(…) the main attraction at Tanglewood Saturday night was conductor Stéphane Denève, who is pretty clearly a man to watch for the music director vacancy. His palpable rapport with the orchestra resulted in finely realized performances of three divergent works, culminating in a Shostakovich Fifth Symphony to drive a dagger into Stalin’s heart, if he ever had any. (…)
Denève’s musical ideas, clarity of textures without loss of weight, and ability to get what he wanted from the orchestra were remarkable. (…)
The Shostakovich performance was extraordinary, from the unearthly hush at the outset to the thumping march at the end (is it victory or is it defeat under crushing boots?). Shock value and extremes are implicit in the Stalin-era work. Denève and the BSO pulled them together into an overarching, inevitable whole.
