sunriver music festival roundup August 24, 2008
Posted by Charles Noble in : music, soloists & recitals, summer festivals, the orchestra world, add a comment
We just got back today from the lovely high desert resort community of Sunriver, located in Central Oregon about 15 miles south of Bend. This was the Sunriver festival’s 31st year of existence, which is a great thing considering the quick and final (Chapter 7) demise of the Cascade Festival of Music this summer.
This year’s festival was a relaxed and enjoyable affair, with good audiences and wonderful playing by the orchestra and the guest artists.
The season kicked off at the Tower Theater in downtown Bend with a pops concert devised and conducted by principal bassist Frank Diliberto. Sparkling arrangements by the former OSO pops maestro and conductor laureate Norman Leyden made up most of the program, including some great numbers featuring Portland’s own jazz diva Shirley Nanette. The program was concluded in fine fashion by Pink Martini front-man Thomas Lauderdale in Gershwin’s ever fresh and exhilarating Rhapsody in Blue. A great time was had by all, and the musicians had an even better time at the Deschutes Brew Pub afterwards!
The first concert showcased several of our fine string principals as well as our sparkling wind section. Acting concertmaster Paula Bird played the Mozart Adagio in E, K. 261 with a lovely, full tone and supple phrasing, while later both she and Principal cellist Kari Caldwell (principal cellist of the Tulsa Philharmonic) played the demanding solos from Haydn’s Symphony No. 31 ‘Horn signal’ with virtuosity. The strings got an extremely unusual reprieve in the second half of the concert with the performance of the sublime Gran Partita wind serenade of Mozart.
The second concert of the first weekend was the most demanding of the festival. Prokofiev’s ‘Classical’ Symphony No. 1 put the entire orchestra through its paces, but was more enjoyable in a chamber orchestra setting than with full symphony orchestra string sections. Quick tempos predominated, with some especially fleet playing by Principal flutist Adam Kuenzel (Principal flute of the Minnesota Orchestra) and second flutist Christine Gangelhoff.
Then came the commanding piano soloist Kirill Gerstein, who was scheduled to play both of the Mendelssohn Piano Concertos on a single concert. Instead, a last-minute program change was made, and the Mendelssohn #1 was performed along with the substituted piece: Beethoven’s great ‘Emperor’ concerto. Gerstein was exceptionally impressive in the seldom-heard Mendelssohn - cascades of notes were tossed off with crystalline sound and clarity and tremendous dynamic range, while the Beethoven was given a refreshingly lean and propulsive performance - it did not sound like a labored war horse in this performance! Kirill’s performances were the highlight of the festival for me.
In between the two concerti, the 4th Symphony ‘Tragic’ of Schubert was performed. It came off quite well, but the last movement has some brutal passage-work for the strings and took some of the edge off of my enjoyment! 
The second weekend’s first concert was actually an added performance. On Thursday evening, in a gesture of goodwill to the patrons of the Cascade Festival of Music, subscription ticket holders were offered a concert at which their tickets would be honored for admission. The response was very gratifying, with many patrons very thankful to the Sunriver Festival for their generosity and the fine performance.
The musicians of the orchestra were instrumental in consenting to convert an evening rehearsal to a concert to make this event possible. It was the least that we at the Festival could do for these ardent classical music supporters who were out several hundred dollars for their CFM tickets.
The first official concert of the second weekend was an operatic extravaganza featuring two alumni of the Festival’s Young Artist Scholarship Program, soprano Courtney Huffman and mezzo-soprano Sarah Mattox. Favorite selections from the operatic repertoire featured the singers both in duo and solo arias. The concert was sold-out and the audience response was ecstatic.
The final concert of the festival began with a taut and focused account of the Stravinsky Octet for winds and brass. The first half was concluded with a bouncing and lilting performance of the Bach Orchestral Suite No. 1. After intermission, the husband and wife combination of violinist Stefan Milenkovich and cellist Ani Aznavoorian gave a brilliant performance of the Brahms Double Concerto for violin and cello.
They both played wonderfully, but I’d put my money on Aznavoorian as the one to watch for the brightest future. As an encore they played a superbly flexible rendition of the Handel/Halvorsen Passacaglia.
Amidst all of this I managed six rides around the local roads, including a climb up to Mt. Bachelor, and trips out to the Cascade Lakes Highway. The first weekend also featured triple-digit temperatures, which put a damper on outdoor activities for a web-foot such as myself.
Oregon Symphony musicians who took part in this years festival were hornist Mary Grant, trumpeter Jeffrey Work, and double bassists Frank Diliberto and Jeffrey Johnson.
