Britten, Ravel, Tchaikovsky works featured at SDSO concert

By Eileen Wingard in San Diego

It was Serge Koussevitzky, the Jewish-born Russian conductor of the Boston Symphony, who commissioned British composer Benjamin Britten to write his opera, Peter Grimes. And it was the “Four Interludes” from that opera that opened the San Diego Symphony Orchestra concert Saturday evening Feb. 21 at the stunningly refurbished Jacobs Music Center.

Britten wrote his masterpiece set in the Suffolk fishing village where he grew up, inspired by the narrative poem, The Burrough, by the 19th century Suffolk poet George Crabbe, in which he describes various characters such as Peter Grimes.

In “Dawn,” Britten evokes the water’s waves with long, soaring lines of the upper strings. “Sunday Morning,” has horns imitating church bells and ending with chimes. “Moonlight” has the woodwinds reflecting ripples of light on the water, while “Storm,” has the roar of the full orchestra portraying the turbulence, reminiscent of the storm in Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony. It was all brought to life by guest conductor Nicholas Carter.

A native of Melbourne, Australia, Carter has a wide array of experience conducting opera as well as symphony orchestras. Interestingly, his first conducting experience was leading Hans Krasa’s children’s opera, Brundibar. This was the opera performed multiple times by the young Jewish inmates of the Nazi show-concentration camp, Terezin.

After serving four seasons as conductor of the Adelaide Symphony in his native Australia, he moved to Germany, as chorus master with the Hamburg and German state opera companies as well as holding other posts in the country. For the 2026-27 season, he has been appointed Music Director of the Stuttgart State Opera. Carter conducted with vitality and our San Diego musical forces responded in kind.

Following the “Four Interludes” from Peter Grimes was Maurice Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major featuring the British pianist Benjamin Grosvenor. In the first movement, Allegro, after the piano’s opening, with runs up and down the keyboard, the trumpet entered with a jaunty Basque dance, played with spot-on precision by the SDSO’s principal trumpet, Christopher Smith.

The languid theme that followed had Spanish influence, while the last three themes sounded like American jazz. They all meshed together in the movement and included an impressively played harp cadenza played by principal harp Julie Smith and a piano cadenza before the movement’s rapid conclusion.

The second movement, Adagio assai, was like a slow Saraband and opened with the solo piano. A number of bars later, the piano was joined by the principal flute, followed by an English horn solo that dominated the rest of the movement. It was beautifully played by the SDSO’s principal English horn, Andrea Overturf.

The last movement began with running 16th notes in the piano, creating a frenetic feeling throughout, with trombone slides commentary and trumpet fanfares punctuating the jazz-infused race. Grosvenor met the technical and musical challenges throughout, and the audience rewarded him with an enthusiastic standing ovation.

Grosvenor grew up in Essex County, England. His father was an English and drama teacher; his mother was a piano teacher who gave Benjamin his first lessons when he was five years old. He studied at the Royal Academy of London from where he received his BMus degree and the Queen’s Award for Excellence for the best all-round student of the year.

The 33-year old pianist has since performed recitals and concerts world-wide and has an extensive discography, all to great acclaim.

Following intermission at the Feb. 21 concert was Tchaikovsky’s final symphony, his Sixth, which his brother Modest named the Pathetique. “I believe it comes into being as the best of my works,” Tchaikovsky wrote.

The somber opening, Adagio, in the bassoons and basses, morphed into the lively Allegro non troppo theme in the strings. A sentimental theme, followed. Then, fireworks emerged and crackled during the development section. The sentimental theme returned in the recapitulation and twice during the movement, the lament of the solo clarinet was heard, played with subtle poignancy by principal clarinet Cheryl Renk.

The Waltz movement, Allegro grazie, is, interestingly, not in the usual ¾ waltz meter, but in 5/4. Yet it retained the lilt of a waltz and was a calming contrast to the intensity of the first movement.

The third movement, Allegro molto vivace, a victorious-sounding march, built up to an exciting climax that always seems to elicit applause, unless one attended the pre-concert lecture and were reminded that a fourth movement was still to come.

The finale, Adagio lamentoso, again has this symphony deviating from the norm, ending morendo, sadly dying away.

Perhaps Tchaikovsky knew that his own end was near.

The Pathetique was completed August, 1893. It had its premiere under the direction of Tchaikovsky in November of that year and the composer died nine days later.

Our concert hall was well filled, a testament to the CEO and General Manager, Martha Gilmer’s management skills. She was recently honored by Musical America as Administrator of the Year, a well-deserved accolade for her work with our outstanding San Diego Symphony.

*
Eileen Wingard, a retired violinist with the San Diego Symphony Orchestra, is a freelance writer specializing in coverage of the arts.