Latest Observations & Thoughts
Friday night, 4/2, Hedwig Dances performed at the Columbia
Dance Center. There was one highlight, one lowlight and
one dim light. I don’t know the lingo to describe the dancing,
but I’ll tell you about its effect on me.
“Dances of Forgotten Times” by Jan Bartoszek (Dir of Hedwig)
This set included the innovative use of 10 foot high curved panels
of mesh that were manipulated by the dancers and were frequently
placed on stage for the projection from above of ghostly images of
Hedwig dancers who appear to dance along with the live ones.
When the whole company was on stage, I was mesmerized
as if watching fish in an aquarium or clouds floating by.
The soundtrack was moody and delicate with nature sounds
and whispering people in the background. This piece was
dedicated to Jan’s late father, which raised the poignancy level
Next up was a clash of music and dance: “Dust (for Jack)”
by Andrea Miller. The music was “Fratres” by Arvo Pärt and
the dancing was what I’d would call two brothers rough-housing.
Does Fratres = Fraternity Brothers? Think about it.
The last, “Sawdust Palace Suite” by Susan Marshall, was
a cabaret piece based on historical “Spiegeltents”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiegeltent which traveled
around Europe doing shows. The dance was very kitschy,
involved the audience as though they were in the tent,
but didn’t give me anything to take away.
The Dance Center’s sound system remains the best
I’ve heard in the city.
***
I heard the CSO’s all-English concert with Sir Mark Elder
on Saturday 4/3. Besides Vaughn Williams’ “Lark Ascending”
and Elgar’s 2nd Symphony there was a new one for me.
Sir Michael Tippett’s “Concerto for Double String Orchestra”
was last performed by the CSO in 1970 under (get this)
Aaron Copeland!!! That’s a week short of 40 years. The fun
thing for me was the arrangement of the string orchestras.
They were split symmetrically on either side of the stage,
and Mark had to cue each side independently. It was like
a battle of the bands, but kind and caressing instead of raw.
Sir Mark carried a microphone out before the Tippett and Elgar
to give the audience some insight on what we’d be hearing.
I think he also made comments like this before Sibelius’ #7
in a past season. I like this idea, and Mark is great at it.
My only other observation was the number of empty seats.
The upper balcony was half full. And to add insult to injury,
lots of people left before the end of the Elgar (which I admit
is rather longish).
***
On Monday, 4/5, noon, I arrived at the Chicago Cultural Center
for the Chicago Chamber Musician’s 1st Monday concert to find
Jeremiah Frederick (CCM Bus. Mgr. & Attacca French Horn)
instructing a group of Chicago school kids on concert etiquette.
They did good except for a few (who didn’t listen to instructions)
who applauded after the 1st movement of Schumann’s
Fantasiestücke. After that, they got with the program. However,
glancing over my shoulder, I saw that most kids were in
never-never-land. Only about 1-in-5 were engaged. Maybe
that’s not too bad a percentage for rather staid program that
also included Barber & Debussy.
***
Later on Monday evening, 4/5, I decided I should visit
the Darnton & Hersh salon to hear the Callisto Ensemble.
Bright Sheng’s “Stream Flows” for violin was first, introduced
by Robert Walters. As Robert told us, it contained many
Chinese idioms from when Sheng was relegated to SW
China during the Cultural Revolution. The final part
sounded almost flute-like. Wow.
This year Callisto has been playing works by Australian
Brett Dean. They ended the season with Dean’s earliest
work “some birthday”. It’s a showpiece for two violas
and cello based on the simplest of themes – Happy Birthday.
It included the all the pizz’es, harmonics, edge bowing and
string tapping you’d expect, but in a friendly birthday party
way. Yukiko Ogura, violist from the CSO, augmented Callisto
on this and the next piece.
To conclude, Callisto and Yukiko played the Dvořák
String Quintet. Sitting in the 2nd row only six feet from
the 1st violin made it an adventure, even though the
music wasn’t new.
The D&H salon, about 15′x30′ was very stuffy, with
about 30 or so in attendance. And Brown, Green
& Orange Line “L” noise was evident all the time.
__
Bruce
