Gathering Note

Ludovic Morlot is in town this week guest conducting the Seattle Symphony.  It is the first time the young, French conductor has conducted the Seattle Symphony, but not the first time he has conducted a major American orchestra.  In fact, while Morlot may not be on the tip of many Seattleite tongues, Morlot has been wining over audiences and critics across the country.  He has guest conducted at the United States’s top orchestras — Boston, Chicago, and New York — while also maintaining a robust European career.

Morlot has also been winning over musicians as well with his podium temperament and clear sense of the music.  This isn’t always the case with conductors as young as Morlot.  Morlot is in his mid thirties.  Older than Gustavo Dudamel in Los Angeles but younger than Alan Gilbert in New York.

The story of Morlot’s rise is familiar.  In 2006 he stepped in, with only a few days notice, for an ailing Christoph von Dohnanyi and led the New York Philharmonic in a program of Brahms, Schumann, and Carter.  Yes, Elliott Carter.  The notoriously difficult to play and difficult to hear Elliott Carter.  Morlot had never conducted Carter before, and as the New York Times said in their review of that concert “you never would have known it.”  Morlot’s career has been accelerating every since.

There isn’t any Carter on this week’s Seattle Symphony program.  There is, however, Prokofiev, Haydn, Dvorak, and Martinu.

This is the first post in a series profiling guest conductors with the Seattle Symphony.  Future installments will incorporate video, audio, and some other types of media.  You can read my Q&A with Morlot after the jump.

Continue reading TGN’s Zach Carstensen chats with Ludovic Morlot

As regular readers — and not so regular readers — know, the Seattle Symphony is looking for a new music director.  Officially, the music director search committee is taking the posture that every guest conductor has the potential to be the orchestra’s new music director.  Starting this week with Ludovic Morlot, I will be questioning, writing about, filming, or recording each and every guest conductor that passes through the Emerald City.

I need your help, however.  I need you to tell me what I should be asking.  What do you want to know about the people in the running to be the next music director of the SSO? Leave the questions you think I should be asking these potential candidates in the comments section.  Or, if you feel more comfortable, email me directly at zach@gatheringnote.org.

Framed by Wagner’s “Ring” last summer and the premiere of “Amelia” in the spring, Seattle is spending the rest of its resources this season on a short Verdi survey. “La traviata” was the opening gesture over the weekend at McCaw Hall with “Il trovatore” to follow in January and “Falstaff” in February and March.

The company’s general director Speight Jenkins did not choose lesser-known works but standard bearers of the Verdi canon. It would have been interesting to explore some less frequented byways of the composer, but in these perilous economic times, the need to fill the house is imperative. This weekend it looked as if Seattle Opera accomplished that, at least in the first two of nine performances.

Continue reading La Traviata Opens Saturday night at McCaw Hall

Picture a low platform at the side of the Meany Theater stage with four musicians on sitar—the long-necked Indian lute, tabla—hand drums, an instrument with bellows and keys working the same as an accordion, and voice, plus other small percussion like finger cymbals. A man comes on dancing lightly just with his bare feet, carrying a small tray with incense, which he reverently puts down and then heads to center stage. He talks to the audience, explaining some of what he will be doing doing, and then proceeds to dance.

This is not like any dance most of us have ever seen, even those from southern India, as this comes from the north.

Continue reading Kathak: Classical Dance from Northern India

With the recent death of the distinguished pianist Alicia de Larrocha, whose career spanned the globe, one is reminded of how few Spanish pianists we hear on a regular basis. Sylvia Toran, whose local debut  opened the UW President’s Piano Series Tuesday night at Meany Hall, was some compensation.

Continue reading Spanish pianist Makes Her Seattle Debut Tuesday night at Meany Hall

Normally, I don’t mix politics and music on this blog, but this fall Washington voters are being asked to “approve” or “reject” a referendum that would expand protections for same-sex and some opposite sex couples.  If Referendum 71 is approved by Washington voters, Washington’s domestic partnership statute will remain intact.  If the referendum is rejected, the rights available to the state’s 12,000 domestic partnerships will be drastically constricted. 

Just before “Five for the Drive,” KING FM’s drive time show, an advertisement came on the air urging Washingtonian’s to reject Referendum 71. 

Continue reading KING FM debases gay and lesbian contribution to music

On Friday, October 9th, the Northwest Sinfonietta performed Antonio Vivaldi’s Quattro Stagioni (“The Four Seasons”), featuring Adam LaMotte, and Astor Piazzolla’s Las Cuatros Estaciones Porteños (“The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires”) arranged by Leonid Desyatnikov, featuring James Garlick. Both soloists did a spectacular job of capturing the essence of their respective concerti. The balance of LaMotte’s delicate playing with his period violin made in 1730 by Bernardo Calcagni was especially helpful in depicting the Baroque style of the four concerti that make up Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons”. Garlick’s rendition of the Piazzolla was fiery and full of spirit, much like the tango dance that inspired the work. Both sets of concerti also showcased the mature, well-versed Northwest Sinfonietta string orchestra. The timbre of the blended strings in the Vivaldi warmed the hall and created an atmosphere one might have heard in the days of Schubertiades.

Continue reading 8 Seasons in the Northwest