All seats were sold out for Simone Young, the exciting Australian conductor, and the Vienna Symphony on Sunday, Oct. 25, 2015. No wonder: the Wunderfrau of the podium was leading one of Vienna’s top-flight ensembles in the rarely heard Dante Symphony by Franz Liszt. I managed to buy a ticket from an elderly woman who arrived at Vienna's Konzerthaus, rosy as Homer’s dawn, at the last moment.
The program began with an energetic performance of the Schrumpf-Symphonie by Austrian composer Kurt Schwertsik, but all was quickly overshadowed by the brilliance of Liszt’s transcription of Schubert’s Wanderer Fantasy, eloquently interpreted by Louis Lortie, a pianist who deserves to be more widely known in the States. European audiences truly crave encores, more than do their American counterparts, and Lortie provided a beautiful short work by Liszt, a world of subtlety, variety, depth in a few minutes that passed like a delightful dream.
The Dante Symphony? Meh. This work begins promisingly enough, but drones on and on until it remembers where it is and concludes in a captivating sweep of sound. A great concert overall, though, and while Young has conducted major operatic and symphonic orchestras for decades, I still am amazed every time I see a woman wield the baton. Hurrah for Simone, Marin, Joann, and all the women who now lead orchestras. For women of my generation, it is a miracle, but one long overdue.
