Edouard Lalo: Symphonie espagnole
Lalo Schifrin: Fantasy for Screenplay and Orchestra (world premiere)
Igor Stravinsky: Firebird Suite (1919 version)

October 9, 2003
Symphony Center, Chicago, IL

I bought two tickets for this concert over a month ago without anyone attached to the second one. After going through eight people (all of who were willing but unable to attend), there was a last-minute decision to go with my aunt. We had dinner, then went to get our seats about 45 minutes before the concert began. We were seated in the terrace, a small section behind the orchestra, which changes not only your visual perception but you audial perception as well. For one thing, being so close to the percussion (I could have reached my hand over the ledge and dropped something on the timpanist) shakes you up quite a bit more than sitting in the main floor of the hall. But the most striking difference was how pronounced the brass section (especially the French horns) was.

The concert opened with Lalo's famous Symphonie espagnole. I had heard this only once before, when I checked it out from the library about a year ago. I thought it was certainly very good, but it never left a lasting impression on me. In concert, however, I was blown away. What a fantastic piece of music.

The orchestra, as expected, was superb. Barenboim is an interesting conductor to watch. There are times where he is so relaxed he looks as though he's drifted off into some dreamworld, as though he's only listening to the music and has forgotten he is conducting it. An instant later, he is dynamic and relentless. He's at his most entertaining (from the terrace's perspective, anyway) when he starts to look like he's dancing with the orchestra embodied in some imaginary woman. There were lots of opportunity's for this in Lalo's work, and he did a great job leading the orchestra.

But what really made this concert the life-long haunting experience it will be was the performance of god-on-earth Maxim Vengerov. His playing simply defies description. His technical skill is of course superb, but what really makes his performances stand out is the passion. The emotional power of his performance was staggering, and it spread throughout the entire audience from the moment his bow first touched the strings of his Strad. He doesn't just play the music, he lives the music.

After the symphony had ended, Vengerov was given a standing ovation by (as far as I could see) every single member of the audience, and was called back on stage four times. It was well deserved. Vengerov is apparently playing this piece all around the country, so if he comes near you I highly, highly recommend you attend. I can't tell you if every night will be as good as this one, but I can tell you this one was phenomenal.

After the intermission, Schifrin's new piece (a CSO commission) was up next, and Barenboim turned to the audience to introduce it. Much to my surprise and delight, he also introduced Schifrin, who was sitting in the fifth or sixth row. The conductor seemed quite taken with the piece, which is basically a film score for a film that doesn't exist. It's divided into seven movements: Main Title (Overture), Film Noir, First Transition, The Silent Comedians, Second Transition, Love Scene, and The Final Conflict. It's a very, very film-score-like work (which is what it's supposed to be), except that it sounds like something from an older film, like something from the 60's. My favorite part was "The Silent Comedians," which starts off as a funny little waltz for violin and saxophone before the rest of the orchestra takes it up and runs with it.

After it was over, Schifrin walked on stage to take a bow, and was greeted with a standing ovation from about 70% of the audience (not including the handful of people who had already left after the Lalo ended). He was called back on stage one more time before returning to his seat to enjoy the rest of the concert.

The night ended with Stravinsky's Firebird suite, which was great to watch live. The finale was spectacular with the brass as loud as they were from our section, and I picked up on some things I had never noticed in the music before (like the presence of a piano). It was a fittingly majestic end to a wonderful concert.

After it was over I made my roundabout way down to the main floor to meet Mr. Schifrin. We shook hands, I told him how much I enjoyed the new piece, and he thanked me very politely. I also expressed my admiration of Cool Hand Luke, to which he said, "Oh good, you like dat one, eh?" After he signed my program ( ) he tried to give my aunt the pen he had used, saying "I don't know whose pen dis is, I hope someone comes back for it." Another person said "It looks like it's yours now," to which he laughed and said "Yeah, I guess so." The last time I saw him he was leaving the building and getting into the car that was waiting for him, still holding that pen.

While introducing the Schifrin piece, Daniel Barenboim said something worth repeating (paraphrased): "All music, of all kinds, has a meaning. Whether it's a sad meaning, a happy meaning, a deep meaning, a light meaning, all music has some kind of meaning. But it's a meaning that you can't explain in words, because if you could, the music wouldn't be necessary."

Kirk
NP - Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor, as played by Maxim Vengerov and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra cond. by Kurt Masur

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Originally posted by James:
Barenboim is an interesting conductor to watch. There are times where he is so relaxed he looks as though he's drifted off into some dreamworld, as though he's only listening to the music and has forgotten he is conducting it. An instant later, he is dynamic and relentless. He's at his most entertaining (from the terrace's perspective, anyway) when he starts to look like he's dancing with the orchestra embodied in some imaginary woman.

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I don't know...
Maybe it depends on the music, or the occasion. But what I've heard so far by Barenboim (on CD) has been fairly bland and boring. He probably has the second lamest and second most boring Scheherazade ever recorded (right behind Svetlanov's LSO account).

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But what really made this concert the life-long haunting experience it will be was the performance of god-on-earth Maxim Vengerov. His playing simply defies description. His technical skill is of course superb, but what really makes his performances stand out is the passion. The emotional power of his performance was staggering, and it spread throughout the entire audience from the moment his bow first touched the strings of his Strad. He doesn't just play the music, he lives the music.

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