Bow down to the Vienna Philharmonic’s tremolo. This is the trembling, hazy effect that string players can make by lightly quivering their bows. Usually very quiet, signifying tension or expectation, tremolos are often designed to be listened past. They don’t tend to be something anyone dwells on or remembers. But passing details of texture like this are what the Viennese — who had their annual three-concert stand at Carnegie Hall this weekend, with pillars of the repertoire by Mozart, Schubert, Bruckner and Dvorak — do better than perhaps anyone else.
Soft but alert and full of energy, the vibrating was less a sound than an atmosphere, an almost palpable animating of the air. It wasn’t distracting, but it was arresting — infusing and enriching the music layered atop it.
The Philharmonic achieves little wonders like this regardless of who’s on the podium. Still, the proud, vigorous dignity of these concerts can be at least partly ascribed to Riccardo Muti, in programs notable for including two symphonies by Schubert, one of his touchstones.
At 83, Muti is basking in the twilight of a storied and beloved career. He officially left the music directorship of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra two years ago, but has been helping to care for it until the 29-year-old Klaus Mäkelä can take over in 2027. In January, Muti toured with the Chicagoans to Carnegie; with these Vienna concerts, his winter in New York has felt like a victory lap.
His style is no-nonsense: songful yet firm. The Philharmonic’s performances were not the place to go for idiosyncratic tempos or willful phrasing, but for spirited and unimpeachable performances of totemic standards. And, for good measure, a couple of glances off the beaten path: the Stravinsky, which is heard more often as the score for a classic Balanchine ballet, and Alfredo Catalani’s heart-on-its-sleeve “Contemplazione,” a nod to Muti’s championing of lesser-known Italian composers.
It is remarkable how different the Viennese sometimes play compared with other major orchestras of Europe and the United States. Sections do not always immediately fall into place; it’s not unusual to feel like part of the ensemble is pressing the tempo a hair, or that another is trying to pull back on the reins, before everything genially aligns.
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