An autopilot is a complex piece of equipment. The general term "autopilot" on most modern aircraft actually encompasses a set of systems that work together. Typically it includes one or more flight management computers, an autothrottle, a GPS and an inertial navigation system that all interact with two or more redundant autopilots, which are the systems that actually issue commands to the flight controls. The plane won't just fly itself unless you know how to operate these systems. Setting up a flight can take more than half an hour of preflight preparations of programming the flight computer and setting up the autopilot. Payloads and fuel burn have to be calculated, routes plotted, enroute weather needs to be inputted, the inertial navigation system has to be aligned, waypoints, cruising altitudes and climb profiles have to be entered. Even so, only the most advanced aircraft are capable of full, all-weather automatic landings and will need two or three parallel autopilots engaged to do so.
One should, therefore, not underestimate the work of a conductor in just getting an orchestra to autopilot through familiar repertoire. There is a similar amount of prep-work necessary in rehearsal just to obtain a coherent reading. But you don't need a technologically complex aircraft to have a memorable journey if the scenery is interesting and a good pilot is at the controls. A single-engine Cessna will do. And an autopilot is more of an obstacle than a help for virtuoso aerobatics. That's the difference between hearing committed youngsters such as the
UBS Verbier Orchestra with an inspired - and inspiring conductor - like Charles Dutoit perform
Symphonie fantastique, versus Kent Nagano and the CSO listlessly going through the same motions last night.
Nagano is a good autopilot operator. But wherever his heart was, it was not really in this performance. During his spoken introduction of the middle piece on the program - Unsuk Chin's
Rocana (more on that shortly) - Nagano offered a personal anecdote on the amazing powers of nature that inadvertently captured much of this conductor's attitude towards drama. He narrated how during San Francisco's recent spell of extreme gale force weather "two trees came crashing through the roof of my [Nagano's] living room and landed next to the piano. And I thought to myself: 'Wow! That's dramatic!'" That approximately encapsulates the level of engagement that Nagano brought to the stormy roller coaster scores of Berlioz's
Symphonie fantastique and Wagner's
Tristan Overture and Liebestod. Detached awe at external events rather than involved personal generation of drama. More stoned torpor than drugged-out frenzy.
You can hear in every note of Tristan that the CSO has played this numerous times to great acclaim. But yesterday's performance lacked any sexual tension, energy or premonitions of tragedy. From the flabby tremolos to the general lack of dynamic differentiation, it just wasn't there. The Berlioz was similarly competent and polite and ultimately unengaging. For all the expressive palette of the CSO, the performance just lacked atmosphere. The opening iteration of the
ranz des vaches from the third movement sounded more disturbing than the one that closes the movement, menaced as it was by scattered thundercells of bronchitis, seasonal allergies and sheer inattention among the audience. The three timpanists were no competition.
Just as an advanced aircraft possesses multiple safety systems that prevent crashes, an orchestra as accomplished as the CSO can navigate the treacherous pages of Berlioz's score comfortably with little guidance. Two or three barely noticeable bloopers and some lack of string articulation aside, the performance was technically on a very high standard. But it is sad when the hard work of so many excellent musicians artistically amounts to so little in the end - for example the superbly controlled pianissimo horn bits in the first movement and the excellent tuba-bassoon blend in the
dies irae in the last movement of the Berlioz. I've heard many acclaimed professional orchestras disintegrate in midair over Berlioz's demands in coordination, control and virtuosity. The CSO has no such troubles. It could have given so much more had Nagano known how to ask. Sure, there were a few odd phrasings and weird accents that suggested some half-hearted attempts at a "unique" interpretation. But ultimately, the pilot wasn't in command yesterday.
Nagano showed considerably more commitment in presenting the Chicago premiere of Unsuk Chin's
Rocana, meaning "light/space". It is a work of contrasting textures that very effectively makes use of the different colors of the full orchestra and an immense percussion arsenal. I would have to hear it again, but to this listener it wasn't as convincing structurally and seemed to loose focus about two thirds of the way before pulling itself together again for a final push. It is odd, though, to program such a demanding new piece alongside two very demanding, if familiar repertoire pieces. Works such as
Tristan and
Symphonie fantastique are an invitation to spend substantial rehearsal time probing finer nuances of expression even when conductor and orchestra are already very familiar with these works and with each other. That opportunity certainly was missed, possibly due to the amount of rehearsal time lavished on the Chin.
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