Manfred Honeck’s Philadelphia debut

I’ve heard Honeck, elsewhere, stick strictly to Beethoven’s tempo instructions. Here he favored swift tempi for Strauss and Dvořák, tempered by some prominent rubati, luftpausen and other slow-downs. Strauss expected that; Dvořák, probably not to this extent. These innovations added to the excitement. The audience was rapturous.

Honeck, silver-haired but otherwise youthful-looking at 55, flashed a genial smile and dramatic gestures, although some of them seemed intended more for audience appeal than for the orchestra’s guidance. That’s a common among conductors for which he can’t be faulted.

(Andre Kostelanetz once told me that, when he was young, he and the similarly youthful Eugene Ormandy practiced conducting gestures in front of mirrors.)

Tetzlaff’s modern Mozart

Accompanied by a half-sized orchestra for Mozart’s Fifth Violin Concerto, the slender and boyish Christian Tetzlaff presented an unusual interpretation. Tetzlaff displayed a smooth and sweet tone as he engaged in an intimate conversation with the orchestra, making emotional personal statements.

Like Honeck in the other selections, Tetzlaff wasn’t timid about taking long pauses for effect. This wasn’t your customary 18th-Century approach— more like a 21st-Century Mozart.

Taking no chances

The fact that Tetzlaff played most of the concerto softly lent special impact to the section, in the middle of the last movement, when Mozart introduced a robust change of rhythm and volume, supposedly in the Turkish manner. Tetzlaff and Honeck negotiated this transition with vigorous impact.

Some previous Pittsburgh music directors have gone on to prominent jobs in larger cities: Fritz Reiner moved to Chicago, William Steinberg to Boston, and Lorin Maazel to the New York Phil. Apparently to avoid a similar fate with Honeck, the Pittsburgh recently extended his contract to the year 2020— a suggestion that the Pittsburgh’s board members recognize great potential when they see it.