Sunday in Wicker Park overflowed with people, activities and music

On Sunday June 10, Wicker Park was filled with patrons of all ages engaged in numerous activities: the farmer’s market, soft ball games, the busy children’s playground, strolling, sun bathing and a classical music performance. 

The fact that all these activities can occur simultaneously is a great statement for the success of our neighborhood. In addition, the neighborhood volunteer’s grass roots work that went into the design of the day was inspired by neighborhood founders like Charles Gustavus Wicker, whose motto was – "give your time freely and work to create a vital neighborhood where you would want to live."

The well-attended ninety-minute classical music concert featured performances by Symphony Sounds String Quartet and Wicker Park Choral Singers (WPCS). Both groups have performed in our summer series in past years: Symphony Sounds in 2006 and 2008 and WPCS in 2008. This is the first of the 2012 classical music concerts that will be presented on second Sundays in June-September. Symphony Sounds will perform at all four concerts; WPCS will perform in June and August at intermission.

Both groups gave superb performances that would rival any others in the city. Symphony Sounds performed works by Antonio Vivaldi, Ludwig van Beethoven, Claude Debussy and Carlos Gardel. Mark Tomasino conducted the Wicker Park Choral Singers in a performance of works excerpted from their upcoming performance: 60 Degrees North – Music of Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Russia & Canada. WPCS presented compositions by Ola Gjeilo, Edvard Grieg, Hildor Lundvik, Wilhelm Stenhammar, Alfred Schnittke, Stephen Chatman, and Einojuhani Rautavaar.

The Symphony Sounds String Quartet truly excelled and ‘wowed’ the audience in its performance of Ludwig van Beethoven’s String Quartet in C minor Opus 18 #4. Their technical prowess, sensitivity to phrase, innuendo, dynamics, and ensemble were most evident in this work and were nothing less than extremely superb.  The score demands that each player be both able to take the lead and at the same time be part of well-balanced ensemble. The string players were certainly well prepared for Beethoven’s challenging quartet.

Beethoven wrote the six Opus 18 string quartets between 1798 and 1800. They were published in 1801.The numbers assigned to the quartets do not reflect the order in which they were written. The fourth quartet of the six was written last and is the only quartet written in a minor key – C minor. According to music historians, C minor is ‘the’ minor key of choice for Beethoven to use in his compositions, e.g. Pathétique, Fifth Symphony, Piano Sonata Opus 111. No preliminary sketches for this quartet have been found, indicating to music scholars that he may have "assembled the quartet" from earlier music that he had "stockpiled" before moving to Vienna. Others say that it was merely written without extensive revisions. That would be very unusual since Beethoven’s process involved extensive revisions.

The first movement (Allegro ma non tanto) is composed similar to a formal concerto and utilizes the first violist as the soloist outlined by the harmony of the other performers. Matthew Cataldi (Violin 1) lived up to his reputation as exhibiting "clarity and strength" (Chicago Classical Music) while at other times as being "especially sensitive" and "well-judged" (Cross Palms) in his exceptional performance of this work. What a performance!  The first movement is filled with high emotional tension juxtaposed against brief moments of release that parallel the works movement between minor and major keys.

In the second movement (Andante scherzoso quasi Allegretto), all the players are on equal turf and are engaged in a type of competitive game packed with polyphonic textures. The movement is in the form of a fugue, numerous voices mimicking each other in a childlike round creating an exciting three-part counterpoint that carries us to a lighter and more care free realm than in the first movement. There is no melodrama here – it is playful – but cunning. The entire movement appears to function as a release from the tension created in the first movement – or is it merely the game a cat plays with the mouse before the "big moment when the paw drops?" In the second movement, Rachelle Elizabeth Puccini (Violin 2), Ryan Loeckel (Viola) and Sarah Marsh (cello) joined Matthew Cataldi (Violin 1) and performed as a well-balanced team as they worked their way through the labyrinths of the fugue. The final two movements were equally well performed, exciting and appreciated by the audience. The last movement (Allegro -  Prestissimo) is composed in a fashion that quickly modulates between minor and major keys reflecting quick mood swings and then resolves it all in the Coda where "Beethoven dissolves the drama into humor, nearly making fun of all the histrionics." 

The Wicker Park Choral Singers’ performance of works from their upcoming June 23 Concert - 60 Degrees North – Music of Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Russia & Canada was well received and was very exciting to the audience – new composers and many works that they had never heard. This is one of the strengths of the group – creating great combinations of composers and always introducing cutting edge compositions along with presenting excellent performances of more traditional work. Another trademark is presenting very high quality, well rehearsed performances with superb voices. Mark Tomasino, director, is quickly emerging as an exciting young artist within the choral music community for creating these refreshing and thought provoking performances. 

Ola Gjello’s Prelude was perfect for the outside performance where both the audience and the performers were in a beautiful grove of trees on a gorgeous day. Composed in 2006, Ola Gjeilo’s Prelude shows the influence of Gregorian chant and early polyphony. The composition is inspired by Nordic folk music and is sung in Latin. Gjeilo makes these comments on his work: “Named Prelude despite its Latin text, I conceived of this piece as a concert opener, a type of introductory or entrance music. Of simple ABA form, its joyful and celebratory starting and closing sections frame a more serene middle part. Prelude synthesizes ideas from two of my earlier choral works, Nya Vagar and Exsultate, Jubilate. I reworked my favorite parts from each of those compositions and created a new and what I hope is a strong and moving piece of music.” (Quotes from San Francisco Lyric Chorus Program) Ola Gjeilo was born in Oslo, Norway in 1978 and is a dynamic young composer and pianist. An excerpt of the text: "Rejoice, resound with joy. O you blessed souls, Rejoice, resound with Joy, The Great Trinity is revealed and everywhere adored; Give Glory Give it glory, The Great Triad is adored, Give it glory. You o crown of virgins, Grant us peace, Console our feelings, From which our hearts sigh. Alleluia, (etc repeat of Glory Section)."

NEXT MONTH:  Sunday, July 8 at 11a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the Schiller Grove, the Symphony Sounds String Quartet will perform Luigi Rodolfo Boccherini’s La Musica Notturna Della Strade Di Madrid (1780), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Divertimento in D, K. 251 (1776),  Beatles, Medley (1960s), Bedřich Smetana’s String Quartet #1 in e minor (1876). Again, the concert will be a mixture of familiar and challenging works. The Smetana should be one you should not miss – it is an incredible work from the string quartet literature.

COLLABORATING ARTISTS:
Education: Magic Boat Puppet Theater, Easel Art, Evolve Dance, The Culture Lady
Performance: Symphony Sounds String Quartet, Wicker Park Choral Singers

SPONSORS: WPB (SSA#33), WPB Chamber of Commerce, Cat & Mouse Game Store, Chicago Park District, Friends of the Parks, CCI-Greenheart, Wicker Park Apartments, Friends of Bloomingdale Trail, The Trust for Public Land, Littlerock Construction, Mosaic Church, Urban Encounter, Wicker Park Advisory Council, Wicker Park Garden Club, Our Urban Times, Pipeline