BSO closes season gracefully Saint-Saens favorite brightens Hutchins hall

In a local rite of spring, the Bangor Symphony Orchestra performed the finale of its 110th season at the Maine Center for the Arts in Orono this Sunday afternoon. As the crowd streamed from the parking lot toward the hall under a sky filled with dramatically lit clouds, the fresh scent of rain-washed lilacs drifted in from the University of Maine campus. Compared to the fragrant spring day outside, the Hutchins Concert Hall seemed a bit stuffy. But there was nothing stuffy about the concert or the mood of the audience.

After tuning with concertmaster Trond Saeverud, the orchestra was joined by director Xiao-Lu Li for a spirited performance of “Overture” from “The Bartered Bride” by Bedrich Smetana. Opening with a frenetic agitation from the strings, the orchestra dropped into a lyrical and well-played woodwind interlude before building to a bold conclusion.

Next on the program was the highlight of the afternoon, a performance of “Carnival of the Animals” by Camille Saint-Saens. This piece may have been written as a musical private joke, but it has become a favorite with audiences of all ages, partly because of its beautiful melodies and memorable textures, and also because of its musical onomatopoeia – the music sounds like a menagerie of animals, both real and symbolic.

Joining the BSO on stage for this piece were two young pianists, Pallavi Mahidhara and Henry Kramer, both 18 years old. Playing the sparkling arpeggios, crashing chords and quizzical phrases of Saint-Saens’ piece in tandem and separately, the pair charmed the audience musically and emotionally. Although another year of live classical music was drawing to a close, the pianists’ vibrant performance seemed to embody a sense of optimism and faith in the future of classical music.

The final piece of the afternoon, the Symphony No. 8 in G major, Op. 88, by Antonin Dvorak, while excellent in its more energetic moments, seemed a bit sluggish and tentative in its more meditative passages. Despite this slight torpor, there still was much fine playing from flutes and clarinets, trumpets, double-reeds and tympani.

If the finale concert is a tradition of the season, another rite of spring is the BSO Maine High School Concerto Competition, the winners of which will perform with the full symphony orchestra before Maine students, teachers, chaperones and community members today at the Maine Center for the Arts in Orono. The 9:45 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. concerts are open to public, private and home-schooled students and chaperones. Tickets are $3 each. The general public is invited to attend the 1:15 p.m. performance. Tickets are $10.

The BSO will return this summer for a pops concert in Kingfield and this fall for the 111th regular season. For tickets or information about the BSO, call (800) 639-3221, or visit the BSO Web site at www.

bangorsymphony.com.