Orchestra Seattle will mount one of the classical music highlights of the spring – Bach’s epic St. Matthew Passion – this Sunday at First Free Methodist Church. As has been the case all season, a guest conductor will helm the orchestra. This week it is noted Bach specialist Hans-Jurgen Schnoor. Earlier in the week, I asked Schnoor about the piece and his approach to a large scale work like the Matthew Passion.
Continue reading Hans-Jurgen Schnoor takes up St. Matthew Passion with OSSCS
George Balanchine’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is one of the most enduring, and magical, ballets in Pacific Northwest Ballet’s repertory. It never wears out its welcome. And so it was revived this weekend at McCaw Hall.
The ballet had its local premiere in 1985 and over the next decade was frequently performed. In 1997, the ballet was given an entirely new look, and what a splendid look it was with Martin Pakledinaz in control of the set and costumes. Astonishingly, the new design was the first for a Balanchine story ballet, this one dating to 1962. Dozens of dance critics held their annual meeting for the Seattle premiere. The next year the company took it on tour as its calling card for its European debut at the Edinburgh Festival, and the next season to London where it was filmed by BBC, with Istanbul, Hong Kong and the Hollywood Bowl over the next few years. Wherever the production went it received fulsome praise.
Continue reading Balanchine’s summer magic is revived at McCaw Hall
Reading through the reviews of Thursday’s performance of the Mother Goose Suite I am struck by how varied the reviews are.
Sumi Hahn, in the Seattle Times said:
“Ravel’s “Mother Goose” Suite was a fairy princess, draped in gossamer and haloed in radiance. The Seattle Symphony players were exquisite on this series of miniatures, playing with lucidity and utter cohesion, as tightly woven as silk. The burst of sound sparkles that concluded this reverie sounded exactly like a shower of pixie dust — if you could hear pixie dust shimmer and then fade.”
RM Campbell on this site remarked:
“Ravel’s “Mother Goose” Suite opened the evening. This is a charming bit of music, sometimes quirky, sometimes witty, sometimes touching. Mickelthwate captured all those qualities. He revealed his sensitivity to Ravel’s intentions and musical ambitions with a reading that oozed style and goodwill. With its five tales, the suite possesses immense imagination and individuality. Mickelthwate managed to establish the character of each section with accuracy and quickness and subtlety. The orchestra responded in kind.”
Melinda Bargreen heard things differently:
“The results were interesting, to say the least. The first half of the evening was plagued by ensemble problems; the opening Ravel “Mother Goose” Suite had some lovely moments, but also passages where, for example, the first and second violins were so unsynchronized that parallel thirds sounded like syncopations.”
Was the concert exquisite as Hahn states or plagues by ensemble problems?
By R.M. Campbell
With a German guest conductor and the superb violinist Leila Josefowicz as the soloist, the Seattle Symphony Orchestra was in fine fettle Thursday night at Benaroya Hall.
Alexander Mickelthwate exuded youth and energy on the podium. But he was more than that. He had insight, depth and stylistic range. Josefowicz is known in Seattle not only for her virtuosity but her musical aplomb, seamless phrases and soaring sound.
Ravel’s “Mother Goose” Suite opened the evening. This is a charming bit of music, sometimes quirky, sometimes witty, sometimes touching. Mickelthwate captured all those qualities. He revealed his sensitivity to Ravel’s intentions and musical ambitions with a reading that oozed style and goodwill. With its five tales, the suite possesses immense imagination and individuality. Mickelthwate managed to establish the character of each section with accuracy and quickness and subtlety. The orchestra responded in kind.
