Music

Chicago Blues Festival – Millennium Park – June 9, 2023

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You don’t even have to enter the park to hear the music. It was so loud it made my throat hurt and my skin flaked. But the couple acts I heard induced a lot of head-bobbing in the audience and sounded great – Lightnin’ Malcolm, representing his birthplace on the Visit Mississippi Juke Joint Stage, and Stephen Hull, from that hotbed of blues, Racine.

Unsurprisingly, I have no interest in visiting Mississippi, but who doesn’t love a juke joint, which, in turns out, is a term derived from the Gullah word juke, which means bawdy or disorderly. What that has to do with a basketball player juking a defender, I’m not sure.

Besides the music and the everywhere-you-turned, blues-related merchandise, including items from the foundations of Muddy Waters, Eddie Taylor, Little Walter, and Willie Dixon, in case you need something from one of them to fill out your collection, the big draw at the festival is the smokehouse meat, which, I’ve found, has its own section concerning emission factors on the EPA website, which seemed like a good reason for taking a wide berth from where the cooking was taking place.

The Stradivari Society Recital – A Private Club – April 26, 2023

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I slipped past the woman checking names unnoticed, which was a good thing, as there’s no telling what a background check might have revealed, and I didn’t want to miss the concert at the “private club”.

A word of explanation. According to its Social Media Policy, as stated on its website, “The Club’s name and location may not be used in post-event coverage in any format . . . whether in print, online, or in social media posts. In post-event coverage, the Club may be referred to only as “a private club.” Nothing about walking down the street shouting out its name.

While I doubt the club would have any recourse against me, a nonmember, for violating this policy, it amuses me to comply and keep the name and location a secret from my readers, who probably couldn’t care less, and, to put a spin on Groucho, probably wouldn’t want to join this club that probably wouldn’t want them as members.

That said, look for a building that is well over 100 years old, and apparently never got the memo about ventilation being important. There was none. The only oxygen in the room was provided by the spectacular 22-year-old violinist, Julian Rhee, on an instrument, the Antonio Stradivari, Cremona, 1699 “Lady Tennant,” much older even than the building, and by pianist Chelsea Wang, whose considerable talent was also on display.

The program included works by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Camille Saint-Saéns, Igor Frolov (the composer, not the road cyclist), and Howie Frazin, in the premiere of his Elegy and Rondo, which nicely held its own in this illustrious company.

UIC Wind Ensemble – Logan Center for the Arts – April 16, 2023

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The composer, Alan Theisen, did such a great job of describing what we were about to hear in the six movements of the world premiere of AMP, his piece for piano and wind ensemble, that we weren’t overly (just a little bit) distracted by what appeared to be LED running lights on his shoes.

But the shoes weren’t the main glittering attraction. Nor were the interspersed red and blue strings on the harp, which signify, respectively, C and F notes (had to look that one up). Rather it was the guest artist, piano soloist, Marianne Parker.

I’ve written glowingly about Parker’s concerts before, but this was different, another level. This commissioned piece featured not only great artistry on her instrument, her hands flying across the keys in a relentless, graceful, rhythmic manner, like a championship prizefighter pounding a speed bag into submission, but also talents not normally associated with the piano.

In one movement, per the arrangement articulated by Theisen up front, Parker led the audience in providing a finger-snapping pulse for the band, playing the piano with one hand while snapping with the other, and then switching, back and forth, forth and back, while also waving encouragement to the participating attendees, showwomanship at its height.

Leading into another movement, which was reminiscent, energy-wise, of the USC marching band performing Tusk, Parker leaned back like a drum major, and let rip a loud, pure tone on the whistle she had surreptitiously placed in her mouth during a moment when she had a hand briefly available to do so. I could only envision the Trojans running onto the field, but I could actually see the UIC band members bouncing in their seats, and, in response to Parker’s solos, wiggling their fingers and shuffling their feet as a way of saying “great job”.

