Prokofiev, De Falla, and Ravel:  Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Riccardo Muti (conductor) Symphony Center, Chicago 14.9.2007 (JLZ)

Prokofiev: Symphony no. 3 in C minor, Op. 44
De Falla: Suite no. 2 from The Three-Cornered Hat
Ravel: Rapsodie espagnole
Ravel: Boléro

　
To open the new concert season with Prokofiev's Third Symphony is a bold and impressive gesture that resulted in an intensely moving reading of this demanding score. Concert-goers may be familiar with Prokofiev's music for various reasons, and the inclusion of this particular work in the 2007-8 season demonstrates the durability of the composer in the twenty-first century. Admittedly one of Prokofiev's more dissonant works, the Third Symphony requires a sensitive ensemble and the masterful shaping that come together when a conductor of Muti's stature leads the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Confident from the start with the bell-enhanced sonorities that open the work, Muti demonstrated his solid conception of the work. With its rich texture of complex chords, the tonal structure of the first movement requires the solid intonation and precise articulation that is characteristic of the Chicago Symphony. The solid string section was an anchor point in the structure, to which the winds and brass contributed the roles that are characteristic of Prokokiev's mature style. It is the kind of score that sits well with this ensemble, as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra presented this relatively unfamiliar work with all of the confidence they bring to music from the standard repertory.

Prokofiev used the formal structure of the four-movement symphony as a point of reference with which to create his own sound-world, and the Third Symphony demonstrates the mastery of the symphonic idiom that would eventually find expression in such familiar works as the Fifth Symphony and the ballet Cinderella. At the same time, the harmonic palette of the Third Symphony is at times more consistently dissonant than the idiom he used for some of his other works and yet quite approachable when presented by  the Chicago Symphony. Such complex sonorities demand the fine intonation and sensitive blending that the ensemble offers and when further shaped by Muti, those elements contribute well-articulated presentation of Prokofiev's score. In fact, the sonata structure that underlies the first movement exhibits several areas of harmonic writing that were quite distinct in this performance.

An equally telling point is the second movement, which involves some demanding ensemble work on the part of the orchestra. The elegant slow movement is a telling section that benefits from the deftness with which Muti approached it. Critical to the timbre of the movement are the strings, which seemed to revel in the score. Concertmaster Robert Chen stood out in several passages, which certainly required the leadership he contributed to the performance.　 Muti shaped the movement well, and made the suspended and resolved dissonant sonority with which it ends an intriguing point of arrival. As such, this movement in particular evokes the associations between the Symphony and the opera Prokofiev composed at the same time, The Fiery Angel.

The third movement also required the effective strings of the Chicago Symphony. In this movement Prokofiev turns the glissandos reminiscent of the Romantic portamento into a vehicle for modernism, and the strings were particularly telling in this regard. In the movement's tripartite structure the central section involved other sonorities to merge with Prokofiev's thematic content. Muti delivered the Finale with the assurance he brought to the rest of the work. While Prokofiev's Third Symphony had not been performed by the Chicago Symphony for over a quarter century, this performance almost begs the question of its inclusion on future programs, since it benefits from live performance to bring out the various orchestral timbres that are as characteristic of the work as the harmonic and thematic idioms Prokofiev used. Likewise, this performance calls to mind the longstanding association of Prokofiev with the Chicago Symphony and also with music-making in general in Chicago.

The second half of the program included three familiar works, and Muti delivered them with appropriate élan. He made the three dances of the second suite from de Falla's Three Cornered Hat virtuosic pieces for the orchestra. The rhythms were precise within the fluid tempos and Muti's  work with the Orchestra, resulted in a virtuosic reading. The same may be said of  Ravel's Rapsodie espagnole, which benefited from the finely shaped sonorities that supported the musical structure. The sometimes atmospheric moments of the score remained intense, while the more motivically oriented ones were equally compelling.

The program culminated in the well-known Boléro by Ravel, a work that the Chicago Symphony has performed and recorded with some regularity. Concertgoers may recall a program during one of Daniel Barenboim's final seasons, which involved both of these works by Ravel. Barenboim's readings are not without merit, and represent, in a sense, his perspective on the music and the ensemble. Yet the difference that Muti brought to the same works is also telling. Both conductors have their individual approaches and if Muti's reading of the score may be more direct, the result is a stronger, more compelling musical narrative that reaches the climax of the Boléro unequivocally. With the contrasts implicit in Ravel's score impressively tangible throughout the performance, Muti left a strong impression that points to the dynamic relationship he brought to these concerts. Likewise, the fine principals not only approached  their own parts excellently, but worked together in a wonderfully attentive ensemble.

It is fortunate that Muti will lead the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in its European tour in the early Autumn, and that audiences on the continent will have the opportunity to experience their fine music-making. The attention to the details of tempo, articulation, intonation, and balance that were part of these performances demonstrate a  level of musicianship that sets both the conductor and ensemble apart.


James L. Zychowicz