Nézet-Séguin conducts the Orchestra (2nd review)

César Franck's Symphony in D Minor has undergone many vicissitudes. Dismissed by Saint-Saëns and others at the time of its premiere in 1889, it became a favorite in the first half of the 20th Century, only to fall into disrepute recently.

In the 1930s it was so popular that Rodgers and Hart wrote a parody of the Franck symphony for their musical comedy, On Your Toes. In Philadelphia in particular, the Franck symphony became a showpiece that Stokowski and Ormandy conducted frequently. But since then I've heard superficial interpretations (like Muti's) and boring or turgid ones by European orchestras. Even Paul Horsley's current notes in the Philadelphia Orchestra program chide the piece for being repetitive.

That's an unfair rap— like saying Wagner's prelude to Tristan und Isolde has repetitions. Of course both compositions repeat themselves, with a yearning or questioning upward thrust. And yes, Franck's melodies do go on at length. But the texture of his orchestration provides pleasure. A single theme recurs in each of the symphony's three movements, transformed and with modulations into different keys.

Franck's symphony was written in an era when audience members removed themselves from the outside world once they entered the concert hall. There were no distractions from BlackBerries or cell phones; in fact, there were no phones, period, nor radio, TV or recordings waiting at home. Concerts provided leisurely immersion in beautiful sounds— and the longer they were stretched out, the better.

The 34-year-old conductor from Montreal, Yannick Nézet-Séguin led this piece beautifully at last week's Philadelphia Orchestra concerts. He took the opening slowly and gently and let the music unfold with nuance and expressiveness. The Philadelphians sounded at their considerable best with rich lower strings, lower woodwinds and brass set off against frequent soft plucking by the violins.

The pacing was relaxed but never lost momentum, and the climaxes rang out dramatically. Orchestra soloists played many lovely solos, most notably Elizabeth Starr Masoudnia on English horn at the beginning of the second movement.

The first half of the program included a sonorous 1980 piece by the French Canadian composer Claude Vivier, who died young, and the Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1, with the American pianist Nicholas Angelich. The pacing of that classic was, again, leisurely, but it never dragged. I found it to be quite engaging, as was Angelich's calm, untheatrical persona at the keyboard. Orion was fun, with some jazz influence"“ a bit like Ferde Grofe (he orchestrated Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue and wrote the Grand Canyon Suite)"“ and exotic percussion effects.

Nézet-Séguin has called the Orchestra's interim chief conductor Charles Dutoit an inspiration, and Dutoit invited his young colleague to conduct the Philadelphians last season (I missed those concerts) and again this month. I hope to hear much more of him with this orchestra in the future. Meanwhile, I'm running up to New York to hear him conduct a new production of Carmen at the Metropolitan Opera in January.♦


To read another review by Robert Zaller, click here.
To read another review by Michael Woods, click here.