Photo by Jon Kirn
Paul Lewis and Rune Bergmann MSO Concert
Rune Bergmann with Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra (2025)
This mid-November finds us in a seasonal transition. The fall colors are still out, but chilly breezes warn of a long winter to come. At this time of year, the MSO concert of Scandinavian music I heard on Saturday, under guest conductor Rune Bergmann, was the perfect program to prepare for the cold. It conveyed both the beauty of colder landscapes and the values of the lands from which some Wisconsinites have immigrated.
Cantus Arcticus, a “concerto for birds and orchestra” by Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara, has become a minor modern classic. Its sonic beauty and integration of recorded bird sounds make for an appealing package. In this first MSO performance, the opening section of exposed woodwind burbles was excellently played, as were the noble string lines. Miraculously, no coughing interrupted the transition to the second movement, where the birds are heard alone for a while. The silence and focus allowed them to be perceived not as merely effects, but as soloists of a sort. In “Swans Migrating,” the orchestra achieved a fused, unified sound that blended with the mass of birds. It was a beautiful aural landscape to float in.
Great Finesse
Paul Lewis gave a reading of the beloved Grieg Piano Concerto that showed fantastic technical finesse and a singing tone. The first movement’s cadenza was one of the best interpretations I’ve heard, as he exaggerated the most forward-looking, dissonant moments before barreling ahead at a consistent tempo. He caught the rumble of the bass pedal under the high climatic melody, which created a powerful effect. But elsewhere in this movement I heard too much pedal. The music is Romantic, yes, but there’s also a Mozartian clarity that I associate with this work. Maestro Bergmann led a lovely Adagio, with the strings really speaking. The piano’s entrance against horn and strings was perfectly dreamy. My only nitpick was a bit of a hard piano touch in the climactic melody moment.
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The Finale had a good, controlled tempo at the outset. Paul Lewis’s first statement of the Big Theme had nice shape and tone. This movement’s false ending was well done, leaning into the repeated soft cadences, as if saying, “It really is over.” Then the sudden recap (with a particularly stentorian piano entrance) felt like a comically grumpy snapping out of a nice dream. Conductor and soloist again offered a witty, exaggerated take on the other fake out in this movement, where the coda seems to be rushing to a conclusion before getting pulled back at the very last second into the big romantic theme. For an encore, Lewis played Schubert’s intriguing Allegretto in C minor, D. 915.
Vivid Experience
Carl Nielsen’s Symphony No. 4 “The Inextinguishable” had never quite clicked for me before this concert, but now my take is that it’s just one you need to hear live. It's like seeing a movie in the theater rather than at home. The vividness of the experience and lack of distraction helps the music’s power come through. The opening clarinet duet was wonderfully played by Todd Levy and Jay Shankar, and the build to the second theme came across with a hefty tenuto feel. Maestro Bergmann brought the whole orchestra into his commitment to the music, making them give everything to the climaxes and intense musical argument. I enjoyed his conducting style: swift, efficient gestures, and a control that made big effects really pop in contrast. I still forget where some movements divide in this quasi-single-movement piece, so at times I was swept along for the ride and focused more on individual moments. I remember a pristine pizzicato string section, a great bassoon solo from Catherine van Handel, and a beautiful string trio. The final musical summit lived up to its intention for life-affirming glory. Special mention to timpanists Dean Borghesani and Chris Riggs for providing excitement in the timpani duel.
Even in this live setting, Nielsen 4 makes the listener work hard with its labyrinth form, but it yields great rewards. As banal as it is to describe a piece of music as “the ups and downs of life,” that is what I hear in it. Its ebbs and flows and curious byways all point to any number of human-scale struggles.
As I said at the outset, this was the perfect time in the season to let the Nordic aesthetic in. Rune Bergmann was easy to trust as an audience member, and the orchestra offered trust as well. Paul Lewis brought some fresh details to a well-worn concerto. All in all, a very satisfying evening.
