Riccardo Muti, who has caught Covid-19, has cancelled two more Chicago concerts in favour of his assistant, Lina González-Granados.
She will conduct two overtures and two Mozart concertos with the Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes.
Hardly a taxing assignment.
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“The sonatas of Mozart are unique; they are too easy for children, and too difficult for artists”
Identify and discuss.
Artur Schnabel. And I agree with him in part. Most IS easier as child. But the difficulty for artists is more a matter of context. Schnabel was a classicist and conservative during the waning years of late romanticism but ended up being a touch bearer for the emerging modern style and aesthetic.
As a modernist/classicist, Mozarts language doesn’t come across well. The musical rhetoric and syntax are not immediately apparent unless one looks at the music with a sympathetic ear for bygone style. Since Schnabel was a reactionary to the hyper romantic wagnerian school, any kind of self indulgence was frowned upon (and sadly still is!). But without the rhetorical, un-metronomic sense of rhythm and tempo the characterized music making of the 18th century, a performance of Mozart’s music loses all is character.
Children don’t have these limits that are insulted in us in music schools and conservatories. They play much more how they feel. That’s why they get closer to Mozart than many professionals. Their education doesn’t stand in the way of their emotions.
At two BSO concerts, I heard Andris Nelsons conduct a very decent Strauss, Bartok and Ravel, along with disappointing Mozart piano concertos. He was accompanying two seasoned soloists, Richard Goode and Yefim Bronfmann, both of whom delivered sublime interpretations. The contrast between their musical maturity and Nelsons’ lack thereof was stark.
By contrast, two months ago, I had the privilege of hearing the BSO under Herbert Blomstedt, no less, accompany Martin Helmchen in another Mozart concerto. The pianist delivered a respectable though unremarkable performance; the orchestra sounded much better than under Nelsons. Character and style were there in abundance.
Muti didn’t step aside – especially not for this one. He is sick and unwell and the orchestra simply needed someone who could get here quickly enough and wave their hands in front of the CSO – which is, btw, more than capable of playing all of those pieces with their eyes closed and without a conductor.
having played under her, I’d rather go for closing my eyes and play without conductor, indeed!…
Finally another insider who tells it how it is.
Eyes closed and mouth shut is the CSOA-Northern Trust way.
Get well soon maestro
I played under here about a year ago and I must say – there are so many talented young female conductors out there, but this one is not a good conductor at all. No one really understands how she got to Chicago.
I couldn’t agree more!
Can I tell you how?
Young – Tick mark!
Minority – Tick mark!
Woman – Tick mark!
Talent – cross-mark, but who cares, it is the CSO, they don’t need a conductor to play together.
No, but I can tell how this line of commentary is progressing (as is so often the case on this site’s comments section):
Racist – check!
Misogynist – check!
Bigoted – check!
Afraid of surrendering old white male hegemony to a younger, more diverse generation – check!
How do you know the author is not a young black US-American woman?
It’s possible, but not terribly likely, don’t you think?
Brian, forgive me but I can’t help but think that if you were just that bit more successful with the ladies, you wouldn’t write such ridiculous crap.
It is too easy to call racist, mysoginist etc. to a person with whom one doesn’t agree. The level of the debate is sinking to a very low level when opinions are refuted with arguments and hominem.
@Brian, you can do better.
@Piano2000, we don’t know your sex or race and I couldn’t care less, but I do agree that in the current climate it does happen that it is, from a marketing point of view, more convenient to promote minorities and women. Being a woman or from a minority has too much weight in our time, and it should be no factor at all. Of what I have seen, this young conductor does not belong on the podium of the Chicago Symphony.
@Iwonder, indeed, we don’t know.
@David I don’t understand your comment.
Obviously I meant ‘ad hominem’.
Chicago won’t be playing “under her”, she’ll be flailing her arms pointlessly above the orchestra while they’re playing.
Close your eyes and enjoy the music, or open your eyes and enjoy the spectacle. An entertaining outing either way.
Love that comment! At least you’ll take what you have to. People need a spectacle, a show when they go to the hall/theatre/stadium etc.
So maybe she’s fantastic in making people attend the concerts. That’s a point for raising funds!
I beg to differ on your last point. We know how she got to Chicago: Lina González-Granados was personally selected by Muti.
She may not have the full package of all the qualities required, as a conductor. But at the core she has the essential qualities that Muti requires and demands. And Alexander delivered the goods.
Yep. I returned the ticket. Program also not as exciting as original Britten PC and Schumann’s 4th. According to the email two mozart concertos are going to be directed by Andsness himself from the piano.
Vanessa Benelli Mosell is one of the best conductors in the world. She will be conducting Chicago.
