Here, with cuts from the print version restored, is my Saturday, October 11, 2008 Chicago Sun-Times and sun-times.com review of Jaap Van Zweden conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on Thursday, October 9, 2008.
Van Zweden makes most of CSO coming-out party
MUSIC REVIEW | A flawless Bruckner's Fifth
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
with Jaap Van Zweden
Repeated Oct. 11 at 8 p.m. and Oct. 14 at 7:30 p.m.
BY ANDREW PATNER
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Cancellations are a double-edged sword in the armory of symphony orchestras and opera companies. A major conductor or soloist is announced, promoted, and expected by tickets buyers to appear. These being human enterprises though, things happen, and disappointment among the anticipators sets in.
The other edge of the blade, though, is the opportunity to hear or see an unanticipated debut or a similar heroic act of rescue.
Such is the case this week at Orchestra Hall where genuine sadness and concern followed Riccardo Chailly’s withdrawal for health reasons from his long-awaited two-week return to conduct the Chicago Symphony Orchestra this month. The buoyant Italian maestro’s performances of the so-called Mahler Tenth Symphony had to be scrapped altogether to widespread chagrin. Fortunately, CSO management found a worthy if little-known substitute leader for Chailly’s planned 1875-78 Bruckner Fifth Symphony.
Dutchman Jaap Van Zweden (left), now 47, was named music director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra last year despite his having almost no U.S. exposure. Reviews from Dallas by both local and visiting critics and Thursday night’s CSO concert confirm that this was a brilliant move by the Texans.
A pure musician (he was concertmaster of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra for 15 years starting the violin post at the astonishing age of 19), Van Zweden does not require hype or engage in theatrical gestures on or off the podium. To take on the Bruckner in his first engagement by a “Big Five” American orchestra demonstrated confidence, but never cockiness. Clearly this is a man who has focused himself since his teenage years at Juilliard on understanding orchestral music and leadership from both sides of the podium. He stands at the beginning of a major career with far more going for him than many names with heavier p.r. and record label buzz.
Bruckner took a lifetime to find his compositional voice and conductors often need a similar span to understand and present his symphonies in their fullness. Van Zweden may be a relative newcomer to conducting but he has already absorbed these works as a player. He manages to present what Olivier Messiaen called Bruckner’s “so many bridges” with a clear understanding of their architecture. His understanding is modernist as opposed to romantic and his skills and rapport with the Bruckner-steeped orchestra were such that the 80-minute B-flat Major symphony was clearly etched, balanced, and gripping from beginning to end.
On the strength of this remarkable debut, I would go to hear Van Zweden conduct anything, anywhere.
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