Word: conductor
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...screaming and chanting in Jordan Hall at the New England Conservatory (NEC) on Sunday, March 1, the Berlin Symphony Orchestra bestowed the rare gift of an encore performance upon its audience. Brought to the NEC in the midst of the 1997-98 BankBoston Celebrity Series, the orchestra, with conductor Joseph Silverstein and piano soloist Derek Han, already possessed a well-packaged program of Brahms, Mendelssohn and Schumann--one could not have asked for a more fitting embellishment than a bit of Beethoven...
...world-class orchestra that has been performing for a little more than three decades, the Berlin Symphony was directed on Sunday by Joseph Silverstein, who currently heads the Utah Symphony. An unusually liberal expression of enthusiasm in the conductor was immediately apparent; his smiles were a welcome divergence from the stoic grimaces of most highly-acclaimed conductors. Also absent was any indication of restraint within the orchestra; the woodwinds leapt directly into Brahms' Variations on a theme by Haydn only a few moments after Silverstein took his position at the front of the stage...
After a quick rearrangement period, Derek Han emerged from backstage to take his place at the grand piano now obscuring the conductor. Touring with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra in its current debut tour of the United States, Han's accomplishments range from graduating from The Juilliard School at 18 to playing at a gala event for President Nelson Mandela last season. During the opening strains of Mendelssohn's Piano Concerto No. 2 in D Minor, Han fixed his gaze upon the baton, bobbing his head slightly and effortlessly threading his melody into that woven by the full orchestra. Every note...
...even the more placid Larghetto was imbued with the anticipation of motion and activity to be delivered in ensuing Scherzo. At the piece's conclusion, Joseph Silverstein returned three times to receive the praise of his listeners, a handful of whom stood to applaud the orchestra and its smiling conductor...
Unfortunately, a handful of listeners also left the hall at this point, perhaps in hopes of avoiding catastrophic parking conditions at the conservatory. Perhaps Joseph Silverstein's smiles hinted at the surprise, but no one seemed to expect the conductor to return a fourth time, as indicated by the donning of coats across the balcony and mezzanine. Silverstein did return a fourth time, though, and with the same vigor he exhibited almost two hours earlier at the concert's commencement, led his group into an encore performance of Beethoven's Egmont Overture. The overture acted as the perfect capstone...