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brilliant criticism April 30, 2008

Posted by Charles Noble in : appreciation/criticism, music, add a comment

Throughout history, the great works of literature (whether well-received or not) have sparked equally great works of literary criticism.  Alex Ross’ brilliant history of music in the twentieth century has sparked criticism of the highest order - most lately by the great British tenor Ian Bostridge, writing in the Times Literary Supplement (think the English equivalent of The New York Times Review of Books).

Thanks to E. for the tip.

Here’s a taste:

Alex Ross’s The Rest is Noise tells the story of what happened to Western classical music in the twentieth century. We all know that the invention of recorded sound around 1900 made possible an extraordinary dissemination of the riches of the classical repertoire - largely composed for the rich and powerful - to the mass of ordinary people. On the gramophone, the radio, television and, subliminally and hence more powerfully, through the movies, the classical sound in all its variants (even the supposedly rebarbative confections of the Second Viennese School) has insinuated itself into the culture at large. Never before have so many people listened to, or liked, so-called classical music. Yet this extraordinary triumph has culminated in a malaise, a feeling, widespread in the musical profession and elsewhere, that classical music is in crisis and that things have never been so bad. Classical music feels abandoned, left behind as history has moved on, sulking in its tent as the real cultural action happens somewhere else.

new concert space debuts in KBPS benefit April 30, 2008

Posted by Charles Noble in : chamber music, fundraising, add a comment

The Museum of Contemporary Craft, at 724 NW Davis (the DeSoto building, on the North Park blocks), will make its debut as one of Portland’s newest concert venues in a benefit for KBPS’ “Permanent Home on Your Dial” campaign to secure its broadcast license in perpetuity.

The concert will feature Portland chamber music fixtures violist Joël Belgique, violinist Inés Voglar, pianist Cary Lewis, and cellist Dorothy Lewis.

They’ll present a very interesting concert of chamber music rarities, including a world premiere by composer and classical radio announcer Robert McBride of a new work for violin and piano. An arrangement of Borodin’s Polovetsian Dances for piano quartet will also be featured, as well as Enoch Arden, a melodrama by Richard Strauss, with KBPS announcer Edmund Stone narrating.

Tickets are $20 and are available in advance at Classical Millennium at 3144 E. Burnside, or at the door the evening of the performance.

To learn more about the Craft museum, take a look at this video:

oso carmina burana - going fast! April 29, 2008

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

If you’re interested in attending the last OSO classical series concerts of the season - Messiaen’s  Ascension and Orff’s Carmina Burana - on May 17-19, you might wish to get your tickets sooner than later (as in NOW).

Sales are going briskly, and there will be no musician comp tickets for these concerts (a relatively rare event lately).

Get your tickets either here online or by calling the OSO box office at (503) 228-1353 or (800) 228-7343.

columbus symphony: cadillac or chevrolet? April 29, 2008

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

A very well-written and impassioned posting by CSO principal clarinetist David H. Thomas is well-worth a read.  He makes the case for arts organizations building a strong sense of self and where that ’self’ fits in the greater community - and that sometimes it just means believing the the worth of the organization to make the organization’s presence in the community something that the community will demand, not just enjoy.

A relatively new grassroots website has done a great deal for the Columbus Symphony. Symphony Strong has helped the musicians feel the support of all of Columbus. We need all the help we can get since, tragically, little or no support has come from our local newspaper, the Dispatch. (One has to wonder what they are thinking.)

However, Symphony Strong and others like it, formed to garner support, have struggled to break through deeper issues preventing a real blossoming of solutions. The bigger picture looks like this. The face of Columbus is not one or a few people, but a culture of all of us, our self-perception and how others outside the city see us.

Let’s say that I, David Thomas, see myself as a dashing, statuesque model, while others (unwilling to pop my bubble) see me as a craggy, half century old man. Who is right? I need to look closely at myself and find a positive overlap between those two views. I may not be a young model, but I can certainly enhance my image by spending some money on a good suit and a fine haircut and a fresh attitude. Then I can really like myself without self-deception.

He gets to the crux of the issue when he talks about how the orchestra relates to and benefits the community.

If you make a persuasive case for the benefits of having a world-class orchestra in your community, the support will no doubt come.

Read the entire post here.

orchestral theory of relativity April 27, 2008

Posted by Charles Noble in : music, the orchestra world, viola, 1 comment so far

Whenever we do a major, difficult work, even if it’s core repertoire, I’m surprised by my own individual performance and how it changes night to night.  I don’t know why I’m surprised - it seems to follow the same pattern every time - it’s like catching a cold every year: the buildup is always the same, and you never realize you’re coming down with the bug until it’s upon you.

