The Seattle Symphony released its 2008/2009 season last week. The theme the season is built around is American guest conductors. I harbor ambivalence about season themes. On the one hand themes, especially when used to develop concert programs, can be a good device to explore unfamiliar repertoire. On the other hand, themes are often so [...]
Archive for February, 2008
Focus: American guest conductors
Posted in Seattle, WA on February 27, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Winter nights
Posted in Seattle, WA on February 25, 2008 | No Comments »
The history of Russian music and as a result Russian chamber music, can be divided before opera and after opera. Prior to the arrival of opera, Russian musical tradition could be generously described as primitive. There were no composers of note and no real instrumental tradition. Folk songs and folk performances were typical, but [...]
Four concertmasters
Posted in Seattle, WA on February 24, 2008 | No Comments »
The Seattle Times reports the Seattle Symphony’s four concertmaster experiment is causing some distress among the players. Essentially, no part time positions are allowed and with four concertmasters you have four part time players.
The Way
Posted in Seattle, WA on February 23, 2008 | No Comments »
Last night, St. James Cathedral demonstrated once again why they are central to musical and religious life in the Emerald City. The occasion was the Stations of Cross, presided over by Father Michael Ryan. The music was Antonin Dvorak’s Stabat Mater.
For those not familiar with the Stations, it is essentially a reduction of the Passion [...]
New links
Posted in Seattle, WA on February 18, 2008 | No Comments »
Just a quick post to draw your attention to two new links. The first is Cappella Romana. The ensemble is one of the few truly professional vocal groups in the Northwest. They perform frequently in both Seattle and Portland. Their recent performance “Arctic Light” was positively covered. You can watch [...]
The commercial power of blogs
Posted in Seattle, WA on February 15, 2008 | No Comments »
The Hollywood Reporter has a short piece on the commercial influence of blogs. According to an NYU professor, if a record is mentioned more than forty times the record sales three to five times above average.
Flying Soloist
Posted in Seattle, WA on February 12, 2008 | No Comments »
So after listening to almost exclusively Mahler for just about 15 days running, I decided it was time for something different.
In one of my constant attempts to stay on the cutting edge of what’s new in music I picked up a disc of a composer I knew absolutely nothing about. The only thing I [...]
"The pity of war"
Posted in Seattle, WA, Uncategorized on February 11, 2008 | 5 Comments »
The music of the Twentieth Century echoed through Seattle’s concert halls this weekend. Michael Stern and the Seattle Symphony started the weekend with performances of Edgard Varese’s rarely heard Integrales, Victor Herbert’s equally rare Cello Concerto No.2 and the romantic longing of Rachmaninov’s Symphony No.3. However, the real treat of the weekend was [...]
Upcoming
Posted in Seattle, WA on February 10, 2008 | No Comments »
Seattle Symphony: Guest Conductor Michael Stern is in town this weekend to conduct SSO in Rachmaninoff Symphony No.3 and Victor Herbert’s addictive Cello Concerto No.2. Since taking over at the helm of the Kansas City Symphony, Stern has helped revitalize the city’s arts scene.
Orchestra Seattle: Tomorrow, George Shangrow and his home-grown orchestra perform Benjamin [...]
Posted in Chicago, IL on February 5, 2008 | 2 Comments »
In response to my most recent account of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra performance, Marty Ronish, had this to say:
“I’m so glad you stopped in to hear the Chicago Symphony. As the producer of the national broadcasts for the CSO, I want my fellow Seattleites to know they can hear live Chicago Symphony Orchestra concerts on-demand [...]
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