Lucerne, August 16, 2024
The Lucerne Summer Festival, this year themed around “curiosity,” is a global reference among symphonic music festivals. A few prestigious guest orchestras come to support the two local orchestras, the Lucerne Festival Orchestra and the Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra. Initially formed by Ernest Ansermet in 1938 and dissolved in 1993, the Lucerne Festival Orchestra was re-founded by Claudio Abbado in 2003, drawing from musicians of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and players selected by Abbado from the best European orchestras. Now primarily conducted by Riccardo Chailly, this orchestra has become legendary, and each of its concerts is an event. What is interesting, in connection with Gustav Mahler, is that Claudio Abbado’s initial project was to perform a complete cycle of Mahler’s symphonies with this orchestra “tailored to his hand”; which he did, except for the 8th, which never went beyond rehearsals as the conductor was not satisfied with the result (the 8th was not Abbado’s favorite symphony, to put it differently).
For the festival’s opening this year, the 7th Symphony was chosen, with Riccardo Chailly conducting. The concert began with opening speeches and tributes to Wolfgang Rihm, who passed away in June 2024, a great friend of Lucerne and artistic director of the Festival Academy, which gathers a hundred young musicians each year around the contemporary repertoire. After an initial piece by Lisa Streich performed by the Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra, which doesn’t warrant much attention, a magnificent piece by Wolfgang Rihm, Enster Gesang, opened the second part of the evening. Finally, the much-anticipated 7th Symphony followed.
The 7th Symphony is certainly not an easy piece, even for an orchestra as talented as the Lucerne Festival Orchestra. The gigantic first movement, complex and dark, requires not only perfect execution but also a clear and assertive vision from the conductor. Contrary to expectations, these two dimensions appeared somewhat weak, especially at the beginning of the movement. There were some instrumental weaknesses in the brass section (despite an astonishing tenor horn), an unbalanced orchestra that took almost the entire movement to settle, and a somewhat confused vision, oscillating between a martial and mysterious character in an unconvincing blend. There was no dramatic tension at the end of the movement, which is usually marked by an irresistible climax. The two Nachtmusiken and the Scherzo were much more successful, thanks to the individual performances of the soloists (woodwinds, horn) and the beauty of the string sections. Yet again, the narrative was uncertain, especially in the Scherzo. As for the Rondo – Finale, it suffered from the same weaknesses as the first movement, revealing more confusion than unity, with poorly balanced orchestral tuttis. Were one or two more rehearsals needed, as the orchestra had just reunited for a month-long festival? Probably. But the 7th Symphony is unforgiving in concert, and so far, only two performances have truly stood out: Kirill Petrenko with the Berlin Philharmonic, also in Lucerne (reviewed on this site), and Daniel Harding with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in Leipzig in 2023 (also reviewed on this site).
A slight tinge of regret, then, for a concert that promised to be exceptional but turned out to be “just” good. We are already eagerly awaiting next year’s program to see which symphony will be performed and with which conductor!
Hervé Le Guennec
