Andris Nelsons conducts eclectic mix of old, new works

Now in its 132nd season, the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) continues to please audiences young and old with renditions of modern and classical musical works. On April 10, the BSO performed Schuller, Mozart and Strauss as part of its UnderScore Friday Series. The series adds an extra element to the evening’s performance in the form of anything from “multi-media to remarks from the conductor,” as noted on the BSO’s website. On this evening, symphony-goers were treated to opening remarks from violinist Jennie Shames, a musician who has been with the ensemble since 1979.

In her address to the audience, Shames had nothing but praise for Andris Nelsons, who is currently enjoying his first season with the BSO as its Ray and Maria Stata Music Director, according to his biography in the evening’s program. His relationship with the symphony reaches back to March 2011, when, according to BSO's website, “he made his Boston Symphony debut … with Mahler’s Symphony No. 9 at Carnegie Hall” and “made his Tanglewood debut in July 2012.”

Watching the performance, it was clear why the BSO selected Nelsons as just the “15th music director in the BSO’s history.” With great verve, Nelsons conducted the group, at times even jumping on the podium in what could be read as pure excitement and passion for the first piece he conducted that evening. He conducted Gunther Schuller’s “Dreamscape” (2012), which includes three movements, “Scherzo umoristico e curioso,” “Nocturne” and “Birth-Evolution-Culmination.” In the program's note by the composer, Schuller remarks, “I now must reveal that virtually the entire work -- yes, the entire work -- was presented to me in a dream, not just little bits of it but ranging from its overall form and conception to an amazing amount of detail." The execution of the decidedly modern piece, which included a hearty laugh from a symphony member in the first movement as part of the musical instrumentation, felt distinctly different from the second and third pieces. It was a treat for symphony-goers that Schuller, who will celebrate his 90th birthday later this year, was in the audience, and received his own round of applause after his piece was completed.

Mozart’s “Piano Concerto No. 27 in B-Flat, K. 595” (1791) and Strauss’ “'Ein Heldenleben' ('A Heroic Life'), Tone poem, Opus 40” (1898) fell much more closely within what symphony-goers are accustomed to hearing than Schuller’s contemporary piece. Mozart’s final piano concerto -- he died later the same year the piece was completed -- was especially well executed in the Larghetto, which opened with a beautiful piano solo performed by Richard Goode.

After intermission, the audience was treated to Strauss’ tone poem “Ein Heldenleben,” one of six tone poems. His others include “Don Juan,” “Death and Transfiguration,” “Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks,” “Also sprach Zarathustra” and “Don Quixote,” which he composed “in the decade between 1888 ... and 1898,” according to “The Program in Brief” written by Robert Kirzinger and Marc Mandel. “Ein Heldenleben” unfolds in a series of scenes: "The Hero," "The Hero’s Adversaries," "The Hero’s Companion," "The Hero’s Battlefield," "The Hero’s Works of Peace" and "The Hero’s Escape From the World and Fulfillment." Featuring an impressive job by Malcolm Lowe as solo violinist, the piece also involved a good deal of horns, including those meant to sound as though they were played from a distance off-stage.

All in all, the Boston Symphony Orchestra did an excellent job in its performance of both modern and older pieces, doing justice to Schuller, Mozart and Strauss' work.