{"id":13608,"date":"2014-12-07T12:24:02","date_gmt":"2014-12-07T20:24:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/?p=13608"},"modified":"2014-12-07T12:24:02","modified_gmt":"2014-12-07T20:24:02","slug":"rare-sibelius-and-americana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2014\/12\/07\/rare-sibelius-and-americana\/","title":{"rendered":"rare sibelius and americana"},"content":{"rendered":"

Friday night we played the first of three concerts of what is, both on paper and in the flesh, a very unusual program. Firstly, it essentially runs in reverse. Rather than an “opener, concerto, intermission, big symphony” format that we’ve become quite accustomed to, the program starts with a rarely performed symphony of Sibelius – his Fourth (last performed in Portland in 1948!). Intermission follows, and then another rarity: Edward MacDowell’s Second Piano Concerto (played beautifully by Andre Watts), and closing with Aaron Copland’s beloved\u00a0Appalachian Spring<\/em> (long ‘a’ or short ‘a’ in Appalachian? It’s your choice, but anyone from the south will say it with a short ‘a’, and that seems plenty authentic to me).<\/p>\n

\"James
James Gaffigan | Photo: Matt Henneck<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Guest conductor James Gaffigan<\/a> is on the podium, and it’s been an enjoyable week working with him. He is confident on the podium, easy to follow, and has ideas about the pieces that we’re performing. Those three things easily elevate any conductor to above the 80th percentile in my book. He’s also unique in his connection to the Oregon Symphony because he has quite a few friends in the orchestra with whom he went to school – several from the Cleveland Institute of Music, Rice University, and from the LaGuardia High School of the Performing Arts in New York. It’s sort of like old home week around here. Former OSO concertmaster Jun Iwasaki was also in town and at the concert last night.<\/p>\n

Some thumbnail thoughts on the program:<\/p>\n