Sunday afternoon I braved the rain and wind to go hear the contemporary music ensemble fEARnoMUSIC present its first concert of the 2007-2008 season. They gave a great concert centered around the theme of folk music, presented nearly continuously and without intermission. It was great to see a wide variety of musical styles presented, and with such style and virtuosity.

Highlights of the program? I’d have to pick the Folk Songs Set No. 11b (1995) by Iranian composer Reza Vali, which were performed in an arrangement for string quartet by violinists Inès Voglar and Erin Furbee, violist Joël Belgique, and cellist Adam Esbensen. Adam Esbensen played some stellar high-wire passages at the end of the fingerboard in the first movement, and the eerie glissandi which closed the piece were exquisitely blended and atmospheric.

The four movements from John Adams’ John’s Book of Alleged Dances (1994) for string quartet and tape were also very exciting and well-played, this time with Erin Furbee taking the first violin part. Rapid-fire playing on the part of all the string players was excellent in the two quickest movements, Dogjam and Toot Nipple, while the Habanera simmered with wry sensuality, and the opening movement Judah to the Ocean was played with grace and lilting elegance.

The final work of the afternoon was the work I was most eager to hear: Luciano Berio’s Folk Songs (1964) in its original chamber version for voice and seven instruments. Soprano Janice Johnson sang the folk songs in their seven original languages with great diction and emotional force. The ensemble backing her provided a full, but balanced sound, though occasionally the percussion instruments overwhelmed the voice part. Guest artists Jennifer Craig, harp; Molly Barth, flute; Todd Kuhns, clarinet; and Philip Patti, percussion, ably rounded out the superb ensemble.

If you missed this concert, then mark your calendars for fEARnoMUSIC’s next concert, which takes place March 7, 2008 at The Old Church in Portland. Check out their website for more details and ticket information.

Just got this email forwarded from the OSO marketing team:

$10 Friends and Family offer
High-Wire High Jinks with the Oregon Symphony
Saturday, Nov 24 at 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, Nov 25 at 3 p.m.; Monday, Nov 26 at 7:30 p.m.
Jeff Tyzik, conductor
MarchFourth Marching Band

Safety Last, the classic silent movie with Harold Lloyd

Great family fun for the Thanksgiving weekend! The concert opens with high-energy big band spectacle. After intermission the Symphony provides live accompaniment to a perilous, pulse-racing silent film classic.

Visit http://www.ticketmaster.com/promo/8o1dhi and enter the password
TURKEY to receive your $10 tickets today.

UPDATE: Oregonian music critic David Stabler gives his expanded list of Poets/Scientist conductors here.

Last night we played our second of four iterations of the Classical 6 program (three in Portland and a run-out to Salem on Tuesday night) under the direction of Finnish guest conductor Hannu Lintu. I was recently reading another blog which explored the nature vs. nurture conundrum in the area of young musical talent, and was struck by a similar dichotomy in the world of symphonic conductors.

It seems that there are (at least amongst the talented few in this field) two basic types of conductors: The Poet and The Scientist. Many conductors start out as The Scientist, but end up in their old age as The Poet. Some stay at either end of the spectrum for their entire career. Examples? I’d say that Herbert von Karajan started out as The Scientist and ended up as The Poet. If you’ve heard his amazing recording of Strauss’ Death and Transfiguration and Metamorphosen, you know what I mean. Pierre Boulez has been and ever shall be The Scientist. And Carlo Maria Giulini (a violist, natch) was born as The Poet.

Our guest conductor this week, Hannu Lintu, is decidedly The Poet. Everything about him is lyrical. His long arms flap sometimes to indeterminate effect if you’re looking for where beat three is, but you know where the phrase is going, and what the underlying emotion of the entire movement should be. I had suspected that Lintu was The Poet last time he came here, when he spoke of Sibelius and his love of the swans outside his home on the edge of the forest, and of the great “swan theme” that emerges from the depths in his Fifth Symphony. Now I am certain of it. He seems to be a deep thinker, perhaps prone to melancholy, but with flashes of impish humor - just like the composer whom he understands so well, Jean Sibelius. A most interesting conductor who I hope we will see again and again over the years.

By contrast, Carlos Kalmar, our music director, seems very much to be The Scientist - but I can see The Poet trying to take control every now and then. He’ll be very interesting to watch down the road about 20 years. His repertoire will be vast, his control of an orchestra will be beyond conscious thought, and he will have learned to let the reins down a bit more and reap the enormous rewards that bit of freedom will bring forth from the right orchestra. Don’t get me wrong - I very much admire the control and intricacy of how Carlos dissects familiar pieces, giving them new life. I also like the clarity and knowledge that he brings to new works, either from centuries past or from our own time. His musical intellect is really like a powerful laser, able to find minute changes in balance and tempo that produce remarkable new interpretations.

But I also like to play my heart out, and that’s what I’ve been doing this week.