Bangor symphony gives bold concert Guest violinist provides energy

Here is a list of descriptive words and phrases, just to get them out of my system: exciting, energetic, focused, right on the money, and great right out of the gate.

Apply all those words and phrases to Sunday afternoon’s performance by the Bangor Symphony Orchestra at the Maine Center for the Arts in Orono. Conducted by Xiao-Lu Li, the BSO began the concert with a zesty performance of Meyerbeer’s “Coronation March” from his opera “The Prophet.”

After enthusiastic applause, Maestro Li returned to the stage with a guest soloist, violinist Christel Lee. From the neck up, Lee looked like a ponytailed teenager, which is not misleading since she is 15 years old. From the neck down, her poppy-red gown gave her the air of a lady dressed for a ball. Her performance of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto, op. 35 in D Major, was simply masterful.

This difficult piece features numerous cadenzas and delicate musical denouements like the breathless pause at the top of a roller coaster when the direction changes from up to down.

Lee defined herself in the first few notes of the first cadenza, playing with the vigor of youth melded with a confidence well beyond her years. From flurries of light notes to bold attacks that left broken hairs from her bow flying to crystalline harmonics like audible bat song, Lee mesmerized the audience throughout.

And the orchestra performed flawlessly, from shifting rhythmic patterns to full-blooded Russian pathos. To put it in the vernacular, Lee and the BSO were “in the zone,” and it was a wonderful thing to hear.

Last on the program was the Symphonie fantastique, op. 14, by Hector Berlioz. Written as an obsessive musical love letter to a woman he eventually married, it is also significant that the ensuing marriage was of short duration.

The BSO played this piece very well. Woodwinds, percussion, harpists, trombones and tubas all had sections in which they excelled. But it was difficult for a piece filled with undercurrents of agitation and turmoil to follow the bold performance of the Tchaikovsky in the middle of the program.

Minor quibbling aside, this concert was really, really good, leading one to wonder if the special event of the night before had anything to do with the high quality of Sunday’s concert.

The previous evening, the BSO launched Taste of the Symphony, a social event designed to attract new adult audiences. The Saturday night concert included an inside look at the preparatory methods of the musicians as they rehearsed works for Sunday’s concert, an onstage interview with the conductor and soloist, and a chocolate and champagne reception after the concert.

More than 200 people attended both the concert and discussion. Maestro Li was a chatty and gracious host, telling stories from the stage during the rehearsal and explaining techniques during the midconcert discussion. Although the crowd was smaller than organizers had hoped, it was a promising start to attracting audiences through a less formal approach to the symphonic experience.

And, whether Saturday’s social rehearsal had anything to do with it, Sunday’s symphonic experience was good. Really, really good.

BDN writer Alicia Anstead contributed to this story. For current information on concerts and events, the BSO can be found at www.bangorsymphony.com.