On Sunday at Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, Alsop held the massive score together tightly and drew a brilliant, often stunning performance from the BSO.
The conductor proved no less satisfying in her approach to Tchaikovsky's Pathetique Symphony at the program's close. I have found Alsop rather cool and composed when it comes to emotion-filled works, but she didn't hold back here. This was no by-the-numbers glide across the surface interpretation.
There was great spaciousness for the first movement's bittersweet theme, but also extra explosiveness for the sudden rush of drama midway through the movement. Alsop sent the third movement march charging along mightily, but provided even more of a jolt when she pulled back on the tempo for the last, big statement of the principal theme.
The finale had plenty of gripping power, with the conductor again taking time to sculpt phrases. Only at the very end did the music sound a little hurried, and the final fade-out from the basses was not as compellingly achieved as it had been Friday night in the Warsaw Philharmonic's likewise potent performance of this symphony at the Music Center at Strathmore. (A review of that concert is on my blog.)
Again, the BSO poured out the sound and the emotion to deliver one of the best performances yet of the still-young Alsop era.
At the start of the concert, the conductor picked up a fiddle (she was a very active violinist years ago) and joined a small contingent of string players for a brisk account of Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 3. Concertmaster Jonathan Carney still handled the solo stuff, as he would have normally (and did so with lots of flourish), but it was fun to see the music director right there in the thick of the spirited fray.
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Read more classical music views and news, including reports on a Rossini Mass featuring Andrea Bocelli and Washington National Opera forces, at baltimoresun.com/clefnotes