Saturday

Saturday night is nervous night.  I’m never sure if the rough patches that I’ve been struggling with will come off, and if I’ll be a good, supportive stand partner to our excellent principal, Joël Belgique.  Every sense is on edge, and there is often a bit of pulling of punches, so to speak, and second-guessing.  Usually I do ok on the first night - it doesn’t feel great, but usually the job gets done and I can go home without a bag over my head.  Generally speaking, the whole orchestra is in the same boat for the opening night.

Sunday

Sundays I always think that it’s going to be much easier, and I can just play, and everything will be gravy.  Yeah, right!  I’ve gone over the rough spots again, warmed up thoroughly (always a bigger project on Sundays since we haven’t had a morning rehearsal that day) and am feeling good.  Then the concert comes, I’m loose and ready to go, the bow goes to the string, and I cannot play my instrument.  Literally - anything above a mezzo-forte turns into horrible crunching, I’m mis-reading whole lines of triple-stops, and life just sucks really, really bad.  I should learn to bring my paper sack with me on Sunday nights - if I don’t feel like putting it over my head, I can at least fill it with what’s left of my dignity and self-respect and skulk on home.  It’s too bad, since it’s often the night that the orchestra sounds its best.

Monday

Monday nights are often the best for me, but often not so for the entire orchestra.  People are getting tired, most often we’ve started rehearsing some other program that same morning, and some of the focus is gone.  A bit of squirreliness and mannered playing can begin to creep its way in, too.  It’s strange, because I find that for me, it’s often my best night since it combines the focus of Saturday night with the looseness of Sunday night.

It’s frustrating on so many levels, because I cannot seemingly practice enough hours to make the focus problem go away (though I could get more sleep and exercise - hm…) and that when I sound my best the orchestra sounds at its worst, and vice versa.  At least I’m not a solo wind player, I would last about 10 minutes in that hell hole of Prozac and stomach acid!

tired and sore April 27, 2008

Posted by Charles Noble in : appreciation/criticism, music, the orchestra world, add a comment

That’s how I feel this morning.  If you’ve played Mahler’s Ninth twice the previous day, plus ridden the 9 miles to work and 9 miles back home before and after the rehearsal - it leads to a healthy sense of fatigue!

The performance last night was memorable - this orchestra has truly come of age.  We’re finally realizing our untapped potential, and playing concerts of some of the most demanding music at a seriously high level.  It feels good.

Now, let’s do it two more times, o.k.?

If you haven’t yet had a chance to read my thumbnail sketches of the four movements that comprise the Ninth Symphony of Gustav Mahler, here’s a helpful set of links so you can do so.  I also hope that you make the trip down to Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall tonight or tomorrow night - it’s a concert that you’ll be glad you attended.

columbus symphony musicians reject ‘final offer’ April 25, 2008

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

It appears that we may be on the verge of whatever will happen in Columbus, if this results in an impasse.

Press release from the CSO musicians’ web site: (more…)

instrument petting zoo April 25, 2008

Posted by Charles Noble in : education, music, the orchestra world, video, youth orchestras, add a comment

As part of our partnership with different communities each year, our education department includes what is called the instrument petting zoo.  No, it’s not a bunch of instruments in a fenced in area, with children walking around them petting them with timid hands.  

What it is in actuality is a chance for kids to get their hands on an instrument and be taught or guided in how to make some sort of elementary sound on it.  The theory is, if they get a small taste of creating new sounds on an instrument they’ve never seen or heard, they’ll want more, and might even want to take up an instrument in school or at home.

Here’s a YouTube movie I found of a youngster named Soren getting his first taste of the violin, with OSO violist Stephen Price giving him a hand with fingering the notes:

Here’s another video of OSO music director Carlos Kalmar giving the Portland Metropolitan Youth Symphony a workout in Beethoven’s Egmont Overture.

mahler 9 - IV. Adagio. April 24, 2008

Posted by Charles Noble in : appreciation/criticism, audio, music, the orchestra world, 1 comment so far

We’re at the final movement of this great symphony, and what a movement it is! If you mention Mahler 9 to almost anyone, they’ll invariably start to talk about the first time they ever heard the slow movement, and how it affected them at a critical time in their life.

In the orchestral parts, the string parts span only two pages, yet the movement can last upward of 25 minutes. It’s a very slow piece of music, but not an uneventful one. (more…)

mahler 9 - II. Im Tempo eines gemächlichen Ländlers. April 23, 2008

Posted by Charles Noble in : the orchestra world, 1 comment so far

With the opening of the second movement of Mahler’s Ninth Symphony, we’re immediately in the realm of what Carlos Kalmar calls “the leather pants!” or lederhosen. Why? Because as the tempo indication at the beginning of the movement says, “in a comfortable ländler tempo” – a ländler being a rustic country dance common to Austria and Germany, whose male protagonists might often be seen in the folk garb of leather shorts, or lederhosen.

lederhosen (more…)