Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra: Barber, Mozart, Mahler

Barber

Adagio for Strings

mozart                                        

Symphony No. 35, “Haffner”

MAHLER

Symphony No. 4  

Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra

Benjamin Zander, conductor

Sofia Fomina, soprano

There will be no pre-concert Guide to the music with Benjamin Zander before the concert.

As with the BPO, the first concert of the BPYO season is a direct response to the experiences we have all shared during the past year. Separated from each other for so long, we will return to Symphony Hall to hear the 70+ string players of the BPYO perform Barber’s heart-rending Adagio. From Barber’s sadness, we will move to Mozart’s exuberant symphony, the “Haffner.” No one can better help us celebrate life itself than Mozart, with his vitality, joy, and virtuosity (“as fast as possible” in the last movement, he urged the performers). Any suggestion that we could remain downcast is swept away. Mozart told his father that he rejoiced when he had an orchestra of 40 violins. With the BPYO, he will have 42!

And then Mahler’s Fourth—Mahler’s shortest and most appealing symphony. During this past year, each member of the BPYO had the opportunity to look at music as if from the point of

view of the conductor. The piece we studied in detail each week on Zoom was Mahler’s Fourth. Each member had his or her own conducting score, as we delved deeply into the meaning and challenges of this exquisite masterpiece. Now they get to play it in Symphony Hall! Light and charming on the surface, yet constantly plumbing the deep recesses, it is a vision of life and of the after-life, as seen from the viewpoint of a child who has suffered deprivation in this world, only to discover overflowing abundance in the next. The Fourth Symphony is possibly the most beautiful composition Mahler ever wrote. Leading Covent Garden soprano, Sofia Fomina, who can be heard on the recent London Philharmonic recording with Vladimir Jurowski, is our “as to the manner born” soloist.

–Benjamin Zander, conductor