Bill Barclay's Concert Theatre Works, Seong-Jin Cho, and Pekka Kuusisto hit it off with BSO at Tanglewood

Boston Globe

15-07-2025

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And though condensed to a trim hour and a half, all the oft-quoted lines were still there, and the well-worn tragedy still packed an emotional wallop. Kelley Curran ('The Gilded Age') made a winsome and willful Juliet opposite James Udom's tender-hearted, loyal Romeo. Caleb Mayo — last seen as the title role in Concert Theater Works's 'Peer Gynt' with the BSO — was a boisterous Mercutio, and Shakespearean veteran Robert Walsh deftly handled the double role of the put-upon Friar and rustic Nurse with the help of a quick-change costume by Arthur Oliver.
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As with any opening night, it had its hiccups, but the cast deftly handled those it could; when actor Carman Lacivita's (Tybalt) sword appeared to be stuck in its sheath during the opening Capulet-Montague brawl, Mayo's Mercutio taunted his rival with a grin and a cheeky wiggle. Later in the play, during a scene in which the Nurse consoled Juliet opposite the Friar advising Romeo, Walsh seemed to realize that flipping the skirt of his robe to switch characters was prompting unintentional laughter, and let his face and voice do the work of the costume instead. Some of the actors' body mics were amplified to uncomfortable levels where I was sitting, particularly when it came to Nigel Gore's avuncular and then terrifying Lord Capulet, but that's a problem that can be solved, and this is a 'Romeo and Juliet' I'd see again. Here's hoping for a repeat performance at Symphony Hall with as much of this cast as possible.
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Saturday evening was also conducted by Nelsons. The centerpiece was unmistakably pianist Seong-Jin Cho, who tackled both Ravel's Piano Concerto in G and Piano Concerto for the Left Hand. During the Concerto in G he seemed to play the role of master of ceremonies, playing to the crowd with extroverted sparkle before going inward for the second movement, which was transcendently unsentimental and thoroughly exquisite. In the Left Hand concerto, by contrast, he gave the impression of Alice down the rabbit hole, beset by improbable creatures and strange sounds. 'Wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied?' the audience seemed to demand with applause, and Cho would have been within his rights to make like Juliet and retreat out of sight, but he sat down, comically stretched out his right hand, and produced another little Ravel bauble. Parting is such sweet sorrow.
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The Ravel twofer was bookended with two Debussy dreamscapes. First came 'Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun,' featuring flutist Lorna McGhee with her first major solo for the Tanglewood crowd as BSO principal. Her sound was hypnotically smooth and broad, almost reminiscent of an alto saxophone at points. During the applause, bows were waving and feet were stomping onstage. The evening ended with 'La Mer,' pleasant.
Harpists Jessica Zhou and Kristin Keches had much to do across the board that evening, and handled it all with keen elegance. Those French fellows loved their orchestral harp; one moment is crystallized in my mind from the Ravel Concerto in G when Zhou seemed to rip the melody right out of the pianist's hands.
Sunday afternoon's slot was intended to be the long-awaited return of Esa-Pekka Salonen to the BSO podium, 13 years having passed since his last appearance. However, the Finnish conductor withdrew during the week of July 4 for personal reasons, and frequent BSO collaborator Thomas Adès picked up the baton for the same program. The music, by California composer Gabriella Smith and Finnish national hero Sibelius, wasn't so squarely in Adès's wheelhouse as it is in Salonen's – but Adès is no slouch, and led the orchestra in a satisfying afternoon that approached sublime a few times.
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Smith's 'Tumblebird Contrails,' inspired by a moment of communion with nature at the edge of the Pacific, conveyed the experience of feeling infinitesimally small through its chugging percussion rhythms and massive stringscapes; the sound seemed to spread out to the horizon like the sea. This one should be heard live.
Finnish violinist Pekka Kuusisto, a frequent Salonen collaborator, made his Tanglewood debut with the Sibelius violin concerto. Kuusisto is a contemporary music specialist, and accordingly, he played the chestnut concerto like it was bracing and new. The first movement ruminated, while the second was inquisitive and innocent. To the romping dance of the third, Kuusisto jumped in like a wedding crasher; smooth, confident, and just a little bit (intentionally) out of lockstep with the grounded, steady rhythms of the orchestra.
The crowd called for an encore, and Kuusisto began to speak. In 1918 or so, when Sibelius was composing his 5th symphony — which the audience was about to hear after intermission — there was a short-lived movement in newly-independent Finland to install a king, 'but we decided to not do that,' he said. He paused. 'I recommend it.'
For all the cheering, Kuusisto couldn't start his blazing Finnish fiddle-tune encore for half a minute.
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
At Tanglewood, Lenox. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. www.tanglewood.org
A.Z. Madonna can be reached at