Severin Vogl/BR
The eminent Herbert Blomstedt is not necessarily known as an opera or choral specialist, though his track record merits consideration as one of the finest conductors in the last several decades.
In addition to reference recordings of the Sibelius and Nielsen symphonies, Blomstedt also made the world premiere recording of Beethoven’s Leonore, the original 1805 version of Fidelio. The 1977 recording with the Staatskapelle Dresden of Leonore is a fascinating performance featuring Edda Moser as the title character, alongside Eberhard Büchner, Edith Mathis, Theo Adam, and others.
At 97, Blomstedt is the oldest active conductor in the business. Last week’s concert with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, which is available for streaming here, demonstrated his continued ability to inspire performers and audiences alike. His upcoming engagements in San Francisco, Boston, and New York are not to be missed.
Blomstedt led two choral masterworks: Igor Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms and Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy’s Symphony No. 2, “Lobgesang” (“Hymn of Praise”). The Massachusetts-born Swedish conductor managed to convey a wide range of emotions with minimal gestures. Despite his age, Blomstedt’s vivacity once he sat at the podium might have even surprised the ensembles, with a slightly muddled opening sequence, as the choir and orchestra took a while to coordinate. In Stravinsky’s Psalms, the orchestra and choir displayed an impressive dynamic scope, from the barking opening chords to the hushed strings as the choir almost whispered “alleluia, laudate Dominum” in its final moments. Blomstedt took special care in bringing out the accents in the minor-second laments “remitte” and “laudate” in the first and last movement respectively, conveying Stravinsky’s often enigmatic approach to the supplicating Psalm 38 and only nominally elated Psalm 150.
Severin Vogl/BR
In the wrong hands, Mendelssohn’s Lobgesang, written in 1840 for the 400th anniversary of the Gutenberg printing press,risks feeling repetitive and lacking intensity. Yet Blomstedt constructed a consistently heartfelt performance of the symphonic cantata from the opening sinfonia to the final “hallelujah.” He blended the Bach-like chorales with the lush string melodies, encouraging vibrato to shape them into Bruckner-like adagios.
Amongst the three vocal soloists who contributed, tenor Tilman Lichdi’s voice strained in his upper range and initially lacked the dramatic intensity to convey the demand to “wache auf, der du schläfst” (“Awake, you who sleep”) as the Lord promises to enlighten the dead. Yet, Lichdi warmed up with an animated recitative, asking “Watchman, will the night soon pass?” in a genuinely tense moment with the strings swelling from pianissimo to fortissimo as the questions repeats. Soprano Nikola Hillebrand (a late substitute for Christina Landshamer) occasionally struggled to coordinate with the accompanying rhythmic subdivision of the orchestral parts.
She nevertheless had a tender duet with mezzo-soprano Marie Henriette Reinhold, accompanied by a luminous melody from principal hornist Carsten Carey Duffin. Hillebrand ultimately produced a soaring consolation that “the night has passed,” ushering a joyous choral call to “put on the armor of light” and a wondrous acapella rendition of the Lutheran hymn “Nun danke alle Gott.” By contrast to the somewhat gloomy dénouement of Stravinsky’s Psalms, Mendelssohn’s setting of Psalm 150 produced a sense of genuine joy among all performers, awarded with a satisfied standing ovation by the Munich audience.
Munich is undeniably one of Europe’s classical music capitals with multiple top-quality orchestras and two opera houses. In the same weekend following Blomstedt’s inspiring concert (the second BRSO performance was cancelled due to lighting problems at the ageing Herkulessaal, which may have been avoided if not for recent government budget cuts to cultural venues…), the Bavarian State Opera next door hosted an orchestra program with a maritime theme led by Thomas Guggeis (66 years younger) with Aigul Akhmetshina.
Geoffroy Schied
Guggeis’s conducting style is a sort of combination of Christian Thielemann and Klaus Mäkelä — full of extremely broad, occasionally over-the-top, angular gestures. This was somewhat apt for the high romanticism of Alexander von Zemlinsky’s Seejungfrau, written in 1903 after his tumultuous relationship with his pupil Alma Schindler (Gustav Mahler’s future wife). Yet Guggeis’s penchant for wide motions resulted in a blustering rendition of the opener, Mendelssohn’s Die Schöne Melusine Overture. Unlike Blomstedt’s restraint, which conjured Mendelssohn’s Biedermeier aesthetic, Guggeis focused more on dynamic contrasts instead of bringing out the quaint melodies depicting gentle waves and mermaid songs.
Guggeis, however, showed more subtlety in Ernest Chausson’s Poème de l’amour et de la mer, letting the vocal soloist shine. Akhmetshina, whom New York audiences know from her much-advertised performance in Carmen last year, was at home with atmospheric and somber poems written by Chausson’s friend Maurice Bouchor. In the first poem, Akhmetshina brought out the movement’s contrasting moods, her rich voice rising as the narrator recounts a first youthful encounter on the beach. While her voice could have cut through the orchestra more in the conclusion depicting the “mocking winds” of the sea, Akhmetshina nevertheless portrayed the narrator’s “anguish of my heart” on a rich low C.
Geoffroy Schied
The second poem, “the death of love,” blends melancholy with joyous memories. While the movement begins with harp and woodwind duets anticipating Debussy’s La Mer written 10 years later, celli and basses soon intervene with a menacing two-note theme. Here Akhmetshina placed emphasis on especially key words — stressing every syllable in “fatale” and “Le vent roulait les feuilles mortes” — as the narrator links the “dead leaves” with their “dead thoughts” of a past love.
Meanwhile, the BRSO and State Opera’s cross-town neighbors the Munich Philharmonic are in the middle of a fascinating “America” concert series. This week first saw Patrick Hahn (check out his recording of Viktor Ullmann’s opera Der Kaiser von Atlantis) conduct the first program in the series. It included Duke Ellington’s marvelous Three Black Kings (also an operatic composer, one of his final unfinished works was Queenie Pie), the European premiere of A New Day cello concerto by Joan Tower with soloist Alban Gerhardt, and Charles Ives’s romantic and folkloric Symphony No.2.
Later in the week, Brad Lubman led the Munich Phil with John Adams’s Christian Zeal and Activity for tape and orchestra, Bryce Dessner’s co-commissioned Piano Concerto with Alice Sara Ott, rounded off with Philip Glass’s cantata Itaipú. Barbara Hannigan will curate an eclectic and fascinating program including works by Ives, Ruth Crawford Seeger, Wallingford Riegger, Carl Ruggles, Richard Rodgers’s “Carousel Waltz,” and a symphonic arrangement of Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess also this month. American orchestras should take note of this type of exciting programming. While the financial state of the German cultural scene is somewhat alarming (the Munich Phil plays in a temporary concert hall and the BRSO have their new concert hall project frozen), each ensemble showcased their top-tier qualities.
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