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Thursday, February 21, 2008

Chicago Symphony

The CSO season for 2008-09 has been announced, and among the Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart programs are these:
  • A bracing pair of concerts by Pierre Boulez, who leads works by Ives, Carter, Varèse, Janácek, Szymanowski, and Stravinsky
  • Riccardo Muti conducts the Verdi Requiem
  • Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts music of Debussy, Stravinsky, Bartok, and, oh, yes, Salonen, a new commision
  • A piece by Turnage/Scofield, led by Steven Sloane
  • A six-concert Dvorák series, led by Mark Elder, giving the Bohemian master more attention than he probably gets in any five-year period. One of my readers is already plotting to attend, I am sure.
I'd most like to hear the composer-conductors' programs, and am only sorry Boulez isn't conducting his own music too.

12 comments:

  1. A six-concert Dvorák series, led by Mark Elder, giving the Bohemian master more attention than he probably gets in any five-year period. One of my readers is already plotting to attend, I am sure.


    Well, yeah, now that I know about it...

    A lot of greatest hits, but the Third Symphony and the Noon Witch should be real treats!

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  2. I was stunned when I saw Boulez was conducting Szymanowski's gorgeous first violin concerto, since I don't think he's conducted his music before and isn't noted for liking much lush, hyper-romantic music. I love Boulez' way with Scriabin though, so he should do a great job.

    I'm planning to go to Chicago in November for Lyric's Lulu and lucky me, the CSO is doing one of my favorite pieces, Lutoslawski's Third with, of all people, Bernard Haitink, not especially noted for his work with the post-war avant-garde.

    When does the San Francisco Symphony announce their season?

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  3. I saw that Haitink concert too!

    SFS announces on March 3. I may try to attend the press conference.

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  4. Nice! Will you cause a ruckus by shouting out questions like "Why are you doing the same old Overture > concerto > big piece formula?" or "Why isn't there more Nielsen on the programme"? :-)

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  5. Perhaps "Save us all from hearing the Tchaik 5th AGAIN,damn it!"

    By the way, I cannot remember if it's the CSA or NYPO that will be performing some piece by MTT next season. I was tempted to send them an abandon-hope message.

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  6. Perhaps "Save us all from hearing the Tchaik 5th AGAIN,damn it!"

    Haha, for Esa-Pekka Salonen it would be "Oh god, Le Sacre du Printemps *again*"? :-)

    Did you mean CSO, because MTT is doing his Thomaschefsky thing there.

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  7. Ahaha, Sacre again!!

    No, not the Thomashefsky thing - it's one of his personal compositions.

    I have a ticket to see the SFS concert on which two of his pieces are playing, along with symphonies by Shostakovich and Sibelius. I expect they'll hold up as well as Island Music held up against those marvelous Berio duets and the Janacek Mass.

    Come to think of it, is his partner related to Paula Robison??

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  8. Perhaps "Save us all from hearing the Tchaik 5th AGAIN, damn it!"

    Brava!

    Maybe SFS should have a separate track, like their Great Performers series, that segregates these overprogrammed pieces from the regular season just for those that have to hear them again. They could even bring in guest conductors like Kurt Masur or Gerard Schwarz who've beaten other unfortunate masterpieces into submission by overplaying them.

    The Deja Vu series, sponsored by KDFC-FM.

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  9. And the symbol could be Zubin Mehta mounted on a warhorse.

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  10. Perhaps my pointed question should be "Why is there no Carter or Messiaen on this schedule? What do you plan to cancel at the last minute so you can sneak in something masquerading as a tribute to one of them?" (They cancelled a Steven Mackey piece in favor of some anonymous piece by Steve Reich the year he turned 70.)

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  11. Reflexions is a 10-minute work. It's a token.

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