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Joined: 01/28/2009

Chicago was very fortunate to have two very different Buckner symphonies being performed in a span of less than a month.  In October Riccardo Muti, led the CSO in a performance of Symphony No. 2.  And then it was Bernard Haitink, with the unfinished but majestic Symphony No. 9.

As far as symphonic performances go, at the moment Chicago is experiencing the best of all possible worlds.  While not having an official Music Director, CSO is fortunate to have a tremendous Principle Conductor (Haitink) and Music Director Designate (Muti).  And let's not forget Pierre Boulez, the conductor-emeritus...

But back to the Bruckners.  It is difficult to compare performances because the symphonies themselves are so different.  The Second is "Bruckner-light," or at least as light as the great Austrian could be.  Muti created wonderful, clear lines throughout the symphony.   The dynamics were nimble, and even the famous pauses, which so dispirited the Vienna Philharmonic in 1882, sounded absolutely natural.  The string section of the CSO played with the polish we usually associate with the Berlin Philharmonic -- or the Viennese.  It was an exciting Bruckner, if one could ever apply such an epithet to a 55-minute long composition.

The final symphony comes from a different era.  Bruckner was getting old, his health was deteriorating, and while working on what he expected to become his masterpiece, he was constantly distracted by the attempts to improve other, earlier pieces of music.  In the end he never completed the fourth movement, but the musical edifice he left to us seems utterly complete.  Haitink took a very measured approach, letting the music develop at its own pace.  He was very much helped by the outstanding wind section, which provided the backbone to the whole performance.  And it was interesting to hear how differently the strings played under Haitink: after the silkiness and the elegance of the 2nd symphony, they sounded intense and almost raw - as they should have.  Haitink's conducting was, as always, understated but he capacity to move forward the enormous weight of the symphony was spectacular.  A truly amazing performance.

Maybe next season Pierre Boulez decides to conduct Symphony No. 8?  Wouldn't that be a treat?