field trip June 24, 2008
Posted by Charles Noble in : appreciation/criticism, cello, music, seattle, soloists & recitals, the orchestra world, 2commentsLast Friday, a group of us from the OSO went up to Seattle to hear a matinee performance of the Seattle Symphony. It was a group of management, staff, and musicians who made the trek. It was quite the interesting experience. Primarily, I’d like to provide my basic impressions of the experience as someone who’s only been to Benaroya Hall once before (to hear the Philadelphia Orchestra on tour last year). (more…)
another lost colleague June 13, 2008
Posted by Charles Noble in : News, cello, add a commentDavid Stabler wrote yesterday about the passing Thursday of former OSO cellist Naomi Blumberg, after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. She will be missed, as a warm and hospitable person, a caring and gifted teacher, and a fine cellist of long standing. My condolences and best wishes go out to Naomi’s family and friends.
tidbits for monday morning June 2, 2008
Posted by Charles Noble in : appreciation/criticism, bloggers, cello, chamber music, music, soloists & recitals, the orchestra world, viola, violin, 2comments• I just caught Robert Levine’s latest blog entry about the Milwaukee Symphony’s recent concerts with Hilary Hahn. Robert is one of the smartest guys out there, I’m coming to appreciate, and reading this post had me scratching my head and wondering “why couldn’t I have said that?”. I like the way he clearly expresses what’s on his mind, and gets to the crux of the matter with minimal equivocation. Hahn was in Milwaukee playing the Tchaikovsky concerto, and Levine really hits the nail on the head about this piece (which is one of my favorite guilty pleasures, by the way):
But I found myself not really convinced by her version of the piece, which surprised me, as I hadn’t felt that way about the previous times she’d played with us. I spent all week trying to figure out why. The best I could come up with was that she was trying to find more in the piece than was actually there. She was making wonderful and interesting phrases all over the place. But it’s not that kind of piece. In a funny way, her great strengths as a musician – her intelligence and imagination – were not really relevant to the piece, and even got in the way. One doesn’t think of semplice and Tchaikowsky as ever being coupled – but I think that’s what it needs. Perhaps that’s why the last movement consistently worked the best, because all it needs – all there’s time for, really – is technique and a kind of inexorable rhythmic stability, which of course she has in spades.
• In other news, my joint recital with Heather Blackburn went pretty well - I’ll have more thoughts on it when I have a little more distance from it. For now, my alarm clock is off until further notice, however!
• Last Friday evening I went to hear a chamber concert organized by cellist Justin Kagan, and it featured some top local players in works of Shostakovich (his Piano Quintet), Gerald Cohen (a trio for viola, cello and piano), and Schoenberg (his sextet Verklärte Nacht). Every work was played with conviction and assurance, with kudos going out to everyone involved, as to single out one or several would be unfair to them all.
I hope that concerts such as this become more of a regular event in Portland. We have plenty of high-powered out-of-towners that come in and play chamber music on the various series in town, but little opportunity to hear our high-powered locals play the same.
aren’t critics supposed to be critical? May 20, 2008
Posted by Charles Noble in : appreciation/criticism, cello, music, the orchestra world, 4commentsI just discovered a new music blog, courtesy of Jason Heath’s Arts Advocate blog, called Mahler Owes Me Ten Bucks. It’s written by Chantal Incandela, a double bass player who has changed her career from being primarily a performer to writing as a classical music critic for NUVO, an alternative print publication in Indianapolis. The latest post caught my eye, as it deals with her thoughts about the direction the ISO is going with their relatively new music director Mario Vengazo. (more…)
interesting cello site March 12, 2008
Posted by Charles Noble in : cello, music, soloists & recitals, add a comment
Tim Scott, one of my cellist colleagues from the Oregon Symphony, emailed me a link to the labyrinthine web site of Italian period specialist cellist Claudio Ronco. He looks a bit like Lucian Pavarotti after a few months on Jenny Craig, and he’s clearly got a lot going on with baroque cello. Lots of sound files, instrument pictures and other stuff that defies categorization.
oso cellist wins big gig January 31, 2008
Posted by Charles Noble in : News, cello, the orchestra world, add a comment
Photo credit: Charles Noble
Oregon Symphony cellist Adam Esbensen, a native of Corvallis, and a member of the Oregon Symphony since 2004 (he’s also the cellist with local new music ensemble fEARnoMUSIC), has won what is considered the Holy Grail of orchestral jobs, a position in a Big Five orchestra, in this case the Boston Symphony! (more…)
