Category Archives: cello

appreciation

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Nancy Ives - Photo: Charles Noble

On my mind over the past couple weeks has been the dual concepts of appreciation and recognition. In one’s capacity as a leader of an orchestra, whether as a music director or as a guest conductor, I feel it’s vitally important to make certain that not only does one appreciate what they have in the ensemble before them, but that they give recognition where it is due.  A little bit of that can go huge distances in maintaining the morale of those of us in the trenches, so to speak.

This weekend, it’s been our wonderful principal cellist Nancy Ives who has gotten some long overdue appreciation and recognition.  The Brahms Second Piano Concerto has one of the most sublime and difficult lyrical cello solos in the repertoire, and I must say that Nancy has played her heart out in this weekend’s performances.  Emanuel Ax has been very effusive in his praise of her solos for the rehearsals and performances – he’s heard the best in the business play them – and tonight he gave an incredible show of recognition as one artist to another.

After the numerous curtain calls, he came over to get Nancy for another solo bow (he would take her up to the edge of the stage near the concertmaster’s chair for her bow), and they had a brief discussion, and she exchanged seats with concertmaster Jun Iwasaki, and she and Ax began to play as a joint encore, a movement from the ineffably beautiful Fantasy Pieces by Robert Schumann.  Ax played without a score – he’s doubtless played this piece hundreds of times with his recital partner Yo-Yo Ma – and he and Nancy played beautifully together.  She was relaxed and assured, and the sound just came with great ease from her cello.  Many of us in the orchestra had misty eyes, for this was a moment that was long overdue for Nancy.  No one tries harder than she does, and no one thinks more about the art and craft of making music than she, and I think that that very earnestness is often misconstrued, and it’s easy to lose sight of the sensitive musician-artist inside.  No one has a bigger heart than Nancy, and it was such a great moment tonight to get to see it exposed in all its glory at the Schnitz.

Brava, Nancy.

astoria music festival – concert two

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Saturday night’s concert was especially meaningful in regards to its location in Astoria, as it was devoted to the music of two giants of Scandinavian composers: Grieg and Sibelius.  Astoria is steeped in the traditions of Finland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark, with many immigrants from those nations choosing the settle in what must have been comforting climatic reminders of their homelands.

Elizabeth Pitcairn / Photo: Christian Steiner

Violinist Elizabeth Pitcairn was the soloist in the lovely and imposing violin concerto of Jean Sibelius.  She handled all of its considerable technical and musical hurdles with no sense of difficulty, even with some discrepancies between her tempos and those of the orchestra as a whole.  She was given a well-deserved ovation at the conclusion of the concerto, and was also given quite the hearty round of applause between the first and second movements.

David Ogden Stiers

The second half of the concert was entirely given over to a complete performance of Edvard Grieg’s complete Incidental Music to Peer Gynt.  There was practically a three-ring circus on stage (conductor Keith Clark jokingly noted that only a few wild animals were missing from the assemblage of personnel on stage), with dancers, three choruses (including the Ultima Thule Chorale from Norway) and vocal soloist Amy Hansen and narrator David Ogden Stiers.  Stiers gave great inflection to the story of Peer Gynt, lending both gravity and levity to his colorful characterizations.  Amy Hansen sang wonderfully, as did the North Coast Chorale and the singers of the Astoria Music Festival Apprentice Program.

Amy Hansen

The festival continues through this week and next weekend with the following performances:

Astoria Music Festival Chamber Players
Sunday, June 20 @ 4 pm
with Elizabeth Pitcairn and Richard Zeller
Music of Beethoven, Brahms and Korngold

Vocal Apprentice Artists Opera Scenes
Tuesday, June 22 @ 7:30 pm

Too Much Coffee Man and Bach for More
Wednesday, June 23 @ 7:30 pm
First opera based upon a comic book and Bach’s Coffee Cantata

Vienna’s Sacred Spring – Road to Wozzeck
Thursday, June 24 @ 7:30 pm
Schoenberg’s Transfigured Night & Pierrot Lunaire

Alban Berg’s Wozzeck
Friday, June 24 @ 7:30 pm
Saturday, June 25 @ 7:30 pm

Cellist Sergey Antonov with pianist Cary Lewis
Saturday, June 25 @ 4 pm

Festival Orchestra Grand Finale
Sunday, June 25 @ 4 pm
Music of Mozart, Schumann and Schubert
Sergey Antonov, cellist

more quirine viersen

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For those of you who have been lucky enough to hear the wonderful Dutch cellist Quirine Viersen play the Dvorák concerto this weekend (and one more performance tonight), you’ll also get to hear her play the Beethoven Triple Concerto with OSO concertmaster Jun Iwasaki and pianist Arnaldo Cohen.  Here’s a clip from the Netherlands Philharmonic about Quirine and her views on the Elgar concerto.  The bad news? It’s all in Dutch, but the rehearsal clips are cool to watch.

training to run against cancer

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If you look to the right sidebar, you’ll see a donation button for Team in Training, which is an organization which raises money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society by training teams of runners and cyclists for major full and half marathon events and cycling centuries around the country.

Bert Phillips (center) with Heather (to his left) and myself (to his right) along with his wife Toby, (far left) and cellist Glenn Fischbach (far right) at Lake Luzerne, NY.

My wife Heather has an aunt who is a lymphoma survivor, and her cello teacher, Stephen Kates, succumbed to the disease in 2003, and a mentor of hers, cellist Bert Phillips, a longtime member of the Philadelphia Orchestra and founder of the Luzerne Music Center, passed away from the disease in 2009.

Stephen Kates (2nd from left) with Heather (2nd from right) and other students from his cello studio at Peabody Conservatory.

In 2007 she did the full marathon to raise money and pay tribute to her aunt and teacher, and this fall she will be doing a half marathon here in Portland to continue to raise money for this amazing organization.

Heather with her mother (L) and aunt (R) at the 2007 Portland Marathon finish line.

The LLS has important ties to the Portland medical community.  They helped to fund clinical trials for the important cancer drug Gleevec/Glivec run by OHSU oncologist Brian Druker confirming the drug’s efficacy in fighting chronic myelogenous (or myeloid) leukemia (CML).

So, if you’re so inclined, click on the ‘Donate’ link to the right and help further the cause of cancer research and patient aid through the Leukemia & Lymphonma Society.

Thanks!

yo-yo is going, going…

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So, you know that Yo-yo Ma is playing with the Oregon Symphony next season, right?  And it’s a one night only deal, right?  And tickets are only available to renewing or new subscribers, right?  Did you also know that as of 11:20 a.m. on Wednesday there were only 12 tickets left in the entire Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall?  So if you were waiting on the bet that there might be some tickets released to single ticket buyers, you are out of luck and should get your tail to the symphony’s website or ticket office to snag on of the remaining tickets (which are probably gone as I am writing this).