RECOMMENDED Conductor-composer Esa-Pekka Salonen certainly proved in his guest stint last year with the Chicago Symphony that he had the “rite” stuff when it comes to Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring,” so kudos that he is back this year to conduct another Stravinsky masterpiece that is as sublime and ethereal as the “Rite” is ferocious and frantic: the “Symphony of Psalms.” Its tangy dissonance and sound is a familiar one in that it is one of the most imitated pieces of music, particularly across “devil”-inspired movies like “The Omen” series (horror movies always think Latin sounds scary, even when the words are “Dominium” and the like). The stunning Chicago Symphony Chorus takes the spotlight in the work, as they will during the Mozart Mass in c minor, one of the most glorious pieces of Western music that was, like the mysterious “Requiem,” left incomplete at the young master’s sudden and unexpected death. The vocal quartet will include soprano Camilla Tilling, mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard, tenor Lawrence Brownlee and bass Eric Owens. Rounding out the program is the Oliver Knussen 2002 Violin Concerto written for Pinchas Zukerman, which will be performed by frequent Knussen collaborator and 30-year-old violinist Leila Josefowicz, which mercifully means that the piece will be played in tune. (Dennis Polkow) Thursday, January 24 at Symphony Center
Scenes From A Season: An Inside Look at a Year with Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony Walking out onto the stage last September, Muti was receiving his first applause at Orchestra Hall in over nineteen months. The celebrated Italian-born music director of the CSO, who had turned eighty two months earlier, was clearly moved. What made the acclamation unusual was that the hall was empty. The orchestra itself was providing heartfelt and sustained applause, greeting Muti…
Music 45: Who Keeps Chicago In Tune 2020 This year’s Music 45 arrives at an unprecedented moment. Our city’s musicians have responded to these crises with ingenuity, vigor and creative brio.
