Category: Seattle

By R.M. Campbell

The inaugural season of the Seattle Chamber Music Festival in its new home — Nordstrom Recital Hall — has gotten off to a splendid beginning. The first concert Monday night was a major success, even with the absence of pianist Andrew Armstrong because of an infection in his leg. The second concert, on Wednesday, with Armstrong still out and in the hospital, was also a concert with considerable merit.

Arnold Schoenberg’s “Verklarte Nacht” (“Transfigured Night”) was the major piece on the program, and it was played as such by violinists James Ehnes and Augustin Hadelich; violists Cynthia Phelps and Richard O’Neill, and cellists Bion Tsang and Robert deMaine. The work, originally written for string sextet in 1899 and recast by the composer 18 years later for string orchestra is among the most admired pieces Schoenberg ever wrote. It is a coupling of late romanticism and early modernism. Schoenberg wrote some of the most challenging music of the 20th century: it is also some of the most despised. There is nothing to despise — or fear, to use Steven Lowe’s term in his excellent program notes — in “Verklarte Nacht.” This is real 19th-century program music, with a distinct narrative.
Continue reading Music of Romantic era dominates festival on second night

By R.M. Campbell

The Seattle Chamber Music Festival, which opened its 29th season Monday night, has a long, distinguished history. For nearly all of its 28 years, it has been located at the Lakeside School. The New England-style prep school informed the festival a few years ago that it was claiming summer usage of its concert hall, throwing the administration into a search for an alternative. Nordstrom Recital Hall was always a good possibility, in terms of size and acoustical properties. The drawback was its urban setting in contrast to the pastoral idyll of the Lakeside campus.

The opening concert in the new venue proved what a good choice the festival made. The house was nearly full, with 100 more seats than at Lakeside. Even the pre-concert recital was packed. The festival has grown considerably from a handful of weeks to a month of concerts, with an extension at Overlake School on the Eastside and Winter Festival in January, also at Nordstrom. There is still pre-concert dining and free broadcasts outside the hall on the Benaroya property. Most important the acoustics are so much better — greater clarity and richness — than St. Nicholas which are marginal at best.
Continue reading SCMS Summer Festival opens new season in new hall