On the stage of Salzburg’s Great Festival Hall this morning was an organ. I thought of “Chekhov’s gun.” If there is an organ on the stage, it had better go off before the concert is over.
Also on the stage was the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, and they would be conducted by Riccardo Muti, with whom they have had a relationship for almost fifty-five years. The first work on the program was Schubert’s Symphony No. 4. Muti and the VPO recorded it together back in 1988.
In the first movement this morning, we heard a jumble of emotions. The music was happy and sad, hopeful and pessimistic. It had an element of longing to it. The playing was lyrical and chamber-like. When it had heft, this heft was Schubertian: not too severe, never crushing. The playing was clear and well-defined. Moreover, Muti refused to rush, and he also refused to lag.
The second movement begins with Mozartean grace—you could think of The Marriage of Figaro. The VPO exhibited that grace, and the oboe did some excellent singing. The next movement, a minuet, boasts what I would call some “screwball” rhythm and accentuation. And “boasts” is the word: Schubert is irresistible here.
By the way, Maestro Muti knows when not to use his hands. During certain stretches, he can conduct with his eyes just as well.
Schubert’s finale had some tingling anticipation, or restlessness, and it had an air of triumph, too.
“Triumph”? What in the world am I talking about? Didn’t Schubert nickname this symphony the “Tragic”? He did, apparently. And I am in no position to argue with the composer; but I have never regarded this music as particularly tragic, to say nothing of outstandingly so.
Mahler’s Symphony No. 6? Yes. (This work bears the nickname “Tragic.”) Brahms’s Tragic Overture? Yes. But about Schubert’s Symphony No. 4, I’m not sure . . .
After intermission, Maestro Muti and the Vienna Philharmonic gave us Bruckner. There are eleven symphonies to choose from: Nos. 1 through 9, plus the symphonies identified as “No. 0” and “No. 00.” Muti and the VPO presented none of them. Along with the orchestra’s associated chorus, and four solo singers, they presented the Mass No. 3 in F minor.
I did a little checking into New York archives. Never has this mass been performed in Carnegie Hall. The New York Philharmonic has performed it once—in the 1964–65 season, under Maestro Josef Krips.
In recent years, Maestro Muti has been conducting works of vaulting spirituality. Last year, it was the Bruckner Eighth. The year before that, it was the Bruckner Seventh. A couple years before that, the Missa solemnis (Beethoven).
Key to conducting Bruckner is an appreciation of heartbeats—heartbeats and breathing. But isn’t that true of conducting any music? Maybe, but it is especially important in Bruckner. In any event, Riccardo Muti has this appreciation. Bruckner’s Mass took a natural course. Also, there was a solidity to it: a warm, friendly solidity.
Note this as well: Muti proved that a conductor can be economical—economical in podium style—even while leading massive forces. You don’t have to jump and flail around.
Our soprano soloist was Ying Fang, who sang with her usual intelligence and beauty. A bass, William Thomas, did the same. I thought there was something royal about this Brit. Our tenor was a Slovak, Pavol Breslik, who sang sweetly and reverently. Wiebke Lehmkuhl showed a meaty contralto.
The Vienna Philharmonic played with wondrous warmth in the Benedictus. This whole section was touched by holiness. The Benedictus is worthy of a slow movement in a Bruckner symphony.
I wish he could have been there this morning—Anton Bruckner. He was notoriously self-doubting. I think he would have heard this mass, 157 years after its composition, and thought, “You know—that’s not bad.”
Maestro Muti first conducted the VPO in 1971. In recent seasons, he has gone from strength to strength. I think of an Aida (the Verdi opera). Those Bruckner symphonies, that Beethoven mass. Two Tchaikovsky symphonies: 4 and 6. This Bruckner mass. The guy is on a roll.
Oh, that organ on the stage? It was played during the mass. To be perfectly honest—I’m not sure I heard it. The orchestra and chorus, in a sense, were the organ.
