The Jalisco Philharmonic Orchestra’s (OFJ) just-announced first season of the year promises both favorites and adventures, and, from this vantage point, not a single snoozer.
All seven programs will be set in Guadalajara’s majestic and acoustically excellent Teatro Degollado, and all performed on Thursday evenings at 8:30 p.m. and the following Sunday afternoons at 12:30 p.m. Three noteworthy guest conductors will come to Guadalajara this season, while OFJ director José Luis Castillo will conduct the other four programs.
Appropriately enough for its first winter program (February 8 and 11), the offerings make up a sort of Nordic festival that suggests cold climates but lets us experience them while safe in the pleasant Jalisco climate. Noteworthy is “Ciel d’hiver” (Winter Sky) by the Paris-based Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho, who recently died. The ten-minute piece is not melodic or particularly rhythmic, and instead is full of tender high and stormy low sounds that beautifully evoke winter elements and bear close listening. The longer and more traditional Concerto for Clarinet op. 57 by the prominent Danish composer Carl Nielsen follows, highlighted by OFJ principal clarinet Jeslán Fernández. The program culminates in the grand Symphony No. 2 by renowned Finnish composer Sibelius, who wrote it just after 1900 far from his wintry native country—in sunny Italy. But, due to its stirring final sections, it was considered by some as the unofficial anthem of Finland, which was then struggling for independence from Russia.
Please login or subscribe to view the complete article.