Serendipity marks BSO season end

The “storm of the century” prevented the Bangor Symphony Orchestra from presenting its March 14 program, so the concert was rescheduled for yesterday. Although the Maine Center for the Arts was not as full as it might have been during the regular season, the change in dates was a lovely stroke of serendipity involving Mozart’s mother and Sunday’s celebration of Mother’s Day. It seems that Mozart wrote his Symphony No. 31 in D Major (which was the first piece on yesterday’s program) while traveling in Paris with his mother. She unfortunately died on the journey, but Mozart surely had her in mind when he wrote No. 31, the lively “Paris” Symphony, often considered his first great symphony.

Under the guidance of guest conductor Nurhan Arman of the Symphony New Brunswick, the BSO gave an excellent reading of Mozart’s work. This is Arman’s second Bangor engagement this season, and his chatty friendliness and solid conducting were once more at the forefront of his performance. He spoke briefly with the audience, welcoming them and explaining highlights and backgrounds for the music.

His authority continued as he rose his baton. In the first movement, in particular, when the themes seem to sneak up behind the listeners as if to tickle or alarm them, the BSO was clean and sharp. The musicians were light yet expressive, and, in the moderate second movement, they were well-meted without being stiff. The 20-minute symphony was an exciting start to the concert.

Brahms’ Variations on a Theme of Joseph Haydn, Op. 56 followed and was animated with both spontaneity and lyricism.

Flutists Susan M. Heath and Patricia Eames, and piccoloist Elizabeth Downing were sharp and dynamic with their important contributions to this charming piece.

The second half of the concert was devoted to Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6, Op. 74, and Arman prefaced the “Pathetique” symphony with a pleasant little anecdote about an “unnamed” conductor and his symphony. Arman explained that although this symphony — Tchaikovsky’s last — has four movements, the orchestra found, after two concerts, that it was always greeted by a final applause after the third movement because it is so rousing. After the fourth movement, which ends uneventfully, the hall was silent. So the clever conductor switched the position of the movements, and the rest of the tour went smoothly, with the applause in the right place. But when the orchestra played in its hometown, it switched the movements back to the original placement, except the conductor forgot. Having become so accustomed to finishing the concert after the third movement, when the audience once again applauded, the conductor left the stage thinking the concert was completed. He had to be brought back on for the fourth movement.

Yesterday’s audience rolled with laughter at Arman’s story, and there was, indeed, a great shuffle and sighs of approval after the BSO completed the incredibly high-spirited third movement. But the applause and several bravos were held until the symphony was completed.

In every movement of the “Pathetique,” however, the BSO was on the money. It began in a pleadingly prayerful mood with strings, and progressed to the frantic loudness of trombones, trumpets, and tuba. At moments, it seemed as if Count Dracula could quite appropriately bound onto the stage, the fullness was so chilling and unnerving.

The orchestra never dawdled in sentimentality, nor overplayed the emotional turmoil. The third movement was, in fact, the strongest, with every instrument making the stage look and sound like a great machine in glorious motion.