Boston Classical Review

Kristian Bezuidenhout performed Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 with Benjamin Zander and the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra Friday night at Symphony Hall. Photo: Paul Mardy

One might not guess it from this weekend’s concerts at Symphony Hall, but Anton Bruckner isn’t usually a regular presence on local orchestral programs. Nevertheless, he’s having a well-deserved little moment in Boston right now.

The latest Bruckner sighting came on Friday night when Benjamin Zander and the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra offered a performance of his Symphony No. 7. First heard in 1884, the Seventh is neither the composer’s most rigorously complex nor his most expansive utterance. But, along with the Fourth, it’s among his most popular creations and its Adagio stands as one of the 19^th century’s towering symphonic achievements.

On Friday, that section, originally conceived as a memorial to Bruckner’s idol, Richard Wagner (who, coincidentally, died on February 13, 1883), was played with an air of grand nobility and a spacious sense of occasion. Fittingly, the strengths of the Philharmonic’s approach to it—singing phrases, clean textures, limber syncopations, and an excellent sense of how to pace things—applied to their larger reading.

Zander, of course, is an old hand with Bruckner and there was something decidedly familiar about his approach to this sprawling E-major symphony. To be sure, Friday’s was a lived-in Seventh, the 86-year-old maestro knowing when and where to hold back, as well as at which points to expend the music’s energy. And though it didn’t shy away from a certain degree of nostalgia and wistfulness, neither did the night’s interpretation wallow in those qualities.

Instead, it moved with a steady sense of purpose. The first movement was shapely and warmly blended, its delicate duets between principal flute Lisa Hennessy and principal clarinet Rane Moore dispatched with care. Though there was a tendency to take the long view over parts of this section, the orchestra’s playing across its quiet, central body was characterized by a fervent inwardness.

Some spottiness crept in over the Symphony’s second half: the Scherzo was, tonally, a touch raw and the finale’s counterpoint would have occasionally benefited from an edgier, more focused approach.

But the former’s rhythms danced and Zander drew a radiant climax from the Trio. Also, the latter’s playful episodes were crisply articulated while its recurring chorale theme proved numinous and well-directed. Meanwhile, the closing peroration blazed.

To preface the Bruckner, Zander and the Philharmonic turned to the music of another Austrian, Mozart. Though the two composers held somewhat differing musical outlooks, intriguing similarities between their respective techniques and instrumental approaches emerged in Friday’s face-off between the Late Romantic Seventh Symphony, on the one hand, and the high-Classical Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, on the other.

That result owed, in part, to the night’s outstanding soloist, Kristian Bezuidenhout. Though he’s forged a career as a fortepianist, the South African-born keyboardist is equally at home on modern instruments and his command over his Steinway on Friday was total.

In fact, for ringing, singing tone, Bezuidenhout left very little to be desired. The central Romanze’s tender lyricism unfolded with such naturalness as to give the impression of being made up on the spot. And even the most urgent passagework in the outer movements boasted an extemporaneous songfulness.

Throughout the concerto, Bezuidenhout, Zander, and the Philharmonic all operated on the same wavelength. There was a true sense of dialogue on display between the parties during the stormy Allegro, while the finale’s conversational gestures snapped freshly at the bit.

Additionally, the accompaniment Zander drew from his band was taut and smartly directed. On this night, tonal beauty and rhythmic drive worked hand-in-hand to deliver a demonstration of modern-instrument Mozart performance practice at its best. Afterwards, Bezuidenhout—whose cadenzas and embellishments in the Concerto were models of character and taste—offered a graceful, refined encore of Mozart’s Allemande in C minor.

The Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra plays music by Ives, Debussy, and Mahler at 8 p.m. on February 27 at Symphony Hall. bostonphil.org

Posted in Performances
No Comments