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Dresden Staatskapelle: Germans Divided By Philip Anson / January 28, 2001 Avery Fisher Hall Lincoln Center, New York Jan. 28, 2001 The Dresden Staatskapelle (which I will refer to as DS, though its proper German name is the Sächsische Staatskapelle) performed at Lincoln Center‘s Great Performers series on its recent 12-city American tour. This was the orchestra’s 8th US tour since 1979. New York was the only city that got two concerts. On Jan. 26 in Alice Tully Hall we heard two Beethoven symphonies, and on Jan. 28, Mahler’s Symphony No. 6. Much has been made of the DS’s illustrious history. It was founded in 1548, and has been conducted by every major maestro in the last 400 years, from Schutz and Mozart, to Weber, Wagner, and Strauss. Critics such as Beethoven and Jean-Jacques Rousseau praised it in print. Such genealogies and testimonials are impressive, but have little or nothing to do with the DS’s artistic profile and performances today. A quick look at the band reveals that DS musicians are surprisingly young. They seem to be mostly under 40, which makes them part of the post-WW II, post-Dresden firebombing, post-Reunification, new European Union generation. As such, they have about as much in common with Heinrich Schutz, JS Bach, and the princely court of Saxony as today’s New York Philharmonic musicians have in common with Henry Purcell or Queen Elizabeth I. In other words, the historical connection is romantic but theoretical. Conductor Giuseppe Sinopoli, who has been the DS’s music director since 1992, is key to the DS’s current status. He seems eager to sever all ties with this orchestra’s past, and Germany’s tumultuous history in general. With his academic background in medicine, archeology, and psychology, Sinopoli is very much a man of the present and future. His mission in Dresden has been to create a group that speaks to the 21st century. To judge by the New York concerts, Sinopoli’s scorched-earth policy has created an orchestra with a flawless technique, iron discipline, and a pitilessly objective perspective. They play supremely well, but with a disturbing emotional amnesia regarding the affective essence of the Romantic repertoire they play. In other words, they seem afraid of music’s evocation of pleasure and pain. In Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8, the opening Allegro was restrained, even repressed. In the Mozartian Allegretto one noted the dainty, wristwatch precision of the loud-soft dynamics -- an effect which sometimes verged on parodic. The robotic Minuetto was more of the same, and here one noted the only technical problem of the whole concert -- the horns were a bit edgy, perhaps from trying to produce an authentic “valveless” tone. One marvelled at the orchestra’s polish, while feeling cheated of emotional satisfaction. Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 is a more interesting piece, and the orchestra let loose a few times in the first movement, proving that it was capable of touching our deeper feelings. The Allegretto mixed pastoral banality with an impressive funeral march, but then ended on a dry whimper. The Scherzo was perfect -- and perfectly forgettable. The concluding Allegro was marred by harsh wind and flute punctuation reminiscent of a military band. On Sunday, Jan. 28, the DS played Mahler's Symphony No. 6 with admirable tonal accuracy and discipline, as pure and glittering as a diamond. Yet one longed for the mystical opalescent flickerings and incense that match Mahler’s troubled, Jewish-Viennese soul. As the Washington Post noted, “Everything ... was either an eruption of violence or a blank space.” I must confess that during the Mahler I had the bad luck to sit beside a posse of rude bracelet shakers, candy eaters, and senile gossipers. I changed seats three times in a vain effort to secure peace and quiet. But by then the concert was ruined for me. Lesson of the day: avoid the abominably behaved weekend and matinee audiences in New York. The DS is an impressive animal (as the LA Times wrote, Sinopoli “blankly turned on this wonderful machine and let it run”).The uniform bowing of the strings, the precision of entries, the metronomic rhythm of Sinopoli’s beat, all make for a technically impressive visual and aural spectacle. But such mathematical triumphs don’t touch the heart. Paradoxically, Sinopoli has expressed a theory that great music is the product of neurosis, and should be played as such. Yet his conducting is dead compared to the recordings we have of rigid, no-nonsense orchestral taskmasters like Furtwangler, Bohm, Reiner, and Szell. There is no question that the DS seems capable of much more, and that Sinopoli is part of the problem, not the solution.. As the Washington Post wrote, the Dresden Staatskapelle is “fine instrument in the hands of a dangerous man.” Yet, in the record business, someone must like Sinopoli. He was an exclusive DG artist from 1983 to 1994, and now also records for Teldec.Despite the crash of the classical music market, companies have invested large sums in his opera recordings which have been (despite a few industry awards) mostly forgettable. Over the last decade he has endisked a Bruckner symphony cycle, Richard Strauss’s Elektra, Frau Ohne Schatten, and Friedenstag -- and I don’t know anyone who bought them, listened to them, or especially liked them. Amazingly, Sinopoli will be recording Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos and Der Rosenkavalier this season. Go figure. Great Performers at Lincoln Center continues through May 2001 with dozens of world class musicians and ensembles. For full info: Website: http://www.lincolncenter.org/gp2001/index.htm
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