I’ll beat the bandwagon and start off my list of the best things I’ve heard in 2006:<\/p>\n
Krisztina Szab\u00c3\u00b3 – mezzo-soprano, singing opera arias from Handel’s Ariodante<\/em> and Alcina<\/em><\/strong>. It really is the golden age of the mezzo these day, Ms. Szab\u00c3\u00b3 is a fine example. Her rendition of Scherza infida<\/em> from Ariodante<\/em> was a powerful, cathartic experience for me.<\/p>\n Leila Josefowicz – violinist, performing Hindemith’s Violin Concerto<\/em><\/strong>. I love that Leila doesn’t take the easy route. The Hindemith is a tough piece, not only to play, but to sell, and she did a stellar job in her subscription appearances here. She may be the violinist to get this piece back into the repertoire, something that Isaac Stern valiantly tried, but failed, to do decades ago.<\/p>\n San Francisco Symphony & Michael Tilson Thomas, producing the Keeping Score<\/em> series of broadcasts and DVD’s<\/strong>. This is truly how it should be done. MTT proves himself a worthy successor to Leonard Bernstein as a musician who can verbally communicate the meaning of the notes we play and hear. The productions are lavish and handsome. My only quibble: no complete performances of the main piece being examined.<\/p>\n Rachel Barton Pine – violinist, performing the Beethoven Violin Concerto at the Sunriver Music Festival<\/strong>. She should have made her Oregon debut with the Oregon Symphony (since she recorded the Brahms and Joachim violin concertos with Carlos Kalmar at the Grant Park Festival), but a booking was never made, so lucky concert goers in central Oregon got to hear this exceptional violinist with the Sunriver Festival orchestra. Even more lucky: she did her unbelievably difficult set of Variations on the New Zealand national anthem as an encore: wow! Breathtaking. (Plus, my wife and I got to read trios with her during an off afternoon – super fun).<\/p>\n Amy Schwartz Moretti – violinist, performing the Berg Violin Concerto<\/strong>. I wondered how long she might stay here in Oregon after hearing her high level of performance in this finger-busting concerto. Not that good people can’t stay here, but I figured there would be a lot of competition for her after these performances. Too bad I was right.<\/p>\n Jennifer Larmore – mezzo-soprano, singing Mahler’s Seben Lider aus letzten Zeit<\/em><\/strong>. Another great mezzo that we had the privilege to have here in Portland. Some phenomenal singing at this performance – including the quietest notes that carried to the back of the hall that I’ve yet witnessed.<\/p>\n John Adams’ On the Transmigration of Souls<\/em>, Oregon Symphony, Carlos Kalmar<\/strong>. I wasn’t prepared for this piece. It blindsided me. I listened to the recording done by the NYPhil and Maazel, and thought, “ok, this is good Adams” but nothing prepared me for the impact of the live performances. The cityscape sounds in surround sound in the auditorium, the weeping of audience members in the front of the orchestra section – it all conspired for an overwhelming experience for me, and for many in the orchestra and audience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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 infida from Ariodante was a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":303,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_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}},"categories":[],"tags":[3655,55,3666,3662,62,3659],"class_list":["post-137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-news","tag-orchestra","tag-oregon","tag-portland","tag-symphony","tag-violin"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-2d","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3304,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/10\/30\/skip-the-scares-come-to-the-schnitz-on-halloween\/","url_meta":{"origin":137,"position":0},"title":"Skip the Scares – Come to the Schnitz on Halloween","author":"Charles Noble","date":"October 30, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Violinist Stefan Jackiw If you have time before your late night Halloween activities on Saturday night, you really owe it to yourself to head down to the Oregon Symphony's Classical series concert on Saturday night (repeating Sunday afternoon only).\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Well, I'll tell you why. First of all, you'll get\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "music"","block_context":{"text":"music","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"stefan jackiw","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/Jackiw415-200x270.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6188,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2011\/04\/16\/great-concerts-ahead\/","url_meta":{"origin":137,"position":1},"title":"great concerts ahead","author":"Charles Noble","date":"April 16, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 In just two hours the Oregon Symphony will play the first of three subscription concerts in Portland that may be a high point of our season thus far. I think Carlos arrived at the hall on Thursday with a burning desire to show that he's still a relevant and\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\/2011\/04\/james-ehnes-4507-5x7.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8233,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2013\/01\/29\/symphonyquartet-violinist-gives-recital-tonight\/","url_meta":{"origin":137,"position":2},"title":"symphony\/quartet violinist gives recital tonight","author":"Charles Noble","date":"January 29, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Violinist Shin-young Kwon, who is a member of the Oregon Symphony and also the Arnica and Mousai Remix string quartets (!), gives a recital tonight (Tuesday, January 29th) with pianist Yoko Greeney at Portland State University's Lincoln Recital Hall (Room 75). The recital begins at 7:30 p.m., and is free\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "soloists & recitals"","block_context":{"text":"soloists & recitals","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/soloists-recitals\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Photo: \u00a9 Charles Noble","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/shin-young-8x10-300x375.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3757,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2010\/01\/11\/a-forgotten-violin-concerto\/","url_meta":{"origin":137,"position":3},"title":"a forgotten violin concerto","author":"Charles Noble","date":"January 11, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"At the end of this season the Oregon Symphony will welcome Finnish violinist Elina V\u00e4h\u00e4l\u00e4 (above) to play Benjamin Britten's great Violin Concerto.\u00a0 I've really fallen in love with this concerto, in no small part due to the web broadcast of the Berlin Philharmonic with violinist Janine Jansen. Here's a\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\/2009\/08\/Elina-Vahala-400x342.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6699,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2011\/07\/21\/local-violinist-solos-in-colorado\/","url_meta":{"origin":137,"position":4},"title":"local violinist solos in colorado","author":"Charles Noble","date":"July 21, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Violinist Andy Liang, who has performed several times with the Oregon Symphony over the past decade, is spending this summer at one of the more prestigious summer music festivals, the National Repertory Orchestra in Breckenridge, Colorado. He's also been tapped to perform a solo in front of the orchestra this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "soloists & recitals"","block_context":{"text":"soloists & recitals","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/soloists-recitals\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/liang.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":603,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2007\/12\/21\/violinist-arrested-at-uofo-concert\/","url_meta":{"origin":137,"position":5},"title":"violinist arrested at UofO concert","author":"Charles Noble","date":"December 21, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00c2\u00a0 One of a string (no pun intended) of bizarre stories about the often fraud-filled world of stringed instrument dealing. Apparently violinist Hokai Tang was taking violins and bows from sellers on a consignment basis, but ran off with the instruments and failed to pay the sellers their proceeds. Read\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "crime"","block_context":{"text":"crime","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/crime\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.sfgate.com\/c\/pictures\/2007\/12\/21\/mn_violin.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137","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=137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}