Jennifer Taylor

The Met Orchestra offered no official theme for their season-finale concert at Carnegie Hall, but a savvy listener could discern a common thread among the four works programmed: three of the represented composers hail from North America, and the fourth — Antonín Dvořák — composed his valedictory Symphony No. 9 in E Minor, “From the New World” after a life-altering sojourn in the United States. The pieces themselves spoke the personal connections between composer and subject, including national identity, religious background, familial ties, and regional pride.

In top form under the leadership of Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the Met musicians, freed from the pit for an evening, gave rich voice to each selection, playing with conviction and dedication even if the other three choices didn’t quite equal Dvořák’s enduring masterpiece.

The concert opened with Antrópolis, a short symphonic poem by Gabriela Ortiz, who holds the Carnegie Hall Composer’s Chair. The title refers to an “antro,” a type of dive bar found in some Spanish-speaking countries. Ortiz drew inspiration from the night clubs and dance halls of her native Mexico City, and those zesty rhythms were well represented in the sound world. Beginning with an extended timpani solo (performed by principal Parker Lee) that made the mighty instrument sound as free and intimate as a bongo drum, the unbroken movement then unfolded with an onslaught of percussion, highly tuned brass, and string figures that recalled the strumming of a Spanish guitar. Nézet-Séguin drew rich coloring from Ortiz’s heavy orchestration, and the piece achieved the effect described by the composer in her program note, suggesting a loss of inhibition on the dance floor after a long day of work.

Near the end of Antrópolis, the musicians offered a joyous, perfectly pitched vocalization to bring the piece home. Was Ortiz nodding to Leonard Bernstein and the cries of “Mambo!” in West Side Story? I couldn’t help but consider it as the composer’s Symphony No. 1, “Jeremiah” followed on the program. Premiered in the first flush of Lenny Mania that accompanied his star-making conducting debut with the New York Philharmonic, “Jeremiah” hasn’t endured in the same way as his popular music, and I’d venture it appears less than his other two mature symphonies.

Nézet-Séguin seems to champion this piece: he conducted it with the Philadelphia Orchestra at Carnegie in 2017, and he’ll repeat it with that group in situ next season. Each of the symphony’s three movements features attractive music and undeniable flecks of genius, but it’s also hard to avoid the facile scope of youth, with heavy handed ideas and copious amounts of repetition. (Bernstein was 24 at the premiere.) Written in the shadow of the Holocaust, the first movement, subtitled “Prophecy,” cries out with thickly textured string tone — which the Met Orchestra musicians delivered with arresting poignancy, aided by Nézet-Séguin’s generous rubato. The central Scherzo, “Profanation,” emerged with a sinister, menacing quality from the woodwinds, eventually picked up by the full orchestra. As with many youthful works, there are effects that appear jarring for their own sake — especially here in the percussion — but if Nézet-Séguin didn’t make the case for “Jeremiah” as a neglected masterpiece, he performed it with a palpable depth of feeling.

The third movement, “Lamentation,” features the setting of a text from the Hebrew Bible. Angel Blue remained vocally committed — despite a reliance on the score that suggested only recent mastery — and sounded particularly affecting when singing softly, with Nézet-Séguin keeping the orchestral forces at a whisper. She made less of an impression in full-throttle passages. This could do with her strange placement on the stage — on a slightly raised platform between the first violins and double basses — but despite possessing a juicy lower register, Blue struggled to project the deep, forward sound expected in a work scored for a mezzo. The general brightness of Blue’s tone also stood in contrast to the earnest, mournful character of the music.

After intermission, the orchestra gave the New York premiere of a suite from Fire Shut Up in My Bones, the Terence Blanchard opera that reopened the Met after the pandemic closure. The piece proved a hit in its moment, although a subsequent revival did lighter business at the box office, a common issue for new works once the novelty has worn off. And although Blanchard’s music possesses a certain likable quality, it’s hard to imagine an enduring life based on this 15-minute distillation, which frequently sounded like a generic film score.

There were moments to savor in the performance, like a bluesy brass chorale and a poignant cello solo, played by Jerry Grossman, that gave voice to the inner turmoil of the character Charles, who struggles with his budding sexuality and his abuse at the hands of a family member. Elsewhere, though, the piece unfolded blandly in a string-heavy orchestration, with passages repeating without transformation, growing more and more repetitive with each turn. As with the opera itself — an earnest but dramatically turgid story of self-actualization — the orchestral suite failed to hold this listener’s attention, despite committed playing and Nézet-Séguin’s cogent leadership. Compared to the rest of the program, it received only polite applause.

The Dvořák that ended the night felt like a typical Nézet-Séguin performance: it was a study in extremes, moving from near-surgical precision in the first two movements to wild abandon at the conclusion. Tempos shifted from stately repose to a breakneck pace, and if he sometimes sacrificed detail in favor of an overwhelming sound, the results were often thrilling. This approach can sometimes feel a tad superficial, but Nézet-Séguin showed absolute control over his vision of the work, getting exactly what he wanted from the orchestra. And there were still individual moments to savor, like Pedro R. Diaz’s English horn solo and the gossamer flute lines played by Seth Morris.

No rest for the weary: this summer will find Nézet-Séguin leading his Orchestre Métropolitain on a tour of Europe, conducting the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, and overseeing the Philadelphia Orchestra’s annual residency in Saratoga Springs, New York. But after last night, the Met Orchestra musicians have undoubtedly earned their vacation.