Further Czech Preferences from Weilerstein

SFS Visiting Conductor Joshua Weilerstein (photograph by Sim Canetty Clark, courtesy of the San Francisco Symphony)

When Joshua Weilerstein made his debut as visiting conductor of the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) in June of 2021, he prepared a program that juxtaposed and contrasted two Czech composers. The more familiar was Antonín Dvořák, represented by his Opus 22 serenade in E major for string ensemble, which he composed in 1875 when he was 33 years older. The other was Bohuslav Martinů with a performance of his 1938 concerto for two string orchestras, piano, and timpani.

Last night Weilerstein returned to Davies Symphony Hall; and, once again, his focus was on Czech composers. Also again, one of those conductors was Dvořák, represented this time by what is probably his best known symphony, his Opus 95 (ninth) in E minor, given the more familiar title “From the New World.” The other composer was a contemporary of Martinů, whose fate in Europe was not as fortunate as  Martinů’s, Pavel Haas. While Martinů was fortunate enough to escape Adolf Hitler, fleeing first to Switzerland and subsequently to New York City, Haas was not so fortunate. He became one of the many Jewish musicians held at the Theresienstadt concentration camp, where he continued to compose because the Nazis saw it as useful propaganda. His “Study for Strings,” which Weilerstein selected to begin his program, was one of the works he completed and was performed by his fellow inmates. Not too long after that performance, however, he and his fellow musicians were transported to the gas chambers of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp.

Ironically, the “Study for Strings” was an energetically upbeat composition, just the right sort of thing to begin a concert program. In includes an awesomely mind-boggling fugue, whose primary subject (if I am not mistaken) was an inversion of the well known B-A-C-H motif (which Johann Sebastian Bach happened to be writing into his The Art of Fugue at the time of his death). The fact that the Nazi’s selected this music for an audience of visitors to Theresienstadt made it clear that they knew good propaganda when they saw it. The fact that all the participants were subsequently gassed makes the playful qualities of “Study for Strings” all the more poignant, if not downright harrowing. The coupling of that music with Dvořák’s Opus 95 served as a reminder that, had Haas’ fate proceeded in a different direction, he would have been as fortunate as Martinů in being able to continue his work in the United States.

The concerto selection for this program was Jean Sibelius’ Opus 47 violin concerto in D minor. The soloist was Alexi Kenney, making his SFS debut. He is an alumnus of the SFS Youth Orchestra and performed as a concerto soloist with them in 2017. His selection for this program was one of the most technically challenging works in the violin repertoire (or, at least, the tonal repertoire). This is one of those concerto compositions in which the soloist is already dealing with cadenza material at the very beginning, and (s)he must contend with no end of technical challenges as all three of the movements progress.

There was thus something jaw-dropping in watching Kenney rise to each of those challenges, taking on all of them as if they were merely warm-up exercises. Fortunately, the score, taken as a whole, has far more substance than having the soloist jump through a bevy of technical hoops. There is just as much an abundance of lyrical thematic material, particularly in the second movement; and Kenney was as confident in his expressiveness as he was in his technique. On the audience side this was very much an edge-of-your-seat event. Even those familiar with the concerto (probably through recordings for the most part) quickly realized just how mind-boggling this performance was and how effective was the chemistry established between soloist and conductor. Given Kenney’s roots in the Bay Area, we can only hope that he will pay us more visits in his performance schedule.