Review of PYP concert with four world premieres published in Oregon ArtsWatch

 

The adventurous PYP organization recently performed a concert of new works. You'll find my review of it in OAW here.

Review: Lazarova and Trpčeski create spellbinding music with the Oregon Symphony

I’ve heard enthusiastic applause, cheers, and piercing whistles from the audience after a great performance by the Oregon Symphony, but the electrifying concert by the orchestra of Dvořák’s Seventh Symphony under guest conductor Delyana Lazarova at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall (May 13) elicited a huge roar! The Bulgarian basically blew everyone away with her mesmerizing talent on the podium. I have to admit that even this jaded critic was bowled over by Lazarova’s communication with musicians and the concertgoers. She unleashed an articulate and dynamic style that elicited a superb and memorable interpretation of the Dvořák. It was felt by the orchestra as well, because they were practically stomping on the floor when she came out to take a bow a third time, and Concertmaster Sarah Kwak didn’t get up from her chair so that Lazarova could enjoy the vociferous acclaim from all corners of the hall.

What Lazarova accomplished with the orchestra was not easy, because the Dvořák followed an outstanding performance by Simon Trpčeski of Rachmaninoff’s “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini,” which also generated a big, boisterous response from the audience. Trpčeski, who is a native of Macedonia, played the piece flawlessly and with a wonderful polish. Streams of notes flew by effortlessly, leaving a beautiful sheen that lingered briefly. Trpčeski was in a zone of perfection. Even when a cell phone went off during the climatic pause of the lovely and famous cadenza in the 18th variation didn’t bother him a bit.

Trpčeski followed the Rachmaninoff with two encores. The first was “Piperkovo Oro” (“Paprika Dance”), a perky improvisational excerpt from the project Makedonissimo. The second, an arrangement of Rachmaninoff’s “Vocalise,” was exquisitely performed as a duet with Kwak.

The concert began with Bulgarian-British composer Dobrinka Tabakova’s “Timber & Steel,” which was written in 2019 an homage to conductor Henry Wood, who founded the Proms, the very popular summer music series at Royal Albert Hall. “Timber & Steel” opened with ripping runs an octave apart on two marimbas. Vigorous, propulsive passages for the entire orchestra joined in, forming an exciting sonic collage that was punctuated now and then by the timpani. Sustained tones from the basses provided an anchor, and all the forces quieted down to pizzicato-ing strings and an oddly beguiling tune from the woodwinds. Then the motor machine-like sound started up again, returning to the two marimbas and a morse code of high notes from the trumpets that led to a grand finale.

The orchestra is playing at the top of its game, and it is benefitting from outstanding guest conductors like Lazarova and Poska, who led the orchestra in its previous concert series, and amazing soloists like Trpčeski and violinist Kerson Leong (also from the previous series). During intermission, I ran into Alan Pierce, who played trombone with the orchestra for many years. Unsolicited, he mentioned the very high quality of the music making here and misses it (he now lives in Reno, Nevada).

Today's Birthdays

Joseph Parry (1841-1903)
Thomas "Fats" Waller (1904-1943)
Gina Bachauer (1913-1976)
Maurice André (1933-2012)
Heinz Holliger (1939)
Rosalind Plowright (1949)
Linda Bouchard (1957)

and

Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528)
Alexander Pope (1688-1744)
Henri Rousseau (1844-1910)
Andrei Sakharov (1921-1989)
Robert Creeley (1926-2005)

Review: Fear No Music's Monologues and Dialogues concert

Fear No Music closed out its 32nd season at The Old Church (May 6) with another on-the-edge-of-the-precipice concert entitled Monologues and Dialogues. It featured five recent works by women composers - which by the way means that FNM presented 26 women composers this past season. Kudos to FNM’s artistic leaders, Kenji Bunch and Monica Ohuchi, who have a terrific knack for finding fresh and engaging works!

The first piece on the concert program was the most unusual and daring. If featured soprano Maddy Ross and flutist Amelia Lukas performing “Only The Words Themselves Mean What They Say” which is the second movement of a longer work by Kate Soper called “Ipsa Dixit” (“she, herself, said it”) (2016). Soper’s piece expresses text from the poetry of Lydia Davis by having the singer switch back and forth from a sprechstimme to singing, with no particular melodic line. The flutist also alternates between playing the bass flute and speaking parts of the text, and sometimes singing into the flute.

Ross’s uncanny ability to jump from a spoken line to stratospheric notes – coupled with Lukas’ wizardry with extended techniques on the flute to create unusual sounds – made “Only The Words Themselves Mean What They Say” a mesmerizing number. I didn’t get all of the words, but it seemed that some of it had to do with a breakup in which a man told a woman to “go away” and “You should not come back ever!” Ross and Lukas filled the air with anger and panic and other transitory emotions. It was almost overwhelming to hear but very powerful.

