Review: CSO's Brahms masterful in Music Hall

The playing was electric, the conducting was heartfelt and the string sound in Music Hall’s glowing acoustical space was unforgettable.

Brahms’ Symphony No. 1, sometimes called “Beethoven’s Tenth,” is always a treat to hear. The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra has performed it on no fewer than 48 subscription weekends since 1898. But somehow, Thursday’s performance under Louis Langrée was something special. Perhaps it was because, as Langrée is fond of saying, this music is part of the orchestra’s DNA.

Or maybe it is because the honeymoon isn’t over with this music director, now in his third season. The orchestra, fresh from their well-received performance at New York’s Lincoln Center last week, has never sounded better.

Either way, it’s one of your last chances to hear a great performance of a symphonic masterpiece in Music Hall before the hall closes for renovation.

Brahms’ First, played on the evening's second half, was part of Langrée’s two-year “Brahms Fest,” a survey of Brahms’ symphonies and other works. This program – the first subscription concert of 2016 – also pointed out Brahms’ close relationship with the Schumanns. The centerpiece was Robert Schumann’s Piano Concerto performed by Russian-born pianist Kirill Gerstein, who also played an encore of music by Clara Schumann.

For Brahms’ Symphony in C Minor, the orchestral forces fanned out across the front of Music Hall’s stage in Langrée’s new seating arrangement, with the violas on the outside.

Brahms’ indebtedness to Beethoven was evident from the first bars. Conducting from memory, Langrée inspired a dark, intense sound, especially in the strings. In the first movement, he seamlessly balanced moments of tension and white-hot intensity with warmth of expression. Every phrase was beautifully shaped, and the winds soared out with singing tone.

Langrée led with momentum through each of the four movements, always with an ear for the lyricism and subtle beauty of this symphony. Nowhere was the warmth of his approach so apparent as in the second movement, where orchestral soloists, notably principal oboist Dwight Parry and concertmaster Timothy Lees, played with freedom of expression.

The finale had many extraordinary moments, from the mysterious pizzicato (plucked) section in the strings to the great theme in the horns, performed with moving beauty. The chorale for trombones and bassoon sounded like a choir, coming just before the noble anthem that is the summit of this work.

The musicians played with thrilling precision, and Langrée’s drive to the finish was electric. Listeners were applauding before the cutoff. For an encore, he led his “Cincinnati Gypsy kings” in Brahms’ Hungarian Dance No. 1 in G Minor.

In the first half, Gerstein’s playing in Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A Minor was uneven and stylistically more in a vein of Rachmaninoff. Gerstein, a winner of the coveted Gilmore Artist Award, clearly possesses technical prowess. But for my taste, he over-pedaled, and his interpretation was unsettled and overly romantic.  Runs might have been cleaner, and the finale sounded labored. Langrée and the orchestra often struggled to stay in synch with the soloist.

Much more engaging was the pianist’s encore, the “Romanze” from Clara Wieck Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A Minor, written when she was a teenager. It was a rare treat to hear this piece, which featured a substantial cello solo, beautifully played by principal cellist Ilya Finkelshteyn.

After the concert, the audience was invited to stay and hear more Brahms, performed by Gerstein and CSO musicians on Music Hall’s stage.

The CSO repeats “Brahms Fest” 8 p.m. Saturday Jan. 16. At 2 p.m. Sunday Jan. 17, Langrée leads “Stories in Concert” featuring Brahms’ First Symphony. Tickets: 513-381-3300, cincinnatisymphony.org.