{"id":6513,"date":"2011-05-30T00:33:07","date_gmt":"2011-05-30T07:33:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/?p=6513"},"modified":"2013-02-07T20:46:25","modified_gmt":"2013-02-08T04:46:25","slug":"alex-ross-on-the-oregon-symphony-at-carnegie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2011\/05\/30\/alex-ross-on-the-oregon-symphony-at-carnegie\/","title":{"rendered":"alex ross on the oregon symphony at carnegie"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

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Illustration of Carlos Kalmar by Philip Burke - The New Yorker<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This week’s issue of the New Yorker<\/em> has music critic and arts writer Alex Ross’ thoughts<\/a> on the Spring for Music Festival and the Oregon Symphony’s program and performance at Carnegie Hall earlier this month. The verdict? He liked it. A lot. Here’s an excerpt from the article:<\/p>\n

….\u201dGreat programs create a kind of invisible drama, establishing narrative connections between pieces that may or may not be directly related. They bring forth what E.T.A. Hoffmann, in his 1813 essay \u201cBeethoven\u2019s Instrumental Music\u201d, calls \u201can unknown realm, a world quite separate from the outer sensual world\u201d.<\/p>\n

Such a realm seemed to materialize during a Spring for Music concert by the Oregon Symphony \u2013 the highlight of the festival and one of the most gripping events of the current season.\u00a0 Carlos Kalmar, a Uruguayan conductor of Austrian descent, who has been leading the Oregon since 2003, devised a program titled \u201cMusic for a Time of War.\u201d He opened with Ives\u2019 mystical miniature \u201cThe Unanswered Question\u201d, whose unspecified query to the universe was here interpreted as \u201cWhy do people fight?\u201d\u00a0 Then the ever-noble baritone Sanford Sylvan joined the orchestra to sing John Adams\u2019s 1988 piece \u201cThe Wound-Dresser\u201d, a setting of one of Walt Whitman\u2019s odes to injured Civil War soldiers.\u00a0 (The work, which includes Whitman\u2019s famous line \u201cMany a soldier\u2019s kiss dwells on these bearded lips,\u201d was intended partly as an AIDS memorial.)\u00a0 The final piece before intermission was Britten\u2019s \u201cSinfonia da Requiem\u201d, a pacifist lament written in the early years of the Second World War.\u00a0 The second half of the concert was devoted to Vaughan Williams\u2019s Fourth Symphony, a peculiarly violent statement by a composer popularly associated with pastoral moods.<\/p>\n

Kalmar heightened his scenario by presenting the first three pieces attacca \u2013 that is, without pause.\u00a0 The Whitman of \u201cThe Wound-Dresser\u201d walked in from the Ivesian mist; the brutal timpani strokes that open Britten\u2019s symphony fell like cannon-balls on the hospital ward.\u00a0 The orchestra fleshed out the concept with playing of controlled intensity, from the first hushed string chord of the Ives onward.\u00a0 A sense of fragile resolution at the end of the Britten was torn asunder by the scouring dissonances of the Vaughan Williams, which is from the early nineteen-thirties and anticipates horrors to come.\u00a0 The Oregonians\u2019 furious rendition of that symphony would have been impressive in any context, but as the capstone to a brilliantly worked-out program it had shattering force.\u00a0 The Oregon violist Charles Noble did not exaggerate when he wrote on his blog, \u201cWe quite frankly nearly blew the roof off the place.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2026\u2026Let\u2019s hope that future editions of Spring for Music \u2013 the festival will run at least through 2013 \u2013 spread the news that North America possesses dozens of excellent orchestras, and that on a good night any of them can outclass the so-called Big Five.\u00a0 The Oregonians proved the point by thoroughly upstaging the New York Philharmonic, which had played an unremarkable gala program at Carnegie a few nights earlier.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  This week’s issue of the New Yorker has music critic and arts writer Alex Ross’ thoughts on the Spring for Music Festival and the Oregon Symphony’s program and performance at Carnegie Hall earlier this month. The verdict? He liked it. A lot. Here’s an excerpt from the article: ….\u201dGreat programs create a kind of […]<\/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_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_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":[148,115,1045,2],"tags":[2529,2382,2542,2400,2373,3668,160,2665,2696],"class_list":["post-6513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-appreciations","category-music","category-programming-music","category-the-orchestra-world","tag-2529","tag-alex-ross","tag-article","tag-carlos-kalmar","tag-carnegie-hall","tag-oregon-symphony","tag-review","tag-spring-for-music-festival","tag-the-new-yorker"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-1H3","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6402,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2011\/05\/13\/yeah-we-rock\/","url_meta":{"origin":6513,"position":0},"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":[]},{"id":7838,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2012\/09\/10\/nytimes-takes-note-of-oregon-symphonys-2013-carnegie-program\/","url_meta":{"origin":6513,"position":1},"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":6323,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2011\/05\/06\/more-coverage-for-carnegie-visit\/","url_meta":{"origin":6513,"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":2311,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/04\/09\/a-few-more-carnegie-details\/","url_meta":{"origin":6513,"position":3},"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":6294,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2011\/05\/04\/alex-ross-looking-forward-to-oso-program-at-carnegie\/","url_meta":{"origin":6513,"position":4},"title":"alex ross looking forward to oso program at carnegie","author":"Charles Noble","date":"May 4, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"From Alex's blog today: Spring for Music, which Tony Tommasini discussed in last Sunday's New York Times, begins on Friday. Tickets are at most $25; WQXR will broadcast all the concerts live. I'm particularly looking forward to the Oregon Symphony's war-torn program of Ives's Unanswered Question, John Adams's The Wound-Dresser\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "bloggers"","block_context":{"text":"bloggers","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/bloggers\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6934,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2011\/09\/29\/oregon-symphony-carnegie-program-recording\/","url_meta":{"origin":6513,"position":5},"title":"oregon symphony carnegie program recording","author":"Charles Noble","date":"September 29, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The Oregon Symphony's recording (made live in Portland from two performances at Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall) of its acclaimed Carnegie Hall program is up for pre-order on Amazon.com. It's being released for shipment on October 25th. The Pentatone label is producing the disc, and they are known for their extraordinary\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "recordings"","block_context":{"text":"recordings","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/recordings-music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/41e3LySuTxL._SL500_AA300_.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6513","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=6513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6513\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}