Sprightly

The Inca Trail (Name Redacted) Symphony Orchestra Jessica Warren-Acosta, Andean flutes Kenneth Olsen, cello Miguel Harth-Bedoya, conductor It may come as a surprise to discover a number of orchestra musicians less than perfectly satisfied all of the time. For some, displeasure with the goings on at hand is an essential piece of equipment, akin to the gunslinger’s six-shooter. For them, it is best not take to the open range (or the stage, as we call it) without an ammo belt fully loaded with invective, holster flap unbuttoned, ready to fire from the hip an ill-considered complaint, a fusillade of perfunctory condemnation at the first sign of trouble. Right off the bat, I confess to joining up with many a hastily assembled angry posse, riding down an innocent composer, conductor, program, concert venue, or what-have-you, and stringing them up from the nearest tree without a second thought. In that spirit, I took notice of the Inca Trail program – a collection of South American music pe...

It was certainly nice to see Neeme Järvi back on the podium after many years away. True to form, he brought some interesting music to town – Taneyev, Symphony No. 4 in C Minor, not a bad piece really, and much more enjoyable than playing the same three Tchaikovsky symphonies over and over again. The first rehearsals began in somewhat muddled fashion and I wondered if my fond memories of Järvi were all wrong. But at the Saturday evening concert he seemed to be having a good time, doing one of his trademark overlong grand pauses while giving a little smile to the orchestra, bowing to the audience member who clapped enthusiastically between movements. A little wavelet of nostalgia overtook me – something I felt horribly self-conscious about until it struck me that my chosen profession is based almost entirely on obsessive infatuation with an idealized, unrecoverable past. Anyhow, Järvi was a frequent guest here when I joined the orchestra and I always looked forward to the weeks he conduc...

Bass Blog Back! Well, I finally heard from all five of my readers. There may be 68,000 odd hits on this page, but to be honest, about 57,995 of those were me obsessively checking to see if the page still existed and if anyone else had viewed it. Thanks to those who inquired about my health, which is no better, but certainly no worse than usual – I simply needed a break. The performances last week of the Bruckner 5th Symphony have a great deal to do with my decision t start blogging again at this time. Letting a Bruckner 5 pass without comment would be like sitting at the breakfast table one sunny morning and watching the Hindenburg silently drift by without at least nudging one’s companion to look up from the newspaper. Fortunately, under the baton of replacement conductor Jaap van Zweden (filling in for the permanently absent Riccardo Chailly) Bruckner’s bloated masterpiece fared better than the similarly tumid German airship. The Dutch violinist turned conductor spent more rehea...

the end…of Ravinia 2008 Program A MOZART The Abduction from the Seraglio, K. 384 Hanan Alattar, Constanze Anna Christy, Blonchen Topi Lehtipuu, Belmonte Nicholas Phan, Pedrillo Morris Robinson, Osmin Michael York, Pasha Apollo Chorus of Chicago James Conlon, Conductor Kevin Murphy, Continuo/Coach Program B MOZART Don Giovanni, K. 527 Ellie Dehn, Donna Anna Soile Isokoski, Donna Elvira Heidi Grant Murphy, Zerlina Toby Spence, Don Ottavio Ildebrando D’Arcangelo, Don Giovanni Samuel Ramey, Leporello James Creswell, Masetto Morris Robinson, Commendatore Apollo Chorus of Chicago James Conlon, conductor Kevin Murphy, Continuo/Coach Monday 11-1:30 rehearsal (orchestra A) 2:30-5 rehearsal (orchestra B) Tuesday 11-1:30 rehearsal (orchestra A) 2:30-5 rehearsal (orchestra B) Wednesday 11-2:30 (orchestra A) 3:30-7 (orchestra B) Thursday 7 program A Friday 7 program B Saturday 2 program A Sunday 2 program B This week the orchestra is split in two. Needless to say with my luck I ended relegated to o...

Program A WAGNER Prelude to Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg SCHREKER Prelude to a drama, Die Gezeichneten INTERMISSION BEETHOVEN Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 61 James Conlon, conductor Miriam Fried, violin Program B DVORÁK Carnival Overture, Op. 92 GRIEG Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 16 INTERMISSION BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 67 James Conlon, conductor Orion Weiss piano Program C BRAHMS Academic Festival Overture, Op. 80 BRAHMS Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 77 INTERMISSION BRAHMS Symphony No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 68 James Conlon, conductor Gil Shaham, violin Monday 11-1:30 2:30-5 rehearsals Tuesday 2:30-5 rehearsal 8 concert (A) Wednesday 2:30-5 rehearsal 8 concert (B) Thursday 2:30-5 rehearsal 8 concert (C) Friday off Saturday off Sunday off OK, I’m way behind again… This week ended up a bit differently than originally planned. Itzhak Perlman was supposed to play the Beethoven concerto and then conduct the next night. I’m not sure what happened to him, but I ...

A BEETHOVEN Overture to Fidelio, Op. 72c BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat Major, Op. 73 (Emperor) INTERMISSION BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 3 in E-flat Major, Op. 55 (Eroica) Sir Andrew Davis conductor Leon Fleischer piano B WILLIAMS The Olympic Spirit WILLIAMS Theme from Jaws WILLIAMS Bicycle Chase from E.T., The Extra-Terrestrial WILLIAMS Main Theme from Close Encounters of the Third Kind WILLIAMS Theme from Jurassic Park WILLIAMS Harry's Wondrous World from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone WILLIAMS March from Superman WILLIAMS Theme from Schindler's List WILLIAMS March from Raiders of the Lost Ark INTERMISSION WILLIAMS Flag Parade from The Phantom Menace (Star Wars Episode I) WILLIAMS Anakin's Theme from The Phantom Menace (Star Wars Episode I) WILLIAMS Duel of the Fates from The Phantom Menace (Star Wars Episode I) WILLIAMS Across the Stars from Attack of the Clones (Star Wars Episode II) WILLIAMS Battle of the Heroes from The Revenge of the Sith...

A MENDELSSOHN Violin Concerto in E Minor, Op. 64 INTERMISSION MAHLER Symphony No. 7 James Conlon conductor Sarah Chang violin B MAHLER Symphony No. 8 in E-flat Major, (Symphony of a Thousand) James Conlon conductor [Redacted] Symphony Chorus Chicago Children’s Choir Milwaukee Symphony Chorus C BRAHMS Piano Concerto No. 1 in D Minor, Op. 15 INTERMISSION DVORÁK Symphony No. 7 in D Minor, Op. 70 James Conlon conductor Jorge Federico Osorio piano Monday off Tuesday 11-1:30 rehearsal Wednesday 2:30-5 rehearsal 8 concert (A) Thursday 11-1:30 2:30-5 rehearsals Friday off Saturday 2-4:30 rehearsal 7:30 concert (B) Sunday 12-3 rehearsal 5 concert (C) Last week ran the gamut. Haitink and Lang Lang – it’s hard to think of them as part of the same profession. Haitink’s Mahler 6, excellent as it was, served more to bring to mind the sort of performances we used to give here regularly. Kudos to Andrew Patner for making the same point with more eloquence. Apparently the Gala concert went beautifully,...