It seemed that the orchestra players had a tougher time on Sunday evening. Iwasaki played so hard in the first two movements that horsehair came off his bow and then he broke a string in the second movement. Assistant concertmaster, Peter Frajola, traded violins with Iwasaki and swiftly repaired Iwasaki’s violin, and Iwasaki was back to playing on his own instrument within a few minutes. (Give Frajola a medal for that – bravo!) Also, there were some problems with the horns and with intonation between the basses and cellos.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I don’t really take issue with either review (which also had positive things to say as well).\u00c2\u00a0 It’s interesting, because Saturday evening’s performance was one which had the orchestra talking while we prepared backstage for Sunday’s show.\u00c2\u00a0 We felt the strange sense of unease which pervaded the first movement of the Ninth, and the ensemble issues which seemed to continue throughout the rest of the symphony.<\/p>\n
There seemed to be a sense that we indeed could hear the problems, but weren’t sure which section was “right” which was “wrong”.\u00c2\u00a0 In situations like this, it’s relatively common for a section string player to go into “bunker” mode.\u00c2\u00a0 You play first with your stand partner, then you try to play with those around you, and then you keep an eye on your front stand, then you try to see the concertmaster, and then the conductor.\u00c2\u00a0 A sort of tunnel vision sets in, especially if the music you’re playing is dense and note-y.<\/p>\n
When you add in the added distance of having four vocal soloists on either side of the podium, the fact that they stand between you and the conductor and concertmaster, and it gets pretty dicey.\u00c2\u00a0 But the fact is that this wasn’t an issue for the first three movements of the symphony.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s kind of mysterious, why these problems crop up from time to time.\u00c2\u00a0 I’ve certainly felt less rehearsed than this before, but with better concert performances resulting.\u00c2\u00a0 Sometimes there’s just this invisible shudder that goes through the orchestra, like a school of fish suddenly startled, and everyone just tries to stay together.\u00c2\u00a0 I don’t know why it happens, and I’m not able to predict when it’s about to happen, either.\u00c2\u00a0 Go figure.<\/p>\n
Regardless, the performances were rapturously received by the capacity audiences, and the Ninth has been a joy to play.\u00c2\u00a0 We’ll see how round three goes tonight…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We’ve got two out of our three performances of Beethoven’s Ninth symphony out into the ether, and the reviews of the first performances have been mixed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":303,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[148,115,2],"tags":[501,277],"class_list":["post-1191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-appreciations","category-music","category-the-orchestra-world","tag-beethoven","tag-performance"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-jd","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4385,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2010\/04\/09\/reviews-of-kalmar-bso-performances-come-in\/","url_meta":{"origin":1191,"position":0},"title":"reviews of kalmar bso performances come in","author":"Charles Noble","date":"April 9, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"The reviews are mixed, but generally positive thus far.\u00a0 Jeremy Eichler in the Boston Globe has a review which gives precious little to indicate how the performance went at all, other than to single out a few sections to praise the quality of their playing, and to describe the basic\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "appreciation"","block_context":{"text":"appreciation","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/appreciations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/04\/mira-wang-and-jan-vogler-perform-the-premiere-of-john-harbisons-double-concerto-with-conductor-carlos-kalmar-and-the-bso-michael-j-lutch-400x266.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":137,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2006\/12\/09\/best-things-ive-heard-2006-edition\/","url_meta":{"origin":1191,"position":1},"title":"best things I’ve heard: 2006 edition","author":"Charles Noble","date":"December 9, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"I'll beat the bandwagon and start off my list of the best things I've heard in 2006: Krisztina Szab\u00c3\u00b3 - mezzo-soprano, singing opera arias from Handel's Ariodante and Alcina. It really is the golden age of the mezzo these day, Ms. Szab\u00c3\u00b3 is a fine example. Her rendition of Scherza\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"News\"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/tag\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":935,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/04\/19\/kalmar-prokofiev-earthshaking\/","url_meta":{"origin":1191,"position":2},"title":"kalmar, prokofiev earthshaking","author":"Charles Noble","date":"April 19, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"This past Friday, the St. Louis area was awakened by the shaking of a 5.2 magnitude earthquake.\u00c2\u00a0 That evening the St. Louis Symphony was led by OSO music director Carlos Kalmar in a performance that included the Fifth Symphony of Sergei Prokofiev.\u00c2\u00a0 According to this review and other accounts, this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "appreciation"","block_context":{"text":"appreciation","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/appreciations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":599,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2007\/12\/18\/oso-posts-improved-numbers\/","url_meta":{"origin":1191,"position":3},"title":"OSO posts improved numbers","author":"Charles Noble","date":"December 18, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"I just received a press release from the Oregon Symphony outlining improved ticket sales (up only slightly from last year, but with six fewer concerts (36 vs. 39) presented it represents greater attendance per concert). Read the complete release below. (PORTLAND, Ore.) \u00e2\u20ac\u201c The Oregon Symphony closed out the first\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "music"","block_context":{"text":"music","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21400,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2021\/05\/19\/oregon-symphony-strauss-crawford-seeger-video-now-online\/","url_meta":{"origin":1191,"position":4},"title":"Oregon Symphony strauss & crawford-seeger video now online","author":"Charles Noble","date":"May 19, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"As part of the Classical Sessions series (found at the Oregon Symphony's new Studio 125 site) is a new video recording of the sublime Sextet from Richard Strauss' 1942 opera Capriccio, paired with Ruth Crawford-Seeger's atmospheric slow movement to her monumental String Quartet of 1931. They're both wonderful performances (in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "chamber music"","block_context":{"text":"chamber music","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/chamber-music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/fQ6550Bla-4\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7544,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2012\/04\/26\/tune-in-to-the-oregon-symphony-tonight-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":1191,"position":5},"title":"tune in to the oregon symphony tonight!","author":"Charles Noble","date":"April 26, 2012","format":"aside","excerpt":"Tonight, Thursday the 26th, is the night that the Oregon Symphony regains the airwaves in its first local broadcast performances in several years (aside from the Carnegie Hall concert last year). Here's the info: Kahane Plays Mozart Carlos Kalmar, conductor Jeffrey Kahane, piano Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 5 Mozart: Piano\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "radio"","block_context":{"text":"radio","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/radio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/03\/old_fashion_radio_microphone_hg_wht.gif?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/303"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1191\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}