On exceptionally short notice, Finnish conductor Leif Segerstam replaced
James Levine last week in three performances of the Mahler 3rd Symphony in
Chicago.  Mr.  Levine, suffering from "flue-like symptoms", called the CSO
Monday morning, the day before rehearsals were to start, to cancel his (3)
Mahler 3rd performances for the following Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
A frantic search Monday found that no American conductors, who were deemed
suitable to conduct the Mahler, were available on such short notice.

As the search widened to include Europe, Henry Fogel (the CSO president)
remembered that Segerstam had recently completed a Mahler cycle.  After
a few quick calls, Mr.  Segerstam was released from a performance in
Helsinki, and was on his way to Chicago.

The last live performance of the Mahler 3rd I heard was in 1990 with
Levine conducting.  Where Mr.  Levine's Mahler is lush and beautiful, Mr.
Segerstam is precise and articulate.  The first movement, that Mahler
commands be played "With force and decision" was conducted in an unrushed
33 and one half minutes.  Stegerstam maintained a fine tonal balance over
an extreme dynamic range, that rarely is heard from the CSO.  The orchestra
was on it's best behavior and gave the audience a technically perfect
performance.  Of special note was the hair raising first trombone part
played by principal trombone Jay Friedman.

It just got better from there!  The remaining movements of the Mahler
were played with a precision that spotlighted the full range of emotional
content that Mahler must have felt when writing such a magnificent work.
The vocal parts were brilliantly sung by the women of the CSO Churus, the
Glen Ellyn Childrens Chorus, and Wagnerian Mezzo-Soprano Michelle DeYoung.
All in all, a rare and wonderful experience.

I've since spoken with friends in the orchestra to get their candid
opinions of Mr.  Segerstam's conducting style.  Two of the players I spoke
with (independently) commented that he played the Mahler "the way it's
written", which I took to imply that, in their opinion, most conductors
don't.  The other interesting comment was that he really pushed the
orchestra, sometimes getting rather upset and not settling for "good
enough", even though it was only his first day on the job.  The man is
not a wimp!  Whatever he did, it sure showed in the performance.

I'm truly sorry that James Levine was ill, but, I thank his illness for an
ear and eye-opening performance from a conductor that I shall pay much
closer attention to in the future.

Nicholas J. Yasillo
[log in to unmask]