Ravel, Debussy—and Something New at MSO

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Photo by Chris Lee

Leila Josefowicz

Leila Josefowicz

I still remember conductor/composer Matthias Pintscher’s last concert with the Milwaukee Symphony, a celebration of orchestral color that included Debussy’s La Mer. He also made room for a piece of his own. His latest outing with the orchestra showed a continued affinity for Impressionism with two more Debussy works on the bill, and this time brought in rock-star violinist Leila Josefowicz to perform his new concerto written for her.

On this rainy Saturday night, Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faunbeckoned us into a new world. From Sonora Slocum’s opening flute solo to the final sigh-inducing string plucks, this music was given a performance of great care and restraint from Maestro Pintscher.

Josefowicz is a passionate advocate of new music, having premiered works from such major composers as John Adams and Esa-Pekka Salonen. In Pintscher’s concerto Assonanza, she commanded attention with her stage presence and with the nature of her solo part, which often had her triggering events across the orchestra. Her trademark dark, dusky tone fit the piece well. Whether her violin was sustaining long notes, muttering verbosely, or playfully sliding up, her performance always engaged. At times this music attained a certain spookiness, with both eerie scenes and jump-scares. Pintscher certainly has a flair for orchestral effects, and I was impressed by one particular fadeout moment and an ASMR-esque section of brushes on bass drum. But as much as I appreciated his skill in moment-to-moment orchestration, I didn’t get a satisfying sense of architecture. What I recall is a lot of mini-cadenzas of building tension that would explode before simmering again into the next cycle. Like most new works, this view could perhaps be amended by another listening, reading the score for more insight.

The Debussy triptych Iberia launched the Spanish-tinged second half of the program. The first movement’s castanets carried remarkably well up to the balcony, and nice brass features filled out the Spanish flair. The second movement featured a great solo from oboist Katherine Young Steele and some lovely muted strings. In the third, Pintscher gave us vivid scenes of bustling action. Overall, an attractive rendition.

I would guess that Bolero, Ravel’s famous 15-minute crescendo, was the item that brought most people to the concert. In its structure as a tour through the orchestra, it allowed for more showcases for the Milwaukee Symphony’s talented woodwind players. Particularly fine were the English horn and soprano saxophone—saxophones are always a treat in French music from a certain period. But I detected a slight increase in tempo, of just a few hairs, that created an effect of rushing to get it over with rather than revel in the endless melody. Bolero should be hypnotic and completely locked into its snare-drum ostinato, and Pintscher let the tempo push just a bit too much. Still, the final minutes of full-orchestra sonorities were fun. Pintscher literally jumped up and down at the last iteration of the melody, and the crowd responded to the whiz-bang ending with great approval.

The rich sounds of this French/Spanish program certainly cast away the gloomy weather. I wish the concerto had been more successful, but it is always special to hear a new work. It creates a different energy and gets people talking. Leila Josefowicz made a strong impression, and it would be exciting to hear her tackle something else from her contemporary repertoire.