BSO & Marin Alsop at Strathmore

Though they billed it as Tchaikovsky's "Pathétique," the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra's trio of programmatic works looked like an emerging artists series for much of the evening. Featuring a world premiere by 35-year old composer James Lee III honoring Harriet Tubman and Dvořák's Cello Concerto played by newly minted MacArthur fellow Alisa Weilerstein, who is all of 29, the packed house at Strathmore Saturday night (9/24) was served some tantalizing pieces of virtuosity, before turning to the main course.

Mr. Lee's work entitled Chuphshah! (Freedom): Harriet's Drive to Canaan draws on the ancient Hebrews to inform the 19^th century African-American struggle to overcome slavery as imagined through the life of Ms. Tubman. Beginning briskly with percussions and strings, followed by marimba, a discordant and frenzied beat sounds like the scoring of a Hitchcock thriller. After extended flight, the work catches a melodic and down-tempo stride or two as the abolitionist reflects on her journeys, through the voice of an English horn. Later passages of this 12-minute work quote "Dixie," "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," and Negro spirituals in snippets interspersed on the main theme; and the piece feels like assemblage before resolving in a rousing fanfare. Though the composer and conductor Marin Alsop provided historical background by way of an introduction, you'll find the structure and tone, I think, very contemporary. Certainly one we'll look forward to hearing again before too long.

Next up was the Dvořák Cello Concerto in B Minor. The diminutive Ms. Weilerstein entered wearing an eye-catching red gown, was perched on a platform, and once the extended orchestral opening came to an end, quickly established her credentials. The cellist's sound is well suited to this Romantic number - smooth, lush, and evocative. Locked into her instrument, she displayed an economy of motion and a bowing technique that was precision exemplified. At her best during the slow sections - haunting is how I mentally catalogued it - she also combined tellingly with individual musicians early, with the flute, and later with violinist and concertmaster, Jonathan Carney. While the BSO accompanied her admirably, I thought some of their orchestral interludes a little too demonstrative at times for Ms. Weilerstein's rather delicate style. Her dexterity and élan were on view in the cadenzas and the finale, where a rousing conclusion got everyone up on their feet for several curtain calls. I see from the internet that she plays a 1790 William Forster Cello. Odds are that she will upgrade to a Strad or Guarneri, courtesy of an enlightened patron (or group), or place an option on one with her newly acquired funding.

There was plenty of buzz at the intermission - cell phones, text messages, and animated discussions indicating great pleasure and I was set to take in what I thought was yet another routine run of a classic in the second half. How wrong could I be! Marin Alsop and the BSO delivered probably the best performance of Tchaikovsky's 6^th Symphony in B Minor I've ever heard - live or recorded. This 4-movevent icon of the Romantic repertoire was delivered in its entire dynamic splendor: a full range of sound, from the muted to the thunderous, with a fully loaded orchestra. Ms. Alsop, conducting without a score, was by degrees forceful, cajoling, urgent, and demonstrative enough to get exactly what she needed (and then some) from the soloists and sections, and she did. To say that the Maestra and the BSO know this symphony cold is an understatement; they own it. While the "Pathétique" translates loosely from the French or Russian as suffering and the program notes make much of the composer's subsequent death, I found the work as interpreted highly affirmative - even when the pace and mood was slow or heavy and especially when it was rapid, light, and military. Yes, it starts and ends with an adagio, but there are dances and marches in between and the lively phrasing of Ms. Alsop's charges gave the hope that lies tucked into everyone's fate. The third movement has such closure that you can't fault the audience for applauding; yet another nine minutes of exquisite orchestration followed, before the final beat, a fermata, ends the symphony in silence. But not so the audience who gave the Maestra and the BSO a well deserved standing "O" for an outstanding performance. Bravissimo!