Spy Concert Review: MSO Season Finale by Steve Parks

The Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra winds up its 2024-25 subscription season with a cello concerto masterpiece and a Mendelssohn double feature.

The concert got off with a bang, though it’s almost tragic to think about a time when women, no matter their talent or even genius, were under-recognized or, worse, ignored because of their gender.

Fanny Hensel (nee Mendelssohn), born in 1805, was overshadowed throughout her professional life as a gifted composer by her famous kid brother Felix, four years her junior. Judging from her Overture in C major, written when she was 25, Fanny was at least as gifted as her soon-to-be far more famous sibling. Her overture opens with a dynamic theme engaging every instrument in the orchestra, from horns to woodwinds, every timbre of strings, and bombastic percussion. Yet the piece remains far more mature and measured than show-offy, reflecting classical elegance blended with romantic swooning.

Robert Schumann’s Cello Concerto, featuring guest soloist Gabriel Martins, continued and enhanced the romantic theme of the opening-night program. Schumann’s career and life story were checkered by severe bouts with mental illness, including one instance when he voluntarily committed himself to an asylum. But during a remission of sorts, he wrote in what might be seen as an inspired piece or recovery celebration. Introspective in its expressiveness, particularly in the sweeping solo cello interludes, reveal, we imagine, Schumann’s personal turmoil and apparent relief from its impact. Martins’ interpretation of these key solo passages is alternately emotive and reflective, expositive at times, and then serene — a range that becomes a variable orchestral and solo theme throughout.

Following intermission, we are introduced to what’s known as Kid Brother Felix’s “Happy” Italian Symphony No. 4. What’s not to be happy about? Felix and Fanny were born into a Jewish banking family, more or less a century before Hitler’s Nazi party. Felix could well afford a year’s tour of Italy.  And he apparently enjoyed every minute of it. His symphony is a party — a celebration — almost from start to finish. Except you need respites in between to stay in the light of the second movement’s breezy sunny afternoons on the water on one coast of Italy or overlooking the shore.

The closing program celebrates another season of finely tailored music from an orchestra that represents, with great musical taste and skill, a small mid-Shore community and two satellites on the Delaware and Maryland ocean beaches. Enjoy the sunshine and the music of next season. We should be grateful for this wondrous gift of beautiful music.

MID-ATLANTIC SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

“Romantic Triumph and Celebration” season finale concert series: Thursday night, May 8, Todd Performing Arts Center, Chesapeake College. Also, coming up: 3 p.m. Saturday, May 10, Cape Henlopen High School, Lewes, Deleware, and 3 p.m. Sunday, May 11. Ocean City Performing Arts Center. midatlanticsymphony.org