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| The view from the stage |
If the rest of the League of American Orchestras conference here goes as well as the special St. Louis Symphony Orchestra concert they saw last night did, it will certainly be a week to remember. Maestro David Robertson conducted a very full program (two and one-half hours with intermission) that showed off the orchestra's versatility: arias and overtures by Mozart and Wagner (with powerful performances by bass-baritone Eric Owens) along with Sibelius's 7th symphony (which still sounds strikingly original nearly 90 years later) and John Adams's flashy but (to my ears) rather empty "Doctor Atomic" symphony.
There was heroic work by the brass and percussion in the Adams and fine playing all around. The string sound in the Sibelius was particularly striking.
After a week in Fort Worth for the Cliburn Competition and another week in Boston for the Boston Early Music Festival, it was nice to settle back with the home town band at Powell Hall—even if I am more aware of its acoustic shortcomings as a result of my travels over the last twelve months. It's still a lovely space and, to quote a Tom Lehrer lyric, "what the hell, it's home."
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