Today's Birthdays

Caroline Miolan‑Carvalho (1827-1895)
Ernest John Moeran (1894-1950)
Silvestre Revueltas (1899-1940)
Nathan Milstein (1904-1992)
Jule Styne (1925-1994)
Jaap Schröder (1925-2020)
Odetta (1930-2008)
Calvin Hampton (1938-1984)
Stephen Cleobury (1948)
Donna Summer (1948-2012)
Jennifer Higdon (1962)

and

Henri Matisse (1869-1954)
Nicholas Sparks (1965)
Junot Díaz (1968)

Today's Birthdays

William Croft (1678-1727)
André Messager (1853-1929)
Joseph Bohuslav Foerster (1859-1951)
Alfred Einstein (1880-1952)
Dmitri Kabalevsky (1904-1987)
Paul Bowles (1910-1999)
Sir David Willcocks (1919-2015)
Bo Diddley (1928-2008)
Bruno Canino (1935)
June Anderson (1950)
Stephen Jaffe (1954)
Antonio Pappano (1959)

and

Theodor Fontane (1819-1898)
Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)
Sara Lidman (1923-2004)

And from the Composers Datebook:

On this day in 1879 was the premiere of Gilbert & Sullivan's operetta "The Pirates of Penzance," in Paignton at the Royal Bijou (partial preview to insure British copyright). The first full performance of the new work occurred at the Fifth Avenue Theater in New York City the following day, with Sullivan conducting and Gilbert in attendance. The New York premiere was arranged to register American copyright of the new work and pre-empt unauthorized "pirate" productions in the U.S.

Today's Birthdays

Tomás Bretón (1850-1923)
Pablo Casals (1876-1973)
Lionel Tertis (1876-1975)
Yves Nat (1890-1956)
Peggy Glanville-Hicks (1912-1990)
Billy Tipton (1914-1989)

and

William Gaddis (1922-1998)

And from the Composers Datebook:

On this day in 1903 took place the first concert by the Seattle Symphony at Christensen's Hall in Seattle under the baton of violinist Harry F. West. The program includes music of Massenet, Bruch, Schubert and Rossini.

Today's Birthdays

Christian Cannabich (1731-1798)
Julius Rietz (1812-1877)
Benjamin Johnson Lang (1837-1909)
Francesco Tamagno (1850-1905)
Roger Sessions (1896-1985)
Earl "Fatha" Hines (1905-1983)
Johnny Otis (1921-2012)
Nigel Kennedy (1956)
Michel Petrucciani (1962-1999)

and

Charles Portis (1933-2020)

Today's Birthdays

Sir John Goss (1800-1880)
Tito Schipa (1888-1965)
Marlene Dietrich (1904-1992)
Oscar Levant (1906-1972)

and

Johannes Kepler (1571-1630)
Charles Olson (1910-1970)
Wilfrid Sheed (1930-2011)
Chris Abani (1966)
Sarah Vowell (1969)

And from the Composers Datebook:

On this day in 1841, Franz Liszt performs at the Singakademie in Berlin. Women swooned and the general audience reacts with such uncontrolled enthusiasm that Heinrich Heine coins the term "Lisztomania" to describe their fanatical devotion to the performer, which soon swept through most of Europe.

Today's Birthdays

Maurice Gendron (1920-1990)
Thea King (1925-2007)
Earle Brown (1926-2002)
Phil Specter (1940-2021)
Wayland Rogers (1941)
Harry Christophers (1953)
Andre-Michel Schub (1953)
Gabriella Smith (1991)

and

Thomas Gray (1716-1771)
Henry Miller (1891-1980)
Jean Toomer (1894-1867)
Juan Felipe Herrera (1948)
David Sedaris (1958)

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

 

Today's Birthdays

Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625)
Jean‑Joseph de Mondonville (1711-1772)
Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint‑George (1745-1799)
Cosima Wagner (1837-1930)
Lina Cavalieri (1874-1944)
Giuseppe de Luca (1876-1950)
Gladys Swarthout (1900-1969)
Cab Calloway (1907-1994)
Noël Lee (1924-2013)
Noel Redding (1945-2003)
Jon Kimura Parker (1959)
Ian Bostridge (1964)

and

Dorothy Wordsworth (1771-1855)
Clara Barton (1821-1912)
Rod Serling (1924-1975)

