{"id":5772,"date":"2011-02-06T00:09:35","date_gmt":"2011-02-06T08:09:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/?p=5772"},"modified":"2011-02-06T16:47:01","modified_gmt":"2011-02-07T00:47:01","slug":"brahms-nielsen-and-rachmaninoff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2011\/02\/06\/brahms-nielsen-and-rachmaninoff\/","title":{"rendered":"brahms, nielsen and rachmaninoff"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Yuja Wang - Photo: Felix Broede\/DG<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tonight we played the second concert of this series (last night we played in Salem), featuring Brahms’ Tragic Overture<\/em>, Nielsen’s Sixth Symphony “Simplice”, and Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto, with soloist Yuja Wang.<\/p>\n

Lots of stuff to talk about in this program. \u00a0First of all, as a performer, it’s a very densely packed bunch of music. \u00a0The Brahms is such a tightly composed work, it gives one no respite in which to catch one’s breath. \u00a0It’s nice to do this work, I cannot remember the last time I performed it, but I know that it wasn’t here with the Oregon Symphony (who last performed it – at least on a classical series – in 1991. \u00a0The Academic Festival Overture<\/em> seems to be performed a lot more often.<\/p>\n

The Nielsen, as I’ve written already, is both difficult and unfamiliar. \u00a0His 4th and 5th symphonies are more often performed (though both Osmo V\u00e4nska in Minnesota and Alan Gilbert in New York are in the midst doing complete cycles over several seasons), and as Carlos Kalmar noted in his remarks before the performance tonight, it might be one’s only chance to see the work performed live here with the OSO (indeed, these performances are OSO premieres). \u00a0I’m finding myself really warming to the piece, after getting over its technical demands. \u00a0It really is quite charming, and is a virtuoso showpiece for the orchestra, and heavily features the percussion section (which has been getting a workout these past two weeks).<\/p>\n

Finally, we have the Rachmaninoff 3rd piano concerto. \u00a0Just packed with notes from beginning to end, and not just for the pianist. \u00a0Add in the fact that there are lots of corners that one must be alert to navigate, and it’s not at all an autopilot piece like some other concertos can become. \u00a0I’m not quite sure what I think of Yuja Wang at this point. \u00a0Her technique is formidable, for sure. \u00a0There is nothing she cannot play, the Rachmaninoff seems like child’s play to her. \u00a0But I found myself, once the awe wore off, wanting a bit more poetry to go with the pyrotechnics. \u00a0She’s often mentioned in the same breath as Lang Lang, and they seem to be opposite sides of the same coin. \u00a0Lang Lang overwhelms with his personality, but he seems to be putting musical ideas out there (even if they are sometimes ‘out there’). \u00a0Wang seems to be the complete opposite, putting herself totally at the service of the music, but at the expense of some personality.<\/p>\n

POSTSCRIPT: During the Rachmaninoff, Carlos seemed to take a bad landing on his right leg. \u00a0I’m not sure if that’s the knee that’s been giving him trouble over the years, but hopefully he’ll bounce back quickly!<\/p>\n

PPS: Just heard from Carlos that it wasn’t his knee, but his leg.\u00a0 He says there will be less ‘jumping around’ tonight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 densely packed bunch of music. […]<\/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":[135,2],"tags":[2400,3668,1624],"class_list":["post-5772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-soloists-recitals","category-the-orchestra-world","tag-carlos-kalmar","tag-oregon-symphony","tag-yuja-wang"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-1v6","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2568,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/05\/22\/adding-yuja-to-the-wish-list\/","url_meta":{"origin":5772,"position":0},"title":"adding yuja to the wish list","author":"Charles Noble","date":"May 22, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"[click photo to enlarge] After reading this extraordinary review of the new pianist phenom Yuja Wang with the San Francisco Symphony, I now am fairly desperate to see her in performance.\u00c2\u00a0 I hope that we can get her for an OSO series in an upcoming season.\u00c2\u00a0 I'd heard rumors that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "chamber music"","block_context":{"text":"chamber music","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/chamber-music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"yuja-wang-by-felix-broede-for-dg-63","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/yuja-wang-by-felix-broede-for-dg-63-200x269.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3555,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/12\/05\/odds-and-ends-4\/","url_meta":{"origin":5772,"position":1},"title":"odds and ends","author":"Charles Noble","date":"December 5, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Oregon Symphony Resident conductor Gregory Vajda conducts a recording of music by his mentor, the composer\/conductor P\u00e9ter E\u00f6tv\u00f6s, entitled As I Crossed a Bridge of Dreams.\u00a0 The recording is one of three nominated for the prestigious 2010 MIDEM Classical Award. Conductor Leonard Slatkin has a compelling essay up on his\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":7199,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2011\/12\/31\/my-top-musical-experiences-of-2011\/","url_meta":{"origin":5772,"position":2},"title":"my top musical experiences of 2011","author":"Charles Noble","date":"December 31, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm sure that I will have forgotten something obvious, and except for item #1, the list is roughly in reverse chronological order. Send in your favorites from 2011 in the comments section below. The Oregon Symphony's Carnegie Hall debut. It would be hard to top this one. I'd been to\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":3945,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2010\/02\/01\/osos-2010-2011-season\/","url_meta":{"origin":5772,"position":3},"title":"OSO’s 2010-2011 Season","author":"Charles Noble","date":"February 1, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Saturday evening, the Oregon Symphony unveiled its 2010-2011 season programming.\u00a0 I was giving the pre-concert talk that night, so I couldn't be at the unveiling reception, but I suspect that there must have been a fair amount of applause and the sound of jaws hitting the floor as the specifics\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "programming"","block_context":{"text":"programming","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/programming-music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/01\/Joshua-Bell-photo-002-250x313.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5756,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2011\/01\/31\/percussion-fest\/","url_meta":{"origin":5772,"position":4},"title":"percussion fest","author":"Charles Noble","date":"January 31, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"This past weekend's concerts were built around pieces that had a very good amount of percussion in them, including the centerpiece of the concert, Jennifer Higdon's Percussion Concerto, with the Scottish percussion soloist Colin Currie. Percussion instruments are always great for audiences to see and hear in a featured role\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "percussion"","block_context":{"text":"percussion","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/instruments\/percussion\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6770,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2011\/08\/20\/yuja-wangs-little-orange-dress\/","url_meta":{"origin":5772,"position":5},"title":"yuja wang’s little orange dress","author":"Charles Noble","date":"August 20, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Some of you may be wondering what I think about the flap (largely manufactured by the LA Times) concerning piano virtuoso Yuja Wang and her very short mini dress that she wore at the Hollywood Bowl. I don't give a shit. The girl plays the crap out of the piano,\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\/2010\/01\/yuja-wang-by-felix-broede-for-dg-43-250x303.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5772","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=5772"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5772\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}