I know I promised that I wouldn't blog about violin, but I was able to attend an awesome Chicago Symphony Orchestra concert last weekend and I was so excited about it I thought I'd share my thoughts on it here. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is one of the best orchestras around, and I felt lucky to have tickets to its concert. I know classical music may sound boring, but I thought that this concert was lively and interesting. As I mentioned before, the orchestra itself is fabulous, but the program was equally gorgeous. It opened with the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E Minor and closed with Mahler's 5th symphony. If you haven't heard these pieces, they're amazing.
The Mendelssohn violin concerto has three movements: the first sounds intense and has a beautiful melody, the second is slow and soothing, and the third is the exact opposite--fast and bubbly. I enjoyed soloist Robert Chen's (concertmaster of CSO) interpretation of this extremely difficult piece. The first movement is probably the hardest to play, but he made it sound so easy! The second movement is just plain pretty. The third movement is playful and catchy; every time I hear it, I imagine fairies flying around in a field of flowers. From the performer's perspective, this movement has a lot of notes, but Chen seemed to play it effortlessly.
The Mahler Symphony has five movements. I don't particularly like the first two because they're just a bunch of extremely loud brass passages mixed with some occasional pleasant string melodies. The first movement is a cold, depressing funeral march. The third movement is alright, but I still don't think it's absolutely great or anything. The fourth movement is my favorite. It's calm and sad, but beautiful. I also like the fifth movement. It includes some of the same melodies as the fourth movement, but in a faster, more lively style. Even though I complained about the first three movements of the piece, the fourth and fifth movements more than make up for the shortcomings of the rest of the piece.
This concert was a great experience, and now I can see why tickets sold out so fast! The combination of the perfect orchestra playing the perfect pieces was worth the late start time.
I think you should blog about violin as much as you like. But this post isn't even strictly about violin, it's about your impressions of an exciting and important cultural event. I'm glad you enjoyed the concert. I've really enjoyed the Chicago Symphony Orchestra the couple of times I've gotten to see them at Krannert.
ReplyDeleteAnd you told me you "just" blogged about your weekend. This sounds like it was an amazing concert! I love how passionate you are about violin and music, you describe it so well.
ReplyDeleteAhhhh what excellent pieces! I agree with your description of Mendelssohn's third movement. My father has multiple studio recordings of it by various orchestras on CD and I can't say that I have a favorite group.
ReplyDeleteGrowing up an hour away from Chicago made it easy to go to CSO concerts as a kid when I didn't appreciate it as much as I do now. I was spoiled and blessed by those opportunities and the memories are astounding. I'm so happy you had a great time at the concert!
This sounds like a great experience, and it also sounds like you enjoyed it immensely. I was proud that I have actually heard of the music you were talking about, and that means it must be truly amazing. I'm personally think that you should blog all you want about music!
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