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REVIEW: The British conductor makes a strong case for the composer’s neglected Sixth Symphony in an impressive tryout for the orchestra.
The fourth candidate (out of eight this season) vying for Carl St.Clair’s music directorship of the Pacific Symphony arrived Thursday night in Segerstrom Concert Hall.
He’s a young Britisher named Matthew Halls, Oxford educated, a keyboardist, widely experienced in the world of early music but also a guest conductor of major modern orchestras in Europe and America and in his first season as chief conductor of Finland’s distinguished Tampere Philharmonic.
Halls proved a compelling podium presence. He works without a baton but unlike, say, Boulez, who was said to resemble a traffic cop, the absence of a baton seems to free him up. He moves athletically and emphatically, karate chopping, jabbing, pushing, punctuating. In the repertoire performed here, these movements resulted in incisive phrasings and confident expression and high energy levels.
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