Tonight we played a concert that seems completely standard by modern symphony orchestra standards. It followed the time-honored format of overture, concerto, intermission, major symphony. But, as is always the case, things weren’t quite as they appeared.
The Haydn Overture to his last opera, The Soul of the Philosopher, or Orpheus and Euridice, is one of those tiny miracles that only Haydn could pull off. It’s a sparkling piece, deceptively difficult technically to pull off, which is almost over before it starts. We never think of Haydn as an opera composer, but he wrote 15 of them. Not quite up to his output of 104 symphonies or 77 string quartets, but not an insubstantial output of operas nonetheless!
As Carlos Kalmar mentioned in his remarks from the podium before the program began, from Haydn we get the tradition of the modern symphony, and from Mozart we get the modern opera and the piano concerto.
Which brings us to the second work on the program, Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 9 “Jeunehomme” in E-flat major, K. 271. The soloist was Garrick Ohlsson, who is a frequent (and very welcome) guest artist with the Oregon Symphony. I’m always amazed at Garrick’s fluency in virtually any style of piano concerto, and his Mozart was no exception. 
He just has the most magical touch at the piano. It is miraculously ‘soft’, in that no matter what the volume, his sound remains (unless he wants it otherwise) round, soft, and warm. So his Mozart is lush without being overstuffed, and clear without being brittle or dry. This concerto was new to me. It’s acknowledged as Mozart’s first masterpiece in the piano concerto genre, and it has a couple of striking moments for me. The first is the opening of the slow movement, which to me sounds very influenced by the Sturm und Drang symphonies of Joseph Haydn, all darkness and yearning. The other is the menuet interjection in the finale, which is otherwise a perfectly respectable rondo movement. In this section in simple 3/4 time, Mozart produces in the orchestral tutti section towards the section’s close one of those sinuous melodies that seems to come from another world. It is something that would become more commonplace in his music (if such divine genius could ever be considered commonplace) as it grew in sophistication and complexity, but here it is, coming out like a ray of filtered sunshine, joy tinged with melancholy, in the midst of an otherwise straightforward rondo form movement.
The final work on the program was Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony (substituted for a postponed Tenth). I was saying to my stand partner this week (Brian Quincey) that this was a piece that terrified me in school and at early festivals I took part in, because of the high and exposed viola section solo in the first movement. Now, after preparing for dozens of auditions (almost all of which require this famous excerpt), it’s a pretty routine experience. However, it was less routine this week. First of all, I’m back on the second stand because our newest violist, Silu Fei, is on the first stand for his probationary review week (a standard part of our contract for evaluating new hires before they’re granted tenure). So, sitting on the outside, I can easily see much of the orchestra without really having to turn my head and drawing attention to myself in doing so. If I’d been in my normal position, I’d have missed our new percussionist Sergio Carreno playing some of the best cymbol crashes I’ve heard since my student days listening to the Philadelphia Orchestra’s legendary percussion section under Riccardo Muti, or Matt McKay on bass drum timing his attacks at the end of the finale with timpanist Jonathan Greeney with surgical precision. There is some seriously world class playing happening at the back of the orchestra in our revitalized percussion section!
It was also fabulous to hear new principal flutist Jessica Sindell playing incredibly softly and gorgeously throughout the symphony, with principal oboist Martin Hebert playing with heart-rending beauty in the anguished and lonely slow movement solo. There is so much great playing in all of the sections of the orchestra these days, and that makes coming to work both enjoyable, and a challenge to rise to.
Sunday morning brings our first round of live auditions with our seven semi-finalist candidates for the Resident conductor position to replace the departing Gregory Vajda. That should be interesting, and I’ll write a bit about my impressions in a general fashion after the process is completed on Monday.