MUSIC OF THE BAROQUE
at Mandel Hall
MOB blazed the trail, and its tremendous success has served as an inspiration. Nowadays, the group’s renown is nationwide, bolstered by a profile in the Wall Street Journal and by regular broadcast over the WFMT network. MOB lives up to the hype: in its specialty of baroque choral (and instrumental) music it has few equals; as an exponent of Purcell’s masques, Handel’s oratorios, and Bach’s cantatas, it is among the very best. Because of limited rehearsal time (necessitated by the free-lance musicians’ other commitments), MOB tends not to venture outside that core repertory. When it does, the result can be intriguing. Its performance of a Schubert mass last year, for example, was ardent but fell short of imparting the music’s serene beauty. Yet no one could fault Wikman’s willingness to experiment, to find yet another right vehicle for his ensemble.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
All’s well with MOB, what about our three anniversary groups? Let me talk about the Chicago Ensemble, whom I heard last month, and save for later the Ferris Chorale and the Chicago String Ensemble. As far back as I can remember, the CE has never indulged in a downright poor performance. I was present at its debut, given in a Hyde Park auditorium. Even then, distorted acoustics notwithstanding, one could sense confident musicianship and esprit de corps from pianist Gerald Rizzer and his colleagues. Both Kyle Gann and I have reported on the CE’s progress in these pages, and neither of us, I believe, has been less than enthusiastic. The ensemble’s hallmark (and main appeal) is, of course, its remarkably catholic fare. Its most recent program was typical: three stylistically disparate 20th-century pieces, balanced by two seldom-performed works of Schubert and Brahms. Rizzer regards it as his mission to introduce unfamiliar music. He must spend his spare hours in music libraries, for it takes diligence (and erudition) to dig up opuses by half-forgotten composers — such as the Sonata da Camera for Flute, Cello and Piano by Gabriel Pierne and the Sonata for Clarinet and Piano by Alvin Etler.
This reluctance to relax, I think, has been a bothersome problem for the CE at the box office. Chamber music is more than just a few personable musicians plying their trade in intimate surroundings; it is an art of communication, mysterious in its alchemy. Charisma, I know for sure, is an essential element. And the ability to establish rapport with listeners is, too. That’s why audiences everywhere respond to the Juilliard Quartet and the Kronos Quartet. I admire the evident playing skills of the CE members and Rizzer’s pedagogical ambitions. But it’s high time they learn to loosen up; they should all emulate Susan Levitin. Otherwise, the ensemble will continue having a tough time reaching beyond its small, though fiercely loyal following.