Porchlight Sings Broadway Pop – House of Blues – March 27, 2023

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In the 26-plus years of the House of Blues, I’d never before been to it for a performance, unless you count my embarrassing, enraptured, emotional reaction to the restaurant’s jalapeño cornbread at many a lunch.

My absence ended with a bang, and some fiery crab cake appetizers, as I watched Porchlight Music Theatre’s Chicago Sings Broadway Pop erupt with performances from 22 explosive singers and dancers and a rocking seven-piece band.

It was so much fun that I almost forgot about my ongoing internal struggle over whether I prefer the spelling theater over theatre.

I had the good fortune to view the show from one of the boxes, which only augmented the experience, and made me wonder why Statler and Waldorf were always so cantankerous while watching the Muppets from their box.

Then I thought about the scene in the box in Pretty Woman and was grateful that this show was about Broadway pop, not Broadway opera, which made me think that opera would be so much better with tap dancing (think Hot Mikado), though sadly there also was none on this night, its only shortcoming.

Chicago Symphony Orchestra – March 17, 2023

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Winston Churchill or Mark Twain or Jonathan Swift or somebody we never heard of, first said that “everything old is new again,” though Peter Allen said it best. In any event, I found Banner, a 2014 tribute to the Star Spangled Banner, to be more fun to listen to than the original. I have to admit, however, that, in the middle of the eight-minute piece, there was a lot of seemingly random stuff going on that reminded me of the bag of leftover Lego bricks I keep in a drawer that fit in somewhere, but not necessarily with each other.

Banner was followed by Cantus arcticus, Op. 61, or, more descriptively, Concerto for Birds and Orchestra. Again, surprisingly, I liked it, though the extended silences did make me want to take that opportunity to tell the woman in front of me to stop looking at her phone.

I wondered whether the composer first wrote the music or recorded the birds. And did the birds get a chance to rehearse? Moreover, can this piece be performed outside, just using random bird sounds in the park, birds scatting, for the musicians to react to, a jazz version if you will.

Last, and in my mind, least, came Carmina Burana. To be fair, I loved the music, just, as always, not the chorus or operatic soli. For my money, the earlier bird chorus was more pleasing.

Trio Gaia – Dame Myra Hess Concert – February 8, 2023

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This is the first Dame Myra Hess Concert I‘ve attended since Classical Music Chicago (CMC) switched venues three years ago, from the Chicago Cultural Center to the Seventeenth Church of Christ, Scientist, which I previously had walked past more times than there are stars in the sky, but had always been hesitant to enter, for fear that I would be struck down by lightning.

The sky’s were clear today so I took a chance. I was a little late, so I had to take the elevator, instead of the stairs, up to the back of the auditorium, lest the presumptuously-named, but nevertheless talented, Trio Gaia (the mother of all life if you’ve forgotten your Edith Hamilton) become the Quartet Cacophony by my inadvertent addition.

The concerts at the Cultural Center were always packed. This one was not. According to the Church’s website, the auditorium seats 800 and “semi-circle seating enables audience to see and hear one another.”  Fortunately no one was testing the auditory part of that statement, but I was pleased to be able to see everyone, as it allowed me to count the nicely spread-out crowd at 165 while enjoying the Beethoven.

Friday Noon Concert – Fourth Presbyterian Church – January 6, 2023

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When you can’t tell the difference between the musician warming up and the performance itself, you know you’re in trouble. Imagine watching NBA players taking three steps, without dribbling, before dunking. Surely you wouldn’t confuse that practice routine with game action, when they take four steps, without dribbling, before dunking.

Anyway, I didn’t stay for the whole concert, but still appreciated the fact that I can cross two more composers off my imaginary list. I’m sure the cellist played Amy Heo’s When It Falls in the manner in which it was intended, but to me it sounded like a really bad version of the signals we might send to dissuade an unfriendly group of aliens attempting to land at Devils Tower National Monument.

