Tag: Chicago

Palindromic beauty at the CSO with Vilde Frang and Hannu Lintu

Conductor Hannu Lintu congratulates soloist Vilde Frang following her CSO debut performance of Stravinsky’s Violin Concerto with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Photo Credit: Todd Rosenberg

Originally published at Seen and Heard International

Chicago’s first snowfall of the season also marked the return of Hannu Lintu to Orchestra Hall, though an afternoon rise in temperature meant that, by the time the maestro ascended the podium, snow had transitioned to rain and a steady melt. The meteorological pivot in some ways mirrored the contrasts the Finnish conductor was bringing to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. 

On his earlier visit to Chicago, Lintu balanced the familiar and the unexpected, pairing well-known crowd-pleasers by Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky with seldom-performed works by Saariaho and Mussorgsky. For this current engagement, Lintu—joined by the Norwegian violinist Vilde Frang, a rising star with an already formidable reputation—brought a program just as intriguing, with contrasts between pieces that exuded entertaining push-and-pull tension. 

Continue reading Palindromic beauty at the CSO with Vilde Frang and Hannu Lintu

The Muti era begins

Gerard Depardieu

I’m back from a short visit to Chicago. While I was there I had the chance to hear Maestro Muti lead the Chicago Symphony in their first subscription concert of the season. The buzz around Muti and the CSO is intense. Banners with Muti’s mug hang on just about every light pole in the Loop. Bus stop shelters have either audio or video advertisements for the CSO. A week prior 30,000 people ventured downtown to hear Muti lead the CSO in a public concert. All of this attention is expected of course. The CSO is a world class symphony with a world class conductor. The bar for this new partnership is set so high, one wonders whether the CSO and Muti and can meet expectations.

For the first subscription concert Muti reached deep into the bin of neglected scores. What he found was Hector Berlioz’s Lelio or (Return to Life). Lelio is the sequel to Symphonie Fantastique. It is the composer’s story of overcoming unhappiness and a “return to life.” At a basic level, Lelio is Berlioz’s rumination on art, society, and life. In between seemingly random musical interludes are wayward monologues. The monologues themselves are nearly as long as the piece’s music. Compared to Fantastique, Lelio is incongruous, episodic, rambling, and wildly self indulgent.
Continue reading The Muti era begins