The initial time I heard the Chicago Symphony Orchestra perform the politically charged Shostakovich 10th was during the first week of October 1990. The second time was last weekend, the first week of April 2024. The 1990 performance stays in my mind for many reasons.
The Berlin Wall had fallen the previous November, leading to the rapid unification of West and East Germany on Oct. 3, the same week of the concert. The Cold War was ending peacefully and U.S.-Soviet relations were improving, so in July, 10 years into a career as an infantry officer, I resigned my Army commission to pursue a graduate program in literary studies at Northwestern University. After five years in the U.S.-Berlin brigade, I was back in Chicago, seeing the legendary Georg Solti conduct for the first time. I vividly recall Solti reminding the audience not to cough or make any noise because the concert was being recorded. His command authority reminded me of being back in the Army.
A week later, I was back in the Army. Iraq, under Saddam Hussein, had invaded Kuwait in August, and the U.S. was preparing for war in the Middle East. The Army had notified me that my resignation approval had been rescinded, and I was being extended indefinitely on active duty under a special “stop-loss” directive signed by President George H.W. Bush. I had a report date to be back in Berlin by mid-October. To be honest, the Shostakovich 10th did not make much of an impression on me at that first concert, as I was unfamiliar with the work and had deployment checklists running through my head that night.
The second concert, however, made quite an impression on me. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra and their new music director designate, Klaus Mäkelä, provided a riveting performance of a powerful program. I’ve already read various national reviews questioning his style and technique; or whether at 28 he deserves all the major job offers coming his way; or if he is taking on more work than he can handle. I’ll let the music critics debate his technique.
Terve, Klaus. I’m in full support of the young Finn and his reputation for pushing new and contemporary music, even though my musical preferences mainly run from 1700 to 1900. The names on the facade of Orchestra Hall, whose works typically appear in the programs, are the reason I have been a subscriber for more than 30 years. I look forward to hearing what hidden gems Mäkelä will bring us from his small nation’s rich musical heritage, such as another new piece from Sauli Zinovjev, whose “Batteria,” just given its first performance in the U.S. by the CSO and Mäkelä, was exhilarating.
In retrospect, the three decades between my concerts of the Shostakovich 10th suggest we are continually fighting similar wars, artistically and politically, between new musical works versus older, more popular works, trending versus traditional, and the merits of young upcoming conductors versus older, established conductors who often spend decades circulating their musical chairs between major orchestras.
Regrettably, new armed conflicts continue to erupt that are really just variations of old wars which were never resolved by previous military and political actions. We now know the U.S. victory in the 1991 Persian Gulf War did not bring peace, but created the conditions that led to the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and a predictably grueling insurgency with lingering consequences. The end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union did not bring peace, but led to an oligarchical Russia reigniting its long historical wars in Chechnya and reclaiming the Donbas and Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. Even while Russia expands its brutal war on Ukraine, there is again another war in the Middle East, threatening to spill beyond Gaza.
We also have problems at home, with many of our great artistic and cultural institutions struggling to recover from pandemic losses and declining attendance and revenue. Chicago’s hollowed-out Loop district and Mag Mile reflect the larger cultural decline. Recent writers, in Chicago Tribune essays and letters, have called for the cooperative development of an artistic-industrial complex, supported with city, state, federal and private funding, to revitalize Chicago culture. The National Endowment for the Arts has reminded us for decades that a great nation deserves great art, even as arts funding has been slashed over that time. These complex issues urgently need resolution if we want to remain a great nation.
Meanwhile, the message to Maestro Mäkelä is simple: Tervetuloa! (Welcome) We wish you a long and productive relationship with the city and its orchestra. But bring your sisu, because you will need it in Chicago.
Franz Burnier is an emeritus professor of English at the College of DuPage and a retired Army officer, who commanded troops in infantry and special forces units.
