Events
Public Critics Series
Pyotr and the Dvorak, Courtesy of the Chicago Philharmonic
I was apprehensive about reviewing the Chicago Philharmonic’s Sunday concert at Northwestern’s Pick-Staiger Auditorium due to a multitude of conflicting interests. My mother is on the orchestra’s board; I had given a talk about the performance; I’ve written grants for the group; my parents are donors; orchestra members are personal friends and former teachers of mine; I even played with the group once. I was concerned that if the concert were sub-par, I would have to figure out a way discreetly to suggest as much. Fortunately, that unenviable task was not to be mine, as the concert was thrilling. All that said, given these conflicting interests, you are cordially invited, as always, to ignore every last comment I might have about the performance.
Chicago Philharmonic Steeped in Czech and Russian Sound
The Chicago Philharmonic exploded in late-Romantic fireworks Sunday night, as conductor Larry Rachleff led Dvorak’s Symphony No. 6 (1880) and Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 (1875) with Russian pianist Vladimir Ovchinnikov at Northwestern’s Pick-Staiger Concert Hall.
Handel Crosses the Channel (Music of the Baroque)
As Mel Brooks once put it, “it’s good to be the king.” If you were a British royal in the 18th century, it meant having the cosmopolitan and talented George Frederic Handel at your disposal, conjuring regal music to celebrate all the important milestones in your life. Hand-picked from over 40 years that Handel spent in London, Jane Glover’s Music of the Baroque performed three of his pieces at the Harris Theater that collectively traced the arc of a royal life, from divinely-inspired birth through marriage and death.
Isbin and O'Connor Offer Rich Folk Images in Virtuosic Performance
In guitarist Sharon Isbin and violinist Mark O’Connor, the music world has two of the most versatile artists, each capable of presenting a varied and engaging solo recital. Additionally, each has a compulsion for collaboration, and a large audience at the Harris Theater Saturday night found the duo bridging both formats.
Bach and Friends Reaches Far, Falls Short
Michael Lawrence’s new documentary, Bach and Friends, is a two-hour love letter to the Baroque master featuring commentary and performances by Joshua Bell, Béla Fleck, Hilary Hahn, Bobby McFerrin, Edgar Meyer, and the Emerson String Quartet, among other musicians and historians. The film attempts to answer the single question, “Why is Bach great?” To formulate a response, Lawrence begins to examine Bach from the perspectives of improvisation, science technology, electronics and gaming, mathematics, biography, and performance technique.
The Music of Hong Kong Arrives in Chicago
On Thursday night the Windpipe Chinese Ensemble gave its North American debut at Northwestern’s Thorne Auditorium. The one night only concert was the product of a collaboration between the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office of New York (HKETO), and Chicago’s own Fulcrum New Music Project, in celebration of the Chinese New Year.
As people were filing into Thorne before the performance began, footage of the Windpipe Ensemble doing presentations at two Chicago public schools was projected on the back wall of the stage. (The obviously tireless group did these despite having a total of 36 hours in Chicago.) The students looked engaged and impressed, though perhaps a little mystified, which mirrored my own reaction to the beginning of the concert.
The CSO Goes Greeκ
In a season that already has heavily focused on the music of Igor Stravinsky, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra proved once again to be a masterful interpreter of the Russian composer’s art, presenting an enlightening take on his Ode, Apollon musagète, and Oedipus Rex with the Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony, Michael Tilson Thomas.
A Lovely Evening with the Chicago Chamber Musicians
So I’m a sucker for great wind playing; I guess almost a band geek. But the first half of last night’s Chicago Chamber Musicians’ concert at Gottlieb Hall was proof (not that any was needed) that a bunch of wind players have as much a place on a beautiful concert stage as on a football field. The program opened with Franz Krommer’s B-Flat Partita. A renowned oboist once said of this work specifically, “It’s the kind of music that, you know, needs a little help.” Well, the CCM players gave it that and a lot more. I was “blown” over by the nuances and emphatic attention to detail the group displayed. Pitch perfect, wide dynamic range, all that good stuff. Charles Geyer’s trumpet playing added flair to the ensemble (as did, I suppose, Krommer’s instrumentation), and Dennis Michel showed off his superb technique and tone in some virtuosic passages in the closing rondo.
Chicago A Cappella Sings Spirituals with Dedication, Élan
In the program notes to this past weekend’s Chicago A Cappella concert at the Music Institute of Chicago, Artistic Director Jonathan Miller remarks that “for many of us, the spiritual has at its essence the quality of a gift-- a gift which is not meant to be hoarded, but shared and passed on to others.” This ethos of sharing and a passionate reverence for the source material were the pillars upon which the nine-member vocal group built their concert of varied spirituals, a testament to the power of this affecting music and to the communicative potential of the human voice.
ICA Trio Warms Belden-Stratford Lobby
The International Chamber Artists Trio performed by lamplight in the Belden-Stratford lobby Sunday, giving the hour-long concert the intimate feel of a salon performance. The hotel arranged the lobby’s couches and armchairs into a semi-formal, but comfortable, concert setting for Astor Piazzolla’s Tango Suite and Beethoven’s Piano Trio in D Major, Op. 70, subtitled “Ghost.”
Violinist Elizabeth Choi opened with the Suite’s twisting melody, followed in kind by pianist Patrick Godon and cellist Jocelyn Butler. The cello melodies throughout the Andante were well-served by Butler’s sweet tone. Though the trio gave the Suite a technically proficient reading through Piazzolla’s demanding rhythms, the third movement finally carried the energy that seemed absent during the first.