Classical Concert Reviews Cinci

@qqcincysymphony continued its concert offerings for April 2025 with a wonderful program headlined by one of the most popular symphonies in the repertoire, Ludwig von Beethoven’s Eroica.
Under guest conductor Case Scaglione, music director of the Orchestre national d’Île de France, the orchestra opened with a seldom-heard jewel of a work by Lilli Boulanger, D’un matin du printemps (Of a spring morning). One of the last works she completed before her untimely death at the age of 24 in 1918, it was a given a reading full of excitement, yet with understated warmth and fluidity.
Violinist Simone Lamsma then joined the CSO for a sensational performance of Max Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1. In much the same spirit as Felix Mendelssohn’s violin concerto from the same period, Bruch’s music is full of dark passion, soulful melodies and stunning vieruosity. Pamela brought all this in spades, with a powerful, soulful sound in the outer movements and deeply emotional in the central adagio. The enthusiastic audience as Music Hall was rewarded with a fabulously unique encore – the finale, subtitled ‘Les furies’, from the Sonata in A Minor (Op. 27, No. 2) by the Belgian violinist and composer Eugène Ysaÿe.
Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3, subtitled ‘Eroica’ is one of the most popular of all of his works, both for its soaring melodies and historical significance. Composed between 1803 and 1804, Beethoven intended to dedicate it to Napoleon Bonaparte; after Napoleon declared himself emperor, however, Beethoven angrily withdrew it. Maestro Scaglione and the CSO captured the music’s revolutionary spirit well, although at times it felt underwhelming stylistically.
While I have only good things to say of the orchestra’s performance, Scaglione’s conducting made it look about as understated as a Mozart symphony – well-meaning, but lacking in power and drama in many places. This felt especially egregious in the first, third and fourth movements, while the sexond movement was conducted in a subdued enough manner to retain its funereal mood. While I might not rank tonight’s performance of the Eroica as a top five favorite in Cincinnati it certainly was enjoyable nonetheless.