Dutch composer Johan Wagenaar is not familiar to many, yet the Hague Philharmonic's promotion of his good-natured music may win him some friends. Wagenaar was active in Utrecht and the Hague in the early part of the last century, and his overture inspired by Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac owed a great deal to Richard Strauss. In this performance it also resembled a cinematic melting pot where Errol Flynn met Tchaikovsky. Jaap van Zweden conducted with dynamic results that avoided pomposity and maximised the score's panache. The orchestra depicted aspects of Cyrano's personality - valour, poetry, and chivalry - using blooming brass, strong basses and a meaty string sound.
In Mozart's Piano Concerto No 23 the orchestra was melodious and elegant, although the inner details were mushy. Pianist Michel Dalberto used a generous amount of pedal and rubato, but this was never at the expense of clarity. The Allegro was crowned with a flowing and shapely cadenza, but the Adagio was especially gorgeous, with beautifully weighted and melancholic support from the Hague Philharmonic. Dalberto set the Rondo off at a cracking pace, yet it was somehow far too tasteful: Zweden's approach was relaxed without slouching, but the orchestra's refined poise was more evocative of cucumber sandwiches than the brilliance this music can achieve.
Mahler's Symphony No 5 was the most successful ingredient of the evening. Zweden's interpretation of Mahler's music was persuasive and intelligent, without gimmicks or superfluous physical gestures. The brilliant brass fanfares and desperate heroism in the Funeral March, and the stormy following movement developed into emphatic radiance. The Scherzo featured restless shifts of mood, but with the players all enjoying chances to shine in the dances. The Adagietto started in a literal mood, but became increasingly sentimental, and Zweden encouraged fabulous sustain and diminuendo in its dying moments. The last movement showed these performers to be masters of extremes, dexterously moving from subtlety to forcefulness.
Yet best of all was Zweden's ability to produce a coherent overall impact from Mahler's notoriously difficult music, without imposing too much of his own personality. This performance had a genuine sense of a journey from adversity to heroic triumph.
