{"id":8219,"date":"2013-01-27T10:48:54","date_gmt":"2013-01-27T18:48:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/?p=8219"},"modified":"2013-01-27T10:48:54","modified_gmt":"2013-01-27T18:48:54","slug":"strange-things-are-afoot-at-the-circle-k","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2013\/01\/27\/strange-things-are-afoot-at-the-circle-k\/","title":{"rendered":"strange things are afoot at the circle k"},"content":{"rendered":"<blockquote><p>Bogus. Heinous. Most non-triumphant. Ah, Ted, don&#8217;t be dead, dude. &#8211; Bill S. Preston, Esq.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Last night was the first of our classical series concerts for this weekend. It&#8217;s a great program, one that everyone in the orchestra is pretty stoked about. Rehearsals had gone well, everyone seemed to be having a good time.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, this should have rung warning bells in everyone&#8217;s heads immediately.<\/p>\n<p>Everything in the Mozart Serenade &#8220;Posthorn&#8221; seemed to be a bit off kilter. Not bad, but not great, either. There were some interesting moments in each of the minuets (always mentally difficult to navigate, especially when there are two of them, one of which starts with an upbeat, the other which does not, as is the case in this Serenade), and some truly interesting moments revolving around which pitch level the orchestra actually tunes and plays to &#8211; part of the orchestra voting for A=440, the other for A=445. In spite of this, however, it was wonderful to have to apply one&#8217;s concentration over such a span of time (45 minutes) to such wonderful music. The winds truly own the day in this piece, and special recognition must go to the principal winds &#8211; Jessica Sindell, flute; Martin Hebert, oboe; and Carin Miller, bassoon; for their many beautiful solo contributions.<\/p>\n<p>The second half seemed to go a bit better, but it&#8217;s an exhausting half to play, since we joined the Strauss <em>Death and Transfiguration<\/em> and <em>Four Last Songs<\/em> without pause.<\/p>\n<p>The D&amp;T went well, with some spectacular playing by the winds and brass (and the strings &#8211; ok, we all played pretty well). In particular, the last wind chord was phenomenal &#8211; perfectly balanced and voiced, and absolutely in tune, like a giant, and incredibly soft, pipe organ chord.<\/p>\n<p>Soprano Amber Wagner was tremendous in the songs, with ample power and sensitivity that produced chills down my spine. Concertmaster Sarah Kwak provided her own subtle fireworks with her two gorgeous solos in the <em>Bein Schlafengehen<\/em> and <em>Im Abendrot<\/em> songs. As one colleague noted &#8220;her solos are always sick&#8221;.<\/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\/0QQl3KGqWZw?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","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bogus. Heinous. Most non-triumphant. Ah, Ted, don&#8217;t be dead, dude. &#8211; Bill S. Preston, Esq. Last night was the first of our classical series concerts for this weekend. It&#8217;s a great program, one that everyone in the orchestra is pretty stoked about. Rehearsals had gone well, everyone seemed to be having a good time. Of [&hellip;]<\/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":true,"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":[2400,3075,3197,2690,3668,3203,3246],"class_list":["post-8219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-appreciations","category-the-orchestra-world","tag-carlos-kalmar","tag-death-and-transfiguration","tag-four-last-songs","tag-mozart","tag-oregon-symphony","tag-posthorn-serenade","tag-strauss"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-28z","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8031,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2012\/11\/20\/strauss-mozart-posthorns-and-end-of-life-issues\/","url_meta":{"origin":8219,"position":0},"title":"strauss, mozart, posthorns, and end of life issues","author":"Charles Noble","date":"November 20, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm working on the program notes for the Oregon Symphony's January 26-28, 2013 concerts, which will be a series you won't want to miss. The first half is given to Mozart's magnificent Serenade No. 9 in D major, K. 320 \"The Posthorn\". Now, with a nickname like that, you'd expect\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;recordings&quot;","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\/2012\/11\/strauss-300x227.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8153,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2013\/01\/21\/notes-for-the-end\/","url_meta":{"origin":8219,"position":1},"title":"notes for the end","author":"Charles Noble","date":"January 21, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"This week we tackle two of my favorite pieces for orchestra ever written. Both are by Richard Strauss. They are his tone poem Death and Transfiguration (Tod und Verkl\u00e4rung), and his Four Last Songs. I wrote the program notes for the performances, but they had to be cut a bit\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;appreciation&quot;","block_context":{"text":"appreciation","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/appreciations\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"jeffrey work, trumpet","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/05\/jeffreyworkphoto.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8175,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2013\/01\/23\/recordings-for-this-weeks-concert\/","url_meta":{"origin":8219,"position":2},"title":"recordings for this week&#8217;s concert","author":"Charles Noble","date":"January 23, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"While I'm not a reviewer of recordings, I do have some recordings that I do especially like. This week's program of works by Mozart and Richard Strauss is one of my favorite of this season, and so I want to share some of my favorite recordings of the week's program\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;recordings&quot;","block_context":{"text":"recordings","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/recordings-music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"strauss-lott","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/strauss-lott.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13134,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2014\/01\/01\/2013-playlist\/","url_meta":{"origin":8219,"position":3},"title":"2013 playlist","author":"Charles Noble","date":"January 1, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"This is as exhaustive as I can make it, but I've certainly missed some things by accident, and omitted others on purpose. It's been that kind of year. Here's to more great music in 2014! * = first time performed by me Chamber Music Bart\u00f3k Quartet No. 1* Britten Quartet\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;chamber music&quot;","block_context":{"text":"chamber music","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/chamber-music\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5528,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2010\/11\/05\/portland-youth-philharmonic-concert-saturday\/","url_meta":{"origin":8219,"position":4},"title":"portland youth philharmonic concert saturday","author":"Charles Noble","date":"November 5, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm sad that I'm going to miss this concert - the season opener for the Portland Youth Philharmonic - at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall Saturday night.\u00a0 For one thing, it's an all-American concert - a relative rarity in concert halls these days.\u00a0 In addition, it's an opportunity to hear\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":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/walkingColor5x7-285x400.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":927,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/04\/16\/a-great-bench\/","url_meta":{"origin":8219,"position":5},"title":"a great bench","author":"Charles Noble","date":"April 16, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"In the sporting world, if you've got depth on your team, then you've got a \"great bench\". Supporting players that can come in at a moment's notice and make a crucial difference when one of your first string players is unable to play. Here at the Oregon Symphony it's been\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;conducting&quot;","block_context":{"text":"conducting","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/conducting\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Gregory Vajda - photo credit: Aaron Hewitt","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/03\/vajda-by-aaron-hewitt.thumbnail.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8219","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=8219"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8219\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}