Today's Birthdays

Peter Cornelius (1824-1874)
Nikolai Roslavets (1881-1944)
Lucrezia Bori (1887-1960)
Charles Wakefield Cadman (1881-1946)
Sir Vivian Dunn (1908-1995)
Teresa Stich-Randall (1927-2007)
Mauricio Kagel (1931-2008)
Arnold Östman (1939)
Libby Larsen (1950)
Hans-Jürgen von Bose (1953)
Vasyl Slipak (1974-2016)

and

Matthew Arnold (1822-1888)
Anthony Fauci (1940)
Dana Gioia (1950)

and from The Writer's Almanac

Today is Christmas Eve. One of the best modern Christmas Eve stories is a true one, and it happened in 1914, in the trenches of World War I. The “war to end all wars” was raging, but German and British soldiers had been engaging in unofficial ceasefires since mid-December. The British High Command was alarmed, and warned officers that fraternization across enemy lines might result in a decreased desire to fight. On the German side, Christmas trees were trucked in and candles lit, and on that Christmas Eve in 1914, strains of Stille Nacht — “Silent Night” — reached the ears of British soldiers. They joined in, and both sides raised candles and lanterns up above their parapets. When the song was done, a German soldier called out, “Tomorrow is Christmas; if you don’t fight, we won’t.”

The next day dawned without the sound of gunfire. The Germans sent over some beer, and the Brits sent plum pudding. Enemies met in no man’s land, exchanging handshakes and small gifts. Someone kicked in a soccer ball, and a chaotic match ensued. Details about this legendary football match vary, and no one knows for sure exactly where it took place, but everyone agrees that the Germans won by a score of three to two.

At 8:30 a.m. on December 26, after one last Christmas greeting, hostilities resumed. But the story is still told, in a thousand different versions from up and down the Western Front, more than a century later.

On Christmas Eve in 1906, the first radio program was broadcast. Canadian-born Professor Reginald Aubrey Fessenden sent his signals from the 420-foot radio tower of the National Electric Signaling Company, at Brant Rock on the Massachusetts seacoast. Fessenden opened the program by playing “O Holy Night” on the violin. Later he recited verses from the Gospel of St. Luke, then broadcast a gramophone version of Handel’s “Largo.” His signal was received up to five miles away.

And from the Composers Datebook:

On this day in 1920, the last operatic appearance ever of the Italian tenor Enrico Caruso took place in an evening performance of Halevy's "La Juive" (The Jewess) at the old Metropolitan Opera in New York City. Caruso would die in Naples (where he made his operatic debut on March 15, 1895) at the age of 48 on August 2, 1921.

Today's Birthdays

Joseph Boismortier (1689-1755)
Ross Lee Finney (1906-1997)
Claudio Scimone (1934-2018)
Ross Edwards (1943)
Edita Gruberová (1946-2021)
Elise Kermani (1960)
Han-Na Chang (1982)

and

Harriet Monroe (1860-1936)
Norman Maclean (1902–1990)
Robert Bly (1926-2021)
Carol Ann Duffy (1955)

And from the Composers Datebook:

On this day in 1989, Leonard Bernstein led the first of two public performances of Beethoven's Ninth at the Philharmonie in West Berlin, with an international orchestra assembled to celebrate the fall of the Berlin Wall. The second performance occurred on December 25 at the Schauspielhaus in East Berlin

Today's Birthdays

Carl Friedrich Abel (1723-1787)
Giovanni Bottesini (1821-1889)
Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924)
Franz Schmidt (1874-1939)
Edgard Varèse(1883-1965)
Joseph Deems Taylor (1885-1966)
Alan Bush (1900-1995)
Andre Kostelanetz (1901-1980)
David Leisner (1953)
Jean Rigby (1954)
Zhou Tian (1981)

and

Jean Racine (1639-1699)
Kenneth Rexroth (1905-1982)
Donald Harrington (1935-2009)

Today's Birthdays

Zdeněk Fibich (1850-1900)
André Turp (1925-1991)
Frank Zappa (1940-1993)
Roger Lasher Nortman (1941)
Michael Tilson Thomas (1944)
András Schiff (1953)
Kim Cascone (1955)
Thomas Randle (1958)
Jonathan Cole (1970)

and

Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881)
Maud Gonne (1866-1953)
Edward Hoagland (1932)

Today's Birthdays

Henry Hadley (1871-1937)
Vagn Holmboe (1909-1996)
Gordon Getty (1933)
John Harbison (1938)
Roger Woodward (1942)
Mitsuko Uchida (1948)
Hobart Earler (1960)

and

Elizabeth Benedict (1954)
Sandra Cisneros (1954)
Nalo Hopkinson (1960)

