Beethoven gets star treatment under BSO
By T.J. Medrek/ Music Review
Friday, January 20, 2006 - Updated: 01:06 AM EST
"The
'Missa Solemnis' is the greatest piece ever written," wrote James
Levine in the program of last night's Boston Symphony Orchestra
concert.
"Really, I mean it," he added for emphasis.
Now,
that's the kind of hyperbole that music critics are accused of
recklessly tossing off for little more than know-it-all effect.
But
when a musician of Maestro Levine's stature makes such a statement,
you'd be wise to listen carefully.
I'm
not sure I'd go quite that far. But surely Beethoven's masterful 1824
setting of the Latin Mass is one of those very precious works of art
that is so perfect you'd no sooner change one note of it than you would
broaden the Mona Lisa's smile, recut "Citizen Kane" or remix "Sgt.
Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band."
And
the performance of it at Symphony Hall under Levine's leadership —
refined and reverent, surely, but vividly alive as well — reflected his
estimation of and obvious love for the piece.
The
orchestra continues to sound utterly fabulous these days, and the
Tanglewood Festival Chorus made a mighty, animated sound.
Like
in Beethoven's Ninth ("Ode to Joy") Symphony, the "Missa Solemnis"
vocal quartet writing is more a part of the overall sonic texture than
a chance for four stars to strut their individual stuff.
Nevertheless,
here as in the Ninth, the tenor has the most exposed, trickiest music
to sing, and Ben Heppner delivered it with admirable strength and
utmost sensitivity.
Mezzo Jill Grove and bass Rene Pape together offered the evening's greatest vocal glamour.
And
if it took soprano Christine Brewer awhile to get her big, beautiful
voice in focus, it was certainly understandable.
She
was filling in for Deborah Voigt, who had canceled the three-concert
run due to illness, according to the BSO, and on such short notice that
program inserts announcing Brewer's participation were barely getting
to the ushers in time.
So for saving the show, she deserves perhaps our greatest thanks — after Beethoven, of course.
| |
|
