RedLudwig.com
The daily newspaper of classical music
30 May 2003
Grace Notes
By Joe McLellan, classical music critic
emeritus of The Washington Post
LETTING THE MUSIC “SPEAK” FOR ITSELF
The slow second movement of Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony,
according to conductor Paavo Jarvi, has "one of the most beautiful melodies... ever written, where you feel that he is talking to
you personally." Jarvi finds in this music "the influence of the [Russian] language, the actual soft syllables." A conductor who is
aware of this linguistic dimension, or is trying to "get closer to that human vocal approach, which I think is very important in Tchaikovsky,"
he says, can make the music "extremely expressive and very touching."
Whether he knows it or not, Jarvi is describing his own
approach to Tchaikovsky, as demonstrated in a superbly conducted and edited program scheduled for telecast June 4 on PBS. This was
Jarvi's first concert as music director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, given in September, 2001, a few days after the terrorist
attacks of 9/11. The program was chosen long before that event, but two of the works performed made it, accidentally, an appropriate
reaction to the horror experienced in
Tchaikovsky's symphony, Jarvi says in a pre-concert commentary,
is about a triumph over fate, over insecurities and depression; its wide range of emotions, ending in a sense of victory. Its
theme of "a triumph over difficult struggles," makes it "a tribute to what music can do in a time of great tragedy."
The symphony's
emotions are simply and precisely described in Jarvi's commentary, which is inserted in the telecast before the first, second and
third movements (the third flows into the fourth without interruption). These emotions are explored with equal precision in the performance.
Paavo Jarvi does not succumb, as many conductors do, to the temptation of overstating the emotions in Tchaikovsky's music, particularly
the negative emotions. In some, perhaps most performances of Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony, sadness becomes hysteria. In Jarvi's, it
remains sadness. The experience is almost like reading the score, which can be an illuminating experience. (An excellent, inexpensive
edition of the score is published by Dover Books.)
Tchaikovsky's orchestral scores do not read like the work of a hysteric out of
control, heedlessly pouring out his unbridled feelings. They are clearly the work of a meticulous craftsman, using the resources of
the orchestra to describe a series of emotional states and never losing a sense of direction. There is not a single note on paper
that does not have a clearly established function in the orchestral sound mix, not a nuance of tempo or dynamics or orchestral texture
that is not carefully calculated and set down with precision. I have heard more emotionally charged performances of this symphony.
I have never hear one that was more precise, more like reading the score.
In his introduction to the second movement, Jarvi
says that "People who speak Russian can hear the influence of the language, the actual soft syllables. . . If it is played by somebody
who can actually speak the Russian language a little bit or is trying to get closer to that human vocal approach, which I think is
very important in Tchaikovsky, it's extremely expressive and very touching." Jarvi conducts it like someone who knows the Russian
language.
Jarvi also describes his work as a music director: choosing repertoire, soloists and guest conductors, giving programs the
right balances and "a little bit of spice," and finding new dimensions in familiar music.
The other piece on the program is Streetscape
by a young American composer, Charles Coleman, who gives an introductory commentary. Coleman recalls that Jarvi ran into him at a
party in
The production shows a montage of
