Opening Night: Maestro Muti Returns to the Chicago Symphony with Eroica

standing ovations after Beethoven’s Eroica!

It has been 1 year and 7 months, to the day, that Maestro Muti last conducted the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in its home of Orchestra Hall at Symphony Center, marking the longest period that he’s been away from the orchestra since his tenure as music director began in 2010. Of course, this is all because of the COVID-19 pandemic, which essentially wreaked havoc on the entirety of the arts and culture sector throughout the entire world. So, how entirely appropriate it was that this joyous reunion, one between both a great conductor and great orchestra, featured the performance of a piece that, in some sense, redefined the entire symphonic genre and standard when it first was performed, Ludwig van Beethoven’s mighty Symphony No. 3, otherwise known as the Eroica (“Heroic”) symphony. Symbolizing this new (re)start of the orchestra with this radically transformative piece—at its time of composition—was poignant and made drastically clear with a commanding, emotive interpretation and performance by all the musicians of the orchestra and Maestro Muti. There was a dramatic, impassioned fury that underlined both the beginning movement and the following “Marcia funebre”, imbued also with a sense of ominous reflection and deep sorrow—apropos for the tragedy that this global pandemic has cast upon all of us. During rehearsal of the funeral march (indeed, Beethoven was familiar and had heard before the traditional Italian funeral marches and processions), Maestro Muti mentioned to the strings that they must both sing and cry, and I honestly cannot remember the last time when I had ever heard such visceral sounds—in other words, live music brings a sonic experience that no video or recording can ever replace.

audiences are back at symphony center!

Two other pieces, written by Joseph Bologne Chevalier de Saint-Georges and Chicago’s very own Florence Price, filled out the first part of the program before the Eroica. The first was Saint-Georges’ overture to his third opera, L’amant anonyme, a delightful piece that harkens back to the early Mozartian style (I was oddly (or perhaps not?!) reminded of Mozart’s motet “Exsultate, Jubilate” as I was listening to this overture.) The next piece, Andante moderato, by Florence Price, was a piece filled with “cantabilità“, particularly in its expressive, lyrical opening theme, which was incredibly reminiscent of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, as the strings introduce “Viene La Sera“. I am very much looking forward to hearing more of Price’s works throughout the rest of this season.

In a fascinating, wide-ranging interview in the concert’s program book, Maestro Muti mentioned how “he would try..to give the impression that this estrangement had not existed—that it had been only days since he last led the Orchestra…”. And indeed, earlier this week when I popped in for the first set of rehearsals, it really felt just like that, like it was only just yesterday that I had last talked to him. And I, for one, am extremely glad that this will continue on for the next couple of years, as it was just announced yesterday during the dress rehearsal that Maestro Muti will extend his contract w/ the Chicago Symphony to 2023, (which also coincidentally coincides with my planned graduation year 😀 ). Anyways, I’ll have more posts to write on the blog soon, as there are still two more weeks of upcoming concerts with Maestro Muti for the fall portion of the 2021-2022 season!