James Gaffigan praised for leading the Staatskapelle Berlin at the Pierre Boulez Saal

James Gaffigan led the Staatskapelle Berlin last Sunday following the announcement of his Music Director appointment to the Komische Oper Berlin (Photo credit: Staatskapelle Berlin)

Sound and sensuality
By Frederik Hanssen
Tagesspiegel Magazine
January 10, 2022

Last Tuesday, James Gaffigan was introduced as the new Music Director of the Komische Oper beginning 2023, and on Sunday there was already the opportunity to see the 42-year-old American live in Berlin. However, not with his future orchestra and not as a music theater maestro, but with the Staatskapelle in the Pierre Boulez Saal. Although Barenboim’s ensemble cannot perform there in the usual opulent line-up due to the relatively small stage area, the musicians immediately develop their characteristic, intense sound, filling the room with warmth and passion.

Gaffigan visibly enjoys this golden sound and conducts with wide, free movements. It is pleasant to watch him do it. His whole body is involved, often downright dancing, so that he can become an embodiment of his interpretations, saying a lot without words.

Gaffigan chose an early work by Leoš Janácek, “Idylle” from 1876. In an effort to build up a repertoire beyond the dominant German music, he was inspired by traditional Moravian folklore. In the best moments of the work, however, he goes beyond the popular, creates late romantic miniatures of atmospheric density, as in number 5, which became the soundtrack of the 1988 film adaptation of Milan Kundera’s “The unbearable lightness of being”

Gaffigan likes it sensual

In his “Ma mère l’oye” suite from 1911, Maurice Ravel exploits the symphony orchestra's palette of timbres even more ingeniously than the young Janámek. That can tempt conductors to slide into the artificial - but James Gaffigan prefers it sensual, animates the woodwinds to splendid solos, makes it shimmer and sparkle exotically.

Between Janácek and Ravel, Péter Eötvös fits in surprisingly well. The 78-year-old Hungarian, who was present in the Boulez Saal on Sunday and was applauded warmly, is neither particularly prickly nor extremely cerebral in his works, but rather writes accessible contemporary music with mastery of craftsmanship. In “Respond”, Yulia Deyneka, the wonderful solo violist of the Staatskapelle, has to assert herself against an overpowering interlocutor in dialogue with the orchestra. She does it confidently, sometimes with a sharp stroke of the bow, as a strong personality who does not show up rhetorically so quickly.

To read the full review, click here.