daily observations

why so many bad conductors?

Charles Noble — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 19:43:03 +0000

In one of his recent posts, Robert Levine asks why certain conductors or so over-payed in comparison to the average musician in their ensembles, and suggests that the answer might be found in the concept of scarcity: It is a core weakness of the orchestra industry world-wide that there are lots of good orchestra musicians and [...]

a couple good music articles on the web

Charles Noble — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 13:00:13 +0000

First, violinist Holly Mulcahy over at The Partial Observer writes an amusing (but very serious) article about behaviors which musicians are apt to endulge in (but shouldn’t), entitled How to Alienate Your Audience in 10 Easy Steps: Musicians. Here’s a teaser: An engaged, enthusiastic, and diverse audience is one of the strongest measurements for justifying an orchestra’ [...]

viola reindeer and violin baby boom

Charles Noble — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 18:58:29 +0000

This weekend brought the first of an onslaught of holiday-themed programming for the month of December. We’ve been enjoying the vocal stylings of the Von Trapp Family Singers (the actual great-grandchildren of the stars of the musical and movie) and the cool arrangements of our principal pops conductor Jeff Tyzik (the Little Bolero Drummer Boy [...]

jennifer koh goes to ‘11′

Charles Noble — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 13:00:12 +0000

Jennifer Koh - Photo © Janette Beckman It’s been amazing, watching violinist Jennifer Koh play the Brahms Violin Concerto with us this weekend. During the rehearsals, she was controlled, a bit reticent, and was clearly getting used to conductor Jean-Marie Zeitouni’s approach to the score and the orchestra. Then came the concerts. A force of nature in an [...]

notes on progress

Charles Noble — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 08:38:44 +0000

I’ve been thinking a lot about the artistic progression of my orchestra over the last couple weeks. You can point all you want to how the orchestra sounds under its music director, but to me the real test of the artistic growth of an orchestra is how they sound under a guest conductor. I’ve noticed that, [...]

loud shirt quartet revealed

Charles Noble — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 22:52:10 +0000

fatigue factor

Charles Noble — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 07:04:02 +0000

It’s that time of the season when the first wave of fatigue starts to set in. We’ve had two back-to-back classical series, then the Inside the Score concert, and now we’re on our second back-to-back classical run. It feels like everyone is pretty much running on fumes this week, and with the Stravinsky Symphony in [...]

loud shirts, great music

Charles Noble — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:00:08 +0000

Yesterday (Wednesday) I and three of my OSO colleagues gave a free lunchtime brownbag concert at the Old Church in downtown Portland. As we were rehearsing on Tuesday, the conversation drifted around to the subject of dress - what would we wear for this concert? The concert came at the instigation of the violinist and raconteur [...]

world’s top orchestras?

Charles Noble — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 08:55:24 +0000

I don’t know how one could actually come up with a list like this and keep a straight face, but I guess it’s akin to the coaches/journalists polls that determine college football/basketball rankings. At least orchestras don’t have to navigate the inanities of the BCS system… UPDATE: Robert Levine skewers this idiotic ranking with his usual [...]

the present and future of pre-concert talks

Charles Noble — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 06:32:45 +0000

This weekend I was asked to participate in one of the Concert Conversations before each evening’s concert. My co-host for the half-hour talks was John Pitman of KBPS 89.9 FM. He’s such a consummate professional in the broadcast realm - I always marvel at how broadcasters can so deftly avoid verbal pauses (ah, um, etc) [...]

a funny thing happened on the way to the gig

Charles Noble — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 08:03:48 +0000

This is something that one doesn’t often run into in the course of being an active freelance musician - raging wildfires on the way to a concert! The music is Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 10 - which was what they were going to rehearse/perform at their gig that day, and it turns out to be very apt [...]

what makes conductors good?

Charles Noble — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 14:00:10 +0000

Every time we have a guest conductor, I’m always amazed at how differently each of them handles their role on the podium in rehearsals, and how different the results can be. This week we’ve been working with the Austrian conductor Christoph Campestrini. He’s conducted here once before (though I cannot remember the repertoire) and he’s [...]

conductor fashion

Charles Noble — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 23:21:03 +0000

Hopefully this guy is NOT appearing on a podium near you! This week we’re working with a very pleasant guest conductor, the Austrian Christoph Campestrini, who wears a pretty unique apparel item for a conductor: the polo shirt. They might be striped, solid colors, or in patterns. I have not run into another conductor who wears [...]

guarneri violinist has cancer

Charles Noble — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 06:40:27 +0000

[L-R] John Dalley, Michael Tree, Arnold Steinhardt, David Wiley Photo credit: Dorothea von Haeften David Stabler reported today that John Dalley, the second violinist of the Guarneri Quartet (which is in its last season as an ensemble this year), has been stricken with cancer. John really has been the drive within the quartet - the id to [...]

upcoming classical concert thoughts

Charles Noble — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 01:30:32 +0000

This weekend comes Classical 4, which features an interesting program: Too Hot Toccata by Aaron Jay Kernis, Concerto in F by George Gershwin, and Rachmaninoff’s Third Symphony. It’s interesting because each work on the program is a standard form with an individual “take” on the form in the eyes of its composer. The Too Hot Toccata is [...]

later concert times?

Charles Noble — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 20:59:49 +0000

Sam Bergman over at Inside the Classics Arts writes today about the efforts to attract the elusive (and some say mythical) 18-40 year old audience to orchestral concerts. He offers the idea of a later concert that might synch up with the predilictions of that age group: But there are ways to massage these things, and [...]

doctor atomic highlight: batter my heart

Charles Noble — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 01:32:01 +0000

Thanks to Fugue State, I have found video from the Netherlands Opera production (Peter Sellars’ version) of the final aria from the first act of Doctor Atomic, “Batter My Heart” - it will give you an idea of what I think was the highlight of the opera. You’ll have a second chance to see the MET’s [...]

MET in HD: Doctor Atomic

Charles Noble — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 23:44:55 +0000

On a dismal, rainy Saturday, Heather and I dragged ourselves out of our warm, cozy bed to head over to the Cedar Hills cinemas to see the live high-definition broadcast of the Metropolitan Opera’s production of John Adams’ latest opera, Doctor Atomic. The theater was almost full when we arrived right at the scheduled start time, [...]

my old friend Brahms

Charles Noble — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 03:20:24 +0000

Tomorrow we have a rehearsal for the next Inside the Score concert, which will feature Brahms’ First Symphony. One of the few advantages of playing in an orchestra that has a limited number of classical weeks is that I’m not yet sick of any of the Brahms symphonies, especially the First, as it’s probably the [...]

hooray!!

Charles Noble — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 08:15:14 +0000