Short review of concerts

Boston Symphony Orchestra

Thursday, November 17, 2005, 8:00 PM
Saturday and Tuesday, November 19 and 22, 2005, 8:00 PM

Symphony Hall, Boston , MA

For this week's brace of concerts, Boston Symphony Orchestra conductor James Levine decided to let two selections trade off as the avant-garde entry. Thursday's event saw a recent work by George Perle take the stage, while the remaining evenings substituted a somewhat older composition of Gunther Schuller's.

The former's Transcendental Modulations (1993) possesses elements both admirable and not. This mercurial and sizable single movement opus economically generates most of its East Coast sounding material from two rather unpromising ideas: a cryptic chord embellished with nervous filigree and a fragmented oboe line superimposed over on-bridge string tremolo. There are several intriguing local events shot through with colorful orchestration. Unfortunately, no real sense of large-scale structure or local-level drama makes itself manifest; the piece never quite manages to get out of first gear. The orchestra's playing, while not altogether the last word in enthusiasm, seemed solid enough; conductor James Levine did his utmost to convey his love of the piece to the ensemble. Violinist Malcolm Lowe, violist Steven Ansell, and oboist John Ferrillo made the most of the few solo opportunities available.

Gunther Schuller's Spectra (1958), by contrast, proves a work both fascinating and -- in the best sense -- challenging. It too speaks with a clangorous Atlantic Seaboard voice, but ranges far afield in other ways. Gestures have profile and are vividly etched. There's significant reshuffling of players onstage to create unusual spatial and timbral combinations. And the sound world strays into territory that recalls both Stravinsky's Sacre and Varese 's mature output. Unlike the Perle, there's a more highly developed sense of long-range unfolding afoot, cast within the confines of three movement-like subdivisions containing a structural sense all their own. Levine's conducting here showed an ideal blend of attention to precision and persuasiveness. And the individual efforts of Richard Svoboda (bassoon), James Sommerville (horn), and Timothy Genis (timpani) stood out in Saturday's strong performance.

--David Cleary