Predictable, stale and boring
U.S. maestro Lorin Maazel was in Seoul in March with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) as a last-minute replacement of the ailing CSO music director Riccardo Muti. He will be in Korea again at the end of the week with the Munich Philharmonic, where he has served as music director since 2012. / Courtesy of Vincero
Munich Philharmonic in Seoul to perform Beethoven again
By Do Je-hae
There was a time when Korean fans used to envy the Japanese audience that had the chance to hear top ensembles like the Berlin Philharmonic on a regular basis in their own backyard. But in the last few years, particularly since the mid 2000s, top European orchestras have consistently included Seoul in their Asia tours.
This, however, doesn’t necessarily mean that the local audience has been able to get the similar level of variety in the programs as the more mature classical market of Japan. After a five-city tour in Japan that included a program of Wagner, Bruckner, Respighi, the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra will be arriving in Seoul at the end of this week with a very overdone program of Beethoven symphonies.
There has been a rush of world-renowned orchestras visiting Seoul in the last few years, so their very presence is no longer news for local classical music fans. What matters to fans now is what they will be playing, and with whom.
In the case of the upcoming Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, a program of a pair of Beethoven symphonies couple with a piano concerto by the same composer seems uneventful and has fans asking, “more Beethoven?”
The orchestra’s Seoul tour comes amid a strange overflooding of Beethoven in Seoul’s concert halls in the last few months.
There was the two-day Beethoven symphony tour of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (BRSO) last November at Seoul Arts Center where they played symphonies No. 2, No. 3, No. 6, and No. 7.
In February, the London Symphony played Beethoven’s seventh symphony in Seoul and the Chicago Symphony played Beethoven’s third symphony “Eroica” in March, conducted by Lorin Maazel who will be leading the Munich Philharmonic in Seoul.
The Seoul Philharmonic under the renowned conductor Chung Myung-whun also gave a performance of the seventh symphony on March 14-15.
And the highlight of the Munich Philharmonic’s Seoul program is also Beethoven’s seventh symphony.
This is the German orchestra’s third visit to Korea, after 1997 and 2007. The orchestra will perform Beethoven fourth and seventh symphonies on April 21 at Seoul Arts Center.
Their second-day program is a little more varied, with Beethoven’s fourth piano concerto with the 19-year-old piano prodigy Cho Sung-jin and Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring.” Cho is a third-prize winner of the 2010 International Tchaikovsky Competition and is currently studying in Paris. He was here a few months ago with the Mariinsky Theater Orchestra under Valery Gergiev and has rarely played Beethoven publicly in his short career.
Repetition of Beethoven’s 7th symphony
The reason for the repetition of the Beethoven seventh is, of course, its undying popularity ever since its 1813 Vienna premiere. At its debut, the Allegretto, the second movement, had to be encored.
For concertgoers, it will be interesting to see how different the Munich Philharmonic, under Maazel, sounds in the seventh compared to the BRSO under Mariss Jansons or the London Symphony under Bernard Haitink.
The program leaves more room for excitement, but this doesn’t undermine the significance of their Seoul tour for classical music fans.
It is very rare for the Korean audience to have a chance to hear Germany’s top orchestras consecutively in a span of a few months, starting with the BRSO last November. After Munich, the Berlin Philharmonic under Sir Simon Rattle will perform in Seoul on Nov.11-12.
“What cities like Berlin, London, Paris and Munich have in common in that they each have at least three world-renowned orchestras. The first three are capitals, but Munich is the capital of the German state of Bavaria. That’s why it’s amazing that Munich has several elite orchestras, including the BRSO, the Munich Philharmonic and the Bavarian State Orchestra,” said Han Jeong-ho, PR official at Vincero said. “Citizens of Munich pride themselves in being able to hear the sounds great conductors like Lorin Maazel, Mariss Jansons and Kent Nagano in one city.”
Founded in 1893, the orchestra has gained its current reputation through several iconic musical leaderships, including ones by Rudolf Kempe (1967-1976), Sergiu Celibidache (1979-1996), James Levine (1999-2004) and Christian Thielemann (2004-2011). When Maazel’s term ends, Russian conductor Valery Gergiev will assume the position of music director in 2015.
The orchestra will travel to China after they conclude their Seoul tour.
Tickets for the Munich Philharmonic’s concerts range from 70,000 to 350,000 won. For more information, visit www.vincero.co.kr.