{"id":345,"date":"2007-05-30T15:37:51","date_gmt":"2007-05-30T23:37:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2007\/05\/30\/the-fabulous-philadelphians\/"},"modified":"2007-06-03T12:40:45","modified_gmt":"2007-06-03T20:40:45","slug":"the-fabulous-philadelphians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2007\/05\/30\/the-fabulous-philadelphians\/","title":{"rendered":"the fabulous philadelphians"},"content":{"rendered":"

UPDATE: Here’s the Seattle Times review<\/a> by critic Melinda Bargreen. [link may expire after a few days<\/em>]<\/p>\n

Yesterday my wife and I went up to Seattle’s Benaroya Hall to hear the Philadelphia Orchestra perform the last concert of their 2007 US tour. It was a trip that was based upon the important roles that the Philly Orchestra has played in each of our lives. Heather heard them in her first year as a participant in the young artists program at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center during high school, and it changed her life – making her want to pursue a career in music. While other teens had posters of their favorite rock groups in their rooms, Heather had a poster of the Philadelphia Orchestra! I on the other hand, had the privilege of studying with two of the past principal violists of the orchestra, and lived in Philadephia for a year and got student rush tickets to their every week.<\/p>\n

It’s an interesting thing, being a member of a professional orchestra and going to another orchestra’s concert. It’s easy to become cynical: looking for disinterested faces, horrible concert outfits, and waiting for bobbled notes or entrances. I have to tell you, as soon as this great band started playing, I was swept away and all of that nit-picking became unthinkable. Simply put, the Philadelphia Orchestra is still a great orchestra, no matter what some jaded East coast critics might say (or imply). It was an inspiring concert on many levels.<\/p>\n

Having just heard my orchestra from the audience for Gregory Vajda’s classical subscription concert, I have to say that we measure up pretty darn well. The depth of the ensemble might not be where Philly’s is, but we’re in the same ballpark on our best nights.<\/p>\n

There was not a bored face in the orchestra. We were sitting in the top tier, right over the right side of the stage, so I could keenly observe all that was going on. The orchestra was in near top form, with great concentration and great enthusiasm displayed at virtually all times. There were some questionable outfits on some of the female musicians (please, no clothes that look like you just worked out in them at the gym before the concert!), but stage and performance decorum was excellent, which is all the more remarkable considering that they were on the last concert of the last leg of a grueling two week tour.<\/p>\n

Their principal players are exceptional, the best I’ve heard in a long time. The first work on the program was the Mozart Sinfonie concertante for winds and orchestra, and it feature the principal oboe, bassoon, horn and clarinet. Especially impressive were principal horn Jennifer Montone and principal bassoon Daniel Matsukawa. Their playing was virtuosic and warmly expressive and stood out in a field of four of the finest wind players in the world.<\/p>\n

Finally, the Berlioz Symphony Fantastique which closed the program was performed at a supremely high level. All the sections of the orchestra played their hearts out, and the low brass playing which concluded the fourth and fifth movements was some of the best I’ve ever heard – especially the new principal tuba Carol Jantsch.<\/p>\n

As a postscript, we went to the reception for the orchestra after the concert at the Fairmont Hotel (they stayed in a five-star hotel, no less!) as a guest of former OSO violinist Denise Huizenga, who played the tour in the second violin section. I asked her which of the halls that they played in on the tour was her favorite, and immediate answer was “Benaroya Hall”. The sonic experience in that hall for me as a listener was so visceral (especially when the trombones kicked in), it had absolutely no relation to the miserable listening experience that is the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. The OSO needs to rent out Benaroya and get all of our major donors to come up and hear us in a great hall – I think it will do more for us than the same money spent on marketing and development here at home. People need to know what they’re missing!!<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UPDATE: Here’s the Seattle Times review by critic Melinda Bargreen. [link may expire after a few days] Yesterday my wife and I went up to Seattle’s Benaroya Hall to hear the Philadelphia Orchestra perform the last concert of their 2007 US tour. It was a trip that was based upon the important roles that 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":[67,117,17,55,62,3656,3659],"class_list":["post-345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-orchestra-world","tag-classical","tag-critic","tag-criticism","tag-orchestra","tag-symphony","tag-the-orchestra-world","tag-violin"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-5z","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":439,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2007\/09\/20\/tenure-troubles-in-philly\/","url_meta":{"origin":345,"position":0},"title":"tenure troubles in philly","author":"Charles Noble","date":"September 20, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"As I noted when Ellen DePaquale resigned in protest from the Cleveland Orchestra last year, when internal orchestral machinations make the media, you know that something major has gone on behind the scenes. 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This despite $140 million in the endowment. Some legal experts contend that the bankruptcy could be thrown out if it's not perceived to have been taken in good faith. Others say that it is warranted. 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The NYPhil musicians are pleased, too. A Philly critic is left wondering what Philly will get. Alex Ross shows how un-young Mr. Gilbert really is, in historical context.","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":2113,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/03\/11\/more-orchestral-cuts\/","url_meta":{"origin":345,"position":5},"title":"more orchestral cuts","author":"Charles Noble","date":"March 11, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"There's a lot of belt-tightening going on with orchestras around the US. 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