LENOX — The joy at Tanglewood’s reopening continues, unquenched by biblical rains, undeterred by bolts of lightning, unabashed by tears. Fans on Saturday, July 17 were still so giddy about finally getting to hear the Boston Symphony Orchestra perform at Tanglewood again that a little bit of rain was nothing.
Daniil Trifonov has performed a few times with the BSO at Tanglewood, but it was his solo performance of J.S. Bach’s “Art of Fugue,” presented online last August, that gave everyone a close-up look at technique the New Yorker called “monstrous” and “stupefying.” (They got it right.) Trifonov’s way with Bach must have motivated quite a few people to show up Saturday for his performance of the first Brahms piano concerto. And they were glad they did, judging by all the noise they made at the end: Excited shouts came from the farthest corners of the Shed, and, following the performance, the young pianist was obliged to return to the stage once, twice, and finally a third time to play one of his favorite Bach preludes. A perfect ending.
On Sunday, July 18, Gil Shaham was the ideal replacement for the Jussen brothers, who had been scheduled to play Mozart’s Concerto in E-flat for two pianos with the BSO, but had to withdraw. Gil and the orchestra, on short notice, prepared Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 3 in G, K.216 and made it all look perfectly routine. (It never is.)
Nobody nods their approval to a first violin section like Gil Shaham. This gesture, Gil’s trademark invitation to collaborate, is always his first order of business after greeting a conductor. He is awfully pleased to be there, he’s having the time of his life, and he wants to make sure everyone knows it. So he shines his happy light on everybody, and, pretty soon, everybody gets it, even members of the orchestra. Everyone gets something about the music that they couldn’t have gotten from anyone else.
Sunday’s show ended with Felix Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 5, “Reformation,” performed from Christopher Hogwood’s 2009 critical edition of the score. It is a gorgeous piece, not least because the composer incorporated into its last movement Martin Luther’s hymn “Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott” (“A mighty fortress is our God”), which J.S. Bach worked into his Cantata No. 80. (No wonder the harmony is rock solid.)
Next weekend: John Williams conducts the BSO and Anne-Sophie Mutter in the world premier of his Violin Concerto No. 2. Plus, Andris Nelsons conducts Stravinsky’s Suite from “The Firebird.”
