Review: Dausgaard Conducts, Orchestra Survives

Thomas Dausgaard

My work and travel schedule this week do not permit the type of extended review that I prefer to give.

But it turns out not to be necessary in this case. Before the season started, I would have picked this candidate as perhaps the leader to be the next music director.

Having seen him, he clearly is not.
After the jump a few words concerning why.

Profile: Thomas Dausgaard

Thomas Dausgaard
(photo by Per Morten Abrahamsen)

This Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, our Houston Symphony will perform with a leading candidate for the position of its next music director: Thomas Dausgaard.

On the program will be Beethoven's Leonore Overture No. 3, Liszt Piano Concerto No. 1 with Stephen Hough at the piano, and Nielsen Symphony No. 4, subtitled The Inextinguishable.

Follow the links for some exemplar performances.

I'm a huge fan of the Nielsen, and Leonore 3 is always a good way to get going with a bang. Liszt makes about three war horse concerti in a row, but they are war horses for a reason.

So get out there, buy some tickets, and listen for yourself.

Looking at the list of contenders before the season, Thomas Dausgaard is one that I would have rated as highly probable to be able to fill the role of music director. But as I've said before, its a very curious business trying to hire an alchemist.

So after the jump, let's take a look at some of what can be known before the music is heard.

Review: Alexander Shelley Conducts Tchaikovsky (and Tchaikovsky)

Alexander Shelley

Patrons who attend the Houston Symphony this week are in for a surprise and a treat. But the treat ought come as no surprise.

The surprise is that Augustin Hadelich was unable to travel to Houston to perform the Bartok violin concerto that had been scheduled. We get an all Tchaikovsky performance conducted by Alexander Shelley. Buy a ticket and go.

The treat is that our soloist, for the second week in a row, comes from the ranks of the orchestra. Concertmaster Frank Huang steps out front on short notice and pulls a War Horse from his hip pocket.

As I said, this treat should come as no surprise. If the orchestra decided to do so, it could program an entire season of concerti performed by members of the orchestra. Lots of people play golf and lots of people make music. But to be in an orchestra on the level of our Houston Symphony is the musical equivalent of aspiring to play on the PGA Tour.

"These guys are good."

(Ladies too, obviously, but the PGA marketing tag line is not a good fit for them.)

Shelley's performance in this mini-crisis was much more solid and impressive than his visit last spring. After the jump, a detailed review.

Profile: Alexander Shelley

Alexander Shelley

Next on the podium of your Houston Symphony is Alexander Shelley, who will conduct Bartok Violin Concerto No. 2 (with Augustin Hadelich as soloist) and Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 5.

***UPDATE*** Mr. Hadelich had his travel plans disrupted by Sandy the Snowicane. Our own concertmaster, Frank Huang, has swooped in to save the day. Instead of Bartok, it will be an all Tchaikovsky evening with Huang performing the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto.

(Follow the links to view some exemplar performance).

So, for two weeks in a row, the soloist with our orchestra come from the orchestra itself. Bravo.

Now, on to the conductor.

Alexander Shelley, a good looking young chap from Great Britain, is one of a new type of artist that seems much more prevalent since I disconnected from classical music a couple of decades ago.

After the jump, a warning about me and my biases. With any luck, a little objective background too on the training and experience that Mr. Shelley brings to the task at hand this week.

Review: Andrés Orozco-Estrada, The Real Deal

Andrés Orozco-Estrada

Saturday evening, our Houston Symphony performed Berlioz's Roman Carnival Overture and Symphonie Fantastique around the Strauss First Horn Concerto with William Vermeulen as soloist and Andrés Orozco-Estrada on the podium.

Anyone who doubts whether a conductor really makes a difference or who wonders what impact a conductor can have need only have attended listened to our Houston Symphony for the last two weeks.

It did not even sound like the same orchestra. Indeed, our Houston Symphony has not sounded this good, this capable, this powerful, this transparent, this precise or this exciting in a very, very long time.

