Anne Midgette has a nice post on the changing economics of newspapers and orchestras. Anyone interested in the future of journalism and orchestras ought to take a look. Changes are coming, if they haven’t already, orchestras and newspapers need to jump in feet first or run the risk of slipping into obsolescence.
Category: Seattle
Quarter notes: upcoming
Lots and lots of music this weekend. Some of the highlights include David Popper playing cello a number of fine, local instrumentalists playing David Popper’s Hungarian Rhapsody for Cello and Dvorak’s Dumky trio as part of Music Northwest’s concert series. Schwarz and the SSO play Carl Orff’s much loved Carmina Burana. The Onyx Chamber Players are doing a Haydn tribute in La Connor. Paul Taub is celebrating 30 years living and performing in Seattle with a flute recital at Cornish. I will be at this concert. Plenty of interesting music on the program from Henry Brandt, Wayne Horvitz and others. The Puget Sound Symphony starts another ambitious season with a concert including the Helios Overture by Nielsen and Barber’s First Symphony. A new contributor to TGN – Nicole Secula plays trumpet in the PSSO – if you can, go support this energetic, local ensemble. Simple Measures ends their Earth series this weekend with performances at the Fremont Abbey. Canadian pianist Robert Silverman plays Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto with Philharmonia Northwest. I have never heard this orchestra play, but friendly sources tell me they are good and Silverman is an exceptional pianist. The Seattle Philharmonic also has a concer this weekend. SSO pianist Kimberly Russ plays Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G in a program of mostly lesser known music by Ravel and Debussy. In addition to conducting the Phil, Adam Stern is subbing for
playing alongside Russ with the SSO, playing the piano part for Carmina Burana. The Northwest Sinfonietta continues its season in Tacoma and Seattle with a Mozart and Beethoven program punctuated by Craig Sheppard performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 25 – an underperformed masterpiece. Finally, the Seattle Youth Symphony tackles Tchaikovsky’s angst ridden Fourth Symphony. The Fourth is my favorite of Tchaikovsky’s six symphonies. It never fails to move me.
Breakfast with Paul Taub
This Saturday, acclaimed local flutist Paul Taub is celebtrating 30 years in Seattle with an anniversary concert at Cornish College. Seattle audiences know Paul well through his work with the Seattle Chamber Players, his solo flue recitals, and through his work as a Cornish faculty member. I was lucky to be able to sit down with Paul this past weekend and chat with him about his upcoming concert. The concert will feature works by a number of composers, many of whom Paul has gotten to know through his association with the Seattle Chamber Players.
As you will hear in Paul’s own words, anyone interested in the flute and new music should definitely check out this concert. On a side note, anyone interested in perfect pancakes and delicious, garlic laddened scrambled eggs should head over to the Blue Dog Kitchen in the U-District (thank you Paul and thank you Yelp). I recommend the Blue Dog Special with veggies.
Tease me Sinfonietta
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.
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
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.
Gathering Note 