Christoph Konig has been doing some globe-trotting guest conducting of late. And he carries quite a resume with him, both of his past laurels, but also a present tense demonstration of his ability to exert command over a wide variety of music.
Friday, he lead the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra in a program that spanned a broad swath of the orchestral repertory, and showed he and the orchestra could master a variety of styles, from warm romanticism to dense modernism to the flash and sizzle a familiar show stopper.
The centerpiece of the concert was Lutoslawski’s Concerto for Orchestra, a splashy and colorful—but densely modern—treatment of Polish folk melodies. There is percussion aplenty here, keeping with the piece’s driving rhythms and interesting sonorities. At the end of the first movement, there’s a respite of sorts—with a pinging celeste ostinato keeping time over a bird-song-like doodles from all over orchestra. While you could only catch a smidgen of folk music material from the 30-minute work, Konig and the orchestra held interest with well-executed transitions.
In Schubert’s “Unfinished” Symphony—the other major work–Konig coaxed a luscious warmth from the strings. As familiar as that first movement melody has become, I don’t think I’ve ever heard it played with such an relaxed and rewarding lyricism.
Not content with one familiar melody in the program, Konig lead the band in the orchestral version of Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2, which never seems to run out of familiar melodies—one after the other. It’s a driving piece with a splashy orchestration, and Konig and the musicians had great fun with it.
There was similar variety in Sunday afternoon’s program by the Fine Arts Quartet, pairing one of Beethoven’s late quartets with two lyrical tone poems from mid-20th century America. A string quartet by Mrs. H. H. A. Beach (as Amy Beach preferred to be known) is sweet and quiet for much of its short duration, with typically American open harmonies and intervals. Violist Nicolo Eugelmi’s plaintive solos marked off sections that evoke a New England winter afternoon.
Bernard Herrmann’s “Souvenirs de Voyage” featured Michel Letheic as a soloist, and soloist he was, defining the mood of the piece with a lyrical yearning and melancholy. Those familiar with Herrmann’s film scores (particularly the music of Vertigo) could detect some trademark motifs, but the most distinctive moment came at the beginning of the third movement, which seemed to transport us to a Viennese café.
From the first moments of Beethoven’s Quartet in B-flat, Op. 130, it’s clear that this piece presents a challenging architecture. The slow introduction is repeated throughout the movement, and it’s clear that the composer is stretching some of the formal traditions of the quartet. The FAQ brought propulsive energy to all six of the quartet’s movements—even the slower sections had a rhythmic drive that kept you tuned in to the quartet’s development. It was an exciting conclusion to a fascinating program.
