{"id":720,"date":"2017-02-26T20:24:12","date_gmt":"2017-02-27T01:24:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/?p=720"},"modified":"2017-02-26T20:24:12","modified_gmt":"2017-02-27T01:24:12","slug":"are-orchestras-better-than-ever-why-riccardo-muti-is-wrong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/2017\/02\/are-orchestras-better-than-ever-why-riccardo-muti-is-wrong.html","title":{"rendered":"Are Orchestras Better than Ever? Why Riccardo Muti is Wrong"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n

Are orchestras better than ever?\u00a0 Riccardo Muti thinks so. Recently, dedicating a bust of Fritz Reiner at Chicago\u2019s Orchestra Hall, he said: \u201cThe level of the orchestras in the world \u2013 especially in the seventies and eighties — has gone up everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

What is Muti talking about? I suppose he\u2019s applying the criterion of perfection. Perfect intonation, perfect ensemble. What kind of criterion is that?<\/p>\n

Thanks to the exceptional WWFM The Classical Network, I\u2019ve been able to respond to this parochial claim at three hours length, in colloquy with Bill McGlaughlin. You can hear the resulting rant here<\/strong> <\/a>and here<\/strong><\/a>. Bill and I auditioned fabulous concert and studio recordings by Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra, Serge Koussevitzky and the Boston Symphony, Dmitri Mitropoulos and the Minneapolis Symphony, Arturo Toscanini and the New York Philharmonic, Artur Bodanzky and the\u00a0 Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, and Evgeny Mravinsky and the Leningrad Philharmonic.<\/p>\n

Three things bear mentioning about these historic pairings. The first is that \u2013 to a degree unknown today \u2013 the conductors stayed put. There were no airplanes. The music director was the music director.<\/p>\n

The second thing that leaps to mind \u2013 and to the attentive ear \u2013 is that each of these conductors honed a distinctive sonic imprint. No one could possibly mistake a Stokowski orchestra for a Mitropoulos orchestra.<\/p>\n

Thirdly, each of these conductors pursued a distinctive mission allied with repertoire. Except in the cases of Bodanzky and Toscanini, the espoused repertoire was fresh.<\/p>\n

Take Koussevitzky in Boston (a 25-year tenure). He gave the American premiere of Ravel\u2019s orchestration of Mussorgsky\u2019s Pictures at an Exhibition<\/em>. He gave the world premiere of Bartok\u2019s Concerto for Orchestra. What is more, he commissioned both these famous compositions. His Boston broadcasts capture the most galvanizing readings of both pieces I have ever heard. Bill and I listened to them together. You can hear Koussevitzky\u2019s indescribably hot Mussorgsky\/Ravel at 51:40 here<\/strong><\/a> \u2013 after which I exclaimed \u201cGive me a break! You can\u2019t possibly tell me orchestras are better than ever!\u201d<\/p>\n

Then there is Mitropoulos in Minneapolis \u2013 an extremist, the Dr. Caligari of the podium. This was an orchestra whose concertmaster, Louis Krasner, had premiered the Berg and Schoenberg concertos. Its stylistic base was Mahler and the Second Viennese School. In 1940 Mitropoulos made the first and best recording of Mahler\u2019s First Symphony. Check it out at 10:16 here<\/strong><\/a>. If Mitropoulos (as I argue, citing evidence) conducts Mahler a la Mahler, his Schumann Second Symphony a la Mahler is an acquired taste. Bill (at 32:38) was bewildered: \u201cIt makes me really jittery. I can\u2019t understand this Schumann. I know that Schumann was meshugana. It\u2019s almost like an Expressionist Schuman . . . this is so crazy-making for me. Help me out!\u201d<\/p>\n

The larger premise of this three-hour harangue is that nothing like the bristling sense of occasion once registered by Koussevitzky and Mitropoulos \u2013 or by Bodanzky\u2019s powderkeg of a pit orchestra, so much more distinctive than the generic Met Opera orchestra of today \u2013 can any longer be assured. The concert experience needs to be refreshed and rethought. That\u2019s the premise of PostClassical<\/strong> <\/a>Ensemble, the DC-based chamber orchestra I co-founded with Angel Gil-Ordonez 14 years ago.<\/p>\n

In April, WWFM inaugurates \u201cPostClassical,\u201d a series of two-hour thematic specials culling live and recorded PCE performances. We begin by celebrating the Lou Harrison Centenary on April 28. In June, we argue that Bernard Herrmann was the most underrated American composer of the 20th<\/sup> century. Others shows in the series will include \u201cSchubert Uncorked\u201d (with bass trombonist David Taylor), \u201cStravinsky and Shostakovich Reconsidered (with pianist Alexander Toradze), \u201cDvorak and Hiawatha,\u201d and \u201cSilvestre Revueltas: Better than Copland.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stay tuned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Are orchestras better than ever?\u00a0 Riccardo Muti thinks so. Recently, dedicating a bust of Fritz Reiner at Chicago\u2019s Orchestra Hall, he said: \u201cThe level of the orchestras in the world \u2013 especially in the seventies and eighties — has gone up everywhere.\u201d What is Muti talking about? I suppose he\u2019s applying the criterion of perfection. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-720","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry","8":"has-post-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2QLHN-bC","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=720"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/720\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":723,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/720\/revisions\/723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/uq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}