Chamber Music – Page 2 – Gathering Note

The weekend in classical music: Schumann, Stravinsky, and Hagen

To hear pianist David White tell the story of one of the most famous clove triangles in the history of music, Johannes Brahms and Robert Schumann’s music wouldn’t exist as we know it without the presence of Clara Schumann — friend to Johannes, wife of Robert, accomplished pianist, and gifted composer. it is hard to disagree with this sentiment. Robert tended to be at his best with Clara as his muse, and the durability of Brahms music today — especially his piano music — depends to some degree on Clara’s advocacy.

In honor of the 200th anniversary of Robert Schumann’s birth, the Onyx Chamber Players presented a two night mini-festival of music by these three 19th Century icons. I was only able to make it to Sunday evening’s performance of C. Schumann’s Piano Trio, Brahm’s Op. 101 Piano Trio, and R. Schumann’s Piano Quintet.

Due to a mistake by the Seattle Times, Sunday’s performance was delayed by 30 minutes. A preview which ran in the Times noted an incorrect start time of 7:30 pm — instead of 7 pm. When I make a mistake like this, I get carping emails from publicists. When the Seattle Times messes up, concert start times get moved. Oh well. A few people straggled in between when the concert was supposed to start and when it actually did. Not enough to warrant a change though.
Continue reading The weekend in classical music: Schumann, Stravinsky, and Hagen

From Russia with love

The Odeonquartet’s fall concerts brought back pieces the group has played before, and injected a premiere of a piece they played on their recent trip to Russia. Heather Bentley, the group’s violist posted about their Russian tour on TGN.

Each of the two concerts — the first one on Vashon Island and last Monday’s performance at the Good Shepherd Center’s Chapel Performance Space — ended with Alexander Galzunov’s Op. 39 String Quintet; it is a big, romantic wet kiss. Glazunov’s moments of genius came across as heartfelt. For my ears, the highlight of the concert came at the very beginning of the night’s program.
Continue reading From Russia with love

John Cage and the Seattle Percussion Collective at Gallery 1412

John Cage’s music is a source of great frustration for me. It Is paradoxically rigid and fluid. Unpredictability reigns with decisions left to chance and the whims of musicians. Cage’s instruments are familiar — often used in unfamiliar ways. Just as often, Cage doesn’t use instruments at all but relies on ordinary objects to create the sounds that populate a work. Nevertheless, Cage’s music is capable of conjuring a powerful, elemental reaction. Every Cage piece I’ve heard generates extreme feelings of awe and deep spiritual awareness.

This was the case recently with the Seattle Percussion Collective. The ensemble presented a series of late Cage pieces last Friday at Gallery 1412 at the Capitol Hill and Central District collision. The Collective is not quite two years old. Since setting out in 2009 the group has garnered critical praise and accumulated a loyal following. Percussion music, like Gamelan music, tends to cater to a niche audience. But the Collective seems to reach beyond their niche audience.
Continue reading John Cage and the Seattle Percussion Collective at Gallery 1412

Seattle Percussion Collective plays Gallery 1412

Seattle Percussion Collective Plays John Cage from gatheringnote on Vimeo.

Last night the Seattle Percussion Collective played a show of late John Cage percussion works at Gallery 1412 at the collision of Capitol Hill and the Central District. I’ll be writing a longer post about the experience later today. In the meantime I urge you watch the video above — a performance of two composed improvisations played simultaneously. If you have even a passing interest in percussion music the Collective is playing another show tonight at the Good Shepherd Center’s Chapel Performance Space. The music won’t be Cage, but there will be a number of premieres for percussion and other instruments, including Greg Sinibaldi’s Quintet for Percussion and Piano. Since they formed in 2009, the Seattle Percussion Collective has generated a loyal following. Gallery 1412 was almost completely full. Dale Speicher told me last night that their Chapel performances have always generated big crowds. If you go to their Chapel performance, it would be wise to get their early.

The show starts at 8 PM. The Chapel Performance Space is located in the Wallingford Neighborhood at 4649 Sunnyside Ave. N, 4th Floor, Seattle, WA.

An increasingly enlightened audience at Seattle Chamber Music Festival

By Philippa Kiraly

Time was, maybe 17 years ago, when Seattle Chamber Music Society’s Summer Festival was full of well known classics. We could confidently expect to hear Brahms, Beethoven, and Schumann, Mozart and Haydn, Tchaikovsky and Dvorak. Sure there was, is, plenty to choose from among much-loved works. Some amongst us grew restless, wanting to be more challenged by the music and have our minds expanded, and SCMS responded by building a program one year full of these more adventurous work. The audience stayed away in droves.

