Muti goes out with a Russian blast
NewsIn his 13th and final season as music director of the Chicago Symphony, announced today, Riccardo Muti will conduct symphonies by Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov and Prokofiev, as well as Musorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition.
His farewell concert will be Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis.
Muti will turn 81 in July.
Another gratuitous and misleading snark against Muti. Beethoven is his farewell concert and the other works mentioned have always been central to his repertoire. Are you implying that performing these works in his final season is some sort of hidden salute to Putin? I was in graduate school in Philadelphia in 1981 and admired how Muti reinvigorated that great Orchestra as has Yannick done in recent years. I enjoyed Ormandy in his final years and in retrospect appreciate his work more now than in those days, but the Orchestra needed a change and Muti was a fine choice. His Verdi Requiem still lingers in the ear after 40 years!
I don’t know about the hidden salute, but he certainly loves the honors he has received from Putin (Order of Friendship) and organizations linked to Putin (RAA). He keeps them very close to the chest, he is not returning them.
Though, as we predicted on March 20 on this site, he has ordered his own official website to remove the references to Putin’s award from his official website. He decided to take it down right after I pointed that out, weeks after the war had started, and weeks after his Chicago anti-Putin hypocritical statements.
Hiding the awards, not returning them? Ma quale cosa eh???
Signor Muti, do the right thing, and return your Putin prizes!
For someone who cherishes Putin’s honors so much, it is a fitting final season.
What must it be like to be filled with such bile. Maybe Muti should join the Ukranian army. Maybe then he can win your approval, which he clearly so desperately craves.
Grow up.
So…you have revealed yourself to also be “CSOA Insider” AKA one (insane) person commenting under multiple personas LMFAO
steve, the psychological damages that this unfortunate individual suffered as a byproduct of Muti’s tenure in Chicago would require a reincarnation of Freud to be properly understood
Putin is doing everybody a favour. His special military operation is a ‘war’ to end all future wars in Europe.
“He decided to take it down right after I pointed that out,”
Wow, the power you have. You say something and it happens. You think you have influence over anything? Think again. Muti was the best thing to happen to the CSO.
Why would anyone vote Thumbs Down? Alank is quite accurate. Muti’s Tchaikovsky symphony set on EMI is superb – one of the best. The little Prokofieff he recorded is top-drawer. I heard him do the 3rd in Philly and it was a tremendous performance. I’ve never heard any of his Rachmaninoff. It’s going to be very hard to replace him; Maestro Myth or not, he’s clearly better than most.
While not wanting to jump in on this Muti/Putin debate, I’ll attest to his Prokofiev Romeo & Juliet Suites 1 and 2 with Philly as among the very best.
Putin was a close bunga bunga buddy of Berlusconi. Berlusconi and Muti were friends. You do the math.
Berlusconi was the only one who fought to save Muti from inglorious LaScala firing. That’s what good friends do.
Leave the meth before doing the math
Think of Verdi’s genius. In spite of Muti, his Requiem still lingers in your ear after 40 years.
Your knowledge and expertise is formidable. You must be a musician yourself. Or a music historian. I didn’t know anything of what you just said. And I have been admiring Ricardo Mutti my entire life.
Let’s hope his Missa Solemnis will have matured much more by then since his debut of it last summer in Saltzburg. (The local critics were less than enthused.)
Ironically, for once, what he did with Vienna first has become a real rehearsal for what what he will do later in Chicago. (Good thing to have at your disposal the Vienna Philharmonic as your rehearsal band, ha ha ha.)
I very much enjoyed the MIssa Solemnis in Salzburg.
Alan, Mr. waw hasn’t heard a single note of it
Odd.
They didn’t announce any Northern Trust-sponsored Friday or Thursday afternoon Muti “happy hours”; or any “extended week-end working brunches”.
Are Alexander and Osborn dropping the hammer?
Not holding my breath.
Hrusa has been entrusted with the Mahler 9.
That’s an indication they are seriously considering him.
It is still a position for Thielemann to lose. He has such an established record that even if he delivered a ho-hum Bruckner 8, he’d still be a top contender.
On the other hand, even if Hrusa delivered a stunning Mahler 9, given his lighter CV and profile compared to even candidates of his own generation, he’d still be a dark horse candidate.