She is Latin American and is female
Someone does
Well, I hope she is not going to screw up the concert like she did with Philadelphia… It was a horror show especially when she conducted the overture and the whole thing fell apart.
Do tell! I want details!
Mozart might seem “easy” in comparison to say Mahler but he is not.
What is sad about all this is that Muti (a non mask wearer) will now receive top medical treatment, not even available to most people, and if he recovers, claim the whole thing is nonsense. In the meantime, he is taking up precious medical care for something he thinks is not serious.
Let’s see. It’s April 6, mask mandate in Chicago was lifted at the end of February. Muti claims the whole thing is non-sense, so much so he’s vaccinated and boosted. Any opposite evidence you can provide? Muti is using medical treatment not available to most people: Muti is not responsible for the disgraceful US healthcare system, which I’m sure you have done zilch to change. It seems the only sad thing left is your comment lol
Why the sneer. Hardly a taxing assignment. No need. Uncalled for.
Just in case there were still a couple of skeptical souls out there, doubting that the CSO had sunk to Tier 3 rank. Alexander & Muti did a fine job over the last decade.
The Chicago public is urged to stay away not only from these concerts, but for all the remaining ones of this season and next season, until Thielemann is installed.
good luck to the orchestra, the soloist, and the audience … One of the worst conductor ever …
“Hardly a taxing assignment” – and hardly stepping aside – he is ill!
She is assigned to conduct only the overtures. The rest is conducted by the pianist from the piano.
If it’s true I find no explanation for playing THESE overtures with a conductor
These “opportunities” are only a good thing if the substitute is ready for the break (ala Bernstein).
In most cases, they are not ready and what could be a boost to a career actually becomes a liability as word spreads through the orchestral community that the sub is actually underqualified for the Big Break.
I wish her well. It’s either do or die and the only way to evaluate the situation is if she gets invited back to conduct a subscription concert or if she vaults into the Big Leagues of conducting working with the best orchestras around the world.
In the scheme of things as they are now conveniently announced by the CSO, there is at this point a deceptive condensation of events.
Far from being a scourge for Muti, COVID is a blessing in disguise! He can now enjoy a maxi “happy hour” that only a few days ago he would only have dreamed of, with Alexander’s and the Board’s blessings.
Sí, sabes que ya llevo un rato mirándote
Tengo que bailar contigo hoy
Vi que tu mirada ya estaba llamándome
Muéstrame el camino que yo voy
:-))
I believe that a good program Mozart-centered with this pianist conducting from the keyboard a magnificent set of fine musicians is a great opportunity for those who live or are visiting Chicago. The orchestra is fantastic and I keep reading nasty comments based on personal opinions towards Muti rather than respectful considerations for the great musicians who play in the orchestra. I will go even if I am given the chance to get other tickets in the season. The musicians who are playing deserve a lot of attention and respect. If you simply put on YouTube the search for Mozart piano concertos with this pianist, you will get an idea. Music is talking to open minds and open hearts. I would strongly discourage to the few persons on this blog who are into just gossip and hate to spend their money at concerts. Music is not speaking to a desert.
Oh my, how venomous: “Hardly a taxing assignment.”
You know, dear sir, all the reasons behind the choice of conductor and program?
And you turn your nose up at Mozart piano concertos why? I believe that achieving a great performance of a Mozart piano concerto is no small achievement. What would Rudolf Serkin have said, having recorded so many of these deceptively “simple” concertos?
So many stodgy, old white men fearful of a younger, more multicultural generation in this comments section. The sad underbelly of the classical music audience.
Leif Ove is highly capable of conducting these performances from the piano, which he’s done several times of late. He will be superb! Check out his new Mozart CD coming out on Friday.
musicology
The study of the history of music, but having no relationship to music itself. It is usually studied at the graduate level by inept performers and anal-retentive, sexually-repressed, multi-lingual, shutins. It is an equivalent discipline to Art History, except for the fact that you will never see a musicology show on PBS, nor will you ever see a musicologist interviewed on television. Musicology is the study of boring, obscure facts tangentially related to the lives and works of (mostly unknown) composers in the Western European high-cultural tradition.
1. Music is to musicology as science is to Scientology.
2. Musicology Ph.D. student: “Did you know that Joseph Matthias Kracher was on friendly terms with Michael Haydn?”
Intelligent Human: “Big fucking deal! Who cares?”
Musicology Ph.D. student: “Well, Kracher wrote two settings of the ‘Te Deum.’ What have you done to contribute to the advancement of Western Civilization?”
Intelligent Human (grabbing student’s throat and choking him to death): “This!”
Musicology Ph.D. student: “Gakkkkqq
It would be interesting to know the concept of a CSO member about Lina’s work!