Monthly Archives: September 2010

it’s 11 p.m. in detroit

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UPDATE: Looks like the clock has ticked to 11:59 p.m. tonight.  Read the latest here.

Remember the Doomsday Clock?  It was established by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists at the University of Chicago in 1947.  It reflects the proximity of the world to nuclear annihilation – midnight – by the use of an analog clock, with the minute hand moving forward or backward in response to international nuclear tensions.  The clock has hovered between 11:43 p.m. and 11:58 p.m. since its inception.

As I was reading the Detroit Free Press article today about last-ditch negotiations between the musicians and management of the Detroit Symphony, the phrase “eleventh hour” popped into my head, followed by the image of the Doomsday Clock.  There has been little news out of Detroit for most of the month of September, following a massive PR push by the musicians at the end of August into the beginning of September.  I would reckon that the Detroit Doomsday Clock is hovering right now around 11:45, and that it will approach closest to midnight as the first concert of the season (on October 8th) comes nigh. Continue reading →

in-between

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This is one of those strange weeks that we often have near the start of the season, where we’ve had a couple of special concerts under our belt, then a few days off, another special, and then the season gets underway in earnest.  This week happens to be one where we had a concert on last Saturday night (the Countdown to Carnegie fundraiser) and then no rehearsals until Thursday morning.  On Thursday we start rehearsals for a concert by the Portland Symphonic Choir, conducted by their conductor, the excellent Steven Zopfi.  The major piece on the program is Mozart’s Mass in c minor, with the first half of the program dedicated to three short portions of Wagner’s Lohengrin.  Tickets are available here, and lots of tickets are available, from what I hear.

In the first half of the week, I’ve been doing a lot of training rides in preparation for the Echelon Gran Fondo Hood River, which takes place on Sunday. The fundraising deadline is October 1st, even though the ride takes place on September 26th – so please consider a modest donation if you are able – the ride benefits both the Livestrong Foundation and the local OHSU Knight Cancer Institute, both incredibly worthy causes.

Here’s a link to my fundraising page.

A couple rides up Council Crest have been helping with preparing for the hills on the route, and yesterday I rode over Chehalem Mountain (really around it, almost completely) via Rte 219, and road I’ve driven quite a few times but never thought that I’d actually ride over.  And I even did it without stopping.  I must admit that there was one place, on SW Leander Road, where the grade was 18% and I had to walk for about 50 yards, but other than that I rode all the climbs without stopping.  I’m pretty proud of myself, I must admit! Here’s a map of that ride, for those of you who are interested:

hilary hahn’s new album drops

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Violinist Hilary Hahn makes her Oregon Symphony debut on our opening Classical series concerts on October 2 – 4, and you can get a chance to listen to her playing the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto on her newly-released album on Deutsche Grammophone.  This beloved work is paired with the Jennifer Higdon Violin Concerto, which has been getting critical acclaim wherever it has been played.  The orchestra is quite excited about seeing and hearing Ms. Hahn – her appearance here is long overdue, and the concerts should be phenomenal.  Speaking of which, we’ll be playing a new work entitled Phenomenon … The Mysterious and the Unexplained, by the Thai composer Narong Prangcharoen, which is quite the spooky and scary piece.  The concert is rounded out by the gorgeous and powerful Fifth Symphony of Sergei Prokofiev.  This will be quite the season opener, for sure!

The box office says that Monday night has the best available seats.

Get your tickets here.

Purchase this album at Amazon.com: Higdon / Tchaikovsky: Violin Concertos

countdown to carnegie

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Tonight’s the night – the night we try to push over the top and reach our fundraising goal for the Oregon Symphony’s trip to Carnegie Hall in May 2011.

The concert will feature Carlos Kalmar and the Oregon Symphony, with guests Thomas Lauderdale, OSO concertmaster Jun Iwasaki, Storm Large, Darcelle XV, and more!

We’ve got enough money raised so far to get the orchestra to NYC, but not enough to get us back.  That would doubtless make many of you (and us) sad, so help bring us back from Carnegie by purchasing tickets to tonight’s concert!

critical mass

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There was a review of last night’s concert by James McQuillen, which you can find here at the Oregonian’s website.  I was interested to find that there was a pretty quick followup comment by “clarities” – I’ll quote the first paragraph here:

If it’s true that “Carlos Kalmar intends for the orchestra to pull its weight,” he’d better start by rehearsing his orchestra sufficiently and not antagonizing guests of such caliber as Joshua Bell. Kalmar and Bell were at odds through much of the Lalo — pretty absurd when you consider the nature of the work as a violin showpiece. The job of the conductor in this context is to do everything he can to support the soloist’s virtuosity. Bell’s frustration with Kalmar was evident both during the piece and between movements, when he could barely muster a half-smile in the conductor’s direction.

This bears a bit of clarification from someone who was involved in the rehearsal process and also sitting about five feet away from Bell and Kalmar during that process as well as the concert.  Josh has made no secret that he very much enjoys working with both the Oregon Symphony and Carlos Kalmar.  The Lalo was given an entire rehearsal the day of the concert, since Bell arrived the evening before.  There was quite a bit of give-and-take between Josh and Carlos during the rehearsal, and it seemed that they were working together with a good sense of what each other wanted out of the collaboration.  I remember and interview with Yo-Yo Ma where he said that the ideal relationship between soloist and orchestra is one where there is a healthy sense of tension, where the soloist had to push and pull against the current of the orchestra.  Carlos seems to provide this with every soloist that he works with.  Bell’s demeanor on stage didn’t strike me as being one iota different from any other time that he’s appeared with the Oregon Symphony, including when James DePriest was conducting. He’s not a touchy-feely soloist who is going to fawn all over a conductor or orchestra.  It’s not the way he rolls

As for whether or not the orchestra was rehearsed enough – sometimes an orchestra can have very little rehearsal time and pull off a great performance, at another time, the same orchestra and conductor might have exhaustive rehearsals and not everything gels in performance.