Much muchness has been made in the classical online world about the posting online of Arvo Pärt’s Fourth Symphony (Lös Ángeleš), and its attendant premiere in the City of Angels on January 10. Less has been made about its second performance, which will be in Chicago, the City What Has No Time for Your Heavenly Beings, on January 22 with Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
The symphony takes the place of a commissioned work from Salonen, which has been rescheduled for a future season. How did I come by this intimate knowledge of program-shuffling? By reading it on the poster facing Michigan Avenue, outside Orchestra Hall. To the press release I’ll only add that the CSO gave the American premiere of Salonen’s Insomnia and one of the first American performances of his Piano Concerto, with Yefim Bronfman.