Janowski returns to lead masterful Bruckner with CSO
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is serving up a heaping deep-dish slice of central European rep this week with a German overture, Hungarian concerto and large-scale Austrian symphony.
Marek Janowski returned to the Orchestra Hall podium Thursday night in his third downtown CSO appearance, following the Polish-born German conductor’s well-received previous stands in 2018 and 2021.
The evening’s main work was Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 3 in its first appearance on a CSO program in 20 years.
It’s good to hear such a key work in Bruckner’s oeuvre after such a prolonged absence. Yet it’s also undeniably disappointing that this is the sole CSO Bruckner offering of the season in this, the Austrian composer’s 200th birthday year (September 4).
Yes, the Berlin Philharmonic will perform Bruckner’s Fifth Symphony November 26 under the Symphony Center Presents banner. But considering the CSO’s own rich Bruckner lineage—nicely laid out by archivist Frank Villella in this week’s program book—the neglect of such a cornerstone composer’s bicentennial is baffling. Theodore Thomas and the CSO gave the U.S. premieres of Bruckner’s Ninth Symphony and Te Deum, and his music has received consistent advocacy throughout the orchestra’s storied history, including several acclaimed recordings and two complete cycles by Sir Georg Solti and Daniel Barenboim.
While Bruckner’s Second has its moments, it is the Symphony No. 3, dedicated to his idol Richard Wagner, in which the composer found his own quirky voice. The Third set the stage for the six Bruckner symphonies that followed, manifesting a stronger grasp of architecture, more indelible thematic material, and tighter overall craft and dramatic arc.
Janowski has also recorded a complete Bruckner cycle (Pentatone) and the veteran maestro’s mastery in this elusive score was manifest from the opening bars. (There are a bewildering array of editions of this much-revised work, and Janowski made a convincing case for the traditional and tauter 1889 Nowak version.)
Janowski took all repeats in the first movement, which makes it even more of a challenge than usual to hold together. Yet from the mysterious opening of the strings, the long movement unfolded with a firm pulse and inexorable logic, Janowski shaping the broader narrative while pointing up the stark contrasts of Bruckner’s material. The secondary theme went with a dancey quality and Haydnesque lightness yet orchestral tuttis were imposing and powerful–lustrous, well-defined sonic blocks that resounded with massive impact.
Mainly there was a sense of firm control by the 85-year-old conductor. Nothing was overlooked or overstated yet everything fell into place with a sense of inevitability.
The Adagio offers one of Bruckner‘s most memorable themes, given with great warmth in the strings at each reappearance. Bruckner’s stops and starts can induce motion sickness in lesser hands, yet Janowski surely built the movement to the waves of affirmative brass, descending gracefully to the quiet coda. The Scherzo went with rhythmic incisiveness, complemented by the rustic charm in the Landler-like trio section.
Perhaps the finale is not quite on the same level of inspiration as the preceding movements. Yet Janowski skillfully paced the mounting waves of sound to a triumphant coda with the brass ringing out thrillingly over the strings’ rapidly whirling figures.
It’s too bad that nearly all the wind principals were off for such a respected guest conductor and Bruckner interpreter. Even so the CSO forces gave Janowski everything he asked for. The brass section was back on their top game; principal horn Mark Almond handled his many prominent solos with facility and there was fine clarion work by guest principal trumpet Mark Hughes of the Houston Symphony.
There are two positive things one can say about Franz Liszt’s Second Piano Concerto. It’s short. And it’s not quite as rotten a piece as Liszt’s First Piano Concerto.
But that’s about it. The Hungarian pianist-composer wrote his concertos as vehicles for his personal brand of keyboard derring-do, limpid solos alternating with show-offy bombast and unhealthy vulgarity. In this concerto, it takes a pianist with technical chops and legerdemain to convince one—even intermittently—that one is hearing real music.
Fortunately Francesco Piemontesi did just that Thursday night.
Considering the idiosyncratic backspin he put on Beethoven’s Second Piano Concerto in his successful CSO debut two years ago, his Liszt was fairly straightforward. Piemontesi brought pristine elegance to the solo passages and poise in lyrical moments—notably a graceful duetted passage with assistant principal cellist Kenneth Olsen. Yet the Swiss pianist also possesses the fire and slightly unhinged virtuosity needed for Liszt’s flashier pages, and Piemontesi threw off note-perfect octave runs and sweeping glissandos in the martial final section en route to a slam-bang coda. Janowski and the orchestra lent close and equally hard-charging support.
Piemontesi responded to the repeated curtain calls with a jaunty if unsubtle take on Bach’s “Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme,” in Wilhelm Kempff’s transcription.
It was clever programming by Janowski to precede the concerto with music of Carl Maria von Weber, whose style and scoring greatly influenced Liszt.
Weber’s Overture to The Ruler of the Spirits hails from an abandoned opera project of the same name. Yet this brief work is no less enjoyable than Weber’s more elaborate curtain-raisers, and Janowski led the orchestra in a driving and full-bodied performance that set the tone for the evening.
The program will be repeated 1:30 p.m. Friday and 7:30 p.m. Saturday. cso.org
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2 Responses to “Janowski returns to lead masterful Bruckner with CSO”
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Posted Nov 15, 2024 at 12:38 pm by Dave
What an extraordinary concert. The Bruckner in particular was revelatory, and it’s a piece I’ve come to love primarily through some of the excellent recordings out there. But hearing this work live with a CSO in top form with this masterful conductor was incredible. The balancing was such that I heard things in this work that I hadn’t noticed before, and the sound of the orchestra was uniformly round and beautiful. Even from the terrace, the brass never once became vulgar or blaring. I really would like to go hear it again.
Posted Nov 18, 2024 at 8:42 am by Carol Davis
The clever programming extended to the relation of all three composers with Wagner. From Weber whose music made way for Wagner to Bruckner as acolyte I felt Wagner in the room throughout. And thank you to CSO for programming the 3rd instead of yet another 5th; a dose of insight is better than a raft of familiarity.