Returning the audience to a much calmer space, violist Kenji Bunch played Reena Esmail’s “Take What You Need.” This brief piece, written in 2016 by the Indian-American composer, has lyrics that are kind of like meditative words to help you focus on your breathing. But the lyrics weren’t needed while Bunch wove a gentle melody occasionally slipping in eloquent glassy tones with no vibrato then changing to a lower, throaty sound.

Lukas played Gemma Peacocke’s “Fear of Flying” for flute and fixed electronics. A native of New Zealand, Peacocke wrote the piece on commission from Bang on a Can during the pandemic in 2020. It was inspired by an eponymous poem by Teresia Teaiwa in Gilbertese, which is an Oceanic language spoken in the islands of Kiribati in the South Pacific. The electronics provided a background of rhythmic beats while Lukas executed brief, lyrical flights up an down the flute, eliciting an ephemeral yet pleasant atmosphere.

Ross and pianist Jeff Payne, performed Icelandic composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s “Hvolf” (“Dome”) (2009), a setting of a poem of the same title by Sigurbjörg Prastardottir. A single note on the piano was followed by a single tone from the singer with words that may or may not have mattered. According to the program notes, the piece was meant to evoke the Norther Lights on a cold night. The slow-moving style of the piece and the zero-vibrato of the singer’s voice made me think of an ice floe drifting slowly across an inland sea. The music generated feelings of isolation and introspection, but I especially enjoyed the blurry, fog-bound chord from the piano towards the end of the piece. That was mystical.

The atmosphere lightened up considerably when pianist Monica Ohuchi and violist Bunch launched into “Suite in Jazz Style” by Bulgarian-British composer Dobrinka Tabakova (2009). In the first movement, the bouncy syncopations from the piano interacted well with the viola, which transitioned from pizzicatos to a slinky sound. The second fashioned a lazy, relaxed mood that was underscored by a gnawing sound from the viola. The third started with quick, rhythmic rapping on the side of the keyboard. The uptempo barreled ahead with Ohuchi and Bunch travelling along paths that seemed to crisscross and diverge before arriving at a big, virtuosic cadenza that Bunch tossed off with elan. The duo then swept into the finale with gusto.

So now that FNM has given us Monologues and Dialogues, what’s next? Ah... Soliloquies

Today's Birthdays

Hephzibah Menuhin (1920-1981)
George Hurst (1926-2012)
Karl Anton Rikenbacher (1940-2014)
Tison Street (1943)
Joe Cocker (1944-2014)
Cher - Cherilyn Sarkisian (1946)
Sue Knussen (1949-2003)
Jane Parker-Smith (1950)
Emma Johnson (1966)

and

Honoré de Balzac (1799-1850)
John Stuart Mill (1806-1873)

Today's Birthdays

Johann Jacob Froberger (1616-1667)
Nellie Melba (1859-1931)
Kerstin Thorborg (1896-1970)
Sandy Wilson (1924-2014)
Pete Townshend (1945)
Stephen Varcoe (1949)

and

Malcom X (1925-1965)
Lorraine Hansberry (1930-1965)
Nora Ephron (1941-2012)

and from the Composers Datebook:

On this day in 1886, the American premiere of J.S. Bach's Mass in B minor (11 selections) was given during the May Festival in Cincinnati, conducted by Theodore Thomas. The next documented performance (12 sections) was given in Boston on February 27, 1887, by the Handel and Haydn Society, with Carl Zerrahn conducting a chorus of 432 and an orchestra of 50. In both the 1886 Cincinnati and 1887 Boston performances, the famous 19-century German soprano Lilli Lehmann appeared as one of the soprano soloists. The first complete performance of the work was apparently given either at the Moravian Church in Bethlehem on Mar 17, 1900, by the Bach Choir under J. Fred Wolf, or at Carnegie Hall in new York on April 5, 1900, by the Oratorio Society, Frank Damrosch conducting.

Today's Birthdays

Johann Jakob Froberger (1616-1667)
Francesco Maria Piave (1810-1876)
Karl Goldmark (1830-1915)
Ezio Pinza (1892-1947)
Henri Sauguet (1901-1989)
Meredith Willson (1902-1984)
Sir Clifford Curzon (1907-1982)
Perry Como (1912-2001)
Boris Christoff (1914-1993)
Mikko Heiniö (1948)

and

Omar Khayyam (1048-1131)
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970)
Walter Gropius (1883-1969)
Frank Capra (1897-1991)
Margot Fonteyn (1919-1991)
Tina Fey (1970)

Pianist Orli Shaham to perform chamber music concert with members of the Vancouver Symphony (WA)

 

Orli Shaham, the Vancouver Symphony’s first-ever artist in residence, will collaborate with the orchestra in a special chamber music concert on Sunday afternoon. Shaham, who teaches at The Julliard School of Music, is an acclaimed pianist with many CD recordings, including upcoming releases of the final two volumes of the complete piano sonatas by Mozart.

