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SYMPHONY REVIEW
Unfulfilled Potential
January 21, 2001
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By Heuwell Tircuit
Because the association of the Dresden Staatskapelle with Richard Strauss' music is a strong and historic one, music director Giuseppe Sinopoli chose a program of three Strauss tone poems for his Sunday concert of the Dresden Orchestra in Davies Hall. What emerged from the event, however, suggested that Sinopoli's grasp of Strauss' music is not strong — or at least not strong enough.
Emblematic of the whole concert was that the one rousing performance of the evening proved to be the unlikely encore: Wagner's Overture to Rienzi. As prelude to the encore, Sinopoli conducted Richard Strauss' Don Juan, Op. 20; Death and Transfiguration, Op. 24, and the large Ein Heldenleben ("A Hero's Life"), Op. 40. To paraphrase an old line by critic Paul Hume: Sinopoli played Strauss last night. Strauss lost.
The distinguished Dresden Orchestra clearly has many virtues. Not least among these is its highly individual sound. No one else projects such a sensation of velvet timbre. The weight of tone is there, but it's never overpowering. There's also enormous clarity amid the total sonic spectrum, thanks partly to restrained brass playing. I have not previously encountered this particular Dresden porcelain delicacy from any other European orchestra — and certainly not from any American ensemble either.
Many of the first-chair soloists were sensational, notably the principal flutist, the principal oboist, and the concertmaster. Concertmaster Kai Vogler drew more shouts of bravo for his virtuoso solos during Ein Heldenleben than did conductor Sinopoli. Fancy that! (The designations on the personnel list in the program were such that the splendid flute and oboe soloists could not be identified. The wonderful flute solos in Heldenleben were, for example, played by a woman, though the program lists only men as its flutists.) Indeed, the woodwinds were altogether outstanding, rather stealing the thunder from Dresden's wonderfully silky string section. Their predominately elderly brass section, however, was often a bit iffy in intonation, if generally warm in tone.
Of course, it's always tricky to judge an orchestra on the basis of a tour evening. The fatigue of intercontinental trips inevitably takes a toll in performance quality. Then, too, the group's normal traits, good and bad, can only be emphasized in the reiteration of the same programs night after night.
Sinopoli presents a thorny and frequently contradictory problem to analyze. He has had and is having a distinguished career. The man has conducted most of Europe's major orchestras and opera companies. He even made his conducting debut leading Aida at the Vienna State Opera. More recently, Sinopoli opened the new Wagner Ring cycle for last summer's Bayreuth Festival, an assuredly Big Deal.
All that notwithstanding, Sinopoli's musicianship has been questionable over the years. His podium gawkiness is no great matter. Many conductors suffer the same problems: indecisive downbeats, a lack of sensitivity to tempo fluctuations, and sensuality. But some other, very serious matters were apparent Sunday. Sinopoli appears to have no innate feeling for the application of rubato. His slight moving ahead of or relaxing of momentum within a phrase were often askew. It all seemed arbitrary, and ultimately pointless. The opening Don Juan tone poem was just plain dull. Sinopoli projected the impression that the Don was sexually ambiguous and a trifle disinterested. It was the sort of experience you might expect of Boulez attempting to conduct Rachmaninoff or Mascagni. By contrast, the opening death music of Tod und Verklärung was beautifully accomplished. So, too, with the closing transfiguration section, which was glorious. But the central Allegro never seemed to focus itself, thanks to Sinopoli's tempo problems. It's not simply a matter of things being fast or slow. They just did not hold together through given moments — did not scan, so to speak. Much the same type of problems plagued the Heldenleben performance. Some sections went very well, especially during "The Hero's Helpmate" — Strauss' mini violin concerto — and "The Hero's Escape from the World." But the dissonant military brawl music for "The Hero's Battlefield" was so tame that it seldom rose above the suggestion of a food fight. Even so, the orchestral reached its peak of warmth during Heldenleben, before blazing away at the 12-minute encore. All musical hesitation vanished with the opening solo trumpet note of Rienzi. From there on, both conductor and orchestra lived up to their glamorous reputations for excellence. Here was vitality as well as technical fulfillment. Every aspect was marvelous, be it the expressive probing during the introduction or the blazing Roman tribune's fanfares. Clearly, this orchestra and conductor are capable of fine things, but on Sunday they rarely displayed their full potential.
(Heuwell Tircuit, composer, performer, and writer, was chief writer for Gramophone Japan and for 21 years a music reviewer for the San Francisco Chronicle, previously for the Chicago American and the Asahi Evening News.) ©2001 Heuwell Tircuit, all rights reserved |
