A Portrait in Four Movements: The Chicago Symphony Under Barenboim, Boulez, Haitink, and Muti

Patner, Andrew

ISBN 10: 022660991X / ISBN 13: 9780226609911

Published by University of Chicago Press, 2019

Former library book; May have limited writing in cover pages. Pages are unmarked. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less. Seller Inventory # G022660991XI4N10

Synopsis:

"Playing in an orchestra in an intelligent way is the best school for democracy."--Daniel Barenboim The Chicago Symphony Orchestra has been led by a storied group of conductors. And from 1994 to 2015, through the best work of Daniel Barenboim, Pierre Boulez, Bernard Haitink, and Ricardo Muti, Andrew Patner was right there. As music critic for the Chicago Sun-Times and WFMT radio, Patner was able to trace the arc of the CSO's changing repertories, all while cultivating a deep rapport with its four principal conductors. This book assembles Patner's reviews of the concerts given by the CSO during this time, as well as transcripts of his remarkable radio interviews with these colossal figures. These pages hold tidbits for the curious, such as Patner's "driving survey" that playfully ranks the Maestri he knew on a scale of "total comfort" to "fright level five," and the observation that Muti appears to be a southpaw on the baseball field. Moving easily between registers, they also open revealing windows onto the sometimes difficult pasts that brought these conductors to music in the first place, including Boulez's and Haitink's heartbreaking experiences of Nazi occupation in their native countries as children. Throughout, these reviews and interviews are threaded together with insights about the power of music and the techniques behind it--from the conductors' varied approaches to research, preparing scores, and interacting with other musicians, to how the sound and personality of the orchestra evolved over time, to the ways that we can all learn to listen better and hear more in the music we love. Featuring a foreword by fellow critic Alex Ross on the ethos and humor that informed Patner's writing, as well as an introduction and extensive historical commentary by musicologist Douglas W. Shadle, this book offers a rich portrait of the musical life of Chicago through the eyes and ears of one of its most beloved critics.

About the Author: Andrew Patner was a Chicago-based journalist, broadcaster, critic, and interviewer.

Bibliographic Details

Title: A Portrait in Four Movements: The Chicago ...
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Publication Date: 2019
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Very Good
Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket