Farewell by Michael Schønwandt to the French Youth Orchestra

For his farewell to the French Youth Orchestra, Michael Schønwandt achieved a Concerto for Orchestra of a cheerful and well-dressed Bartók, after a Emperor more academic in the company of Elisabeth Leonskaja.

A year and a half after those addressed to the Montpellier National Orchestra, Michael Schønwandt bids farewell, as musical director, to the French Youth Orchestra, which he had directed for four years, leaving the place from 2025 to the Estonian chef Kristiina Poska.

With Little night music by Luigi Dallapiccolla, the concert is introduced by a piece commissioned seventy years earlier by Hermann Scherchen for the 9^th Congress of the International Federation of Musical Youth. It is therefore a work aimed at young people and in this way undoubtedly the composer’s sweetest, which allows Schønwandt to offer a tender and calm gesture in the face of a group of musicians of impeccable technical quality.

Not yet mature enough, however, in the face of the great classics of the repertoire, these young artists do not free themselves enough for a score like the Concerto pour piano n°5 by Beethoven. Because if here again there is nothing to review on the technical side, the smoothness of the playing, both on the strings and on the woodwinds, gives this famous work a sometimes too academic rendering. At the same time, Elisabeth Leonskaja offers a game far too diligent to often succeed in exalting the brilliant keyboard part. All the dynamic moments are therefore too erased, and we especially remember theAdagio (despite the coughs of the audience, which the conductor has already had to calm twice by turning around, in order to be able to initiate the movement), or a few beautiful moments at the end ofAllegrowhen the pizzicati on the violins then on the double basses match the finesse of the pianist’s touch. His encore, theImpromptu n°3 by Schubert, is interrupted at the penultimate note by the too rapid applause, and Leonskaja quickly leaves the stage, almost angry.

Slightly worried about the very difficult Concerto for Orchestra by Béla Bartók after theEmperorwe are reassured in a few measures as this time, the sound of the French Youth Orchestra in very large formation is ardent and of great performance. Some woodwind parts still present a little stress, such as the flute solo or the piccolo, but the brass impresses with their brilliance and absolute accuracy, comparable to the greatest American ensembles, both for the horn group and the trumpets. or especially the paperclips. Whether it is the two trombones or the bass trombone, the three always show a precision and balance which sets them apart in each intervention, without ever taking up too much space in relation to the rest of the group.

With such training, Michael Schønwandt gives it his all, and sometimes almost dances on stage to offer an energetic and playful interpretation, unfortunately disturbed by the applause, not only between the movements, but also twice in the middle of the work. Annoyed, he finds himself obliged to explain to the public that “now we no longer applaud until the end of the work”. However, neither he nor his young band are disturbed to complete this magnificent interpretation of the concerto with vitality. The Danish conductor even returns with an even stronger orchestra to offer a warm encore España de Chabrier.

Photographic credits: © Mathias Benguigui (Emperor) & ResMusica (Saluts)

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