Sinfonietta calls for squeeze play

REVIEW | Bandoneon steals the show

Chicago Sun-Times
By Bryant Manning
Published September 23, 2008
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A Chicago Sinfonietta concert usually promises one hook that makes its productions easy to remember. In 2006, it was a show humorously interrupted by the choreographed ringing of the audience’s cell phones. Last year, Bizet’s “Carmen” underwent a folk-rock makeover. Sunday night, at Lund Auditorium on the campus of Dominican University in River Forest, bandoneon virtuoso Raul Jaurena arrived for his own memorable demonstration.

Think of the bandoneon as the accordion’s prettier cousin. It produces a brighter sound and uses a set of buttons instead of keys. Invented by a German, the instrument found its niche on the South American tango scene, thanks to its greatest champion, Astor Piazzolla. Jaurena arranged the composer’s “Adios Nonino,” which filled the room like a barrel organ, schmaltzy and seductive.

The modest space of Lund Auditorium won’t soon be mistaken for Symphony Center, but Lund’s tighter quarters better amplifies the Sinfonietta’s cool, tempered sound. Though it helped that guest conductor Leslie B. Dunner, who stepped in for founder and music director Paul Freeman, brings out the orchestra’s raw and punchy side. Dunner’s energy did wonders in Shostakovich’s screaming overture to “The Gadfly.”

Then joined by the Apollo Chorus of Chicago and the Anima Children’s Choir, the Sinfonietta reserved the second half of the program exclusively for Carl Orff’s infectious oratorio “Carmina Burana.” Coloratura soprano Elizabeth Norman piped out high-wire vocal lines, while the lively tenor Thomas Dymit quirkily pushed nearly as high. The anchor was baritone Philip Kraus, who richly sang his Latin text as if he were play-acting Caesar, alternating easily between star-crossed lover and militant chauvinist.

Dunner’s quicker pacing made us hear the commercialized “O Fortuna” outer sections anew, but in the middle movements, the radiant voices of both choruses would have benefitted more had they been perched up and able to project above the orchestra. The brass, however, burned as ragingly as ever.

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