Review: German violinist Isabelle Faust triumphs in her Minnesota Orchestra debut

In his second season at the Minnesota Orchestra’s helm, Thomas Søndergård seems intent upon demonstrating that he’s just as adept with the micro as the macro.

From his first visit in December 2021, the Danish conductor showed that he can do grand things with big music, such as circa-1900 works that require massive orchestras by such composers as Richard Strauss, Maurice Ravel and Igor Stravinsky. But, this season, he’s brought some smaller-scale works to the stage. For his first epic piece for orchestra, choir and vocal soloists, he avoided grandiosity by choosing Mozart’s “Requiem,” a work that whispers as much as it shouts.

And this weekend, Søndergård turned his focus toward not just the classical era of Mozart and Joseph Haydn, but the 20th-century neoclassical period of Stravinsky’s output, when he took inspiration from those composers and their baroque ancestor, J.S. Bach. It’s music less interested in blowing you away than getting you to lean in.

On Friday night at Orchestra Hall, the results were mixed, but there was one unqualified success: Renowned German violinist Isabelle Faust made her long overdue Twin Cities debut as soloist on Stravinsky’s lone Violin Concerto, and it was a triumph in its own quirky, understated way.

Expertly negotiating the concerto’s dramatic shifts between gruff percussiveness and lithe lyricism, Faust offered the enthusiastic audience a deep and complex interpretation of this unique slice of the classical canon.

If you’re accustomed to the kind of spotlight-seizing solo turns found in the violin concertos of Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Brahms, Stravinsky’s contribution to the form may seem to treat soloist and orchestra as equal partners. The opening movement presented Faust as if she were offering a running musical commentary atop the orchestra’s mosaic of chopped-up phrases.

Far more intimate and involving were the two Arias at the concerto’s center, when the violinist brought a singing quality to the work, smoothly shifting from light and bright to aggressive intensity, then packing a breathtaking amount of emotion into long held notes and mysterious yet troubled tones. And Faust, Søndergård and the orchestra presented the finale as fractured folk dance, her muscular bow strokes and double-stops throwing her pure, clear high notes into lovely relief.

As for the classical half of this classical/neoclassical combo plate, it sounded very much like a transition still in process. Mozart and Haydn didn’t show up on Minnesota Orchestra programs very frequently during the 19-year tenure of Søndergård’s predecessor, Osmo Vänskä, so it might seem a kind of back-to-school situation for many of the musicians as they rediscover the acuity and precision those composers required from their (considerably smaller) orchestras.

I would have preferred more wide-ranging dynamics and cleaner attacks on Mozart’s “Haffner” Symphony. And there was a kind of gauzy, muted feel to Haydn’s “Oxford” Symphony that would have benefitted from finding some surprises in the score.

And, having just experienced the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra opening a concert a fortnight ago with a marvelously intense version of Stravinsky’s “Dumbarton Oaks” Concerto, the take on it from Søndergård and the orchestra seemed more studied than expressive. It featured some fine solos and exchanges, but wasn’t particularly involving.

But it’s still early. Søndergård could yet turn the Minnesota Orchestra into an expert ensemble with works of the late 18th century. It remains to be seen if that’s what the orchestra’s audience wants.

With: Conductor Thomas Søndergård and violinist Isabelle Faust

What: Works by Igor Stravinsky, Mozart and Joseph Haydn

When: 2 p.m. Sat.

Where: Orchestra Hall, 1111 Nicollet Mall, Mpls.

Tickets: $20-$89, 612-371-5656 or minnesotaorchestra.org

Rob Hubbard can be reached at wordhub@yahoo.com.