Eduardo Strausser “a conductor of the spirit” at the Kauffman Center

I particularly enjoyed what Brazilian guest conductor Eduardo Strausser brought to tonight’s performance at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts here in Kansas City. There are some conductors who seem like the epitome of musical power, leading almost in the style of an absolutist monarch, more or less enlightened, commanding all the teeming sonic forces beneath, ever reining in potential disorder. Strausser is of a very different ilk. In his ethereal, mercurial way, he seems to be part of the music itself, a kind of other-worldly creature, nimbly alighting from desk to desk, urging more from one, less from another. He was everywhere and nowhere at once, a conductor of the spirit. 

Dvořák’s Othello was a wonderful opening salvo. Strausser had a lot of innate feeling for the volatility of moods, tempo and volume in this haunting work, and the Kansas City Symphony caught on. This is a concert overture rather than a symphonic poem as such, and thus not programmatic in a way that’s easy to pin down. Yet, it’s not hard to imagine the touching naivety of Desdemona and Othello in the dreamy harp and the lyrical string passages. Nor is hard to imagine the “motiveless malignity” of Iago and the rage and jealousy of Othello as the work lurches, all too often, into ominous intensity. I found the sudden eruptions very powerfully conveyed, with very strong brass and percussive presences. The conclusion, which was shattering and abrupt in its way, was really very fine. 

Cellist Zlatomir Fung is an exciting young talent indeed and it’s easy to see why. He’s the first American in some four decades – and the youngest musician ever – to win first prize at the International Tchaikovsky Competition Cello Division, which he did in 2019. He may be a mere 22 years old, but already the maturity and deep humanity of his playing is powerful and moving. I loved the nuances of his rubato and attention to all the fine details of the score. His was an interpretation that rang true, that brought out the old beauties as well as some new ones of Tchaikovsky's delightful Rococo Variations. He vividly showed off the glorious range of his instrument, from the glowering notes on the lower C string, to the almost violinistic passages high up on the A string. The last variation was feathery and light, rhythmically tight and wonderfully crisp. A thoroughly engaging performance.

Fung’s encore, Prokofiev’s charming little March from Music for Children, segued nicely into the composer’s Fifth Symphony in the second half. Here Strausser called forth all the grand forces of the orchestra to convey this strange, exciting and magnificent symphony. Written by Prokofiev in 1944 after his return homeward, at a government retreat for composers outside of his Moscow no less, there’s much to suggest the rawness of war, and indeed the Soviet age of steel (the heft of that brass!). The climax of the first movement was unbearably intense, softened subsequently by a cello voice, but returning to terrifying reverberations by the end. Strausser was at home in the agile Scherzo of the second movement, keeping the tempo driven and unrelenting (the snare drum whipped the orchestra to time). The strange alienating lyricism of the third movement opened onto a complicated, dark climax, which felt suitably raw, and the manic nature of the finale was fully conveyed in frenzied chromaticism and glissandos. I was reminded of how great music, powerfully played, doesn’t need to feel comfortable to be deeply satisfying. Prokofiev’s Fifth throws down the gauntlet: it’s a challenge to our sentimentality, and I really felt that the KC Symphony gave us that tonight.