Today's Birthdays

Louis‑Nicolas Clérambault (1676-1749) George Frederick Bristow (1825-1898) Fritz Reiner (1885-1963)
Paul Dessau (1894-1979)
Edith Piaf (1915-1963)
Dalton Baldwin (1931-2019)
Phil Ochs (1940-1976)
William Christie (1944)
Marianne Faithfull (1946)
Olaf Bär (1957)
Steven Esserlis (1958)
Rebecca Saunders (1967)

and

Italo Svevo (1861-1928)
Constance Garnett (1861-1946)

and from The Writer's Almanac:

It’s the birthday of French chanteuse Édith Piaf (1915). Piaf was born Édith Giovanna Gassion in Belleville, on the outskirts of Paris. Her mother was a café singer and a drug addict, and her father was a street performer who specialized in acrobatics and contortionism. Neither of them particularly cared for Piaf, so she mostly grew up with her grandmother, who ran a brothel. Piaf was looked after by prostitutes and later claimed that she was blind from the ages of three to seven because of keratitis, or malnutrition, though this was never proved.

Her father reclaimed her when she was nine and Piaf began singing with him on street corners until he abandoned her again. She lived in shoddy hotel rooms in the red-light district of Paris and sang in a seedy café called Lulu’s, making friends with pimps, hookers, lowlifes, and gamblers, until she was discovered by an older man named Louis Leplée.

Leplée ran a nightclub off the Champs-Élysées. He renamed Piaf La Môme Piaf, “The Little Sparrow,” dressed her entirely in black, and set her loose on the stage. Piaf was a hit, and recorded two albums in one year, becoming one of the most popular performers in France during World War II.

Édith Piaf died on the French Riviera at the age of 47. More than 40,000 people came to her funeral procession. Soviet astronomer Lyudmila Karachkina named a small planet after Piaf; it’s called 3772 Piaf. Her songs have been covered by Madonna, Grace Jones, and even Donna Summer.

Édith Piaf’s last words were, “Every damn thing you do in this life, you have to pay for.”

Review: VSO chamber music with Orli Shaham

It’s that time of year for musicians to play a lot of Christmas music and other festive pieces, but there’s room for something more than the typical holiday fair. That’s what the Vancouver Symphony delivered in its chamber music concert (December 13), sponsored by Ann Bardacke and David Wolf, which featured stellar pianist Orli Shaham and musicians from the orchestra playing works by Shostakovich, Mozart, and Poulenc at First Presbyterian Church.

Shaham, VSO’s Artist-in-Residence, teaches piano and chamber music at The Juilliard School, and has served on the juries of the Cliburn and Honens International Piano Competitions. Shaham co-hosts “From the Top” on National Public Radio, and her discography includes all six of Mozart’s piano sonatas on the Canary Classics label. She has appeared with the VSO several times, most recently in August at the Vancouver Arts and Music Festival, playing Rachmaninoff’s “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.”

In her introductory remarks to Shostakovich’s “Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor,” Shaham concisely described each of its four movements and included historical context as well. We learned that Shostakovich wrote the piece in 1944 in memory of his friend Ivan Sollertinsky, who was a musicologist, music critic, and polymath, and that the final movement, in particular, delved into Jewish folk melodies – perhaps as a defiance of the Nazis who forced Jews to dance by their own graves.

Collaborating with violinist Eva Richey (VSO’s concertmaster) and cellist Jonah Thomas, Shaham and her colleagues delved into the Shostakovich with passionate earnestness. The piece started with a haunting eeriness, because the notes for the cellos were extremely high, while the violin sounded from its middle to second was much faster and briefer – with periodic sonic lunges. The musicians galloped ahead impressively right up to the final note. Shaham laid down a slow passacaglia in the third movement, which evoked a solemn and sad atmosphere. And it remained serious even after the pizzicato passage for the strings and the quickening tempo. The musicians conveyed a sense of depth and tragedy in the final movement.

The second movement was much faster and briefer – with periodic sonic lunges. The musicians galloped ahead impressively right up to the final note. Shaham laid down a slow passacaglia in the third movement, which evoked a solemn and sad atmosphere. And it remained serious even after the pizzicato passage for the strings and the quickening tempo. The musicians conveyed a sense of depth and tragedy in the final movement.

The group maintained a terrific balance throughout the Shostakovich. Richey and Thomas deftly conquered a lot of tricky passages, and Shaham was the epitome of a chamber musician, listening to her collaborators while playing her part with the highest level of musicality.