Orozco-Estrada invited this orchestra into the type of musical collaboration in which conductor and orchestra influence each other to make spontaneous musical decisions in real time. He connected with the orchestra, and out of the resulting music, he made a warm connection with the Houston audience.

***UPDATE*** Sources tell me that the Sunday matinee was even better than Saturday night's performance. That is a very special thing indeed when an orchestra raises its game in the sonnaumbulistic forum of Sunday afternoon.

This conductor is the genuine article, and right now he should be at the top of an extremely short list. After the jump, a detailed review.

Profile: Andrés Orozco-Estrada

Andrés Orozco-Estrada

This week brings another contender to our Houston Symphony for a series of four performances to include Strauss' First Horn Concerto with principal hornist William Vermeulen and Berlioz's Symphony Fantastique.

That contender is Andrés Orozco-Estrada. I don't mind saying I'm a little excited, and its not just because I have a thing for Vienna and its musicians. 

My excitement is not quite the Chris Matthews thrill up my leg. Unlike Matthews, I'm not looking for a messiah. But there are lots of traces in this contender's background that give me reason to hope that he's the real deal. And if he is the real deal, he ought to be topping the short list. 

After the jump, some pros, some cons and some examples of why Orozco-Estrada's conducting that make me sit up and take notice. 

Review: Pablo Heras-Casado Conducts Houston Symphony and Lang Lang

Thursday night, the Houston Symphony and Lang Lang performed pieces Lindberg, Beethoven, and Schumann with Pablo Heras-Casado, presumptive contender for the music director post being vacated by Hans Graf. I have reviewed the young maestro before, and came away not nearly as impressed as one would think given the nimbus surrounding his name. But knowing that I can be overly cranky, I undertook to return afresh with an objective eye.

I think I did so. And while I found things to like and things that impressed me, there were profound defects in the precision and the performance that I can only attribute to the podium. Part of the problem (but only part) is Heras-Casado’s election not to use a baton.

After the jump, a detailed review.

Heras-Casado Returns

Pablo Heras-Casado

Next among the contenders in the dock is Pablo Heras-Casado. 

The Spanish conductor puzzles me. He is everywhere doing everything, generating great buzz and press, conducting major orchestras in major musical capitals of the world.Witness this NY Times Profile, a positive NY Times Review from the Mostly Mozart fetival, another favorable NY Times Review of an outdoor Beethoven and Ravel concert, and a glowing early review from the San Francisco Chronicle. 

If he is half as good as his clippings, this is a rising star that would benefit the Houston Symphony, were we to latch onto him. To hear some, he's the second coming of Gustavo Dudamel.

So what's the problem?

Maybe nothing. Maybe I'm just old and cynical. Maybe my earlier review of Heras-Casado was too cranky. Maybe the unsatisfying concert was fluke.

But just because I am old and cynical doesn't mean I'm necessarily wrong--or that I am right. After the jump some reasons why all of us (me included) ought to give Heras-Casado a fresh listen--a fresh and very objective listen.
 

Review: Brahms, Biss and Storgårds

Jonathan Biss

Our guest mystery critic attended the Houston Symphony’s third and final installment in a series of Brahms concerts. This Sunday Matinee featured the Second Piano Concerto in B-flat major and the Third Symphony in F major, with Jonathan Biss at the piano and conductor John Storgårds at the podium.  

Making allowances for the matinee sluggishness, it was still possible to tell something of the performers, including Storgårds. Perhaps most important to the task of conducting, our critic believes that this program exhibited Storgårds’ excellent sense of rhythm and clear understanding of the architecture of the two pieces on the program. Of course, he had tremendous help from an orchestra full of great musicians.

After the jump the guest review.

Guest Mystery Critic

It seems that John Storgårds and  I have difficulty being in the same concert hall at the same time. The last time he was in Houston, I was living it up in New York City with the Berlin Philharmonic. And this time, I have been called away by a family emergency.

I had received so many positive reports about Storgårds' sheer ability and basic excellence that I was really looking forward to seeing him this visit. And now I won't get to review the concert unless and until it is broadcast on Classical 91.7.

