Murmurations rank right up there with the Northern Lights and volcanic eruptions in the pantheon of kinetic visual phenomenon. The way the starlings sweep and swerve and fold themselves into a fluid series of shapes and patterns is mesmerizing. At times they almost disappear from flight. Videos are readily available online. If you seek them out, you will have a clear idea of the organizing concept and general effect of Elizabeth Ogonek’s deft and colorful musical evocation of this visual phenomenon, Starling Variations, another world premiere for the Boston Symphony Orchestra this summer and the second part of a projected triptych knit together by the trope of “looking up”. Cloudline, premiered at last year’s Proms, was the first.
The protean nature of the murmuration is reflected in the shifting tempi and unusual combinations of instruments into transient chamber groups throughout the five “visual panels”. Occasionally, higher pitched instruments play in their lowest range and the lowest play in their highest, adding more variety to the textures. One panel is punctuated by rapid pizzicato; another features waves of chirping and twittering. The effects are hypnotic and at times jarring. Close your eyes and give in to the flight and you just might find yourself part of the flock in the same way Debussy’s La Mer can make you feel part of the sea. Ogonek’s variations are well worth immersing yourself in.
Louise Farrenc was an important part of the musical life of Paris for over 40 years: first as a piano prodigy, then later as composer, publisher and pedagogue. She taught piano at the Paris Conservatory for 30 years, until four years before her death in 1875. Berlioz admired her symphonies and overtures, Schumann her compositions for piano. Married to a flutist, she wrote a wide variety of chamber music, with her two quintets and a nonet being quite popular during her lifetime. Laurence Equilbey has championed her symphonies in recent years, but much of her music awaits reconsideration. The BSO’s performance of her Symphony no. 3 in G minor marked the second premiere of a work by a female composer on the program, albeit strictly local.
Farrenc’s style owes more to Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Schumann than to any of her French contemporaries. Her Third Symphony is notable for its rhythmic variety and vivacity; adroit, colorful writing for the winds; and a somber and subdued tone. Storm clouds glower over the four movements; even the scherzo has a devilish lilt to it. Andris Nelsons emphasized the various hues of shade and shadow in a rhythmically taut reading. His and the orchestra’s arioso treatment of the second movement Adagio Cantabile made the lack of an opera by Farrenc all the more deplorable.
The weekend-long collaboration with Paul Lewis of the five Beethoven piano concertos came to a spectacular close with a performance of the Fifth that was the epitome of artistic collaboration. Nothing was showy: everyone listened to each other and responded accordingly. Soloist, conductor and orchestra were so in sync they threw caution to the winds, egging each other on in a performance that took risks and met them. If Nelsons had the orchestra dark and threatening, Lewis contrasted with crystalline composure and confidence. The concluding Rondo took off like a pedigree at the starting gate, maintaining a rhythmic pulse so intense that the final cadence brought the audience to their feet with a roar. This was a performance that would be hard to top.
