In her final Carnegie Hall appearance as principal guest conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Nathalie Stutzmann led a weighty program comprised of two deeply personal works, Robert Schumann’s Fourth Symphony, often viewed as a portrait of his complicated relationship with his wife Clara – from prolonged struggle to joyous celebration – and Mozart’s final creation: his awe-inspiring but unfinished Requiem, the choral masterpiece which turned out to be his own glorious, musical memorial.
The first half of this evening, was taken up by the Schumann. Billed as No. 2 at its 1841 Leipzig premiere, the Symphony in D minor did not fare well and the composer put the manuscript in a drawer for ten years before returning to it and doing some significant revising – thickening the orchestration and modifying some of the transitions and musical motifs. In one of his last triumphs before his untimely death, Schumann conducted the December 1852 premiere of the revised work in Düsseldorf. That version – completed after the symphonies published as Nos. 1, 2 and 3 – was therefore labeled No. 4, the one performed in this concert.
Stutzmann elicited a fresh, resilient and transparent reading of the highly exploratory composition, with its four movements seamlessly flowing into each other and its graceful motifs – most notably the “Clara theme”, derived from the notes of his wife’s name – recurring throughout the piece. Under her baton, the work emerged as a strong and dramatic symphonic statement, building up to a gripping coda. With speeds on the brisk side, the beautiful orchestral playing combined splendid discipline with a refreshing naturalness. The highlight of the performance was the gentle second-movement Romanze, in which a plaintive oboe and cello duet gave way to a variation of the Clara theme, featuring an elaborate violin solo splendidly shaped by concertmaster David Kim.
But the big draw on this concert program was the Mozart Requiem in the familiar completion by Franz Xaver Süssmayr. Given Stutzmann’s background as an esteemed contralto, one would expect her vocal sensibilities to significantly inform her work with singers. And they did.
Balance between orchestra and chorus was well handled, and placing the four soloists mid-stage, behind the orchestra and in front of the choir made the individual singers appear and sound more embedded in the whole. The singing of the mostly youthful Philadelphia Symphonic Choir under director Joe Miller was always clear, powerful and precisely focused, and the quartet of soloists was particularly strong, in both their individual and shared moments. Bass Harold Wilson, a member of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, sang throughout with impressive power and command, and Kenneth Tarver’s clarion tenor displayed wonderfully bright tone. Erin Morley’s radiant soprano charmingly floated her notes while Sara Mingardo’s smooth contralto anchored the whole group.
Though Stutzmann’s intense reading was somewhat fast-paced in places – the Kyrie and Dies irae were particularly brisk – it succeeded in displaying the necessary power and gravitas. She and the orchestra were in commendable synchronization throughout, as the musicians blended their instruments’ sonorities with the sounds of the human voices. The scaled-down orchestra was sufficiently robust to adequately balance with the one hundred plus singers at the back of the stage in the Dies irae and Sanctus, and when the players successfully melded their sounds to those of the vocal soloists, as they did in the Recordare and Benedictus, it was marvelous to hear.
