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The Beginning of the End

Tonight was the penultimate concert of the Grant Park Music Festival 2011 season. It was an odd program comprised of two works: John Adams's The Chairman Dances: Foxtrot for Orchestra and Dmitri Shostakovitch's Symphony No. 10.

The Chairman Dances

This is a typical Adams piece.The orchestra payed homage to the monotonous Adams minimalism that repeats the same motifs endlessly as instruments are layered upon instruments until a climax of sorts is achieved which is quickly followed by a barely audible recapitulation of what we have just heard, building into yet another crescendo, and so forth until ennui overtakes all but the most avid Adams fan. I understand that Adams composes in a cabin overlooking the Pacific; undoubtedly, his exposure to the monotonous sound of the Pacific waves contributes to his overall artistic direction.

In fairness, Adams writes great ballet music. I have seen ballets accompanied by Adams's music and they are stunning. Of course, when one goes to the ballet, one expects to see dance; the music is not the primary raison d'etre.

Symphony No. 10

Only Shostakovitch understands (understood, since he's now dead) this piece. He refused to tell anyone anything about it except that the second movement was about Stalin; we already knew that Stalin was a butcher and evil man and didn't need Shostakovitch to tell us about it.

Programme music aside, despite our inability to "understand" Symphony No. 10, we can still enjoy the magnificent achievement it represents artistically. Remember that Shostakovitch was plagued his entire artistic career by the spectre of Stalin and all the oppression he represented; it is a miracle of human spirit and endurance that Schostakovitch produced the masterpieces he did in the shadow of so brutish and ignorant a dictator as Stalin.

Kalmar and company produced an impressive exposition of Symphony No. 10.  Sadly, it will be presented only one time.

This brings us to...

The Beginning of the End

By this I mean that we are but two concerts (with the same program) of the end of yet another Grant Park Music Festival Season. This Friday and Saturday will conclude the season with the Verdi Requiem. Attention Dies irae lovers. Here's your big chance.

[Muic Director Carlos] Kalmar is a masterful programmer. He knows what will attract a crowd and for a season finale, that often means a large-scale choral work. Certainly, the Verdi Requiem fits that order.

At the same time, we need to realize that another ten-week season of the Grant Park Music festival will conclude when the final curtain call has been taken, the final soloist has taken his or her bow, the chorus has been given the standing ovation, and the orchestra rises to acknowledge a grateful audience.

I haven't had a chance to speak with Leigh Levine, Acting Executive Director, but I know for certain that she and her staff under the able direction of Music Director Carlos Kalmar and Chorus Director Christopher Bell have begun planning Grant Park Music Festival 2012.

Meanwhile, if you can find a seat to sit in or a patch of lawn to pitch your folding chair on, don't miss the Verdi Reguiem this Friday or Saturday.

Summer in Chicago is made all the more glorious by the Grant Park Music Festival. Don't miss it.

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