by Melanie Wong
Photo credit: Boston Symphony Orchestra
Expectations run high when you head out to hear a performance by one of the nation's "Big Five" orchestras. Luckily, the Boston Symphony didn't disappoint on Wednesday night at Carnegie Hall, where Conductor Emeritus Bernard Haitink led a tremendous performance of an all-Ravel program. From the resonant and energetic opening pizzicatos of Alborada del gracioso to Susan Graham's masterful reading of Shéhérazade and the sensational, exhaustive account of Daphnis et Chloé, the orchestra delighted the audience with their perfectly unified sound and supreme musicianship.
Haitink has held the BSO's LaCroix Family Fund Conductor Emeritus position since 2004 and is currently conducting a series of concerts around the country to celebrate his 85th birthday. A conductor steeped in simplicity, his movements and expressions are neither flashy nor complicated, allowing the music to breathe and speak for itself. Accordingly, under such straightforward and intelligible guidance, the musicians delivered their craft with unmatchable ease, precision, and lightness.
Who better to sing Ravel's Shéhérazade—a song cycle for voice and orchestra set to three Tristan Klingsor poems—than mezzo-soprano Susan Graham, who in recent years was named a Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters for her significant contribution to the "enrichment of French culture?" Gracious and eloquent, Graham's unparalleled expertise shone through as she took the audience through the poems' enchanting and wholly introspective journey.
The evening ended with a reading of the complete Daphnis et Chloé ballet music. Somewhat of a BSO specialty, it was a magical 55-minute voyage, packed to the brim with Ravel's glorious splashes of color and ethereal effects. It's here that the wind section—especially flutist Elizabeth Rowe, whose alluring and delicate playing whirled through the room—must be noted for their technique, blend, and clear projection that shot straight to the back of the hall.
The orchestra really hit their stride toward the end of the epic in the infamous "dawn music" (often dreaded by many musicians for its high technical demands), where the sheer beauty was enough to rejuvenate anyone in the crowd whose mind may have wandered off. The dramatic finish led to an eruption of applause that just wouldn't quit; it's just too bad Haitink and the orchestra hadn’t prepared an encore.