Chicago Symphony players show their brilliance as chamber musicians

By Timothy Robson, 15 January 2021

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“this Ravel matched precision, texture and emotion into a superb and exhilarating unity”

Reviewed at Chicago Symphony Center, Chicago on 14 January 2021

Gounod, Petite Symphonie for wind instruments

Mozart, Quartet in D major for Flute, Violin, Viola and Cello, K285

Ravel, String Quartet in F major

Musicians from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Emma Gerstein, Flute

Stephen Williamson, Clarinet

Wagner Campos, Clarinet

William Buchman, Bassoon

Miles Maner, Bassoon

David Cooper, French horn

David Griffin, French horn

Stefán Ragnar Höskuldsson, Flute

Robert Chen, Violin

Li-Kuo Chang, Viola

John Sharp, Cello

Stephanie Jeong, Violin

So Young Bae, Violin

Lawrence Neuman, Viola

Kenneth Olsen, Cello

Chicago Symphony Orchestra music on death: whimper then bang

Graham Meyer, 9th April

Jakub Hrůša leads the CSO in pedestrian Janáček and Rachmaninov, but Strauss's Four Last Songs and Wagner's Tristan excerpts send audiences home deeply touched.

***11

Klaus Mäkelä is speaking... Chicago is listening

Graham Meyer, 19th February

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra's Music Director Designate juxtaposes his Finnish countryman's music on their shared national epic, the Kalevala, with the heroic life limned in the tone poem of Richard Strauss.

****1

Matthew Aucoin’s Song of the Reappeared premieres in Chicago

Graham Meyer, 4th December

A strong world premiere of Aucoin's evocative and immediate Song of the Reappeared, a concerto for voice written for soprano Julia Bullock which sets vivid imagery by a poet who suffered under authoritarianism.

*****

Manfred Honeck brings his über-dramatic Mozart Requiem to Chicago

Graham Meyer, 20th November

The Austrian conductor's loudest fortes and softest pianos pull together a dramatic arc from the Requiem, other Mozart works and chant. But it's not really a funeral.

****1

Daniela Candillari makes her Chicago Symphony Orchestra debut

Graham Meyer, 3rd October

Without a baton, the contemporary-music specialist showcases the Chicago Symphony strings in an intimate program ranging from music of the last decade all the way back to Pergolesi.

****1

Polished Ravel x 2 from Alice Sara Ott with the Chicago Symphony

Graham Meyer, 25th September

Three hands for two concertos: Alice Sara Ott joins the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for Ravel's Piano Concerto for the left hand and the Piano Concerto in G major.

****1

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Timothy Robson

We are saddened to learn of the death of Tim Robson, a long-time Bachtrack contributor (2012-21). Tim was an organist in Cleveland, Ohio and his repertoire extended to all musical periods, with a special interest in contemporary music. As a blogger he was a regular contributor to ClevelandClassical.com. In his parallel career as a librarian, Tim was Associate Director for Academic Engagement at the Kelvin Smith Library of Case Western Reserve University. Our condolences to his family.