Jacobsen continues strong Grant Park stand with Beethoven
Eric Jacobsen is building on the strong impression he made last week as the conductor continues leading the Grant Park Orchestra at Millennium Park.
Jacobsen’s first program featured all 20th-century works. On Wednesday he turned his attention to 19th-century repertoire as well as a world premiere, demonstrating assured professionalism and artistic acumen across genres.
Wednesday’s program led off with Edvard Grieg’s Holberg Suite, the Norwegian composer’s homage to his literary countryman Ludvig Holberg, and heard in its arrangement for string orchestra. Jacobsen kept the bustling Prelude aloft with subtle inflections, and captured the simple, sincere expression of the Sarabande, particularly in its soli for three cellos.
The Gavotte and Musette had a percussive ländler quality, and Jacobsen was in touch with the pathos of the somber ensuing Air. The concluding Rigaudon was elevated with lapidary playing from concertmaster Jeremy Black and principal viola Terri Van Valkinburgh, articulate yet effortless in their fleet solos.
Next came the world premiere of Cocoon by Brooklyn-born, Haitian-American composer Natalie Joachim, who was on hand to discuss her new work with Jacobsen. In their back-and-forth, Joachim said Cocoon is meant to evoke the retreat and transformed emergence of a caterpillar morphing into a butterfly—kinetic energy behind outward stasis—and analogous experiences in human beings.
The five-minute score begins at a moderate tempo with transparent, shimmering textures and Copland-esque harmonies, conveying the surface calm the composer described. The violins in their highest register grow more agitated, underpinned by brass chords and chiming percussion, surging to multiple climaxes before ending on a placid, serene note. Joachim succeeds in her compact evocation of a change process, and Jacobsen drew committed advocacy from the orchestra.
The Joachim premiere was followed by a much more familiar musical tale of emergence in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5. Jacobsen offered a gripping account that rose above the routine one expects with standard works at summer festival settings.
Jacobsen drew taut playing that highlighted the restless motion of the Allegro con brio, bringing shape and direction to this most familiar music. The limpid variations of the Andante con moto spun out lyrically under his attentive direction, punctuated with gleaming brass fanfares.
The ensuing Allegro alternated between mystery and militarism, with particularly fine section playing from the Grant Park cellos in both the opening and central fugue. The Finale was at once noble and propulsive, with a genuine sense of triumph that came across in the obvious rapport between Jacobsen and the orchestra.
Jacobsen has at this point acquitted himself well across a range of repertoire, from the 19th to 20th centuries and up to the present day, and well as a concerto accompanist and interpreter of new works. It will be interesting to see what he is able to do with the Grant Park Chorus on Friday in the amplest program of his two-week residency.
The Grant Park Orchestra performs Lili Boulanger’s D’un matin de printemps, Poulenc’s Stabat Mater, and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade 6:30 p.m. Friday and 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Pritzker Pavilion. grantparkmusicfestival.com
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