In my first experience with overcast weather at the Grant Park Music Festival this summer, the orchestra gave an enjoyable concert at Jay Pritzker Pavilion on Wednesday evening. With the young conductor Eric Jacobsen returning to the rostrum, the program included one of the all-time greatest hits of the classical music repertoire, Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony no. 5 in c-minor. It also included Edvard Grieg’s Holberg Suite for string orchestra and the world premiere of Nathalie Joachim’s Cocoon, which the festival commissioned.
Last week Jacobsen was dressed in a white suit, blue shoes, and red socks. This week he still wore red socks, but he had a black tux and grey shoes. As he did last week, on Wednesday, he conducted without a score or podium, except for the premiere of Cocoon. His stage presence was energetic, and he clearly had a great rapport with the players.
Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg was commissioned to commemorate the 200th birthday of Norwegian writer Ludvig Holberg. Throughout the five movements of the Holberg Suite, Grieg explored several different instrument combinations to create different effects. The Grant Park Orchestra delivered with crisp playing from the opening flourish of the “Prelude,” which required well executed dynamic shifts.
The second movement “Sarabande” started with the second violins and violas, but soon featured solos from violist Terri Van Valkinburgh and a cello trio comprising Walter Haman, Peter Szczepanek, and Larry Glazier. The “Gavotte” had the cello trio adjacent to the violins. Concertmaster Jeremy Black gave barnstorming solos in the finale. The suite was extremely well performed.
One of Jacobsen’s practices that keeps the performance very interesting is a conversation with the soloist or living composer on the program. On Wednesday he and Nathalie Joachim discussed the inspiration for Cocoon. She described the process that takes place when a caterpillar builds a cocoon and transposes into a butterfly. The work was written to give music to these natural changes.
Cocoon opens with a lengthy sunrise of growing intensity with the violins playing a quiet drone and a glockenspiel and flute providing chirping sounds. Eventually it breaks into a more upbeat sound, with chimes, bass drum, and brass joining the strings. After a brief pause for the sounds to sink in, it ends quietly. Jacobsen held this compelling juxtaposition of sounds together well.
Concluding the concert without intermission was Beethoven’s 5th Symphony, a revolutionary work filled with unexpected surprises. The opening movement starts with the famous four-note “fate” motif from which he built a very intense melody. Unfortunately, the performance didn’t start well. Jacobsen took it at a very rapid pace, and it sounded rushed. The orchestra was not tight, and the blend was off, as some of woodwinds playing melodies did not sound clearly in the mix. Luckily, Jacobsen honored Beethoven’s request for a repeat, and the second run-through was a lot better. The rest of the performance was great.
While the cloudy weather stayed dry, the ambient sounds endemic to a concert at Millennium Park adversely interfered in the first movement. When the woodwinds quietly traded the theme back and forth just before the recap, a terrible case of sirenitis struck at the worst possible moment. Fortunately, all was quiet for Mitchell Kuhn to deliver a lovely cadenza on the oboe, a previously unheard-of moment in a symphony.
The second movement, a reflective theme and variations marked Andante con moto, allowed the orchestra to shine with interplay between the various sections. The third movement, a Scherzo, opens with dark melodic riff on the cellos and bases responded to by the winds and horns. The violins soon join in with a variant of the four-note fate motive. It ends with everything plucked, before a suspenseful transition directly into the finale without pause, a huge innovation of this symphony. That finale is Beethoven at his most triumphant, overcoming the fears of fate. Just before the recap, in another innovation, the scherzo is recalled, and there’s another transition to Beethoven's triumph.
Jacobsen and the orchestra were great in these transitions, providing the right amount of suspense. One thing missing was a repeat in the finale, which is needed to balance the opening movement’s repeat. Notwithstanding the performance’s initial problems, it was still very enjoyable.
Tonight and tomorrow night, Eric Jacobsen returns with the Grant Park Orchestra and Chorus to offer another greatest hit, Rimski-Korsakov’s Scheherazade. The program also includes Lili Boulanger’s D’un matin de Printeps (Of a Spring Morning) and Poulenc’s Stabat Mater. Jay Pritzker Pavilion, Friday, July 26, 6:30pm, and Saturday, July 27, 7:30pm.
Next Wednesday, Lucas Waldin conducts the Grant Park Orchestra with vocalists LaKisha Jones, Chloe Lowery, and Dan Domenech for a salute to Broadway. Jay Pritzker Pavilion, Wednesday, July 31, 6:30pm. For more info on these events, click here.
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