This week’s National Symphony Orchestra program promised great pleasure, though with a caveat. Three masterpieces – Dvořák’s “Carnival” Overture and Violin Concerto (the latter with soloist Christian Tetzlaff) and Schumann’s greatest orchestral work, the Symphony No. 2. The caveat was a return of Christoph Eschenbach, the NSO’s former music director, whose tenure here was not entirely successful. In the event, the biggest disappointment by far was Teztlaff’s manic, unfocused performance.

​The Dvořák Concerto is a particular favorite of mine, becoming so from hearing the spectacular recording this German artist made at the beginning of his impressive career: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPr2BWp0GtE Just from the opening pair of solos you know you’re in the presence of greatness. Last night’s violinist wasunrecognizable -- ugly chords, intonation problems in passagework, the playing brusque, rushed, and even faked in spots. It was unclear whether Tetzlaff even liked the piece. I wouldn’t presume to speculate on what could bring such a gifted musician to such a pass, but I hope he makes a course-correction soon.  

For his part, Eschenbach dealt with his soloist’s vagaries at arm’s length, as one would with a child having a tantrum, gently trying to put up musical lanes that Tetzlaff kept darting away from. Not that Eschenbach had such a firm grip on things himself. Both of Dvořák’s string concertos are notorious for too-heavy orchestration, and here again (a continual failing of the Eschenbach years), the NSO winds and timpani were allowed to run roughshod, often drowning Tetzlaff out.  

“Carnival” was the most successful outing of the evening; a showpiece everyone knew well and reveledin its many musical delights. Eschenbach drew fine, energetic playing from the orchestra; his bracing, almost breathless tempo left little room for the Poco piu mosso at the end, but there were lovely English horn and violin solos in the quieter spots.

Schumann’s Second Symphony exudes profundity from its first bar, the composer’s most poetic thoughts channeled and developed with plasticity. The solemn opening fanfares come back in dozens of guises throughout the piece; mournful, triumphant, and everything in between. The melodic material is pure ardor, but everything is disciplined and interconnected. Schumann has long been a specialty of Eschenbach’s, and his affection for the piece was on display throughout, even through his sometimes-clumsy leadership. There was no mystery in the opening, everyone playing comfortably rather than working to create the hushed pianissimo the composer asked for.The main Allegro was limp, the many carefully-placed accents lacking effect when they were even observed. The violins did themselves proud in the virtuoso Scherzo, but the tiny gearshifts throughout the movement were often shaky.  

There were some excellent oboe and bassoon solos in the sublime Adagio, but horn accompaniments obliterated melody lines elsewhere. Things were mostly successful in the finale, Eschenbach finding a perfect tempo and balances working well (helped immeasurably by a sensitive timpanist taking over for the NSO’s regular player). Eschenbach’s skittishness was actually in tune with the complex emotions of the work, if not its technical challenges, and thus the beauties of the performance outweighed its frustrations.