CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Levine subsequently signed a new three-year Ravinia contract, and, after two years of conducting only six concerts a season here, his past arrangement of conducting nine concerts a season was restored. Then Edward Gordon, Ravinia’s executive director for 22 years and the man who plucked the unknown Levine from obscurity 20 years ago and set him on the path that would make his name a household word, announced that he was leaving the festival he had so lovingly and carefully developed.
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So opening night was bittersweet this year as well. The end of the Gordon era was marked with the piece of music that had first brought Levine here as a last-minute substitute for an ailing Eugene Ormandy: the monumental Mahler Resurrection Symphony (no. 2). There is probably no piece more associated with Levine’s Ravinia legacy than the Mahler Second; I distinctly remember him performing the work here twice before. The first time was when I was a music student; I sat on one of the benches along the pavilion sides, which people came hours early to fight over (they didn’t charge extra for them in those days). I was always stunned by the piece and by Levine’s unique affinity for Mahler.
Mezzo-soprano Florence Quivar gave an expressive account of the celestial fourth-movement text with her dark, rich color, but her large vibrato often obscured her pitch. It seemed a shame to bring in former Chicagoan and current soprano sensation Dawn Upshaw just for those few “rising” phrases in the heavenly finale, but her presence ensured that those crucial passages were firm and spectacular. The real stars of the performance were, not surprisingly, Margaret Hillis’s glorious choristers, with their tight ensembling, beautifully balanced sound, and superb diction–their quiet, hushed entrance was enormously effective and beautiful (even though they were sitting down, which does cut off some control). Yet they could also spin thunder with ease. I doubt there is another chorus in the world that could do a more convincing job with this piece.
