By Eileen Wingard
SAN DIEGO — The San Diego Symphony Orchestra concert on January 18, at the Jacobs Music Center, was led by a brilliant young German conductor, 32-year-old Thomas Guggeis, the current general music director of the Frankfurt Opera and the Artistic Director of the Frankfurter Museum Orchestra. Mentored by Israeli conductor, Daniel Barenboim, the Dachau-born Guggeis served as Barenboim’s assistant at Berlin’s Staatsoper.
With large gestures, the tall, slim Guggeis led the San Diego musicians in a memorable concert featuring the 64-year-old French-Canadian pianist, Marc-Andre Hamelin, in a dramatic rendition of Brahms’ Piano Concerto #1 in D minor, followed, after intermission, by an inspiring reading of Dvorak’s 7th Symphony.
The Brahms Concerto, opening with an incisive theme supported by a timpani roll, had a lengthy orchestral exposition before the piano entered. It reminded us that Brahms had originally conceived of the work as a symphony.
When the piano finally entered, it was as if he were another orchestral instrument, and it is only later that he repeated the incisive first theme. Hemelin is an old school no-nonsense pianist, bold, accurate and focused. He conveyed the sorrowful angst of the first movement, reflecting Brahms’ sadness at the death of his champion, Robert Schumann.
The second movement, with more tender lyricism, was inspired by Clara Schumann, who continued the couple’s friendship with Brahms after Robert’s death.
I recall a visit to Baden-Baden, Germany, where Brahms and Clara spent several summers. From the window of the apartment where Brahms once lived, now a museum, one could see the house where Clara resided, where he joined her for the daily midday meal, and the church where he escorted one of Clara’s daughters down the aisle when she was wed.
The last movement, its driving Rondo theme an affirmation of life, brought the concerto to its heroic end. Particularly endearing was the use of the rondo theme as a fugal subject, initiated by the second violins, occurring in the middle of the movement.
The ovation for Hamelin brought him back on stage for an encore, a piece of impressionistic character which he executed with subtle grace.
After intermission, with the piano sunk back into the floor to its basement perch and the conductor fully visible, Guggeis led the SDSO in an emotional reading of Dvorak’s Symphony #7. It, too, was in D minor. It also reflected struggle and sadness. The Czech people wanted more freedom; Dvorak himself had suffered the recent losses of his older child and his father.
The first movement, Allegro maestoso, began with an ominous theme in the violas and cellos and grew in complexity. The second movement, Poco adagio, with gentle melodies introduced by the woodwinds, rose in intensity, then quietly receded, with the cellos playing the initial melody.
The third movement, Scherzo Vivace, had a lilting theme with unexpected rhythmic accents. The Finale returns to the ominous mood of the first movement, then develops into a dramatic last movement that rises to what the composer hoped would “shake the world.”
The audience rose to its feet and the ovation lasted long enough for Guggeis to signal recognition of the woodwind soloists: principal clarinet Sheryl Renk; principal flute Rose Lombardo; principal oboe Sarah Skuster; principal bassoon Valentin Martchev, and then the entire woodwind section.
Next recognition went to the brass soloists: principal trumpet Christopher Smith; principal horn Benjamin Jaber; principal trombone Kyle R. Kovington, and then the entire brass section.
Final recognitions went to the principal timpani, Ryan J. DiLisi; each string section and finally, the entire orchestra.
Guggeis indeed inspired an exhilarating performance for this concert of monumental works.
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Eileen Wingard, a retired violinist with the San Diego Symphony Orchestra, is a freelance writer specializing in coverage of the arts.