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From: greg@olivee.UUCP (Greg Paley)
Newsgroups: net.music.classical
Subject: Re: Re: Out-of-place Codas
Message-ID: <335@olivee.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 29-Apr-85 13:25:31 EDT
Article-I.D.: olivee.335
Posted: Mon Apr 29 13:25:31 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 2-May-85 01:03:14 EDT
References: <2429@randvax.UUCP> <1219@cornell.UUCP> <381@yale.ARPA>
Organization: Olivetti ATC; Cupertino, Ca
Lines: 71

> Yes, it's big and bombastic.  It's supposed to be; but there is
> an underlying hollowness and despair in the music that few conductors
> ever bother to bring out.  
> 
	...

> Haitink, by avoiding the romanticisms that Bernstein and Ormandy heap
> on this work in their recordings, and by keeping a steady rhythmic
> pulse, allows the symphony to develop as if in a trance, building up
> powerfully to the climaxes, as in the insistent march beat of the first
> movement's blistering culmination.  But Haitink only lets go at the
> coda, when, for about one mind-blowing second the entire orchestra
> suddenly comes to a halt, long enough to allow the bass drum two
> anguished gasps, before everything comes crashing down with the final
> tutti chord.  Simply overwhelming...
> 
> --Charles B. Francois   {...,decvax}!yale!francois

Charles, when I read the first section I'm quoting from your article,
I was about to question how a conductor could bring out (or fail to
bring out) qualities of hollowness and despair if they were apparent
from the music itself.

You answered it later by referring to the steady rhythmic pulse.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm taking this to mean that by "merely"
being as faithful as possible to the musical directions in the score,
he is managing to achieve the expressive effect that others miss when,
by ignoring or distorting the composer's directions, they deliberately
aim to be "expressive".

I haven't heard this recording, and have to admit to having a major
blind spot as far as Shostakovich's music is concerned.  However, your
description is plausible to me and ties in with what I've heard in
other Haitink performances.  He tends to be underrated, because of
a lack of "star quality" - he doesn't do the Bernstein dance act on
the podium, he doesn't attempt to beautify or round off the rough
edges of music as Karajan does (although he and his orchestras 
manage it spectacularly), and he doesn't create excitement by
exaggerating tempo and dynamics as I've heard Muti do.  He just
has his orchestras (I've heard him with Concertgebouw, London
Philharmonic, and Vienna Philharmonic) do what the score tells them.
Not that he's a mere time beater - his performances are always
enlivened by subtlety of tempo and inflection.  These are, however,
always those suggested by the score itself rather than his 
imposition of his own personality onto that of the composer.  In
this sense he "lets" the music happen rather than "making" it happen.

The only thing I'd argue with in your posting is the fact that I
feel you are crediting Haitink with certain things that really
are the achievement of the orchestral players themselves.  No matter
what qualities the conductor might see in a score and wish to bring
out, the burden of actually "doing it" rests on the players.

In fact, last week I witnessed a performance of Stravinsky's "Rite
of Spring" of tremendous intensity, but where the conductor himself
seemed NOT to be supplying it.  The conductor was Charles Dutoit
(who's been credited with making the Montreal orchestra a major
musical force) and the orchestra was the San Francisco Symphony.
I had a bit of insight to the preparations because of the fact that
several of the orchestral players are close friends.  Also, Davies
Symphony Hall has seats in what they call the "Terrace" that are to
the side of, and behind the orchestra.  Sitting in one of these
(parallel to the tuba and percussion) I was able to watch the
conductor from the perspective of an orchestra player.  His direction
was very clean, very precise, and had no visible power or intensity.
The players themselves, however, were putting forth tremendous
commitment and intensity, so that having someone as "cool and aloof"
to keep things together so that nobody got lost, the result was
a marvelous balance of expressiveness and musical accuracy.

	- Greg Paley