DSO Features its Own in Brahms Concerto

Soloists Robyn Bollinger and Wei Yu performing with DSO (screen shot from the video being discussed)

The high point of yesterday’s “free live HD webcast” presented by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) was the presentation of a composition that featured two of the members of the orchestra as soloists. The first half of the program concluded with Music Director Jader Bignamini leading the ensemble in a performance of Johannes Brahms’ his Opus 102 Double Concerto in A minor. The soloists were Concertmaster Robyn Bollinger and Principal Cello Wei Yu.

This was one of those performances that fired on all cylinders, as they say. Each of the soloists delivered an account that was both focused and expressive, but the high points came when they played as a duo against the orchestra’s accompaniment. By way of disclaimer, this is definitely one of my favorite compositions in the entire repertoire, not just in the Brahms canon. I found myself hanging on every note, not only through the interplay of the soloists but also in the transactions between those soloists and the full ensemble. Bignamini knew exactly how to deliver a compelling account of this music, making the entire performance “worth the price of admission” (another “as they say”).

The entire program followed the conventional overture-concerto-symphony format. The overture for the program preceded the concerto by a little more than a decade. It was the overture for the operetta Die Fledermaus (the bat), probably the best known composition by Johan Strauss II that was not a single waltz. As might be expected, the entire operetta was full of waltzes; but they are only a portion of the music previewed by the overture. In that capacity to preview, the music is a “fun ride” in itself; and Bignamini’s spirited account from the podium definitely got yesterday’s performance off to a flying start worthy of any bat.

The second half of the program was devoted entirely to Ludwig van Beethoven’s Opus 68, his sixth (“Pastoral”) symphony. As its Wikipedia page reports, this is one of the few compositions by Beethoven that was “explicitly programmatic,” complete with descriptive titles for each movement. Mind you, when Walt Disney decided to incorporate this music into Fantasia, he had his own approaches to description!

Fortunately, last night’s video account had nothing to do with Disney’s imagination. Far more interesting was the diversity of approaches to instrumentation that would enhance the descriptive titles of the individual movements. I was also struck by what seemed to be the subdividing of the individual string sections to provide just the right levels of background when then winds were carrying the thematic material. I would like to believe that whoever was directing the camera work was following Beethoven’s score as astutely as he was observing orchestra activity! The results once again reminded me of the fundamental precept of Jordan Whitelaw, who directed telecasts of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. As I once reported over a decade ago, he supposedly said, “If you don’t see it, you may not hear it!”

Last night’s webcast from Detroit did much to enhance the listening experience.