Chicago cultural weekend: Conlon at Ravinia

On night two of my Chicago cultural weekend, I decided to take in a concert led by the Cincinnati May Festival’s James Conlon, who is music director of the Ravinia Festival outside of Chicago. Although we went by car (it’s about 20 miles north of Chicago), there’s a direct train from downtown and the round-trip "Ravinia Special" is just $5.

It was fun to arrive and see people loaded down with lawn chairs, Crate & Barrel picnic tables, coolers and even rosebud vases and candles, staking their claim on the grass. Lawn tickets are just $10 for adults; the down side is that you can’t see the stage, since the lawn slopes away from the pavilion. Still, the place was packed for a concert led by Conlon that included Erwin Schulhoff’s Symphony No. 1 and Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 (yes, the one from the movie "Shine") with pianist Yefim Bronfman.

But first, dinner. We had 6 p.m. reservations (allowing for 7:30 p.m. concert time) at Mirabelle, a nice restaurant run, said one of my friends, by the Levy family of restaurants. You can get the full buffet or a la carte, and sit indoors or out. (The menus are on the Ravinia Web site, ravinia.org.) There are a variety of other cafes and restaurants on site, as well, so the choices are many. Our dinner outside was lovely but service was very slow. I’d allow plenty of time if you go.

Ravinia, summer home of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, is one of the oldest and most prestigious of American summer classical festivals. Cincinnatian James Levine was its music director from 1971-93. This summer is Conlon’s second season as music director. He is introducing several new projects, such as exploring Mahler’s symphonies in chronological order, presenting all of Mozart’s piano concertos and championing music by composers who suffered at the hands of the Nazis, such as Schulhoff.

Conlon – wearing his tux but no jacket in the heat – spoke eloquently to the audience about Schulhoff’s Symphony No. 1 from 1928 – how he’d just finished his naughty boy period, had integrated jazz into his music before George Gershwin and was writing minimalism 50 years before the minimalists. Schulhofff, a Czech Jew, died in 1942 in a Nazi concentration camp.

The symphony, in three movements with no break, opened with bubbling, chortling ostinato passages with pentatonic themes floating above -- more inventive than anything we know as minimalism today. The first movement was clangy and joyous and reminded one a bit of Honegger’s "Pacific 231"; the second was impressionistic and rather amorphous. Although the sound of the strings was superb in the opening, I would have preferred more clarity of string sound in the slow movement, which nevertheless had moments of atmospheric beauty. It evolved into a quirky march for winds – almost like one of Mahler’s. The finale was Schulhoff’s least inspired movement, sort of Hollywoodish 40 years ahead of his time.

Acoustically, even though there was competition from the cicadas on this hot night, the sound of the orchestra was superb in the pavilion seats (which, incidentally, were sold out). Conlon led it all with conviction and nuance, and the musicians were wonderfully responsive.

Rach 3 is one of the piano repertoire’s most fiendishly difficult pieces. Two things made me very happy from the outset: 1) Bronfman was masterfully up to the task from the first note and 2) the piano’s amplified sound in the outdoor venue didn’t sound tinny.

This was, if anything, the most probing performance of the Third Concerto I have ever heard. Bronfman managed to make sense of a piece that is a bit disjunct, and to make every note its full-blown romanticism meaningful.

As a technician, the pianist plays with depth, color and absolute control, voicing even the most massive chords beautifully. Perhaps most importantly, he gauged the piano’s orchestral-like buildups perfectly, so as not to reach the summit too early. His first-movement cadenza was a breathtaking journey that, pianistically, was akin to climbing up Mount Everest. When the piano took a back seat, he created gorgeous color as he accompanied orchestral soloists with pianissimo ripples in the piano.

His intensely passionate entrance to the slow movement evolved into one of the most poetic and beautifully interpreted love themes of the kind only Rachmaninoff could write. The scherzo was truly demonic, but Bronfman’s touch sparkled, and he managed to illuminate glowing themes amid all the power and fire. The finale was electrifying, with the pianist standing in his seat for the final drive to the finish, and the crowd on its feet roaring like I have never seen in Chicago.

Conlon was the ideal partner, pulling back or pushing ahead, seemingly with eyes in the back of his head, so in tune was he with the soloist. His orchestra turned in a burnished, wonderfully fresh performance.

I went backstage with a group of Cincinnatians to say hello to Conlon, who was surprised to see the Cincinnati contingent. After Sunday, he’s off to spend some time working at Aspen, before he opens the Los Angeles Opera season in September, his first season as music director there.

When we left, many of the lawn folks were still there, enjoying the final courses of their candlelit dinners.

By the way, another Cincinnati maestro makes an annual visit here: Popsmeister Erich Kunzel will conduct the Ravinia Festival Orchestra’s Labor Day concerts on Sept. 4-6.

Ravinia info: www.ravinia.org or 847-266-5100.