It’s clear by now that conductor Elim Chan can bring out the best in a top-rank orchestra.
Making her third appearance in just two years with the San Francisco Symphony, Chan led an all-Tchaikovsky concert on Thursday, March 13, at Davies Symphony Hall that was further confirmation of her prowess — and good news for anyone who was hearing her for the first time.
Chan clearly works from a detailed conception of the score, but what the audience sees is a conductor who is as communicative as a dancer. She leads without a baton, but her hand and arm movements are connected to her body’s core, and she stretches and bends with the musical phrases. She actively engages all the orchestra’s sections, regularly switching her focus. She’s intense, which matched well with the music she had chosen for this weekend’s program, which repeats through Saturday, March 15.
Swan Lake has been excerpted in hundreds of different ways, but the suite that Chan herself has compiled from Tchaikovsky’s ballet almost has the structure of a symphony. It begins with the Act 2 prelude and the swan theme and then picks up with the Act 1 waltz at the royal ball. Act 2’s “Dance of the Cygnets” leads into the Andante pas d’action for the lovers, Odette and Siegfried, and then the final scene of the ballet, with the swan theme given out by the whole ensemble to accompany the lovers’ apotheosis.
The orchestra was as energetic and involved as its guest conductor, playing with conviction and attention to dynamics. Entrances and cutoffs were sharp, and Chan’s exacting sense of rhythm built the dances to highly satisfying climaxes, as if she were born to conduct ballet.
Chan’s suite also spotlighted some of the Symphony’s roster of soloists. Principal harp Katherine Siochi gave a nuanced and colorful intro to the pas d’action, followed by acting associate concertmaster Wyatt Underhill’s gracefully athletic solo, seconded by principal cello Rainer Eudeikis. First trumpet Mark Inouye played a lyrical and silky smooth variation in the waltz, and of course, we heard a lyrical swan theme from principal oboe Eugene Izotov.
If anything, Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6 (“Pathétique”) sparked even greater efforts from the orchestra. Chan charged the somber opening with energy and then released it in a fervent Allegro just barely contained by the composer’s designation of “non troppo” (meaning “not too much”). There wasn’t anything underplayed about this first movement; on the contrary, Chan applied the highlighter pen even to the composer’s counterpoint. The beautiful second theme surged with rhythmic vitality and gorgeous unanimity in the strings. Carey Bell is one of the nation’s finest clarinetists, and his solo was a highlight here.
Chan applied herself with equal gusto to the middle movements, particularly the off-kilter 5/4 waltz, to which she brought a fine sense of rubato. The orchestra attacked the third movement forcefully, the repeated interjections of the march theme punched out with such fervor that the audience’s applause had to be quieted by an immediate segue into the mournful finale. While Chan will undoubtedly deepen her interpretation of this great movement as her career progresses, Thursday afternoon’s performance was scrupulous in its attention to detail and full of emotion.
We can’t know whether Chan, who was a Dudamel Fellow at the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2016 and has since conducted there regularly as well, will be a candidate for music director at the San Francisco Symphony when Esa-Pekka Salonen vacates the role this summer. But people are talking about her, and for good reason.
This story was first published in Datebook in partnership with the San Francisco Chronicle.
