In Saturday’s (3/2) Baltimore Sun, Tim Smith writes, “There’s a light and dark theme running through the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s 2013-2014 season, which includes works dealing with great loss, as well as great compassion. ‘Sometimes through tragedy, whether a world war or a personal loss, the beauty of humanity comes out in art,’ said BSO music director Marin Alsop. ‘Great art brings us together in a very authentic and pure way.’ The season will feature Benjamin Britten’s large-scale, profoundly moving ‘War Requiem’ from 1962, written for the reconsecration of England’s Coventry Cathedral, destroyed in 1940 by bombing. … Leonard Bernstein’s Symphony No. 2, ‘Age of Anxiety,’ another response to the toll of World War II, will be performed in September. … Other sobering compositions slated for next season include John Adams’ haunting ‘On the Transmigration of Souls,’ which commemorates 9/11, and Karen Tanaka’s ‘Water of Life,’ a reflection on the 2011 tsunami in Japan. In addition to the recurring theme of solace, there will be uplift, too, especially from such masterworks as Beethoven’s testament to the brotherhood of man, Symphony No. 9. … The season will also offer premieres of works by two American composers—one, John Adams, already ranked among the finest of our time; the other, Baltimore-based Jonathan Leshnoff, who has steadily made a name for himself.”
Posted March 4, 2013
