Boston Classical Review

Nathalie Stutzmann made her podium debut conducting the Boston Symphony Orchestra Thursday night at Symphony Hall. Photo: Robert Torres/BSO

Whoever planned the first month of concerts at Symphony Hall this year deserves a pat on the back: rarely, if ever, do four consecutive weeks of programs, and from different artists, hold together so cogently.

On Thursday night the Boston Symphony Orchestra returned to the stage with a lineup that included a nod to their recently completed Beethoven symphony cycle—the composer’s Violin Concerto—plus an orchestral reprise from Seong-Jin Cho’s all-Ravel recital on Sunday. For good measure, the concert also featured a favorite by Stravinsky, whose pellucid instrumentation offered more than a few recollections of last week’s Korngold opera.

If that weren’t enough, the evening also involved a pair of high-profile debuts, with both violinist Veronika Eberle and conductor Nathalie Stutzmann making their inaugural appearances with the ensemble. (Stutzmann has performed with the BSO before, but as a vocalist.)

One might not have guessed that, given the easy, responsive playing the maestra—music director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra—drew from the ensemble all evening. Their account of Beethoven’s 1806 opus leaned heavily into the score’s considerable melodic riches, while also mining its theatrical gestures.

From the downbeat, Stutzmann’s approach to the first movement seemed intent to underline the contrasts between the marching tread of its opening measure and the expansive, lyrical theme that follows. At times, the former stood out perhaps too insistently: the brass/timpani interjections during the development, especially, got out of balance with the rest of the ensemble.

But by the end of it, those spots took on the aspect of a Fate motto, which, if nothing else, stood out strongly against Stutzmann’s shapely, sometimes sumptuous tracings of the music’s longer-breathed lines. Taken together with the orchestra’s close attention to dynamics, this Allegro—and, with it, the night’s larger reading—ended up evincing a visceral sense of musical space.

Eberle stepped into that with pure-toned ease, navigating her passagework with elastic clarity and exceptional finesse: her execution of the Larghetto’s exposed arpeggios was virtually flawless. Throughout, she and the orchestra were a simpatico team, reacting to each other’s shifts in volume and phrasing with a rare immediacy.

Veronika Eberle performed Beethoven’s Violin Concerto with the BSO Thursday night. Photo: Robert Torres/BSO

The vitality of the partnership was confirmed during the concerto’s three substantial cadenzas, all of which were composed for Eberle during the pandemic by Jörg Widmann. While the acerbity of the German composer’s musical language doesn’t quite jibe with Beethoven’s original—the first-movement installment involves the recomposition of part of that movement’s coda to help bridge the stylistic gap—on Thursday the effort helped shake up settled notions about how this beloved concerto should sound.

In that initial contribution, the soloist is paired with the orchestra’s timpanist and principal bass: at one point, they toss a series of jazzy riffs back and forth. For the second, there’s a stratospheric duet with the concertmaster. Though the extended cadenza in the finale interrupted that section’s larger musical argument, it didn’t lack for ear-catching invention, including the return of the thundering timpani and some lusty foot-stomping.

Afterwards, Eberle was joined by concertmaster Elita Kang for an encore of “Pizzicato” (No. 43) from Bartók’s 44 Duos for 2 Violins.

The night’s post-intermission sampling of Ravel and Stravinsky delivered their own fireworks, though of a somewhat more superficial variety. Alborada del gracioso emerged as a lusty, Technicolor curtain-raiser, its outer sections snapping brightly while the middle one dripped Iberian heat.

Meanwhile, Stravinsky’s 1919 Suite from The Firebird provided a stunning mix of focused, quiet intensity and pummeling energy. Its songful moments beguiled: the various solos in “The Princesses’ Round Dance” were enchanting, the “Lullaby” was beautifully shaped, and the noble melodic lines of the “Finale” soared. At the same time, its vigorous spots—be they light-footed (“The Firebird and its Dance”) or slashing (“Infernal Dance”)—were both thrillingly full-bodied and precisely balanced.

The program will be repeated 1:30 p.m. Friday and 8 p.m. Saturday at Symphony Hall. bso.org

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