Before playing Mozart’s “Sonata for Piano and Violin No. 21 in E minor”, Shaham remarked on how the piece, (completed in 1778) remains one of few that Mozart wrote in a minor key. She also mentioned that scholars thought that it was written in response to the death of Mozart’s mother, but that more recent evidence has led some to think that he wrote or at least began it before is mother died.

Shaham, who has a real affinity for Mozart, teamed up with Brandon Buckmaster to create an elegant and lovely performance of the sonata. They displayed excellent dynamics throughout, exchanging phrases seamlessly and with refinement. The beautiful melody in the second movement was strong and soothing at the same time, which made it all the more satisfying to hear.

In describing Poulenc’s “Sextet for Piano and Winds,” Shaham noted how it was influenced by circus music, and it had a fair amount of quirky humor. The sextet (flutist Rachel Rencher, clarinetist Igor Shakhman, bassoonist Margaret McShea, hornist Dan Partridge, oboist Alan Juza, and pianist Shaham), got into the spirit of the piece, but it was more difficult for me to grasp because the heating system came on and was fairly loud.

The sextet, which Poulenc finished in 1932 and revised in 1939) offered a lot of switching back and forth from jaunty episodes (like the opening) to plaintive passages to rhapsodic sections to elegant sequences, and even segments in which phrases seemed to wander all over the place. After an interjection of seriousness, the piece concluded with an emphatic, majestic sound that almost gave it a triumphant feeling – which was the exact opposite from where it began, enhancing the eccentric quality of Poulenc’s music.

Shaham returns on May 19th for another chamber music program with musicians of the VSO, and it will also be held at First Presbyterian. The acoustics of the church are fairly good – as long as the heating system doesn’t kick in.

Today's Birthdays

Charles Wesley (1707-1788)
Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826)
Edward MacDowell (1860-1908)
Fletcher Henderson (1897-1952)
Rita Streich (1920-1987)
William Boughton (1948)
David Liptak (1949)
Christopher Theofanidis (1967)

and

Saki - H. H. Munro (1870-1916)
Paul Klee (1879-1940)
Christopher Fry (1907-2005)
Abe Burrows (1910-1985)

Today's Birthdays

Domenico Cimarosa (1749-1801)
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Arthur Fiedler (1894-1979)
Ray Noble (1903-1975)
Art Neville (1937)

and

John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892)
Ford Madox Ford (1873-1939)
William Safire (1929-2009)
John Kennedy Toole (1937-1969)

and from The Writer's Almanac:

It's the day that The Nutcracker ballet was performed for the first time in St. Petersburg, Russia (1892). Czar Alexander III, in the audience, loved the ballet, but the critics hated it. Tchaikovsky wrote that the opera that came before The Nutcracker "was evidently very well liked, the ballet not. ... The papers, as always, reviled me cruelly." Tchaikovsky died of less than a year later, before The Nutcracker became an international success.

Today's Birthdays

François Adrien Boieldieu (1775-1834)
Augusta Holmès (1847-1903)
Zoltán Kodály (1882-1967)
Turk Murphy (1915-1987)
Steve Allen (1921-2000)
Dame Thea King (1925-2007)
Alice Parker (1925)
Kenneth Gilbert (1931-2020)
Rodion Shchedrin (1932)
Philip Langridge (1939-2010)
Trevor Pinnock (1946)
Isabelle van Keulen (1966)

and

Jane Austin (1775-1817)
George Santayana (1863-1952)
Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944)
Sir Noel Coward (1899-1973)
Noël Coward (1899-1973)
V. S. Pritchett (1900-1997)

Today's Birthdays

Michel‑Richard Delalande (1657-1726)
Lotte Schöne (1891-1981)
Stan Kenton (1911-1979)
Ida Haendel (1924-2020)
Eddie Palmieri (1936)
Nigel Robson (1948)
Jan Latham-Koenig (1953)

and

Ludwig Lazarus Zamenhof (1859-1917)
Maxwell Anderson (1888-1959)
Freeman Dyson (1923-2020)
Friedensreich Hundertwasser (1928-2000)
Edna O'Brien (1930)

Today's Birthdays

Maria Agata Szymanowska (1789-1831)
Joseph Jongen (1873-1953)
Georges Thill (1897-1984)
Spike Jones (1911-1965)
Rosalyn Tureck (1914-2003)
Dame Ruth Railton (1915-2001)
Ron Nelson (1929)
Christopher Parkening (1947)
Thomas Albert (1948)
John Rawnsley (1949)

and

Shirley Jackson (1919-1965)
Amy Hempel (1951)

