In Wednesday’s (4/18) Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Olin Chism writes, “No work is better suited to a symphonic gala performance than Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. It was the biggest and grandest of its time. It was a hugely influential work. Its message of joy and brotherhood is timelessly uplifting. So the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra was perfectly justified in playing the Ninth as the sole work in a celebratory Bass Hall concert on Tuesday night. The event, billed as ‘A Centennial Gala,’ marked the 100th year of the orchestra’s existence (the actual anniversary will be May 12). Miguel Harth-Bedoya led the orchestra, four vocal soloists and three choral groups—a massed force that provided plenty of heft for a work that was the ultimate until Bruckner, Mahler and others, with Beethoven’s example in mind, brought symphonic grandeur to new heights. Harth-Bedoya and his colleagues did justice to the work. … The playful scherzo was a pleasure, with noteworthy sounds produced here as elsewhere by bassoonist Kevin Hall and horn player Mark Houghton.”
Posted April 18, 2012
