Chicago’s chief critic finds new berth
NewsSince John von Rhein retired in 2018 as chief critic, classical music has all but vanished from the Chicago Tribune.
So it’s good to see von Rhein back on the beat this week at Chicago Classical Review, writing with unchecked enthusiasm about contemporary composers.
… Many pieces like Caligo (the Latin title roughly translates as mist, darkness and obscurity) that germinate from a single idea often fail to develop that single idea in a structurally or expressively meaningful way. Not so with Weinberg. The piece gathers sonic intensity in discrete layers rather than phrases. Skittering runs, guttural growls, eerie glissandi, ominous tremolos and brooding silences in the cello part are like signposts in a musical journey that is nothing if not absorbing in its quiet, hallucinatory power….
Shame about the Trib.
The Tribune has an excellent freelancer, Hannah Edgar, covering a lot of concerts in the city. But I don’t think she’s on staff, at least according to her bio blurb.
No, by no means “excellent.” Usually shallow and uninformed. And rare: neither Daniil Trifonov nor Yuja Wang have been reviewed. The Trib has absoltely no interest in classical music.
READER DISCRETION ADVISED – The following post contains crude language that could hurt the sensitivities of impressionable readers and viola players.
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Behind the scenes, Muti has been whining and ranting with Alexander for a long, long time about the lack of coverage from the Tribune, made a lot of noise and demanded to meet the editors.
So the Tribune editors showed up at one of Muti’s concerts a couple of weeks ago. The Bill Clinton of classical music met them in his sanctum after the concert (a rare privilege), scolded them and gave them the whole trite homily. You know, how society needs to follow classical music lest it descends into barbarism; Beauty, Culture, blah blah, the complete pile of rubbish. He boasted about conducting the African American composer Price, as if the editors did not see right through his bullshit, and did not have insider informants about what Muti REALLY thinks about Price. To seal the deal the Godfather attempted to invite the editors to dinner, reasoning that one of his expensive suppers – a Muti favorite lapdog reporter treat proven to be infallible – will secure favorable coverage. These Chicago journalists, who have standards about conflict of interest, gracefully declined. (Oh, that pissed him off. Oh, he was pissed).
You know the old saying, “be careful what you wish for”?
When all of this was said and done, the Tribune finally covered Muti concert. Here is an excerpt: “[Muti] pulled his usual podium trick of dropping his arms and letting the orchestra lead on its own — the winking implication being Beethoven’s score is so organic, so elemental, it can flow on its own. But his interpretive self-effacement produced mixed results. One of those conductorless moments toward the end of the first movement brought the orchestra out of sync, and lavishness gave way to languor in the second and fifth movements, both of which could have used a firmer interpretive hand.”
Nicely done.
One last note. The Chicago Classical Review is a fantastic website where journalists are not afraid of writing honest reviews. If you want to immerse into Chicago cultural life, and want to understand the unsalvageable train wreck that the CSO has become, the Chicago Classical Review is highly recommended.
Welcome back, Mr. Von Rhein.
…”dropping his arms” …
When you try to copy Kleiber. But you can’t.
The quote mentioned above is just one portion of the article. Overall, the review was favorable to Muti and the CSO.
He can write well. However, I most often instead agreed with the writing and judgement of the late great Andrew Patner. Hopefully the new music pieces von Rhein reviews will be performed more than once.
Don’t you mean Andrew Porter, not “Andrew Patner”?
I am speaking of the well known Chicago critic, the late Andrew Patner. He often wrote classical music criticism for the “Chicago Tribune” and the Chicago “Sun Times.”
Welcome back, John! You were sorely missed.