{"id":3807,"date":"2009-09-25T10:34:39","date_gmt":"2009-09-25T10:34:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jwfan.com\/?p=3807"},"modified":"2012-04-17T10:37:43","modified_gmt":"2012-04-17T10:37:43","slug":"on-willows-and-birches-harp-concerto-reviews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jwfan.com\/?p=3807","title":{"rendered":"‘On Willows and Birches’ (Harp Concerto) Reviews"},"content":{"rendered":"

From the World Premiere performance by the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by James Levine, with Ann Hobson Pilot on Harp:<\/p>\n

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Boston Globe review:<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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After intermission came the new Williams work, a well-crafted two-movement concerto that clearly fulfills its stated aims of paying tribute to Pilot and showcasing her formidable musicianship. That said, it is a modest work in its musical substance and in its effect. The first movement, titled \u201cOn Willows\u2019\u2019 after a line from Psalm 137, is slow, spare, and ruminative, with an undulating solo harp line drifting above a hazy orchestral landscape, creating a kind of spectral chamber music that seems to be heading somewhere it never quite reaches. The second movement, \u201cOn Birches\u2019\u2019 after the Robert Frost poem, is more chipper, caffeinated, and rhythmically emphatic, with an extended cadenza that puts the soloist\u2019s virtuosity squarely on display.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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And Pilot had plenty of it to show this appreciative audience. Her playing had impressive rhythmic clarity but also a keen sense of mood and color, not to mention a fundamental graciousness and expressive warmth. As the crowd\u2019s ovation made clear, she will be missed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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New York Times review:<\/a><\/p>\n

Ann Hobson Pilot, the former principal harpist of the Boston Symphony, who recently retired after 40 years with the orchestra, was the soloist in John Williams\u2019s \u201cOn Willows and Birches,\u201d written for her, a work that had its premiere on Sept. 23 in Boston. Though Mr. Williams made his name (and his fortune) as a film composer, he is a smart craftsman of concert works.<\/p>\n

The first movement of this 15-minute concerto, inspired by a phrase from Psalm 137, \u201cWe hanged our harps upon the willows,\u201d is alluring, atmospheric music that balances lacy runs and dry plucked themes in the harp with quizzical, elusive harmonies and shimmering orchestral textures. It reminded me of Mr. Williams\u2019s transfixing score for the film \u201cA.I.\u201d<\/p>\n

The jaunty second movement, inspired by the Robert Frost poem \u201cOn Birches,\u201d was less engaging. The music is jazzy and restless but a little square and tame, like a pops concert \u201cPetrouchka.\u201d Ms. Pilot was a refined and nimble soloist. Mr. Gatti, who learned this score during a car trip to Boston the day before the concert, seemed in full command.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the World Premiere performance by the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by James Levine, with Ann Hobson Pilot on Harp:<\/p>\n

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