The season-ending concert at Tanglewood functions as an event in and of itself. Thousands of spectators pack the Koussevitzky Shed and adjacent lawn to bask in the beauty and message of Beethoven’s Symphony no. 9 in D minor, its declaration of friendship and brotherhood serving as an unofficial end to summer. This year’s concert promised an extra dose of excitement, as Zubin Mehta was contracted to make a much-belated debut conducting the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Unfortunately, the 89-year-old eminence withdrew due to personal reasons earlier in the week, replaced by former BSO assistant conductor Earl Lee. The program retained its sui generis quality but fell short of its usual memorable magic.
Lee’s last-minute participation accounted perhaps for a certain ragged quality in the performance, especially as it wore on. His reading of the score began energetically, with exquisite detail in the first movement – especially among the flute and oboe – and the crisp emergence of the work’s familiar theme. Timpanist Timothy Genis anchored the percussion with precise rhythms and the strings and woodwind sustained a pleasing mellow tone throughout. The proceedings turned meandering by the third movement, however, and the opening of the fourth movement proved chaotic, with entrances bumping up against each other and the first noticeable brass flubs I’ve encountered this summer season. Maybe the musicians were simply ready for their vacation.
The Tanglewood Festival Chorus balanced dynamics splendidly throughout the choral section, and bass Ryan Speedo Green was striking in the “O Freunde” stanza. Tenor Pene Pati brought a lyrical, operatic tone to his solo, and his attention to detail in phrasing was greatly appreciated. Federica Lombardi and Isabel Signoret often had trouble blending seamlessly with their male colleagues; Lombardi especially tended to pump up her volume without thought given to the choral balance. The women seemed less attuned to the overall harmonic structure than the men.
The afternoon began with the world premiere of Word and Prayers of My Fathers, an unaccompanied choral work by Carlos Simon, BSO composer-in-residence. Simon is descended from three generations of preachers, but as he explained in pre-performance remarks, he uses music as his pulpit. Each of the work’s four movements was inspired by a sermon delivered by a family member, and the initial three sections unfolded in pleasant but uninspired polyphony. It wasn’t until the final section, Lord, We Thank You, that matters got interesting, with a sense of call-and-response emerging between the male and female voices. The premiere was conducted by James Burton, in his final appearance as BSO Choral Director. As he prepares for his next professional endeavor, he deserves credit for leaving the august TFC in better shape than he found it.
