EXPECTING THE WORST AND GETTING THE BEST

This evening the Boston Symphony Orchestra surprised me with a most pleasurable musical experience. For some time I have been jaundiced by 'new music' in all its dissonance, mathematical formulas, and atonal auditory unpleasantness. I saw that the composer of the first two pieces was Osvaldo Golijov. He lives locally in the Boston area and came from Argentina. The program notes read: "Golijov's inherent curiosity, his ability to find inspiration throughout many facets, musical and otherwise, of many cultures, was nurtured by studies with the similarly exploratory composers Mark Kopytman in Israel and George Crumb in the United States." I expected a younger Elliot Carter and got a 21st C Dvorak!

The notes further state: "His style, in a broad sense, is in part a network of resonances, some more, some less, apparent to the listener, existing in dynamic equilibrium with the composer's own individual voice, characterized by a strong penchant for lyricism and an ear for unusual and brilliant instrumentation." The first piece, Ausencia (absence), for cello solo, 8 minutes, added strings with cello for the next 7 minutes. Actually, I was prepared a little by having gone to the pre-concert talk. Yo-Yo Ma and Golijov both came on stage and talked about the performance of the two cello pieces. The light, relaxed repartee between them was wonderful, funny, and set a positive expectation, to be realized in what was to come. The second piece was AZUL, actually commissioned for the BSO to celebrate their 125th anniversary, and written for Yo-Yo Ma. The notes read: "In conceiving AZUL, Golijov chose contemplation over conflict and wrote a work that is not a concerto....." This piece had everything; rhythm, defined harmonic movement, excitement, unusual instruments and above all, it magically captivated the audience.

Borrowed from the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, the conductor made his BSO debut at Tanglewood in 2003. Miguel Harth-Bedova was born in Peru and now lives in Fort Worth. He is much younger than most of the conductors I have seen over the past few years and brought with him an energy and spirit that, along with Yo-Yo Ma's playing and Golijov's composing, electrified the enormous hall.

The second half of the program was Dvorak's FOUR SONGS WITH ORCHESTRA. The similarity in conceptualization, while at the same time totally different, made for an exceptional evening of music which will be long remembered by this listener.