As conductors go, Salonen has more name recognition than most, as well as a reputation for inventive concert programming. Though no one could call him young anymore, he nonetheless manages to convey the kind of youthful, personable vigor that recalls Bernstein or Tilson Thomas. Despite having spent much of his career active in the United States, where he has held leadership positions at the Los Angeles Philharmonic and San Francisco Symphony, the Finnish conductor/composer has never been a frequent guest with the BSO. He was scheduled to conduct the BSO and the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra at Tanglewood in summer 2025 but withdrew for undisclosed personal reasons.
It seems that might be about to change. This summer, Salonen is on the books to curate the TMC’s weeklong Festival of Contemporary Music, as well as lead concerts with both orchestras and give a talk at the Linde Center with BSO president and CEO Chad Smith. Long story short, if you were jonesing for the chance to hear him live, you probably won’t have to wait another decade-plus.
Selfishly, I’m champing at the bit to hear Salonen leading some programs that don’t include Bruckner, whose work I’ve tried my best to appreciate but rarely connect with. Friday afternoon’s symphony felt somewhat like a movie that I went to see for the lead actors, knowing I’ll enjoy their performances even if I’m unmoved by the script.
In the case of Bruckner’s 4th, the “main character” was definitely BSO principal horn player Richard Sebring, who declaimed the solos with noble gravitas, with Salonen and the orchestra filling out the supporting cast. The slow, introspective second movement was powerful, punctuated with delicate accents before a sforzando pierced the reverie like an unwelcome intrusive thought. The scherzo, which Bruckner intended to represent hunters on the trail, was simultaneously thrilling and frustrating; here was a thunderous call and response between a battery of horns on one side of the stage and the trumpet, trombones and tuba on the other, and a sharp-edged build in tension that seemed to be spinning towards release but instead retreated into brooding shadow. Bruckner boosters, my email address is below; I want to like his music more, but something always stops me. In the case of this performance, it’s how quickly the score’s bald spots showed, and how easy it was to zone out, especially in comparison to the first half of the concert.
That first half began with an exuberant rendition of Luciano Berio’s orchestration of Boccherini’s “Ritirata noturna di Madrid,” and continued with the program’s other treat for horn players (and other adventurous listeners): Salonen’s own Horn Concerto, composed bespoke for Berlin Philharmonic principal player Stefan Dohr. Salonen’s own musical career began as a hornist; in his essay for the program, he copped to picking up the instrument as a child because he knew that if he made it into his school’s top orchestra, his get-out-of-gym-class-free card was signed. (Lucky duck! That never worked for me in chorus.)
In any event, Salonen is intimately familiar with the horn’s technical details and expressive potential, and in Dohr’s hands, both were on display in full. In a way, the horn is emblematic of the symphony orchestra – just look at the BSO’s own logo for proof – but more often than not, it appears with the ensemble as an important supporting player with only brief moments at the forefront. Dohr, on the other hand, owned the instrument’s moment in the spotlight. Against a simmering orchestral backdrop, he played the initial theme without using the instrument’s valves, which made for an eerily naked sound. The next three movements ran the gamut between mellow and majestic, with plenty of references to not only the Bruckner’s iconic solo, but several other repertoire landmarks that would have been inescapable for any hornist. That one should go places. The question now is how many hornists will be up to the feat.
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Feb. 13. Symphony Hall. www.bso.org