An energetic, quite athletic conductor, Wachner is also an impressively "hands-on" interpreter, shaping things very distinctively his own way: freedom with tempos, minutely detailed attention to phrasing, to nuances, and to dynamics. The overture was paced a little more briskly than some conductors would take it, but nicely etched. The performance of the symphony was filled with unusual insights. Wachner had the strings play with minimal vibrato, suggesting almost a residual Baroque character, while his shaping of the work, and unleashing of the winds, seemed to anticipate Beethoven down the road. The treatment of the Menuet third movement was most individual: unusual speed for the flanking section, while the trio theme was begun each time around with a slow swoop leading into a more relaxed flow. This was an imaginative exploration of a work usually performed with superficial diffidence.
Finally, Beethoven's "Emperor Concerto", No. 5, with the guest soloist, the young Finnish pianist Pavaali Jumpannen. He joined these scaled-down forces in a departure from the usual roof-raising thunder made out of this work by most performers. There were certainly moments of strength and power in his playing (which faltered technically only momentarily in the very last passage). But Jumpannen replaced the conventionally bold approach with playing sometimes of almost Mozartean delicacy. Between him and Wachner, we again were given fresh insight into a familiar warhorse.
What a wonderful concert! Oh, stay with us now, WCO!