Today's Birthdays

Anna Milder-Hauptman (1785-1838)
Alexis de Castillon (1838-1873)
Josef Lhévinne (1874-1944)
Eleanor Robson Belmont (1879-1979)
Samuel Dushkin (1891-1976)
Victor Babin (1908-1972)
Alvin Curran (1938)

and

Mary Todd Lincoln (1818-1882)
Kenneth Patchen (1911-1972)
James Wright (1927-1980)
Lester Bangs (1948-1982)

And from the Composers Datebook:

On this day in 1836, at a musical soiree at Chopin's apartments in Paris, the female writer "George" Sand, determined to make a good impression with her host, arrives wearing white pantaloons and a scarlet sash (the colors of the Polish flag). Paris Opéra tenor Adolphe Nourit sings some Schubert songs, accompanied by Franz Liszt. Liszt and Chopin play Moschele's Sonata in Eb for piano four-hands.

Vancouver Symphony brightens packed house with festive music

You could practically feel the vibe at Skyview Concert Hall as long lines of patrons delayed the start of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra’s holiday pops concert (January 9). The packed house eagerly greeted music director Salvador Brotons and the orchestra, which spiced up its seasonal colors with splashes of red bow ties, ribbons, socks, scarfs, vests, and Santa hats. The festive spirit aptly fit the concert program, which offered selections from the world of animated films in the first half and Viennese favorites plus a little French ballet music in the second., setting a wonderful tone to close out the year.

The music-making took flight with a splendid performance of Vince Guaraldi’s “A Charlie Brown Christmas” in an arrangement by Davis Pugh. Augmented with a lively trap set, the orchestra immediately put the audience in a good mood with the jazzy, breezy sounds from the film. The sinewy strings deserved kudos for creating the swirls of falling snow – a magical winter scene.

The Concert Suite from Alan Silvestri’s music for “The Polar Express” in an arrangement by Jerry Brubaker featured a bombastic opening in the grand Hollywood tradition. The quickened pace of train ride heading to the North Pole propelled the piece forward, and it ended with a majestic blend from the brass and horns.

Wonderfully raspy trumpets and trombones accented “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” by Albert Hague and Theodore Geisel (arranged by Jerry Brubaker), and that gave the piece a smoky, jazz-club-like atmosphere. The strings excelled with the melodic line and principal trumpet, Bruce Dunn and the horns made the most of their exposed sections.

An arrangement of music from “Frozen” (written by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez) included foot stomping by the musicians, tricky licks for the trombones and horns, an anvil-like clang, sweet solos by concertmaster Eva Richey and Ann van Bever on the English horn. The best part came at the end with the sweeping rock beat of “Let it Go,” enhanced with a bit of glee from an electric guitar.

Switching things up a bit, the orchestra performed the world premiere of Kurt Rosenberg’s “Strolling Down Brighton Pier,” which featured the thrilling voice of baritone Anton Belov. The lyrics told of a young woman who would walk out to the beach of the seaside town, waiting for her lover, a military man, who would return home. The piece had a bit of nostalgia and poignancy, but it didn’t quite fit with the Christmas theme of the evening.

Belov and forces swept the audience into the Christmas spirit with a heartwarming rendition of Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas” in an arrangement by John Moss. Belov put a pillowy soft high note at the very end of the piece, which made it glow.

A tour of several seasonal tunes in Bruce Chase’s “Around the World at Christmas Time” rounded out the first half of the concert – with the brass choir putting a lot of verve in the final number, “Go Tell it on the Mountain.”

After intermission, the orchestra launched into Franz von Suppé’s “Morning, Noon, and Night in Vienna Overture” with vim and vigor. Principal cellist Dieter Ratzlaf provided an elegant contrast to the boisterous opening with his melancholic solo. That segued nicely to a mixture of effervescent Viennese waltzes and polkas.

Three selections from Leo Deibes “Coppélia” gave listeners a delightful taste of French ballet music. The brass got a tad too loud in the Prelude and Mazurka from Act I, but the robust running line for the principal trombonist Li Kuang was impressive. A highlight from the Entr’Acte and Waltz from Act II was the evocative playing of principal flutist Rachel Rencher, and the orchestra executed several sharp attacks in the final Waltz and Czardás.

The orchestra had a fun time with Johann Strauss Jr’s “Tristch-Tratch Polka,” especially when the players got to let out a “Hooo!” Strauss’s “Vienna Blood” also received a spirited performance with some well-turned dynamics.

