Classical Concert Reviews Cinci

@cincysymphony continued its 2024-25 season with an outstanding performance of two masterworks of the 20th century by Leonard Bernstein and Dmitri Shostakovich led by one of the true giants of the conducting world, Marin Alsop, making a return appearance to Cincinnati following her sensational debut with the May Festival in 2023.
Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, first composed in 1965 for the Three Choirs Festival at Chichester Cathedral, were given a sensational reading by the CSO and May Festival Chorus. Setting various psalm texts and Hebrew and regarded as one of the most popular of Bernstein’s works, it incorporates material which he ended up cutting from the initial draft of the score to the 1957 musical West Side Story. While the chorus was resplendent as always, the use of a boy soloist for the second movement made it feel slightly off-kilter. His particular timbre never quite balanced out to match the orchestra’s timbre. This was also true of the men’s chorus section in the same movement, but to a lesser degree. Beautiful, if acoustically uneven solo turns, were also contributed by soprano Mary Patton, alto Emily Seedle, tenor Avery Bargasse and bass Ben Flanders, all May Festival Chorus members.
Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 7 ‘Leningrad’ is one of his largest works, both in length and orchestral scale. Composed in 1941 while Shostakovich was temporarily living in the city of Kuibyshev as Leningrad was bombed by Nazi forces, the work is a musical exploration of the horrors, tragedies, memories and hope for a brighter future that many living in Leningrad would have experienced in that time.
The first was particularly evident in the first movement, as Alsop’s conducting through an extensive ten-minute crescendo which serves as its climax was full of emotional power and analytical precision.
The second and third movements showed moments of dark wit as well as moving intensity. Having two full brass ensembles and a huge battery of percussion (including three snare drums) giving it their all made the final movement ring out as no Shostakovich performance has in Cincinnati in the last 20-30 years. Bravi tutti to all!