What a change nowadays!
Continue reading An increasingly enlightened audience at Seattle Chamber Music Festival

Seattle Chamber Music Festival enters final week of 2010 season

By R.M. Campbell

Memories can be short and distorted, but it seems to me, as the Seattle Chamber Music Festival enters its final week of the summer, this season has been if not the best than one of the best in its nearly 30-year history.

Two things are certain. The move from the dull acoustics of St. Nicholas Hall at Lakeside to Nordstrom Recital Hall has been an unqualified success, not only in terms of box office but musically, aided in part by the vastly improved acoustical presence of the hall. There is no question Nordstrom can turn shrill in the upper registers, especially the violin, if musicians are not careful. In the early days, they were not and the hall got a bad reputation. But other musicians, more capable and more sensitive, found ways to make the hall what it is today. All concert venues have their individual profiles which musicians must take into account. Festival concerts at Nordstrom had a ring of freshness, vibrancy and clarity they did not have previously. This improved acoustical status seemed to encourage musicians to play even better than they did at Lakeside.
Continue reading Seattle Chamber Music Festival enters final week of 2010 season

A tribute to Shangrow and an evening of remarkable music making

By Philippa Kiraly

Seattle Chamber Music Society’s summer festival has headed to The Overlake School in Redmond for its final five concerts, the first of which took place in those beautiful surroundings Wednesday night.

But first, the Society’s associate artistic director, James Ehnes, came out to give a tribute to the late George Shangrow, citing his long time support for the festival. In his honor Ehnes then played the largo movement from Bach’s Sonata No. 3 for unaccompanied violin.
Continue reading A tribute to Shangrow and an evening of remarkable music making

Seattle Chamber Music Society wraps up Seattle festival, heads to Redmond

By Philippa Kiraly

Despite concerns and trepidation over its move from the bucolic ambiance of Lakeside School to the urban Nordstrom Recital Hall at Benaroya, Seattle Chamber Music Society’s summer festival there has been an undoubted success.

It managed to fill, mostly, over 100 seats more than Lakeside has for each concert and recital. It has brought in a variety of new audience members, including tourists dropping in. And the concerts have been enthusiastically received, despite the sometimes sabotaging effect of the hall’s dry acoustics and the really poor quality piano provided.

While the picnicking area in the Garden of Remembrance suffers from traffic noise, the decibel level in the Nordstrom lobby during intermissions makes some concert goers try to duck out downstairs or by heading to the main Benaroya lobby, and the free lemonade and coffee are missed, these are just peripheral losses.
Continue reading Seattle Chamber Music Society wraps up Seattle festival, heads to Redmond

Mozart to Barber Wednesday Night at Festival

By R.M. Campbell

There has been so much to admire in the concerts that I’ve attended at the Seattle Chamber Music Festival this season at Nordstrom Recital Hall, it seems redundant to say so yet again. But it is the truth.

As always there are musicians making their festival debut. A more significant new element is the hall, a vast improvement on the dreary acoustics of St. Nicholas Hall at Lakeside School where the festival most of past few decades. This is the festival’s first season at Nordstrom. The more one hears at Nordstrom — the clarity and vibrancy of sound — the more one appreciates the virtues of the new venue. When the festival leaves Seattle next week for Overlake School in Redmond, there will be no lapse in acoustical values. The hall is excellent.
Continue reading Mozart to Barber Wednesday Night at Festival

A lot of good and some bad close out third week of SCMS festival

By the third week of the Chamber Music Society’s festival the excitement of opening week is gone. We’ve heard enough expertly crafted chamber music to carry us through to the fall. A number of musicians have come and gone by the third week. The third week is also when repertory experiments takes place. The chamber pieces which use wind, brass, and double bass tend to show up around this time. New commissions also show up from time to time here too, away from the intensity of opening week.

The third week is especially problematic for writers. Our adjectives are exhausted and an endless supply of Romantic melodies and classical formalities are dancing through the parts of our brain we use to listen to music. We’ve heard a lot of music with even more to come.

This year the third week of the festival ended with back to back evening concerts. Friday’s concert embodied some of the best and the worst of the festival so far. Franz Berwald’s Septet glowered for 20 minutes to start Friday’s concert. It’s a piece without much of a point even when it is played well as it was on Friday night. I would have preferred to hear Jeff Fair (horn); Sean Osborne (clarinet); Seth Krimsky (bassoon); Jordan Anderson (bass); Ida Levin (violin); Che-Yen Chen (viola); and Jeremy Turner’s (cello) use their considerable talents in different repertory.
Continue reading A lot of good and some bad close out third week of SCMS festival