Sound + Vision + Taste

By Rob Christopher in Arts & Entertainment on Jul 25, 2008 3:18PM

We'll go out on a limb and declare that the best sound system in Chicago is on the lawn at the Pritzker Pavillion in Millennium Park. You can be all the way in back and it still sounds as if you're sitting in the middle of the Grant Park Orchestra. So what's even better than that? Pairing it with a movie. Next Wednesday the Orchestra will perform special guest Nitin Sawhney's original score alongside the 1929 silent film A Throw of the Dice. As Ignatius Vishnevetsky of CINE-FILE Chicago points out, "The silent film score is one the most abstract forms of film criticism. In its finest incarnations, the composer becomes a tour guide, using the music to point out what he or she sees within the images. Accompaniment is commentary. Composer Nitin Sawhney wants us to see the opulence of Franz Osten's A Throw of the Dice, which he's compared to the films of Cecil B. DeMille and Charlie Chaplin." Adapted from an episode in the Mahabharata, this opulent fantasy about two gamblers vying for the love of a peasant girl was shot in India by a German director and an Indian producer. It's going to look and sound gorgeous.

The show starts at 8. Incidentally if you want to make a picnic out of the evening, we'd recommend reserving a basket from Pastoral at least a day in advance. The Lake Street location makes pickup convenient and there are several different combos to choose from. The Amalfi basket is filled with Italian cheeses, pesto, tomatoes, and the most scumptious balsamic vinegar onions you'll ever taste.

image via BabyDinosaur