One thing that shows signs of fading away before our eyes as we move further into the 2020s is the age-old tradition of orchestral touring. Economics, health concerns and climate considerations have conspired to make this a less appealing prospect for orchestras, and remote technology provides other ways for them to make their presence felt on the global stage.
Still, tours aren’t quite done yet. Conductor Simon Rattle and the London Symphony Orchestra came through the Bay Area this weekend and provided a welcome reminder of the pleasures that come from hearing one of the world’s great musical ensembles far from home.
紧,但实施的音乐会Saturday, March 19, presented in Stanford’s Bing Concert Hall by Stanford Live, the orchestra brought expansive warmth to the music of Dvorák, expressive depth to George Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning “Lilacs,” and rhythmic vigor to the Second Symphony of Robert Schumann. They really did cover all the bases. (A second program, scheduled for Sunday, March 20, at Berkeley’s Zellerbach Hall under the auspices of Cal Performances, promises a recent work by the young British composer Hannah Kendall, along with music by Berlioz, Bartók, Sibelius and Ravel.)
In addition to the immediate delights of the music itself, it’s always fascinating to hear the result of a fruitful collaboration between artistic partners. Rattle has been the orchestra’s music director since 2017, and although he’s slated to step down after next year, Saturday’s program made clear how close conductor and orchestra have grown within that time.
That was particularly evident in the performance of Dvorák’s Suite in A, Op. 98b, that opened the program, and again in the encore from the same composer’s “Slavonic Dances.” As soon as Rattle picked up the baton for the opening moments of the Suite, the hall seemed to fill with a deep musical glow, and each successive movement found the performers communing in perfect harmony on matters of rhythm and phrasing.
The piece, a tuneful product of Dvorák’s American sojourn in the 1890s, is joyous and expressive almost to a fault — without vigilance by performers, the music can easily lapse into sentimentality. Yet Rattle and the orchestral musicians allowed the entire work to breathe naturally, with a blend of tonal breadth and interpretive specificity.
Similar qualities came into play after intermission in the Schumann piece, where individual members of the orchestra had their moments to shine — the luminous horn section in the two outer movements, principal oboist Juliana Koch in the poignant solo passages of the slow movement.
In between, Walker’s 1995 setting of four Whitman poems shimmered in an attentive, heartfelt rendition by the American soprano Nicole Cabell (most recently heard locally in last fall’s production ofMozart’s “Così Fan Tutte”at the San Francisco Opera). Walker’s vocal writing is lyrical but demanding, and it’s no small feat to make it sound easeful and gracious while still hitting all the notes head-on. Cabell managed it perfectly, and followed up with a gorgeous encore, Xavier Montsalvatge’s “Lullaby for a Little Black Child,” that showed off her gift for tender directness.
London Symphony Orchestra:3 p.m. Sunday, March 20. Zellerbach Hall, UC Berkeley. $45-$225. 510-642-9988.https://calperformances.org