Arts & Events

To cap off their weeklong residency at UC Berkeley, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra performed Johannes Brahms’ Symphony No. 2 in D Major and his Symphony No. 3 in F Major on Sunday afternoon, October 15, at Zellerbach Hall. Having heard Riccardo Muti conduct the CSO’s Friday evening concert, which featured a superb performance of Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4 in E flat Major, “Romantic,” I couldn’t resist taking advantage of an opportunity to hear this great orchestra once again, even if Sunday’s all-Brahms program was, to my mind, the least interesting of the CSO’s three concert programs here.  

Sunday’s concert began with the Brahms Symphony No. 3, about which I have very mixed feelings. I love the first and third movements, but I find the second and fourth movements turgid and, quite simply, boring. This symphony opens with three loud chords for the winds, and these chords offer a motto for much that ensues in the first movement. A sweeping first theme is heard in the strings against the three notes of the motto in cellos and basses. The second theme enters in the clarinet and then in oboe and cello. These two melodic subjects are developed while the motto repeatedly asserts itself, first in the oboe, then in the horn. The recapitulation section uses the motto as preface to a coda, and the first movement closes with the first theme repeated.  

The second movement opens with winds heard in four-part harmony. After some elaboration of this first theme, a second theme is heard in the clarinet and bassoon. The mood is meditative, though broken occasionally by vigorous outbursts from the violins. Then earlier materials receive some rather academic treatment, until the first theme returns to close out this movement. The third movement opens with a lilting, sweeping melody for cellos, decorated by arpeggios in the other strings. Here conductor Riccardo Muti employed broad, sweeping arm gestures to emphasize the expansive melodic line. The violins then repeat this melody before engaging in a fanciful dialogue with the cellos. The opening melody is then heard in flute, oboe, and horn. A second theme enters in waltz time for the woodwinds. To close out this lovely third movement, the opening melody returns, first in the oboe and, finally, in violins and cellos.  

The fourth and final movement brings about a change in mood. Now the music is dark and foreboding. The first theme is heard in strings and bassoons. Then a second theme, quite solemn, features strings and winds. But a sudden storm interrupts the solemnity in an outburst of strings and woodwinds. When the storm subsides, a stately melody ensues in cellos and horns, then is repeated in violins and woodwinds. This music moves from tenderness to feverish; but in the end a note of resignation dominates, as the work closes with a somber reprisal of the motto that opened this symphony. 

After intermission, Riccardo Muti returned to the podium to lead the CSO in Brahms’ Symphony No. 2 in D Major. This symphony has a refreshingly pastoral tone. It opens with bucolic horn calls and woodwind chords after a three-note introduction in the cellos. A soaring melody is heard in the first violins, establishing a sunny, happy mood. A lovely song ensues in the cellos and violas, then is repeated by the flutes. In the development section, there is a bracing passage for three trombones. After extensive development, the two main themes return, before a tranquil coda features a beautiful horn solo. This movement ends with a serenely sustained chord in the woodwinds. The second movement maintains the idyllic tone of the first. The cellos offer a gentle, reflective melody soon taken over by horn, oboes, and flutes. A second theme, also lyrical, enters in flutes and oboes. Massed strings assert a third subject, quite passionate in mood. However, the idyllic mood eventually prevails.  

The third movement offers a kind of brief scherzo. An opening theme is heard in the woodwinds, with pizzicato accompaniment by the cellos. Two trios ensue, separated by a restatement of the opening melody. The fourth and final movement opens with a melody for strings, taken up by the full orchestra. There is a sweeping quality to this initial statement. A second subject, heard in the woodwinds, offers a more subdued mood. Then a stately theme is presented in the violins, and a gay mood prevails. A joyful repeat of the opening phrase of the third theme brings this symphony to a happy end. Throughout this Brahms Symphony No. 2, Riccardo Muti led the CSO with both broad sweeping gestures and acute attention to detail and nuance. This was Brahms at his best. Bravo, Maestro Muti!