{"id":12468,"date":"2013-02-12T09:41:37","date_gmt":"2013-02-12T17:41:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/?p=12468"},"modified":"2013-02-12T09:57:59","modified_gmt":"2013-02-12T17:57:59","slug":"my-beethovens-wild-ride","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2013\/02\/12\/my-beethovens-wild-ride\/","title":{"rendered":"mr beethoven&#8217;s wild ride"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We just finished our three concert run of Beethoven&#8217;s Ninth Symphony last night at Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. It was, as many have observed, a bittersweet occasion. Sweet because of the great music making, bitter because of the recent passing of our beloved maestro James (Jimmy) DePreist.<\/p>\n<p>As violinist Ron Blessinger said in his opening remarks honoring him, Jimmy had impeccable timing. To perform a larger-than-life work in honor of a larger-than-life man was perfectly natural. And to make the occasion even more special, after consultation with Jimmy&#8217;s widow Ginette, it was decided to perform the <em>Adagietto<\/em> from Mahler&#8217;s Fifth Symphony to open the program. As Carlos Kalmar said in his remarks, we could have performed one of the classic &#8216;mourning&#8217; pieces: the Adagio for Strings by Samuel Barber, or Nimrod from Elgar&#8217;s Enigma Variations. But the purpose of the playing of a piece in Jimmy&#8217;s honor was not simply to mourn him, it was to show our love and appreciation for him as well. And nothing fit the bill quite as perfectly as the Mahler did, it being a song of love tempered with sadness.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" title=\"YouTube video player\" width=\"580\" height=\"327\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/CFQQsu6VBYA?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>As for the work the completed the first half of the concert, it was yet another confoundingly good composition by Benjamin Britten, his early and virtually unknown <em>Ballad of Heroes<\/em>. It is sandwiched (in terms of opus number) between two much better-known works: the Violin Concerto (1939) and the Piano Concerto (1938), both of which Britten revisited and revised in the 1960&#8217;s. It features lovely writing for the solo tenor voice (beautifully sung by tenor soloist <a href=\"http:\/\/www.orsymphony.org\/bios\/guests_0910\/tuohy.aspx\">Brendan Tuohy<\/a>) and choir, and has a wickedly difficult scherzo section entitled <em>Dance of Death &#8211;\u00a0<\/em>it feels every bit close to the edge in performance, especially at Carlos&#8217; tempo!<\/p>\n<p>Finally, Beethoven&#8217;s Ninth. Most orchestral musicians, after a period of service, get a bit tired of this piece. I&#8217;m not sure why, but I think it has to do with the last movement. It is such a clich\u00e9 now &#8211; being used in the Die Hard movie franchise and countless television ads &#8211; that it is sometimes hard to take seriously. But if it is done right (and done well), it is still an amazing experience to perform.<\/p>\n<p>The first three movements are unbelievable. The ambiguity of the opening of the first movement with the interval of an open fifth, and its almost cosmic and mystical sense of openness and enormity. The breakneck pace of the scherzo &#8211; with its island of calm in the trio. And the sublime third movement &#8211; a set of variations virtually unmatched for both beauty and inevitable formal elegance (but perhaps surpassed only by the slow movements of his quartets Op. 127, 130 and 135). Then, the last movement, where we get a whirlwind tour of the previous three movements interspersed with the seminal beginnings of what is to become the theme to the Ode to Joy. And the rest is history.<\/p>\n<p>Carlos conducted the Ninth without a score &#8211; a rarity &#8211; he is seldom without a score, even if he might be actually using it very little in performance. His pacing was sure, and the piece passed as though it were mere minutes in duration, rather than being close to an hour in length. The Portland Symphonic Choir sang with power and finesse, and the four vocal soloists, especially the bass baritone <a href=\"http:\/\/www.orsymphony.org\/bios\/guests_1213\/okulitch.aspx\">Daniel Okulitch<\/a>, were superb. It will be a long time before Portland sees another Ninth that&#8217;s the equal of this one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We just finished our three concert run of Beethoven&#8217;s Ninth Symphony last night at Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. It was, as many have observed, a bittersweet occasion. Sweet because of the great music making, bitter because of the recent passing of our beloved maestro James (Jimmy) DePreist. As violinist Ron Blessinger said in his opening [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":303,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","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_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_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":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[3262,3263,2400,3264,3668,2377],"class_list":["post-12468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-orchestra-world","tag-beethoven-ninth","tag-britten-ballad-of-heroes","tag-carlos-kalmar","tag-mahler-adagietto","tag-oregon-symphony","tag-portland-symphonic-choir"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-3f6","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":13129,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2013\/12\/29\/beethoven-with-a-side-of-laugh-in\/","url_meta":{"origin":12468,"position":0},"title":"beethoven