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The Milwaukee Symphony’s first concert of 2025 followed a sort of tradition I’ve seen in other years: a Classical program with smaller forces. Lots of younger people showed up for this one. Perhaps a new year’s resolution being acted upon en masse. Whatever the case, I will always notice and commend younger generations’ interest in classical music.
Guest conductor Nicholas McGegan’s write-up in the program described him as a Baroque and Classical specialist whose work was “intelligent, infused with joy, and never dogmatic.” Indeed, he was a jovial presence on the podium, and he gave an easy, unfussy reading of Mozart’s Symphony No. 33. The first movement unfolded with a sense of effortlessness. In the second movement, I liked the sense of oomph he brought to the thicker chords. The Menuetto and closing Allegro were spirited and maintained good Mozartian style.
Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No. 1, a shiny virtuosic vehicle for any pianist, featured Saleem Ashkar as the soloist. He offered a refined technique, showing direction in Mendelssoh’s passagework. In the second movement, I found his sound to be too hefty for the material; a gentler touch would have helped a bit in this serene music. The finale came off well, with exciting contributions from both soloist and orchestra. As an encore Ashkar played Schumann’s Traumerei, in a patient performance that squeezed the juice out of every chord change and created a true moment of stillness.
Music history often forgets Johann Michael Haydn, the younger brother of Joseph Haydn who was a fine composer in his own right. Here we were treated to two movements of his suite from Zaïre. The Allegro selection was a delightful bit of Classicism, enhanced by a percussion trio of triangle, cymbal, and bass drum. The contrasting Largo gave a prominent role to the English horn, which Margaret Butler played sensitively, though I thought her vibrato was a bit emphatic for the style.
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Writing one hundred symphonies is quite a flex. Perhaps Joseph Haydn’s inspiration for the “military” features of his one hundredth symphony was some kind of view of himself as a symphonic conqueror. Who knows. In any case, Maestro McGegan and the Milwaukee Symphony gave this piece a handsome performance. The first movement’s exposition in the Allegro proper was satisfying, with good energy. I liked how McGegan balanced toward the lower register in the development, giving it weight. The second movement felt stately and special, though the percussion and the rest of the orchestra were not always in sync (it was the rest of the orchestra that dragged slightly). The Minuet was fine, and the finale was very well-done. Nimble strings, good dynamic contrasts. Everything came together in this movement for a fun ending to the night.
Not an earth-shaking concert, but it provided some Classical elegance to escape from the doldrums of January in Milwaukee.