In Wednesday’s (1/22) Chicago Tribune, John von Rhein writes, “Of the five great composers whose names are etched into the Michigan Avenue façade of Orchestra Hall, Franz Schubert may be the least familiar to today’s listeners.” Over the next few months, the “Chicago Symphony Orchestra and its presenting arm, Symphony Center Presents, blaze a swath through Schubert’s symphonic, piano, choral and chamber music. … The centerpiece of the CSO’s ‘Schubertiade’—to borrow the term used to describe the famous evenings of music and socializing over which the composer presided from the piano bench—will be the orchestra’s first-ever Schubert symphony cycle, a pet project of Riccardo Muti’s. The music director also will conduct performances of a Schubert rarity, the sublime Mass in A flat major, not heard here in 123 seasons. Otherwise, the programming will involve various Chicago and guest artists and will adhere to more standard Schubert works … The Schubert celebration got off to a rewarding start on Sunday evening when the commanding German baritone Matthias Goerne and his close colleague, pianist Christoph Eschenbach, delivered an absorbing and moving account of Schubert’s song cycle ‘Die schoene Muellerin.’ ”
Posted January 24, 2014
