Aug. 10, 2006
PARALLEL UNIVERSE: This Year Marks Centennial of Dimitri Shostakovich, a
Favorite Composer of Mine; I Love Those 15 String Quartets, His Stirring
13th Symphony (‘Babi Yar’)
By David M. Kinchen
Editor, Huntington News Network
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Dimitri Shostakovich
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Highland Park, IL (HNN) – I celebrated the centennial of the birth of the
great Russian composer Dimitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) by attending a July
17, 2006 concert at the Ravinia Festival Music Center, where the renowned
Emerson String Quartet performed his 13th, 14th and 15th String Quartets.
Classical music has always been a major part of my life and this was an
opportunity of a lifetime. I’m listening to Shostokovich as I write this.
The Emerson is one of the world’s premier chamber music ensembles and the
century-old Ravinia in Highland Park is the gem of summertime music venues
in the greater Chicago area. Although I grew up not far from Chicago and
worked and lived there the first five or six years out of college in the
1960s, this was – oddly enough – the first time I’d ever been to Ravinia. My
sister Natasha Yuhas and I took the Metra train on one of the hottest days
of the year for the concert, which was held in the air conditioned Martin
Theatre on the festival grounds. She provided the tickets and I paid for our
transportation.
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The Emerson String Quartet
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The train stops right at the festival grounds, prompting the comment by the
great English conductor Sir Thomas Beecham – famous for his humorous
comments -- that Ravinia is the only railroad station in the world with its
own symphony orchestra. Ravinia has been the summer home of the Chicago
Symphony Orchestra since the mid 1930s. Beecham (1879-1961) was a guest
conductor of the CSO when he made his comment. Train sounds become a part of
every concert since the festival entrance is so close to the train tracks.
Actually, there’s no station today, just a platform that isn’t even
sheltered from the elements. More about that later. The performance was
everything I expected and more. I’d never seen a string quartet where the
two violinists and the violist stood while performing – with only the
Cellist sitting – but the acrobatics and gyrations necessary to perform
these quartets make this unusual posture completely understandable. The
Emerson String Quartet was formed 30 years ago and consists of Eugene
Drucker (Violin); Philip Setzer (Violin);
Lawrence Dutton (Viola); David Finckel (Cello).
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The Ravinia Arch
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Just before the end of the 15th Quartet, I noticed several people leaving
the theatre. They were rushing to meet the 9:38 p.m. train to Chicago. When
we left the festival grounds, we discovered that the next train to Chicago
wouldn’t arrive until about 11 p.m. The group waiting for the train included
a number of high-spirited young music fans. I called Liz in Hinton on my
cell phone and was informed by this dedicated Weather Channel watcher that a
storm was headed in the direction of Chicago. Sure enough! About 10:30 p.m.
the rains came, and few of us were carrying umbrellas. We would have
welcomed the sheltered platforms that I had noticed in old-time Ravinia
pictures. The young people enjoyed the end of the heat wave, splashing
around in the water just outside the Ravinia arch. Finally the train came
and we squished our way aboard. Music should be joyful noise and we had
plenty of that on the train back to Chicago.
For more on Dimitri Shostokovich, his life and conflicts with Stalin and his
marvelous music, check out the excellent Wikipedia entry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dmitri_Shostakovich
Ravinia Web site: http://www.ravinia.org
Emerson String Quartet: www.emersonquartet.com