The good mood continued with three encores, starting with Leroy Anderson’s frolicking “Sleigh Rode,” in which Dunn created an outstanding neighing sound at the very end of the piece. Strauss’s “Pizzicato Polka” featured an animated Brotons leading the plucking strings, and the concert concluded with Brotons guiding an enthusiastic audience to clap with gusto during Johann Strauss Sr’s “Radetzky March.” That capped off a festive evening with the local band.

PS: The concert on Sunday afternoon was sold out. Hmm… perhaps next year the VSO will add a third concert…

Today's Birthdays

Andrey Schulz‑Evler (1852-1905)
Kurt Atterberg (1887-1974)
Frank Sinatra (1915-1998)
Philip Ledger (1937-2012)
Donald Maxwell (1948)
Margaret Tan (1953)
Jaap van Zweden (1960)
David Horne (1970)
Evren Genis (1978)

and

Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880)
Edvard Munch (1863-1944)
John Osborne (1929-1994)

Today's Birthdays

Hector Berlioz (1803-1869)
Joseph Jongen (1873-1953)
Mieczyslaw Karlowicz (1876-1909)
Leo Ornstein (1893-2002)
Elliott Carter (1908-2012)
David Ashley White (1944)
Neil Mackie (1946)

and

Grace Paley (1922-2007)
Naguib Mahfouz (1911-2006)
Grace Paley (1922-2007)
Jim Harrison (1937-2016)
Thomas McGuane (1939)

and from the Composers Datebook:

On this day in 1918, Russian-born conductor Nikolai Sokoloff leads the first concert of the Cleveland Orchestra at Gray's Armory, presented as a benefit for St. Ann's Church. His program included Victor Herbert's "American Fantasy," Bizet's "Carmen" Suite, two movements of Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4, Liadov's "Enchanted Lake," and Liszt's "Les Préludes".

Today's Birthdays

César Franck (1822-1890)
Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992)
Morton Gould (1913-1996)
Sesto Bruscantini (1919-2003)
Nicholas Kynaston (1941)
Julianne Baird (1952)
Kathryn Stott (1958)
Sarah Chang (1980)

and

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)
Melvil Dewey (1851-1931)
Adolf Loos (1870-1933)

Today's Birthdays

Emile Waldteufel (1837-1915)
Joaquin Turina (1882-1949)
Conchita Supervia (1895-1936)
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf (1915-2006)
Dennis Eberhard (1943-2005)
Christopher Robson (1953)
Donny Osmond (1957)
Joshua Bell (1967)

and

John Milton (1608-1674)
Joel Chandler Harris (1848-1908)
Léonie Adams (1899-1988)
Ödön von Horváth (1901-1938)

From the Writer's Almanac:

Milton coined more than 600 words, including the adjectives dreary, flowery, jubilant, satanic, saintly, terrific, ethereal, sublime, impassive, unprincipled, dismissive, and feverish; as well as the nouns fragrance, adventurer, anarchy, and many more.

Today's Birthdays

Claude Balbastre (1724-1799)
Frantisek Xaver Dussek (1731-1799)
Jean Sibelius (1865-1957)
Manuel Ponce (1882-1948)
Bohuslav Martinů (1890-1959)
Gérard Souzay (1918-2004)
Moisei Vainberg (1919-1996)
James Galway (1939)

and

Horace (65-8 B.C.)
Diego Rivera (1886-1957)
James Thurber (1894-1961)
James Tate (1948)
Mary Gordon (1949
Bill Bryson (1951)

Today's Birthdays

Bernardo Pasquini (1637-1710)
Hermann Goetz (1840-1876)
Pietro Mascagni (1863-1945)
Ernst Toch (1887-1964)
Rudolf Friml (1879-1972)
Richard Franko Goldman (1910-1980)
Daniel Jones (1912-1993)
Helen Watts (1927-2009)
Harry Chapin (1942-1981)
Daniel Chorzempa (1944)
Tom Waits (1949)
Kathleen Kuhlmann (1950)
Krystian Zimerman (1956)

and

Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680)
Willa Cather (1873-1947)
Joyce Cary (1888-1957)
Noam Chomsky (1928)
Susan Isaacs (1943)

Review: Handel's Messiah with the Oregon Symphony

Sasha Cooke with Chistopher Allen directing the Oregon Symphony

The setup at the Oregon Symphony’s performance of Handel’s Messiah (December 2) was a bit odd. The the tenor and bass soloists took their seats at the extreme right-hand side of the stage of the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall while the mezzo-soprano and the soprano sat on the extreme left-hand side. That released them from the burden of sitting next to the conductor and staring into the audience for long periods of time since the oratorio is filled with many terrific chorus numbers. The soloists slowly and quietly walked to the front when it was time for them to sing. But it also meant that the men had to cross the entire length of the stage in order to exit before intermission and at the end of the piece. If you are going to buck tradition, then why not allow two male soloists exit by the nearest door? There was one just a few steps from where they were sitting. Oh well, maybe another day.

