Houston Symphony review

I have wanted to see the Houston Symphony play at Jones hall since we moved here 2 ½ years ago, but so far have only heard them at Miller Outdoor Theater on the grassy hill.  Theater tickets are EXPENSIVE.  A friend of a friend was giving away some free tickets for last Thursday’s performance, including a parking pass, and I was the first on the Facebook scene to snatch them up.  I was having a pretty terrible week, so that helped brighten my mood.  Our tickets put us on the Mezzanine level, which was fun because the seats swivel.

I felt so at home at the theater.  I really feel privileged to be a part of the arts scene.  Maybe someday I’ll put in hours and hours of practicing and re-audition for a professional symphony.  But right now I am really liking where I am with the Houston Civic Symphony.

The Houston Symphony played three pieces.  The first was Helix, which is a modern piece premiered only in 2005, by conductor and composer Esa-Pekka Salonen who currently conducts the London Philharmonic.  While I consider myself pretty open to weird, modern pieces, I always go in hesitantly.  But I was in for a treat when I heard Helix, and absolutely loved it.  The whole idea behind the piece was that it was a 9-minute acceleration.  It started with simple timpani and other percussion, and ended with a fully-orchestrated bang.  The concert notes read, “As the music thread winds around this ever-narrowing cone-shaped spiral, the notes of its two phrases seem to circle faster and faster until the music abruptly stops for lack of any further space to climb.”  Here is a recording of it, but this is definitely a piece that is best live, where you can experience the rawness of it.  Plus, I think the Houston Symphony did a better job.

The second piece they played was the Mozart Oboe Concert in C Major, with soloist Jonathan Fischer.  It was refreshing to see a professional symphony and see how crisp and clean they can get pieces from the classical era.  The soloist was obviously a top-talent, and was spot-on with his clarity, especially with his impressive upper range.  But I will always stand by the fact that string players are more exciting to watch as soloists than wind and brass players – there are just more moving parts.  It was fun to compare this symphony with other Mozart works.  They say that Vivaldi just wrote the same piece in 400 different ways, but I think Mozart gives him a run for his money with how recognizable his style is.  Here is a recording.

The third and last piece was the Schumann Symphony No. 2 in C Major.  I guess they really liked the key of C that night.  This piece was written while Schumann was struggling with mental illness and right after a major concert tour with his wife, Clara, who was a concert pianist.  I recognized the second movement (which starts at 12:44 in this recording) immediately as a very hairy section we had as part of principal chair auditions for my symphony.  It is relentlessly fast for the violins, and has really difficult note patterns.  Throughout the piece there is a complexity of theme that contrasts light and dark, which people attribute to his shifting mental state.  I thought the fourth movement recalled elements from each of the previous movements and recapitulated things nicely.

Besides listening to the pieces, I always like to watch the musicians and the conductor.  Conductors always fascinate me.  They usually have some quirk about them, whether it is big hair (preferably a mullet), or a certain flair to their baton.  The conductor for this concert was Hannu Lintu, and his quirk was his flair.  

Exhibit A is Dudamel, the LA Phil conductor

 If someone can explain to me why every major symphony conductor beats on the OFF beat, I’d be much obliged.  I cannot for the life of me follow their ictus (which is like the check mark in the conducting pattern) when it comes a half-beat before the orchestra.  I don’t get it.

I thought it was pretty funny that TJ and I were opposites on what we liked about the concert.  I found the Salonen exciting, while he thought it lacked a melody and direction.  I, as a self-respecting classical musician, of course liked listening to the Mozart, but TJ raved about it.  And then in the Schumann, I especially appreciated movements 2 and 4 and he really enjoyed the slow and poignant third movement.  When it came to the conductor I don’t think TJ even looked at him.  But I am very glad that we both enjoying going to concerts and have elements that we each bring to the discussion.