Revisiting an SFS Conductor in Detroit

Yesterday evening I returned to the Live from Orchestra Hall Webcast of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. The performance was led by guest conductor Xian Zhang. Thus, for my own listening experience, Zhang concluded the month in Detroit, having begun it in Davies Symphony Hall, where she had conducted the first week of subscription concerts by the San Francisco Symphony. 

The original title of the Detroit program was Saint-Georges & Mozart 39, the first name referring to the Opus 5 (first) violin concerto by the Chevalier de Saint-Georges. Due to an unexpected complication, that selection had to be cancelled. As a result, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s K. 543 symphony in E-flat major was preceded only by Elizabeth Ogonek’s “In Silence.” Like the Saint-Georges selection, this was concertante music for violin and orchestra, meaning that visiting soloist Karen Gomyo remained on the program.

When Zhang visited Davies, the earliest work on her program was the concluding symphony, Antonín Dvořák’s Opus 95 (ninth) in E minor, composed in 1893 and best known by its subtitle, “From the New World.” As a result, yesterday provided my first opportunity to listen to how Zhang would approach Mozart. As can be seen from the screen shot of the ensemble tuning up before beginning their performance, her performance was more “contemporary,” rather than “historical,” working with a generously-sized string section:

However, this seemed to be the “chemistry” that Zhang desired, and her engagement with the ensemble was so attentive that she did not need to consult the score:

All this made for a thoroughly engaging account of one of Mozart’s most familiar symphonies.

Gomyo’s performance of “In Silence” required two instruments, since Ogonek’s score involved scordatura tuning, dropping the pitch of the lowest (G) string down to F. Whether or not this had any significant impact on listening will be left to the tastes of the listener. Personally, I did not feel as if this new lowest tone offered much impact to the overall structure of the composition.

The title referred to the composer’s experiences of sitting in a church in silence. The score itself was structured in three movements:

1. Nocturne
2. Variations on Many Themes
3. Aria with Suspensions

This struck me as having less to do with silence and more to do with different approaches to violin performance. I suspect that the scordatura tuning served those suspensions in the final movement, but Gomyo’s bowing technique in negotiating those suspensions was more than enough to seize and maintain “vision-based” attention.

The extent of her technical skills continued when she took her encore selection. This was “Violin Diptych,” composed by Samuel Adams in 2020. This would have been around the time that Adams was completing his score for Lyra, which was given its world premiere by San Francisco Performances this past October. The two “panels” of the diptych were presented in ABA form, providing an engaging opportunity for “comparative listening.” Gomyo clearly enjoyed playing this music, and her pleasure seems to have spilled over into the audience response.