Smiling Pathetique

It's an odd thing to see a conductor smile as they start the bass section at the opening of Tchaikovsky's Pathetique Symphony.  But our conductor this week did just that.  And he smiled through much of the rehearsal of this piece, Tchaikovsky's final symphony completed just a few months before the composer committed suicide.  What is this smile?  What does it mean?  At what is it pointed?  Perhaps it is the secret to his excited energy.  Perhaps he had a special view of the work or perhaps he was tickled at our first encounter with the piece.  Maybe he was nervous.  Hard to know, but interesting to watch it.  Always a pleasure to meet a new face, a new sort of impulse of will upon the podium.