De Waart rejoins Milwaukee Symphony for program of Mozart, Hadyn, Ives

Edo de Waart, who left the music director post of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra at the end of last season, was back at the podium Friday in the role of guest conductor. 

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De Waart led the orchestra through a program that looked a bit curious on paper — opening with Charles Ives’ “The Unanswered Question,” and continuing with Franz Joseph Haydn’s “Sinfonia Concertante in B-flat major," and wrapping up with Mozart’s Symphony No. 39 — but worked beautifully in performance. 

De Waart and a small string section took the stage, in what proved to be a contemplative, haunting performance of the brief piece. Opening with soft, hazy strings and punctuated by the distant sounds of a lone trumpet and the four flutes (all playing from the wings), the performance effectively left the dangling “question” unanswered. 

The Haydn “Sinfonia concertante” that followed may not have the answered the question that ended the Ives' piece, but it returned the audience to the comfort of the familiar antecedent/consequent structure of the Classical era. 

The piece, written for four soloists and orchestra, featured soloists from within the orchestra: associate concertmaster Ilana Setapen, principal cellist Susan Babini, principal oboist Katherine Young Steele and principal bassoonist Catherine Chen.

The soloists gave beautifully rendered, completely engaging performances, playing as though caught up together in a consuming conversation. They handed phrases back and forth with ease and grace, and did some artful dovetailing of musical lines as well, a couple of slips notwithstanding. 

De Waart and the orchestra created their own polished, beautifully crafted performance, always supporting the musical choices of the four soloists.   

The program’s second half featured a seamless performance of Mozart’s Symphony No. 39, from a strikingly balanced handling of the contrasting chords and lyrical lines of the piece’s opening bars, to a relaxed, flowing take on the second movement, and a magnetic third movement, filled with wonderfully varied attacks and accents. 

De Waart and the players delivered a deftly handled final movement that clipped along at an urgent, energetic pace, but still gave the audience a clear understanding of the symphony’s exquisite architecture.

This Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra concert will be repeated at 8 p.m. Saturday in Uihlein Hall of the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts, 929 N. Water St. For ticket information, visit mso.org or call (414) 273-7206.