1st Live Encounter with Beethoven's 5th (by the CSO) Puts Me on the 9th Cloud -- Chicago Classical Concert Review

Classical Music Review

Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 67
Songs by Schubert and Strauss
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Jaap van Zweden, Conductor
Matthias Goerne, Baritone
February 8, 2015
(Same program on Feb. 5 & 7)
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Here's a piece of highly analytical, incisively astute and undoubtedly rather shocking arts criticism:

In performing perhaps the most famous composition in classical musical history, one of the world's greatest symphony orchestras sounded absolutely phenomenal. 

At least to my untrained ears. 

If you are looking for someone to assess whether on Sunday afternoon the Chicago Symphony Orchestra played Beethoven's 5th Symphony as well as they or some other orchestra did at some other point in time, well, to quote a Bob Dylan song (perhaps only because Ludwig didn't write lyrics as far as I know):

"It ain't me, babe, it ain't me you're looking for, babe."

When it comes to classical music, I'm about as far from an expert as anyone who enjoys and appreciates the art form can get. 

The number of classical pieces for which I could convincingly name the composer upon hearing even the most notable segment would likely be countable on two hands. 

And even though Beethoven's 5th is one of those, thanks to its famed "dun-dun-duh-dunnn" opening, if you played me a random minute of the near 40-minute symphony, chances are good I would draw a blank.

That said, much of it is familiar enough--if only through osmosis--or at least aurally congruent to the initial refrain, that the entire work sounds glorious. 

So even though when it comes to classical music, I simply like what I like, even without knowing what I'm hearing--with full orchestra pieces with sonically-exciting (i.e. loud and fast) sections being the most overtly savory ear candy--the truth is that familiarity certainly breeds delight. 

Hence, even though some may think a major metropolitan orchestra performing Beethoven's 5th Symphony is analogous to a classic movie house showing Casablanca, an opera company staging La Bohème or a purveyor of jazz recordings promoting Kind of Blue, I have no problem embracing artistic creations that are uber-famous.

They usually are for good reason. 

And opportunities--or one's one election--to see or hear them aren't nearly as commonplace as one may think.

But though I had desirably noticed Beethoven's masterpiece on the CSO's schedule months ago, I must plead the 5th and admit that I didn't have a ticket until about 30 minutes before I left for Symphony Center on Sunday. (That convolution of cliché doesn't quite work, but just go with it.)

Matthias Goerne

In checking ticket availability in recent weeks, I found prices--even way up in the gallery--to be $75+, well beyond what I could justify, especially as I was already booked to see a play at Goodman Theatre on Sunday night. 

So as much as I wanted to hear Beethoven's 5th by the CSO, I didn't think I would. 

But sometime after Noon, I got a text from my friend Paolo, who had a pair of tickets for the 3pm performance, one of which became available at the last minute. 

After working out some logistics regarding getting to the play that evening with my mom, I happily was able to accept Paolo's gracious offer and get to the symphony matinee. 

And I'm obviously glad I did.

Rather than Music Director Riccardo Muti, who I still haven't seen conduct the CSO as illness forced him to miss a few performances I attended early in his reign, the scheduled conductor was Jaap van Zweden, a Dutchman who is music director of both the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra.

Jaap van Zweden. Photo credit: Hans van der Woerd

I am pretty sure I will never really know or ascertain how much a conductor acutely affects during a performance. I once asked a non-CSO orchestra musician I met on a train and he said that while a given conductor can be pivotal in helping performers understand and prepare a piece ahead of time, and all the hand gestures do serve a definite purpose, the direct effect in real-time isn't all that great as the orchestra members generally know their parts and where they fit without seeing the cues.

But whatever Maestro van Zweden was supposed to do, it seems he did it very well. I have no reason to imagine what I heard would have been any better if led by Muti or anyone else.

Although Beethoven's 5th was clearly the main event, and promoted as such, the first half of the program was also rather enjoyable.

With acclaimed German baritone Matthias Goerne on vocals, van Zweden led the CSO through 11 brief songs either by Franz Schubert or Richard Strauss (see image at the top of this piece for the full list).

Other than in opera--and these weren't arias--I had never heard songs with lyrics/vocals in a classical music vein before. But while some pieces were more acutely pleasing than others and I don't think I'd have relished a full program of such songs, Goerne sounded terrific as did the orchestra.

Thus it made for an enjoyable opening half and nice accompaniment to Beethoven.

Still, when a young woman who was sitting next to me didn't return after intermission, I said incredulously to Paolo, "She left after the hors d'oeuvres???"

