South Florida Classical Review

Dalia Stasevska conducted the New World Symphony Sunday in Miami Beach.

Few composers’ works embody their native surroundings as much as those of Jean Sibelius. Finland’s forests, icy peaks and dark winters literally jump off the page in his music. He also gave voice to his nation’s folklore in his tone poems which are among the greatest ever written in that genre.

On Sunday afternoon the New World Symphony recreated a concert of Sibelius’ scores that the composer conducted in Helsinki in 1911. The Finnish-Ukrainian conductor Dalia Stasevska was making her NWS podium debut and she displayed idiomatic mastery of the composer’s distinctive musical voice.

Chief conductor of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra and principal guest conductor of the BBC Symphony, Stasevska commanded peak playing from all sections of the orchestra and managed balances, tonal integration and coordination in a masterful manner. It is not an exaggeration to say that she was the most impressive guest conductor of the New World season to date. Stasevska certainly knows her Sibelius.

The concert opened with In memoriam, a 1909 piece that Sibelius conceived in tribute to a Finnish activist who took his own life after assassinating the Governor-General sent by the Russian government to rule the country. This funeral march owes more than a little to Mahler. In many ways, it resembles the opening movement of Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, particularly the string and brass writing.  The music was played at Sibelius’ own funeral in 1957.

While a comparatively minor opus in the composer’s catalogue, it is an effective creation. An almost constant percussion tread runs throughout the six-minute score. Stasevska drew huge fortissimo climaxes from the brass and kept the tension level high throughout the piece’s brief duration.

Without pause, she launched into Canzonetta from the incidental music to the play Kuolema (Death). An exquisitely crafted miniature for strings, the entrancing melodic vignette is in a similar vein as the more familiar Valse triste. Drawing silken string articulation, Stasevska led with fluency and just the right suggestion of romantic sentimentality. The Dryad is a brief depiction of a tree nymph and magic in the forest from Greek mythology.  Here Sibelius experimented with the fragmentary themes and sudden changes of meter and texture that would mark his mature style. He even included castanets as part of the percussive effects.

Although less often played than some of the composer’s other tone poems, Night Ride and Sun Rise is a masterpiece. Relentless figurations in the strings are the vital building blocks of the sixteen-minute work’s first part. Gradually the winds sound motivic fragments over the recurrent string writing. The second section portrays the end of night and the rising of the sun.

String playing was flawlessly precise and registered a deep well of tone in the penultimate pages. With four horns evenly contoured and sonorous, the final sunburst resounded in a vibrant and stirring manner. Maintaining a steady pulse, Stasevska engendered varied dynamics, including myriad grades of pianissimo.

The concert’s first half was a prelude to the main event – a performance of the Symphony No. 4 in A minor, which Sibelius premiered at the 1911 concert. One of the least often played of his seven symphonies, the Fourth lacks the big, surging melodies that mark his more popular symphonies but it is one of his most sophisticated, rewarding and great creations. The orchestral opulence that characterizes the earlier symphonies is fully present but in terms that are sparer and darker.

Solos from two cellos at the outset lead to string tremolos which emerged charged and riveting. Each fragmentary subject was given specific shape and the hint of a larger melody from the strings that appeared and faded seemed like a musical hallucination.

The dancing figure that opens the second movement Allegro molto vivace was assayed with lilt and verve. As the music turned more bleak and pessimistic, Staveska highlighted the contrasting textures while drawing out the full panoply of instrumental colors. The movement’s abrupt ending retains its sense of surprise.

The symphony’s heart and soul comprise the Il tempo largo (third movement). Emotional peaks and valleys alternate and dissolve in arresting sonic layers. The hard-working wind players exhibited consistent strength. Stasevska kept the short thematic threads moving with inexorable momentum.

The opening whirling, energetic patterns of the concluding Allegro were buoyantly paced. The final return to the A minor key and quiet ending that just seems to fade and stop were potently conveyed. Despite the lack of a brassy climax, the audience immediately came to its feet. The response was clearly appreciative of an exceptional concert, performed with fervor and conviction. Stasevska should definitely return to New World and soon.

Stéphane Denève conducts the New World Symphony in John Williams’ Suite from The Book Thief, Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique and Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1 with Sheku Kanneh-Mason  8 p.m. April 19 at the New World Center in Miami Beach. nws.edu

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