A cartoonish evening at the symphony on Tuesday began with Berlioz’s Corsair overture, replacement conductor Yan-Pascal Tortelier’s replacement for Humperdinck’s
Hansel and Gretel. Since it was his only contribution to the program, it should not be surprising that Tortelier showed the greatest enthusiasm and attention for it, dancing on the Maison symphonique podium like a man with a new hip and throwing his arms in broad gestures while the OSM tried to hold on. It was like being tossed through time into a 1930s sound-stage recording:
absurd but fun, and ten minutes of it were enough.