Gathering Note

By Philippa Kiraly

When Early Music Guild, Seattle Theatre Group, and Spectrum Dance Theater collaborate on a production, you know it’s going to bring in a lot of expertise in various fields and strong characters who will need to work together. When you add in Stephen Stubbs of Pacific Musicworks, Arne Zaslove, doyen of Commedia del’Arte teaching in Seattle, and Theodore Deacon, whose hallmark is enlightening, inventive theater, you get a fascinating mix. What did they come up with in their production of two early Baroque masterpieces, Orazio Vecchi’s “L’Amfiparnaso,” from 1594, and Monteverdi’s “Il Ballo delle Ingrate” from 1607?

These two works can’t really be described as opera, but in the words of the program notes, as “curious and entertaining side trips…on the way to opera.”
Continue reading A Day on the Town, A Night in Hell

By Philippa Kiraly

The concert title sounded beguiling, and the performance lived up to it. The third concert in Mostly Nordic’s annual series at the Nordic Heritage Museum featured an Icelandic flutist with music by a half dozen Icelandic composers (plus some Prokofiev, the “Mostly” part of the series name), but it also included some of that country’s history and arts development.

I hadn’t known that Western instruments found their way to Iceland only in the 19th century, with the first brass band formed as late as 1876 and a symphony orchestra in 1925, while indigenous composing only got going in the 20th century. The arts now flourish there.
Continue reading Mostly Nordic: floating in the Blue Lagoon

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.

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