Centennial at Symphony

By Michael Walsh

Boston celebrates with a bash--and world premieres

Mstislav Rostropovich was there, wrapping his cello in a warm Russian bear hug as he dashed off two movements of a Haydn concerto. Violinists Itzhak Perlman and Isaac Stern were on hand too, the picture of collegial conviviality in a Vivaldi double concerto. Soprano Leontyne Price, the diva di tutte le dive, sang arias by Verdi, Richard Strauss and Puccini with resplendent warmth and freshness. And there was Pianist Rudolf Serkin, happily singing along as he performed in Beethoven's Choral Fantasy. At the end, Isaac Stern struck up Happy Birthday, and 2,600 fashionably dressed folk in Symphony Hall joined in.

The occasion for this glittering gathering of musical talent last week was the 100th anniversary of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The gala concert, televised in Europe (and to be broadcast in the U.S. by PBS on Nov. 4), was followed four days later, on the actual centennial day, with a performance of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 on the Boston Common, led by Music Director Seiji Ozawa, 46, before 40,000 listeners from Brockton to Beacon Hill.

When Georg Henschel gave the first downbeat on Oct. 22, 1881, he brought to life the dream of Major Henry Lee Higginson--Civil War veteran, philanthropist, amateur musician and founder of the Boston Symphony. Under a succession of Germanic conductors the young orchestra survived and flourished, moving into its incomparable home, Symphony Hall, in 1900. The modern, French-Russian character of the B.S.O. dates back to 1918, with Conductors Henri Rabaud, Pierre Monteux and, most important, Serge Koussevitzky. During his 25-year reign--from 1924 to 1949--Koussevitzky. During his 25-year reign--from 1924 to 1949 -- Koussevitzky presented 125 world premieres, aggressively supporting American music and taking a whole generation of composers, including such disparate figures as Aaron Copland and Howard Hanson, under his wing. Continuing this tradition, the B.S.O. is celebrating its birthday by commissioning twelve new works from leading international composers; after all, this is the orchestra responsible for such masterpieces as Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra and Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms.

Given the B.S.O.'s French-Russian schooling--taught principally by Monteux, Koussevitzky and Charles Munch--it is not surprising that its virtues are brilliance and color, enhanced by characteristic American precision. Ozawa, music director since 1973, describes the sound as "very exact, very clean. It uses subtlety rather than power. It is very colorful." The B.S.O. plays great romantic symphonies and the orchestral showpieces of Strauss, Hoist and Respighi very well, especially in the flattering confines of Symphony Hall. Musicians agree that the acoustical warmth of the auditorium contributes to the orchestra's quality. "It gives a rich amber sound to the strings," notes Boston Pops Conductor John Williams. Agrees Ozawa: "The hall does something to the timbre."

The B.S.O. is weaker in earlier music, tending to be sluggish and bottom heavy when it should be more refined and elegant. In recent weeks, performances of Schubert's "Unfinished" Symphony, Beethoven's Symphony No. 8 and Mozart's Symphony No. 28 have all been marred by Ozawa's ponderous interpretations. Ozawa's depth has long been questioned, and he is generally much more successful with the romantic warhorses or even modern pieces--as he was with the world premiere of Robert Starer's lean but melodic Violin Concerto and Tchaikovsky's noisy Francesca da Rimini--than he is with the classical repertory.

The Boston Symphony is regularly included in the list of "Big Five" U.S. orchestras. It provides employment for 102 musicians year round--including, since 1938, summers at Tanglewood, its magical retreat in the Berkshires--extensive touring, recording contracts, television appearances both as the B.S.O. and its lighter alter ego, the Pops. The orchestra has also largely escaped the labor problems that have afflicted other major symphonic ensembles and presents the image of a happy family. Says Bassoonist Sherman Walt: "It's a treat to play here." In a town saddled with the perennially flawed Red Sox, the B.S.O. is a winner.

Ranking orchestras is a dubious business, but it would be incorrect to say the Boston Symphony is the best in the U.S., or even that there is a Big Five any more. The Cleveland Orchestra, under Lorin Maazel, has become the most beautifully balanced American ensemble, with the richest, warmest sound. The sheer virtuosity of Sir Georg Solti's Chicago Symphony is without peer domestically, whatever Solti's interpretive excesses. The other two members of the Big Five are the Philadelphia Orchestra, once magnificent but facing an uncertain future in the hands of its new music director, Riccardo Muti, and the New York Philharmonic, a temperamental band, even under Zubin Mehta, that rarely deserves to be included in such fast company. There are worthy, even splendid, orchestras in such cities as Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Cincinnati, Buffalo, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco that do not deserve also-ran status.

Still, the B.S.O.'s claims to fame are strong. Like the greatest symphonic organizations, it has a noble tradition and a distinctive sound. Its home-town appeal extends from the white-haired ladies who sip cranberry juice at intermission of the Friday afternoon concerts to the young physicists and computer scientists who fill the hall on Saturday evening. Isaac Stern, in a birthday greeting, was right when he called it "a great Boston tradition that continues to enrich our nation."

--By Michael Walsh.

Reported by Barry Hillenbrand/Boston

With reporting by Barry Hillenbrand

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