But to be factual about it, we've been here before - and with salutary consequences. Riccardo Muti was 31 when he first conducted the Philadelphia Orchestra. Esa-Pekka Salonen led the Philadelphians at age 28 - six years before taking over the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
This week, Los Angeles once again was the site of the fountain of youth, when the Philadelphia Orchestra imported L.A.'s associate conductor, Lionel Bringuier, after Semyon Bychkov canceled what would have been his long-overdue subscription-concert debut.
The orchestra doesn't know if Bringuier, 24, is the youngest person to stand on its podium in a subscription concert, but if not, he's awfully close. Don't look now, but he's got company. The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra just named a new music director, Krzysztof Urbanski, who is 28. The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra has an assistant conductor who is 17. Gulp.
What do we want from this sudden alighting of youth? Many listeners greet these lads eagerly, with pangs for the days of greater visibility and glamour in the art form. I don't doubt, too, that the bright aura of approval cast upon Bringuier by Thursday night's Verizon Hall audience had something to do with the fact that he looked like he could be anyone's grandson.
There's nothing to be gained in the long run, though, if this new generation isn't scrutinized for aural achievement over visual presence. Sorry to have to bring this up, but what's the cold-eyed musical reality?
Bringuier adjusted the orchestra's planned program to suit his strengths, which are considerable. He's technically all there, poised, and he even managed to put across flashes of individualism. Conducting a major orchestra at 24, however, is almost inescapably akin to penning a novel in college. It takes real life experience to infuse the work with enough meaning to constitute an artistic statement.
In Ravel's Le Tombeau de Couperin, Bringuier had it - real effect on the music. His legato movements translated into sound. He could be expressive without wallowing in sentiment. The dynamic range in the third movement was expanded - not arbitrarily, for mere daring, as some conductors do, but for the better reason of developing a bigger narrative. There's an emotional smartness about Bringuier that is extremely appealing, and it will prove, I think, the core of his allure.
He also made his mark on the Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1, which, among concertos, admittedly leaves wider space for orchestral personality than most. But Bringuier exceeded the usual passions, finding a humanity in this music that aligned with violinist Renaud Capu�on's views. I loved Capu�on's sound, with more pounds of presence and warmth per note than the volume seemed to dictate.
Bringuier had considerably less impact in the Mussorgsky/Ravel Pictures at an Exhibition. The first few minutes arrived unsettled, with small intonation and entrance problems. Interpretively, some parts of the piece were fully worked out, others not. If Bringuier sometimes sounded as if he was along for the ride in this score, there's still plenty of time for him to get a point of view.
Additional performance:
8 p.m. Saturday in Verizon Hall, Broad and Spruce Streets. Tickets: $10-$130. 215-893-1999, www.philorch.org.
Contact music critic Peter Dobrin at pdobrin@phillynews.com or 215-854-5611. Read his blog at www.philly.com/philly/blogs/artswatch.
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