PSO wraps season with strong finish

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

When it comes to selecting Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra concerts, one can hardly go wrong attending a program that the orchestra is recording for a commercial release.

As good as the PSO is in general, recording a work makes the stakes even higher than usual: Recordings require more time and money, and they’re one of the main ways the orchestra builds its reputation abroad.

In fact, the orchestra and music director Manfred Honeck flipped the order of its Friday night program in order to accommodate a recording of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6, “Pastoral,” which was listed on the second half. Instead, seven songs from Mahler’s “Des Knaben Wunderhorn” capped off the concert — which itself marked the end of the PSO’s 2016-17 classical season.

My theory recordings proved correct, and the Beethoven was strong. But I found the Mahler to be the more distinctive experience, thanks to the Heinz Hall debut of German baritone Matthias Goerne, who will join the PSO later this summer on its European festivals tour. While we heard Beethoven’s “Pastoral” as recently as January 2016, the PSO hadn’t played “Des Knaben Wunderhorn,” a setting of German folk poems for vocalist(s) and orchestra, since 1975 when it performed the work under James Levine.

For those paying close attention, one of Mahler’s songs would sound very familiar: “Urlicht” made a cameo at Heinz Hall earlier this month as the alto solo in Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, which Mr. Honeck also conducted. While I always push about the PSO to diversify its programming, Mr. Goerne made a second hearing of this song worthwhile, with his sense of drama and phrase, especially in the buildup to the line, “Der liebe Gott wird mir ein Lichtchen geben” (Dear God will give me a light).

The baritone treated each song like an operatic aria, depicting the characters in the verses with color and compassion, as if we knew the context of their pains and triumphs, and crouching or standing up straight to match theemotion of the text.

His tone swayed from gentle to gravelly to anguished. In his best moments, his voice gave the effect of a stage whisper, with simultaneous projection and intimacy. Louder moments contained equal power, although he was harder to hear against the orchestra when it was at full blast as in “Das irdische Leben” and “Des Antonius von Padua Fischpredigt.”

The Beethoven symphony, under Mr. Honeck’s textured interpretation, juxtaposed naturally with the Mahler. The conductor coaxed particularly silky playing from the strings, contrasted by the rustic brass,while shepherding the work forward with fast tempi and a constant eye toward Beethoven’s harmonic undercurrents.

The jaunty trio of the third movement and Mahlerian thunderstorm showcased the work’s brilliant orchestration and programmatic qualities, although the speed of the first, second and fifth movements yielded a couple of lost details and technical soft spots.

Tomo Keller of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields served as guest concertmaster.