{"id":6419,"date":"2011-05-14T02:36:53","date_gmt":"2011-05-14T06:36:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/?p=6419"},"modified":"2011-05-15T19:58:57","modified_gmt":"2011-05-16T02:58:57","slug":"its-official-the-new-york-times-loves-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2011\/05\/14\/its-official-the-new-york-times-loves-us\/","title":{"rendered":"it’s official – the new york times loves us"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Photo: NPR\/Melanie Burford<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As we were getting ready to deplane in Portland, people were whipping out their various smart devices, and the news came quickly: the New York Times review<\/a> was an unabashed rave. Here it is, written by Allan Kozinn, in its entirety:<\/p>\n

It is hard to believe that the Oregon Symphony had never performed in Carnegie Hall until Thursday evening, when it played a vivid, often wrenching program, \u201cMusic for a Time of War,\u201d as part of the Spring for Music festival. The orchestra was formed in 1896, and its international reputation has grown since 1987, when it began recording big, opulent works and sonic spectacular CDs for the Delos label. Many of these discs, conducted by James DePreist, the orchestra\u2019s music director at the time (and now emeritus), remain in print and show the ensemble to be a highly polished precision instrument. Since 2003 it has been directed by Carlos Kalmar, a Uruguayan conductor who has maintained it admirably.<\/p>\n

In his introductory comments Mr. Kalmar acknowledged that his opener, Ives\u2019s \u201cUnanswered Question\u201d (1906), had no real connection to wartime. Its concerns are existential, but Mr. Kalmar proposed that for the evening, Ives\u2019s question could be \u201cWhy do we go to war?\u201d He justified that leap with a thoughtful performance in which the pianissimo strings were so exquisitely hushed that for a moment you could hear a pin drop. Pretty soon you could also hear coughing, enough of it to shatter, repeatedly, the intensity Mr. Kalmar created with his careful pacing and the striking balance of the strings, the plaintive offstage trumpet and the dissonant, blaring wind choirs.<\/p>\n

The three works on the first half of the program were played without pause (or applause), and the Ives proved an ideal prelude to \u201cThe Wound-Dresser,\u201d John Adams\u2019s 1989 setting of verses from a Civil War poem by Walt Whitman. Mr. Adams\u2019s string textures mirror Ives\u2019s, and a solo trumpet sings briefly. But perhaps because he is responding to the stark descriptions of maimed soldiers in Whitman\u2019s text, Mr. Adams writes with more sentiment and less mystery than Ives, and he channels much of his music\u2019s power into a wide-ranging vocal line, which the baritone Sanford Sylvan sang with his characteristic acuity.<\/p>\n

Mr. Kalmar closed the first half with Britten\u2019s \u201cSinfonia da Requiem,\u201d a 1940 work commissioned by the government of Japan to celebrate the 2,600th anniversary of its empire. This was a dicey connection for Britten, an avowed pacifist: Japan was not yet at war with the United States but had invaded China in 1937. He may have sabotaged it by taking its movement names from the Roman Catholic liturgy, something the Japanese regarded as inappropriate to the occasion, apparently the reason they rejected it.<\/p>\n

That history aside, the war in Europe distressed Britten, and this dark, driven symphonic requiem is an inventive early response. (It would be eclipsed, 22 years later, by his \u201cWar Requiem.\u201d) Mr. Kalmar led his players in a taut, passionate account, with superb woodwind and brass playing and pointed percussion in the Dies Irae and a haunting string tone in the closing Requiem Aeternam.<\/p>\n

Those qualities also contributed to a gripping performance of the Vaughan Williams Fourth Symphony. Composed on the eve of World War II, it is often taken as the composer\u2019s comment on the tensions of the time, though he denied that. Whatever inspired it, the symphony is an angry, sharp-edged work \u2014 Mr. Kalmar, in his opening comments, described it as rude \u2014 and the orchestra played it with a furious, incendiary energy that made it the perfect ending for this pained, thought-provoking program.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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

  As we were getting ready to deplane in Portland, people were whipping out their various smart devices, and the news came quickly: the New York Times review was an unabashed rave. Here it is, written by Allan Kozinn, in its entirety: It is hard to believe that the Oregon Symphony had never performed in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":303,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_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},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[148,2],"tags":[2679,2373,2556,2664,3668,160],"class_list":["post-6419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-appreciations","category-the-orchestra-world","tag-allan-kozinn","tag-carnegie-hall","tag-debut","tag-new-york-times","tag-oregon-symphony","tag-review"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-1Fx","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6423,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2011\/05\/14\/an-error-of-attribution\/","url_meta":{"origin":6419,"position":0},"title":"an error of attribution?","author":"Charles Noble","date":"May 14, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Many people, both within the Oregon Symphony 'family' and in the public at large have commented both publicly and privately that they were mystified by a paragraph in the otherwise glowing review of the Oregon Symphony's Carnegie Hall debut in today's New York Times. Music critic Allan Kozinn wrote\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":6269,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2011\/05\/01\/oregon-symphony-in-nytimes\/","url_meta":{"origin":6419,"position":1},"title":"oregon symphony in nytimes","author":"Charles Noble","date":"May 1, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Pick up a print copy of the New York Times today, and you'll see a photo of our very own OSO trumpet and low brass section on the front page of the Arts section as part of an article about the Spring for Music Festival at Carnegie Hall in\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":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/Spring-for-Music-Festival-to-Open-at-Carnegie-Hall-NYTimes.com_-e1304273825868.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6323,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2011\/05\/06\/more-coverage-for-carnegie-visit\/","url_meta":{"origin":6419,"position":2},"title":"more coverage for carnegie visit","author":"Charles Noble","date":"May 6, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 The New York Times' music critic James Oestreich has written an article today about the Spring for Music Festival, which is presenting the Oregon Symphony and six other orchestras from around the US and Canada starting this evening with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Here's the excerpt about the Oregon\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":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/iStock_000005888672XSmall.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7838,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2012\/09\/10\/nytimes-takes-note-of-oregon-symphonys-2013-carnegie-program\/","url_meta":{"origin":6419,"position":3},"title":"nytimes takes note of oregon symphony’s 2013 carnegie program","author":"Charles Noble","date":"September 10, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"From the list of its most anticipated classical music events in today's New York Times: SPRING FOR MUSIC This annual festival of North American orchestras, conceived by top music professionals to encourage and reward adventurous programming, has in its first two seasons effectively filled what it has shown to be\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":2311,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/04\/09\/a-few-more-carnegie-details\/","url_meta":{"origin":6419,"position":4},"title":"a few more carnegie details","author":"Charles Noble","date":"April 9, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"The OSO's press release: Apr. 9, 2009 BOUND FOR THE BIG APPLE: OREGON SYMPHONY WILL PLAY CARNEGIE HALL IN 2011 (PORTLAND, Ore.) - For the first time in its history, the Oregon Symphony will travel cross country in spring 2011 to perform a concert at music's most prestigious venue, Carnegie\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"carnegie hall stage entrance","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/06\/img_8304.thumbnail.JPG?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6402,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2011\/05\/13\/yeah-we-rock\/","url_meta":{"origin":6419,"position":5},"title":"yeah, we rock","author":"Charles Noble","date":"May 13, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 There's not much more to say, other than that Alex Ross, the music writer for The New Yorker tweeted after hearing our concert tonight: Triumphant Carnegie debut for the Oregon Symphony -- best of Spring for Music so far. Eloquent Sylvan, explosive Vaughan Williams. UPDATE 5\/13: David Stabler has\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":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/devil-fingers-stop-sign-300x169.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6419","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=6419"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6419\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}