From yesterday’s Chicago Tribune:
“ Among the guest conductors coming who could conceivably take on the current residency commitment required by the music director role: Staatskapelle Dresden principal conductor Christian Thielemann (conducting Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 8, Oct. 20-25), Ravinia conductor/curator and ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra chief conductor Marin Alsop (with the Lorelai Ensemble in a CSO co-commission by Julia Wolfe, Jan. 6-7), outgoing Minnesota Orchestra director Osmo Vänskä (in a choral-orchestral program including Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana” and Jessie Montgomery’s “Banner,” March 16-18), and Czech conductor Jakub Hrůša (closing out guest podium stints with Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 9, June 8-10).”
They arrived there 1 week after Norman.
Norman rules!
Hrusa will scratch the surface of the Mahler, if that. Not enough experience.
Comparing Muti’s last season in Chicago to Salonen’s first season in San Francisco is like comparing the middle of the 20th Century to the middle of the 21st Century, so retrograde is Muti, so forward looking is Salonen.
Thanks, mary!
We’re looking forward to some interesting programming here in San Francisco!
– regards, Greg
I’m going to go to sleep tonight thinking about this comment and probably wake up just as confused.
The Muti hate is so strong around here. Granted, I haven’t liked much since his New Philharmonia work, but y’all make him sound like Marin Alsop-level inept.
How was your sleep?
Spot on!!!!!!!!
For Muti, going out with a blast apparently means going out with the same repertoire he has been conducting 10,000 times for 50 consecutive years, ad nauseam.
I forecast deep red in the CSO balance sheet for the 13th year, except the COViD year Muti did not show (that wasn’t by chance)
If you are incurably inept at conducting Beethoven, what do you do?
Just have Ludwig as your farewell concert.
Makes total sense.
you not only conduct ludwig but also his greatest work
The end of the Muti era in Chicago can’t come a moment too soon for me.
I wish he’d stay in Chicago for another 13 years. The CSO plays inspired with Muti on the podium.
A blast? Rather an implosion
Muti did two great things, and they were both in Philadelphia. That Mahler 1 recording (still the best ahead of Bernstein, Walter etc etc) and Elgar’s In The South, which is on YouTube as a live radio broadcast.
Meh, Muti will be forgotten in no time. Russian composers also. But that will take a bit longer.
Silly people.
Poor Norman will be the only one left giving a shit.
Thanks, Norm!
Muti has always been a fantastic proposent and interpreter of Russian music. Why should he not conduct them in his final concerts in Chicago , just because Putin is a Russian criminal?
i only ever heard Muti live once. He was conducting the Philharmonia in the Royal Festival Hall. There was a strange incident. Two bars into the Schubert 8th, there was a loud bang and Muti was showered with broken glass. One of the platform lights had exploded. Without any fuss, he restarted th work and made a splendid job of it. A true artist.
What is he going to do when he leaves the CSO, does anybody know?
Whatever he wants, I imagine.
He will stick around, plaguing Chicago as “music director emeritus” (I am not joking), until the new music director steps in and finally kicks him out for good.
Probably in the 2024/25 season.
But a) not having gotten a new md contract is a major defeat for Muti, who has tried in every way and b) his power will be dramatically diminished.
Believe me, he’s not pleased with this outcome and will still try to undo it. Behind the scenes, and the pleasantries, scores of people loathe him.
People loathe him? Because of his autocratic behavior off the podium? Or because of his music-making? As for being autocratic, you could say it about most celebrities. As for the music making, the crowds likely still adore him.
Come back frequently I hope. He’s conducting this later today (along with a new work by former CSO Mead Composer-in-Residence Missy Mazzoli and Mahler’s Rückert-Lieder sung by Elīna Garanča):https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHl_I6wWVrU I am really looking forward to it.
Have a nice nap!
Still vital and handsome at 81 years old. And such a fine musician. Very impressive
This season will turn out to be one of the worst of the 13, if not the absolute worst.
Muti is overrated. Like the city itself, the CSO has been in steep decline.
OK, James. Why don’t you tell us where you live if it’s all sunshine and sparkles and orchestral playing that doesn’t sound anemic?
Bravo Maestro!!!
Watch the first 10 minutes (or preferably all) of this video and tell me if you think we will ever again hear Verdi conducting of this calibre. You may be put off by his flamboyance but when it helps to produce a performance as electrifying as this, who cares?
https://youtu.be/QlpCwsxeEGg
Still miss him. I wanted him to stay here in Philly forever. Such a talented Maestro….plus he gave the Philadelphia Orchestra sex appeal… other orchestra cities fangoers were jealous