A few years back when Daniel Barenboim was scheduled to perform the Brahms Second Piano Concerto as pianist with a separate conductor at the podium, another conductor who was also guesting with the CSO earlier that same season was incredulous: “My, how modest of him!” The joke, of course, is that when it came to Mozart, Barenboim always conducted from the keyboard, so why not Brahms? There were no standup conductors in Mozart’s day and Mozart himself would often lead performances of his piano concertos from the keyboard, and so it became commonplace to revive that practice in the twentieth century. That said, very few pianists are able to pull it off, and even Barenboim had moments of performing Mozart from the keyboard here over the years that were dicey, and sometimes disastrous due to memory slips on his part and everyone having to stop to see where they were supposed to be. It’s unlikely that we’ll get such drama when Mitsuko Uchida returns to conduct and play an all-Mozart concert with the CSO: the performances will be too careful and she doesn’t take the risks that would make such slips likely. The biggest problem is staying awake with the slow tempos, the heavily vibrated strings and little in the way of dynamic changes or color. If that’s you’re idea of Mozart, enjoy. (Dennis Polkow) Thursday, February 14 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…
A Positive Light: The Soul Children of Chicago Sing "O-o-h Child" at Chicago Live! The Chicago Live! concerts coincide with the last weekend of “State of Sound: A World of Music from Illinois” music exhibit. As a sendoff, the Soul Children of Chicago will sing “O-o-h Child” in tribute to this socially significant Chicago song. The thirty-piece choir has been rehearsing the song for a month and the pier audience will be encouraged to…
