Quite a show

PalmaNinth concert of the season for the Illes Balears Symphony Orchestra at the Auditorium of Ciutat, which began with the peculiar Concert for Birds and Orchestra, by Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara, under the direction of a conductor of enormous presence in every sense, the Norwegian Rune Bergmann. He was undoubtedly the one who turned the concert into a spectacle of dimensions that corresponded to his own. Just after the ornithological composition, the first major highlight of the program arrived, with pianist Olga Kern as the great protagonist, to perform the Piano and Orchestra Concerto in A minor op. 54, by Robert Schumann. The first movement began, with a very solid, somewhat rocky style, and a very firm pulse, from the decisive entry of the piano, with a martial and powerful succession of descending chords, to reach the polyhedral cadence of the finale, from where the coloratura of the composition increased, with as much precision as elegance. Her performance was raising the level and delicacy, as for example, with the Andantino grazioso, a delightful dialogue between the orchestra and the piano that, little by little, turned into a tender and subtle monologue of the solo instrument. Kern made clear her mastery and ability to suggest all this series of variations and styles that Schumann incorporated into the score, in a very novel way for its time. The soloist, once again, resumed the energetic tone of the beginning, in an impetuous third movement, when, all of a sudden, she established a delightful new dialogue, this time with the oboe, as a prelude to the exceptional final coda that can only be described as exceptional and which served the protagonist to receive the enthusiastic applause of the audience. As it should be and as everyone expected, there was an encore, first a Prelude, by Claude Debussy, which never disappoints or leaves one indifferent. Impeccable. And in response to the plea in the form of an ovation, another little gem, by Nikolai Myaskovsky, a piano arrangement by Joseph Horovitz.

It seemed that everything was set and done, but it was far from it. Another composition was missing, with very different characteristics, but which undoubtedly always creates a superb mood in whoever listens to it. And if, on top of that, it's with such an expressive, I would even say bombastic, conductor as Rune Bergmann, the gem is more than guaranteed. Otherwise, a stratospheric interpretation by a Symphony in a state of grace, which could do nothing but follow the heterogeneous indications of the one who, more than ever, or so it seemed, was leading his ensemble where he wanted, with as much energy and subtlety, with as much ease as effectiveness, to suggest from moments of great nostalgia to others of energetic and profound lyricism, another dose of ornithology, which tied in with the piece commissioned to open the evening. Another great evening.