All classical concerts were ably and affably led by the SRMF’s artistic director and conductor (and former OSO music director) Lawrence Leighton Smith.
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…)
astoria music festival returns June 9, 2008
Posted by Charles Noble in : chamber music, music, soloists & recitals, summer festivals, the orchestra world, add a comment
Arriving at the last minute, the Astoria Music Festival returns this summer in full force with a slate of varied offerings June 19-29 in Astoria.
Here’s a look at the concerts on offer this year: (more…)
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.
shostakovich’s viola sonata, redux May 31, 2008
Posted by Charles Noble in : appreciation/criticism, music, soloists & recitals, add a commentZach Carstensen (who writes for the excellent NW music blog collective The Gathering Note) posted the following comment to my first post on Shostakovich’s Viola Sonata:
I suppose it is well known that Shostakovich’s failing health made the sonata one of the composers sparsest works of music. Yet, I have always thought the piece reminds me of some of Webern’s chamber compositions…I posed the following question to a violist up here in Seattle:
“The sonata seems almost like its crosswise with itself. On the one hand Shostakovich describes it as “clear” and “brilliant,” yet on the other it does have a mournful air around it. The piece’s resignation is almost to be expected since it was his last work. Similarly, the sonata is incredibly sparse, with what seem like allusions to Berg and Webern, but also incredibly complicated and dense in parts. Is it possible to reconcile all of these differences?”
carmina cut-ups May 16, 2008
Posted by Charles Noble in : music, opera, soloists & recitals, the orchestra world, add a comment
We had one of those priceless moments tonight during our evening rehearsal (our first with the Portland Symphonic choir for this series) - Soprano Cyndia Sieden was singing that most gorgeous and time-stopping aria (the one that goes up to a super high D) from Carmina Burana. She had just done the slow scale up to the high D, and was at the pause before the phrase ended, and the whole hall was silent: you could have heard a pin drop - she was sounding phenomenal, and everyone didn’t want the spell to be broken, and she turned to Carlos with a slightly helpless look on her face: she’d forgotten the last six notes of the aria! Of course Carlos cracked up, followed by the orchestra, Cyndia, and the entire chorus. It was a nice moment in an otherwise hard-working rehearsal session.
I was a bit out of it for the first part of the rehearsal as I’d decided that riding my bike to work on an 85 degree evening would be fun (plus my wife had the car). It was hot and I didn’t drink enough water along the way, so I was in a bit of a daze for a while. I also learned that riding with my viola on my back is a deal-breaker: the top of the case hits the back of my helmet so I have to keep my head way down to ride. Bummer!
classical conflict March 28, 2008
Posted by Charles Noble in : News, appreciation/criticism, music, soloists & recitals, the orchestra world, add a commentI just perused a recent article about the Florida Orchestra and some highly-publicized comments from subscribers about the contemporary programming that is being done by music director Stefan Sanderling.
I understand that some patrons don’t care for hearing anything written after 1870 or so. Fine. But why do they complain so about hearing something new and/or dissonant?
There are plenty of concertgoers who love more modern music, and they (for the most part) put up with the Brahms symphonies without writing angry letters to the orchestra’s management or the local music critic.
So, what makes the conservative patron more important than she who likes more progressive fare? (more…)
lang lang watch March 18, 2008
Posted by Charles Noble in : music, soloists & recitals, add a comment
Since the piano sensation Lang Lang is coming to play a Gala performance with the Oregon Symphony in October 2008 (Friday, October 3, to be exact), I thought that keeping you Portland classical music and piano fans apprised of his activities might be in order.
So, here’s the first Lang Lang watch - enjoy.
- Do you remember that funny listing of Lang Lang vs. the Chinese Philharmonic? Apparently Lang Lang won the bout, as the tour has been canceled.
- Peter Dobrin of the Philadelphia Inquirer discusses Lang Lang’s “persuasive power”.
- Lang Lang “goes ballistic” at a Minnesota Schubert recital.
- “Virtuosity and sneakers” in Philly.
- “Has Lang Lang grown up?” in Minnesota.
- Lang Lang vs. Yundi Li in Washington, D.C.
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.
no snappy title today March 11, 2008
Posted by Charles Noble in : conducting, music, soloists & recitals, the orchestra world, add a commentI’m just too wiped out to think of a snappy title this morning. We finished our classical series last night to very good audience response - several hundred of you took advantage of the ticket stub offer to repeat the concert experience (and some of whom were lucky friends who got to go to a free concert with their friends’ ticket stubs). (more…)
