Guerrero, GPO go underground for bracing Shostakovich
Giancarlo Guerrero has not put a foot wrong in his early weeks as artistic director of the Grant Park Orchestra. A tempest couldn’t dampen the exuberance of his debut in Mendelssohn and Bernstein, and he led a rousing Mahler 1 last week.
Friday was the first chance to hear Guerrero and the orchestra indoors in the more acoustically friendly confines of the Harris Theater, where they delivered a gripping account of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 10.
Shostakovich’s Tenth Symphony was completed in 1953, the same year Stalin died, and has been read as a more or less direct statement of the composer’s experience under the terrifying Soviet regime. As always with Shostakovich, this influence is ambiguous, but the emotional intensity conveyed by the GPO under Guerrero Friday night was not in dispute.
Conducting without a score, Guerrero elicited a creeping atmosphere in the opening bars, and expertly paced the sprawling Moderato as it gained momentum. The Grant Park woodwinds were at their finest all night, with clarinet Dario Brignoli and bassoon Eric Hall palpably conveying a searching despair as the narrative unfolded. Piccolo player Alyce Johnson closed the journey with a fragile statement of the “DSCH” theme, Shostakovich’s own musical motto.
Solomon Volvov’s controversial Shostakovich memoir Testimony claims the ensuing Allegro is a direct representation of Stalin himself, and while a literal portrait is unlikely, the brief movement nonetheless seethed with maniacal energy, with Guerrero drawing playing of enormous force from the orchestra. Principal horn Patrick Walle’s “Elmira” theme was burnished throughout the Allegretto, representing a student with whom the composer was infatuated, which becomes ever more entwined with the DSCH motto, hauntingly stated by concertmaster Jeremy Black at the end.
Oboist Mitchell Kuhn captured the desolation of the final movement’s Andante, which ultimately gives way to a rollicking carnival atmosphere. Early in his tenure Guerrero has already developed sufficient rapport with his players that they could mutually revel in Shostakovich’s acrobatic antics, and the clouds parted in the closing moments of raucous jubilation, with timpanist Daniel Karas pounding out DSCH in the final bars.
The evening began with the first Grant Park Orchestra performance of Augusta Read Thomas’s Brio from 2018. A driven, pointillist texture prevails throughout the work’s 12 minutes, with intricate angular gestures creating a feel of anxious tiptoeing. Guerrero gamely negotiated the many metric modulations, the greatest source of contrast in the generally consistent aesthetic. Following wails in the flute and clarinet, the work’s final bars evaporated in ringing chimes, and Thomas was on hand to receive the appreciative applause.
The Thomas was followed by Wagner’s “Prelude and Liebestod” from Tristan und Isolde. Unfortunately, Friday’s performance was completely undone by an unremittingly screaming baby at the back of the hall. Every pregnant pause of the quiet opening was filled with yowls, and one hopes the infant’s exposure to Wagnerian chromaticism was worth ruining the experience for everyone else. New parents of course deserve a night out, but if things start going south, you simply have to excuse yourself.
The climactic raptures of the Liebestod were fitfully able to drown out the infant accompaniment, but the mewling prevailed as soon as the dynamic dropped. Still, one could appreciate the ecstatic surging Guerrero generated in the louder passages, and the performance ended with a final, aching throb.
The ongoing festival practice of providing thin leaflets with QR codes linked to online programs remains lamentable at Grant Park this year. Within the underground confines of Harris, where many do not have cell service, it is a complete farce, as the virtual program is completely inaccessible, even for those eager to stare at their cellphones during an orchestral performance.
The program will be repeated 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Harris Theater. www.grantparkmusicfestival.com
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Posted Jun 28, 2025 at 4:58 pm by Eileen
It was indeed a magnificent performance, especially of the 10th.
And appalling that no usher or GPS staff did not politely ask the caregiver and child to step out when it became apparent they did not know enough to do so on their own.
It’s one thing when at Pritzker and you know you will have to deal with the usual onslaught of sirens and cars (which keeps getting worse as the city ignores the drag racing noise on the Drive and Michigan Ave).
But when indoors it’s just beyond understanding…