SFS: Rustioni Conducts Dvořák and Brahms

Statue of Antonín Dvořák in Prague with the Rudolfinum behind (from a Wikimedia Commons Web page, photograph by Andrevruas, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license)

Last night in Davies Symphony Hall Daniele Rustioni made his debut as conductor of the San Francisco Symphony (SFS). He prepared a program of two major works, both composed in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. These were presented in reverse chronological order, beginning with Antonín Dvořák’s Opus 104 cello concerto in B minor. The intermission was then followed by Johannes Brahms’ Opus 73 (second) symphony in D major. The concerto soloist was cellist Daniel Müller-Schott, also making his SFS debut.

Brahms was instrumental in launching Dvořák’s career. However, it would be fair to say that the latter honored the legacy of the former by finding his own way of doing things. That “path” eventually led him to the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, where, in 1892, he was appointed the directorship of the National Conservatory of Music of America in New York City. Opus 104 is one of the works he composed during his time in the United States, but it would be fair to say that his Bohemian rhetoric prevailed over any American influences.

The Opus 104 concerto has become an audience favorite, and it would be fair to say that most of the audience members had a personal favorite cellist in mind before Müller-Schott took the stage. Nevertheless, while his performance could not have done a better job in honoring the composer’s legacy, he brought a fresh gust of energy to the outer Allegro movements while finding just the right rhetoric for the middle Adagio movement. That full scope of dispositions emerged readily through the chemistry between soloist and conductor. It would not surprise me if I learned that the coupling of conductor and soloist was a meeting of old friends.

As might be expected, the audience was impressed enough to demand an encore from Müller-Schott. As many may have hoped, he turned to Johann Sebastian Bach for that encore. He performed the final Gigue movement from BWV 1009, the third of the six solo cello suites, this one composed in the key of C major.

The second half of the program was devoted entirely to Johannes Brahms’ Opus 73, his second symphony composed in the key of D major. My past listening experiences have led me to believe that this is the one of the four symphonies that tends to draw the most attention. There is an affability in all four of the movements that departs from much of the tension that plays out in the other symphonies.

However, there is also a cerebral side to Opus 73. Brahms structured it around a motif that could not be simpler: a half-step down followed by a half-step back. That three-note motif begins the symphony, and it surfaces in each of the four movements with decidedly different settings. I have to confess that Brahms’ capacity to make more and more with less and less (thank you, Buckminster Fuller) has made this my favorite of the composer’s four symphonies. Rustioni’s account last night could not have been more absorbing, making me wonder whether Opus 73 might also be his favorite!