RECOMMENDED
The Chicago Symphony is getting to be a bit like “Saturday Night Live” in that reruns are getting so fast and furious that they are sometimes presented the very next week. So, in case you missed last week’s season-opening program with Charles Dutoit conducting the Tchaikovsky Fifth Symphony—or one of the jillions of previous CSO performances—here is another chance to hear this shopworn warhorse. Also repeated is co-concertmaster Robert Chen’s rendition of Lalo’s “Symphonie espagnole” for violin and orchestra and Rossini’s Overture to “La gazza ladra.” Note that the Saturday afternoon performance is free and part of what used to be Marshall Field’s but now called Macy’s Day of Music, but come early, as lines are likely to be long, though there will be music events of various genres going on all afternoon and evening throughout Symphony Center. Sunday afternoon’s first “Beyond the Score” program of the season will spotlight Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition” in its colorful Ravel orchestration, which was given a superb dress rehearsal by Dutoit and the CSO at last weekend’s gala opening, which was actually not the first CSO concert of the new season. Yes, it’s confusing, but if you’ve never seen the actual “pictures” that inspired Mussorgsky, confusion will really set in at Mussorgsky’s musical imagination versus the works themselves rendered by his deceased friend that “inspired” him, as they resemble sketches you might otherwise see on matchbox covers advertising getting an art degree by mail order. (Dennis Polkow)
September 25 at Symphony Center
Related Stories
Chicago Symphony Conundrum: Why Does the Best Get Paid Like the Rest? Imagine if the Chicago Bulls of the Michael Jordan era that won six NBA championships were being paid at levels lower than mediocre teams and you have a sense of why the players of the CSO took a vote on February 13 to “overwhelmingly” authorize a strike on March 10, after nearly a year of fruitless contract negotiations and after…- Past Is Still Prologue: A Preview of Fleetwood Mac at United Center While the band’s newer music continued to sell, there was little doubt that the fans who paid top dollar to see the group live were there to hear the hits of yesteryear. Acknowledging that reality is the fact that Fleetwood Mac’s most recent album release is 2003’s “Say You Will.”
- The Real Deal: A Preview of Mike Nesmith and Micky Dolenz at the Copernicus Center All four Monkees had some background in music. All but Tork had, in fact, released solo singles. Nesmith was, and remains, a songwriter of merit, and if Dolenz couldn't at first play drums like his fictional TV counterpart (he was a guitarist), he took lessons and learned how.
- From the Booth to the Spotlight: Peter CottonTale Takes Center Stage After building a career guiding Chance the Rapper and others, music director Peter CottonTale is ready to tell his own story.
- Pride and Joy: A Preview of Melissa Young and Nick Sula at Pride Arts Center It's a heartfelt, if somewhat breathless, recounting of the gay rights movement’s signal moments, interspersed with era-appropriate songs made famous by the kind of divas to whom gay fans refer by first name alone (Dolly, Bette, Diana, and so on).
- New Adventures: A Preview of Todd Rundgren's Utopia at The Chicago Theatre Playing a set that touches on most all of the group's albums—including those dauntingly difficult and complex early works—Utopia has proven that there's plenty of life left in the band's concept.
