Andris Nelsons conducts the Boston Symphony Orchestra on Thursday, January 16. Hilary Scott photograph
Pop songs resolve daily psycho-dramas, right? Had a fight? Listen to a break-up song, get it out of your system in three minutes.
For me, the road extending from that dynamic—from the simple personal therapy of listening—to the empathetic reading of Beethoven, runs direct. No study really needed, but a little helps. Just attention, rapt attention to what sound alone can do, to startle humans.
Beethoven 4 and 5, Friday afternoon in another sold-out Symphony Hall, continued Andris Nelsons’s deeply attentive close readings of the cycle.
Extending the notion that the symphonies narrate, individually and as a collective, the Fourth presents itself as a confident exercise, without needing to seek attention. Another extensive Adagio prelude to an otherwise brisk movement (first)—in different movements than 1–3, but another example of Beethoven scanning ideas, before striding purposefully.
The sound in the Fourth gets defined by single winds and horns, against strings. All their lines turned into solos, sometimes diminished in volume only. The spectacular Adagio melody that sets up the second movement whispers out from those single voices, repaying attention.
The Fifth read to me like a continual theme-and-variations—no new ground here. The actual T&V in the second movement struck me deeply, changes to the melody in a series of unexpectedly rewarding ways. The Scherzo struck as more probing than humorous.
I’m determined to add something about each performance. 6/7 tonight, then 8/9 on Thursday, might be dealt with together by necessity. Cheers. Camerata today—a replay of Daniel. At Trinity Church.