YOUNGSTOWN SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Conductor candidate brings passion, intensity to music

The third candidate will get his turn Friday.
By TILL M. MEYN
and LAURA S. MEYN
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENTS
"From the downbeat, I could tell that the musicians were hungry to make wonderful music," said Daniel Meyer, Youngstown Symphony Orchestra music director candidate, of the two days he had spent with the group.
The comment, which came between pieces on YSO's preview conductor concert Tuesday, seemed especially fitting. Meyer's performance was characterized by an electric combination of passion and intensity for the music -- and an easy rapport with the audience.
Meyer's turn at the podium was preceded last week by Jonathan McPhee, music director for Boston Ballet and principal conductor of the Lexington Symphony, among other groups. On Friday, Randall Craig Fleischer of Hudson Valley Philharmonic, Anchorage Symphony and Flagstaff Symphony will give the final preview concert.
Meyer, a native Ohioan, used part of the preconcert talk to elaborate on his musical beginnings, which included the influence of his mother, a public school music teacher. Meyer's own commitment to teaching showed up in the concert itself. After joking with the audience about how ubiquitous Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons" is -- piped into elevators and restaurants everywhere -- Meyer had the orchestra demonstrate musical events in the spring ("La Primavera") portion of the piece, from bird calls to thunder and lightning, giving listeners a deeper look into the work's programmatic inspiration.
Also during his preconcert talk, Meyer listed three things that a conductor should bring to the podium: to be clear about what he wants, to communicate through gestures rather than talk and to have "distinctive ideas about how the music ought to unfold for the audience.
Gestures
Meyer's larger-than-life gestures seemed to do just as he had prescribed. From precise cues to sweeping arcs, Meyer's arsenal was varied and impressive, clearly evoking his interpretations. As if moving through water, Meyer led the orchestra in a very passionate rendition of Barber's Adagio for Strings. His agonizingly slow tempo was appropriate to the somber mood of the music, allowing the ebb and flow of each harmonic change to wash over the audience.
For the opening of Sibelius' "Finlandia," Meyer chose a wide stance and exhibited the controlled yet powerful conducting necessary to lead the full orchestra. From his position at the podium, Meyer was able to command a range of dynamics and emotions, from ominous and foreboding low chords to the tender strains of the main folk-like melody.
In Bartok's Romanian Folk Dances, Meyer marched along with the music at times, while in other movements, his use of rubato (speeding up and slowing down) shaped the phrases dramatically. The last movement was so fast in tempo that we were looking for our seat belts.
At the concert's end, the tired conductor and performers rallied for a spirited rendition of Brahams' Hungarian Dance No. 5, which Meyer chose as his encore. His ability to evoke immediate and dramatic changes in tempo and dynamics resulted in edge-of-your-seat excitement, bringing the audience quickly to its feet for a standing ovation.