Concert Review time :)

So... I was crazy and went to both the dress rehearsal and the concert. Let me start with the dress rehearsal:

It was supposed to start at 7:30pm. There was a pre-concert lecture starting at 6:45pm. Of course, running late from lab, I made it there by 6:50pm. The entire Symphony Hall was 80% full at that point... already. So I had to sit in the back. The conductor (Koopman) didn't wear a microphone, so I could barely hear anything he said during the rehearsal, but the great majority of the rehearsal was a full-run through of the piece, followed by ~10-20 minutes of rehearsing particular spots. It was pretty cool; it reminds you that even BSO-caliber musicians are mortal beings who wear jeans and t-shirts outside of a concert setting :P But at the same time, it felt weird: it's kinda like... having an orchestra rehearsal, and having hundreds of people in the audience observing you at work, like animals in a zoo. It's a funny concept.

Anyhow, this program consisted of:

1. Haydn's Symphony No. 98

2. Haydn Cello Concerto No. 1

3. CPE Bach's Symphony in G

4. Schubert's "Unfinished" Symphony.

Soloist: Yo Yo Ma

Conductor:  Ton Koopman

The pre-concert lecture was very cool. They played snippets of each piece/movement, while explaining some of the musical motifs and analysis, historical background, info about the composer, time period, etc. It's funny because for the Haydn Concerto, they played segments of Jacqueline du Pre's recording of the Haydn... and as you might imagine (or not), Yo Yo Ma has a completely different interpretation of the piece, so it made me laugh that they picked Jackie's recording as an example.

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Haydn's Symphony No. 98: I am not well-educated in symphonic repertoire... and I've never heard this piece before. And all I could think was, jesus, Haydn wrote how many symphonies?! But... it was well performed :) Pretty light and full of character. And I found it amusing that the harpsichord has a big solo in the 4th movement, which lasts about 3 lines on the score. So for the entire Symphony (first on the program), Koopman conducted with the harpsichord in front of him, and when it was time for the solo, he sat down and played crazy stuff for about <30 seconds, and immediately got up to resume conducting. And of course, before the cello concerto, they took away the harpsichord and put up a podium instead. And the poor harpsichord tuner had to tune the harpsichord during intermission before the CPE Bach's Symphony (both during the dress rehearsal and the concert).

For the first three pieces of the program, only the reduced version of the BSO strings section performed. That is, about 14 violinists, maybe 6 violists, 3 cellists, and 2 bassists. For the Schubert, a couple of more people joined in each strings section, but still it wasn't the complete BSO. Interestingly, none of the usual section leaders were in this program, including Malcolm Lowe.

Haydn's Cello Concerto: So... I think Yo Yo Ma deserves another section dedicated to him. But I'll just say... his performance was just what I expected from what I've seen of his performances on youtube, and I hate the way he plays. Haha :) But... he's undeniably good, of course. His interpretation was very skewed to the side of "historically accurate" performance, which I hate. But it was interesting because it wasn't completely faithful to that. It actually incorporated the aspects of "historically accurate" interpretation that I hate... but with an addition of the harshness of what I'd consider a more "modern" interpretation. By that, I mean, he had all the old-fashioned aspects: extremely swift bows, [too much] swelling of notes, some rhythmic modifications on 16th notes, and most of all, playing with the orchestra when it's marked "tutti." But... his playing was so harsh and rough-edged at some points, that it was a little weird.

Yo Yo Ma: He makes grunting noises when he plays. Actually, it's kind of a cross between grunting and snoring sound, I can't quite describe it accurately. But... I could tell that the people in the first few rows were a little disturbed by it. Hahaha. One thing I have to say is, everything he does on the cello feels so vertical. The way he bows, the way he puts a bow down on the string to start a note, how he plays chords, and most significantly, how he moves when he plays. I don't know if anyone's noticed, but sometimes his cello goes so vertical, almost like that of a bass player. Also, his left fingers always collapse so much, which is usually categorized as "bad cello playing." Of course, Rostropovich did that to some extent, too. But they both somehow manage to play extremely well... so, whatever works I guess :)

Conclusion: I'm not the biggest fan of Yo Yo Ma, mostly interpretation wise, but he was interesting to watch, nonetheless.

Encore Encore! Yo Yo Ma played Bach Cell Suite No. 6 Sarabande as the encore. It was quite beautiful, actually. Very difficult... very well played :)

The Davidov Stradivarius: Yo Yo Ma currently plays on the Davidov Stradivarius (ie. the first of the TWO Strads that were gifted to Jacqueline du Pre). Jackie switched to another Strad after playing with the Davidov for a few years because of it's "unpredictability." To that, Yo Yo Ma said: "Jackie's unbridled dark qualities went against the Davydov. You have to coax the instrument. The more you attack it, the less it returns". Well, I think Yo Yo Ma attacked the Davidov plenty of times in the Haydn! But anyway, this cello... is such a work of art. It was *beautiful*. It made me want to drool just looking at it :)

Okay, I think I am going to stop the concert review here. The CPE Bach piece, I wasn't familiar with, and I didn't think it was particularly memorable. The Schubert was... the Schubert :) It's a beautiful piece, mesmerizing!

Yo Yo Ma decided to join in at the back of the cello section during the Schubert, it was funny :) But I guess he really loves the orchestra!