Hedy Weiss: Theater Reviews
Review: ‘An Opera Night’ Led by Maestro Riccardo Muti Makes a Wonderful Night With the CSO
Soprano Lidia Fridman and tenor Francesco Meli in a performance of Puccini’s Act IV from “Manon Lescaut” with Music Director Emeritus for Life Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. (Todd Rosenberg Photography)
A wonderful, grand-scale “Opera Night” concert came to Chicago’s Symphony Center this past Thursday, Friday and Saturday as Maestro Riccardo Muti, the CSO’s music director emeritus for life, returned to the stage in top form, moving to the music with impressive grace, expressive motion and ideal clarity.
In addition to the wonderful energy and ever superb playing of the CSO’s grand-scale musicians, there also were two guest artists on the program in the outstanding soprano Lidia Fridman and tenor Francesco Meli.
And there was more: The Chicago Symphony Chorus, comprised of 138 powerful vocalists, all in black outfits, and led by Chorus Director Donald Palumbo.
To top it all off, the program was a wonderfully varied showcase of pieces by the Italian composers Giuseppe Verdi, Giacomo Puccini, Umberto Giordano and Alfredo Catalani.
The exhilarating opening work was Verdi’s symphonia to “La battaglia di Legnano” (lifted from his 13th opera), with the brass players followed by the winds, the strings and a big burst of all the musicians that moved from high drama to the lyrical, and gradually with a burst of sound from all.
Next came Verdi’s prelude to “I masnadieri,” an opera both lyrical and dramatic that deals with a man who is caught up in a band of thieves and seeks to reconcile his relationship to his beloved. (All the music in this concert was sung in Italian, but the program notes supplied ideal explanations.)
Following these pieces by Verdi was “Amor ti vieta,” a brief aria drawn from composer Umberto Giordano’s opera “Fedora,” originally sung by Enrico Caruso at the age of 23, and now expertly performed by Meli.
Then next came the golden-voiced Fridman (in a stunning silvery green gown), who gave a beautiful performance of “Ebben? Ne andro lontana,” drawn from composer Alfredo Catalani’s opera, “La Wally.” She played the role of a woman who vowed to leave her homeland forever rather than marry the man chosen by her father.
Next came three pieces from operas by Verdi (“I Lombardi,” “Macbeth” and “Nabucco”), expertly performed by the Chicago Symphony Chorus, plus the Overture to “Nabucco” that drew on the big sound of brass and drums.
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in a performance of Verdi’s O Signore, dal tetto natio from “I Lombardi” with Music Director Emeritus for Life Riccardo Muti. (Todd Rosenberg Photography)
The second half of the concert was devoted to two sections of Puccini’s 1893 opera “Manon Lescaut,” the work marked as “his earliest greatest success.” First came the overture to the opera, and then came the heart-breaking final act in which a once beautiful woman and her original lover are both facing the end of their lives.
Note: Coming up next at the CSO is another concert led by Maestro Muti featuring Tchaikovsky’s “Symphony No. 3 (Polish)”; and music drawn from film scores composed by Nino Rota (“The Leopard” and “The Godfather”). These performances will be at Symphony Center at 7:30 p.m. on March 26 and 28, and 3 p.m. on March 29, as well as at Wheaton College at 7:30 p.m. on March 27.
For tickets call 312-294-3000, or visit cso.org.
Follow Hedy Weiss: @HedyWeissCritic
