To the day, Thursday marked the 125th anniversary of the first concert by what was originally billed as the Dallas Symphony Club. The second half of Thursday’s DSO concert even included Allons donc — French for “Let’s go then” — by Hans Kreissig, the German immigrant who founded and first conducted the little orchestra. Subtitled “Concert Gallop,” it sounded like a jolly mashup of Franz Lehar and Leroy Anderson.
If only there had been a little more of that spirit on the celebratory occasion. Led by Israeli guest conductor Ilan Volkov, the concert’s first half included three extended slow movements that didn’t give up their secrets easily. Nor, despite what looked like clear beats from Volkov, was the playing as reliably tidy as it should have been. And the concert was a long two hours and 20 minutes.
There were considerable pluses, but they didn’t include the program’s opener. It was a nice idea to include a work by Dallas born-and-raised composer Kyle Gann, who’s had a significant career. But his 16-minute Serenity Meditation, based on a Charles Ives song setting of the hymn text “O Sabbath rest by Galilee,” went dreamily, amorphously on and on.
Over underlying back-and-forth motifs suggesting the chords of Ives’ accompaniment, with lots of celesta tinklings, strands of the melody emerged and sometimes wound around each other. At the end, Gann appeared onstage to share the applause.
The Shostakovich Violin Concerto No. 1 is not the easiest listening, but violinist Leonidas Kavakos made it a gripping experience. Kavakos produced some breathtaking high pianissimos, but he didn’t resist more granular, even gruff, sounds when exposing the music’s raw nerves. Virtuosity, when called for, was jaw-dropping.
The first movement lives up to its “Nocturne” label, in music evoking dreams, sometimes disturbing ones, or uneasy wakefulness. The ensuing Scherzo alternates a sometimes garish danse macabre with a mocking march.
A somber acaglia embellishes its bass theme with a variety of accompaniments and counterpoints. A cadenza, at first surprisingly introspective, gradually works up virtuoso double-stops, scurries and skitters, leading into the galloping final Burlesque.
It’s hard to imagine a more compelling performance than Kavakos’. Volkov and the orchestra supplied vivid collaboration, although sometimes the tiniest bit behind the soloist. Maybe things will tighten in repeat performances.
The Beethoven Eroica Symphony, too, could have been a bit tidier here and there. To his credit, though, Volkov must have been pretty much on the composer’s mobile metronome markings.
Don’t be misled by the “Heroic” title. The first movement was properly aerobic, the second taken at an honest funeral march tempo. The Scherzo was exhilarating, with just enough yielding for gloriously shaped horn calls in the trio. The finale was aptly playful, with a wonderfully giddy coda.
Volkov was commendably careful with dynamics, apart from trumpets sometimes too loud when they’re just underlining accents. And there was much lovely shaping and direction of phrases.
Details
Repeats at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday at Meyerson Symphony Center, 2301 Flora St. $41 to $201. 214-849-4376, dallassymphony.org.
