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If van Zweden hasn\u2019t had an idiosyncratic vision in his choices of music, though, he has<\/em> shown a consistent, characteristic style in the works he\u2019s conducted. The typical Jaap-led symphony is tense, tight, punchy. He makes the Philharmonic\u2019s sound glint and glare, especially in the live-wire acoustics of the new Geffen Hall, which can tip into harshness rather than encouraging rounded, blended warmth.<\/p>\nYou get the impression that he\u2019s been attempting an evocation of the flashy, blazing, sometimes blaring reign of Georg Solti at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in the 1970s and \u201980s, captured in influential recordings. But while the Philharmonic is a very high-quality ensemble, it is not quite at the same level of flawlessly brilliant precision as Solti\u2019s Chicagoans.<\/p>\n
So you get the overbearing control and aggressive forcefulness without the climactic grandeur or dumbfounding shine. I had never heard Copland\u2019s Third Symphony, which the Philharmonic played on Friday after \u201cThe Elements,\u201d sound so un-pastoral. This can sometimes be a baggy work, but van Zweden made it taut \u2014 and arid.<\/p>\n
A sharp edge in the first movement kept the music moving, and avoided sentimentality. Van Zweden brought out the second movement\u2019s machinelike motion, and the eerie transparency of the slow third, before a finale \u2014 showcasing the classic \u201cFanfare for the Common Man\u201d \u2014 of lean focus. This was a Third without much sweetness or sumptuousness.<\/p>\n
It was almost interesting, such a tough, grimly logical progress through the work \u2014 as if a reflection on a different United States than the one Copland was commemorating at the victorious close of World War II. And after years of the old hall\u2019s undervaluing bass frequencies, it remains wonderful to feel them so viscerally now; the clarity of solos, particularly in the winds, is impressive.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Perhaps surprisingly, given van Zweden\u2019s base in older repertory and firm hand in symphonies, he\u2019s been a game and sensitive leader of a broad swath of contemporary music, and a considerate, never domineering concerto accompanist. On Wednesday, he was polite even as Yo-Yo Ma was too light-textured to make a strong impact in Dvorak\u2019s evergreen Cello Concerto.<\/p>\n
And on Friday, van Zweden guided the orchestra eloquently and smoothly around Bell in \u201cThe Elements.\u201d But this 40-minute suite, an attempt to recast Vivaldi\u2019s \u201cFour Seasons\u201d for our time, is basically syrupy schlock.<\/p>\n
Kevin Puts\u2019s \u201cEarth,\u201d which begins and ends the work, has a sleepily saccharine section plainly borrowed from Copland, and some madcap, off-kilter propulsion plainly borrowed from John Adams. Jake Heggie\u2019s \u201cFire\u201d sets off bursts of orchestral \u201csparks\u201d and racing whimsy, trimmed with celesta. Jennifer Higdon\u2019s \u201cAir\u201d is blooming, not particularly airy; Jessie Montgomery\u2019s \u201cSpace,\u201d yet another romance-then-romp structure.<\/p>\n
All of this was practically begging for film to accompany it and fill out its vagueness \u2014 with a uniformity of style, texture and color that made the pieces practically interchangeable manifestations of Bell\u2019s warm, genially bland playing.<\/p>\n
And Edgar Meyer\u2019s tame \u201cWater,\u201d with its undulating winds and trickles of violin, was certainly no match for what had been going on outside.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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