daily observations

commenting May 16, 2008

Posted by Charles Noble in : News, miscellaneous, add a comment

I’ve been made aware by a few readers in the last week or so that some security features were making it impossible to contribute comments to this blog. This is obviously not a good situation! I’ve gone in and changed the settings to make it as simple as possible give public feedback to posts.

My bad! I found the little hidden checkbox to eliminate registration as a requirement for commenting, and have also put up a new contact form here. Feedback appreciated!

Wordpress, which is the blogging platform that I’m using, does not allow unsubscribed readers to comment. For that reason, if you wish to comment, you need to go to the register link up at the top right of the window and give a name of your choosing and a valid email address. You’ll receive via email (at the address you supplied) a link which will allow you to login along with an automatically generated password. Just click the link, enter your name and password, and you’re good to go.

After you login, you’ll be sent to your profile page - if you want to change your password, or give a new nickname or your real name or change your contact information, you can do that at this page. I would suggest changing your password at your first visit, since it is computer-generated and difficult to remember.

If you have any difficulties, just go to the “contact me” tab and shoot off an email and I’ll do my best to assist you!

eastern exposure May 9, 2008

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

I’m here in La Grande, Oregon with the Oregon Symphony, in case you’re wondering. And it’s been a busy first day. Yesterday my wife (a freelance cellist who plays often with the orchestra) and I arrived here at around 9:00 p.m., enjoying the great change of scenery and ecosystems that we continually marvel at when we venture across the Cascade Range along the way.

I got some great sunset shots from the top of the huge hill that I-84 climbs before you descend through the Blue Mountains into La Grande, but no way to post them at this time - I’ll be sure to share photos from the trip with you when I’m back home on Sunday.

This morning at 9:30 and 11:00 we played youth concerts for elementary, middle, and high school students from La Grande and several surrounding communities, including Baker City, Cove, and Union. (more…)

it’s the pit(s) December 28, 2007

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

New York State Theater - photo credit: David Shankbone
photo credit: David Shankbone

Double-bassist Jason Heath gives an exposé on life in the “pit” (the lowered area in front and beneath the stage which holds the orchestra during shows, ballets, and operas. It’s some pretty extreme stuff, including dancing, yelling, boozing, watching television - you get the picture (and if you don’t read the rest of the post here).

lachrymae October 21, 2007

Posted by Charles Noble in : the orchestra world, 2comments

There are instances where a topic sweeps across the blogosphere, sometimes it’s referred to as a “meme”. I hadn’t heard of this before, so I checked dictionary.com and found that a meme is described thusly:

a cultural item that is transmitted by repetition in a manner analogous to the biological transmission of gene

In this instance, I found a post from a new blog to me: The Omniscient Mussel, who wrote a post based upon a post at Iron Tongue of Midnight about what pieces (or parts of pieces) of music make one cry. Since I’ve been all over the emotional map this month, and much of that territory was in the sad or worse region, this is a timely topic.

So, without further ado, a small selection of the pieces that, if they don’t make me cry they at least move me deeply.

Adams - On the Transmigration of Souls. I really didn’t expect that this piece would get to me, especially as a performer. There’s a lot to do in this piece, and it’s easy to get lost, so there isn’t a ton of time to devote to getting emotionally involved. However, the street sounds and voices of relatives that bookend the work immediately got right to the core of me from the first moment of the first rehearsal. There’s such a sense of time and place, of empathy for those people who were there at Ground Zero, or were just going about their lives, not realizing that they or their loved ones were being irrevocably tied to history.
Mahler - Ninth Symphony, mvt. IV - Adagio. I played this piece in conservatory orchestra, as principal viola, and it was a life changing experience. This last movement of a composition that is essentially a farewell to the world, and a premonition of death, is one of the great valedictory statements in music. Such sweep and intimate grandeur (if that can be made to make sense) - and the entry of the woodwinds after nearly 15 minutes of incredibly moving string passages just makes my heart break every time I hear it.
Puccini - Nessun dorma, from Turandot. This always made me weepy, especially the Pavarotti version. It’s pure emotion for the sake of emotion, and that is something that I’m a bit ashamed to love, but I do.
Bach - Goldberg Variations. It’s such a journey, through the whole range of keyboard possibilities and the final return of the opening Aria is always a moment that brings such relief and feelings of an epic journey brought to a satisfying conclusion.
Mozart - Piano Concerto No. 21, Kv. 467 “Elvira Madigan” - I hate these nicknames derived from films, but you use this one and everyone knows the concerto you’re talking about, so there you go. The Andante from this movement is just so absolutely sublime, it did actually bring me to tears the first time I played it. It was during my first season with the OSO, and Yoël Levi was conducting. I don’t even remember who was playing the piano, but they were terrific whoever they were. We got to the Andante and to the section where the pizzicato accompaniment by the strings doubles in tempo - it’s such a great spot, just absolute perfection - you cannot imagine anyone else writing something this perfect. Man, Wolfie knew how to write a good chart.
Brahms - Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major, mvt. 3 - Andante. The stumbling, ruminative, despairing piano solo passage that precedes the return of the opening cello solo in the slow movement of this concerto never fails to move me. I remember the first time I ever heard this piece, it was a recording of Leon Fleisher with the Cleveland Orchestra under Georg Szell, and I knew that Brahms would have pride of place in my musical heart forever.
Beethoven - String Quartet in B-flat major, Op. 130 - mvt. 5 - Cavatina. Anyone who loves listening to or performing string quartets must claim this piece, and this movement of this piece as being near the top of their personal best list. For me, the unbelievable passage where the world is shut out and we find ourselves at the very core of Beethoven’s experience is the pinnacle of the art of the quartet. If you haven’t heard the Guarneri Quartet’s performance of this movement in their second cycle of the quartets, then you really owe it to yourself to get hold of the recording and prepare to shed a few tears.
Bach - Partita No. 2 in d minor for Solo Violin, BWV 1004 - Ciaconna. Truly one of the towering works for any solo instrument, or for any instrumental combination for that matter. Mahler liked to describe the symphony as a container which could hold an entire world in its confines. Bach beat him to it by a couple hundred years, and with a single instrument. The maggiore section is one of my favorite places in this piece, a place near the emotional nadir of the work, and then there is the miraculous return to the opening minor sequence, with the violin clawing its way back up from the edge of the abyss only to triumph. Amazing.

There are many more, but this is a good top of the list for me. Have your own nominations? Send a comment along.

orchestra meetings July 14, 2007

Posted by Charles Noble in : the orchestra world, 2comments

Orchestra meetings should most likely not be held outdoors, in the summer, and in Chicago all at the same time. This is the conclusion I came to after reading the CSO Bass Blog entry today. (more…)

classical music blogger does good June 8, 2007

Posted by Charles Noble in : Uncategorized, add a comment

The pianist Jeremy Denk (of Think Denk fame) has gotten a very nice mention of his performance of Charles Ives‘ “Concord” Sonata. Now Jeremy can use “brilliant” - the New York Times, in his promo materials! You can read the entire article (ostensibly a review of a concert from the Emerson Quartet’s Beethoven “Quartets in Context” series going on a Carnegie Hall this month) here. Here’s the bit on Mr. Denk: (more…)

gig horror stories May 25, 2007

Posted by Charles Noble in : Uncategorized, 1 comment so far

Doublebassist Jason Heath has a great blog, and part of what makes it great are his stories from the front lines of freelancing - here is a great story about the demise of his car: (more…)