By Dave Read, Lenox, MA, August 11, 2024 performance – In advance of a concert program that features compositions of Mozart and Mahler, the anticipation is for an auditory experience, the visual aspect being incidental. Thanks to both guest conductor and soloist, however, today’s concert, by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, in the Koussevitsky Music Shed at Tanglewood delighted the vision almost as much as it awed the hearing.
Making their BSO debuts were conductor James Gaffigan, a 2003 alumnus of the Tanglewood Music Center, and soprano Elana Villalón. Maestro Gaffigan’s emphatic, dramatic style was neatly balance by Ms. Villalón’s subtle expressiveness.
But, of course, it is the dependable excellence of the orchestra that affords conductor and soloist their opportunity. Before today, my mental shortcut description of Mahler’s music is that it is a density – a thing of heavy substance. Today, the BSO disabused me of that notion, with beautiful and delicate sounds from the woodwinds.
Even though I was certain that I had attained the summit of listening pleasure during Friday’s program, I see that I’ve been returned to my natural state of uncertainty. Such is the great gift of proximity to Tanglewood – if you keep attending concerts, your standard of excellence keeps increasing. (Perhaps we’ll discover that perfection is a mirage?)