Festive and Enchanting: Muti conducts six concerts with the Vienna Philharmonic

When Riccardo Muti arrives in Chicago next week to conduct the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in three weeks of subscription concerts, it will be following six sold-out performances in Austria with the Vienna Philharmonic. These recent performances were heralded as “festive and enchanting”  by the local press, who consistently shower accolades on the well-matched artistic combination of Maestro Muti and the Vienna Philharmonic — a relationship that is some 50 years strong and described by Peter Jarolin of Kurier as “a decades-long artistic love affair.”

At these concerts, Muti conducted Mozart’s Symphony No. 35 in D Major (Haffner), Hindemith’s Concert Music for String Orchestra and Brass, Op. 50 and Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 5 in D Minor, Op. 107 (Reformation). His residency included five performances at the Musikverien and one performance in Graz as part of the Styrian Music Association’s presentations at the Musikverein für Steiermark, which, like Vienna’s Musikverein, is one of the world’s oldest music associations in addition to possessing a hall with some the most envious acoustics, the Stefaniensaal.

“The musicians were able to demonstrate their superior qualities under the star conductor from the start,” wrote Helmut Christian of the Kleine Zeitung following the Gratz performance. Die Presse described Muti’s interpretation of Mozart’s Haffner Symphony as “regal,” “beautiful” and “lively”: “It was a pleasure to see how devotedly the Philharmoniker devoted themselves to Muti’s direction.” Kurier raved: “Wonderful: in the details, singing-dancing in the middle movements and a fantastically accented finale.”

Kurier’s Jarolin considered Muti’s interpretation of Hindemith’s Concert Music for String Orchestra and Brass “an absolute highlight” of this latest series of concerts with the Vienna Philharmonic: “the strings and the sensational brass were able to shine in dialogue with each other. Terrific!” Die Presse added: “The neoclassical piece allowed [Muti], after the lush, crashing brass pitted itself against the supple strings, to then relish combining the two groups in tonal simplicity and perfect balance.”

Muti has often programmed this piece by Hindemith to showcase the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s own excellent string and brass sections, most recently on the January 2017 European tour, including performances at the Musikverein. Their last performances of the work in Chicago took place in both October of 2016 and 2015, in addition to performances on the January 2016 Asia tour in between. Muti last conducted the CSO in Mozart’s Haffner Symphony in October 2009 and Mendelssohn’s Reformation Symphony in February 2017.

Returning to the Philharmonic’s Austrian performances, Helmut Christian of Kleine Zeitung noted that the performance of Mendelssohn’s Reformation Symphony, “revealed the stature and quality of the renowned orchestra: with great precision, warm strings, radiant brass, rich in colors and dynamic gradations, the work resounded under the sovereign and precise baton of the Italian maestro.” The final movement, based on the chorale “A Mighty Fortress is Our God,” was played “exquisitely and solemnly” (Kleine Zeitung). All reviews commented on the standing ovations that followed the conclusion of the Mendelssohn.

Die Presse noted that the roads outside the Musikverein were closed for the Vienna Marathon. However, it was Vienna Philharmonic and Muti who were winning the race on the occasion of these concerts.