I went to my first, and last, since the season is now over, Rush Hour Concert of the year at St, James Cathedral. I went for the Florence Price Concert Overture No. 2 (Iso trendy) and stayed for the Dvořák Wind Serenade, Op. 44, not just because it was so good, but also because it allowed me to exercise my skill at putting the appropriate accents over the letters in the composer’s name. I would tell you the name of the group, but it didn’t have one, apparently being an assemblage of a dozen top-flight musicians who found themselves together in a rehearsal hall at some point and decided to put on a show.

The week took a downturn with the Noonday Concert at Fourth Presbyterian Church, where I suffered through about 20 minutes of Carla Gordon’s attempts at humor and less-than-fulfilling vocal presentations of what she inaccurately described as early 20th-Century Broadway show tunes. One attendee used the time to do deep knee bends. On the other hand, to paraphrase Julius Caesar, and perhaps quote Sid, Veni, Vidi, Verti (I came, I saw, I gave up).

Order was restored on Saturday, starting with the two guys who entertain every week on the sidewalk by the Green City Market Lincoln Park, playing a combination of the blues and Motown on guitar, keyboard and kick drum. Next time I need a small band for an event (which will be the first time) they’re my choice, though I have no idea what their names are or if they are in witness protection.

Finally, I topped off the week’s musical adventure at the Thirsty Ears Festival, which I wrote about three years ago and returned to once again to see pianist Marianne Parker, whom I’ve written about many times before, this time paired with violist Michael Hall, who, among many other things, is the co-founder of the first professional orchestra in Indonesia.

Before that excellent duo, I saw a fun performance by the Chicago Sinfonietta and a weird one, by my standards, by pianist Alex Reyes, who not only played some with his elbow, though not in an entertaining Jerry Lee Lewis way, but also, at times, with the aid of what appeared to be an old rag or dish cloth, perhaps due to either a fear of germs or the sudden urge to clean. Fortunately Parker and Hall followed, so as to calm my otherwise urgent need to depart, as if Gordon had followed me to the event.