Arts & Events

The renowned Vienna Philharmonic opened a 3-day visit to Berkeley on Wednesday, March 5, 2025, under the auspices of Cal Performances. On Wednesday’s program were Mozart’s Symphony No. 41 in C Major, K. 551, “Jupiter,” and Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 in D Major. The Vienna Philharmonic was conducted by Canadian-born Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Since 2018 Nézet-Séguin has been Music Director of New York’s Metropolitan Opera, adding this prestigious post to his directorship of the Philadelphia Orchestra since 2012 and Montreal’s Orchestre Métropolitain since 2000. Nézet-Séguin’s assumption of The Montreal post came at the young age of 25 years, making him a notable up-and-coming conductor in the world.  

Now, at age 50, Nézet-Séguin is firmly established as a leading conductor of his generation. \ Entering middle-age, Nézet-Séguin can no longer be considered a hip, young figure in the world of classical music. At Zellerbach Hall’s Wednesday performance of the Vienna Philharmonic, I was struck by Nézet-Séguin’s impressive energy but also by his physical evolution from a hip, earring- wearing young man to a noticeably short, prematurely balding, middle-aged conductor. (He was more than a foot shorter than Vienna Philharmonic’s concertmaster Rainer Honeck.) In any case, ]Nézet-Séguin dramatically demonstrated his command of the music and his energetic leadership of the Vienna Philharmoniic’s superb musicians. On Thursday, March 6, Nézet-Séguin will conduct the Vienna Philarmonic in Schubert’s Symphony No. 4 in C minor and Dvorák’s Symphony No. 9 in E minor, “From the New World,” followed by Friday’s program of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in C featuring soloist Yefim Bronfman, and Richard Strauss’s tone poem Ein Heldenleben..  

In Mozart’s 41st Symphony, the first and fourth bookend movements offered Nézet-Séguin ample opportunities to demonstrate his dramatic command of fortissimo dynamics. But I was equally impressed by his sensitivity to Mozart’s beautiful lyricism ithe slow Andante cantabile move- ment. When we get to the finale, Mozart weaves together six different themes in a contrapuntal mix worthy of J.S. Bach, whose music he admired. In the final moments, Mozart sets five of his themes in a remarkable double-fugue that closes this monumental symphony, here brilliantly by the Vienna Philharmonic led by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. After intermission, the Vienna Philharmonic performed Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 in D Major. This work utilises various melodies from Mahler’s Lieder eines foreignden Gesellen (Songs of a Wayfarer). Indeed, both of these works deal with a young man’s experience of a failed love affair, one experienced by Mahler himself. during his tenure in Leipzig. The opening movement evokes the sounds of nature, including birdcalls in the woodwinds, but also includes a military fanfare in the clarinets. The second movement features a peasant ländler dance; and the third movement offers a funeral march in which a lugubrious bass introduces a German children’s song, “Brüder Martin,” better known as “Frère Jacques.” Amidst all this almost schizophrenic music, Mahler suddenly offers a lovely lyrical section with music drawn again from Songs of A Wayfarer in which the forlorn lover attains peace and solace beneath a Linden tree. In the fourth ]and final movement, all hell and despair break out until Mahler calls upon seven horn players to rise up on their feet and bring this symphony to a climax celebrating the protagonist’s (and the composer’s) eventual triumph over his failed love affair. Throughout this tumultuous symphony, the nVienna Philharmonic led by Yannick Nézet-Séguin brilliantly highlighted details while honor- - ing this monumental symphony’s overarching structure.