As for Amy Wurtz’s Songs and Dances, I’m thinking about suing, based on false advertising, for the emotional distress caused me by hearing music that could not possibly be the foundation for any terpsichorean movement I’ve ever seen. The second part, entitled Spitfire, was anything but. Perhaps I was oblivious to an ironical message, but ran for the door anyway, which was perhaps unfortunate, as my later research revealed that the two closing selections I missed, by other composers, I might have enjoyed. They shouldn’t have buried the lede, just the opening music.

My AARP Culture Tour – December 10-18, 2022

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It had been four years since I’d seen the Joffrey Ballet’s much-heralded production of The Nutcracker, so I decided to go for a double dose of Tchaikovsky, through the good graces of the retiree’s best friend, AARP, though online, not in person.

First I watched The Royal Ballet’s very traditional version. Everyone was extremely talented, ho-hum. Then I watched The Hip Hop Nutcracker. OMG. So much more fun. And while I acknowledge the fact that the ballet dancers showed off an impressive variety of leaps and jumps (or whatever they’re called in French), the “contemporary dance spectacle” was, well, spectacular (though I could have lived without the mercifully short DJ scratching at the beginning and end of the program).

I remember being in New York years ago, and coming upon a group of break dancers on one of the corners leading into Central Park. I was mesmerized by their athleticism. And they were “just” street performers, ad libbing for spare change (now everyone on the street takes Venmo). The members of the Hip Hop Nutcracker troupe showed off not just their gymnastic abilities, but also their dance moves, and acting, including comedic, chops.

Speaking of which, I also need to mention the AARP online presentation a week earlier of Jane Austen’s Emma: The Musical. I’ve never read the book (or any of Austen’s others), but I have seen the movie Clueless (sort of like Forbidden Planet in lieu of The Tempest). Anyway, the play was quite entertaining, featuring a charming score and a couple of dynamite leading ladies.

If any of this sounds interesting, register to watch Swan Lake at the Bolshoi on February 5.

Access Contemporary Music – Thirsty Ears Festival – August 13, 2022

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Promoted as Chicago’s only classical music street festival, this annual two-day event, now in its seventh year, is not quite on the scale of Lollapalooza, but has two important things in common with that and every other outdoor music happening – you can buy a beer and a tee shirt.

I came for Crossing Borders Music, represented on this occasion by the talented duo of violinist Jennifer Leckie and pianist Marianne Parker. I wasn’t disappointed, as their engaging selections crossed numerous borders, including music by composers from Cuba, Uruguay, Armenia, Colombia, and Arkansas.

I also was pleased with the sound system, the ease of parking, and the availability of seating, though I chose to stand, which if I understand the research correctly, caused me to burn up an extra 75 calories.

It also enabled me to hang out in front of the Mathnasium, Math Learning Center, and try to respond to the half dozen, grades K-12 questions on their windows, while simultaneously listening to music and breathing. Since the answers were not shown, I’m going to assume I got them all right, except, okay, maybe one of them.

Grant Park Music Festival – Millennium Park – August 5, 2022

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The guest soloist, Andreas Haefliger, deftly played Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the Left Hand. In case you were wondering, as I was, there are pieces for the right hand only, and, this one was really on my mind during the concert, a series of books with music that can be played with either hand alone.

I also wondered what Haefliger would be doing with his right hand during the performance. If he didn’t know the piece by heart he could have used it to turn the pages. If he had a page turner, would that person have to use only their left hand?

But he just let the right hand sit idle. Seemed like a waste. He could have used it to text. Isn’t that what everyone does when they have a free hand, especially while driving?

I wonder if next year the festival will include a clarinet concerto for the lower lip.

Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique closed the evening. Everything I could hear was good but there were some parts that were so soft that I only knew the orchestra was playing by watching the conductor wave his baton. He could have been faking it, but not during the fourth movement’s hallucinatory March to the Scaffold, which told a story supported by the percussion section that was both symbolic and cymballic.