MSO’s Masur era begins with ovation
German classics performed exquisitely to earn another ovation
Conductor Ken-David Masur took the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra podium Friday evening to begin the era of his music directorship of the orchestra. He was greeted by a standing ovation before he reached the podium.
Following the traditional seasonopening “Star-Spangled Banner,” Masur and the orchestra launched into a beautifully balanced performance of Richard Wagner’s Prelude to “Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg.”
They took brisk tempos, relishing the piece’s rich melodies and its instrumental and harmonic colors. This vivid, wonderfully detailed rendition delivered bright, ringing lines, along with deftly handled delicate passages and a constant clarity of musical purpose.
Robert Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A Minor followed, featuring pianist Nicolas Namoradze, who performed Clara Schumann’s final version of the piece’s piano part.
Clara Schumann, who played the premiere performance of the concert in 1846, was broadly hailed as the finest piano virtuoso in Europe in her time. She is known to have played with absolute mastery and virtuosity and with a tremendous musical depth and intensity that was heard as deeply personal expression.
Namoradze captured all of these elements in a charismatic performance that ranged from running passages played in shimmering whispers to bold emphatic declarations. This was a captivating delivery of an exquisite piece of music.
The program’s second half opened with the intriguing “Brahms-Fantasie,” subtitled “Heliogravure fur Orchester,” by Detlev Glanert. Not derivative in the slightest, the powerful piece is its own musical entity, in which one gets fleeting shadows or perhaps faint scents of Brahms.
Delivering the piece with clarity, energy and musical definition, Masur and the players won a cheering ovation.
The evening ended with a virtuosic, vigorous, sometimes delightfully rambunctious rendition of Richard Strauss’ Suite from “Der Rosenkavalier.”
Strauss’ “Rosenkavalier” suite is a musical wonder — a veritable tune-fest constructed of gorgeous writing and orchestration that creates what amounts to a fast-forward look at the brilliant, comic story of the opera.
Masur and the orchestra gave the piece an unfettered performance, delivering delirious, gleeful waltzes along with profoundly beautiful solo lines, delicate, sparking passages, big ringing sound and sweeping momentum.
This MSO performance will be repeated at 2:30 p.m. Sunday in Uihlein Hall of the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts, 929 N. Water St. For ticket information, visit mso.org or call (414) 273-7206.