Gathering Note

Month: January 2026

  • Four Bruckner concerts and one conclusion

    Four Bruckner concerts and one conclusion

    Anton Bruckner has never resonated with me the way Mahler has. I don’t seek out his symphonies with any particular enthusiasm. When the mood strikes, I’ll put on a recording and settle into my listening chair, letting the music unfold. Friends speak of transcendence; I’m still trying to find my way in. Yet even if…

  • Liszt and Brahms become a refuge in Kirill Gerstein’s Chicago recital

    Liszt and Brahms become a refuge in Kirill Gerstein’s Chicago recital

    Moments before Kirill Gerstein took the stage Sunday afternoon at Orchestra Hall, the sounds of the city were not those of a typical pre-concert bustle. Along Michigan Avenue, marchers were demanding accountability from ICE for the killing of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. I’ve seen plenty of protests over the years; I remember Occupy Wall Street…

  • Waiting for summer and the Grant Park Orchestra

    Waiting for summer and the Grant Park Orchestra

    It is cold in Chicago—objectively, adamantly cold. An Arctic front has settled over the city, wrapping it in a willful chill. I find myself staying indoors as much as possible, venturing out only tomorrow to Symphony Center to hear Kirill Gerstein in the SCP piano series. Gerstein has long struck me as a connoisseur of…