Manfred Honeck shows his mastery again
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For a conductor steeped in the Austro-Germanic canon, Manfred Honeck's calling card includes Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 5. He programs this work whenever he debuts with an orchestra because his sympathetic connection to it never fails to wow audiences. Along with Mozart's Symphony No. 40, it was Tchaikovsky's Fifth that instantly endeared Mr. Honeck to many of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra's musicians, staff and patrons in his debut at Heinz Hall in May 2006.
Fast-forward to Friday night, the final week of the PSO's Tchaikovsky Festival. Mr. Honeck guided the work with the same passion and ken as his first time here, and again it did the trick. He melded a reading of a life story, namely Tchaikovsky's, with a universal vision. It became a work with a human quality -- with worry and self-defeating tendencies -- that was carried along almost against its will on a journey from a dark destiny to resolution in shining glory.
To that point, the conductor began with a slow, grave statement of the fate theme, with a melancholy solo by clarinetist Michael Rusinek. What followed depicted anxiety and dread giving way to fleeting glimpses of happiness in the lyrical themes.
Continuing this reading, Mr. Honeck crafted the second movement in an organic, almost breathing manner. He views this movement as a love song, at times represented by the horn and oboe. That explains the wonderfully hushed entrance by horn player William Caballero that seemed to me to capture the joyous feeling of new love. The return of the fate theme was a caustic intrusion. After the elegant, yet haunted still by fate, waltz of the third, the finale exploded off the stage, with every note soaked in emotion. Mr. Honeck's earlier use of a large dynamic range and shifting tempos paid off here. The final, upbeat ending was believable.
The soloist for Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto Serge Zimmerman underwhelmed. Occasionally out of tune, at turns struggling to keep up with the orchestra and enamored by the glissando (when tastefully done, it connects to styles of the past), the German violinist left me looking forward to the tutti.
Jose Maria Blumenschein was the guest concertmaster.
Program repeats tonight at 8.
First Published February 12, 2011 12:00 am
