CIVIC ORCHESTRA OF CHICAGO
at the Petrillo Music Shell
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra has two great hopes for the 90s, and neither of them is Daniel Barenboim. The choice of Barenboim as Georg Solti’s successor is sure to remain controversial for some time to come, but two of the symphony’s underpublicized recent appointments are already garnering kudos.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
Educated at Oberlin and Tanglewood, Morgan has had as mentors such luminaries as Seiji Ozawa, Leonard Bernstein, and Gunther Schuller. Since the early 80s, Morgan has been on the apprentice conductors’ circuit of second-tier ensembles both here and in Europe. But he’s by no means your average young maestro. For one thing, he’s a rarity in the world of classical music, where blacks thus far have gained prominence in only one area–singing. The handful who make up the older generation of black conductors cannot be accused of superb musicianship. Take, for example, Paul Freeman of the Chicago Sinfonietta. Throughout his long career he’s been an earnest and persuasive champion of black music, but when it comes to the classics, he’s often at a loss. His interpretations tend to be tasteful, unadventurous, and slick, as if he were going out of his way to be respectable and safe, and much the same can be said about many of his black colleagues. Morgan so far seems free of this malaise. His has been a steady progress, the gradual emergence of a noteworthy artistic identity.
At Grant Park, in mid-July, Morgan had more seasoned players to work with. And he took advantage of it. In their hands, Copland’s Appalachian Spring was, for the most part, a jaunty, carefree ride through an American Ruritania. Less impressive was Mendelssohn’s incidental music to A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Subdued and sluggish, it came off as a drowsy reverie punctuated by traffic noise; only the finale, the familiar “Wedding March,” showed any vigor. The revelation of the evening was The Golden Bird, a musical retelling of the Brothers Grimm tale by William Russo, with an assist on the libretto from Albert Williams. Deftly mixing elements of jazz, blues, Menotti, and Chopin, the Columbia College prof has fashioned a beguiling work that ought to become a children’s classic. The various roles were ably sung by soprano Carol Loverde and baritone Robert Orth; the actions were buoyantly pantomimed by members of the Lynda Martha Dance Company, who added to the uncomplicated delight. Morgan definitely has a knack for children’s music.
All in all, Morgan has displayed genuine and remarkable conducting instincts. In Europe before the war, talents such as his were carefully nurtured–given secondary conducting posts until they reached artistic maturity around the age of 40 or so. That’s how Szell, Klemperer, and Erich Kleiber got their start. Nowadays, when a pubescent sensation like Esa-Pekka Salonen is allowed to ascend to the pressure-cooker helm of a major orchestra like Los Angeles, one cannot but wonder about burnout and staying power. Let’s hope that the CSO will hold on to Morgan for a while so we can watch his musical personality ripen. In the meantime, the young maestro is already in an enviable position–having at his disposal a fine practice instrument and occasionally a Stradivarius.
