How happy Yannick Nézet-Séguin must have been that he was back in his familiar Rotterdam. The day before, he played the Mahler 4 program in the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, where he had to lay down twice for ‘public sabotage’. A telephone that kept ringing, a lady who nearly choked on her own snoring: the German reviewer nervously wondered if Nézet-Séguin would ever come back†
No, then the Rotterdam public. The fragile opening bars of the prayer of peace by the Ukrainian composer Sylvestrov made people cough irreverently, but Nézet-Séguin soon managed to drag the audience into his concentration. And how could it be otherwise? This was a concert par excellence that reminded you of the power of a live performance, of truly concentrated attention. Here something fascinating happened on the stage that you couldn’t look away from.
Also read: Yannick Nézet-Séguin gives his orchestra wings during farewell tour
Intriguing quality
The impressive mezzo-soprano Karen Cargill was perfect for her role in the songs of Alma Mahler, impassively accompanied by the orchestra. The fact that some intonation wavering crept in at a single point in the height did not detract from the intriguing quality, which is also part of a live performance.
And then Mahlers celebrated. Well, not really an obscure repertoire, and yet Nézet-Séguin always made you curious about how it would go on. He enjoyed the melody lines from his orchestra infectiously, and naturally highlighted the details, without it becoming frivolous or vain nonsense. The interpretation was of a beautiful nuance, with tasteful climaxes. Blessed is the conductor who can make his orchestra play so beautifully softly. Soprano Christiane Karg sang of the heavenly frolic as if to get through a ring, phrased so beautifully. A fairytale good concert, the kind that makes you see the colors in the city slightly differently afterwards. The Burgers have missed something.