And what a main course to have missed; I'm delighted to have devoured it.

As I posted post-show on Facebook:

Hearing the Chicago Symphony Orchestra play Beethoven's 5th Symphony is about as good as music gets, at least in classical form.

And now, in almost 900 more words, I have pretty much said the same thing. I probably could have just used one:

Bravo!

The Muti Blues - The Mysterious Case of the Missing Maestro (and What I May Have Missed)

Classical Music Review

Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Guest Conductor: Harry Bicket
Symphonies by Mozart (#25 & 34) and Haydn (#39 & 89)
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
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In mid-September, with the type of fanfare usually reserved for new Cubs managers--and seemingly greater expectations--acclaimed Italian conductor Riccardo Muti assumed his post as Music Director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

As part of his much heralded inaugural fall residency--the Chicago Tribune dedicated a special section to Muti, an honor, in these days of evaporating newsprint, that I recall only the Stanley Cup-winning Blackhawks previously receiving this year--the maestro was to conduct a number of performances through October 17, including three of a program of Haydn and Mozart symphonies.

Although my knowledge of classical music is still extremely sparse, I have come to enjoy it far more than in my youth, and try to take in a few concerts and/or operas each year. So with all the hype about Muti, on Wednesday, September 29, I purchased a gallery ticket (the cheapest kind) to see Muti conduct the Mozart and Haydn pieces on Tuesday, October 5.

Here's what's happened in between, for those who don't keep up with these things:

Last Thursday and Friday, Muti conducted the Mozart/Haydn program, receiving a strong if not quite completely raving review from the Chicago Tribune's John von Rhein.

Saturday, Muti was to conduct a special Symphony Ball concert in his honor, but had to bow out due to illness (Tribune story here, including how the program was quickly revised and guest violin soloist Anne Sophie Mutter also filled in as a conductor).

By Monday morning, the Tribune reported that Muti was canceling the remainder of his fall residency concerts, saying: The Italian conductor, 69, is "suffering from extreme gastric distress" and, on the advice of local physicians, "must fly home to Milan to consult with his doctors," according to a statement released by the orchestra Sunday.

The same article also revealed that Harry Bicket would take over the final performance of Muti's Haydn-Mozart program on Tuesday, the one for which I had just bought a ticket 5 days earlier.

I looked on the CSO Website and it said, as it still does for Muti's upcoming scheduled fall performances:

CSO MUSIC DIRECTOR RICCARDO MUTI HAS REGRETFULLY WITHDRAWN FROM THIS PERFORMANCE DUE TO ILLNESS. TICKETHOLDERS SHOULD DIRECT ALL QUESTIONS TO OUR PATRON SERVICES DEPARTMENT AT 312-294-3000.

Now I imagine that means I could have called and requested a refund, as I don't think the Patron Services Department would be revealing whether it was an overload of Al's Italian Beef or Lou Malnati's Pizza that was wreaking havoc in the maestro's innerds. But as I honestly don't know if I could sonically distinguish the CSO from a very good college or suburban orchestra and would still be clueless if they had substituted pieces by Brahms and Bach for the intended ones by Haydn and Mozart, to skip seeing and hearing 50 gifted musicians because a different guy would be waving the baton, seemed kind of silly.

Although I'm sure that orchestra conductors must be vitally important, as a classical music novice I've long wondered how much the guy waving the baton really affects on a nightly basis. I mean, haven't the musicians been practicing for weeks on end and know the arrangements set forth in compositions written 200+ years ago? And aren't they looking at their hands and the sheet music, not the guy gesticulating wildly?

And if a new guy, albeit another "internationally renowned conductor" (I've never read of one who wasn't), could be brought in on a day's notice and be good enough not just to satisfy a lummox like me but actual symphony aficionados, well maybe this whole mythologizing the mighty Muti is a bunch of hoo-ha.

OK, OK, I'm sure he's as great as advertised and do hope his doctors in Milan can give him something more than the Pepcid he could have gotten in Chicago (I know if my gut was all jacked up, the last thing I'd want to do is fly 8 hours).

Obviously, he's seriously ill and I don't mean to make light of that. It's a shame for a whole bunch of people and I did admire the strides Muti was making to bring the CSO to different areas of the city (he was scheduled to hold an orchestra practice session in Pilsen).

But understanding the adage, "the show must go on," I just wonder how much I missed out on by having a substitute conductor. If it was immense, at least to the folks in the ritzy seats, shouldn't the performance have been postponed until Muti hopefully recovers?

