Anne Sophie von Otter

This spring, the New York Philharmonic presented a much-anticipated series of concerts featuring Swedish mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter and English conductor Sir Colin Davis, offering music of Hector Berlioz and Jean Sibelius. The second of these, on April 23, is reviewed here.

Davis and the Philharmonic opened the evening with a fiery account of the ominous-sounding “Les Francs-juges” (“The Self-Appointed Judges”) overture, intended for a gothic opera that Berlioz never completed. Otter used a lyric, almost soprano timbre for her three Berlioz selections. She looked and sounded radiant as she mused wistfully on her future love and delicately shaped the old ballad of the King of Thule, faithful to his love’s memory even after her death, in Marguerite’s “Que l’air est étouffant … Autrefois un roi de Thulé,” from “La Damnation de Faust.” She gracefully welcomed the first stirrings of nature, emerging from winter’s chill, in the “ Villanelle” (rustic song) that begins the song cycle “Les Nuits d’été” (“Summer Nights”). The singer wrenchingly portrayed the Queen of Carthage, devastated by the departure of her love, Enée, and bidding farewell to her beloved land and to life itself, in Didon’s “Ah! Je vais mourir … Adieu, fière cité,” from the epic opera “Les Troyens.” With these works, the Philharmonic concluded its two-season celebration of the bicentennial of Berlioz’s birth (on December 4, 1803).

A lyrical “Rakastava” (“The Lover”) opened the portion of the program devoted to the Finnish composer. The parts of this three-movement orchestral piece were originally written for men’s choir and recount a love story with a sorrowful ending. Otter drew on a robust, darker sound for four Sibelius songs that contrasted with the lighter tone she employed for the French works. She conjured an air of mystery in “Kaiutar” (“The Echo Nymph”), a song of betrayal and revenge, and depicted the sea as unforgiving in “På verandan vid hafvet” (“On a Veranda by the Sea).” She continued with a tender “Demanten på marssnön” (“The Diamond on the March Snow”), seeing in the snow a metaphor for life and love, and with urgency, in “Svarta Rosor” ; (“Black Roses”), probed the torments of love (the thorns) that accompany its joys (the flowers). Completing the concert was Davis’ now grandly sweeping, then jaunty Symphony Number 7 in C, Sibelius’ final, one-movement symphony.

New York Philharmonic at Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center

Broadway & 65^th Street

April 22, 23 & 24