How strange it is to hear talk of the "Big Five" American orchestras in 2001!
This hoary roster - established more than half a century ago and including the major ensembles in Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, New York and Philadelphia - is not only long-outdated but downright misleading. Yes, these were once our wealthiest ensembles; yes, they were once perhaps the best we had to offer. But time has passed, and savvy American listeners haven't paid attention to this weirdly persistent hierarchy in many years.
(A quick disclaimer: I continue to serve as an artistic advisor to the St. Louis Symphony. Whether or not you will believe me when I say that, on any given night, it is likely to outplay most of the ensembles listed above is up to you, but it is the truth. I have no such connections to the orchestras in Los Angeles, Pittsburgh or San Francisco, however, and they are also likely to turn in extraordinary performances.)
Strangely enough, I have no reservation about naming the American "Big One." For clarity, finesse, versatility, fluency of ensemble and overall musical integrity, Christoph von Dohnányi's Cleveland Orchestra is unmatched in the United States; its only immediate rival is Vienna. I have not heard a less than distinguished performance from the Clevelanders in at least a dozen years.
With the advent of Franz Welser-Möst, this could all change. The retirement of a splendid conductor can have a devastating effect on any orchestra (on the basis of the five or six performances I've heard, the Berlin Philharmonic has never been quite the same since the death of Herbert von Karajan). One can only wish Welser-Möst well - he has a terribly difficult act to follow.
The other four of the traditional "Big Five" have been somewhat at sea. In Chicago, the "Daniel Barenboim Show" remains the sort of thing one likes if one likes that sort of thing. Myself, I generally find Barenboim rather ponderous - a sort of pocket Furtwängler without the Master's gait and puckish wit - although some believe his appointment had a salutary effect in the wake of the exaggerated frenzies of the late Georg Solti. Perhaps this great orchestra is now heard at its best under guest conductors, especially Pierre Boulez, who actually manages to keep the brass in check.
Meanwhile, the New York Philharmonic has recently ended its long and unusually public three-year search for a successor to Kurt Masur by appointing Lorin Maazel as the orchestra's next music director, effective at the beginning of the 2002 season. Maazel, who was not even considered as a possible music director until late November, had become the clear favorite of the Philharmonic musicians, who were deeply impressed by the authority and virtuosity he brought to two weeks of subscription performances. It is unclear, however, whether he will be able to win over the local critics, who have sniped at what they consider his showy micromanagement for years.
I suspect that the Philadelphia Orchestra will miss Wolfgang Sawallisch. At his best, he was able to summon the lush (and luscious) sonorities that had always been the orchestra's calling card. At all times, he was a serious and dedicated "old master," devoted to thoughtful and deeply musical performances of the standard repertory. Christoph Eschenbach remains something of a mystery to most American musicians: the word-of-mouth is generally good but not quite specific. Still, I don't fear for Philadelphia overly much; it remains too fine an orchestra to be in imminent danger of artistic diminishment.
Boston is another matter. In the opinion of many listeners, Seiji Ozawa has overstayed his welcome and a bad BSO night is about as bad as it gets - sloppy, uninspired, and sometimes (it seems) downright hostile. This is currently far and away the least regarded of the "Big Five" among critics and musicians, some of whom would not name it in any hypothetical "Big Ten."
Still, now that Ozawa is going to step down, the rumors coming out of Boston are exciting. Will James Levine - one of the great orchestra builders of our time - cut down on his time in New York, come north and work the same miracles he did with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, which may now be the top-ranking ensemble in Manhattan? I hope so: it seems a perfect match.
Meanwhile, Michael Tilson Thomas has taken the already splendidly-honed San Francisco Symphony and made it even better, with adventuresome and charismatic programming - it certainly deserves a place in any contemporary list of any "Big Five." Esa-Pekka Salonen has offered some quirky but generally admirable seasons in Los Angeles, to a mixed response from the local community, but few would deny that the orchestra is an excellent one. Mariss Jansons has taken Pittsburgh to a new level of accomplishment and his contract has just been renewed. And let's not forget St. Louis.
Meanwhile, the orchestras in Atlanta, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Dallas, Houston, Miami (the New World Symphony), Minneapolis, and Washington, D.C., can all play like angels when so inspired. In short, the United States is a big country and we have a lot of fine orchestras. There is no shame in outgrowing the "Big Five."
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© andante Corp. April 2001. All rights reserved.
