Above: Maestro Fabio Luisi
Author: Shoshana Klein
Sunday March 26th, 2023 - I have to admit to not knowing much about the Dallas Symphony Orchestra before tonight. I've seen Fabio Luisi guest conduct before but not work with his home orchestra. As it turns out, they put on a great concert - they played with energy, focus, and dynamic range, and Luisi does a great job of keeping things interesting and restrained to keep the music interesting later on. Despite, or maybe because of this, somehow the concert still had more people dropping things in the audience than any other concert I've ever been to.
What keeps me awake by Angélica Negrón (above, photo by Quique Cabanillas) started the concert - a short 7-minute piece, but a very nice introduction to the concert. Negrón created a distinctive but not completely unfamiliar sound world - though this might have something to do with the fact that I listen to her band, Balún - which seriously, you should check out if you haven't heard them. Negrón is the Composer in residence at the DSO and I'm looking forward to hearing more pieces that come out of that collaboration.
The piece evokes uncertainty and wandering like her program note explains - navigating moving from Puerto Rico to New York City as a Latina composer trying to fit into spaces that historically excluded people who look like her.
Rachmaninoff's second piano concerto with Garrick Ohlsson (above) was very enjoyable. I’m usually in the balcony, and being on the orchestra level so close to the stage, I could actually feel the sounds through my feet when the brass let loose. The orchestra was super sensitive under Luisi, the piano sections drawing us all in and the louder sections contrasting well. Ohlsson played the 3rd movement with some extra snappiness, which was just enough to keep my full attention for a piece many of us have heard… somewhat frequently. Near the middle/end of the third movement, I think the piece loses steam a bit compositionally, but it almost makes the end more exciting - right around the time you start to be ready for it to be over, it gets into it again and heads for the hyper-romantic finish.
Ohlsson did an encore that he announced from the stage, though it wasn't really necessary - Chopin's op 9 no 2, probably the most well-known of the nocturnes. Near the end, he had a little fun with it, adding some whimsy in places.
The Tchaikovsky, (which started at almost 10pm, the joys of an 8:30 start time) was really well paced, restrained just enough more than usual to be noticeable. Some tempi choices in the second movement caught my ear, the bassoon solo section - while sounding great - was a little slow to me, and the horn solo also sounded good but a little fast. However, overall I chose to trust the plan as the whole piece came together really well. The wind soloists were all fantastic, and more soloistic than their counterparts in the first half of the concert.
It's played so much, but this is one of those pieces to me that if you put it away for long enough, it regains most of its charm. It turns out I hadn't heard it in long enough that it felt fresh and new, at least with this exciting performance.
~ Shoshana Klein