When not playing Beethoven, Muti is quirky, Robertson is contemporary

The symphony orchestras of both Chicago (HERE) and St. Louis (HERE) announced their respective 2012/2013 seasons. Each was interesting and noteworthy, but in very different ways.

• Chicago is old school:  big name maestros and soloists performing warhorses and their ilk.
  • When Riccardo Muti does step outside the traditional 19th-century Germanic repertoire, he is more likely to do it with neglected older pieces (e.g. Notturno by Giuseppe Martucci or Bohuslav Martinů’s oboe concerto) than with works written during his own musical career.  Notwithstanding a little Messiaen from Pierre Boulez, or one Lutoslawski piece care of Esa-Pekka Salonen and Yo-Yo-Ma, the season is a little too staid for my own personal taste.  All that said, I’m guessing that their subscribers love it, and the orchestra certainly plays the hell out of it.
  • One nice thing that the CSO does is bring in many of their guest conductors for two weeks:  Messers. Salonen and Boulez, plus Bernard Haitink, Charles Dutoit, and Jaap van Zweden all get a pair of programs to prepare.  Having that many conductors for more than a single week is an increasing rarity among 52-week orchestras.
• St. Louis is an older orchestra, but it is much more contemporary minded
  • Thank David Robertson for capitalizing on the opportunity with that community and orchestra.  It’s a rare concert in which he DOESN’T have a program which includes a piece from the 20th or 21st centuries.
  • Indeed, the concerts in which Mr. Robertson conducts during 2012/13 SLSO season actually have less challenging, more “user friendly” repertoire than he did during the 11/12 season.

Charles Noble, violist and blogger, shares his thoughts on Chicago’s season, as well as two other orchestras I had previously missed:  the Seattle Symphony and the Nashville Symphony.  Incidentally:  I’ve been following his blog, NobleViola.com,  for a little while, and have finally added it to the blog roll.

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Photo credits:

• Riccardo Muti:  Silvia Lelli (2005) for http://www.riccardomuti.com
• David Robertson:  courtesy of Opus 3 Artists