Three Chicago Symphony Orchestra Concerts to Remember

Conductor James Gaffigan leads the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in a program with works by Saint-Saëns, Saint-Saëns Mussorgsky , and Tchaikovsky.

Next came Batiashvili , to play Chausson’s “Poeme for Violin and Orchestra,” with its pensive, lyrical opening enhanced by her beautiful, singing tone and the music’s heartbreaking quality that led to a burst of increasingly intense passion. Saint-Saens’ seamless use of the violin soloist was notable in both the work’s grandly dramatic passages and its final moments of calm.

The second half of the concert began with Mussorgsky’s “A Night on Bald Mountain,” brilliantly orchestrated by his friend, Rimsky-Korsakov, who outlived him. The work made extravagant use of the percussion section, from its wild opening with the clash of cymbals and pounding of timpani, to the stormy sound of what suggested a wild cavalry led by Satan.

And now a brief recapitulation of two earlier concerts impeccably conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen, the music director of the San Francisco Symphony who also happens to be a gifted composer. Then it was on to “Gemini,” a superb piece by Salonen from 2019. As he explained to the audience, the work – which features a vast and varied percussion section – is meant to capture the myth of the twins: Castor, the immortal son of Zeus, and Pollux, a mortal fathered by a Spartan king both born to Leda. The first half of the piece captures Pollux, beginning with a mystical-impressionistic quality , and the sound of flutes.

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