When Riccardo Chailly stepped down from his post at the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in 2004 to take over the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, there was puzzlement in some corners of the music world. The Concertgebouw is habitually ranked as one of Europe's greatest orchestras, while the Gewandhaus, for whatever reason, is not, perhaps because of the perceived provincialism of its home town.
But the Gewandhaus is a superb orchestra, as it demonstrated in a
The Gewandhaus strings are mellow and sweet, the winds have a pinpoint brightness, and the brass are majestic without ever sounding coarse. As a whole , the orchestra has seemingly inexhaustible depth to its sound, and aside from a few ear-splittingly loud moments, the ensemble playing perfectly balances power and transparency.
Chailly is an intensely physical conductor; he leads with large yet precise gestures that never seem showy or flamboyant. The rocketing string figure that begins "Don Juan" set the stage for a performance that was vital and exciting but also rigorously controlled and paced. The clarity of detail Chailly maintained, even in the most heavily scored parts, was a wonder.
The same characteristics helped "Ein Heldenleben," Strauss's thinly veiled self-portrait, sound less bloated and more musical than it often does. Chailly established a driving momentum at the start, and it never let up, even in the most sweepingly romantic passages. The orchestra also got to show off some excellent soloists in the winds and brass. The lengthy and difficult violin solo depicting Strauss's wife, Pauline, was beautifully dispatched by concertmaster Frank-Michael Erben.
Between the two Strauss works, the young Chinese pianist Yundi Li played Liszt's First Piano Concerto. Musically it's rather thin, with the virtuoso solo part front and center. Li dispatched its technical hurdles with ease and without ever losing his beautiful, transparent tone. Chailly and the orchestra offered sympathetic accompaniment.
The enthusiastic ovation clearly delighted Chailly, and he and the orchestra rewarded the audience with a slinky and sensual reading of the "Dance of the Seven Veils" from Strauss's "Salome." This is an inspired partnership; do not miss them when they return.