Russia invades Symphony Hall

Our first BSO concert of the new season featured two contrasting works. The first half was Prokofiev’s Cantata Alexander Nevsky, and the second, Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances. The great Russian film director Sergei Eisenstein created Alexander Nevsky in large part due to the propaganda need of the Soviet government in the late 1930’s. Stalin feared an invasion by the Nazis and wanted a film that would raise Russian morale. The story of a 13th Century Russian folk hero was designed for that purpose. Despite its genesis, Alexander Nevsky is considered one of the great films of all times. Prokofiev was enlisted to write the movie score, and he turned this score into a free-standing Cantata for chorus and orchestra. Like the Marseillaise, the cantata has stirring music and blood-curdling lyrics best not translated. Each movement of the Cantata depicts a portion of the film, though in a much more flowing coherent musical rendition than can be done with a film score.The full Tanglewood Festival Chorus filled Symphony Hall with rich sound. A short solo section was beautifully sung by Russian mezzo-soprano Nadezhda Serdyuk, making her BSO debut. At the end of the piece, we were ready to serve the defense of the Motherland! After intermission we were treated to a sweet melodic and pastoral contrast. Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances was written in America, and sounds much more American than Russian. A beautiful section is played by the woodwinds alone without strings, and the finale includes brass fanfares. Both pieces showed off the splendid acoustics of Symphony Hall and led to standing ovations