The NWS released this teaser video of Chagnard and the orchestra rehearsing in Tacoma. If you are live in Seattle, you can hear Chagnard’s band of merry musicians play this Friday at the Nordstrom Recital Hall.
Month: November 2009
Review: Xuefei Yang
By: Richard Fong
Looking resplendent in a champagne colored one shouldered floor length gown, Ms. Yang opened with a knock-out performance of the Lute Partita. From the opening figure she was in total control. Her Bach was excellently paced and phrased. I was particularly impressed with her separation of the voices in the countrapuntal passages. She articulated the ornaments in the Loure a bit differently than I’d heard in the past (my reference point being John Williams’ recording), but it was very moving and effective.
I wasn’t at all familiar with either Regondi or his Reverie, but I’m going to seek out a recording straight off. What an amazing piece. According to the program, Regondi was a prodigy known as the “Infant Paganini” but after his death his compositions were regarded as too diffiult and faded into obscurity. That didn’t phase Ms. Yang. The opening section sounds like it could have been written by Liszt, with an assist from Chopin. The second section, which the notes said might well have been the first guitar composition using tremolo, was simply gorgeous, a melody evoking a Venetian Gondolier’s song. Her tremolo was stunning, providing a shimmering melody over a wandering bass line.
MOR resurrects, recreates, and remembers
As a general rule, Music of Remembrance concerts leave me with mixed feelings. We gather on these evenings to hear the works of composers silenced by the wretched events of the Holocaust, cut down by the Nazis in an attempt to erase their very existence from the pages of history. With such an event weighed down and defined by one of the most despicable events of modern times, I’m left ultimately puzzled how I should respond as these musical works of Holocaust victims are played. How can I applaud for Laszlo Weiner’s music when I know he was murdered in a labor camp? How can I not clap? Weiner’s music has survived, despite the Third Reich’s best efforts. These conflicting thoughts swirled around my head as I sat in the lobby of Benaroya Hall, sipping mint tea, reading an essay by Larry Rothe thirty minutes before Music of Remembrance’s fall concert.
The life and times of a string quartet at the Rep
By: Lorin Wilkerson
Seattle Repertory Theatre turns to music as a central theme with playwright Michael Hollinger’s hilarious, moving, and insightful work Opus at the Leo K. Theatre. The play offers a detailed look into the frenetic existence of the imaginary world-class Lazara Quartet as they begin preparations for the gig of a lifetime at the White House. They have only one week to prepare the monumental Beethoven string quartet Opus 131 with brand-new violist Grace (Chelsey Rives), a fresh-faced, idealistic young woman who presents a stark contrast to the world-weary companions who have made music together for decades.
Continue reading The life and times of a string quartet at the Rep
Portland Opera’s Orphée intriguing and convincing
It has been a pretty heady week for Portland Opera. The company took a gamble in producing Philip Glass’s Orphée on Friday evening (November 6) at Keller Auditorium and emerged a winner. This rarely heard opera retells the Orpheus legend according to the vision of Jean Cocteau, and it held a near-capacity audience spellbound. Continue reading Portland Opera’s Orphée intriguing and convincing
Part II of TGN’s interview with John Hollenbeck
This is part two of my interview with John Hollenbeck. In this part, Hollenbeck talks about his association with Meredith Monk and his work in the Meredith Monk Ensemble. In addition, he shared with me how he composes music, taking an idea and developing it into a full piece of music.
Not letting it go
I wish I could let the Sumi Hahn thing over at the Seattle Times and here on TGN go. But, I can’t. I have heard from plenty of really smart, thoughtful people on why her review was badly written. Her style is her own. Does she sometimes use language that is a little over the top? Yes. Might she be casual, even dismissive in her assessments? Most definitely. Sumi writes how she writes, and having written a freelance piece for the Times, the editors are professional and attentive to preserving a person’s voice.
But this is all dust, it is irrelevant, and it obscures the larger point that few people have brought up or disagreed with. Hahn thought the SSO/Lang Lang concert blew. She described the Pastoral as “soporific.” This one word is a critical hand grenade that should blow up in your face. She is calling the SSO and Schwarz sleep inducing. Ouch!
Everyone who writes about classical music or reviews concerts is imperfect. We are prisoners of our own biases, moods, likes and dislikes. We are prisoners of language and the way we write too. The great thing about music criticism is no one has developed a style book for how to write a review. You can read any review on this site and find something unacceptable. I sometimes read old posts I wrote and cringe. I want to draw your attention to a few examples from this site and elsewhere, that the classical music intelligentsia should find just as unfortunate as Sumi Hahn’s review.
Honolulu Symphony files for bankruptcy
The recession hits the Honolulu Symphony. No wonder Andreas Delfs is interested in the music director opening here in Seattle. From the article:
The 109-year-old symphony, which bills itself as the oldest American orchestra west of the Rockies, said it will cancel all of its November and December concerts and made no guarantees that the rest of its 2009-10 season would go on.
“We cannot spend money we do not have,” said Majken Mechling, the symphony’s executive director. “We cannot continue with business as usual.”
The symphony is just the latest in a string of high-profile bankruptcies to hit the local economy.
A new era begins for the Bellevue Phiharmonic
Saturday night, Michael Miropolsky took the artistic helm of the Bellevue Philharmonic in a rousing concert of Russian music at the Theatre at Meydenbauer Center.
Miropolsky has been assistant principal second violin with the Seattle Symphony since 1991, but has pursued a career in conducting and musical direction simultaneously, with a particular emphasis on working with young musicians and much of which he is continuing along with his new appointment as music director of the Bellevue Phiharmonic.
Continue reading A new era begins for the Bellevue Phiharmonic
Cappella Romana at St. Demetrios
Since its beginnings in 1992, Cappella Romana has performed in various locations in Seattle but none has seemed like home to the group until its performance Saturday night at St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church in Montlake.
The acoustics are excellent, the ambience, all curved walls, domed ceiling and iconic mosaics, fits Cappella Romana’s continuing exploration of early and late music from the Christian East and West, with an emphasis on the music of the Orthodox Church. The group will give its Seattle performances there all this season. (The pews, however, are uncomfortable. Take a stadium cushion.)
Gathering Note 