National Symphony Orchestra

A beautiful wonderful experience at the Kennedy Center. The musical director was Christopher Eschenback, the conductor Cristian Macelaru and on violin, Nikolai Znaider.
Gabriel-​Urbain Faure, Pavane, OP.50. Brahms Violin concert in D, Major, Op.77, Pierre Jabert, In Aeternam, and Claude Debussy’s La Mer. The Pavane, Op. 50 brought me to tears, it was moving, and a beautiful story told. I heard La Mer on several occasions, but this performance was outstanding. The synergy of the orchestra and the conductor brought depth and color to the composition. If you have a chance to see them, please do.

I saw the NSO perform on the Capitol Lawn the Sunday before Labor Day. There was, of course, Americana (including This Land is your Land, This Land is my Land and America the Beautiful), but also vocalist Kate Davis performed several original numbers that I really enjoyed. To accompany the NSO and Kate Davis was The Soldiers’ Chorus of The United States Army Field Band. There were some highly talented vocalists amongst that group! They did a very nice tribute to all of the Armed Forces in a medly that was quite well received. The conductor was interactive and the acoustics were great! I’d love to see a more classical piece performed by them do I look forward to going to their actual performance venue in the future.

I don’t mean to be a music snob, but having spent more than half of my life learning, playing, liking, practicing, criticizing, listening, hating, studying, honing, relearning, loving, and teaching music, both on the side and professionally, the NSO is only «A-​OK.»
I attended an April performance of Brahms’ Symphony No. 1 and Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 featuring Sarah Chang at the Kennedy Center. The NSO undoubtedly has extremely talented musicians, and Kurt Masur is a legend, but the performance seemed muted and tired. Masur didn’t seem to particularly inspire the NSO musically, and at times, seemed to frustrate the HECK out of Sarah Chang since she obviously wanted to move it along and he was no where to be found. I think it’s incredible to have a big name conductor with the NSO, but he’s not doing the musicians any justice at this point in his esteemed career.

The National Symphony Orchestra has gotten a bad rap from a lot of symphony snobs out there — especially with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra having such a stellar reputation. The NSO is very good — though still not on par with the BSO — my friends-​in-​the-​know tell me. I think they are both very good — but I prefer the music selection of the BSO. The NSO plays more pop music; beyond that, the selections are safe, which means the concerts are not as gripping or exciting as the ones you will hear in Los Angeles (Dudamel!), New York, Chicago and, yes, Baltimore. That said, the NSO has outdoor concerts and is very involved in the D.C. community — which is a great source of pride to Washingtonians!

I did not see the National Symphony Orchestra perform at the Kennedy Center. Rather, I saw them perform at my school (where I work) today. Yes, NSO — all of NSO — came to our high school today to perform for our students. In a word = breathtaking. It takes a lot to captivate the attention and appreciation of a group of hundreds of city teens, but the Orchestra did it today, and I was so glad to be able to be a part of the experience.
The performance was described to students as being an «experience of extremes», and the conductor (I forget her name), did a wonderful job explaining the power and history of each piece prior to its performance. Pieces played ranged from Haydn’s «Surprise» to Vivaldi’s «Spring» from «Four Seasons» to Ellington’s «A-​Train». Selections from Tchaikovsky to Beethoven to Copeland. And for one piece, a gigantic alp horn was brought out — definitely elicited more than a few «whaaaaaat-is-that“‘s from the students.
After listening to the National Symphony Orchestra performing in a high school auditorium, and being absolutely blown away with the beauty and power of the performance, I can only imagine how much greater it must be to see them at the Kennedy Center!
Bravo, NSO, and many thanks from us at CHEC for coming to share your music with us.