To please everyone. A lot, and well.

PalmA concert for those who cultivate a love for music. Perhaps for that reason, and because there were many children, students from the Conservatory, the Auditorium on the Passeig Marítim had a delightful atmosphere. The program was enticing, enticing from beginning to end. It began with theOpening No. 3, of Leonora, which Beethoven considered too important and imposing to lose relevance as the beginning of an opera, the only one he composed, Fideliowhich should first be said as the piece in question. And so, imposing, with lime and corresponding, sounded the prologue to the seventh concert of the season of the Illes Balears Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Pablo Mielgo. A majestic presentation, I would even say with a special demeanor on the part of the conductor and the sixty musicians who accompanied him on this very special evening when interpreting such a precise musical synopsis of what would be the only operatic composition by the genius of Bonn. It was clear that there was a desire to please a little more than usual and they made that clear from the first bars.

Anna Fedorova was in charge of offering one of the most beautiful and frequently performed piano concertos in history, the Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor, for piano and orchestra. Just as when Tchaikovsky first played it for the famous pianist Nicholas Rubinstein to get his opinion and see if he would premiere it, Rubinstein replied that it was a worthless concerto, absolutely impossible to play; the passages were broken, disjointed, and poorly written; that they couldn't even be improved; that the work itself was bad, trivial, vulgar, of which only two pages had any value. Finally, Hans von Bülow premiered it. Some others, like Lucien Rebatet, say it's tiresome because of its "rhapsodic picturesqueness." In any case, it's a concerto of extraordinary beauty, with many layers and textures, always a pleasure to listen to, and in the hands of Anna Fedorova it was no exception, quite the contrary. A deluge of nuances, ranging from the intensity of the first movement to the delicacy of the second, enveloped the audience. Equal parts sobriety and elegance characterized a performance that offered no respite from its many evocative colors and textures, along with impeccable harmony and synergy with the orchestra. An encore was a must. Almost always Chopin, and Fedorova was no exception, delivering a brilliant and perfectly suited performance. Minute vouchers.

That wasn't all. There was still the Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67. Probably the best known, and one that somehow fit perfectly with the rest of the program. Perhaps a couple of Mallorcan musicians were missing, which meant it didn't sound as regal as we've heard it so many times in different recordings, but they provided the necessary passion and intensity to round off a night that pleased everyone—very well done.