Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Esa-Pekka Salonen leads the mighty CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA in evocative and vividly colored readings of Shaw, Salonen, and Ravel

• By drediman
• June 7, 2022
• No Comments

Also while in Chicago, I had a chance to take in a performance by the great Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the acoustically welcoming Orchestra Hall. The performance was led by Finnish composer and conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen (the current music director of the San Francisco Symphony), who concluded a two-week residency with the mighty orchestra last weekend. The satisfying and intelligently-curated program included Caroline Shaw’s “Entr’acte”, Salonen’s own “Gemini”, and Ravel’s “Daphnis and Chloe”.

Shaw’s “Entr’acte” was an ideal opener. The warm yet elusive piece was written primarily for strings, which shimmered in and out of focus, as if to suggest that conventional orchestral harmony is merely a mirage. The performance continued with Salonen’s “Gemini”, an orchestral tone poem for full orchestra. It depicts the Greek myth of two half brothers (Pollux and Castor), whose divergent fates are depicted in the tonal dichotomy of Salonen’s stormy score. Indeed, the music is richly evocative of the grandeur of Mount Olympus and the turmoil of Hades, where the brothers respectively end up. Salonen conducted his own piece with piercing precision, to which the orchestra responded with resplendent power.

After an intermission, the program concluded with Ravel’s 50-minute “Daphnis and Chloe”, which the composer originally wrote as a ballet score for the legendary dance impresario Sergei Diaghilev and the Ballet Russes. Ravel’s score (complete with ravishing wordless choral accompaniment) sumptuously conjures the grandeur of nature, apropos for Chicago in bloom. Mr. Salonen’s reading was vividly colored yet clear-eyed, eschewing any sort of kitsch or cloying drama that could potentially find theirway into the work. Throughout the performance, the Chicago forces sounded magnificent, particularly its world renowned brass section, as well as the superb percussion players, who were heavily utilized in the bill.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Classical Music
Orchestra Hall at Symphony Center
2 hours (including an intermission)
Closed