“David Robertson is a superb conductor with a gift for planning surprising, meaningful programming. He also has a flair for intelligent stand-up comedy,” writes Sarah Bryan Miller in Sunday’s (11/23) St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Missouri). “He’s honed those talents in the decade he’s been music director of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. On Friday night a full house at Powell Symphony Hall reaped the benefit. The program was the first of a series of three concerts this season called ‘Music You Know,’ familiar, accessible works in the classical repertoire. The feel was casual, with the men of the orchestra in black suits and black shirts. Patrons could bring their drinks into the hall. The printed program notes were casual, too, quite minimal, just a few paragraphs by SLSO publications manager Eddie Silva. The rest came from Robertson.… He talked about the music…. He made gracious introductions of his soloists. His timing was just right.” The concert included music by Copland, Mussorgsky, Massenet (featuring first violin Dana Edson Myers), Tchaikovsky, Grieg, and Christian Woehr’s Beinn na Caillich (Hill of the Old Woman), Fantasia for a Fiddler, featuring second violin Becky Boyer Hall.
Posted November 25, 2014
