IPO dir. Philippe Jordan: Schubert Symphony #8 (Unfinished), Bruckner Symphony #3

Two great works by two symphonic masters -- and also a daring bit of programming.  Schubert's Unfinished is by far the more popular work, but it's not the headliner.  It takes guts to program Schubert's brooding masterpiece and follow it up with arguably the most humourless of the major symphonic composers.  

I wasn't familiar with Jordan before tonight but he impressed me with his flowing, lyrical style and masterful sense of pacing.  I always think of the first movement of the Unfinished as the "fast" movement and the second as the "slow" movement, but Jordan reverses that.  The first movement is meticulous, deliberate and intense, with a surprising emphasis on the brass.  The second movement is shockingly and refreshingly upbeat and full of Viennese charm.  It all sounds effortless, and stands in contrast to the steadiness the first movement.

For the Bruckner, Jordan does his best to hold things together while the orchestra struggles through a few sloppy moments in accents and timing.  The director of the Vienna State Opera just has to know his Bruckner, but the IPO comes across as underprepared and uninvested in one of Bruckner's lesser symphonies.  Since it's also one of his shortest, it works as the post-intermission headliner without burning out the audience too much.  Credit goes to Jordan for keeping things moving through the long opening movements, and wringing the energy from the orchestra during the scherzo and the finale, even though the latter is a bit underplayed.