Credit: Todd Rosenberg Photography
Riccardo Muti is considered one of the greatest conductors in the world today and as Music Director Emeritus For Life of the Chicago Symphony, last Sunday’s performance in Santa Barbara that featured Brahms, Stravinsky and Ravel was a thrilling musical experience. The orchestra under 84-year-young Muti is on a two-week tour of the western United States with venues that include Palm Desert, Berkeley, Costa Mesa and Mesa, Arizona. Impressions of the intriguing Santa Barbara concert are provided by Miroirs CA’s roving correspondent.
The Chicago Symphony is a well-oiled machine, and although these buzz words sound a bit kitsch it’s really true. They play like a group of solo stars but together are something out of this world. Of course Muti conducts operatic and instrumental repertoire all over the world and was music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra and Teatro alla Scala. According to Zachary Woolfe of the New York Times, Muti was reluctant to starting a new adventure with the Chicago Symphony in 2010, but his hesitancy vanished as he described a bonding with the group as “something happened between me and the orchestra.” That something also happened in Santa Barbara.
Muti is notably ardent about the intent of the composer as he creates structure – keeping an eye on the whole picture while bringing out the brilliance of his players. His tight collaboration with players in Brahms fourth symphony, Op. 98 shined through from the cradle-like rocking sections on with every instrument so in tune with him and with each other - whether it was a cello or clarinet, the intricate phrasing and hummable passages were front and center and Muti brought it all out. His conducting is not overbearing but elegant, smooth and quiet. The Brahms reading contained a special grace where he brought out the exquisite two-note phrasing that is contained in some of his sonatas and lullabies - and it seemed as if every player was given room to breathe and contribute.
Perhaps a comparison can be made between maestro and 5-star chef. A brilliant chef combines different flavors that can be tasted individually in the dish. Similarly, every musician in the Chicago Symphony had a stand-out role in Stravinsky’s Divertimento arranged from Le Baiser de la Fee (The Fairy’s Kiss), a work not often performed. Under Muti’s direction each solo part, whether from clarinet, harp or oboe was highlighted with distinct voicing to create one, big magical fairy tale.
The program ended with Ravel’s Bolero, a celebrated work everyone seems to know by heart and which contains the longest crescendo in the musical literature. Muti brilliantly shaped the piece, letting the orchestra play without him while he stood there - watching, observing, and occasionally making small swooping gestures with the baton for direction, then pulling back and letting his team play. This was an ideal program piece for Muti and orchestra because the well-known theme unfolded and developed in restrained phrasing where sections of the orchestra were individually showcased - whether strings, winds, brass, percussion or harp - as the piece made its way to the crashing ending, all in one long, drawn-out crescendo that was beautifully paced.
This program, brought to Santa Barbara by the Community Arts Music Association, in its 107th season, raised the roof at the Granada Theatre. FYI; Riccardo Muti has written four books, one of which is Infinity Between Notes: My Journey In Music (Solferino, 2019, in Italian).