Boston Symphony Orchestra at United in Sound: America at 250 Part 2

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Reviews

Published on Friday, 17 April 2026 14:01

Written by Jack Angstreich

Photo by Fadi Kheir

At the wonderful Stern Auditorium, on the night of Friday, April 10th, I had the enormous privilege to attend the second of two amazing concerts on consecutive days—presented by Carnegie Hall as part of its festival, United in Sound: America at 250—performed by the extraordinary musicians of the Boston Symphony Orchestra under the outstanding direction of Andris Nelsons.

The event started very auspiciously with the brilliant realization of the New York premiere of Finnish composer Outi Tarkiainen’s haunting, mysterious Day Night Day from 2024, which is a joint commission from the Berlin Philharmoniker, this ensemble, and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. Robert Kirzinger provides some background on the piece in a useful note on the program:

Tarkiainen’s latest opera, Day of Night, is a collaboration with the director, writer, and dramaturg Aleksi Barrière, son of the composers Kaija Saariaho and Jean-Baptiste Barrière. The opera’s libretto is primarily in English but also features other languages, including Sámi. The scenario is based on the Sámi poet and writer Niillas Holmberg’s first novel, Halla Hella. The opera was commissioned by Aalto Musiktheater Essen and Finnish National Opera and Ballet.

The musical material of Tarkiainen’s single-movement tone poem Day Night Day is derived from the music of Day of Night. The composer writes, “Day Night Day is an orchestral work about the northern light and ice that every winter invade the land but that reflect the early spring light in brilliant spectra. The work incorporates references to two Sámi melodies: a yoik of Láve Nigá Risten from the Teno region of Northern Finnish Lapland, heralded by muted trumpets towards the beginning of the work; and a variation of the old South Sámi lullaby Sjamma, sjamma hummed at the end by the woodwinds.” A yoik (or joik) is a vocal genre described as being a kind of musical totem of a person, place, or animal.

The composer was present to witness the audience’s acclaim.

The astonishing virtuoso Lang Lang then entered the stage as soloist for a fabulous account of Edvard Grieg’s enchanting Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 16, from 1868. The tuneful, initial, Allegro molto moderato movement begins dramatically and what immediately follows is passionate, sometimes moody, and highly Romantic, although there are moments of more subdued lyricism; it closes forcefully. The succeeding Adagio has a more reflective ethos on the whole but there are bravura passages; it ends softly. The finale, marked Allegro moderato molto e marcato is propulsive and energetic, even exuberant, and often dazzling, but again, there are serene, as well as emotional, inward measures before breathless music with dance-like rhythms moves to the fore; it concludes triumphantly. Enthusiastic applause elicited a delightful encore from the pianist: “Mia and Sebastian's Theme” from Justin Hurwitz’s score for the film La La Land (arr. Kerber).

The second half of the evening was even more memorable: a seemingly unsurpassable version of Jean Sibelius’s marvelous Symphony No. 1 in E Minor, Op. 39, from 1899. The Allegro energico, first movement opens with a somewhat forlorn, Andante ma non troppo introduction for solo clarinet and timpani, but more turbulent music quickly ensues; brighter, transitional measures for the strings, harp and woodwinds usher in more characteristically Sibelian sonorities, although the early influence of Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky is discernible—the movement’s almost tentative finish arrives surprisingly early. The subsequent, Andante ma non troppo lento has a somewhat lugubrious, if stirring, quality that is sometimes displaced by more affirmative, quasi-pastoral interludes—it also foreshadows the sensibility of the composer’s later symphonies and it too closes unexpectedly soon. The main body of the next, Allegro movement—it functions as a scherzo—has a dynamic, driving momentum, while its Trio is more song-like; it concludes abruptly. Much of the Finale (Quasi una fantasia) has a suspenseful intensity contrasting with plaintive, if noble, episodes for the violins—it ends quietly after a powerful climax. 

The artists deservedly received a standing ovation.

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