Klarinet Archive - Posting 000258.txt from 1999/11

From: "Kevin Fay (LCA)" <kevinfay@-----.com>
Subj: [kl] . . . my trip to Chicago
Date: Mon, 8 Nov 1999 14:32:53 -0500

Last week, my boss sent me to Chicago. Because Michael Jordan's retired
and Wrigley's closed for winter, I had to find something else to do with the
free evening. So I decided to bop on down to Symphony Center and check out
the CSO. (Actually, seeing the CSO is one of the major points on my
checklist of things to do before I die. When I found out that I was going
to Chicago, I immediately checked their web page -- and was overjoyed to
find a concert scheduled for the free night. ) My ticket was for a seat in
a 2-row balcony on the side of the stage -- not only great sound, but the
opportunity to view the interaction of the orchestra. I was literally 30
feet from the clarinet section, viewing them from the side.

I drove to the hall straight from the airport. arriving somewhat early.
When I took my seat, there were but two musicians on the stage: a
percussionist busily arranging toys, and a clarinet player fussing over
reeds. The clarinet player turned out to be our own Greg Smith. (An
aside--all of the reeds sounded terrific. Hearing him warm up brought both
tingles and thoughts of dark chocolate. Greg has, IMHO, the quintessential
clarinet tone, particularly in the chalumeau.)

Having no shame (and also having been invited to do so by Greg via email), I
leaned over the rail and identified myself as the traveling klarinetist.
Greg immediately jumped up, came over and gave me a virtual tour of the hall
and the orchestra -- well beyond the call of duty. He's as affable in
person as on our list.

Oh yes, the concert. The first piece was Beethoven's 4th. I though the
performance absolutely stunning. I was completely floored. The CSO has the
rep of being a very loud orchestra -- more on that later -- but I was
completely awestruck by the incredible sensitivity of the musicians,
individually and as a whole. The dynamic contrast was simply incredible,
and from the very ppp to the loudest passages, everything was almost
instantly in tune all the time. Wow!

The musicians weren't helped much by the conductor. He was a young guy with
no stick, both literally (didn't use a baton) and figuratively. While he
put on a good show for the audience -- huge body movements at all dynamic
levels -- he didn't seem to communicate much where the beat happened to be.
Despite this, the band did good -- real good.

For the first 2 pieces, the principal winds took a breather. John Yeh
played 1st clarinet, did a fine job. (For you gear heads out there, he
appeared to use an Opus A, not a Yamaha -- and he's got one of those
Vandoren Optimum things). While technically pretty much flawless, I did
have 2 minor quibbles: first, Mr. Yeh physically moves an awful lot -- so
much that I found it distracting. Second, he leaked a fair amount of air on
the loud passages.

The fourth movement was fast. Real fast. So fast that I had 2 thoughts:
(a) wow -- that's faster than MY orchestra could ever play it and (b)
there's no way the bassoon is gonna play the hard lick at that tempo! Of
course, I was wrong--the guy playing 1st bassoon (who looks like he's about
16 years old) was note perfect.

The second piece was the Paderewski piano concerto, with the 84 year old
Earl Wild at the piano. (I hope to be breathing at 84. Mr. Wild did better
than that). A whole bunch of additional strings showed up for this
piece--they had cut down for the Beethoven. As a late romantic work, it was
much more thickly scored; the absolute power of this orchestra became
apparent. Bud Herseth, Dale Clevenger, Jay Friedman et. al. have the
reputation of being a pretty decent brass section. I've had the opportunity
to hear some other high-rep orchestras -- Boston, Philly, NYP -- but NOTHING
prepared me for the wall of sound that these old guys put out. It's not
loudness -- it's more like great weight of sound, never overblown,
perfectly in tune and amazingly nimble. The quality of the sound, the
amazing dynamic contrast and absolute sensitivity in using it were just
amazing.

The final piece was Chavez's Symphony No. 2 (India). Chavez was touted in
the program notes as the "Mexican Copland" -- apparently he was quite an
influence on AC and vice versa. All the principals were there; this was a
BIG piece with a whole lotta percussion. There was also a whole lotta
eepher -- John Bruce Yeh was outstanding.

After the show, I staggered out to the lobby to have my pre-appointed chat
with Greg Smith. When I asked him how it went, he said it was pretty
run-of-the-mill, and that it was a shame I couldn't come by on a night when
they had had more rehearsal and were really "on." So . . . the most amazing
concert I have ever heard was just another day at the office.

I need to go practice.

kjf

P.S. -- note to college students. You're "young and stupid" -- giving you
the opportunity to do zany things, like cut a week of class and drive 2,000
miles to Chicago with three of your best friends to see the CSO. My advice
is to ignore your parents and do it. Half the terrace seating was filled
with music students grinning ear to ear -- get some of this while you can.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Unsubscribe from Klarinet, e-mail: klarinet-unsubscribe@-----.org
Subscribe to the Digest: klarinet-digest-subscribe@-----.org
Additional commands: klarinet-help@-----.org
Other problems: klarinet-owner@-----.org