Mäkelä Conducts CSO for The Rite of Spring

The CSO curates program with glittering wisdom. A while ago back in November, Robert Chen led the strings to present Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, the winter was shapr and cold. And now, our new artistic director led an adorable (and impressive) program welcoming spring:

Milhaud Le Bœuf sur le toit

Gershwin An American in Paris

Stravinsky The Rite of Spring

The Rite of Spring is shockingly excellent. I got lucky to sit facing right at the cello/bass section. The Rite of Spring’s most impressive rhythm are carried out by them and it was absolutely a treat to hear the song hit straight at you. Mäkelä brought out a sense of sharp clarity from the Rite into Chicago’s early spring.

There are music comments praising Mäkelä’s “freedom”

These are still-early stages of trying to get a sense of how the ensemble will evolve under Mäkelä. One early indication is a kind of enhanced freedom that he is allowing the musicians, a quality that was abundantly in evidence here in this famous work evoking the honking car horns and general hurly-burly of Parisian street life.

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The orchestra sounded like a sly, rollicking jazz band at times, with some bluesy solos from principal trumpeter Esteban Batallán that would have made Wynton Marsalis proud; suave, sassy riffs from assistant principal clarinetist John Bruce Yeh; and fine playing from the three guest saxophonists. (One of the delights of this work is getting to hear that instrument in an orchestral setting.)

Chicago Sun Times | Kyle MacMillan

Mr Macmillan was being very kind. Being honest — the orchestra are very attentive to Makela but they’re not in sync. The lighthearted first half feels rigid and not loose enough.

But he’s great, he doesn’t need to, but proved himself again with charisma and brings out the power from one of the most challenging repertoire that demands a lot from everyone in the orchestra. I think he will bring out life and new energy out of CSO in the upcoming years.