Aesthetic encounter …

This afternoon, Debbie and I and David Tothero attended a concert by the Curtis Orchestra, composed of students at the Curtis Institute. The principal conductor was Osmo Vänskä, but the opening work, Sibelius's Swan of Tuanela, was conducted by Kensho Watanabe, who graduated from Curtis in 2013, then returned later that same year as a conducting fellow. He delivered a magically sensitive performance, infused with insights only a young person could have, but few would have the skill to express. It reminded me of how that music caused me to feel when I was myself young.

Vänskä then came on, and closed the first half of the concert with Witold Lutoslawski's Concerto for Orchestra, which proved quite engaging, the sort of unfamiliar piece that you really do want to hear again. The performance certainly sounded good to me.

The second half was taken up entirely with Sibelius's fifth symphony, which I am certainly familiar with, the piece having been an Ormandy standard. Now Ormandy was an outstanding Sibelius conductor, and his version of the fifth is the one that has stayed with me. It is clear, dignified, and lyrical, an accurate and precise rendering of the score. I would never be without it. 

But I would love to supplement it with what I heard today, which was, for my money, the best performance of the symphony that I have ever heard. It came at the work from another angle. Oh, the lyricism was there, and so was the clarity, but it was focused on the form of the piece, revealing the context of ruggedness and struggle underlying the songfulness. It sounded extraordinarily contemporary.