The last time Christof Perick conducted the Utah Symphony, in March 1990, it was in a program of Mozart and Bruckner, specifically the former's Violin Concerto No. 3 and the latter's Symphony No. 4. This week he returns for another coupling of the two Austrian masters, this time pairing Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 27 with Bruckner's Symphony No. 7.
"It was what they asked for," the 45-year-old German maestro explains via telephone between stops in Indianapolis and Los Angeles, where he takes over next season as music director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.At the same time, he acknowledges, "it is very difficult to do something else with Bruckner except a tiny little Haydn or Mozart." Last year with the German National Youth Orchestra, he managed to combine the Bruckner Fourth with Ravel's "Alborada del Gracioso" and "Rapsodie Espagnole." But, he says, "everything else is very difficult to combine."
It's not hard to understand why the symphony invited Perick back to do more Bruckner. Last year I called his Fourth the first really idiomatic-sounding Bruckner I could remember hearing from this orchestra, praising in particular the warmth of the strings and the solidity of the brass. "That's really what took most of the work," he recalls, "to bring fullness, softness and richness to the brass."
Nonetheless he does not consider himself a Bruckner specialist, and informs me that even his job with the L.A. Chamber Orchestra grew out of his work there with the opera.
"I conducted a `Figaro' there in '85 and, since the L.A. Chamber Orchestra also plays in the opera, they invited me back the following year." Indeed, despite a growing number of symphonic dates in this country, it is as an opera conductor that Perick first made his mark both here and in his native Germany.
Born in Hamburg in 1946, Perick was surrounded by music almost from the cradle. With a father who was concertmaster of the Hamburg Philharmonic - an orchestra with a pretty respectable Bruckner tradition of its own - he himself studied not only the violin but also conducting, the latter with Wilhelm Bruckner-Ruggerberg, at that time principal conductor of the Hamburg State Opera. (Another influence was Wolfgang Sawallisch, currently music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra, who in 1961 succeeded Joseph Keilberth at the Philharmonic.)
Perick's own first position was as assistant at the Hamburg State Opera. That was followed by opera appointments at Damstadt and Saarbrucken and, for eight years, as Generalmusikdirektor of the city of Karlsruhe, where he and his actress wife still make their home.
Debuts in this country include San Francisco Opera in 1979, Lyric Opera of Chicago in 1983 - both in "The Flying Dutchman" - and the Metropolitan Opera in 1985, in more Wagner, "Die Meistersinger von Nuernberg." He has since returned to the Met to conduct "Hansel and Gretel," "Die Frau ohne Schatten" and "Fidelio." Also since 1985 he has been closely associated with the Deutsche Oper Berlin, first as principal guest and now as principal conductor, and in 1989 led the second of that company's "Ring" cycles in Washington, D.C.
Still, Perick does not see himself as an opera specialist either, except maybe in the German repertoire.
"In this country people tend to classify you either as an opera or as a symphonic conductor," he observes, "but there is not all that much separation in Europe. I've always done both and would not like to be without `Falstaffs' and `Tristans' in addition to the big symphonic repertoire, for the variety."
That's one of the things he says he likes about the L.A. Chamber Orchestra job, the fact that it's an opportunity "to go back to the symphonic roots, so to speak, to Mozart and Haydn as well as a lot of 20th century music." Along those lines, his first recordings with them, set next January, are of Haydn and the two Schoenberg chamber symphonies. Other late 19th and early 20th century composers who interest him include Franz Schrecker (whose Chamber Symphony he conducted in both Indianapolis and L.A.), Franz Schmidt (whose opera "Notre Dame" he has recorded for Cappricio), Rudi Stephan, Max von Schillings and Alexander von Zemlinsky.
Differences among orchestras he finds less pronounced. "Everything just seems to get more international," Perick says with a trace of regret in his voice. "The Japanese play Schubert like the Viennese and the Europeans sound more like the Americans."
If there is a difference, he reflects, it would be that from his standpoint European orchestras seem a little more flexible. "If you think of all the orchestras who just go and play `Arabella,' `Figaro' and `The Rake's Progress,' mostly without rehearsals. The problem is it brings with it a lack of quality here and there. What I love most about American orchestras is their high level of professionalism. Even without much rehearsal they all try to do their best."
Which in one case around a year and a half ago resulted in their sounding a little more like a German orchestra.
Perick's Mozart and Bruckner pairing will be presented Friday and Saturday, Nov. 22 and 23, at 8 p.m. at Symphony Hall. Soloist in the Mozart concerto will be 1984 Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition winner David Buechner. Ticket prices range from $10 to $30 ($5 students); for information call 533-NOTE.
(Buechner will also perform the Mozart earlier this week in concerts Tuesday, Nov. 19, at Brigham Young University and Thursday, Nov. 21, at Weber State University. For information see the Concert Calendar.)