Tomorrow we have a rehearsal for the next Inside the Score concert, which will feature Brahms’ First Symphony.\u00c2\u00a0 One of the few advantages of playing in an orchestra that has a limited number of classical weeks is that I’m not yet sick of any of the Brahms symphonies, especially the First, as it’s probably the most often programmed of the four.<\/p>\n
I remember when I was studying with Joseph DePasquale, who was then the principal violist of the Philadelphia Orchestra, I asked him which of the Brahms symphonies was his favorite.\u00c2\u00a0 I asked if he liked the First.\u00c2\u00a0 He gave one of his “bah!” laughs and replied that if he never played the Brahms First again, it would be too soon.\u00c2\u00a0 He explained that they did it nearly every season and on tours, so he’d performed it hundreds of times in his years as principal viola.\u00c2\u00a0 When pressed, he admitted that the Fourth wasn’t too bad.<\/p>\n
We at the OSO, on the other hand, tend to take about 5-7 years to play a cycle of the Brahms symphonies, which means that by the time we do the Third symphony this season, I’ll have done the cycle twice in my 13 seasons.\u00c2\u00a0 As a consequence, there hasn’t been any contempt bred of familiarity.\u00c2\u00a0 While I love the autumnal splendor and understated emotion of the later Brahms works, I have to admit that I’m a sucker for his more impetuous, youthful musical statements.\u00c2\u00a0 The First is full of such moments, right from its grab you by the collar and shake you opening to the gorgeous string scoring of the main theme of the last movement.<\/p>\n
I particularly remember as a student seeing a video of Bernstein conducting the Vienna Philharmonic in the finale of the First symphony, and when that moment came, the Viennese strings played with their incomparable richness and Lenny just leaned back against the podium railing and watched them do their thing.\u00c2\u00a0 It was too much to stand as a young musician who had never seen Lenny conduct, or heard the VPO play, and it stays in my mind to this day as a touchstone of what music-making on the highest level can be.<\/p>\n
So, I’m very much looking forward to this performance, and working with conductor Bill Eddins, who comes with high compliments from Elaine Calder.\u00c2\u00a0 It should be a treat for us and for you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Tomorrow we have a rehearsal for the next Inside the Score concert, which will feature Brahms’ First Symphony.\u00c2\u00a0 One of the few advantages of playing in an orchestra that has a limited number of classical weeks is that I’m not yet sick of any of the Brahms symphonies, especially the First, as it’s probably the […]<\/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":[148,115,2],"tags":[1110,3668],"class_list":["post-1399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-appreciations","category-music","category-the-orchestra-world","tag-inside-the-score","tag-oregon-symphony"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-mz","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":12660,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2013\/05\/20\/brahms-tidbits\/","url_meta":{"origin":1399,"position":0},"title":"brahms tidbits","author":"Charles Noble","date":"May 20, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Above: The alphorn melody heard by Brahms on a walk, written on a birthday greeting to Clara Schumann. Below: The autograph score of the First Symphony, with the horn solo that quotes the alphorn melody written above.","rel":"","context":"In "the orchestra world"","block_context":{"text":"the orchestra world","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"alphornbrahms","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/alphornbrahms-500x277.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12654,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2013\/05\/13\/beethovens-tenth\/","url_meta":{"origin":1399,"position":1},"title":"beethoven’s tenth","author":"Charles Noble","date":"May 13, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"\"Beethoven's Tenth Symphony\" was the moniker assigned (by the noted conductor and pundit Hans von B\u00fclow) to Johannes Brahms' First Symphony, which was some twenty years in its gestation, such was both his own penchant for draconian self-criticism (it's said that he destroyed at least six completed string quartets, allowing\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\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/xyUpyFm_O-k\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13712,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2015\/05\/08\/2014-2105-a-retrospective-part-two\/","url_meta":{"origin":1399,"position":2},"title":"2014-2105: a retrospective, part two","author":"Charles Noble","date":"May 8, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"And now, for the big list - the stuff I played with the Oregon Symphony this past season*. Lots of variety, and some holes in repertoire that I really couldn't believe when I looked at the list - only one work by Brahms, for example? Hm... Barber - Adagio for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "the orchestra world"","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\/2014\/08\/noble-oso-pic-e1408736178252.jpg?fit=451%2C300&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3184,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/09\/30\/brahms-youthful-concerto\/","url_meta":{"origin":1399,"position":3},"title":"brahms’ youthful concerto","author":"Charles Noble","date":"September 30, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"This weekend, the Oregon Symphony is performing the early (op. 15) First Piano Concerto of Johannes Brahms with the great pianist Jon Kimura Parker.\u00a0 It's long been one of my favorite pieces, a stormy, hyper-emotional, post-adolescent expression of the 25 year old Brahms.\u00a0 I only own one recording of this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "appreciation"","block_context":{"text":"appreciation","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/appreciations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"brahms","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/brahms-400x355.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5772,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2011\/02\/06\/brahms-nielsen-and-rachmaninoff\/","url_meta":{"origin":1399,"position":4},"title":"brahms, nielsen and rachmaninoff","author":"Charles Noble","date":"February 6, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Tonight we played the second concert of this series (last night we played in Salem), featuring Brahms' Tragic Overture, Nielsen's Sixth Symphony \"Simplice\", and Rachmaninoff's Third Piano Concerto, with soloist Yuja Wang. Lots of stuff to talk about in this program. \u00a0First of all, as a performer, it's a very\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\/02\/YujaWang_1_orig-324x400.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4291,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2010\/03\/30\/brahms-double-concerto\/","url_meta":{"origin":1399,"position":5},"title":"brahms double concerto","author":"Charles Noble","date":"March 30, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Coming up after the orchestra's extended spring hiatus is a concert conducted by Pinchas Zukerman. In addition to conducting a work by Malcom Forsyth and Beethoven's First Symphony, he'll be playing the Brahms Double Concerto for violin and cello with his wife, cellist Amanda Forsyth (and leading the orchestra from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "cello"","block_context":{"text":"cello","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/instruments\/cello\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1399","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=1399"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1399\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}