DONA NOBIS PACEM

 

Grant us peace. We could use some uplift after the week we’ve had.

As I mentioned, we went to a performance of Mozart’s Requiem yesterday. One of the good things about this town is that we have a spectacularly good symphony orchestra, really top tier. That’s our wooly-headed music director, Stéphane Denève, on the podium. The music was at times terrifying but ended with hope. I’m grasping for some.                 

TO THE NEW SEASON

Last weekend was the opening of the 2022-2023 season of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. Mrs. C and I have been subscribers into the 40-something of years. Our beloved music director, Stéphane Denève, offers a toast from the grand staircase off the lobby during intermission. Times have changed. No more tyrannical, aloof conductors. Denève engages the audience personally. We occasionally see him in a restaurant and he loves to chat.

Apologies for the mediocre phone cam shot. Denève has made a commitment to our city. He has bought a house and made STL his home. That's his wife and daughter to his right. Well, he is also music director of the Brussels Philharmonic but we get lots of his attention.  

A GOOD WAY TO END THE YEAR

Lots of symphony orchestras have special New Year's Eve programs to gin up some fun and extra revenue. Our St. Louis Symphony is one of them. Mrs. C and I haven't been out on this night in decades but this year the SLSO had two performances, one in the evening and a new one at 2 PM. Perfect for sleepyhead old folks.

Our beloved music director, Stéphane Denève, seen on the screen here, put on a program heavy on Gershwin, including the overture to Girl Crazy (all those hits - I Got Rhythm, Embraceable You, But Not For Me), An American In Paris and Rhapsody In Blue, all bursting with energy. After intermission we heard Meet Me In St. Louis, the St. Louis Blues March and finally Auld Lang Syne. Damn hard to sing along through a mask.                 

SLSO

We are fortunate to have a top-tier symphony orchestra in a medium size city. It is the second oldest in the country after New York. Mrs. C and I have been subscribers for more than 40 years. I took her here on our first date (Mahler 1st, Walter Susskind conducting, but I don't remember what she wore). She probably wondered what she was getting herself into. 

We love our new music director, Stéphane Denève. I don't know how these conductors juggle two jobs but he still has his old one as music director in Brussels, plus being principal guest conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra. His much admired predecessor, David Robertson, was simultaneously music director in Sydney during his last few years here. A lot of airplane time.         

CASH BAR, HEAVY HORS D'OEUVRES, BEETHOVEN

Mrs. C and I have been subscribers to the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra for more than forty years. There was an evening open rehearsal (they are usually during the day) for subscribers on Thursday. They ask people to call if they are coming; when my wife did so she was told there would be a cash bar and "heavy hors d'oeuvres" [sic]. The staffer said that meant more than little finger food but not enough for dinner. A new term has been coined.

Our marvelous new music director, Stéphane Denève, is blowing out all the stops with the Beethoven 9th this weekend. Before the rehearsal started, he told us that the metronome was invented around the time of its composition by a friend and that L v B loved it. The work is full of these timing marks but few conductors follow them. Denève intended to do so and at times the result sounded quite odd, often a bit fast and a little stiff. But if the master says so... We will hear the final outcome at the performance tonight.

Above, a fuzzy low-light phone cam shot of our principal cello, Daniel Lee, starting to warm up.      

A Heck Of An Introduction

After thirteen years, the St. Louis Symphony's beloved music director, David Robertson, will leave us at the end of this season. I don't know how he has kept it up this long. His home is in New York. His wife is the concert pianist Orli Shaham. They have twin sons. I saw that he is conducting Cosi Fan Tutti at the Metropolitan Opera this spring. Oh, and he is also chief conductor or the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. It has been a great pleasure to have him here.

Time passes. Our new music director, starting with the 2019-2020 season, is Frenchman Stéphane Denève. This weekend was his only guest appearance this year and we've never heard him before. O M G. He conducted a program of French music, featuring sisters Christina and Michelle Naughton, below, playing the Poulenc Concerto for Two Pianos. There arms are so fluid they looked like four octopus tentacles. Denève is a spectacular talent. We look forward to hearing much more from him.

The handsome couple below saw me taking the picture of the Naughtons on my phone at intermission. They asked me to take their picture on his phone. We are glad to have more young people in the audience.