When I began this week, I had no hard plans to attend any
concerts, but I came to the end of the week having attended and enjoyed two
very different musical experiences.
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| David Gauger II leads the Moody Symphonic Band |
On Sunday evening, I attended a performance by the Moody Symphonic Band from the Moody Bible Institute at a church on the northwest side
of the city. A member of the band is a fellow congregant at Calvary Memorial
Church, and invited me when we passed in the hall after service that morning. I
was pleased to be able to accept the invitation, as it had been some time since
I had heard any of the Moody music ensembles.
The Moody Symphonic Band, under the direction of David Gauger II, performed a wide selection of repertoire, including a number of
pieces I had played when I was in a college band. The concert was anchored
thematically by the life of King David. In between selections, different
members of the band would give a monologue, acting as one of the characters
from that story – Samuel, Jonathan, and so on. It was a beautiful performance.
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| The concert poster outside Symphony Center |
Then on Thursday evening, I attended a performance by the
Chicago Symphony Orchestra. I had this particular program, “Salonen conducts Sibelius,” and date on my calendar since last summer, but it was only that
morning, realizing that I was on schedule with all my work and could take an
evening off, did I buy a ticket.
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of
frequent guest conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen, offered a program of three very
substantial works, spanning from the Romantic to Contemporary eras. The program
began with <<rewind<<, a
tone poem by Anna Clyne, one of the CSO’s composers-in-residence. I heard a
Clyne composition two years ago at the CSO (Night
Ferry), and this one was similar in her use of “layering” (as she herself
wrote in the program notes).
Second on the program was Bartók’s Suite from The Miraculous Mandarin. I became
familiar with this piece about four years ago, when I used it in a research
paper during undergrad. It was fun to hear it again without having to analyze
it! Bruce Yeh was excellent on the clarinet solos – all the soloists on this
piece were excellent, truthfully.
After the intermission was the piece I was most looking
forward to: Four Legends from the Kalevala,
Op. 22 of Jean Sibelius. Sibelius is one of my favorite composers, but, as I
have discovered, his music is not among the most often performed (regrettable,
in my opinion). I did not know the Kalevala
set, and was interested to read in the program notes before hand that the
finale, according to program annotator Phillip Huscher, was even more exciting
than that of the Second Symphony. The ending of Sibelius’ Symphony No. 2 is one
of the more exciting moments of Western music, I think, so I was even more
interested to hear the ending of Kalevala
to compare. And exciting it was! Though I am still a fan of that Second
Symphony…
The Moody Symphonic Band has unfortunately given their last
regular concert of the season, but the CSO will repeat their Salonen conducts
Sibelius program tonight and on Tuesday. Read more about that program in John Von Rhein's review of the Thursday performance for the Chicago Tribune.
Have you heard any concerts lately? Share your
reactions in the comments section below!
