{"id":4157,"date":"2012-03-07T13:47:09","date_gmt":"2012-03-07T17:47:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.musicalamerica.com\/mablogs\/?p=4157"},"modified":"2012-04-06T22:38:40","modified_gmt":"2012-04-07T02:38:40","slug":"a-raft-of-orchestras","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.musicalamerica.com\/mablogs\/?p=4157","title":{"rendered":"A Raft of Orchestras"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Sedgwick Clark<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rattle\/Berlin\u2019s Bruckner and Mahler<\/strong><\/p>\n

People used to equate Bruckner and Mahler (their music is both long and loud, after all). And those who heard Simon Rattle lead the Berlin Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall in Bruckner\u2019s Ninth (2\/24) and Mahler\u2019s \u201cResurrection\u201d (2\/25) symphonies in such close proximity should have been able to tell the differences at once. Overall, tempos were well chosen and Rattle eschewed the confounding manipulation of pace and phrase that has marred much of his work in the standard repertoire.<\/p>\n

Indeed, the Bruckner was one of the finest performances I\u2019ve heard of the symphony in recent years. Rattle\u2019s firm focus on the long line and pacing of climaxes was unerring, and unlike many conductors he never shortchanged the composer\u2019s pauses or sustained whole notes. Even if Bruckner\u2019s innig <\/em>indications\u2014\u201cintimate,\u201d \u201cheartfelt\u201d\u2014and traditional spirituality seemed a bit underplayed, Rattle\u2019s interpretive mastery was mightily impressive.<\/p>\n

The evening\u2019s importance was further marked by the U.S. premiere of a \u201cperformance version by Samale-Phillips-Cohrs-Mazzuca, 1983-2011\u201d of the symphony\u2019s projected fourth movement, left unfinished at Bruckner\u2019s death in 1896. The 1903 premiere of the Ninth claimed it to be emotionally sufficient in three movements. Wrong, maintains John Phillips in the program booklet: \u201cBruckner left the movement very largely complete.\u201d Some pages were missing, he admits, \u201cBut in most all cases, Bruckner\u2019s preliminary sketches enabled us to reconstruct an accurate picture of the musical continuity, and the fully orchestrated sections showed clearly how Bruckner intended it to sound.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIntended\u201d is the key word. One can acknowledge and study the achievement but still realize that melodically the material is eminently forgettable, mediocre, not up to anything in the sublime first three movements. Quite unlike Mahler\u2019s inspiration in his unfinished Tenth\u2014so brilliantly revealed by Deryck Cooke\u2019s \u201cperforming version\u201d\u2014this movement detracts from the first three. All serious Brucknerites will have to acquire Rattle\u2019s recording of the four-movement Ninth when EMI releases it in May, but I\u2019ll bet most listeners will opt out of the finale after a single hearing.<\/p>\n

Rattle\u2019s Mahler Second (\u201cResurrection\u201d) was a disappointment from its mushy opening attacks to the inaudibility of the tam-tam and organ on the final page. Those who know his recording will not be surprised with his tempos, and except for a couple of hasty accelerandos I found them unobjectionable. I especially liked his lilting second-movement Andante moderato <\/em>(Bernstein\u2019s least successful movement). But some of his choices\u2014the first movement\u2019s huge climax at the end of the second development and his adherence to the score\u2019s wrong-headed Tempo 1indication at movement\u2019s end (and he is by no means alone in these instances)\u2014were ponderous and unintuitive. The offstage horns in the finale were placed outside the balcony but could have sounded even farther away. My Carnegie touchstones for this effect are the Indianapolis Symphony\u2019s \u201cResurrection\u201d under John Nelson and Julius Rudel\u2019s Buffalo Philharmonic performance of Mahler\u2019s Das Klagende Lied<\/em>\u2014both in 1980\u2014in which the offstage instruments in the latter sounded as if they were playing full tilt from the middle of Central Park. Stupendous! But Rattle gave full power to the gigantic crescendo in the finale, and the offstage-right brass episode was well balanced and quite exciting.<\/p>\n

