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Chicago Symphony Orchestra
(CSO Website)
Daniel Barenboim, Music Director and Conductor
(Barenboim Website)
Pinchas Zukerman, Violin
(Zukerman Bio)
Performed at
at
Symphony Center
220 South Michigan Avenue
Chicago, IL
212.294.3000
Dr. Roberta E. Zlokower
September 23, 2005
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra has been in existence for 113 years. Its permanent home is Symphony Center, and its summer home is Ravinia, north of Chicago in Highland Park, Illinois. Daniel Barenboim, Conductor, Pianist, Composer, Music Director of CSO, recently performed with the Vienna Philharmonic, and soon after with orchestras in South America, London, Israel, and Berlin. Later, in Switzerland, Maestro Barenboim joined his CSO at the Lucerne International Festival. Mr. Barenboim is a foreign honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Pinchas Zukerman is a violinist, violist, conductor, and teacher. He is music director of the National Arts Centre Orchestra and conducts orchestras around the globe. Mr. Zukerman first appeared with CSO in 1970 at Ravinia, with Okku Kamu conducting, and is still appearing at Ravinia, as recent as July 2005, with James Conlon conducting. (Program Notes).
Wolfgang Amadé Mozart (1756-1791): Violin Concerto No. 5 in A Major, K. 219 (Turkish): Allegro aperto, Adagio, Tempo di Menuetto: Allegro. Mozart’s score calls for two oboes, two horns, and strings. The CSO first performed this Concerto in 1916 at Orchestra Hall and most recently with Pinchas Zukerman as conductor and soloist. (Program Notes). Pinchas Zukerman, violin
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937):
Rapsodie espagnole: Prélude à la nuit, Malagueña, Habanera, Feria Ravel’s score calls for two flutes and two piccolos, English horn, cymbals, celesta, and castanets, among many more unique instruments. CSO first performed Rapsodie espagnole in 1909 at Orchestra Hall, with Frederick Stock conducting and most recently in 2002 with Barenboim conducting.
Pavane pour une infante défunte Ravel’s score calls for two clarinets, two bassoons, and harp. CSO first performed Pavane… in 1938 at Orchestra Hall, with Hans Lange conducting and most recently in 2002 with Barenboim conducting.
Alborada del gracioso Ravel’s score calls for two bassoons, contrabassoon, and three trombones and tuba. CSO first performed Alborada… in 1919 in Paris and in Orchestra Hall in 1925, with Frederick Stock conducting and most recently in 2003 with Pierre Boulez conducting.
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Boléro Ravel’s score calls for two oboes, oboe d’amore, two clarinets, E-flat clarinet, bass clarinet, two snare drums, and Tam-tam. CSO first performed Boléro in 1930 at Orchestra Hall, with Frederick Stock conducting and most recently in 2002 with Barenboim conducting. (Program Notes).
The high points of tonight’s concert in this historical and awesome Symphony Center, formerly Orchestra Hall, with its superb acoustics and sight lines, from our front balcony seats, were clearly all in the Ravel works. The Mozart Concerto was, of course, stylistically structured and Zukerman and Barenboim seem to have partnership chemistry and comfort in timing and merging solo passages, throughout. The Allegro movement was brash, the Adagio, soft and sensitive, and Tempo Menuetto includes some evocations of Turkish exoticism and rondos. Thus the acronym, Turkish Concerto. Mozart, according to the Program Notes, thought the movements were too lengthy, and I agree. The Concerto was about one-half hour in length and without dynamism or dramatic musical motifs. However, Pinchas Zukerman, a violinist extraordinaire, was poised and effectively capable of drawing out the most exquisite of notes, especially in the showcased Adagio solo. The audience seemed to be looking for a solo encore, prior to intermission, but it was not offered.
But, there were no incomplete desires in the second half of CSO’s rich program. Rapsodie Espagnole was nothing short of a heavenly dream, romantic, rapturous, and rarified. Barenboim brings out the finest in this virtuosic orchestra, and his baton created sweeping gestures, almost as if he were dancing with his musicians, in his mind, that is. Trombones and trumpets held metaphorical moments in breathless time. Barenboim seemed most at ease, alone with his orchestra, and eeriness transferred to elegance, as this Rapsodie unfolded. As the Malagueña was introduced, I seemed magnetized by the golden ornamentations of the Hall as this magnificently interpreted music resounded with regal splendor.
Pavane pour une infante défunte is one of my favorite Ravel pieces, and it was immediately evocative of NYC Ballet’s dance to this score, by Kyra Nichols. This is a tale of grief, of a dead princess, and her memory, as the grieving mother dances with a long white veil. A full compliment of strings interchanged with the flute and two harps. It does not get more poignant.
Alborada del gracioso was dynamically in contrast to , with bursts of dance dervish and a bassoon solo, following crashing interludes of cacophony.
For the moment when the audience held its communal breath, Barenboim unleashed his interpretation of Boléro, and whispering, almost silent bassoons, oboes, followed a marching motif, of building dynamism, and the tempo and volume built with bassoons, flute, muted trumpet, clarinet, and a repetitive theme built and built and built, with embellishments and echoes. Pizzicato strings, bass, trombone, and full orchestra swelled with momentum, and the drums and percussive entourage became the backbone of this monumental finale.
A standing ovation was awarded Barenboim and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and, once again, I wished for just one tiny encore. I did not want to leave this existential experience. Photos below include my guest, my niece, Jessie, at Russia Tea Time, a lovely nearby Russian restaurant, Katinka Kleijn, a CSO cellist, and the exterior of Symphony Center and The Symphony Store, where I purchased a female cellist sculpture for Jessie, a budding cellist in the Chicago community.
Symphony Center in Chicago
Photo by Roberta Zlokower
Symphony Center in Chicago
Photo by Roberta Zlokower
Dolls at Russia Tea Time
Photo by Jessie Weinrebe
Roberta and Jessie at Russia Tea Time
Jessie and Katinka, CSO Cellist
Photo by Roberta Zlokower
Jessie, Post-Concert
Photo by Roberta Zlokower
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