” ‘Leipzig Week in Boston’ salutes the imminent dawn of Boston Symphony Orchestra music director Andris Nelsons’s tenure as Gewandhaus music director, a position he will hold in conjunction with his duties in Boston,” writes Zoë Madonna in Saturday’s (2/10) Boston Globe. “Accordingly, this week’s BSO subscription program focuses on music with a Leipzig connection…. Five substantial selections … showcased many facets of the ensemble…. Three pianos splayed out in front of the conductor’s podium for the first selection, Bach’s Concerto in D Minor for three keyboards, strings, and basso continuo…. The Tanglewood Festival Chorus found the soul of an exquisite ‘Nachtlied,’ Schumann at his most introspective.… Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 3 in A minor, ‘Scottish,’ ended the evening.… The most memorable moment was the world premiere of Sean Shepherd’s ‘Express Abstractionism,’ a BSO/GHO co-commissioned suite inspired by five visual artists….. In the first movement, calling on the work of Alexander Calder, one could hear the airiness and perspective shifts of a turning mobile, combined with the mechanical grind of its moving parts…. The third’s swaths of sound evoked the geometrically busy images of Lee Krasner and Wassily Kandinsky as ribbonlike streams of scales danced with heavy percussion.”
Posted February 15, 2018
