Summer concert

Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2 stands out for its upbeat enthusiasm, a quality it offers in abundance despite the composer’s advancing deafness when he wrote it. Brimming with extremes and surprises, the piece exhibits an exuberance and cheerfulness not heard again until—perhaps—his Ode to Joy in the ninth symphony. The concert opens with Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll, a piece he wrote for his wife, Cosima. Wagner hired a small group of musicians to play the piece in the front hallway of his house to awaken her on her birthday morning.

Orli Shaham will open this concert with Ravel’s gorgeous and instantly recognizable Pavane for a Dead Princess. Following, she’ll join Festival Musicians for Reena Esmail’s Saans. The title means “breath” in Urdu, and Esmail wrote this lovely piece for a friend’s wedding (and later her fiancé played it at her own!). Then back to Ravel for his masterful Trio in A Minor for Violin, Cello, and Piano, a piece whose four movements progress from a dreamy beginning influenced by Basque dances through several sparkling and haunting melodies, to an energetic—even heroic—conclusion.

Mozart fans may realize that the Festival has been slowly working its way through the great composer’s concertos for winds. This evening features his Concerto for Oboe, performed by the Festival’s Principal Oboe, Erik Behr. One of the most famous pieces ever written for the oboe, it offers a melodic showcase for the instrument’s range of expression. Wind instruments are also featured prominently in Argentinian composer Alberto Ginastera’s Variaciones Concertantes. Each variation gives the melodic lead to a different instrument, including the flute, clarinet, and a duet between the oboe and bassoon. And the final variation brings everything home with an exuberant, Latin-American flair.

Antonín Dvořák’s eighth symphony is often described as cheery, genial, and upbeat. It offers one delightful melody after another, whether evoking themes from Bohemian folk music the composer adored or scenes of local pastoral beauty. As one conductor instructed the orchestra before the fanfare that opens the fourth movement: “Gentlemen, in Bohemia the trumpets never call to battle—they always call to the dance!” Speaking of fanfare, this concert opens with Mason Bates’s Soundcheck in C Major, which is, in his words, “a fanfare animated by sonic effects” that might remind some of Wagner, and others of Pink Floyd.