The joy of music-making: Dalia Stasevska and Leila Josefowicz at Tanglewood

Dalia Stasevska made her Boston Symphony debut Saturday night at Tanglewood leading sweeping, driving performances of Stravinsky’s Violin Concerto and Sibelius’ Fifth Symphony. But first she began with a BSO and Tanglewood premiere: Stravinsky’s arrangement of Canzonetta, which Sibelius had extracted from the incidental music for the 1911 revised version of the Symbolist dream play, Kuolema. Originally a stand-alone piece for strings, Stravinsky’s arrangement gives it a distinctly Stravinskian flavor, with a chamber ensemble of two clarinets, four horns, harp and double bass. Despite the title, this music accompanies the twilight dance of maidens and their beloveds which closes Act 2.

Unaware of the nature of Stravinsky’s arrangement, many were puzzled by the empty stage, until the ensemble entered and took their places in a semicircle around the podium, followed by Stasevska. Conducting without a baton, her arms embraced and maneuvered like a dancer leading a partner in a hypnotic, shadowy waltz. 

The energy level amped up as she returned with Leila Josefowicz for Stravinsky's Violin Concerto in D major. A lively, conspiratorial air in the volleys between soloist and sections even infected the interplay between soloist and conductor. Anyone hard of hearing could have discerned the joy and humor in the performance just by their expressions. The Toccata’s dialogue between soloist and bumptious winds had a teasing quality with a touch of pert insolence from Josefowicz. Aria I evinced a feline mischievousness similar to a cat toying with a stuffed mouse, contrasting the plangent melancholy of Aria II. With a look that seemed to say, ‘Here we go!’, Josefowicz burst out of the starting gate and raced through the Capriccio like a thoroughbred. Though Stravinsky employs a large orchestra, he uses it primarily in chamber groupings. Staveska’s brisk tempi still allowed for intimacy and clarity. All in all, the sheer joy of music-making here was palpable and irresistible.

Sibelius’ Fifth has been a personal favorite since I first heard it with Colin Davis leading the BSO Halloween evening, 1974. Saturday’s performance ranks high. The composer has been a focus in Stasevska’s professional life (and personally – she is married to Sibelius’ great-grandson) and it shows. She led with assurance and drive, clearly delineating the building blocks of each movement as they intertwined and expanded while controlling the build-up of tension and release to great dramatic affect. If this made Sibelius sound like Bruckner at times, it wasn’t unwarranted. The first opened a dream-like pastoral with distant rumblings foreshadowing the turbulence and anguish which would darken and overcome it. The ominous undercurrents continued despite the respite provided by the second movement. The symphony’s lofty, triumphal peroration sent tingles up the spine and its final chords sliced the air with a vehemence suggesting the price paid for such triumph.

I look forward to hearing Stasevska in Symphony Hall, where the acoustic and freedom from meteorological variables can only enhance the impact of her dynamic music-making.