The Russians Came and Went
The Russians Came and Went
Saturday night, 3/27, I attended the CSO all Russian concert
conducted by Vladimir Jurowski (very young and not too dissimilar
to Gustavo Dudamel, IMHO). He conducted three pieces rarely
heard around Chicago.
First was the Isle of the Dead by Rachmaninov. According to the
program notes the CSO first played this in 1909. For a 100+ year
old piece, it ’s still moving.
Stravinsky’s Concerto for Piano and Winds required a lot a stage
re-arrangement for the smaller emsemble of strings and winds and
to bring up the Steinway on the lift for Peter Serkin to play. Piano
soloists don’t play on the “working Steinway” that Mary Sauer plays
in the course of regular concerts.
After intermission, Prokovfiev’s Symphony #4 was performed.
I’ve never heard this symphony in my 40+ years of concert-going
and radio listening. Jennifer Gunn, the CSO flute/piccolo player,
agreed on the way home down Michigan Ave. It was a very
interesting and an all-Prokofiev sounding symphony. It’s too bad
we don’t get to hear it that often.
–
Bruce
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