By Daniel Buckwalter (#CommonManAtTheSymphony)
And the band got together again at Silva Concert Hall.
The miracle is that it happened at all. Up to two weeks beforehand, I questioned whether it could or should go on. Yet through the Delta variant surge — and perhaps with everyone crossing fingers the entire time — the Eugene Symphony Orchestra triumphantly came back from a 19-month COVID-driven hiatus to perform Thursday night at the Hult Center.
It looked different from February 2020, the last time Eugene Symphony convened at Silva Concert Hall. It felt different, too, because everything is different. There was, for patrons, protocols that included showing proof of ID at the door as well as proof of vaccination or proof of a negative test within 48 hours of the performance simply to take a seat.
And there were, of course, the masks, a seemingly permanent fashion accessory. Francesco Lecce-Chong, conductor and music director for the symphony, wore his mask throughout, as did the string and percussion players and the stagehands (good to see them back). The wind and brass players had masks on when they were not playing.
Daniel Buckwalter; photo by Randi Bjornstad
There was a surreal aspect to it all, which is understandable. Who among us doesn’t look at a stage (any stage) today and not feel differently than we did when the pandemic started? It’s been a contorted and hellacious period of stops and starts for all, with the cycle of everyday life continuing to rumble on the side.
There were births and, in my case, two painful non-COVID deaths (blessings to you David Beckstein and Ted Hicks). None of us can remain the same in duress for any year-plus duration, nor should we be expected to, especially during the COVID pandemic.
So, before an audience at Silva Concert Hall that may have topped out at 40 percent of the hall’s 2,500 capacity, the symphony bowed at the end of a heartwarming performance — Opening Night and Welcome Back — that featured works by Libbey Larsen, Florence Price and Sergei Rachmaninoff, and a sense of a fresh start.
The audience, at least, could breathe again for a short spell. The fresh start coincided with the end of the summer season, beginning with Larsen’s piece, Deep Summer Music, a reminder that as we begin autumn, there will be longer nights and cooler mornings. There will be, too, the stowing away of all things summer, be it a garden harvest or recreational toys. It’s the start of the retreat into winter, accompanied by the harvest moon, which I envisioned with the soft trumpet solos of Sarah Viens.
Price’s Piano Concerto in D-minor One Movement amplified the program’s theme of fresh beginnings. Guest pianist Michelle Cann skillfully and expressively wove her way through the piece’s nod to my seasonal understanding of the piece as well as the certainty of the call-and-response and Black spiritual elements. That was a joy to hear.
The program ended — as any program that flips the seasons from summer to autumn should end — with Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances, a vibrant and elegant sunset to the summer season that was finished in 1940. The composer died two years later.
Opening Night and Welcome Back was a festive breath of fresh air. The Eugene Symphony initially navigated the barren COVID landscape with archival footage — what little there was of it — and Facebook posts. It then found some footing in early 2021 with a series of virtual concerts that featured mostly string players.
Now it is back in full force, and Thursday night’s opening concert was emotional, as anyone might suspect. Lecce-Chong looked exhausted at the end as the audience rose for the fourth or fifth ovation of the night, not wanting, it seemed, to let go of the experience. It was a wonderful way to begin Eugene Symphony’s 57th season and end the spiritual drought that has dogged us all. It was good to have the band together again.
Note: The Opening Night and Welcome Back concert is recorded and will be available for on-demand viewing and listening starting Oct. 7 at 7:30 p.m. It will be available for one week. Virtual tickets start at $20 and can be purchased at EugeneSymphony.org.
