HKPhil’s hat tip to US-bound music director Jaap van Zweden showed just what he’ll bring to New York Philharmonic
All-American programme had a rendering of Dvorak’s ‘New World’ symphony that made you sit up and listen, a studied performance of Leonard Bernstein’s Candide overture and Bernstein teacher Copland’s clarinet concerto
The message of this concert’s title was clear: “Jaap, to the New World” was a celebration of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra’s music director, Jaap van Zweden, heading to the US to begin his tenure as music director of the New York Philharmonic.
What that means for the future of music making in both cities remains to be seen, but the weekend concert offered a fine glimpse of the past.
Van Zweden’s debut season with New York Phil premiere-heavy
The programme tipped its hat not just to the New York orchestra, but to its legendary music director Leonard Bernstein, the subject of an international season-long centennial celebration. Even amid a leadership lineage that includes Gustav Mahler, Pierre Boulez and Zubin Mehta, Bernstein’s New York Philharmonic tenure stands apart. As a telegenic conductor, populist educator and wildly eclectic composer, Bernstein earned unrivalled New York street cred.
That said, the concert programme also showed exactly what van Zweden has to offer. Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9, “From the New World”, which took up the second half of the evening, has been a repertory staple of the New York Philharmonic since the orchestra gave the work its premiere in 1892, and its recording under Bernstein remains as close as we have to a definitive performance. But while Bernstein’s account aims for the grand statement, van Zweden’s interpretation seemed focused more on the piece’s performance history.
HK Phil musicians shine under conductor Jaap van Zweden’s baton
Under his baton the work unfolded as if the maestro had absorbed everything he could from other conductors’ readings, distilled it, and added his own take on the score. If not exactly a performance for the ages, it was enough to make even jaded listeners sit up and hear the piece anew.