The Times<\/em>\u2019s Anthony Tommasini wrote in his review of the first of the orchestra\u2019s three concerts that \u201cit is fascinating how even with so many new and younger members, the character of the orchestra remains.\u201d Sorry, sitting in Row T across from Tony in the parquet, I don\u2019t hear it. Few of the instrumentalists appear old enough to have played under Karajan. Their sound under Rattle, to my ears, is powerful yet coarse in texture and opaque in tuttis, with little of the sensuous beauty and rich, organ-like sonority cultured by the elder maestro. And the purely technical quality of the BPO\u2019s playing appeared at least partially dependent upon which of the three First Concertmasters was playing. In retrospect, the Bruckner\u2019s excellent performance seemed in large part due to Daishin Kashimoto\u2019s attentive cues, whereas the schlamperei <\/em>of the ensemble in the Mahler seemed mirrored in Daniel Stabrawa\u2019s less-heedful demeanor.<\/p>\n

Maazel Mauls Sibelius<\/strong><\/p>\n

The young Lorin Maazel recorded a Sibelius symphony cycle with the Vienna Philharmonic\u00a0for Decca between 1963 and \u201968, and the septuagenarian Maazel\u2019s Carnegie Hall concert with the VPO on March 2 might have been seen by the hopeful as a return to the best of those efforts: Nos. 3, 4, and 6. No such luck. Played at this concert were Nos. 1, 5, and 7, and the performances were bloated (7\u00a0and 5\u00a0each gaining more than five minutes over the recordings,\u00a0to no\u00a0end save tedium), spottily played (5 and 1), and littered with Maazelisms (most pronounced in the first movement of 1 and the exaggerated though precisely played distention of the final six chords of 5). Coming after his spectacular traversal of Strauss\u2019s Alpine Symphony <\/em>with the New York Phil last October, a distinct disappointment.<\/p>\n

Honeck\u2019s Tchaik 5 Sears the Ears<\/strong><\/p>\n

Two years ago, the Pittsburgh Symphony under Music Director Manfred Honeck sounded in Mahler\u2019s First as if every instrument had its separate microphone. I vowed never to attend another concert by him, but I was in town for Rattle and Berlin and my legendary sense of fairness won out. On Sunday afternoon (2\/26) in Avery Fisher Hall the Pittsburgh sonority was far more unified. The New York premiere of Steven Stucky\u2019s17-minute celebration of Rachel Carson, Silent Spring<\/em>, seemed a hit with both audience and players. While all the water clich\u00e9s of the past appeared unavoidable (my ears were boating in Giverny, but Allan Kozinn in the Times <\/em>heard Jackson Pollack as a \u201cvisual analogue\u201d), Stucky\u2019s tonal idiom and masterful orchestration were a balm to the senses. Honeck and the PSO were flypaper accompanists to Hilary Hahn\u2019s dietetic Prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 1.\u00a0 If heartless Tchaikovsky is your preference, Honeck\u2019s awesomely drilled Fifth Symphony after intermission filled the bill. The whiplash tempos, wide dynamics, and slashing attacks were undeniably impressive, but one felt brutalized. Moreover, his flashy conducting style actually encouraged the audience to applaud prematurely in the dramatic pause before the finale\u2019s coda. Not even the encore, Khachaturian\u2019s already-virtuosic Galop from Masquerade<\/em>, escaped Honeck\u2019s teeth-grinding excess. The audience went wild.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t Miss St. Louis<\/strong><\/p>\n

Alas, I can\u2019t get to everything. I\u2019ll be out of town on Saturday (3\/10) when David Robertson leads his St. Louis Symphony in a fabulous program of Debussy\u2019s early Printemps<\/em>, Kaija Saariaho\u2019s shimmering Quatre Instants<\/em>, sung by Karita Mattila, and Stravinsky\u2019s complete Firebird <\/em>ballet. (By the way, all of these musicians were Musical America<\/em> awardees: Conductor, Composer, Musician, and Musician, respectively.)<\/p>\n