Tag: Symphony

Dynamic Schumann at the SSO

Busoni, Schumann and Strauss was the line-up of composers on this week’s SSO subscription concert. Ferruccio Busoni’s Turandot Suite opened the program followed by Richard Strauss’ youthful Violin Concerto. James Ehnes was the guest soloist. The night closed with Robert Schumann’s 3rd Symphony “Rhenish.” For most of the audience, the pieces chosen — with the exception of Schumann’s symphony — were probably unfamiliar. While unfamiliarity can yield surprises and new discoveries, this wasn’t the case with the recent batch of SSO concerts.

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Thalia Symphony’s From Russia With Love

By Harlan Glotzer

On Saturday afternoon the Thalia Symphony presented a brief, but by no means unsubstantial, concert of two Russian masters. Thalia, a truly remarkable group of musicians, under the baton of Eric Hanson, has been the Seattle Pacific University Orchestra in Residence since 1994. Spanning a wide range of ages, comprised of professionals, SPU students, and SPU alumni, this ensemble embodies the essence of a community orchestra. Thalia is indeed a place for young musicians to hone their skills among the ranks of peers and mentors.

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One from Mozart and one from Mendelssohn

By Gigi Yellen

The CD “Live in the Fiddler’s House,” played in the car as I headed for Benaroya Hall to hear “Reb Itzik” play.

That would be Itzhak Perlman, the wildly famous virtuoso violinist, whose Jan. 28 concert as soloist and conductor was the second in a two-night stand that launched this year’s Seattle Symphony Mainly Mozart Series.

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Violin is featured in Bellevue Phil and Seattle Baroque concerts

Ingrid Matthews

You could say the violin is the foundation of classical music.  There are more violins in the modern symphony orchestra than any other instrument.  String quartets use two of them.  Piano trios depend on the instrument’s singing qualities to balance out the piano.  Concerti for the instrument are some of the most famous pieces in the entire classical cannon.  Soloists – from Isaac Stern to Paganini – have used the instrument to dazzle crowds and gather fame.  While much of the chatter among classical music fans has focused on the Seattle Symphony this month, two concerts – both giving prominence to the violin – deserved more attention than they received.

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Musicians reject proposal and management responds

Update

:

Management issued a statement on the musicians’ unanimous rejection of the latest contract proposal late yesterday.  The press release hits the points management has been making in recent days, and specifically, the need for a long-term plan that ensures the financial viability of the orchestra.  Management also says they will go back to the bargaining table.

The board and management of Seattle Symphony are very disappointed that the Seattle Symphony and Opera Players’ Organization has rejected the offer that we have given them during our negotiations. Over the past eight months we have been very specific about the financial position that the Symphony is in, and how important the musicians are to us. We have made it very clear that there is a need for a long-term plan and solution to the financial situation we are encountering and we’re reluctantly asking the musicians to make concessions to help us create a stable and solid future for the Symphony. We intend to go back to the bargaining table as quickly as the union will meet with us, and seek to find a speedy resolution to this situation so that we can get back to the business of presenting artistically exciting performances for our community. We anticipate all performances to go forward as planned.

Seattle Symphony musicians unanimously (as in no one voted for it) rejected management’s last, best offer.  The players cite four reasons for the rejection — salary concessions ($11 million is too much), length of the contract (5 years is too long), unfilled positions (too many temp players in key spots), and experimental revenue sharing (unproven).  The text of the full press release is after the jump.

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Kurt Masur Makes His Welcome Debut at Benaroya Hall

By R.M. Campbell

Even though the Seattle Symphony Orchestra is in another uneasy period with troubled labor negotiations, the imminent departure of its chief executive and a long-standing deficit, it made splendid music to open the New Year Thursday night at Benaroya Hall.

The galvanizing force was Kurt Masur in his local debut. While the German conductor is in his early 80’s and suffers from Parkinson’s, he was a dynamic force on the podium, revealing his utter command over Mozart and Bruckner. SSO musicians responded with vigor and insight. The entire concert was a revelation and, for once, the cheers and standing ovation were justified.

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Beethoven’s Ninth: an occasion in itself

There is perhaps no ninth symphony as famous as Beethoven’s Ninth – the Ninth.  It is the summit every composer after him sought to reach but none surpassed.  Johannes Brahms’ crafted his own first symphony in the shadow of Beethoven, paying homage to the great composer through musical references.  Bruckner, another great symphonist, reached his own ninth but died before it was completed.  Stricken by self-doubt through his life, never sure of his own talents, it is ironically Bruckner’s own ninth which many consider his best.  Then there is Mahler, who was so intimidated by Beethoven’s symphonic opus that he renumbered his own symphonies to avoid the magic number “9.”

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Are SSO contract negotiations a canary in the coal mine?

Is the Seattle Symphony heading toward a civic calamity?

The changing economics of the arts industry has left many orchestras on the brink of catastrophe. The Philadelphia Orchestra is the highest profile example. A large deficit, no permanent music director, and general disdain for the musicians is jeopardizing the future of this Big Five orchestra. Other orchestras are suffering too. The future of the Everett Symphony is uncertain, while the Bellevue Philharmonic is still on shaky ground after a leadership brawl last year. And not long ago, the Columbus Symphony, the professional orchestra for Ohio’s largest city, disappeared entirely for a period of time.

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Peter and the Wolf and Saint-Saens’s Christmas Oratorio: an unusual holiday pairing

Adding to the odd mix of pieces, the youthful Christmas Oratorio by Saint-Saens welcomed a leaner audience (many of the families with young children left) after the intermission. Saint-Saens music is remembered and enjoyed because it tends toward the beautiful as opposed to the innovative – not that innovative has to be ugly.

Saint-Saens, at the ripe age of twenty three, wrote the Christmas Oratorio in eleven days. The work’s placid harmonies and swooping melodies radiated from the orchestra and the chamber singers. Solos for soprano (Linda Tsatsanis), mezzo-soprano (Melissa Plagemann), alto (Tessa Studebaker), tenor (Stephen Wall) and bass (Brian Box) were delightfully shaped by the afternoon’s soloists.

I am confident that no other orchestra, choral ensemble, or chamber group performing a holiday concert this year featured a program of Prokofiev, Bozza/Kechley, or Saint-Saens. Like oil and water, these composers and the piece’s chosen for Orchestra Seattle’s holiday concert, don’t mix. This is precisely what Shangrow wants and what OSSCS observers expect. Days after the concert, I am still not sure how I feel about the collective impact of the choices. Making sense of it all, trying to deduce a purpose for the program has been maddening. Making sense of a concert, however, isn’t as important when you have a community orchestra that plays and a chorus that sings as well as OSSCS.