Muti returns with Uchida in CSO’s Beethoven bash
It may have been Halloween night at Orchestra Hall yet there was no Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Danse Macabre, nor Funeral March of a Marionette in sight.
Two foundational works of Ludwig van Beethoven made up the no-nonsense bill of fare with Riccardo Muti returning Thursday to lead his first local stand with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra since September of 2023.
The well-attended concert also brought pianist Mitsuko Uchida—among the most beloved of Chicago musical guests by virtue of her copious CSO evenings performing Mozart concertos, which warmed many a chilly winter night.
Muti, 83, led both works with customary vigor and in his characteristic Beethoven style—incisive rhythmic cut and attentive balancing allied to an interpretive approach centered on a kind of stern implacability. The results were largely inspired even if both artists have been heard to better advantage in this repertoire on previous occasions.
While Uchida is most prized for her Mozart and Schubert, she has also given Chicago audiences some stellar Beethoven with Muti, notably a Third Concerto in 2017. Tackling the “Emperor” concerto (No. 5) this time provided more mixed rewards.
The opening movement was taken at a stately pace but even so Uchida’s committed playing had its fallible moments from the opening solo roulades. Her ability to imbue lyrical pages with a fantasia quality proved as engaging as ever yet the more virtuosic sections felt square rhythmically, and at times effortful. During unsettled solo passages her emphatic attacks felt as if she were trying to reset herself.
Uchida, unsurprisingly, was at her finest in the Adagio where her poised, luminous playing conveyed a hymn-like expression; Muti and the CSO strings lent their soloist equally rapt support.
The Rondo finale proved something of a trial, with passages of sturdy pianism alternating with more misfired notes, including one scary moment where Uchida’s fingers seemed to momentarily go off the rails.
(Ironically, this week’s CSO program book has an interesting article by archivist Frank Villella about pianist Artur Schnabel’s local history with Frederick Stock. A celebrated Beethoven interpreter, Schnabel was nearly as famous for his dropped notes as his Beethoven insights—both of which can be heard in his 1942 recording of the “Emperor” with Stock and the CSO.)
Thursday night’s audience was forgiving, however, and awarded the popular, 75-year old pianist a rousing ovation and four curtain calls. The grateful Uchida, as usual, declined any encores.
Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 completed the evening. The icon-smashing originality of the “Eroica” is hard to conjure up after 221 years of familiarity, and the soft attacks in the opening chords Thursday didn’t exactly feel like a clarion call to arms.
Yet this “Eroica” gained in focus and grip as the opening movement unfolded. Muti once again took all repeats and made the larger canvas work effectively with forward-flowing momentum and subtly varied details in the themes’ reappearances and development.
In the funeral march, Muti took a spacious yet concentrated approach, and the movement benefited from some exquisite oboe playing from William Welter. Still, Muti and the orchestra managed to explore this movement’s stark tragedy in deeper and more unsparing fashion in their revelatory “Eroica” of 2021.
The Scherzo went with bustling vitality and imposing, if raucous and unblended, horns in the trio. The finale’s set of variations provided the requisite driving urgency and affirmative coda, though without the desperation and intensity of three years ago.
The CSO musicians delivered polished and responsive playing for their music director emeritus for life across all sections, apart from a spindly horn solo in the first movement and a later horn bobble in the Scherzo.
The program will be repeated 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday. cso.org.
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10 Responses to “Muti returns with Uchida in CSO’s Beethoven bash”
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Posted Nov 01, 2024 at 5:33 pm by Dave
It’s astonishing they’ve already given tenure to the newish principal horn. Why? The previous one was brilliant but sent packing.
Posted Nov 02, 2024 at 11:36 pm by William Bann
Have to agree with everything written here. Performance just lacked intensity and even though I’m not the most familiar with Beethoven’s Emperor concerto, I could hear the missed notes.
For both pieces, I prefer much more intensity, or a grand sense of scale. They are meant to be larger than life, and unfortunately I didn’t feel that. Had no idea if I was missing something because the rest of the audience seemed to be in love.
Posted Nov 03, 2024 at 8:42 am by Mary Beth
I attended on Saturday. I did hear some missed notes in the Emperor, but I felt great intensity and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Posted Nov 03, 2024 at 11:45 am by Roger
I attended the Thursday concert looking forward to hearing Uchida’s performing LvB’s “Emperor” Concerto. Although the second movement was beautifully played, the misplayed transition into the 3rd movement was disappointing. The audience response left me questioning my hearing. I am thankful for LJ’s critique and the submitted comments confirming my view.
As for the “Eroica,” this is the third time Muti has performed LvB’s 3rd in the past few years. This one along with the first RM presented sounded more like Haydn’s 105th or Mozart’s 42nd. Lacked drama. The second Eroica he gave was LvB!
As a longtime subscriber, I enjoyed many of RM’s concerts, particularly Verdi. However, the past two seasons, subscribers have been served the “Best of Riccardo.” I renewed my 2024-2025 subscription looking forward to hearing him performing Berlioz’s “The Damnation of Faust.” Sadly, another Verdi’s Requiem has replaced the Berlioz. The Verdi Requiem is truly a great choral masterpiece led by this generation’s greatest Verdi interpreter. However this will be the fourth one I will have heard it in RM’s 12-year directorship.
Posted Nov 03, 2024 at 2:15 pm by Redpeg
Marvelous performance. Loved seeing Maestro Muti on the podium. Where is Robert Chen the concertmaster? Love watching him play the violin.
Posted Nov 04, 2024 at 7:47 am by John
There were many missed notes in the Sunday matinee. I love the characterization of Muti’s performance here as “implacable.” Exactly. And the horn section needs immediate attention! Problems galore.
Posted Nov 04, 2024 at 11:08 am by Susan
Why does Muti kiss Uchida’s hand? He did the same to the woman concertmaster at Sunday’s performance. He shakes hands with the men but kisses the women’s hands. Why not just shake their hands instead – use both hands if he wants – but stop with raising their hands to his lips for a kiss. It’s creepy and paternalistic.
Posted Nov 04, 2024 at 3:35 pm by Peter Todd Borich
Shame on the CSO management to allow Music Director Emeritus to shove yet another Verdi Requiem down our throats in place of the Damnation of Faust. He has nothing new to offer other than the most jaw-droppingly slow and dull versions of warhorse symphonies in the history of music.
Posted Nov 04, 2024 at 4:34 pm by james
I agree with Dave and John re the horns. Nothing negative about any individual musician intended. However, for the board to allow an outgoing music director to make the type of decision re Cooper that he did, and to allow the rapid selection and granting of tenure to a successor is a great mistake of board leadership. In corporate governance, this is not acceptable behavior.
Posted Nov 04, 2024 at 9:20 pm by Sylvie R.
I went to the Sunday performance and was enthralled by it, especially by Uchida’s ability to be both powerful and delicate, forceful and intimate. I was very moved.
I find the comments about missed notes a bit annoying, missing the point, as it were. I’d rather consider her performance as a whole.