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Vienna’s Two-Faced Lyricism New York
Isaac Stern Auditorium, Carnegie Hall
02/28/2025 - & February 14 (Graz), 15, 16 (Vienna), 25 (Milano), 2025
Franz Schubert: Symphony No. 4 “Tragic”, D. 417
Anton Bruckner: Symphony No. 7
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Riccardo Muti (Conductor)
R. Muti (© Todd Rosenberg)
“Music does not know the difference between people; it only speaks to their hearts. It is the only form of communication that can bring this terrible world together.”
Riccardo Muti
“One single cymbal clash by Bruckner is worth all the Brahms symphonies, with the serenades thrown in.”
Hugo Wolf
In a predictably sumptuous, rich concert by Riccardo Muti and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, four notes stood out. Anton Bruckner’s Seventh Symphony had the heavenly themes, those grand climaxes to make the firmament ring, the Wagnerian brass and even that second-movement cymbal clash. (Did Bruckner write it or not? If he didn’t, he should have, as Mr. Muti proved.)
Yet in a less sumptuous Schubert Fourth Symphony, dedicated less to God than the 19‑year‑old composer’s own psyche, the third tiny theme of the second movement, a mere five notes (E Eb Db Eb Db B in my score), a few measures which Bruckner would have hidden somewhere in the cellos) did indeed exemplify the composer’s appellation “Tragic”.
How, in the midst of such a rich gathering of notes last night, did that tiny quintet produce such sadness, such melancholy, such a remembrance of memories past? Bruckner would have attributed it to divine creation, the touch of his face‑to‑face God.
Schubert would have shrugged his shoulders, bashfully grin, and go on to his next piece.
At any rate, Riccardo Muti, whose first concert with the Vienna Philharmonc was some 54 years ago, left nothing to chance. Some conductors with such long tenure would signal or cue and leave it to “his” orchestra. Maestro Muti made every measure count. He would almost dance with Bruckner’s hunting‑call scherzo. He would lean over to make the violin whisper. He was never showy, but he enabled the Schubert finale to be both ominous and danceable.
The result was an indelible evening.
First was the 180-year-old Vienna Phil itself. Where one can forgive other esteemed groups for a raggedness in certain passages, the Viennese brass were spot‑on in the thickest Bruckner passages. The strings in those chorales were tight, the winds and percussion became an organic whole.
Second were the choices last night. The two faces of Austria.
First, Schubert’s melodies, rhythms even in the slowest movements, the colorful orchestration even with a paltry pair of trumpets. The composer (with perhaps the hype of a teenager) described it as “Death, the grave, decomposition, judgment, and eternal rest.” Maestro Muti took him at his word, with a very very dark introduction and a dramatic further movement.
That Andante was taken moderately. Mr. Muti knew not to exaggerate the pathos. The scherzo (which Schubert illogically called a Minuet) lightened the mood. But Mr. Muti kept the finale moving with sharp rhythms, weighty sections, and–if not lightness–not a thread of undue heaviness.
The Bruckner was more problematic for a secular society. This was the other side of Austrian music. The odor of incense, a vast Catholic basilica, walls filled with Crucifixions and Nativities.
Bruckner was, unlike his idol Wagner, no anti-Semite, but his music hardly reflected that of his student Gustav Mahler. Mr. Muti took his splendid orchestra through a seriousness of thought and a purity of spirit. Did one regret those endless scales, those repetitions of themes? True, they could send even the most attentive audience into daydreams. But Mr. Muti emphasized the rare Schubertian lyricism. At times, it was even delicate.
As for these blazoning brass instruments, now I realized why the angels in Renaissance paintings are praising God with sackbuts–the 16th Century forerunner of trombones.
For Bruckner never aimed for vulgarity, never interpolated cheapness. He wanted the processions–all four movements–to be on the path to Heaven. And, whether Mr. Muti is spiritual in his personal life or not, he radiated the heavenly light on every measure.
Harry Rolnick
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