Lehmann Leads a Magical MSO

The MSO opened promisingly last Friday under a new conductor. Succeeding David Commanday, Robert Lehmann brings to the ensemble a wealth of experience with junior, orchestras, including GBYSO, the New England Youth Philharmonic, and the Longy School's Young Artists Orchestra.

Lehmann got a chance to put his impressive verve on display, leading a program of works that would have come to nothing without verve. The concert began with the overture to Mozart's The Magic Flute, a work with self-evident charm. Its first notes were jarring from lack of unison, but things picked up quickly. The brass enjoyed a fine moment, as did flutist Kimberly Arkin '98. The finale hinted loudly at the volume of sound the orchestra would transmit later in the evening.

The second part of the program made for a strange coincidence: that same evening, the BSO performed both the overture to The Magic Flute and a Mozart piano concerto. But if you missed hearing Freshman Concerto Competition winner Andrew Park '01 because you were at Symphony Hall for Murray Perahia, you may have missed out.

Park's Harvard debut (Mozart's ninth piano concerto, in E-flat, K. 271) was stunning, in part because it didn't require some blatantly virtuosic vehicle. When a fellow who played the Rachmaninoff Second at the age of 14 decides to gamble on his musicianship more than on his technique, it is doubly impressive.

Park's performance of the first movement had a smoothness that was sometimes even glib; the orchestra must have found it hard to follow. His trills were appealingly steady and even, and his left hand octaves (so often bangily overdone in Mozart) were gems of control--in this surpassing even Andreas Haefliger's performance in last year's Bank of Boston Celebrity Series. But beyond pure technique, his pedaling and phrase-shaping demonstrated a great ear. The orchestra adequately reinforced and developed all the musical ideas, but Park's was the artistic voice of authority.

Anyone accusing early Mozart of levity should listen to the second moment of this concerto from the composer's 21st year. Though here and elsewhere Mozart (wisely) rejected the melodrama of the salon, only here does he replace it with fine arioso writing. The music lost some of its poignant punch, frankly because of some tuning problems in the orchestra, but was still smile-inducingly lovely.

Park's extremely fast tempo in the rondo must have challenged the orchestra, but profitably. As the music zipped along, the piano runs were absolutely absolved of any scalar quality, and became bright, voluble utterances. The winds were especially agile and in accord, and the violists and violinists seemed to be listening to each other carefully. The thunderous applause at the finish might have been the doing of a nascent Andrew Park fan club.

The MSO has a chummy, even familial feel that makes it easy to overlook trivial shortcomings. After intermission, president Juliette Lee '98 and treasurer Shenkiat Lim '98 both spoke ingratiatingly about various farewells. In any other campus orchestra this would have been tedious, but here it afforded the audience pleasure.

Dvorak was ambitious about securing a place for himself in the symphonic tradition: his Eighth Symphony, in G, was his first undeniably great shot at entering the pantheon. The materials are simple, but the orchestration is incredibly rich. As the performance went, there may have been a textual imbalance on the side of too much brass, but Susan Gim '01 played her flute part superbly, and there were plenty of opportunities for the strings to generate a beautiful sound. The solo by Concertmistress Jen Burney '99 was one of the best parts of the first movement and, incidentally, authored the most entertaining program note: "young Antonin's musical talent was discovered early during his apprenticeship as a butcher." Was this a rhythmic knock-the-ham-hock knack? Or did Dvorak's vegan soul have him whistling carrion dirges on the fly?

The second movement faltered, but the third and fourth were compelling. The Allegretto was wonderfully reminiscent of Smetana and, except for a few more tuning concerns, captivated one's attention through to the coda. There were two excellent things about the fourth: the grand turn of the cellos and the terrifyingly loud sound of the symphony's last half-minute. Here the brass imbalance seemed plausible if not prudent. Everything, in fact, seemed that way. But the effect was titanically impressive.

The problems of last Friday's concert might fairly be attributed to the inevitable period of adjustment with a new conductor, but all the things that went right need no further explanation. The MSO continues to be big fun

The second movement faltered, but the third and fourth were compelling. The Allegretto was wonderfully reminiscent of Smetana and, except for a few more tuning concerns, captivated one's attention through to the coda. There were two excellent things about the fourth: the grand turn of the cellos and the terrifyingly loud sound of the symphony's last half-minute. Here the brass imbalance seemed plausible if not prudent. Everything, in fact, seemed that way. But the effect was titanically impressive.

The problems of last Friday's concert might fairly be attributed to the inevitable period of adjustment with a new conductor, but all the things that went right need no further explanation. The MSO continues to be big fun