On March 23, 2025, CSO MusicNOW composer-curator Jimmy López, called “one of the most innovative and symphonically dynamic composers in the world today” hosted an “eclectic fusion of contemporary compositions”, in a concert titled Inner Dialogues. The afternoon’s program included two of López’ own works, a piece by former CSO Principal Guest Conductor Pierre Boulez in homage to his 100th birthday, one by Quinn Mason, celebrating his 29th birthday, and one by Adam Schoenberg, 36. The event, held at Symphony Center, 220 S. Michigan Avenue, Chicago, featured musicians from The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Civic Orchestra, and other Chicago musical endeavors/programs, and included guest conductor Nicholas Koo.
Contemporary music titan Pierre Boulez’ Domaines, 1961-68, was created in a dual form, for solo clarinet, and later for clarinet and six instrumental groups in ensemble. The masterful solo performance by CSO assistant principal clarinetist/E-flat clarinetist John Bruce Yeh was intriguing and inspiring in the extreme. So was his discussion of his encounters with Boulez, learning and performing Domaines and performing/recording Boulez’ idiosyncratic, iconic Dialogue, 1985. Yeh moved between 8 different music stands, performing his own “mobile” choice of sections, including the mirror image of 2 of those sections. The piece has a distinctly mechanical and mathematical essence, colorful, detailed, and as fascinating as the unusual trilling and staccato sounds produced by Yeh.
CSO MusicNOW: John Bruce Yeh, Clarinet; Pierre Boulez, “Domaines”
Quinn Mason’s Weapon Wheel, 2018-19, played by Ian Ding, Douglas Waddell and the CSO’s Patricia Dash is a theatrical, open-ended expressionistic performance by 3 percussionists on 3 bass drums. Exuberant, lively, and thoroughly rhythmic, it was alive with vigor.
López’ La Caresse du Couteau for string quartet, 2004, is a somber, stoic piece based upon an original musical interpretation of the historical concept of the enneagram, a quasi-scientific model of personality that categorizes people by their motivations and fears. It’s a fiercely modernist atonal work, realized in 6 sections performed attacca, each an exploration of range, musical phrasing and dynamic motion.
CSO MusicNOW: Jimmy López: “Inner Dialogues”; Quinn Mason, “Weapon Wheel”; Ian Ding, Patricia Dash and Douglas Waddell, percussionists
Adam Schoenberg’s 9-minute Reflecting Light, 2006, for brass quintet, is a reflection on the death of a mentor’s father, and a reminiscence on the pain of that loss. Schoenberg often writes compellingly of the inspiration for his pieces. He describes this beautiful work’s sections as identifying the loss of life in the opening chorale, followed by a meditative honorific, finally moving into an uplifting fanfare. The five brass instruments, horn, trumpets and trombones, sound surprisingly soft and lush together, effective and never strident.
The program closed with López’ charming, lilting 3-movement Guardian of the Horizon, Concerto Grosso for Violin, Cello and Strings, 2016-17, featuring CSO associate concertmaster Stephanie Jeong, violin, and Karen Basrak, cello. Along with an ensemble of 14, the work was deftly led by Koo, who brought forth a sweep of interconnecting solo and conjoint group effects.
As can be seen, each piece referenced a segment of the orchestra, the woodwind, percussion, brass, and strings. The musicians also played from the area they usually inhabit onstage, each performance bathed in defining spot-lit colors. It was an afternoon of awakenings, imaginings, and strong references.
All photos by Todd Rosenberg
For information and tickets to all the fine programming of The Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association, go to www.cso.org
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