Bright Sheng, a name familiar to SSO audiences, sat down with the Gathering Note earlier this month. The composer was in town to hear the orchestra perform two of his short pieces. One of them, Prelude to Black Swan, a world premiere. The other, Shanghai Overture, a Seattle premiere.
Sheng came onto the classical music scene in the 1980’s when he and a number of other Chinese composers settled in New York to continue their studies and also begin careers. A young Gerard Schwarz noticed the composer, commissioned a piece for his chamber orchestra, and helped launch Sheng’s career.
Schwarz and Sheng’s creative partnership has resulted in countless commissions and premieres, and two stints for the composer as Seattle’s composer in residence.
Mezzo-soprano Kelley O’Connor sings Peter Lieberson’s Neruda Songs with the Seattle Symphony this week. Lieberson’s song cycle — drawn from five poems by Pablo Neruda — were originally written for his wife Lorraine Hunt Lieberson. Each of the five songs meditates on love. Hunt-Lieberson only sang the songs a few times in public before cancer took her life. O’Connor has taken up the challenge of Neruda Songs, singing them with thirteen different orchestras and even receiving Peter Lieberson’s approval.
Composer Alexander Bishop’s music came into wider awareness last spring when SSO violist Mara Gearman played two of his works as part of Paul Taub’s May Day, May Day festival. Gearman was looking for a couple of new pieces of music to play for the festival, and Bishop was seeking a violist to to play two short pieces he wrote for Viola. Bishop and Gearman are taking their partnership one step further on December 1st with a an all Bishop recital featuring two brand new works: a viola sonata and a string quartet. Composer and violist sat down with me last Saturday to talk about the recital, their creative partnership, and even the possibility of new Bishop compositions for the viola (a viola concerto perhaps?)
For your Thanksgiving and Black Friday viewing pleasure!
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.
I’m a few days late (Mahler was born on July 7th), but 2010 is the 150th birthday for Gustav Mahler. Complete Mahler cycles have been popping up in abundance over the last few months. Both Universal Classics and EMI have released “complete” box sets. But, from Universal Classics, comes one of the most creative ways to celebrate Mahler’s birthday — The People’s Edition. From now until September people can visit a special web site and cast their vote for their favorite recording of each symphony from the Decca and DG catalog. The recordings with the most votes will be included in a special, limited edition box set in November.
Mikhail Pletnev was arrested in Thailand for allegedly raping a 14 year old boy. Pletnev claims the ordeal is a misunderstanding. Thai officials share a much different opinion.
Also in the NY Times, Seattle gets a mention in an article looking at the conductor youth movement that seems to be sweeping American orchestras lately.
Finally, Ludovic Morlot made remarks at his public roll out as music director designate of the SSO. I recorded them on my Flip Camera and posted them here for you to see. About two hundred people showed up for the event. Based on the conversations I had with people in the crowd it seemed like a good number of the people in the audience were not subscribers but occasional SSO ticket buyers. Nearly everyone I spoke to had no idea what to expect with Morlot. A few were anxious to hear more French repertory. Others hope he’ll bring Ligeti and Messiaen into the mix. All were unanimous in their belief that his age alone will go a long way to freshening up the SSO. The lack of preconceptions should bode well for Morlot as he starts to shape the 2011/2012 season — his first as music director.
Our conductor interviews end with the person chosen to lead the SSO to new artistic heights and performance excellend — Ludovic Morlot. Morlot was one of the few conductors I didn’t meet. I was in New York when he was here last fall and when he returned in the spring, an exploding volcano in Iceland and compressed rehearsal schedule prevented an interview then too.
Seattle met Ludovic Morlot today. Not for the first time of course. Morlot guest conducted the SSO twice last season. But it was the first time as the SSO’s music director designate. Morlot will assume his music director duties officially in 2011, but he is already planning his first season with the orchestra and making friends with orchestra musicians, orchestra staff, and of course the city. I will be posting more video from today’s public introduction. Until then, here is a video of my interview with the young maestro from yesterday.
Update: SCMS is putting a limited number of rush tickets on sale for $25 30 minutes before tonight’s performance. On the program is Debussy’s Piano Trio, Barber’s String Quartet (with its famous adagio), and Brahms’ Op. 8 Piano Trio. With the sun lost behind the clouds this summer, let chamber music brighten your day.
Although I am still buzzing from the Ludovic Morlot announcement last week, it is time to focus on something different. The Seattle Chamber Music Society’s summer festival starts today. Once again the SCMS is bringing together a fine line-up of musicians at different stages of their career. Some are festival reliables (like Adam Neiman, Richard O’Neill, Anton Nel etc.) others are newer (Erin Keefe, Austin Hadelich etc.) and as always there are a few musicians who are brand new to the festival (Jeremy Turner, Andrew Wan, etc.). This year, the festival takes up residency in Benaroya’s Nordstrom Recital Hall. Nordstrom may not have comforting green lawns, full shade trees, and the suitable ambiance for drinking wine, but it does boast superior acoustics. Seems like a fair trade off to me. Besides, listeners who need a break from the urban hurly-burly can find relief in the Garden of Remembrance.
We’ll be covering the festival from start to finish, reviewing every (or pretty close to every) concert and talking with a handful of musicians about pieces of music that have impacted them as artists. Check back regularly for updates, enjoy the chamber music festival, and if you can’t get concert tickets, remember there are always free recitals an hour before each concert. Tonight’s recital is Bartok’s Sonata No. 2 for Violin and Piano played by James Ehnes and Andrew Armstrong.
For a refresher on the great chamber music the festival presents each year, here are a few short videos of festival musicians playing chamber music. More videos after the jump.
Macedonian pianist Simon Trpceski has got to be one of the busiest musicians I have had the pleasure of talking with. He is in Seattle performing a total of five concerts with the SSO. Earlier in the week he joined musicians from the SSO in a chamber music concert honoring the 200th birthday of Robert Schumann. Last night, he started a four concert series (one of the concerts will be played in Olympia tonight) with the orchestra where he plays Saint Saens’ Second Piano Concerto.
People who have followed Trpceski’s career since he made his North American debut in Seattle told me there was plenty to enjoy in his rendition of Schumann’s epic Piano Quintet. Even those people who are cool to Trpceski’s distinctive style told me the Piano Quintet crackled with unexpected velocity, poetry, and interpretive depth.
I ended my chat with a simple question: what piece of music would you like to play that you haven’t? Trpceski launched into a long list of concerti — Chopin, Brahms, Liszt, Stravinsky. With each new concerto, he pointed out concerts where he would have his chance at the piece. Trpceski is also spending time later this year playing chamber music in Chicago with friends. There is also his Carnegie Hall debut. Busy doesn’t begin to describe this pianist’s schedule.
Gathering Note 