Ramon Khalona wrote:
>I wish you could have been there when Boulez conducted the Chicago
>Symphony in the Bruckner 5th at the end of October (I attended the last
>of the concerts on Oct. 28). There was a clarity to the performance,
>especially the finale, that left nothing to be desired. ...
Sorry to offer a differing opinion, BUT: I happened to attend two of Mr.
Boulez's performances of the Bruckner 5 in Chicago on October 26 and again
on the 27th. First of all, Mr. Boulez's tempi choices seemed extremely
slow, sometimes almost dragging (*see movement timings below). For
Thursday's concert I was seated in the lower balcony, 5th row center
(arguably the best seats in Symphony Center) and on Friday we were in the
center of the main floor. At both locations, on both evenings, IMHO the
orchestra balance was overpoweringly biased to way too much brass.
The C.S.O is certainly known for it's "robust" brass section, although in
recent years Mr. Barenboim has tried to reign them in a little. In Mr.
Boulez's Bruckner 5 the brass balance was such that the cellos and violas
were totally drowned out. Boulez actually increased the number of horns
and trombones beyond what the score calls for. I'm usually a big fan of
Mr. Boulez during his Chicago visits and have had the privilege to sit in
on a few of his rehearsals here. He usually pays extreme attention to
detail, hence his usual exquisite clarity of line. I love his Debussy,
Stravinsky and Varese (sorry Dave), but wish he'd leave Bruckner alone.
Actual movement timings from Oct. 27 performance:
1. Adagio-Allegro 20:48
2. Adagio 17:57
3. Scherzo: Molto vivace 14:07
4. Finale: Adagio-Allegro moderato 24:11
I suspect I'm offering a minority opinion here, since much of the Chicago
audience, like Mr. Khalona, seemed to like the performances. However, in
the 30 or so years that I've been a C.S.O. subscriber, one thing that is
very apparent is that the audience often equates louder with better, and
Mr. Boulez 's Bruckner was certainly loud!
Nick Yasillo
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