But never fear, gentle reader. I have enlisted the ears and good judgment of one of the finest young musicians in our city. Our guest mystery critic will attend the concert in my stead and provide us with a close look at Mr. Storgårds.

How could I not? I really want to find out what he is like, and hearing from this guest mystery critic is this is the next best thing to being there myself.

As for you, if you attend the concert--on either side of the footlights--I invite you to share your impressions in the comments, either anonymously or as attributed to you, whichever you choose. This blog should be an interactive experience.

Because the next music director for OUR orchestra ought not be chosen without more voices being heard. Going from good to great starts with getting the right people on the bus and in the right seats. This seat, on the podium, is an important one.

John Storgårds--A Profile



John Storgårds

This weekend, John Storgårds will conduct the Houston Symphony in an all Brahms concert. In the previous post, I mentioned that that his background bore some of the indications of a potentially fine conductor.

This of course raises the question, "where do conductors come from." These days, they seem to come from everywhere and from many of the wrong places.

After the jump, a quick look at this conductor's path to the podium and some thoughts on what makes a really good conductor.

Coming Soon: My Favorite Things (By Brahms)

For a true baseball fan, life begins on opening day. I suppose it's true for an orchestra fan as well.

Although the Houston Symphony began its season a couple of weeks ago, this coming weekend is "opening day" for me. These are my first concert tickets of the season, and this weekend we'll get to see the first of the guest conductors--the first of "the contenders."

In the dock will be John Storgards, a musician about whom I have received good reports and whose background contains the marks of a conductor who could be the genuine article.

But before we post too much about him, let us focus on the music.

This weekend's program is a continuation of the orchestra's Brahms series. Two programs are available. Both feature Brahms' Second Piano Concerto, which will be combined with either the Brahms' Second or Third Symphony. After the jump is a preview of the Saturday repertoire.

The Contenders -- Now

Last spring I wrote a post on the old blog setting out the list of guest conductors for this season. These men are the presumptive contenders to be the Houston Symphony's new music director.

Since that time, one of their number spurned his engagement with the Houston Symphony for a guest conducting gig in Boston. This in turn caused a shifting in the repetoire to be covered by the remaining guests and by Hans Graf.

So after the jump, a quick look at the updated list of the contenders and their repetoire.

Houston, we have a problem . . .

Yeah, I know. Kind of an obvious title for a Houston-related post by someone who is about to be critical.

But it's true. We do have a problem.

The Houston Symphony, "my" orchestra, is not healthy. 

It hasn't been in quite a long time now.

15 years ago, the seats were full, and we all sat on the edges of those seats anticipating that our breath might be taken away. 

Something unique and world class might happen that very night.

No longer. 

And it breaks my heart.

Please, don't misunderstand me or the blog that is to come. I'm not being critical out of ill-will or spite hatred. Quite the opposite.

I am passionate about orchestral music and my local orchestra, the Houston Symphony.  It is one of the main things that reminds me that I'm human and that there's more to human life than "food and raiment."

I travel to other cities and plan vacations around which orchestras are performing pieces I love. I've been subscribing and otherwise attending Houston Symphony concerts for almost 20 years. And before that, as a young person, I trained for and played in orchestras. I learned to read music at the same time I learned to read words. I've always known and loved music. This was to be my life.

But that's why it hurts so much when the orchestra is not thriving.

There is no single cause, nor is there a simplistic solution. All orchestras wax and wane. But the Houston Symphony has a chance to be what it was--if the orchestra hires the right person to be its new music director.

Hiring the the right music director won't make the orchestra great again. But settling for the wrong one will guarantee stasis at best, or more likely decline.  

Who are the candidates and what are their abilities? Some content from last season is at the old blog URL, but keep watching this space as we find out together.

• You'll see profiles of guest conductors and candidates to become our next music director. 
• You'll see concert previews of repertoire that the orchestra will be performing. 
• You'll see detailed concert reviews after the performances.
• And hopefully, you'll see discussion about what makes an orchestra or a music director truly great.