Press Release
Chaos intrudes on can't-miss evening
From the Chicago Sun-Times, August 8, 2006
Classical Music
By Dorthy Andries Pioneer Press
There were plenty of stars onstage at the Ravinia Festival Sunday night for the Chicago Symphony's last full orchestral concert of the summer.
The headliner was cellist Yo-Yo Ma, whose unquestioned super-status was evidenced by the sold-out pavilion and crowded lawn. On the podium was young Peruvian conductor Miguel Harth-Bedoya who, if not on the short list for music director of the CSO, certainly should be.
And there was Osvaldo Golijov, a Ravinia favorite, whose composition "Azul" was written for Ma and premiered by him two nights before with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood, Mass.
"Azul," performed just after intermission, is not for the faint of heart; there were also times when everything seemed to be in meltdown.
First of all, the orchestra was completely rearranged, with oboist Michael Henoch and clarinetist John Bruce Yeh on the left side of the stage and French horn player Daniel Gingrich on the right. The strings were sequestered in the back, where they often provided a droning accompaniment. The hyper-accordion, a sonically enhanced instrument, and a series of drums augmented the orchestra.
Golijov can write a melody line -- we know that from his "Passion According to St. Mark," given at Ravinia in 2002, and his beautiful opera, "Ainadamar," presented at the festival this June. And there were a number of soaring melodies in this work, which Ma executed soulfully.
The clarinet, oboe and French horn all had showy melodic moments, but harmonies converged and dissonances clashed until the tension between the melodic and the chaotic dissolved and sounded almost like an airplane landing.
Just when the music seemed to have disintegrated into noise, clear lines emerged again, and the cello sang out above it all. In the final passages, the composer wisely gave the cello another rich melody, played with the intensity and artistry that are the hallmarks of this stellar cellist. When Golijov came onstage, the Ravinia audience applauded vigorously.
Before intermission, Ma was soloist for a Cello Concerto by Haydn, a piece discovered in a private collection in 1961. The cellist's joy in playing was evident in every phrase, and his enthusiasm for the music was palpable.
The program opened with selections from Manuel de Falla's "Three-Cornered Hat" and concluded with Ravel's "Bolero," both vivid, vibrant works. Harth-Bedoya also conducted Saturday night. His work with soprano Renee Fleming was superior, but his work with the orchestra Sunday was even better, if that's possible.
Both nights he illuminated the music, bringing out orchestral voices with exceptional clarity. If he has the ease of a bandleader on the podium, the results were not the least bit casual.
In one weekend, he adeptly accompanied two of the world's preeminent artists, while leading the forces of the Chicago Symphony through a difficult premiere and several powerful works. What else is required for that short list?
Sun-Times News Group