fact it was excellent.

Conductor Benjamin Zander thrives on extroverted dramatic works, and he is fully engaged if there is some musical scholarship to reveal to the public. Previous successes include corrective interpretations of Beethoven's Fifth and Ninth Symphonies and a fleet-footed Rite of Spring that followed Stravinsky's tempo markings.

Maestro Zander reconsidered a passage in the fifth movement of Symphonie Fantastique that is marked a whole note = 67 beats per minute. At this tempo everything is a blur. Based on the evidence of Franz Liszt's piano transcription of the work, Zander deduced that there is a notation error for what should be a half note = 67 beats, or half as fast. Now all the details of rhythm and texture come into focus. The conductor love to crow his bragging rights: "Of course, we're the first ones to actually play it at this tempo." And instead of sprinting to the end, the orchestra capered in a psychedelic rapture.

Young Boston cellist Jonah Ellsworth was the guest soloist for the Saint-Saëns concerto. BPO principal cellist Rafael Popper-Keizer was noticeably absent for this concert. Is it artistic courtesy (or jealousy) for a principal to step aside for a guest artist? Hmm.

The Boston Philharmonic bid farewell to one of their own, this being the final concert of Thomas Hill, principal clarinet for twenty-two years.