You can see his picks on his blog The Rest Is Noise by clicking here.
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appreciation/criticism
Head on over to Plos Blogs and read this article – it’s entitled “What’s the Most Important Lesson You Learned from a Teacher”. Of course, the music student’s anecdote (written by the writer and journalist David Dobbs) was what caught my eye – here’s what I think is some great advice to think about making
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Saturday and Monday nights will see another great set of concerts in this already stellar season. The big surprise for this week? The Britten Piano Concerto. Never heard of it? Well, neither had I, before this season’s repertoire was announced. We had our rehearsals with pianist Stephen Osborne over the last two days, and the
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There’s a fascinating new study with findings that suggest that the visual appearance of a musician can affect the listener’s perception of their performance. As part of a 2009 music psychology seminar at a major music academy, they gathered 35 students — all accomplished musicians — for a study of the visual impact of piano
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I just turned in my first set of program notes for the Oregon Symphony! I was asked to write notes that were a bit off the beaten path of program notes (which are normally all written for the Oregon Symphony by the excellent Elizabeth Schwartz), and it was fun and interesting to do. The notes
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Some of you may be wondering what I think about the flap (largely manufactured by the LA Times) concerning piano virtuoso Yuja Wang and her very short mini dress that she wore at the Hollywood Bowl. I don’t give a shit. The girl plays the crap out of the piano, she can wear whatever she
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I hate snarkyness. But sometimes, it is just too fun not to wade into the cesspool and get your hip waders fully immersed. Observe, gentle reader, the following video: It’s a video from the 1998 Jerusalem Music Center’s quartet masterclass with violinist Isaac Stern and friends. The quartet that is performing is the very young
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I’m just entering my first weekend of the Oregon Bach Festival in Eugene, Oregon, and there’s a lot going on at the southern end of the Willamette Valley. The OBF is starting its search for a successor to the festival’s co-founder and artistic director for the past 41 years, Helmuth Rilling. Two of the front-runners
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This week’s issue of the New Yorker has music critic and arts writer Alex Ross’ thoughts on the Spring for Music Festival and the Oregon Symphony’s program and performance at Carnegie Hall earlier this month. The verdict? He liked it. A lot. Here’s an excerpt from the article: ….”Great programs create a kind of
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As I was listening to a portion of the Kairos Ensemble rehearsing for tonight’s upcoming benefit concert for Portland’s Phame Academy, I was struck (again) by just how great Mozarts quintets for strings (two violins, two violas, and cello) are. They are doing his great D major, K. 593 quintet, which I had the
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I was prompted, after a comment by fellow arts blogger James Bash, to look in the Los Angeles Times archives for the text of the review of the Oregon Symphony’s prior debut, that being at the Hollywood Bowl, which took place in September 1992. Written by Times critic Daniel Cariaga, it was quite different
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As we were getting ready to deplane in Portland, people were whipping out their various smart devices, and the news came quickly: the New York Times review was an unabashed rave. Here it is, written by Allan Kozinn, in its entirety: It is hard to believe that the Oregon Symphony had never performed in
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Needless to say, I overslept. There was a lovely and generous bagel and lox breakfast scheduled at the Strand bookstore, an NYC institution, which is owned by the wife of Senator Ron Wyden, Nancy Bass. But, I missed it. After the last massive chord of the RVW Fourth Symphony faded into the fabled expanse
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Were you at the concert Saturday night? The audience response was quite gratifying – and it seemed that everyone had a great experience at the concert. Write your own review of the concert – either write a comment below, or email me via the Contact NobleViola link above, and I’ll quote them on this
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The first two of our three concerts here in Portland are done, and they’ve gone very well, indeed. (Salem residents, you get your chance on Tuesday night at Smith Auditorium at Willamette University.) I have to say, playing the Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1 with Canadian violinist James Ehnes has been a supreme pleasure.
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