Features: The Unfinished Symphony
Flawed performance behavior, inattentiveness, musical errors — these are certainly not the norm for the 104-member Philadelphia Orchestra. But these episodes do represent several small cracks that are beginning to show in the orchestra’s once-flawless foundation. Such problems have been gaining national scrutiny since the arrival two seasons ago of a new music director, Riccardo Muti, focused critical attention on where "the Philadelphia" had been and where it might be going.
The orchestra under Muti gained worldwide attention last
with its three-week European tour. But in cities such as Berlin Vienna and London, audiences came to hear the maestro-~ European favorite-more than they came to hear the orchestra, In the United States, just the opposite is true.
To discover just what the rest of the country is thinking (and writing) about the Philadelphia Orchestra, surveyed a number of the nation’s major music critics. Many of the critics have heard the orchestra live in the past two years, either on tour or in the Academy of Music. Those who have attended recent concerts have heard the orchestra on radio, records and television. It is the function of a critic, of course. to be critical. Some of their fault finding may be the product of regional hostilities, since big orchestra towns often carry on a kind of friendly rivalry. Yet, out-of-town critics also have a different perspective, one less clouded by historical affection and native boosterism. In examining the possibility of a change, perhaps for the worse, in the Philadelphia Orchestra’s national reputation, one labors under the extraordinary weight of separating legend from reality.
The Philadelphia Orchestra was organized in 1900 as a civic afterthought to the construction — 45 years before — of the Academy of Music (then used almost exclusively as an opera house). Today, the orchestra is a cultural monolith, as staid and sailable as the blue-chip investments of many of its sponsors. The orchestra is no mere assemblage of musicians; it is not simply the product of one conductor’s taste or direction. orchestra has become an almost mystical presence whose excellence over the years has been taken for granted, The consideration of a change in that assumption may be viewed many Philadelphia Orchestra loyalists as traitorous. Yet those who love music as an avocation, and among those love and write about it professionally, the image of the Philadelphia Orchestra is changing.
