Music

Chicago Symphony Orchestra – Concert for Chicago – Millennium Park – June 27, 2022

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My kind of program. No world premieres, just terrific standards, Shostakovich’s Festive Overture and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 in F Minor.

As good as the Grant Park Symphony is, even a heathen like me felt like I could appreciate the step up with the CSO playing. They were crisp, just like the air on this beautiful evening, when the gods also turned off the competition from the helicopters and sirens.

It was so magical that everyone around me actually listened to the music rather than orally exchanging recipes or whatever it is they usually find it necessary to discuss during a concert.

Admittedly, there was a woman coughing about six seats away, but even she did so in tune and time, so as to come off as a new kind of percussion instrument.

And, unsurprisingly, with the biggest crowd of the year in attendance, there were a few seconds of a crying baby, but the parents, unlike the ones on my recent flight, had the grace to remove themselves with child from the scene. To be fair to the people on the plane, however, there wasn’t anywhere they could get off at 30,000 feet, and the overhead bins were full.

The only real downside for me was that Conductor Riccardo Muti found it necessary to speechify afterward about how culture could bring us all together and solve all the world’s problems (sounds good, but maybe he should pay more attention to the news), and do an infomercial for the orchestra to the extent that I expected them to lower the giant screen and start flashing a subscription phone number with a list of ailments that classical music can cure.

Grant Park Music Festival – Millennium Park – June 24, 2022

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With regular conductor Carlos Kalmar still incapacitated due to Covid, his former assistant, David Danzmayr, now music director of the Oregon Symphony, filled in, after Stephen Alltop of the Northwestern University Department of Music had done so on extremely short notice two days earlier.

And, again, the program was modified, seemingly flawlessly, to accommodate the change, with Brahms’s Symphony No. 1 replacing Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 11. With two days to prepare (an eternity compared to what Alltop had), I can only assume that the reason was that Danzmayr can’t pronounce Shostakovich.

The program still was led off by Simone Lamsma playing Korngold’s Violin Concerto on the 1718 “Mylyarnski” Stradavarius (famous for having been converted to a “left handed” instrument and then later restored to its original state), on loan to her by an anonymous benefactor. Modestly prevents me from elucidating on the gift, but there is a proposed Lego violin that looks very similar and needs 1000 supporters by September 13th to become a reality. Surely this is a bipartisan candidate we can all get behind.

Make Music Day – Washington Square Park – June 21, 2022

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In conjunction with the Blues Travelers portion of the about-to-close exhibit, Crossings: Mapping American Journeys, at the Newberry across the street, which I wrote about several months ago, Washington Square Park was home to the blues on Make Music Day.

The first band to heat up the park on the day of the summer solstice for the annual city-wide festival was the aptly named, as it was 98 degrees in the shade, Mississippi Heat.

But there was shade, and a breeze. And, if you clap slowly, which seems consistent with a bluesy kind of feel, the minimal amount of energy expended might be offset by the cooler air created in front of your face. As of today, I declare this to be known as the delta effect, not to be confused with the Delta Breez ventilation fans.

John Primer and the Real Deal Blues Band were next. Primer is originally from Mississippi and has a resume as long as the sunrise to sunset day was in Reykjavik, which clocked in at over 21 hours. His website says it all – “YOU CAN’T PAINT THE BLUES WITHOUT THE PRIMER!”

But you can beat the blues by listening to them on a lazy day in the park.

Grant Park Music Festival – Millennium Park – June 22, 2022

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As per the email I received, new security procedures were implemented “in order to maintain the friendly, relaxed atmosphere inside the Park.” And I can attest that the armed guards wearing bulletproof vests were friendly enough to me, though I was careful not to make any sudden movements, not that I’ve been capable of quickness for some time.

The Michigan Avenue entrances, which I never use anyway, have been closed for the concerts. I didn’t check to see if they have been walled off by electric barbed wire fences, ala Jurassic Park.

Attendees are still asked to open their bags, but, so far, do not have to bring enough goodies for everyone.

The concert itself was terrific, though somewhat unexpected. The first announcement was that the conductor had tested positive for Covid after the afternoon rehearsal. There was no query of the audience as to anyone with experience who could take his place, as they did in Airplane after the pilot and co-pilot ate the fish.

Instead, an unnamed person, whom the musicians seem to recognize, walked out, told us the changes in the program, to which no one objected, and hit the road running.

We still got to hear Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony (for him it wasn’t Covid, but syphilis that laid him up).

The piano team of ZOFO (perhaps suffering from FOMO) still played, but a changed selection, without orchestral backup.

One modern piece by someone I never heard of was replaced by Beethoven’s Egmont Overture and Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet. Jackpot!

I’ll be back for more, if only for the tingle I get when wanded at the entrance.

The Kontras Quartet – Rush Hour Concert – St. James Cathedral – June 7, 2022

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To my knowledge this was the first concert I’ve attended where one of the pieces was inspired by Xhosa culture. (I’ll wait while you look that up.)

But more interesting, from my standpoint, was that Apologia at Umzimvubu was written for strings in the 21st century, and yet there was enough relationship between the notes that I could actually listen and enjoy it. It wasn’t chalk on a blackboard. High praise.

That said, the quartet’s graceful interpretation of Florence Price’s String Quartet No. 2 in A Minor was more my style.

But, apparently, not that of the woman with the plastic shopping bag who plopped down behind me during the third movement, fiddled annoyingly with her possession for five minutes, and then left, saving me the need to make a citizen’s arrest.

