daily observations » 2007

denk thinks, portland listens July 18, 2007

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One of my favorite music bloggers, the pianist Jeremy Denk, made quite a splash at the Portland International Piano Festival this past weekend - click here for a complete review by Oregonian classical music critic David Stabler. Here’s the lead-in:

Many piano concerts are like trips to the shopping mall: safe, predictable excursions with a commercial intent.

Not Jeremy Denk’s. Last weekend in Portland, the 37-year-old New York pianist took us to the edge of a precipice, lined himself up and jumped.

Denk’s piano recital was so daring, so fraught with peril that I expected to see hazard lights flashing around the perimeter of the stage. Men with walkie-talkies would warn us to keep our distance. Ambulances would be lined up to handle injuries. Gawkers would sell souvenirs.

Below him lay the abyss of Ivesian chaos (Charles Ives’ “Concord” Sonata), with its four movements of surging strife and transcendental difficulty. Beethovenian chaos followed (the “Hammerklavier” Sonata) with its own four movements of surging strife and transcendental difficulty. They are similar in intent, both ending where they began, making a dangerously brilliant pair.

Beauty and refinement — the customary rewards of recitals — ceased to exist. Instead, Denk took us to the heart of darkness with music that normally repels audiences: dysfunctional harmonies, chord clusters, lack of continuity, contradiction.

the new york philharmonic rolls the dice July 17, 2007

Posted by Charles Noble in : the orchestra world, add a comment

In a pretty stunning announcement today, the New York Philharmonic has hired 40-year old conductor Alan Gilbert as its next music director. In a unique twist, he’s also the son of two members (one current, one former) of the august ensemble!

In Mr. Gilbert the Philharmonic has a true son of the orchestra and of New York. He grew up on the Upper West Side, attending the Ethical Culture School and Fieldston, a private school in the Riverdale section of the Bronx. He attended Philharmonic concerts weekly as well as rehearsals, and accompanied his parents on tours. He was known as the child handing out passports. Many members have watched him grow up.

I got a very excited email about this from some friends who live in NYC, and I can see why. This marks a sea change in what’s been going on at the Phil - with septuagenarian Lorin Maazel the programming has been stolid and conservative (do we really need another Brahms festival???) - having a younger hand at the helm might lead to some more innovative programming.

Gilbert’s name came up in our search, but I believe that he withdrew his name from consideration. Clearly he had bigger fish to fry!

Read the complete story here.

orchestra meetings July 14, 2007

Posted by Charles Noble in : the orchestra world, 2comments

Orchestra meetings should most likely not be held outdoors, in the summer, and in Chicago all at the same time. This is the conclusion I came to after reading the CSO Bass Blog entry today. (more…)

absence DOES make the heart grow fonder July 12, 2007

Posted by Charles Noble in : Uncategorized, 1 comment so far

I know that there are many professional musicians who never take more than a day off at a time from practicing, but I find it very helpful to take a larger chunk of time when the schedule allows. Usually this takes place for me during the month of July, when I don’t have any gigs coming my way, no chamber music, no recitals. I try not to go more than a week, because coming back can be too painful (mentally and physically), and this year it will fall at just about a week, with my last day of practicing being this past Friday.

I find that it’s important to take some time away from the grind. I stop thinking about music with a “must learn notes now” mantra and instead start to think of music the way I did when I was just starting to really fall in love with it and with playing. It allows me to think about musical ideas poetically, rather than mechanically - or to manufacture game plans for the coming months in my head without juggling them with projects all jostling for the front burner.

Right now, I’m thinking about Bach. I’ve decided that I need to learn a couple more of his cello suites (up an octave for the viola) and maybe take a crack at one of the violin sonatas or partitas. Bach takes an enormous amount of time in preparation. I find it a tremendously hard nut to crack - there are always too many options to consider, and the weight of many great cycles recorded for posterity which make every decision seem like life and death. The most common dilemma for me is between “smelling the roses” and the “sewing machine” interpretive schools, and each time I take up one of the suites my mind is changed from one to the other.

I’m also going to figure out when I can record the commissioned works from a couple years ago - finding the time in my schedule and keeping those holes open and free of outside gigs is going to be hard, but I’ve got to get on it.

one stop NW news and info July 11, 2007

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Fellow arts blogger and print journalist James Bash wrote a piece about the Oregon Bach Festival (and quite a good one, I might add) recently, and as I clicked on the link provided to the article I was astonished to discover Crosscut, an online source of news and information for Washington, Idaho, Oregon and British Columbia. I’ve only begun to scratch the surface of this new find, but it seems to be a very professional operation with coverage of all the major news areas that you’d care to delve in to. Check it out here.

officially HOT! July 10, 2007

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It’s only 2:55 in the afternoon and we’ve reached the century mark - the latest forecast predicts 102ºF by 5:00 p.m. Thank goodness for the two window air conditioners we bought a few years ago - I remember sweating through the hot weeks of July and August in our dank hole of an apartment, and can’t imagine living without them now! (more…)

it’s getting hot around here! July 9, 2007

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on teaching July 9, 2007

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Over the past few days (and to be honest, years) I’ve been discussing the vagaries of teaching with many of my colleagues. It’s been an interesting discussion, and among the most common subjects has been the changing nature of the students we all teach. (more…)

max aronoff viola institute 2007 July 7, 2007

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As I noted in my last post, I’ve been performing and teaching this past week. I was taking part in a string camp that I, along with my then teacher Joyce Ramée, founded back in 1990. With two exceptions (to attend the Tanglewood Music Center in 1994-1995) I’ve taught and performed at the institute every year. My wife, cellist Heather Blackburn, joined the faculty in 1997 and has been there every summer since.

This year was a difficult one - the symphony season was particularly back-loaded with difficult and unfamiliar repertoire at the end of the season, and I did a recital and audition towards the end, so there was little time to recharge built in to the normally quite relaxed end of the season - going from May into June. My state of mind going into the summer would have been quite accurately described as “burned out”. (more…)