with a side of laugh-in","author":"Charles Noble","date":"December 29, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Well, our break is over, and the Oregon Symphony is getting back in to the new year by playing in both the wading pool and the deep end all at the same time. The first half of these two concerts (December 30\/31 at 7:00 pm) is a bit of a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;the orchestra world&quot;","block_context":{"text":"the orchestra world","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/kalmar12_cr_Leah_Nash_original.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":24428,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2025\/04\/18\/celebrating-30-years-my-oregon-symphony-experience\/","url_meta":{"origin":12468,"position":1},"title":"Celebrating 30 Years: My Oregon Symphony Experience","author":"Charles Noble","date":"April 18, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Thirty years is no mean feat in any profession. The gilded corporations of old would give a retiring company man a gold watch (and back then it most certainly was a man). If you serve in the military, you qualify for full retirement (regardless of age) after 20 years of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;the orchestra world&quot;","block_context":{"text":"the orchestra world","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/IMG_3759-scaled.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/IMG_3759-scaled.jpeg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/IMG_3759-scaled.jpeg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/IMG_3759-scaled.jpeg?resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/IMG_3759-scaled.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/IMG_3759-scaled.jpeg?resize=1400%2C800 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6513,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2011\/05\/30\/alex-ross-on-the-oregon-symphony-at-carnegie\/","url_meta":{"origin":12468,"position":2},"title":"alex ross on the oregon symphony at carnegie","author":"Charles Noble","date":"May 30, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 This week's issue of the New Yorker has music critic and arts writer Alex Ross' thoughts on the Spring for Music Festival and the Oregon Symphony's program and performance at Carnegie Hall earlier this month. The verdict? He liked it. A lot. Here's an excerpt from the article: ....\u201dGreat\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;appreciation&quot;","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\/2011\/05\/nyrossillus-e1306742824267.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7528,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2012\/04\/24\/oregon-symphony-broadcast-schedule-announced\/","url_meta":{"origin":12468,"position":3},"title":"oregon symphony broadcast schedule announced","author":"Charles Noble","date":"April 24, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Finally! The Oregon Symphony is back on the airwaves, and not only our local FM station (89.9 FM Allclassical.org), but streamed around the world and available for two weeks after the broadcast date as an archived stream. Kahane Plays Mozart Carlos Kalmar, conductor Jeffrey Kahane, piano Vaughan Williams: Symphony No.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;radio&quot;","block_context":{"text":"radio","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/radio\/"},"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":12468,"position":4},"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 &quot;appreciation&quot;","block_context":{"text":"appreciation","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/appreciations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13206,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2014\/02\/05\/this-week-at-the-oso-two-symphonic-masters-one-great-cellist\/","url_meta":{"origin":12468,"position":5},"title":"this week at the OSO: two symphonic masters, one great cellist","author":"Charles Noble","date":"February 5, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"This week's Oregon Symphony concerts are ones that I wouldn't really be looking forward to, if I were just looking at the program on paper. \u00a0 I've played Beethoven's Seventh Symphony quite a few times - perhaps the most of any of his nine - and though I love it,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;concert preview&quot;","block_context":{"text":"concert preview","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/concert-preview\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Mark Wigglesworth","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/12327034755_f4d90d291b_b-300x449.jpg?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\/12468","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=12468"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12468\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}