It’s been a busy week! It shouldn’t have seemed to be as busy on paper, but with the two different concerts over the weekend it seemed like a lot of work.<\/p>\n
Plus these were the final concerts for a wonderful member of our cello section, \u00c3\u2122na O’Riordan, who is leaving for a position with the Detroit Symphony this week. It cast a pall over the week, that’s for sure. She’s a good friend and colleague, and she’ll be missed, a lot.<\/p>\n
I thought that I’d share my impressions of my favorite moments from the last classical concert (of Saturday and Monday). It was nice to get to experience the Barber Prayers of Kierkegaard<\/em> for the first time. The Portland Symphonic Choir<\/a> was in fine form, especially the men in their a capella<\/em> opening. Director Steven Zopfi has really done wonders with the choir – they are unrecognizable as the group I first heard upon coming to the OSO 11 years ago. I’m sure they might say the same about us as well. The Barber is such a powerful work, and an example of how music can add layers of meaning to already meaningful texts, in this case the stunningly beautiful prayers of S\u00c3\u00b8ren Kierkegaard<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Bernstein Chichester Psalms<\/em> was a repeat voyage for me, but it’s been since my freelancing days in D.C. that I’d last done it (at least 13 years ago). The standout in these performances was the lovely and extraordinarily calm singing of boy soprano Logan Stugart in a treacherously chromatic solo that he pulled off with aplomb, and not a trace of visible nerves. My hat is off to him!<\/p>\n The Tchaikovsky Pathetique<\/em> was a revelation to me – I hadn’t really relished earlier performances, they tended towards the moribund and “slower = more profound” approach which to me just equals more muscle pain. Mark Eubanks played the opening bassoon solos so beautifully, as did clarinetist Yoshinori Nakao. It was great to play this piece with a bit of a lighter, more transparent touch, and rarely has the brass sounded more noble than in the coda of the first movement.<\/p>\n On a closing note: we had a few cell phone solos in some exquisitely quiet moments in the last movement: I’m amazed that there are still people that clueless that come to concerts. We heard your cell phone ON STAGE!!! I can only imagine how much it ruined the performance for those sitting around you. I don’t mind if you get excited and clap where ettiquite might dictate that you refrain from doing so, but just turn off the stupid cell phone, for Pete’s sake.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It’s been a busy week! It shouldn’t have seemed to be as busy on paper, but with the two different concerts over the weekend it seemed like a lot of work. Plus these were the final concerts for a wonderful member of our cello section, \u00c3\u2122na O’Riordan, who is leaving for a position with 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":[2],"tags":[67,55,3662,62,3656],"class_list":["post-259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-orchestra-world","tag-classical","tag-orchestra","tag-portland","tag-symphony","tag-the-orchestra-world"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-4b","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3310,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/11\/02\/busy-times\/","url_meta":{"origin":259,"position":0},"title":"busy times","author":"Charles Noble","date":"November 2, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"As we edge our way into November, and I reflect on what's going on in the classical music scene here in Portland, I'm finding it remarkable what all has happened already, and what's about to happen. At the Oregon Symphony, we've just completed our third Classical series concerts. The Vancouver\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":599,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2007\/12\/18\/oso-posts-improved-numbers\/","url_meta":{"origin":259,"position":1},"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":495,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2007\/10\/17\/losing-ground\/","url_meta":{"origin":259,"position":2},"title":"losing ground?","author":"Charles Noble","date":"October 17, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"David Stabler reports this morning that the Oregon Bach Festival will open its 2008 season by performing a concert (Bach's B-minor Mass) at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in Portland.\u00c2\u00a0 What next?\u00c2\u00a0 Will the Eugene Symphony start a series in the Oregon Symphony's home hall?\u00c2\u00a0 The Seattle Symphony?\u00c2\u00a0 It's frustrating,\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":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5862,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2011\/02\/23\/last-minute-substitute-for-oregon-symphony-concerts\/","url_meta":{"origin":259,"position":3},"title":"last minute substitute for oregon symphony concerts","author":"Charles Noble","date":"February 23, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Just got this news from the Oregon Symphony press office: Guest conductor Alondra de la Parra has been forced to withdraw\u00a0from the Oregon Symphony\u2019s \u201cThomas Lauderdale Plays Grieg\u201d Classical series\u00a0concerts Feb. 26-28 for personal reasons. Young British conductor Michael Francis \u2013\u00a0who is quickly earning a reputation as the man to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "conducting"","block_context":{"text":"conducting","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/conducting\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/AlondradelaParra1web-e1265005004666.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":252,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2007\/03\/26\/the-power-of-positive-thinking\/","url_meta":{"origin":259,"position":4},"title":"the power of positive thinking","author":"Charles Noble","date":"March 26, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"We had a visit from ICSOM (International Conference of Symphony and Opera Musicians) President Bruce Ridge today (as part of a three-day residency), which included a presentation and Q&A session with members of the OSO. The most interesting part of his remarks was that we musicians have a very powerful\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":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2887,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/07\/21\/all-quiet-on-the-orchestral-front\/","url_meta":{"origin":259,"position":5},"title":"all quiet on the orchestral front","author":"Charles Noble","date":"July 21, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"It's the middle of the summer.\u00a0 The dog days, one might say, at least here in Portland, where the mercury is expected to top 90\u00b0F again today.\u00a0 There is little going on, classical musically speaking in Portland right now, except for the final concerts of Chamber Music Northwest's summer festival\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "music"","block_context":{"text":"music","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"son_lynx_a","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/son_lynx_a-400x612.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259","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=259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}