In any case, this rendition of “Handel’s Messiah” didn’t include every chorus and aria from the work but presented more selections from Part 1, which centers on the birth of Jesus, rather than from Parts 2 and 3, which reflect his death and resurrection. Since Christmas is nigh, the featured numbers worked very well, and gave a satisfactory representation of Handel’s masterpiece.

Guest conductor Christopher Allen, who received The Sir Georg Solti Conducting Award in 2017, shaped each movement superbly. His slowest tempi never dragged, and his fastest didn’t cause the chorus to garble the diction. The only glitch was a choppy transition into the final “and his burden is light” at the end of the first part.

The Portland State Chamber Choir, well-prepared by Ethan Sperry, sang with verve. The sopranos, altos, and tenor sections soared magnificently, but it was very challenging to hear the basses – even from my perch in the balcony on the bass side of the choir. For example, when they sang “For the mouth of the Lord” in the very first chorus, those words should have come across much more strongly. That was a problem throughout the evening.

Sasha Cooke, one of the great mezzo-sopranos of our time, turned in a jaw-dropping-beautiful performance in all of her solos. Her voice radiated warmth, clarity, and just the right amount of volume to reach every corner of the hall. Cooke also treated the audience to the rarely heard “B” section of “He was despised and rejected." It was unfortunate that the text of that section was not printed in the program.

Deanna Breiwick’s crystalline soprano superbly hit the myriad of notes in her arias. She showed off some impressive ornamentation – especially in “Rejoice greatly.” – But her voice needed more warmth, especially when paired with Cooke in “He shall feed his flock.”

Tenor Akek Shrader distinguished himself with “Comfort ye” and “Ev’ry valley,” but pinched off a couple of high notes in “Thou shalt break them.” Bass Levi Hernandez excelled especially in the upper register of his voice, and created some terrific moments in “The people that walked in darkness,” “Why do the nations,” and “The trumpet shall sound,” but whenever these pieces plunged into the basement, his sound almost disappeared.

The sound system in the Schnitz really helped to project the harpsicord and the portative organ, both of which were placed in the back part of the orchestra. Even the bassoon, played expertly by Carin Miller, could be heard distinctly. Jeffrey Works’ solo in “The Trumpet Shall Sound” was absolutely spectacular. He perfectly balanced with the soloist and pulled back the sound as needed.

The audience responded to almost all of the selections with applause, and the “Hallelujah Chorus” received the most. But for me, the highlight was Cooke, who, I understand, likes to work with Allen. Concertgoers were very fortunate to hear her glorious voice.

Today's Birthdays

Orazio Vecchi (1550-1605)
Johann Christoph Bach (1642-1703)
Ira Gershwin (1896-1983)
Dave Brubeck (1920-2012)
Nikolaus Harnoncourt (1929-2016)
Henryk Górecki (1933-2010)
Tomas Svoboda (1939-2022)
John Nelson (1941)
Daniel Adni (1951)
Bright Sheng (1955)
Matthew Taylor (1964)

and

Baldassare Castiglione (1478-1529)
The Encyclopedia Brittanica (1768)
Alfred Eisenstaedt (1898-1995)

Today's Birthdays

Francesco Geminiani (1687-1762)
Vitezslav Novák (1870-1949)
"Little" Richard Wayne Penniman (1935-2020)
José Carreras (1946)
Krystian Zimerman (1956)
Osvaldo Golijov (1960)

and

Christina (Georgina) Rossetti (1830-1894)
Joan Didion (1934)
Calvin Trillin (1935)
John Berendt (1939)
Lydia Millet (1968)

And from the Composers Datebook:

On this day in 1704, George Frideric Handel (age 19) refuses to turn over the harpsichord to Johann Mattheson (age 23) during a performance of Mattheson's opera "Cleopatra," leading to a sword duel between the two. It is said that during the swordplay, Handel was saved by a button on his coat that deflected Mattheson's mortally-directed blade. The two reconciled on December 30 that year, dining together and attending a rehearsal of Handel's opera "Almira," becoming, as Mattheson put it: "better friends than ever."

