Mysteries Abysmal

Bix

Old photographs

Working part-time as a 20 year old, I oversaw the classical section at a Borders inside the World Trade Center. Since its destruction, I tend to sentimentalize all the mundane housekeeping I had to do there. One duty involved putting new CDs in the plastic censored devices and I'll never forget when this disc arrived. Even before listening to it, I swear you could hear the opening of the Grieg slow movement by gazing on Gergiev's reflective scowl. Yet Thibaudet remained fancifully aloof. What could this bizarre combo possibly produce? Not a whole lot actually and the album was pretty unmemorable, but the cover is unarguably legendary. Coincidentally, both of these guys played here in Chicago last week, which was memorable. (Don't take my word for it:  aP here  and here, Ross here, Tommasini here .)

Murder my tweet

David Daniels, Time Out Chicago, Mar. 26- Apr. 1, 2009. (Between taking on several freelance gigs this month and trying to maintain something of a youthful existence, blogging has really halted 'round here. I hope that will improve in a few weeks. Also, I've been quietly rebelling against the internet. After seeing the rise of Twitter, I've lost some faith in technology and my fellow man. I'm still waiting for the punch-line on that one.)

Spring

Chicago Sinfonietta executive director Jim Hirsch brings me the sad but inevitable news that founder Paul Freeman will be stepping down from the orchestra and that an international search has now "officially" opened up to seek his replacement. If you take into account the maestro's health issues over the years, it's not much of a surprise that this transition has been a work-in-progress for a couple years now. Details and my brief chat with Hirsch now appear on the TOC blog. 

NYP blue

Lorin Maazel and the New York Phil come to Chicago. Chicago Sun-Times, March 11, 2009.  Note to self: take a break from reading about all the doom and gloom for the next couple of months. 

Grimaud faux pas

*update 3/11/09: The LA Times picks up on the story.

* as does Arts Journal

So it appears my Time Out Chicago interview with Helene Grimaud has led to her cancellation with the CSO next weekend. When I called her up a week ago, she was under the impression she was to be playing Beethoven's 4th concerto but, alas, she's long been scheduled to play the Fifth.  Ouch! Having turned in the profile on Monday and only receiving notice from the CSO hours before the article was to head to the printers, we were still able to tweak and run the piece.  My editor Brent DiCrescenzo nicely details it all on the TOC blog.  The refurbished article can now be read in full here.

Burnsin' down the house

Chicago Sun-Times, Fulcrum Point/"Dada Machinations" concert review. March 5, 2009. 

Mt. Pierre

Here's my Pierre Boulez interview for Time Out Chicago, March 5-11 . Looking back, the brief Q&A format probably isn't best suited for one of the 20th century's most notorious agitators and polemicists, and as Marc Geelhoed correctly told me last week, the man can "speak in paragraphs." But what's done is done. I probably spent more time than I should have asking him about his thought processes while listening to music, but it is what I'm most curious about, and so I piled it on. (photo: Pierre... Biden?)

The evangelist

I adore Peter Sellars but this interview segment is outrageous on several levels. The whole clip is worth a million bucks.