Month: February 2011

By Philippa Kiraly

Concertgoers to the performance at Benaroya Hall Saturday night by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra had to pass a small group of pickets who presumably were Palestine sympathizers. Surprisingly there was also a noticeable police presence even after the picketers had gone, during intermission, and after the concert was over. All was peaceful, however, and nothing detracted from an excellent performance.

Tumultuous applause greeted conductor Zubin Mehta as he walked out on stage. The orchestra and Mehta are both rising 75 years old. Mehta first conducted it at age 25, and became its permanent conductor in his early thirties. It was clear throughout the evening that he knew the orchestra very well and that they knew him. His conducting was relaxed, even when he was eliciting intensity from the players. Their playing never felt forced, either.
Continue reading Israel Philharmonic celebrates 75 years with a stop in Seattle

However, the aversion to change has become so institutionalized, the concert hall of today might be one of the few places where something 100 years old is still called ‘modern’, where, if somehow miraculously reincarnated, a dazed Schubert could probably wander the halls for a week in his tailcoat and spectacles without drawing any attention (who was that little German-speaking fellow, the new violist? Shrug). The past, obsessively glorified, with its stranglehold on the present, is in no serious danger of being forgotten any time soon. For the sake of the future, the bonds might need to be loosened a bit.

From Michael Hovnanian’s Bass Blog. The entire post, titled A Country for Old Men, is a fascinating and thought provoking read on age and the modern orchestra. I found it especially fascinating because last night I read Alex Ross’s latest New Yorker column: Schubert on the Beach. Ross writes about the New World Symphony’s new hall in Miami, but he also says about Michael Tilson Thomas — the New World Symphony’s founding music director — “no other conductor today seems so alert to the entire cultural landscape around him.”

Age is at play in both pieces.  In Florida, young musicians led by their young at heart music director are trying everything in their power to enliven the concert experience.  They aren’t pandering to the audience with tricks, gimmicks, or other diversions.  Their experiments are an essential part of the concert experience.  Yet, in far too many concert halls, Hovnanian’s observations are the norm and Schubert can roam free.

Like Henry Purcell? Then there is no reason you shouldn’t see the final performance of the Indian Queen tonight at the Good Shepherd Center in Wallingford. This weekend is the first time this opera will be performed in Washington State. If you can’t to the Indian Queen, the Israel Philharmonic is in town as part of an eight city United States tour. Webern and Mahler highlight Zubin Mehta’s program. Also tonight the Medieval Women’s Choir will fill St. James Cathedral with deeply spiritual sounding music written by women composers or inspired by female poets.  For choral music lovers who don’t like medieval music, Opus 7 hosts their All Northwest concert. Tomorrow, Alastair Willis returns to conduct Orchestra Seattle in a two concerto program. The most interesting piece on the program isn’t a concerto however, it is Ralph Vaughn Williams Toward the Unknown Region. Philharmonia Northwest brings Daron Hagen’s Heliotrope to the stage; also tomorrow. And on Monday, the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra’s barn-storming musicians invade Meany Hall with Baroque music — Music for the Royal Fireworks, Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 and two concertos. Nicola Reilly and Tyler Reilly will play Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins, and Katherine Isbill and Meese Agrawal Vivaldi’s Concerto for Two Flutes.

Of course, this weekend is also the start of Seattle Opera’s run of Jules Massenet’s Don Quixote.

Brooklyn born, Northwest trained conductor Jonathan Pasternack is out with a new CD on the NAXOS label. His recording of Brahms’ First Symphony and Bela Bartok’s Miraculous Mandarian Suite with the London Symphony hit shelves last month. the recording stands apart from others because of Pasternack’s sharp, rhythmic focus. There is no dawdling. The music breathes, pants, and grabs listeners. Part of this effect comes from the ordering of the pieces on the CD. Bartok’s suite opens the disk in violently and this piece leads right into the pulsing fury of the the first movement in Brahms’ symphony.  Of course, the playing the LSO is superb.

In addition to a new recording, Pasternack took the job of steering the UW symphony and its other orchestras this year. the conductor isn’t using the University of Washington’s changing music department as an excuse to program standard repertory for the season’s symphony’s concerts. His line-up includes Stravinsky, Nielsen, Ives, Penderecki, and on Thursday Pasternack and the orchestra tackle Dimitri Shostakovich’s Eleventh Symphony.

After Pasternack and I learned we were neighbors in the same Seattle non-neighborhood we knew we had to get together to talk about music, his new recording and the UW Symphony.
Continue reading Jonathan Pasternack: out with a new CD and leading the UW orchestra

I was just telling someone today that I cannot stand — hate is not too strong a word — gimmicks like this one which are designed to appeal to classical music audiences who don’t really want to listen to music. Ploys like the one being tried out in by the Chamber Music Society don’t enhance the openness of classical music or even make it more appealing, but they do underscore the insidious belief that classical music is something best enjoyed by the wine drinking bourgeois.

For all of the longing classical music lovers devote to downtown venues like Benaroya Hall and Town Hall, they might want to shift at least some of their energy to the Good Shepherd Center and the Chapel Performance Space. Almost singlehandedly Steve Peters — his work is helped significantly by Seattle’s creative, adventurous new music community — has transformed the Chapel into the center of of new music in Seattle.

Friday evening’s cello recital by Frances-Marie Uitti was yet another successful recital for Peters and the Wayward Music Series, but most importantly it was a successful event for Seattle’s new music scene and a welcome survey of contemporary music for the solo cello.  Month by month, year by year, Seattle’s new music scene is a force that doesn’t receive the credit or the coverage in the press it deserves.  This is changing. However it isn’t changing fast enough to keep with up with Seattle’s new music activity.
Continue reading Frances-Marie Uitti journeys to Seattle for rare West Coast recital

For nearly 20 years the Nordic Heritage Museum in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood has been presenting chamber recitals of “mostly Nordic” music. In addition to focusing on standard classical music, the series has sought to infuse programs with Nordic folk and art music tradition. This past Sunday, the museum kicked off their 2011 series in much the same way with a program of short pieces for violin, piano, and voice by Norwegian composers.

Last Sunday’s recital was a success in large part because of Knut Erik Jensen, a young pianist originally from Selbu, Norway who now calls California home. He performed in every work, except for three short traditional pieces Svend Ronnig played on the Hardanger fiddle. Jensen deepened each work on the program – whether it was Grieg’s seldom played Second Violin Sonata or an art song by Christian Sinding. Often it was Jensen providing the heart, atmosphere, and subtle decorations that made each piece on the program memorable. In the Grieg sonata, Jensen demonstrated so much control over the music he moved effortlessly between Grieg’s contrasting, polar moods. Jensen’s playing brooded and smiled – sometimes a few bars apart.

Continue reading Nordic Heritage Museum opened its Mostly Nordic chamber series with “Northern Lights”