Thomas Wikman Reviews
Music of Baroque Right At Home In Another Era
Chicago Tribune Thursday, January 16, 1997
by Lawrence Johnson, Special To The Tribune
Though the very name
designates the early 18th
Century as their musical
field of specialization, the
forays by Music of the
Baroque into Classical-era repertoire
have provided some of the
group's most consistently successful
evenings.
So it proved again Tuesday
evening at Grace Lutheran
Church in River Forest where
Thomas Wikman led his players
in glorious, supremely stylish
performances of music of Mozart
and Haydn.
The unique life-enhancing qualities
of Mozart's music were
apparent in the polished and
energetic rendering of the composer's
Symphony No. 36, "The
Linz." Wikman deftly balanced
Mozartean elegance and boisterous
high spirits, drawing
smoothly blended and wonderfully
vigorous playing from his orchestra.
Indeed, Wikman's conducting
was a seminar in architectural
command, showing how Mozart's
repeats need not be monotonous,
when one maintains forward
impetus, while expertly varying
the musical ebb and flow.
