The Chicago Symphony Orchestra presents Act II of Wagner's opera.
by
Paul J. Pelkonen
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra has a long tradition of presenting Wagner operas, from its 1891 stint accompanying the touring Metropolitan Opera (in an Italian-language performance of
Lohengrin) to a 1995 concert performance of
Die Meistersinger (which became a Grammy-winning 1997 recording) with the late Sir Georg Solti.
On Thursday night, conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen offered his own spin on this tradition with a 90-minute, intermission-less concert that paired the
Prelude from Act I of
Tristan with the complete second act of that opera. Performing the work in this fashion allowed the audience to hear this familiar music in a new way and focus on the grand love duet that dominates the second act. More importantly, Mr. Salonen, an award-winning composer himself showed the connection between the famous
Tristan chord and the tragic events that end the opera's second act.
Mr. Salonen took an idiosyncratic approach to the Act I
Prelude, He waited for absolute silence in Orchestra Hall before launching into the three-note figure that forms this opera's orchestral signature. The conductor sped up as the swell sound increased, leading the heaving central climax at a passionate clip. Throughout, there was a perfect, limpid clarity of strings, wind and horns, right down to the two cello plucks that lead into Act I.
