Ukrainian-Finnish conductor, Dalia Stasevska's mastery of the orchestra was simply perfection
Ukrainian-Finnish conductor, Dalia Stasevska's mastery of the orchestra was simply perfectionAn army of contrabassoons, three tubas, four sets of timpani? Really? Julius Eastman was not prone to understatement, and Proms proved it in last night’s UK premiere of his Symphony No. 2, ‘The Faithful Friend: The Lover Friend’s Love for the Beloved’.
The prodigiously gifted and flamboyant black, gay composer died tragically in 1990 aged 49, after life had carried him from the nerve centres of American music – the Curtis Institute and downtown New York with John Cage and co – to alleged addiction and homelessness. Many of his works vanished. This one-movement, 20-minute symphony only turned up a few years ago in the possession of Eastman’s former lover, the poet R Nemo Hill, to whom it was his farewell.
At first it seems closer to Mahler than Cage: a giant lament full of vibrant strings, hefty timpani rolls and deep, dense harmonies. There’s a strong voice there, from one who well knew the pain of love, and the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Dalia Stasevska’s generous conducting drew out its sorrowful passion before closing in a judder of bassoons.Placing it next to some actual Mahler, however, showed up the plentiful weaknesses in Eastman’s needlessly over-dense and under-contrasted score.
As for the finale, if you’ve ever stood beneath a flight of swans, you’ll have heard the swoosh of their wings – and in the strings’ ‘ricochet’ bowing, there it was. But the soaring horn calls were only a jumping-off point: it’s the soul that is taking flight, towards a kind of existential crisis. In the last pages Stasevska emphasised the trumpets’ anguished stretching of the harmonies.
The best conductors leave you marvelling not at their own skill, but the composer’s. Stasevska, bringing Sibelius’s emotion and intellect into perfect synchronicity, did just that.
Philippines Latest News, Philippines Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Prom 45 review: A marvelous and superb performance of Sibelius’ Fifth SymphonyUkrainian-Finnish conductor, Dalia Stasevska's mastery of the orchestra was simply perfection
Read more »
Prom 15: Messiaen’s Turangalîla Symphony review: All head, no heartThis music has visceral physicality besides intellect, yet somehow conductor Nicholas Collon made it sound uptight
Read more »
Prom 37 review: A beautiful performance of dread and horror just as Britten intendedA performance full of poignance, horror, and brilliance
Read more »
Teenager missed her prom after mum's brutal high heel attack at racesJeorga Thompson left the 15 year old with a nasty scar to her face after the unprovoked attack at Haydock Races
Read more »
Girl missed mock GCSEs and had prom ruined after woman attacked her at Haydock RacesJeorga Thompson went to a Craig David gig at the racecourse but began hitting strangers with her high heels
Read more »
Prom 31 review: Anne-Sophie Mutter and West-Eastern Divan Orchestra are a ray of hopeThis was not perfect, but Mutter and the young musicians were superb
Read more »