{"id":6124,"date":"2011-04-06T21:37:38","date_gmt":"2011-04-07T01:37:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/?p=6124"},"modified":"2013-02-07T20:42:26","modified_gmt":"2013-02-08T04:42:26","slug":"opening-statements","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2011\/04\/06\/opening-statements\/","title":{"rendered":"opening statements"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_6127\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6127\" style=\"width: 480px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/kunsthandel_stephan_andreewitch_ansicht_von_wien_von_ptzleinsdorf_aus_gesehen_12573345815208-e1302140214362.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-6127 \" title=\"kunsthandel_stephan_andreewitch_ansicht_von_wien_von_ptzleinsdorf_aus_gesehen_12573345815208\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/kunsthandel_stephan_andreewitch_ansicht_von_wien_von_ptzleinsdorf_aus_gesehen_12573345815208-e1302140214362.jpg?resize=480%2C245\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"245\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-6127\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Landscape near Vienna, 1837-38, by Josef Feid.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The concert the Oregon Symphony is presenting this weekend has been given the title &#8220;A Pair of Sixth Symphonies&#8221;. The first of the pair is by a Czech composer who many have heard of, Bohuslav Martinu, but whose works most likely have remained unknown to the vast majority of concert goers. I&#8217;ll talk about his Sixth Symphony\u00a0<em>&#8220;Fantaisies Symphoniques&#8221;<\/em> in the next day or so, as I get more time to absorb it in rehearsals and my own practicing.<\/p>\n<p>What I&#8217;d like to talk about presently is Beethoven, and his Sixth Symphony. More specifically, I&#8217;d like to talk about how he opens this work, which has earned the sobriquet of <em>&#8220;Pastoral&#8221;<\/em>. Here it is performed by the New York chamber orchestra <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/www.theknightsnyc.com\">The Knights<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"580\" height=\"327\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/a9HWo4THnHA?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s an amazing way to open a symphony, isn&#8217;t it? Especially if you compare it with the five that precede it. The First Symphony opens with a dominant seventh chord that resolves to the wrong key &#8211; surprise! The Second Symphony opens with loud chords, in the style of many a Haydn symphony, followed by a serene melody in the woodwinds &#8211; yawn. The Third Symphony <em>&#8216;Eroica&#8217;<\/em> (which we&#8217;ll be performing next week) opens with two powerful cannon shots from the orchestra, followed by a restless melody in the cellos with a propulsive accompaniment by the rest of the strings &#8211; touch\u00e9! The Fourth Symphony begins with a <em>sotto voce<\/em> pizzicato in the strings, followed by an ominous line over a held pedal point &#8211; fraught with tension. The Fifth Symphony &#8211; do I even have to talk about that one? And then we get to the Sixth. It opens without fanfare, with no drama of \u00a0any kind. It feels open, relaxed, warm. The sound caresses rather than rankles. Beethoven remarked about the programmatic content of the Sixth Symphony that it was\u00a0<em>\u2018mehr Ausdruck der Empfindung als Malerey\u2019<\/em> (\u2018more the expression of feeling than painting\u2019). He set out to give a musical portrait of what it felt like to walk the countryside outside of Vienna rather than to describe the scenery of that same countryside. And to me, that is the genius of the piece. Because, while the inner movements do get a bit more narrative than descriptive (the <em>Scene at the Brook<\/em>, and <em>The Storm<\/em>), this first movement does everything with sound &#8211; not in the imitative sense, but in the psycho-acoustical sense. \u00a0Beethoven makes the sounds that his eyes saw as the countryside, and we then feel the 19th century breezes in the soft, tall grass in a field somewhere outside of Vienna. That is the power of music.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>An NPR <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/story.php?storyId=5478661\">story<\/a> about the symphony.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/EventDetail.aspx?p=1341\">Buy tickets<\/a> to this weekend&#8217;s Oregon Symphony concerts.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; The concert the Oregon Symphony is presenting this weekend has been given the title &#8220;A Pair of Sixth Symphonies&#8221;. The first of the pair is by a Czech composer who many have heard of, Bohuslav Martinu, but whose works most likely have remained unknown to the vast majority of concert goers. I&#8217;ll talk about [&hellip;]<\/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":[148,2],"tags":[2587,3668,2632,2633],"class_list":["post-6124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-appreciations","category-the-orchestra-world","tag-ludwig-van-beethoven","tag-oregon-symphony","tag-pastoral-symphony","tag-symphony-no-6"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-1AM","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6042,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2011\/03\/23\/michael-francis-returns-to-oregon-symphony\/","url_meta":{"origin":6124,"position":0},"title":"michael francis returns to oregon symphony!","author":"Charles Noble","date":"March 23, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Our upcoming guest conductor Gunter Herbig has cancelled his engagement with the Oregon Symphony, and the orchestra's loss quickly became its gain when young British conductor Michael Francis, who electrified both the orchestra and audiences last month, was engaged to replace Maestro Herbig. The concert, entitled \"A Pair of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;conducting&quot;","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\/2011\/02\/MichaelFrancis-credit-chris-christodoulou-400x265.