Any doubts as to how the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and its audience would embrace Bernard Haitink in his first appearance as principal conductor vanished during the magnificent performance of Mahler’s Third Symphony the CSO delivered for the revered Dutch conductorThursday at Symphony Center.
The performance, and the heartfelt ovation that followed it, signaled the beginning of an historic musical era for the orchestra.
Everything about the Mahler Third is excessive, from its six-movement, 105-minute length to its huge orchestral forces, to its vaulting metaphysical reach. The symphony takes us from primordial nature stirring to Pan’s pipes to military marches and the songs of angels and then deposits us at God’s doorstep. It requires a great Mahler conductor like Haitink to fuse the disparate elements convincingly.
At 77, he has lived with this music long enough to understand its scale and structure, its inner life and underlying pulse, its dreams and visions, and how the wealth of detail shapes the vast, overarching whole.
He communicated it all with an uncluttered honesty, directness and a calm certainty of purpose that allowed nothing to get in the way of uncovering musical truth. It was fascinating to observe this master musician conducting Mahler with vigor undimmed. If Haitink tends to be an undemonstrative Mahlerian, one should not mistake his lack of fuss for any lack of feeling. Mahler’s music is packed with enough emotion and drama already; conductors don’t need to impose anything on it. But neither does Haitink take anything away from it.
The CSO has played the Mahler Third on many occasions but almost never with the degree of concentration, fervor and refinement it summoned for Haitink at this performance. He assembled the 40-minute opening movement patiently and deliberately, from the mighty opening fanfare of nine horns onward, making Mahler’s quivering silences count for as much as his thunderous climaxes.
The “flower” minuet flowed with a natural lilt and an unpressured warmth of string tone.
The offstage posthorn solo, played by trumpeter Chris Martin, came to us like a pastoral dream, ushering in the setting of Nietzsche’s “Midnight Song” (“O man, give heed!”), sung by Michelle DeYoung with a darkly burnished sound and affecting expressive gravitas. Then the mezzo took her place in the brief fifth movement with the merrily pealing women’s voices of the CSO Chorus and Chicago Children’s Choir.
But it was the sublime, transcendent finale toward which everything built, and Haitink rightly made it the beating heart of his performance. His way with this long Adagio was not so much to control its seamless flow as to empower his players to convey its wonders to us.
By the end, when the music emerges into the light of pure celestial joy, we felt profoundly moved, forever changed.
Among the superb solo players, none was more impressive than Jay Friedman in his seamless trombone solo.
With Haitink and the CSO, a great musical partnership has been born.
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jvonrhein@tribune.com
The program will be repeated at 8 p.m. Saturday; phone 312-294-3000.
