live from lincoln center September 18, 2007
Posted by Charles Noble in : the orchestra world, add a commentTonight occurred the annual rite of passage that heralds the beginning of a new classical concert season in this country: Live from Lincoln Center’s live telecast of the Opening Night Gala of the New York Philharmonic. It was hardly a ground-breaking tv event: Yo-yo Ma played the Dvorak Cello Concerto for the 80,000th time, and this was followed up by…wait for it…Dvorak’s Seventh Symphony. My spine hardly tingled when I read that information, so we missed the cello concerto due to a marathon viewing of the first five episodes of “Heroes” on DVD. We did catch the last three movements of the symphony, so I can (and will) comment on what I saw of that. (more…)
got in a good ride today September 15, 2007
Posted by Charles Noble in : Uncategorized, 4comments34.83 miles, 1250 ft of cumulative elevation gain, 12.9 mph avg speed
Time for a beer or two…
Click here for a map of the route.
Click the image for the gory details!
arnica quartet concert this sunday September 13, 2007
Posted by Charles Noble in : Uncategorized, 2commentsJust a shameless plug: the Arnica Quartet will be giving a performance at the Loucks Lecture Hall of the Salem Public Library (central branch on Liberty Street) on Sunday, September 16th at 3:00 p.m.
We’ll be playing an early Haydn quartet (Op. 20 no. 4), the lone quartet of Claude Debussy, and the Brahms Piano Quintet with esteemed local pianist Cary Lewis, of the Lanier Trio.
The best part is…it’s free! Hope we see you there!
musician trading cards September 12, 2007
Posted by Charles Noble in : the orchestra world, add a comment
The Houston Symphony has come out with a collection of trading cards with the photos and interesting info about the players of the orchestra. Check out the article here.
I remember a couple of years ago the OSO almost did this in conjunction with Franz Bakery - they were to have been distributed in specially marked loaves of bread. I think it’s still a good idea…
eugene conductor tapped for nashville September 6, 2007
Posted by Charles Noble in : the orchestra world, 2commentsGiancarlo Guerrero, currently music director of the Eugene Symphony, has accepted the position of music director with the Nashville Symphony, effective the 2009-2010 season. Read more here. You can find his blog here.
the king is dead September 5, 2007
Posted by Charles Noble in : Uncategorized, add a comment
Luciano Pavarotti, legendary Italian tenor and larger-than-life personality, died just a few hours ago at his home in Modena, Italy. He was 71. You can read the NYTimes obituary here.
I never knew him, and never heard him sing live - but his incomparable sound has touched anyone who has ever heard him, either live or via recordings. My most treasured aural moment of his is his great recording of Nessun Dorma from Puccini’s Turandot, and the great charisma that he exhibits throughout. My favorite part of this recording of the aria comes after his incredible last note, held out as long, (no - longer!) as possible, and the orchestra (The London Philharmonic, under Zubin Mehta) is clearly playing for their lives, going over the top, simply mad with pent up emotion over the incredible performance that they have just accompanied, and you can practically see the brass players’ tongues coming out of the bells of their instruments, the string players collecting sawdust underneath their chairs from the frantic sawing fortissimos - it’s amazing, and it makes me nearly weep every time I hear this recording, from simple joy and awe.
You can find the aria for download at iTunes, here.
journalism 101 September 4, 2007
Posted by Charles Noble in : the orchestra world, 4commentsI was at my favorite coffee haunt today (Crema bakery+cafe) when I spied a stack of the free monthly PDXmagazine. I like it as an antidote to the slickly produced Portland Monthly, so I took a look at what was on offer. There was a section entitled “Downtown Cultural District: A taste of Portland’s rich center” written by Nathan Peasley. If you pick up the magazine it starts on pg. 58 and extends to pg. 62. Here’s the part that I found amazing. On page 61 they talk about PCPA (Portland Center for the Performing Arts). There’s a whole paragraph that covers the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall - I’ll quote the first part of the paragraph that caught my eye: (more…)
thoughts about san antonio September 3, 2007
Posted by Charles Noble in : the orchestra world, add a commentAs reported by preeminent arts blogger Drew McManus, the San Antonio musicians and management have narrowly averted a strike by settling on a tentative contract (which will be voted on by the musicians today). (more…)
waterfront concert September 2, 2007
Posted by Charles Noble in : the orchestra world, 2commentsSorry to be late with this posting, but life intervened and it wasn’t possible to get time to do an entry on this right after the fact. Last Thursday night we had our “coming out” party of the new season - the annual concert at Tom McCall Waterfront Park downtown. (more…)
