Boston Symphony Orchestra

Thursday-Saturday, October 6-8, 2005
Symphony Hall, Boston , MA

For over fifty years, the Boston Symphony Orchestra has had a reputation of being less than friendly to contemporary music. With the hiring of James Levine as music director, that has thankfully begun to change in earnest. The October 8 concert was the sort of program one would not likely have heard from this orchestra in recent years, and it was welcome in both principle and practice.

Elliott Carter's Three Illusions , the last two movements of which received their premiere, is like a tiny symphony without finale, consisting of an aggressive first movement, a mercurial scherzo, and a slow Expressionist closer. Carter packs a world of contrast into this nine-minute opus while still keeping his material tight and compelling. First-rate stuff. Time Cycle for soprano soloist and orchestra is arguably Lukas Foss's finest utterance. While plenty dramatic and gripping, this does not preclude Foss from simultaneously embracing both avant-garde freedom and rigorous application of varying temporal regularities. Few works in the repertoire manage a balancing act this daring without toppling over. It's a terrific piece, timeless in the best sense of the word.

Levine sandwiched these entries between early 20th-century masterworks from opposite ends of the aesthetic spectrum. Charles Ives's wonderful triptych Three Places in New England puts forth its composer's groundbreaking progressive ethos (complete with clangorous dissonance and spatial effects) in an evocative package of ideal duration. Snobs who deride the Piano Concerto in F of George Gershwin need to extract the ramrod from their backbones and re-examine this delightful yet sturdy entity with unprejudiced ears. It's a splendid marriage of able architecture and stick-in-your-craw tunes.

Performances were generally excellent. Levine drew committed playing from his charges that imparted both cleanliness and excitement to the Carter and Ives. Dawn Upshaw sang Time Cycles with assurance and gusto, featuring a sonorous high range, steady chest tones, pinpoint enunciation, and evocative stage presence; the ensemble provided a backing full of personality that never covered her. There was plenty to like about this version of the Gershwin but also a few nagging problems. On the minus side of the ledger, one must note Charles Schlueter's flub-flecked trumpet playing and scattered passages where the piano soloist and orchestra struggled to maintain ensemble crispness. But the day was ultimately won thanks to Jean-Yves Thibaudet's keyboard excellence -- traversing gutsy and suave passages with ease -- and Levine's insistence on an interpretation that embraced Art Deco angularity instead of post-Grieg bloat.

Challenging music presented with intelligence and vigor -- it's great to hear Boston 's premiere cultural institution in a concert that can be described this way. Many more such events, please.

--David Cleary