That said, to this classical music moron, the symphonies played on Tuesday sounded just fine and really nice, even if not of the jump out of your seats and scream "Hallelujah" variety. I don't feel gypped because I saw the back of one guy's head instead of another's. It just seems kind of weird that such a big deal was made about "Muti, Muti, Muti" and yet he's seemingly (perhaps not in theory but definitely in reality) that easily replaceable.

The banners I included here were as close as I came to seeing the maestro; here's hoping I can get another chance, and even more so, that perhaps one day I'll be able to tell the difference.

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In the CSO program, where stuff about Muti takes up about 25 pages, I thought he answered the following interview question quite adroitly:

Why do audiences sometimes lose their concentration during performances?
Muti: Because the public often expects music to be spectacular, and many times music is the opposite.

Interesting, because I admittedly always love the faster and louder stuff in classical (and other musical forms with which I'm not deeply knowledgeable, like jazz), but know that in rock music a great slow song can be every bit as enjoyable as one that romps & stomps. But if it starts getting too slow at the symphony, sorry but true, I do get bored.

An Up & Down Evening as CSO Plays With Yo-Yo

Classical Concert Review

Chicago Symphony Orchestra
with guest artist Yo-Yo Ma, Cello
May 13, 2010
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Yo-Yo Ma has the distinction of being the only concert cellist, living or dead, that I can name. And though his name itself is quite memorable, I figure his renown--and numerous Grammy Awards--must be well-earned.

Having never seen him perform live before, and in sum only through a few short televised performances (including one at President Obama's inauguration), I purchased a ticket awhile back to see him Thursday night with the acclaimed Chicago Symphony (the same program was repeated Friday and Saturday).

Although far from a classical music aficionado or expert, I try to get to 1-2 CSO performances each season. Thus it wasn't a surprise nor cause for outrage that Yo-Yo Ma--as with other famed guest soloists whose names are promoted to prompt neophytes to buy tickets--was only onstage for 1 of 3 pieces played, or about 30 of 100 minutes of music.

As such, my "review," which especially in a classical music realm, should only be seen as a gauge of my personal enjoyment and not confused for a learned critique, covers the entire evening's performance and not merely the cello concerto on which Yo-Yo Ma performed in conjunction with the orchestra. A total of three pieces were played, all conducted by guest conductor Carlos Miguel Prieto (right).

While my evening at the symphony, was--as almost always--a worthwhile exploration beyond my natural entertainment habitats, I didn't acutely enjoy what I heard all that much, even compared to past CSO performances.

The first piece played, sans Yo-Yo Ma, was a suite from the score of the film Redes, composed by  Silvestre Revueltas in 1934-35. In simplistic terms, it didn't do much for me as it was somewhat dour and lacked the ravishing flourishes I like best in live symphonic music.

I felt similarly about the CSO's take on Shostakovich's Symphony No. 6, Op. 54, which concluded the evening. The last five minutes of the piece provided a scintillating crescendo, but the first 40 minutes or so seemed rather somnambulant, to the point that during the first half of it, one of the musicians (who wasn't playing during that section) seemed to be sleeping onstage.

As for the Cello Concerto, which the CSO commissioned from Dmitri Yanov-Yanovsky specifically for the Yo-Yo Ma engagement, the world premiere rendition was pleasant enough, though often musically dissonant, and rarely managed to enthrall.

While Ma's playing was beautiful, he didn't provide me with any "oh wow" moments that I've enjoyed from other acclaimed virtuosos, even in atypical realms (for me), such as Itzhak Perlman, Evgeny Kissin, Savion Glover, McCoy Tyner and numerous opera singers. Perhaps it is the muted nature of the cello or the parameters of the piece, but I couldn't really perceive that Ma was doing anything far beyond the presumed capabilities of the other 10 cellists onstage. Although I was watching his hands through binoculars nearly the whole time, nothing really made me sit up and take special notice.

I am certainly not knocking Yo-Yo Ma, of whom Tribune classical music critic John von Rhein suggests, "it's hard to imagine any soloist playing this music with greater mastery," but if I pay good money to see a performer who's name is printed on the ticket, I hope to come away understanding what makes him or her so singular. In this case I didn't.

(If you want a more professional take on the cello concerto and entire evening, read von Rhein's review, though you may be hard pressed to discern whether he liked it or not.)

The video below doesn't have much to do with the performance I saw, but a few years ago, Yo-Yo Ma put out an album where he played compositions by Ennio Morricone, who wrote some of the all-time great movie scores. This is one of them.