{"id":5321,"date":"2010-09-17T19:55:41","date_gmt":"2010-09-18T02:55:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/?p=5321"},"modified":"2013-02-07T20:30:24","modified_gmt":"2013-02-08T04:30:24","slug":"critical-mass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2010\/09\/17\/critical-mass\/","title":{"rendered":"critical mass"},"content":{"rendered":"

There was a review of last night’s concert by James McQuillen, which you can find here at the Oregonian’s website<\/a>.\u00a0 I was interested to find that there was a pretty quick followup comment by “clarities” – I’ll quote the first paragraph here:<\/p>\n

If it’s true that “Carlos Kalmar intends for the orchestra to pull its weight,” he’d better start by rehearsing his orchestra sufficiently and not antagonizing guests of such caliber as Joshua Bell. Kalmar and Bell were at odds through much of the Lalo — pretty absurd when you consider the nature of the work as a violin showpiece. The job of the conductor in this context is to do everything he can to support the soloist’s virtuosity. Bell’s frustration with Kalmar was evident both during the piece and between movements, when he could barely muster a half-smile in the conductor’s direction.<\/cite><\/p>\n

This bears a bit of clarification from someone who was involved in the rehearsal process and also sitting about five feet away from Bell and Kalmar during that process as well as the concert.\u00a0 Josh has made no secret that he very much enjoys working with both the Oregon Symphony and Carlos Kalmar.\u00a0 The Lalo was given an entire rehearsal the day of the concert, since Bell arrived the evening before.\u00a0 There was quite a bit of give-and-take between Josh and Carlos during the rehearsal, and it seemed that they were working together with a good sense of what each other wanted out of the collaboration.\u00a0 I remember and interview with Yo-Yo Ma where he said that the ideal relationship between soloist and orchestra is one where there is a healthy sense of tension, where the soloist had to push and pull against the current of the orchestra.\u00a0 Carlos seems to provide this with every soloist that he works with.\u00a0 Bell’s demeanor on stage didn’t strike me as being one iota different from any other time that he’s appeared with the Oregon Symphony, including when James DePriest was conducting. He’s not a touchy-feely soloist who is going to fawn all over a conductor or orchestra.\u00a0 It’s not the way he rolls<\/p>\n

As for whether or not the orchestra was rehearsed enough – sometimes an orchestra can have very little rehearsal time and pull off a great performance, at another time, the same orchestra and conductor might have exhaustive rehearsals and not everything gels in performance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There was a review of last night’s concert by James McQuillen, which you can find here at the Oregonian’s website.\u00a0 I was interested to find that there was a pretty quick followup comment by “clarities” – I’ll quote the first paragraph here: If it’s true that “Carlos Kalmar intends for the orchestra to pull its […]<\/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":[148,135,2],"tags":[17,2372,3668],"class_list":["post-5321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-appreciations","category-soloists-recitals","category-the-orchestra-world","tag-criticism","tag-joshua-bell","tag-oregon-symphony"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-1nP","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7153,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2011\/12\/14\/joshua-bell-changes-program-for-portland\/","url_meta":{"origin":5321,"position":0},"title":"joshua bell changes program for portland","author":"Charles Noble","date":"December 14, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I hope that the Classical Beaver brings a change of underwear for the Oregon Symphony's January 14, 15 and 16th concerts, because the 'rock star' violinist Joshua Bell will now be playing the great Violin Concerto of Johannes Brahms in place of the previously programmed First Concerto of Dmitri Shostakovich.\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\/2007\/04\/brahms5.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":900,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/04\/01\/kalmar-featured-tafto-contributer-for-2008\/","url_meta":{"origin":5321,"position":1},"title":"kalmar featured TAFTO contributer for 2008","author":"Charles Noble","date":"April 1, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"OSO music director Carlos Kalmar is one of the contributors for Drew McManus' Take A Friend To the Orchestra 2008 essay project. Kalmar's essay will appear on Monday, April 7, 2008. You can find the list of contributors and other articles at adaptistration.com.","rel":"","context":"In "bloggers"","block_context":{"text":"bloggers","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/bloggers\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/04\/tafto-240x400carlos-kalmar.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":14158,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2016\/07\/05\/oregon-symphony-announces-kalmar-contract-renewal\/","url_meta":{"origin":5321,"position":2},"title":"oregon symphony announces kalmar contract renewal","author":"Charles Noble","date":"July 5, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Since The Oregonian doesn't cover the Oregon Symphony anymore (presumably because it's not prime click bait like naked Shakespeare or Obama mortgage rates), it has probably gone unnoticed amongst the general OSO patron population that \u00a0Carlos Kalmar just signed a three-year contract renewal with the Oregon Symphony. The bigger news\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\/2016\/07\/kalmar16_cr_Leah_Nash_original-e1467756129278.jpg?fit=700%2C466&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/kalmar16_cr_Leah_Nash_original-e1467756129278.jpg?fit=700%2C466&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/kalmar16_cr_Leah_Nash_original-e1467756129278.jpg?fit=700%2C466&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/kalmar16_cr_Leah_Nash_original-e1467756129278.jpg?fit=700%2C466&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":935,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/04\/19\/kalmar-prokofiev-earthshaking\/","url_meta":{"origin":5321,"position":3},"title":"kalmar, prokofiev earthshaking","author":"Charles Noble","date":"April 19, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"This past Friday, the St. Louis area was awakened by the shaking of a 5.2 magnitude earthquake.\u00c2\u00a0 That evening the St. Louis Symphony was led by OSO music director Carlos Kalmar in a performance that included the Fifth Symphony of Sergei Prokofiev.\u00c2\u00a0 According to this review and other accounts, this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "appreciation"","block_context":{"text":"appreciation","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/appreciations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2965,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/08\/10\/kalmar-and-grant-park-do-mahler-9\/","url_meta":{"origin":5321,"position":4},"title":"kalmar and grant park do mahler 9","author":"Charles Noble","date":"August 10, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"The OSO's music director Carlos Kalmar has demonstrated an affinity for the music of Gustav Mahler throughout his tenure with the orchestra, usually opening or closing a season with a major work of the Austrian composer.\u00a0 This year, at his other gig, Kalmar began the home stretch of the season\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "appreciation"","block_context":{"text":"appreciation","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/appreciations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6845,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2011\/08\/31\/carlos-kalmar-extends-contract-until-2015\/","url_meta":{"origin":5321,"position":5},"title":"carlos kalmar extends contract until 2015","author":"Charles Noble","date":"August 31, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"At the start of most rehearsals, our personnel manager, Martha Warrington, stands up and gives us a heads up on information that we need to know. 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