No one has ever come up with a convincing explanation of what makes a conductor and an orchestra a good fit; but when the chemistry works, you know it. And it worked with a vengeance last week when the conductor Paavo Järvi led the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen (one of Germany’s best) through two concerts given over to orchestral works by Schumann.
Schumann’s large-scale music gets a mixed press: it can feel congealed and clumsy by comparison with the unlaboured genius of his songs and chamber scores. But Järvi is a champion, in a modest, unflamboyant way. He doesn’t force things, he just lets the music speak. And it spoke eloquently in these concerts, which were the distinguished highlight of the Klosters Festival in Switzerland: run by David Whelton, former boss of London’s Philharmonia Orchestra.
