Chicago Symphony’s Principal Trumpet makes an unusual “picc” for his local solo debut

A comfortable, old-friends vibe suffused the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s concert this past Thursday night, as former Music Director Riccardo Muti led the hometown band, and once and future principal trumpet Esteban Batallán soloed in a pair of short concertos. Everyone, musicians and audience alike, seemed to be having a great time.

The audience’s enthusiasm began even before the music did. Several stood to applaud Muti's initial entrance, to conduct Joseph Haydn’s Symphony no. 48 in C major, “Maria Theresa”. Muti coaxed a controlled, tidy sound from the orchestra, keeping everything within proper Classical-era boundaries, with careful attention to articulation. A few interesting oboe lines got buried in the texture, but overall the symphony was a model of Haydn. 

Muti is always a draw at Symphony Center, but the full house (which included the CSO’s own bass trombonist, Charles Vernon, who had no onstage duties) owed plenty to Batallán’s two programmed trumpet concertos. Batallán, who has said in interviews that Principal Trumpet of the CSO has always been his dream job, played in the Philadelphia Orchestra this past year, leading many to fear that he had left for good. In February, the CSO announced he would stay and, in fact, his many spring appearances made it feel as if he had never left. As a victory lap, Batallán made his solo debut with the orchestra here, with the interesting choice of two concertos – one before intermission, one after – both played on piccolo trumpet. 

Telemann’s Trumpet Concerto in D major, TWV 51:D7, packs four brief movements into its nine or so minutes. Batallán navigated the concerto’s high tessitura almost impossibly well, smoothing lines with very little attack sound, spot-on pitch, and a silvery tone. The program noted that the performances were the CSO’s first since 1971, when the soloist was the legendary Bud Herseth, the eponym of the orchestral chair Batallán is reoccupying. 

The post-intermission concerto was also Haydn – but Michael rather than Joseph. The D major concerto, usually numbered as 1, consists of a brief two movements, each with very high playing and each with a cadenza opportunity. In the first movement, Batallán opened with a soaring phrase, culminating in one of the highest notes a trumpeter can ever produce, and showing maybe slightly more human levels of intonation. During the fast second movement, Batallán, playing his own cadenza, chose a mellow, cantabile contrast that galloped upward to a climactic high note. The piece quickly skidded to its finish.

Following Batallán’s stratospherism, Schubert’s Fourth Symphony felt almost like an afterthought. Muti loves to show off the CSO’s ensemble by not beating time for a while, or by showing beats with gestures other than the usual shape patterns. During the symphony, he took this tendency nearly to the point of caricature, now pleading, now jumping back, now shaking his jowls, now picking apples or something. 

The orchestra did indeed stay together admirably, with maybe some imagined trepidation about when a ritardando was supposed to begin, and the articulations were clear and bold because of all that dancing around. The dynamics somehow suffered in this interpretation, seeming flatter than optimal, with crescendos not stirring the soul and the final bars not feeling indubitably final as they approached. These may be small quibbles, but when the conducting style is so showy, they feel more consequential.

If other audience members felt this way too, they didn’t skimp on their applause. After several curtain calls, Muti delivered a cut-off to the audience. See you next time.