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Weber, Nielsen, and Berlioz: Mathieu Dufour (flute) Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Fabio Luisi (conductor) Symphony Center, Chicago 19.12.2008 (JLZ)

Weber: Overture to Oberon
Nielsen: Flute Concerto
Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique, Op. 14


With this program the conductor Fabio Luisi made his debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Currently principal conductor of the Dresden Staatskapelle and music director of the Dresden Semperoper, Luisi is an international musician whose presence in Chicago adds to its fine traditions. This particular program involved three works that demonstrate various aspects of Luisi’s craft. Known to Chicago Lyric Opera audiences through his debut with that house for its production of Verdi’s Rigoletto in 2000, Luisi is a deft conductor in the opera pit, and the performance this week of the famous overture to Weber’s Oberon left a strong impression of his facility with this repertoire.

Dating from 1826, the year Weber died, the Overture has been a regular part of the concert repertoire, even though the entire opera may be heard infrequently. The solo horn with which the Overture opens was executed well by Dale Clevenger, whose firm articulations and phrasing gave shape to the line, setting the tone for the rest of the piece, which followed in an exciting and idiomatic performance, also including some impressive work for solo clarinet by John Bruce Yeh. The strings were particularly rich in this reading of the Overture, and the difference from the CSO’s usual sound may have been the result of the seating, in which the violas took the place of the violins on the end of the stage to the right of the conductor. This, in turn, put the cellos almost in the center of the ensemble, a different place than usual for the CSO, but one which worked well. (The first and second violins were seated on the left-hand side of the conductor, with the first in the usual place, at the edge of the stage.) Luisi’s reading of the Overture was fresh and tuneful, as should be the case for this piece.

Yet the major piece in the first half of the program was Carl Nielsen’s Flute Concerto, which dates from 1926, a century after Weber’s Oberon. The CSO’s principal flutist, Mathieu Dufour was soloist for a  work that he had performed with the Orchestra in a previous season. A two-movement work, the Concerto is demanding for both the soloist and the ensemble, since the virtuosic solo passages are balanced by duets and other chamber-music-like passages involving various other instruments. While the first movement is fairly conventional in its structure, the second is more episodic, as the musical architecture makes use of various sections of the larger whole. The second movement’s tone colors shift as Nielsen showcases the flute sound against various other instruments and  while the solid string sound of the CSO was very apparent in the first movement, its winds and brass were more prominent in the second movement. Dufour’s extroverted sound is pleasing and round, with nothing equivocal in any register. He brings fine musicianship to his playing along with excellent tone which makes a work unfamiliar to many audiences sound at once comfortable and approachable. One of the major twentieth-century works for the flute, this Concerto is an impressive piece that demands a soloist of the caliber of Dufour, who delivered the score flawlessly.

The second half of the program was devoted to Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique, a work which is relatively contemporaneous with the Weber Overture that opened the program. Luisi’s performance of this familiar work was compelling from the start, with the first movement quite passionate and expressive. Just as he paid attention to the delicately quiet passages, likewise Luisi allowed the orchestra to give full voice to the climax of the movement. In this and the other movements of the Symphonie fantastique,  Luisi distinguished between the purely atmospheric passages and those which contained  Berlioz’ various melodic lines. Such distinctions were palpable in this performance and setting  it apart from many others.

The second movement, the ball scene, demonstrated Luisi’s clear focus further. Here the strings worked as a single unit, with the winds interacting almost seamlessly with them. In a work taking its cue from a program the composer had in mind, the sense of motion was vivid enough for any ball scene, even if the listener lacked access to the program notes. This was particularly noticeable in the conclusion, which left the strong impression when the ‘narrator’ starkly encounters his unnamed beloved in the ballroom.

The remaining movements were equally impressive, with the “Scène aux champs” receiving appropriate weight from its position at the center of the work. The English horn soloists were effective in setting the emotional tone, a critical detail for this movement, with the off-stage sound distant enough to suggest the required sense of  space. The famous “March to the Scaffold” followed in good order, and while it seemed a little faster than some conductors take the work, the second musical image of the narrator’s beloved at the movement’s conclusion was, perhaps, even  more grotesque because of the pacing. Without sacrificing detail at any point, Luisi arrived at an impressive overall effect which demonstrated the power of this movement to capture the imagination of listeners – something confirmed by the noticeable absence of audience noise throughout the Finale. With the "Dream of a Witches' Sabbath" a fine Berlioz performance that brought out the best from the CSO. This was  a particularly well chosen program for Fabio Luisi’s introduction to the Symphony Center audience.

James L. Zychowicz


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