Galway, the CSO and Bruckner: Charm and Awe
(first published at www.cincinnati.com)
Friday morning’s (March 14) Cincinnati Symphony concert was a contrast between large and small. Back to back on the program were Mozart’s Flute Concerto No. 2 in D Major, with guest artist Sir James Galway, and Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 7.
The Mozart took an ensemble of some 25 players, while the Bruckner amassed over 90 musicians on the Music Hall stage. On the podium was CSO music director Louis Langrée.
It was also a serendipitous event, for the CSO couldn’t have picked a better time for Galway’s visit than this weekend, just before St. Patrick’s Day.
The famed flutist, a native of Ireland, topped off the Mozart Concerto with a pair of Irish tunes, “The March of Brian Boru” and “Danny Boy.” He tossed in a bit of banter, too, calling “Danny Boy” “a prayer in music” and quipping “Go ahead and pray along, because you know what happens if you don’t – nothing.”
Galway’s Mozart was a delight, pure-toned and classic in styling, with fluid cadenzas and a pinpoint accompaniment by Langrée and the CSO.
The first movement Allegro, given a genial exposition by the CSO and answered in kind by Galway, made a spirited opener for the concert. The Andante was a lovely effusion, followed by a chipper reading of the finale, a jolly rondo where Galway engaged in close communication with Langrée and the CSO players.
The second half was devoted to Bruckner’s Seventh, and devoted is the right word, for not only is the music highly spiritual, but Langrée put his heart and soul into it. Conducting without a baton – thereby yielding more expressive and expansive gestures – he built Bruckner’s sonorous architecture block by block. He filled every crevice in the hall with color, from the lush viola and cello sound of the opening bars to the Symphony’s brass-grounded conclusion.
The performance had many heroes in addition to Langrée: Timpanist Patrick Schleker, who underlined the mighty conclusion of the first movement with a 52-bar, rising and falling timpani roll. The CSO winds, whose lovely moments included the tender concluding bars of the Adagio. And CSO percussionists David Fishlock and Richard Jensen, who waited until midway through the hour-long symphony to punctuate the climax of the Adagio with a cymbal crash and strokes of triangle.
The first movement of the Symphony had a heaven-storming quality, while the Adagio took on the proportions of a gigantic hymn, building sequence by sequence to its gigantic Valhalla-like conclusion before ending gently (Bruckner wrote the movement in memory of Wagner).
The Scherzo became a magnificent edifice in Langrée’s hands, with its great columns of sound and softly contrasting Trio section. The Finale made a joyful noise with its spikey dotted rhythms and magnificent, fanfare-like conclusion, bringing the audience to their feet in a spontaneous ovation.
The concert repeats at 8 p.m. Saturday (March 15) at Music Hall. Tickets begin at $12 at (513) 381-3300, or visit www.cincinnatisymphony.org