Berkeley Symphony Orchestra
2014-05-01
Zellerbach Hall Auditorium
U.C. Berkeley, Bancroft Way at Telegraph Ave, Berkeley, CA
8:00 PM, Thursday, May 1, 2014

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[8:05 PM; lights down, greetings and announcements by René Mandel & Joana Carneiro]

Esa-Pekka Salonen (b.1958): Nyx (2010, Bay Area premiere)

1. [8:15 PM] Nyx

[ends 8:35 PM; brief pause to reset the stage]

Kaija Saariaho (b.1952): Adriana Songs (2005? Bay Area premiere), featuring Laura Krumm

[8:36 PM; tuning]

1. [8:38 PM] Jardin d'Automne
2. [8:39 PM] Je Sens Deux CœUrs
3. [8:46 PM] Rages
4. [8:52 PM] La Vie Retrouvée
   [set ends 8:53 PM]

[9:30 PM lights down, announcements]

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827): Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op.67 (1808)

[9:10 PM; onstage, tuning]

1. [9:12 PM] Allegro Con Brio
2. [9:35 PM] Andante Con Moto
3. [9:43 PM] Scherzo. Allegro
4. [9:53 PM] Allegro
   [show ends 10:07 PM]

Berkeley Symphony Orchestra

• Joana Carneiro: conductor, music director;
• Laura Krumm, as last-minute replacement for Kelley O'Connor: mezzo-soprano vox;
• others vary by program, see http://www.berkeleysymphony.org/about/musicians/.

Had a nice break at home – just enough time for a dinner salad and some light chores – before heading out for Berkeley as the sun began to set behind Mount Tamalpais. Got hung up here and there on the usual Berkeley traffic snags, but ended up with a fine parking spot on Bancroft just below Ellsworth. Excellent!

Sitting down and surveying tonight's program, I note that the opener, Nyx, is a piece I listened to just a few days ago while researching my SFS choices for next year. Interesting that a relatively new piece ended up being programmed on both sides of the bay.

Setbreak now, and I'm happy with my choice to add Nyx to my calendar for next year – it's an interesting work that takes its time to unfold. Just when you think you've finally got it figured out, “poof!” it disappears, and the piece is done. Neat!

I was less impressed with the second work on tonight's schedule A Songs. No doubt that has to do with my lack of emotional connection to the subject matter. As a dispassionate observer, the sentiments of the songs appear as merely overwrought melodrama, offering little in the way of profound thought. I might add that the musical composition also failed to grasp my attention. The program notes made a point of describing S as a leading light among the spectralist composers of Paris, but I didn't hear anything all that interesting going on. Must be 'cuz I'm an Oaktown rube rather than a denizen of the city of light. I was also disappointed with the instrumental interlude. Rage? Nah, more like disaffection.

No witty comments about snoozing through the 5th? Hmmn, lessee… I certainly wasn't all that psyched about seeing the 5th another time – it's not that I have anything against old Ludwig, but I feel like his works are a bit overexposed at this point, and some absence would help my heart grow fonder. My next quibble is that the BSO players' timing was altogether too incoherent. So the great rousing opening Dut-ta-ta-DUM came out mushy and smeared together, and really, just not very impressive. Rather than enjoying this part of the show, I guess I'd allow that I endured it, trying to ignore the little distractions that separated the reality of the experience from the ideal of my imagination. Thus my escape to the land of Nod! Somehow I managed to mark the transitions between each movement, though I'm reasonably sure that I was only semiconscious (at best!) for the last one.

Am I glad that I attended? Well yeah, because I really wanted to hear a performance of Nyx, and I think the BSO pulled that one off quite well.

Joshua Kosman seemed to like the show; you can read his review at SFGate.

Back to the previous event ☸ Back to the 2014 yearbox ☸ Back to the 2014 event list! ☸ On to the next event!