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I recently attended the first concert of the Bangor Symphony Orchestra’s 2023-2024 season, which featured a concert overture by Elfrida Andree, the Grieg a minor piano concerto and the 5th Symphony of Sibelius. The Grieg was very good; pianist Margarita Shevchenko put in a solid, inspiring performance with excellent accompaniment by the BSO.
What was really eye-opening was the Sibelius 5. This is a symphony that takes a little getting used to; the sparse, stark Finnish musical language of Sibelius with a much different structure than, say, Brahms or Tchaikovsky. But it’s worth getting to know. For the most part, the BSO held their own and presented this 35-minute Sibelius masterpiece with aplomb.
A few sections deserve mention. The woodwinds and strings were, as usual, very good. The real stars of the show, for me, were the trumpets. For this performance, Jack Burt and his co-trumpeters used European style rotary-valve trumpets; they look like a regular trumpet turned sideways. These have a mellower, rounder sound than French or American style piston trumpets, and they were perfect for Sibelius. The BSO trumpets produced a nuanced, cohesive, blended sound, and was never “over the top” or ugly.
One can only hope that we hear more of this sensitive, sophisticated, warm and beautiful playing from the BSO brass in future concerts. It was a notable upgrade.
Peter Verlee
Bangor
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