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Power and Finesse in Philadelphia Philadelphia
Verizon Hall
02/21/2008 - and February 22 & 23
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Symphony No. 41 in C major “Jupiter”
Richard Strauss: An Alpine Symphony
Philadelphia Orchestra, Charles Dutoit (conductor)
Charles Dutoit exploited the power and finesse of the Philadelphia Orchestra in a concert that paired Mozart’s Symphony No. 41 in C major with Richard Strauss’ Alpine Symphony. Mozart’s Symphony gave Dutoit the chance to refine the orchestra’s fabled sonority and cultivate its virtuosity. Then, he unleashed the orchestra’s full power in Strauss’ epic symphony.
Strauss tested the limits of an orchestra when he composed An Alpine Symphony. This massive score lasts 52 minutes - Strauss’ longest orchestral work - and calls for more than 120 musicians to portray a dramatic mountain journey. Strauss was one of the great musical pictorialists. The Alpine Symphony inspired him to portray sunrise and sunset, a violent thunderstorm, flowering meadows and a cascading waterfall.
Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra performed the American premiere of Strauss’ symphonic poem in 1916, less than six months after the world première in Berlin. Dutoit led the orchestra’s last performance during the 1999 summer season at the Mann Music Center. During the 1996-97 season, Wolfgang Sawallisch intended to lead performances and then record An Alpine Symphony, but a strike by the musicians derailed those plans.
This colossal score gives a conductor and his orchestra unparalleled opportunities to display their musical virtuosity. Dutoit and the Philadelphia Orchestra seized every one Thursday evening in an epic performance at the Kimmel Center. Dutoit unfolded the score like a general marshalling his troops. He forged the huge orchestra (double woodwinds, 20 horns, organ, thunder and wind machines) into an ensemble that responded to his every interpretive wish. The concert found the orchestra in peak form.
When the sun rose, the orchestra enveloped Verizon Hall in a sumptuous sound as golden and glowing as the rays of the sun. When the thunderstorm broke, the musicians erupted in a furious outburst of raging but beautifully controlled sound. Throughout, Dutoit shaped the score like a master artist fashioning a landscape painting. The colors were rich and vibrant, the textures luminous, and the forests and the mountain etched in strong, bold lines. At the end of this sonic spectacular, the audience showered applause on the conductor and the orchestra.
Dutoit is giving advance notice of what he wants to give Philadelphia audiences when he becomes the orchestra's chief conductor and music adviser next season. The maestro opened the concert with Mozart's final symphonic masterpiece, the Symphony No. 41 “Jupiter”, an apt pairing for the Alpine Symphony. Strauss admired Mozart above all composers, and this final symphony shows Mozart at his greatest.
Dutoit led an elegant account of the symphony. He caught the large dimensions of Mozart's music but filled in all the musical details as well. The orchestra responded with playing that was both delicate and forceful. Dutoit probed the music with a thoughtful hand. The second movement sounded both gracious and graceful, but the conductor also bared the turbulence under the still surface of the music. The conductor braided the complex lines in the final movement into a compelling web of sound. The performance had drive and intensity as well as remarkable clarity and poise.
Robert Baxter
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