BSO’s Mozart ‘Symphony No. 39’ Review: A Ravishing Duet of Lyricism

On Oct. 19, the Boston Symphony Orchestra presented a concert featuring the works of Chinese-American composer Chen Yi, Robert Schumann, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The concert also featured Chinese-American conductor Xian Zhang making her Symphony Hall debut and pianist Jonathan Biss.

The evening opened with Chen’s “Landscape Impression,” a nine-minute tone poem inspired by two 11th-century Chinese poems. Combining the Western classical music tradition of the tone poem with the monumental cultural edifice of Chinese poetry, this made for a stunning opener. Zhang brought an uncanny level of control and precision to this demanding score from its entrancing opening all the way through its atonal and microtonal contours. The musical effects in the piece were abundant, including extended harmonics and percussive pizzicati by the lower strings creating a swirling soundscape that resolved in a thrilling D major resolution — perhaps the first and only clear sign of familiar tonality in the whole piece.

Next on the program cut was Schumann’s only piano concerto, performed by soloist Jonathan Biss. Biss and Zhang wasted no time getting the concerto started with its thrilling punctuated chord opening, setting off an intimate soloist-conductor partnership that was sustained throughout the whole piece. The interplay of Biss and Zhang’s energies were palpable; both musicians brought individually confident and extroverted performance styles to the table, and the orchestra helped to cushion Biss’s fiery playing with its responsiveness to Zhang.

The plaintive C-B-A-A theme, which some think is an encoded dedication by Schumann to his wife Clara — affectionately known as Chiarina — due to the musical theme’s rendering in German as C-H-A-A, was handled with sensitivity and differentiation every time it recurred. This concerto, known for its delicate balance between the orchestra and soloist as opposed to the more virtuosic writing typical of late 19th-century piano concerti, was the perfect vehicle for Biss’s dynamism as he knew how to take a backseat to the orchestra when necessary.

This sensitivity was especially true in the second movement, where Biss effected a perfectly seamless flow between the piano and the orchestra despite his slightly rushed treatment of the 16th notes in the second half. He sparkled particularly in the upper registers of this movement, following the lyrical sweep into the third movement where the same iconic “Clara” theme came back momentarily.

This movement saw Biss giving his all without giving into the ostentatious bravura style Schumann was so averse to conveying in this work.

Biss ended the concerto with an electrifying bang to the adoration of the audience. After that high, Biss’s encore of the second movement of Mozart’s “Piano Sonata No. 10 in C Major” was appropriately soothing. His gentle lyricism and incredible control was especially touching, and offered a bittersweet goodbye to his presence onstage.

Pivoting from Schumann’s poetic style to Mozart’s “Symphony No. 39,” Zhang’s magisterial conducting style was especially evident in the first movement; from the audience’s perspective, she was always an electrifying presence onstage, whether she was commanding the orchestra with her exactness or leading a more free-flowing passage. The second movement was especially magical for its delicacy and grace, as Zhang was able to lead the gentlest swells in its more subdued dynamic landscape. The dotted opening theme was handled exquisitely by the wind section, the clarinets of special note due to their unexpected use in this symphony and more traditional association with the orchestration of Mozart’s operas as opposed to symphonies.

The lively third movement was handled with appropriate lightness without straying into brashness, and the wind section sounded especially ethereal in the trio section. Inspired by the Ländler, an Austrian folk dance, this movement brought out Zhang’s bubbly conducting style, even bouncing on her toes as she and the orchestra evidently enjoyed rendering the work. The devilishly paced final movement was a testament to her ability to corral the orchestra, even if articulation was sometimes lost in the fray. Nonetheless, this was a gratifying rendition of one of Mozart’s most beloved symphonies and a satisfying conclusion to a particularly exciting programme.

—Staff writer Lara R. Tan can be reached at lara.tan@thecrimson.com.