Today's Birthdays

André Campra (1660-1744)
Michel Pignolet de Montéclair (1667-1737)
Sir Hamilton Harty (1879-1949)
Alex North (1910-1991)
Yvonne Minton (1938)
Lillian Watson (1947)
Andrew Penny (1952)

and

Thomas Carlyle (1795-1891)
Samuel Butler (1835-1902)
Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926)
Cornell Woolrich (1903-1968)

Today's Birthdays

Nicolo Amati (1596-1684)
André Campra (1660-1744)
Antonio Soler (1729-1783)
Émile Waldteufel (1837-1915)
Anton Webern (1883-1945)
Halsey Stevens (1908-1989)
Ivan Sollertinsky (1902-1944)
Machito - Fransico Grillo (1909-1984)
Nino Rota (1911-1979)
Irving Fine (1914-1962)
Charles Craig (1919-1997)
Paul Turok (1929-2012)
José Serebrier (1938)
Matt Haimovitz (1970)

and

Joseph Conrad (1857-1924)
Anna Freud (1895-1982)
Zlata Filipović (1980)

Today's Birthdays

Harry T. Burleigh (1866-1949)
Rudolf Friml (1879-1972)
Harriet Cohen (1895-1967)
Sir John Barbirolli (1899-1970)
Robert Moevs (1920-2007)
Maria Callas (1923-1977)
Jörg Demus (1928-2019)
Galina Grigorjeva (1962)

and

Georges-Pierre Seurat (1859-1891)
T. Coraghessan Boyle (1948)
George Saunders (1958)
Ann Patchertt (1963)

And from the Composers Datebook: On this day in 1717, J.S. Bach is allowed to leave the Duke’s Court at Weimar. He had been imprisoned since Nov. 6th by his former employer Duke Wilhelm Ernst of Weimar for accepting a new post at Prince Leopold’s court at Cöthen without first asking permission.

Review: Oregon Symphony goes into the beyond with Strauss and has fun with Mendelssohn

It’s quite an achievement for someone in a speaking role to steal the spotlight at an orchestra concert, but Lauren Modica-Soloway, the narrator in Mendelssohn’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” did just that at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall (November 20). Even though the Oregon Symphony was led with style and panache by principal guest conductor Jun Märkl augmented by the singing of soprano Judy Yannini, mezzo-soprano Jasmine Johnson, and the Portland State University Thorn Choir, it was Modica-Soloway who had listeners on the edge of their seats with high satisfying narration that wonderfully illuminated Shakespeare’s marvelous play.

First of all, the diction, pacing, and the emotional content of each word that Modica-Soloway’s delivered was spot-on. She gave each character of the story a distinct voice, and she had fun with the humorous text, such as when she said “let me rest” and followed it with an expansive yawn and later the mock death scene when Bottom (as Pyramus) plunges a sword into himself and proclaimed “thus I die” then wheezed ever so long (twice). Modica-Soloway also excelled with the many delicious, poetic lines like “creep into acorn cups.” I have a recording of the Mendelssohn with Dame Judi Dench as the narrator, but I have to admit that Modica-Soloway’s lively interpretation was better.

Playing with immaculate precision, the orchestra created a magical atmosphere with the whirl of fairies punctuated by the braying of the donkey with whom Titania falls in love – all during the Overture. And the famous Wedding March was absolutely glorious. All of the various movements of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” worked together seamlessly, and it was fun to watch the interaction between Märkl and Modica-Soloway. It’s too bad that the lyrics were not available as supertext or printed as an insert to the program. That might have added more context for concertgoers.

In the first half of the concert, the orchestra gave a superb performance of Richard Strass’s tone poem “Tod und Verklärung” (“Death and Transflguration”). It was a beautiful journey – from the gloomy outset (the artist on his deathbed), past several thrilling eruptions (racked by pain, fever, etc.), and into the balm of a soothing lyrical lines, and then the piling of sonic layers that built to the Elysium of the finale. Märkl impressively conducted the piece from memory, taking great care to shape the entire enterprise, and when the sonic textures seemed to melt into each other at the very end – well that was bliss. Kudos to all of the musicians for eliciting a transcendental experience.

Newsy items about the local music scene in Oregon ArtsWatch

 Every now and then I'll post some short blurbs about the local music scene in OAW. You can read my latest set of scribblings in OAW here.

Today's Birthdays

François‑Xavier Richter (1709-1789)
Ernest (Louis-Etienne-Ernest) Reyer (1832-1909)
Agathe Grøndahl (1847-1907)
Lou Rawls (1933-2006)
Gordon Crosse (1937-2021
Bette Midler (1945)
Rudolf Buchbinder (1946)
Leontina Vaduva (1960)