Small big event at L'Auditori with the project Sing with the OBC

Despite the importance of the two “classical” works programmed for the weekend at L’Auditori (Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto and Bruckner's Third Symphony), the relevance and where the emphasis should be placed is on the premiere of Domèstica maragda, with text by Gemma Casamajó Solé and music by Osona-born Helena Cánovas. It was the culmination of the Canta amb l’OBC project, which brought together 170 non-professional singers with the participation of the Coral Sant Jordi. An event that was both grand and small: grand for the achievement of the project and the magnitude of the work, with a vocal ensemble positioned on stage and on the sides of the first floor and an immense orchestra. And small due to the brevity of the piece (which lasts less than 10 minutes) and because this is also a small country, which diminishes its creators with the neglect to which Cánovas's composition has been subjected. Indeed, beyond the quality of the piece (more musical than literary), projects of this nature should deserve more attention. From the media and from attendees, a good portion of whom —at least in the stalls— did not enter until the Mendelssohn concert began.

The romantic piece was conducted by Anja Bihlmaier, to whom Adrián Moscardó handed over the baton after Cánovas's work, and who was also responsible for bringing Anton Bruckner's third symphony in the catalogue to a successful conclusion, which was renamed Wagner, given the admiration the Austrian musician felt for the author of The Ring of the Nibelung.Correct reading of Bihlmaier with an orchestra that fulfilled what was asked of it. Excellence of the brass and good dynamic contrasts were the most notable aspects of the performance as a whole.Mendelssohn was served by the ductile bow and the luminous violin of the Latvian Kristine Balanas, with a generous execution in phrasing and sentiment throughout a piece much performed in recent seasons in Barcelona. A crystalline and volatile version attentive to the discourse and well supported by the conductor and with meticulousness in the various orchestral sections. Dazzling, incidentally, the encore (Waltzing Matilda) with the collaboration of three musicians from the orchestra.