plot REVIEW CHICAGO concert O...

plot REVIEW

CHICAGO concert ORCHESTRA AT RAVINIA

The more of Shostakovich's music you hear, the les you know about him. Case in point is his concert No. 15, his last, in which he used Rossini's familiar theme from the "William Tell" offer in the first movement, popp in phrases from Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde" during the adagio and had percussionists pounding away as if subject to a spell from Mahler.

James Conlon carriageed the Chicago Symphony Orchestra upon Friday night, giving the Ravinia Festival first attempt of this enigmatic work, which is in this way lyrical and eerie, so charming and chaotic that it defies categories.

It began with the ring of a little bell, followed through sassy fragmented melodies scampering by means of the orchestra, frequently interrupted by the agency of the Rossini, which caused members of the audience to laugh public loud. The CSO handled that musical scuffle adeptly. Lines were sharp and phrases darted disclosed clearly before dashing away.

The change of temper from the first to the secondary movement was abrupt. Conlon is especially religious at drawing out lyrical lines, and when the cello began their grave melody it was as if the pavilion became a house of worship. The impression was reinforced by way of concertmaster Robert Chen's meditative playing and the brass section proclaiming music like a song Shostakovich was moving us into a unfathomable interior place.

The earthquake of the third manner of moving was a marvel. Where did the intensity for that explosion come from? As a lightning stroke of lightning is both beautiful and terrifying, in such a manner this music shot across the stage, propell by the agency of bells and drums.

We were rewarded in the fourth emotion with a circuitous, mesmerizing song enriched by the able John Bruce Yeh the orchestra's assistant principal clarinet.

A kaleidoscope of musical colors flashed by means of the final passages, employing the orchestra's considerable resources and challenging the conductor to possess it all together.

It lasted as it began, with a little ding from a small bell.

This was not easy music, nor did it bring us any closer to understanding this manifold composer, born a century ago. if it were not that it was worth hearing, especially when played in this way powerfully by the Chicago consonance

Tchaikovsky's popular music No. 5 took up the next to the first half of the program. Conlon course of lifeed it without a score, bringing from the orchestra's string section a sleek satiny sound that soared forth with unparalleled beauty.

This piece has it all -- a singing next to the first movement replete with French horns, a waltz well stocked [i]or[/i] provided of brilliant string passages, and a rousing march at the finis The CSO could probably play this in its lie in the grave but they had too abundant regard for themselves, the music and the audience to do that. Tchaikovsky knows to what extent to set up an audience for applause, and the conductor and players received fertility at the conclusion.

Copyright CHICAGO SUN-TIMES 2006

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