The TSO’s program last night was too tempting to miss; Adrianne Pieczonka singing Strauss and Wagner and a Beethoven 7th plus Gianandrea Noseda conducting.  So I went.

Things started off with Casella’s Italia.  This is a sort of mash up of Pucciniesque bombast and Neapolitan popular tunes.  I’m surprised it never featured in a Warner Bros cartoon.  Perhaps it did.  In any event Nosada is probably the ideal conductor for it; infusing it with a kind of manic energy.  Next up were the Strauss Vier letzte lieder.  Here manic energy is exactly what’s not needed and Nosada seemed to have some difficulty adjusting.  Too often Adrianne Pieczonka’s beautiful singing was covered by an over loud orchestra.  Roy Thomson Hall is tricky but George Benjamin showed exactly how to manage the acoustic last weekend.  Nosada wasn’t so successful.

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