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1621,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/12\/21\/oregon-symphony-holiday-kids-concert-postponed\/","url_meta":{"origin":6124,"position":1},"title":"oregon symphony holiday kids concert postponed","author":"Charles Noble","date":"December 21, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I just got word that today's (Sunday, December 21) OSO Holiday Kids Concert has been postponed due to inclement weather and treacherous travel conditions in the Portland metro area. Hang on to your tickets - the concert will be rescheduled and existing tickets will be honored.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12486,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2013\/02\/21\/angry-symphony-guy-strikes-again-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":6124,"position":2},"title":"angry symphony guy strikes again!","author":"Charles Noble","date":"February 21, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"From Angry Symphony Guy (aka Classical Beaver, Brian Horay, Huffington Post guest blogger) posting at the Portland Mercury arts listing pages: STEPHEN HOUGH, OREGON SYMPHONY (Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 SW Broadway) Chief cultural blogger for the Telegraph of London.\u00a0Prodigious recorder of more than 50 albums.\u00a0MacArthur genius.\u00a0Theologian. Poet. Queer activist.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;soloists &amp; recitals&quot;","block_context":{"text":"soloists &amp; recitals","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/soloists-recitals\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13215,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2014\/02\/09\/oregon-symphony-concert-for-sunday-night-canceled-due-to-weather\/","url_meta":{"origin":6124,"position":3},"title":"oregon symphony concert for sunday night canceled due to weather","author":"Charles Noble","date":"February 9, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Due to the icy road conditions and slow pace of melting, the Oregon Symphony has canceled its concert of Lutoslawki, Beethoven, and Schumann for Sunday night. We're keeping our fingers crossed for Monday night, and if you're able to venture out on Monday, it's a concert that you won't want\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;the orchestra world&quot;","block_context":{"text":"the orchestra world","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"oleson road, garden home, oregon","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm8.staticflickr.com\/7307\/12419024954_5354f03ca2_z.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm8.staticflickr.com\/7307\/12419024954_5354f03ca2_z.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm8.staticflickr.com\/7307\/12419024954_5354f03ca2_z.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7998,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2012\/10\/31\/angry-symphony-guy-strikes-again\/","url_meta":{"origin":6124,"position":4},"title":"angry symphony guy strikes again","author":"Charles Noble","date":"October 31, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"From the Portland Mercury arts listings: OREGON SYMPHONY: MAHLER'S SIXTH (Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 SW Broadway) Gustav Mahler was a much better human than I'll ever be. Case in point: If someone gave me a sledgehammer, my first impulse would be to enter Ned Lannamann's pathetic cubicle at the\u00a0Mercury\u00a0offices\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;the orchestra world&quot;","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":16461,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2019\/11\/17\/contract-some-mahleria\/","url_meta":{"origin":6124,"position":5},"title":"contract some mahleria","author":"Charles Noble","date":"November 17, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Last night was the first performance of our classical series for this week. As I'm on work hardening and only playing the opening Mozart Violin Concerto No. 3 (with fabulous soloist Alexi Kenney), it was my treat to get to sit out in the audience (in the rarified Dress Circle,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;the orchestra world&quot;","block_context":{"text":"the orchestra world","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/the-orchestra-world\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"B4EABD97-E41B-4DB7-B8B0-009A0BB71A12.jpeg","src":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/B4EABD97-E41B-4DB7-B8B0-009A0BB71A12-scaled.jpeg?ssl=1&w=7040&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/B4EABD97-E41B-4DB7-B8B0-009A0BB71A12-scaled.jpeg?ssl=1&w=7040&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/B4EABD97-E41B-4DB7-B8B0-009A0BB71A12-scaled.jpeg?ssl=1&w=7040&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6124","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=6124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6124\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}