CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Yet two of the figures who opened the Chicago Symphony’s 98th season in a special nonsubscription fund-raiser on September 28 are legendary. Pianist Rudolf Serkin, who is now 85 years old, and our own Sir Georg Solti, who is celebrating the beginning of his 20th anniversary season as music director of the CSO and will turn 76 later this month, are both acknowledged legends. The program was the Beethoven Fifth Piano Concerto (Emperor) and Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra.
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I don’t want to be accused of sentimentality, however. I should point out that romantic piano playing (here I mean late-19th-century performance practices applied to the piano, regardless of repertoire–for example, Horowitz playing Mozart with blurred octave doublings and heavy pedal) has never held any great appeal for me. It had its place, but I am not lamenting its loss. I do lament that we seldom see in younger pianists the kind of individuality of sound and interpretation that shines forth so clearly, even now, in a pianist like Serkin.
In all the Emperor performances I’ve heard, live or on record, I have never heard the piece played as slowly as Serkin took it, 50 minutes by my estimate. The interval between the opening E-flat-major chord and the next downbeat on A-flat major seemed like suspended animation, as Solti and the orchestra waited patiently for Serkin to play his opening cadenza. If taken at proper speed, it should pass by in a few seconds. When Serkin did try to play at some semblance of a faster tempo, as he did in the opening of the third movement finale, it became obvious why he preferred the slow lane: he was missing notes furiously. Hence his tempi became erratic–what he would like to do seemed to conflict with what he is now able to do.
Of the work’s five sections, the third movement seemed the least polished: it didn’t have sufficient intensity, and some small problems with execution stood out. The fourth movement has at other times sounded more energetic. The finale really shone forth, however. It had a wonderful drive and swinging tempo, and crowned the performance with a triumphant blaze of Bartokian glory.
This week is the third and final week of Solti’s autumn tenure, the highlight of which will be the world premiere of Gunther Schuller’s Concerto for Flute, written for CSO flute player Walfrid Kujala. This was commissioned by a group of Kujala’s students who wanted to give him a special present for his birthday.
