{"id":7199,"date":"2011-12-31T12:44:26","date_gmt":"2011-12-31T20:44:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/?p=7199"},"modified":"2011-12-31T12:44:26","modified_gmt":"2011-12-31T20:44:26","slug":"my-top-musical-experiences-of-2011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2011\/12\/31\/my-top-musical-experiences-of-2011\/","title":{"rendered":"my top musical experiences of 2011"},"content":{"rendered":"

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.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The Oregon Symphony’s Carnegie Hall debut<\/strong>. It would be hard to top this one. I’d been to Carnegie before, but with Pink Martini, not my own orchestra, and being in that hallowed space with an orchestra playing at the top of its powers was an incredible experience. What comes to mind most immediately? The silken sound of the violins in John Adams’\u00a0The Wound Dresser<\/em>. Chills went up and down my spine. And hearing the bass section, even with just six of them, putting out a gorgeous sound that one never gets to hear in the Schnitz.<\/li>\n
  2. Cellist Alban Gerhardt playing Prokofiev’s Symphony-Concerto<\/em><\/strong>. It was a thrill just to hear this piece live, it’s so seldom performed. And to hear it played with such mastery and control as Alban brought to it, it was hair-raisingly good.<\/li>\n
  3. The Arnica String Quartet playing music of Benjamin Britten and Daniel Ott<\/strong>. This was undoubtedly the most difficult concert I’ve ever played in my life. But, it was also one of the most rewarding. Exploring the music of two composers side by side with my colleagues in the quartet, plus pianist Susan Dewitt Smith, was an amazing experience.<\/li>\n
  4. Yo-Yo Ma playing Osvaldo Golijov’s Azul<\/em> with the Oregon Bach Festival<\/strong>. Another life-altering musical experience courtesy of Mr. Ma. Golijov’s piece is a stunner (if also stunningly expensive to produce) with its quartet of obligato instrumentalists (including hyper-accordion) and a super-star soloist. A deeply spiritual experience for everyone that was at the Hult Center that evening.<\/li>\n
  5. Emanuel Ax playing Brahms’ Second Piano Concerto<\/strong>. It wasn’t just Ax’s brilliant and masterly playing of the Brahms that was so special, it was his deeply generous encore after the Saturday evening performance of Schumann with principal cellist Nancy Ives. It proved that one need not be a jerk to be one of the world’s best.<\/li>\n
  6. Brahms’ German Requiem<\/em> with the Oregon Bach Festival and Helmuth Rilling<\/strong>. A crowning spiritual achievement. Rilling had such perfect pacing and control of this sprawling masterpiece that it just existed<\/em> as though it were meant to be this way from its moment of creation. The chorus and soloists were all magnificent, and Rilling proved that he is a master of the orchestral-choral repertoire.<\/li>\n
  7. Karen Gomyo plays the Beethoven Violin Concerto, and Nielsen’s Fourth Symphony<\/strong>. The Beethoven is the summit of the repertoire for the violin, and Karen Gomyo more than met its considerable challenges. She gave a performance full of fire and ice, passion and concentration. Carl Nielsen’s The Inextinguishable<\/em> proved what a virtuoso instrument the Oregon Symphony has become, with especially solid contributions from timpanists Jonathan Greeney and Niel DePonte and our reliably awesome brass section.<\/li>\n
  8. Conductor Michael Francis pinch hits for Alondro de la Parra<\/strong>. Never before at the Oregon Symphony has an unknown (and young) conductor come in to rescue a concert with such grace and aplomb as Mr. Francis. With just days notice he came with performance ready interpretations and everyone’s name in the orchestra memorized. And he did it again a month later.<\/li>\n
  9. Storm Large debuts with the Oregon Symphony<\/strong>. Storm literally took us by storm. She looks the way she does, but that belies incredible smarts and musical dedication. She sings in tune and with fully developed musical instincts. Keep an eye on her – she’s going places, and who knows where she’ll end up.<\/li>\n
  10. Yuja Wang debuts with the Oregon Symphony<\/strong>. She didn’t wear her famous orange mini-dress, but she came loaded for bear to play Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto with ferocity and delicacy all in one concentrated package.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    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 Carnegie before, but with Pink […]<\/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":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-orchestra-world"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-1S7","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6394,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2011\/05\/12\/rehearsing-in-carnegie\/","url_meta":{"origin":7199,"position":0},"title":"rehearsing in carnegie","author":"Charles Noble","date":"May 12, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Just got back to the hotel after a two-hour rehearsal on the great Carnegie stage. There's a lot to talk about, lots of impressions, but first, I'll share with you my experience of being reunited with my viola for the first time since last Sunday afternoon, as it was\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\/IMG_7536-599x449.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/IMG_7536-599x449.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/IMG_7536-599x449.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":12639,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2013\/05\/06\/oregon-symphony-creates-phenomenon-in-seattle\/","url_meta":{"origin":7199,"position":1},"title":"oregon symphony creates phenomenon in seattle","author":"Charles Noble","date":"May 6, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"This past Friday, the Oregon Symphony made its debut in Seattle's Benaroya Hall (home of the Seattle Symphony, who presented the concert). As Carlos remarked from the podium, it only took us 117 years to get to Seattle. This is not such a stretch when you take the region's lamentable\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":"benaroya","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/benaroya.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/benaroya.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/benaroya.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6413,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2011\/05\/13\/the-morning-after\/","url_meta":{"origin":7199,"position":2},"title":"the morning after","author":"Charles Noble","date":"May 13, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Needless to say, I overslept. There was a lovely and generous bagel and lox breakfast scheduled at the Strand bookstore, an NYC institution, which is owned by the wife of Senator Ron Wyden, Nancy Bass. But, I missed it. After the last massive chord of the RVW Fourth Symphony\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":7547,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2012\/04\/27\/outside-in\/","url_meta":{"origin":7199,"position":3},"title":"outside in","author":"Charles Noble","date":"April 27, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"This past Thursday night, the Oregon Symphony was broadcast as part of a new series of local and web-streamed broadcasts on our local public classical music station, allclassical.org. In the past we'd had a series of broadcasts on the local NPR station, which were then shifted over to the home\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":6134,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2011\/04\/11\/random-thoughts-about-orchestral-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":7199,"position":4},"title":"random thoughts about orchestral life","author":"Charles Noble","date":"April 11, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Here are ten random thoughts on life in an orchestra. A music director need not live year round in their place of employment to be effective. Really. If they are managed well when they're in town, they'll seem to be everywhere at once, and everyone who wants a piece of\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":12479,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2013\/02\/18\/un-complementary\/","url_meta":{"origin":7199,"position":5},"title":"un-complementary","author":"Charles Noble","date":"February 18, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I was initially happy to notice this line in a recent New York Times review of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra at Carnegie Hall: To a large extent, the power behind these surges comes from the lower string section and the trombones, who in the Bruckner symphony, in particular, seemed to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "labor issues"","block_context":{"text":"labor issues","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/labor-issues\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7199","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=7199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7199\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}