Yannick: The flair and (mostly) the subtlety (3rd review)

It's official. Everyone, it seems, agrees that Yannick Nézet-Séguin opened his first season as the Philadelphia Orchestra's music director of the with an earthshaking performance of Verdi's' Requiem. I share the feelings expressed by BSR's Steve Cohen and Dan Rottenberg in their assessments, with one qualifier: Yannick's reading of the Des Irae ("The day of wrath") was far too loud and melodramatic.

I realize that Verdi's version of the Des Irae is supposed to be thunderous and melodramatic; it's the orchestral equivalent of an opera scene that puts camels and a whole Egyptian regiment on stage. But there's a line between excitement and bombast.

Yannick knows that we want him to excite us. The hopes of all Philadelphia music lovers are invested in this young new conductor's ability to lead the Orchestra with energy and flair. But he overreached in the Dies Irae.

Known by his friendships

In the rest of the Requiem, Yannick kept the Orchestra under perfect control. In every section of the score except the Des Irae, I heard nuances and subtleties that I normally only hear in chamber music. Yannick produced episodes of such exquisite control that they surprised you with their tenderness and beauty.

The four soloists all deserved the accolades they've received. But Yannick's post-concert remarks added an extra significance to their work. All of them are friends of his, Yannick said, and they made a special effort to work with him on an important occasion.

This is no small point in evaluating Yannick's potential. Good conductors have good friends. They're attracted to musicians with talent. The talented musicians, in turn, like to work with good conductors, because they know they'll be part of an event worthy of their best efforts.

When Ignat Solzhenitsyn led the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia (2004-10), he introduced several young soloists and guest conductors most of us had never heard of. The Chamber Orchestra's new conductor, Dirk Brossé, is continuing that tradition. And now it looks like the Philadelphia Orchestra has a conductor who will link his audience with yet another personal network.

Standard template, with handicaps

The Orchestra can't produce a spectacle like the Verdi Requiem at every concert. Yannick followed the Requiem with a subscription concert that adhered to one of the standard templates for an Orchestra program— a short new piece by a new composer, a work for soloist and orchestra, and a symphony from the core of the repertoire.

In the first two pieces, I heard flashes of the orchestral work I heard in the Verdi, but Yannick couldn't sustain it. Both pieces encumbered him with handicaps.

The new work, Gabriella Frank's Concertino CusqueÓ±o, had its moments; but Frank's orchestration weakened its first half. The duets between the principal string players, for example, might have worked very well if the musicians had stood in front of the orchestra like soloists. Playing from their normal seated positions, they sounded muffled.

Bell's excessive fire

Leonard Bernstein's Serenade (After Plato's Symposium) is a piece best suited to chamber ensembles and small orchestras. It requires moods and nuances that are difficult to achieve with a large orchestra. Of the performances I've heard, my favorite is in fact a chamber version in which Hillary Hahn played the solo violin part.

When the Orchestra played alone, Yannick captured much of the color and mood evoked by that Hahn performance. But he was handicapped by the excessive fire that the soloist, Joshua Bell, brought to his role.

Re-thinking Brahms

The Brahms Fourth Symphony, which ended the program, also invites comparisons with chamber music. Over the years, as my own tastes have developed, I've come to think of Brahms primarily as a chamber music composer. When I listen to his symphonies, I expect to hear the moods and musical effects that evoke deep responses when I listen to pieces like his piano trios and string quintets.

Yannick said he worked hard on the Fourth, knowing it was an important part of the Philadelphia Orchestra tradition, and the results showed it.

The opening horn call in the second movement, and the great processional that follows, captured the essence of one of Brahms's noblest moods. The final movement rose to a passionate climax, but Yannick kept it measured and properly proportioned. Verdi might tempt Yannick to engage in bombast, but he knows that Brahms requires a sense of limits.

A Philadelphia hangup

So, can Yannick save the Orchestra?

Philadelphians always seem to feel their city and its institutions need to be "saved" or "revitalized." I've lived in Philadelphia for nearly 60 years and I've come to think of this hangup as one of the comic aspects of the city's culture.

The Philadelphia Orchestra may have to get along on reduced budgets for a few years, but it doesn't need a messiah. It merely needs a conductor who's the right person for the job at this time. At this moment, Yannick seems to fit the job description.♦


To read another review of the Verdi Requiem by Steve Cohen, click here.
To read another review of the Verdi Requiem by Dan Rottenberg, click here.
To read another review of the Orchestra's Frank/Bernstein/Brahms concert by Robert Zaller, click here.
To read another review of the Brahms Fourth Symphony by Dan Coren, click here
To read a response, click here.