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The hunt is on the way for Gerard Schwarz’s successor as Seattle Symphony music director, and every guest maestro is getting a special scrutiny from orchestra fans and patrons: Will this be “the one”? Does this conductor have what it takes to inspire the orchestra and the audience, as well as the ability to master the long and daunting list of administrative and executive functions that go with the job?
No one who was in attendance at the Nov. 19 performance led by Norwegian guest conductor Arild Remmereit could have been in any doubt about his ability to inspire. The program, which included the probable American premiere of Ludvig Irgens-Jensen’s Partita Sinfonica (“The Drover”) and went on to a Mozart piano concerto and Tchaikovsky’s “Pathétique” Symphony, found the orchestra on its best behavior, and the audience on the edge of their seats.
The opening Irgens-Jensen work is an attractive four-part suite based on a score the composer wrote in the late 1930s to accompany a play. Tuneful and energetic, sharing some of the musical language of Holst, this is a work of considerable picturesque charm, and it was clear that Remmereit is its champion. (He addressed some introductory remarks on its behalf to the audience, noting that no record could be found of any previous American performance of the Partita Sinfonica.)
Pianist Gabriela Montero, who earlier won fans here when she played a recital on the President’s Piano Series, was the soloist in the Mozart Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major (K.467) – yes, that concerto whose middle movement was popularized by the now mostly-forgotten 1967 Swedish film “Elvira Madigan.” Montero, a well-schooled and very able pianist, is best known for her improvisations, and as the concerto went forward it became evident that we were hearing a sort of “Mozartero” performance with some substantial interpolations by the soloist. The cadenza, in particular, took off from the 18th century into a number of 19th-, 20th- and even 21st-century detours that would not have been much to the taste of most Mozart lovers in the house. Everyone else, however, gave Montero a rapturous ovation that was rewarded by a solo encore: one of Montero’s signature improvisations on a theme presented by an audience member (unfortunately, the theme provided was “On Top of Old Smokey”).
The artistic heart of the evening was the Tchaikovsky, which was given a terrifically vital, committed reading by Remmereit and the Seattle players. The young Norwegian-born conductor, who now lives in Vienna, has been called “the hottest conductor you’ve never heard of” in The New York Times, and in the Tchaikovsky it was eminently clear how hot this cool Nordic maestro could be. Galvanized into action in the explosive Allegro non troppo of the first movement, Remmereit interpreted the music with furious energy in every fiber of his body – even his hyperactive mop of blond hair. He was riveting to watch, and he supercharged the orchestra.
Remmereit didn’t hesitate to push the score to extremes: an opening Adagio so slow that the music almost didn’t hold together, and a third movement that accelerated so spectacularly that the audience gave up the struggle not to applaud between symphonic movements.
Not everything worked well. With a few exceptions (including a lovely trombones/tuba choir near the end of the Tchaikovsky), even the best wind solos and choirs had persistent intonation problems; there were some ensemble problems, too. But on the whole, Remmereit is certainly one of the most impressive of the potential music-director candidates to emerge thus far.
And is he officially a candidate? The Symphony press release is coy, saying that “Arild Remmereit’s appearance places a spotlight on Seattle Symphony’s search for a new Music Director. The international search is ongoing, and guest conductors both this season and next are under consideration. While the candidates for the position will remain confidential, the caliber and quality of guest conductors is sure to draw considerable attention to Seattle Symphony and its upcoming programs.”
Confidential or not, this candidate is certainly going to be a tough act to follow.
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