Music Reviews Archives - Page 12 of 21

On paper, the current CSO program, led by Edo de Waart (substituting again for Riccardo Muti), looked sure-fire: Mozart’s Symphony No. 41, the Jupiter, is arguably the greatest symphony of perhaps the greatest symphonist not named Beethoven; and a case could be made that Brahms’ Symphony No. 4 represents the height of the symphony after Beethoven’s death. However, one would not necessarily register the stature of these great works, the Mozart in particular, from this evening’s often lifeless performances.

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Tom Williams

All-Beethoven

This evening’s CSO program marks the second time in the past three seasons that music director Riccardo Muti has had to bow out of a scheduled performance of Beethoven’s legendary Eroica Symphony; Muti developed a case of the flu and was replaced for the duration of his present two-week engagement by Edo de Waart, currently music director of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. Given the short notice on which he took up the program, de Waart led finely polished and alert performances that often lacked the last degree of dramatic intensity.

Music Reviews MUST SEE REVIEWS Tom Williams

Tom Williams

Julie Shannon…My Friends Sing My Songs

Shannon is probably the finest relatively unknown composer and lyricist you could find. I was stunned at the versatility, the number of soaring anthems, the terrific lyrics that sit upon the music so effectively. Seldom will you find a more talented composer and lyricist in one person that Julie Shannon!

MUST SEE Opera REVIEWS REVIEWS BY Tom Williams

Tom Williams

Hansel und Gretel

Hansel und Gretel is filled with charming melodic music that contains gentleness, sweetness, as well as dark motifs. Humperdinck used German folk elements together with original folk tunes to flavor his opera. The score demand much vocal dexterity and Kanyotova and DeShong delightfully have that element in their fine performance. I was thrilled by the darkly comic work by Jill Grove as the manic witch. Brian Williams’ father was also appreciated.

Classical Music Music Reviews REVIEWS

Tom Williams

Berlioz and Shostakovich

Sir Mark Elder led the Chicago Symphony Orchestra this evening in a generally very enjoyable selection of somewhat lesser-known works by prominent composers from outside the standard Germanic tradition.

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Tom Williams

Don Pasquale

Donizetti’s delightful Don Pasquale (1842), which opened today at Chicago’s Lyric Opera, is an embarrassment of bel canto riches, with a seemingly endless stream of glorious Italian melodies wedded to a lighthearted yet often witty comedic plot about an elderly man who gets more trouble than he bargained for when he decides in his 70s to finally get married.

Cabaret REVIEWS REVIEWS BY Tom Williams

Tom Williams

Joy to the World

Fred Anzevino and Jeremy Ramey have created a fine Christmas revue that is just the right thing for Saturday and Sunday matinee lovers who get-stressed by shopping. All they have to do is get to the No Exit Cafe in Rogers Park to hear four delightful singers and a fabulous piano and bass produce classic holiday tunes.

Music Reviews MUST SEE Opera REVIEWS Tom Williams

Tom Williams

Werther

Jules Massenet’s Werther (1892) is a dramatically exciting and intensely passion and totally romantic French opera. Massenet’s varied music moves form lightly friendly even tranquil melodies depicting nature and happy children to intensely emotional feelings of a young poet madly in love with a woman he can never have.

Classical Music Music Reviews REVIEWS REVIEWS BY

Tom Williams

Dutoit Leads CSO in Varied and Gripping Program

Swiss conductor Charles Dutoit brought his two-week engagement with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra off to an auspicious start Thursday night with a highly compelling presentation of music by Britten, William Walton, and Beethoven. The conductor coaxed the very best out of this formidable ensemble, ensuring, with the help of a comparably impressive solo contribution from violinist Gil Shaham, that this would not be just another routine night at the symphony.

Classical Music Music Reviews MUST SEE REVIEWS REVIEWS BY

Tom Williams

Three B’s… With a Twist

The program was billed as “Three B’s… With a Twist”; the “twist” was a partial change, with two of the so-called Three B’s of Classical Music, Bach and Brahms, replaced by Boccherini and Bartok, but the third, Beethoven, left intact. The quartet gave a remarkable performance in this first installment of its three-part series this season in the Logan Center, even if I, for one, was not entirely impressed by the “revision of the Three B’s.”