The turbulent state of American life may have classical music lovers pondering how to address the moment with music. Do you want something emotionally epic, with a massive orchestra sound and a troubled heart on its sleeve? Or do you seek a sonic retreat, a place of rest from the stress?
When it comes to livestreaming concerts, those in the latter camp have more options, as COVID-19 has made bigness a bad idea. Just as large gatherings have been forsaken in favor of quiet conversations, so have the Twin Cities' two major orchestras downsized their online performances.
In the Minnesota Orchestra's case, that means divvying the ensemble into pods, brass conversing with brass, woodwind players exchanging lines in socially distanced circles. The strings still gather, but in limited numbers.
Hence, programs feature smaller-scale repertoire like the two 18th-century works in Friday night's well executed concert, which was broadcast live from Orchestra Hall and continues to be available on demand at mnorch.vhx.tv. Mozart wrote for small orchestras, so the Bassoon Concerto on which Fei Xie soloed was ideal for the occasion. And even though the classical era's most prominent composer of African heritage, Joseph Boulogne (aka the Chevalier de St.-Georges), led famously large Parisian orchestras, his First Symphony doesn't need one.
Hence, intimacy was the order of the evening, beginning with music director Osmo Vänskä conducting three antiphonal Renaissance brass works by Giovanni Gabrieli. If stress reduction is what you seek, a spirit of salve permeates these pieces. And, if lightness is desired, a buoyantly playful woodwind quartet by Jean Francaix should satisfy.
Mozart could summon up troubled tones with the best of them, but the Bassoon Concerto he composed at age 18 is unceasingly warm and lyrical. Xie has been the orchestra's principal bassoonist since 2017, but this was his first go with the orchestra as a soloist, and it was an unqualified success. Whether smoothly negotiating the fastest passages, sweetly singing on the lovely slow movement, or crafting his own hypnotic cadenzas, Xie was virtuosic throughout.
In its admirable efforts to program more music by composers of color, the Minnesota Orchestra found a fine fit in following the Mozart concerto with Boulogne's First Symphony. The two were contemporaries clearly influenced by one another's work. Mozart spent most of 1778 in Paris — when Boulogne was near the peak of his popularity as a violinist, conductor and composer — and it's possible he may have even attended this symphony's premiere.
With a structure and sound reminiscent of midcareer Haydn, the symphony is pleasant and unprovocative (at least to modern ears). And it was given all the appropriate effervescence by Vänskä and the orchestra.
