Few Surprises From St. Louis Symphony’s Unpredictable Vonk

The ranking of symphony orchestras is not a scientific enterprise. There is probably little argument about choosing Cleveland as the best in the land these days, or in no longer allowing Eastern orchestras to appropriate the top five spots as they have traditionally done. But after that, it’s a free-for-all. I’ve heard, for instance, one respected conductor place the Los Angeles Philharmonic third (just behind New York).

And a number of critics have for some time reminded us that the St. Louis Symphony is among the top U.S. orchestras. At points in Leonard Slatkin’s tenure as music director (1979 to 1986), New York magazine pronounced it No. 1; Time magazine, No. 2. Slatkin gave the orchestra an international profile, got it a good recording contract, programmed imaginatively, commissioned lasting music and made it an ambassador for American music.

Slatkin’s success in St. Louis is a matter of record. He won over the orchestra and the city, and remained loyal to them for 16 years before heading off to Washington, D.C. But the orchestra, nevertheless, has chosen to follow a decidedly different direction in its selection of the Dutch conductor Hans Vonk as its new music director. Vonk, who brought the St. Louis Symphony to the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts on Wednesday night, is, in many ways, Slatkin’s antithesis.

Slatkin is not a deep interpreter, but he has a certain panache. Vonk is deadpan but a thorough musician. For all his flair, Slatkin does not have an ideally firm rhythmic control, and he can sometimes be a bit bland in standard repertory. Vonk is solid and bland by nature, yet he can surprise you.

Unfortunately, the surprises Wednesday weren’t many. In their third season with Vonk, the St. Louis musicians play quite well for him. The winds have some distinguished soloists among the ranks; the brass are sweet; the strings are generally very fine, with the double basses downright spectacular. Still performances and programming Wednesday lacked inspiration.

Berlioz’s splashy “Roman Carnival” Overture remained dry. The Grieg Piano Concerto, with Garrick Ohlsson, as the strong, steely toned but charmless soloist, was blunt, businesslike. Beethoven’s “Eroica” Symphony did not lack majesty or substance; it did, however, lack something more important--the sense of excitement that should be generated by music that was once the embodiment of a revolutionary spirit. Vonk does not sell music, he presents it to already satisfied customers who like to know what they are getting beforehand.

But then, for a brief couple of minutes, in a throwaway encore of a Brahms “Hungarian Rhapsody,” Vonk and his St. Louisans did sell music. All of a sudden, conductor and orchestra seemed to wake from a sleepwalk slumber, with a performance full of life, good humor and stunning elasticity. A bonbon ended up sounding new and original, more imaginative than one of the greatest symphonies ever written.

A fluke? I don’t think so. Exhilarating music making with a twinkle in its eye and a spring in its step doesn’t happen by itself.

An enigma? Yes. Vonk is clearly not as stodgy as he might seem. Even his programming can be fresher than his Southern California appearances (which have also included San Diego and Santa Barbara) suggest. Next week he takes the orchestra to Carnegie Hall with an all-Messiaen program, including the massive “Turangalila” Symphony, and another program that includes a new work written for the orchestra by the Dutch composer Peter Schat. In April, Vonk conducts the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Which Vonk will it be?