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Why Van Zweden’s Double Bill of Meaty Beethoven Proved Too Rich for a Single Night

The best laid plans went astray for the Dallas Symphony on Wednesday when pianist Jeffrey Kahane, scheduled to perform Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto at the opening of the Dallas Symphony’s 2010-11 classical subscription series on Thursday, cancelled because of illness. With barely twenty-four hours to rebuild and orchestra program—to be repeated Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at Meyerson Symphony Center—music director Jaap van Zweden did the right thing, and subbed in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, which he and the orchestra had performed at the Vail Valley Music Festival in Colorado in June. No reasonable music lover can really object to the presence of one of the most beloved musical works of all time on what had already been billed as an all-Beethoven program; indeed, concert goers on Thursday night literally roared with approval of the performance, which also included, as originally scheduled, Beethoven’s Third Symphony.
By Wayne Lee Gay |
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The best laid plans went astray for the Dallas Symphony on Wednesday when pianist Jeffrey Kahane, scheduled to perform Beethoven’s Fourth  Piano Concerto at the opening of the Dallas Symphony’s 2010-11 classical subscription series on Thursday,  cancelled because of illness.

With barely twenty-four hours to rebuild an orchestra program—to be repeated Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at Meyerson Symphony Center—music director Jaap van Zweden did the right thing, and subbed in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, which he and the orchestra had performed at the Vail Valley Music Festival in Colorado in June. No reasonable music lover can really object to the presence of one of the most beloved musical works of all time on what had already been billed as an all-Beethoven program; indeed, concert goers on Thursday night literally roared with approval of the performance, which also included, as originally scheduled, Beethoven’s Third Symphony.

Unfortunately, several aspects inherent in the hurriedly revised program as well as a questionable approach by conductor Van Zweden as interpreter marred the evening. Instead of the intriguing contrast of the sublime concerto and the triumphant symphony, the program now featured two grand symphonies. Granted, both are masterpieces of the first rank. But propping the two up against each other with no other context was kind of like serving a slice of prime rib next to a sirloin, with nothing else on the plate. (And, once again, Van Zweden had little choice.) Though any intelligent listener could point out a thousand subtle ways in which these two great works differ, the ways in which they resemble each other are what comes to the fore in a live performance, particularly in the absence of any complementary works. That the two works are in the closely related keys of C minor and E-flat major, respectively—albeit with plenty of skillful tonal adventuring within each—coincidentally contributed to an aura of tonal homogeneity, which also can undermine the listening experience at a concert.

To his credit, Van Zweden produced an unfailingly fascinating viewpoint, with extraordinary attention to detail and to carefully shaping phrases, bringing out fine points in the music on an almost measure-by-measure basis.

At the same time, however, he clearly aimed for heavy, albeit rich orchestral tone that weighed down and played havoc with  Beethoven’s translucent textures in both works. The Third, interestingly, can withstand a heavier reading more readily than the Fifth, which, for all its heroic and iconic associations, benefits from a lighter, leaner approach. In both works, Van Zweden rolled out the first movements with a muscularity that, while pleasantly grand in initial effect, left no room for later emotional expansion in either.

Thus, while paying close attention to internal details, Van Zweden gave up control of the sweeping arch of either work. Both, but particularly the Fifth, should emerge as a striving to arrive at the final victory. Ultimately, Van Zweden produced a crowd-pleasing reading that displayed the orchestra—which, by the way, was playing beautifully—at the expense

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