Events
Beethoven Fest Opens at CSO
Beethoven Fest Opens at CSO
The bad news: this month of Beethoven performances by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra marks Bernard Haitink’s final appearances as the CSO’s Principal Conductor.
The good news: we have a whole month of Beethoven performances by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Bernard Haitink.
The CSO’s performance of the iconic Fifth Symphony Thursday evening was the most inspired playing of the work in recent seasons, and one of the orchestra’s strongest showings all year. Haitink briskly dispatched the famous opening statement, revealing a fresh first movement that held as much nuance as Beethovenian bravado. The velvety cello melodies of the Andante, along with the imploring woodwinds and swooning violins, colored this dream of a second movement. The third, full of mystery as well as fanfare, was carried by a confident horn section. Haitink gave away nothing too soon, holding onto a creeping pianissimo before launching the finale. Haitink and the CSO reminded us why we love the Fifth, and how it can be both comfort music and an exhilarating ride with the top down.
The program also included the Eighth Symphony, with its playful dynamics and images of a stately Vienna, though tinged with darkness. Again, the horns were clear and bright. The bond between orchestra and maestro was obvious, Haitink needing to cue with only a flick of the wrist or a quick glance. The Overture to Fidelio, the composer’s only opera, rounded out the program.
After a long season, the orchestra remains in fine shape as it gives Haitink a triumphant send-off; indeed, we audience members are in for a memorable June.
Comments
CSO
Fri, 6/4/2010 - 2:30am — AnonymousListening to the CSO all year, it is easy to forget comparisons. The CSO performance of Beethoven Thursday night (May 4) was astonishing when compared to other orchestras, at least in my view. The absolute unity of the woodwinds, and their perfection in phrasing
and beauty has been achieved before (by Philadelphia and Cleveland at their heights) but never exceeded. Perhaps the same can be said of the brass (compared to Solti's), and the tympani, but the strings were in a place I have never heard, or heard of. The precision in the syncopated staccatos of the Fifth, in the recitatives of the cellos and basses, were beyond what I thought possible. The second violins and violas played as well as the first violins and tossed tunes back and forth in a cooperative competition to reach perfection. It seems unlikely that an orchestra can ever play better than we heard. Haitink himself conducted Beethoven as well as a sane man can, but one might argue that Beethoven, consumed by anger at his deafness, was sometimes insane, and might benefit by a touch more of that in conducting and style.
Bob Eisenberg
River Forest IL
beisenbe@rush.edu
Thanks!
Fri, 6/4/2010 - 8:11am — Elliot MandelBob-
Thanks for adding your thoughts. I, too, was impressed by the precision throughout the orchestra, and particularly in the strings. I suppose it's easy for a group of such experienced and able musicians to phone in the Fifth, but they seemed to surpass even the grandest expectations. I would like to see Gergiev conduct the Fifth, just to hear someone with, as you said, a little more raw intensity.