DePaul Jazz Orchestra – Holtschneider Performance Center – March 13, 2022

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Having taken my usual aisle seat, I was appalled by the usher’s request that I move over one to allow room for a latecomer to sneak in. I just said no. (I’m good at that.) After all, I paid for the aisle. Not really, of course, as tickets were free and seats unreserved.

So, instead of sitting to my right, the only person in the room who sat down and then lowered his mandatory mask, sat to my left. After I gently poked him, he lifted the mask back up and left it there, so that, thereafter, I only had to put up with his occasional unsolicited commentary and attention-seeking slow clapping.

As for the excellent performance from the 17-piece band, the freshman trumpet player set the tone by wearing sunglasses during his big solo; the only musician wearing a mask was, unpredictably, the baritone saxophonist, whose solo belied any notion that the barrier would be an impediment; and, during his solo, the piano player made swing look easy, just like golf pros do during their swings, which I also can’t emulate.

A vocalist magically, and unfortunately, appeared for two songs. If I could have turned off his mic, I would have. But he couldn’t detract from an otherwise enjoyable concert, including the director’s background stories about the Duke Ellington and Count Basie bands, and all that jazz.

Robert Chen – Fourth Presbyterian Church Noonday Concert – January 21, 2022

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The last time I saw Chicago Symphony Orchestra concertmaster Robert Chen perform solo was in January 2019. And the last time I was this awestruck was when I saw how good my multiflex, cordless, stick vacuum cleaner was at picking up all the dust on the floor under my bed.

Chen played some Bach and Paganini, but the one piece I want to mention is Ysäye’s Danse Rustique, Allegro giocoso molto moderato, which I believe is translated as a barn dance, played while quickly eating a chocolate lava cake in a library containing virtual files.

Chen’s interpretation was clearly different than mine, and admittedly better, but the most notable part of the performance was his ability to maintain his concentration when an unmasked man (clearly not The Lone Ranger) walked through the sanctuary shouting (probably about nothing, but possibly about the recent decision to keep the Doomsday Clock at 100 seconds to midnight rather than advance it forward).

Chen, looked up, but never missed a beat, unlike me, as when I think I may have heard someone in Nepal sneeze and am then forced to stop in the middle of the piece I’m playing and start over.

Erwin Helfer w/ Devil in a Woodpile – The Hideout (Patio Show) – September 2, 2021

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Halfway through the band’s first set, Rick “Cookin” Sherry, the leader of Devil in a Woodpile, lamented about the omnipresence of the internet, computers, and the binary number system, informing us, as if we hadn’t already figured it out, that their music was from the analog era.

Sherry’s vocal intonations also were decidedly old, unique, and lots of fun. And his fondness of simpler times is reflected by the fact that all the instruments he plays – clarinet, harmonica, kazoo, washboard – are acoustic.

I double-checked, and even the washboard has an electric version. I need to look further into that. It would take up a lot less room than my washing machine, and have fewer moving parts to break down, except my own parts might be more likely to break down from overuse.

Sherry kept mentioning that Helfer was on his way, and, just when we thought it might be a scam, despite the sight of the piano sitting untouched on the patio stage, Erwin appeared, walked past us, and then disappeared inside for another 20 minutes, eventually emerging, and, without a single word, sitting down and leaping, or rather easing, given his 85 years, into a soothing solo.

At an outdoor show where proof of vaccination was required and seating spaced out and limited, the only thing that was contagious was the revelry, the analog version of whoop-de-do.

Music by the Fountain – Libby York – Fourth Presbyterian Church – August 27, 2021

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York must not have gotten the memo that Andy Brown accompanies everyone I see perform lately. Instead she had Jeremy Kahn on keyboard.

Starting next week, the concerts are scheduled to move indoors. Shockingly, no one asked me, but I would suggest, given the current state of things, and good weather, that they stay outside for at least another month, especially if they want my continued attendance.

I admit that might throw a monkey wrench (or more appropriately a hand plane, metal plane, or doming tool) into the plans for next month, as moving the largest organ in the Midwest, complete with its 143 ranks and 8,343 pipes, into the garden might prove problematic, but I, for one, wouldn’t be disappointed if they postponed the organ concerts (indefinitely).

I might describe York’s voice as almost husky, but that might imply sultry, which it isn’t. By the way, speaking lower than your natural register for a prolonged period can cause one to develop a tension-fatigue syndrome called Muscle Tension Dysphonia, commonly referred to as Bogart-Bacall Syndrome, no kidding.

York was okay, but not my cup of tea. I wonder if she knows how to whistle.

Salazar/Ranieri Project -The Oz Park Sessions – August 20, 2021

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I purposely arrived a half hour after the marketed starting time, because, after all, it was jazz, but still there were no musicians to be seen. I had been outfoxed, so I went to plan B, head for the Dairy Queen across the street. On the way I saw a young man, who turned out to be the group’s leader, Alejandro Salazar, unloading a drum set from his car – a clue!

Upon direct examination, he allowed that they were getting a late start because they were coming from another gig. But they made up for that by leaving early, playing for a little over an hour, rather than their usual two and a half hours, as they also were playing later at Andy’s Jazz Club as the oh-so-cleverly-named The Quartet.

While at the park, they had a guest vocalist, John Dokes, who will be featured at Winter’s Jazz Club next Thursday night, drop by to sing two songs, including the mandatory Nature Boy.

These weren’t your typical DePaul music students, or maybe they were. In a couple weeks they’re bringing along another dozen friends for a big band night at the park. Based on tonight’s excellent performance, I plan to get there either early or late.