Vladimir Jurowski and his London Philharmonic are on tour, arriving at Davies Symphony Hall on Sunday and Monday. The outstanding conductor and the famed orchestra are a great attraction, even with programs that could be more novel and challenging.
Moscow-born Jurowski, 42, the son and grandson of prominent musicians, was raised in Germany, made his international debut 19 years ago, at age 23, conducting Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's opera May Night at the Wexford Festival. The following year he made his debut at Covent Garden, conducting Nabucco. In May 2006, Jurowski was named the 11th principal conductor of the LPO, which was founded by Thomas Beecham and Malcolm Sargent in 1932.
The first LPO program, on Oct. 12, is Slavic and well-worn, with Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6 (Pathétique) — which hasn't been performed here since, let's see, gosh, since April, and frequently before that — Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 3, heard in Davies Hall a year ago, with a Prokofiev glut since; and, an actual novelty, Dvorák's The Noonday Witch.
On the plus side: Jurowski and this orchestra are awfully good with this music, and the soloist is the esteemable Jean-Efflam Bavouzet. He made his SFS debut in 2012 in Bartók's Piano Concerto No. 3, under the baton of Vasily Petrenko. The French pianist seems to have a special affinity for Hungarians, having been mentored by both György Cziffra and Georg Solti, and recording all three Bartók concertos with Gianandrea Noseda and the BBC Philharmonic.
The Monday concert is sticking with Russians classics: Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini (with Bavouzet) and Shostakovich's Symphony No. 8, a humongous work, not very often performed. The concession to our time is Magnus Lindberg's 2002 Chorale, a six-minute work.
The orchestra's season opened with the Lindberg, Prokofiev, and Shostakovich works, and the The Guardian review was unstinting in its praise:
Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto with soloist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet ... proved to be an extraordinarily accomplished performance. Often, the sheer brilliance of Prokofiev’s virtuosic piano writing is deemed challenge enough for any mere 10-fingered exponent, without having to worry about niceties of interpretation. For Bavouzet, however, the notes were merely the beginning ...Jurowski revealed equivalent skills on the vast canvas of Shostakovich’s wartime Eighth Symphony, which came after the interval. Exploring the full range of the writing, the maestro inspired extraordinary tonal depth and colour that did all the individual sections of the orchestra considerable credit as they followed his lead in drawing out the work’s gargantuan trajectory.
As to the Tchaikovsky, Jurowski is well aware of some in the audience and, even more, critics are being less than enthusiastic about warhorses such as the Pathétique, and he speaks convincingly of the ways to keep music fresh when returning to a major composition after several years.