Last nights CSO performance was as memorable for the music making as it was for Maestro Muti's
comedic talents as for his musical ones.
The program:
Prokofiev: Classical Symphony
Scriabin: Prometheus (Kiril Gerstein, p)
Interval-Presentation: This was Muti's 250th Concert leading the CSO, and he was given a framed
blow up of the face sheet of his first program from 1973. He then made a "few remarks" which lasted more than 10 minutes and may earn him a booking in one of the town's comedy clubs.
Second half:
Beethoven, Coriolan Overture and Eighth Symphony.
The highlights for me were the finales of the Prokofiev and the Beethoven Symphonies, were Muti relished their hijinks, musical jokes and false endings. The lowlight was the interminable Scriabin, a composer whose music simply holds no attraction for me.
The extramusical highlight was Muti's standup schtick, which seemed to catch everyone by surprise. After the Orchestra President made a brief speech announcing the occasion, Muti walked onto the stage with shuffling, Parkinsonian type gait, as if he was suddenly incapacitated by age.
He told several stories, with his fractured English being punctuated by excessive Italianate hand gestures when he could not find the word he was seeking.
The funniest story concerned the first Concert. Pictures at an Exhibition was on the program and Muti prefaced the story by saying at that time he had not learned to economize on arm gestures.
He didn't realize that the more animated he became in his gestures, the louder the Orchestra would play in response (remember this was Solti's orchestra at it's peak with it's overpowering brass). Muti said that his wife told him at the interval "Don't try to to overpower the Orchestra because you will always lose." He also told a story about bathroom breaks at La Scala after the first Act of Parsifal, the punch line which seemed to be lost in translation although the Italian speakers in the audience laughed heartily. He ended with a plea for music as an antidote to terror and a criticism for Mayor Rahm Emanuel for never attending a CSO Concert (Emmanuel is under extreme fire for more serious issues at the moment and probably won't notice).
I'd rather hear Muti the Musician, but it was an interesting insight into his personality.
comedic talents as for his musical ones.
The program:
Prokofiev: Classical Symphony
Scriabin: Prometheus (Kiril Gerstein, p)
Interval-Presentation: This was Muti's 250th Concert leading the CSO, and he was given a framed
blow up of the face sheet of his first program from 1973. He then made a "few remarks" which lasted more than 10 minutes and may earn him a booking in one of the town's comedy clubs.
Second half:
Beethoven, Coriolan Overture and Eighth Symphony.
The highlights for me were the finales of the Prokofiev and the Beethoven Symphonies, were Muti relished their hijinks, musical jokes and false endings. The lowlight was the interminable Scriabin, a composer whose music simply holds no attraction for me.
The extramusical highlight was Muti's standup schtick, which seemed to catch everyone by surprise. After the Orchestra President made a brief speech announcing the occasion, Muti walked onto the stage with shuffling, Parkinsonian type gait, as if he was suddenly incapacitated by age.
He told several stories, with his fractured English being punctuated by excessive Italianate hand gestures when he could not find the word he was seeking.
The funniest story concerned the first Concert. Pictures at an Exhibition was on the program and Muti prefaced the story by saying at that time he had not learned to economize on arm gestures.
He didn't realize that the more animated he became in his gestures, the louder the Orchestra would play in response (remember this was Solti's orchestra at it's peak with it's overpowering brass). Muti said that his wife told him at the interval "Don't try to to overpower the Orchestra because you will always lose." He also told a story about bathroom breaks at La Scala after the first Act of Parsifal, the punch line which seemed to be lost in translation although the Italian speakers in the audience laughed heartily. He ended with a plea for music as an antidote to terror and a criticism for Mayor Rahm Emanuel for never attending a CSO Concert (Emmanuel is under extreme fire for more serious issues at the moment and probably won't notice).
I'd rather hear Muti the Musician, but it was an interesting insight into his personality.
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