Edward Gardner and the CSO
As the holidays approach, and the CSO becomes a Yuletide machine of Christmas programs, they usually have some fairly interesting programs before that onslaught begins. This year, English conductor Edward Gardner made his subscription debut with a Wagner Overture, Strauss’s Four Last Songs, and Nielsen’s Symphony #4.
I wasn’t familiar with Gardner, though he has a considerable amount of experience in Europe, with both concerts and opera. I was intrigued with the program because it was a chance to hear the CSO work their way through the Nielsen 4th. The CSO has a history with the Nielsen symphonies, going back to the days of Morton Gould and Jean Martinon, both of who recorded Nielsen works with the CSO back in the 1960s. I was less thrilled about hearing the Strauss songs. I know that many people (including my partner) consider them emotional outpourings that are deeply touching. Certainly, the textual references to autumn and death seem to underline the “last” part of the work’s title. But honestly, having listened to them many times on recordings, sung by many excellent singers, they have never “clicked” for me. I mean, they’re pretty enough (Richard Strauss, after all), but compared to something like Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde, these songs just don’t grab my heart and squeeze. But, the holidays are about sharing, so my partner and I attended the program, and he loved the Strauss songs, and I felt the same way about the Nielsen, so all good.
Having already lightly dissed the Strauss, I have to say that Erin Wall gave a quite stunning read of the work. She has a beautiful voice, and if her vibrato was occasionally a tad wider than what I prefer, it didn’t seem out of place in this Late Romantic music. She more than made up for any short-comings with excellent diction, a strong sense of style and phrasing, and an overall beautiful color to her voice, which managed to be rich and clear at the same time. Gardner managed to draw similarly beautiful colors from the orchestra, and was very attentive to his soloist at all times. All that opera conducting means he’s used to working with singers. Indeed, Wall and Gardner seemed to be in almost constant eye-contact throughout. And Wall looked particularly stunning in a red shoulderless dress with black brocade. While I was not (as usual) especially moved by the music, we saw friends at intermission who seemed to have been blown away by it. To each their own...
Carl Nielsen subtitled his 4th Symphony “The Inextinguishable,” because he wanted it to reflect the power of life to reassert itself in a time of description. Considering that he composed the work during the first two years of the First World War, he had reason to be concerned about both destruction and our ability to surpass it. Compared to his first three symphonies, which are inventive, but more within the conventional frames of symphonic discourse ala Johannes Brahms or Antonin Dvorak, the Fourth seems to unleash a wilder, more deeply personal mode of discourse. It also shows off Nielsen’s ingenious method of associating distinct personalities to certain instruments in the orchestra. In the 5th, for example, a snare drum becomes an antagonist, goading the orchestra, fighting at times against the forward flow of the music with bursts of noise. Here in the Fourth, the tympani (played by two players) tend to be the driving, confounding force in the work. The volatile finale, marked “con anima,” fairly explodes with energy.
Gardner and the CSO played this music for all it was worth. We were sitting very close to the stage, a little to the left, so we had an excellent view of Gardner throughout the concert. His considerable animation and clarity of direction allowed the music to really take off, without ever losing control of where the beat was. The CSO has been playing this work for 52 years, but hasn’t played it since in the last 15 years. It was time for them to reclaim this work as something the symphony owns and plays brilliantly. I look forward to future appearances by Edward Gardner.