Continue reading Mickelthwate succeeds as last minute replacement for Maestro Wigglesworth
It’s doubtful Saint-Saens will ever be looked on favorably by snooty music historians. Early in his career he embraced Wagner and Liszt, championed the symphonic poem even, but later, he fiercely resisted the influence of France’s growing impressionistic crowd. Unabashed melody abounds in his music and It is fair to say the finale to his Organ Symphony is one of the most uplifting conclusions in all of classical music. This week’s SSO concerts feature Saint Saens’ towering cathedral of sound along with Strauss’ own towering Also Sprach Zarathustra. Melinda Bargreen at the Times seemed to like the concert Thursday which included yet another Gund/Simonyi commission.
The G/S commissions aren’t wearing well on me. Last week’s False Alarming by George Tsontakis was another cacophonous contribution. The piece, slipped between Hovhaness’ Mt. Ararat and Mt. Saint Helens, was barely noticed by the befuddled people around me who, because of an error in the program, were expecting the orchestra to play False Alarming first. A short announcement from the stage might have created at least a little excitement for the work. I haven’t heard all of the commissions this season, but to me they seem too short to matter. Maybe I am hearing the wrong ones.
By R.M. Campbell
It now has become a commonplace to note that the Northwest has been particularly fertile ground for choreographers. Robert Joffrey, Merce Cunningham and Mark Morris have powerful Seattle roots. The city would like to claim the fourth, Trisha Brown, but somehow she managed to skip Seattle on her way from her hometown of Aberdeen (like the painter Robert Motherwell), stopping in the Bay Area for Mills College and a couple of years in Reed College in Portland before arriving in New York where she has lived most of her life.
But she remembers the Northwest and feels a sense of kinship when she is in Seattle. It is a connection she never left.
Continue reading Trisha Brown Company returns to the NW
By Philippa Kiraly
Mozart knew what he was about when he chose the Don Juan story for his opera “Don Giovanni.” The character lives, today as much as he has through the ages, the seductive rake without conscience or regard for the consequences of his actions.
The opera is invariably popular. The current production, mounted by Seattle Opera’s Young Artists Program and performed at the Theatre at Meydenbauer Center, is set today, in a seedy little cafe somewhere in Southern Europe, where the entertainment is old, very old, movies from the silent era which play much of the time on the back screen.
Continue reading Don Juan—er, Don Giovanni—is alive and well in the 21st century
Like most cities with an active cultural life, we are spoiled by performances from some of the biggest and best names around. They come through Benaroya Hall each season, dazzle with their stardom and occasionally their playing. Because of the enterprising work of Toby Saks and the Seattle Chamber Music Society, we are also privy to emerging talent long before they make it big. So dominant are the Seattle Chamber Music Society’s festivals that it has been said to me that some patrons subscribe only to the summer and winter festival and nothing else. No Seattle Symphony. No opera. No UW World Series. Nothing but chamber music from July to August and a long weekend in January each and every year. Meanwhile, there are countless organizations, groups, and individual musicians toiling away with exceptional performances that are barely, if at all, noticed by music lovers or the press.
In the past month, three performances, barely covered — if at all by the mainstream media — showcased the depth of the chamber music talent right here in Seattle. Three concerts, and three ensembles that in any other city would have found healthy appreciation.
Continue reading Chamber music concerts make case for local talent
By R.M. Campbell
Musicians from the Curtis Institute returned to the Henry Chapel Wednesday night in the Highlands for its third year. The concerts have become predictable: interesting repertory, exemplary musicianship.
Already known and widely respected in the music world, the Philadelphia conservatory wanted a broader profile. And so, among other activities, it has embarked on a series of tours featuring not only students but now faculty. Seattle is on the tour itinerary with concerts scheduled in the intimate Henry Chapel in the Highlands. This is chamber music at its best — in a warm, appealing space that is not so large. The audiences have been attentive and appreciative.
Continue reading Curtis Institute returns to Seattle
Looking for something to do today? Head up to Greenwood for the annual Bach Cello Suites marathon at Phinney Ridge Lutheran Church. The festival runs from 10 to 2:30 pm (today, March 26th). The festival is free and the audience can come and go as they please. Let Slava get you in the mood.
Gathering Note 