This Sunday afternoon (May 19) at the First Presbyterian Church in Vancouver, Shaham will collaborate with members of the Vancouver Symphony to perform Mozart's “Divertimento in D major”, Haydn’s “Piano Concerto in D major”, and Mozart’s “Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor.”

I spoke with Shaham via Zoom to find out more about the concert. Here’s transcription of our conversation, which has been lightly edited.

James Bash: So tell us about the programming of this concert. Why did you pick these pieces?

Orli Shaham: These pieces center around D major and D minor. The Mozart “Divertimento” sets up a delightful character for the strings. It’s quite lyrical and fun. Mozart’s toys with the listeners’ emotions, leading you a certain way and then pulling a surprise.

The Haydn concerto is much in the same way, and he wrote it in the happy key of D major. The Haydn is deeply beautiful and sparingly written in places, but it also gives you a rollicking good time with its Hungarian, folksy flavor. It was just a little subversive and risqué for his patrons and other listeners that he was writing for. Haydn wrote for an audience of wealthy people that he knew very well. He has no qualms when he pokes fun at them.

The Mozart concerto is the polar opposite. It’s filled with great emotional energy and pathos. It has feeling of angst and is unsettled – very intense. It is one greatest concertos in the repertoire and is one of my desert island pieces. When the piano first comes in, it comes in not at all with any of the material that we’ve heard from the orchestra. And that piano opening was one of the reasons I want to become a pianist when I was a little kid. When I heard my older brother, Shai, learning it, I thought that it was the piece that I wanted to play some day. I had to play that instrument and that piece!

I feel that Haydn was in many ways more experimental than Mozart. Haydn really knew his audience and dares them and takes his music a little out of bounds. Mozart can take you to the same places, but he stays within the lines, But what he is able to do with that is emotionally so colorful and vivid and so varied! Mozart was writing for the aristocrats just as Haydn did, but Mozart also for the newly formed public that was coming into existence and learning things and buying concert tickets.

JB: Have you performed the Haydn and Mozart concertos a lot?

OS: I’ve played the Haydn since I was nine years old, and I’ve played the Mozart more than any other concerto.

JB: Will you be conducting from the keyboard?

OS: Yes, but only for the concerti. I’ll conduct the "Divertimento" like a normal conductor.

JB: When was the first time that you conducted a professional orchestra from the keyboard?

OS: That was in 2002 with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra at Avery Fisher Hall.

JB: Conducting must run in the family, since you are also married to David Robertson.

OS: Now our two teenage sons want to become conductors!

JB: Wonderful! We wish you well with the concerts!

OS: Thank you! It will be a lot of fun to make music with the Vancouver Symphony!

Today's Birthdays

Erik Satie (1866-1925)
Werner Egk (1901-1983)
Sandor Vegh (1905-1997)
Birgit Nilsson (1918-2005)
Dennis Brain (1921-1957)
Peter Mennin (1932-1983)
Taj Mahal (Henry St. Claire Fredericks Jr.) (1942)
Paul Crossley (1944)
Brian Rayner Cook (1945)
Bill Bruford (1949)
Ivor Bolton (1958)

and

Dorothy Richardson (1873-1957)
Alfonso Reyes (1889-1959)
Gary Paulsen (1939-2021)

and from the New Music Box:

On May 17, 1846, Belgian-born instrument builder and clarinetist Adolphe Sax patents the saxophone, an instrument that would have a profound impact on American jazz. Over a century later, on May 17, 1957, a computer was used to make music for the first time.

Review of Oregon Rep Singers and Choral Arts Ensemble concerts in Oregon ArtsWatch

Oregon ArtsWatch just published a double review of recent Oregon Repertory Singers and Choral Arts Ensemble concerts. You can access it on OAW here.

Today's Birthdays

Richard Tauber (1891-1948)
Ivan Vishnegradsy (1893-1979)
Jan Kiepura (1902-1966)
Woody Herman (1913-1987)
Liberace (1919-1987)
Friedrich Gulda (1930-2000)
Betty Carter (1930-1998)
Donald Martino (1931-2005)
Robert Fripp (1946)
Monica Huggett (1953)
Andrew Litton (1959)

and

Maria Gaetana Agnesi (1718-1799)
Friedrich Rückert (1788-1866)
Louis "Studs" Terkel (1912-2008)
Adrienne Rich (1929-2012)

and from the New Music Box:

On May 16, 1907, Miller Reese Hutchison filed an application at the U.S. Patent Office for his invention, the motor-driven Diaphragm Actuated Horn and Resonator, for use in automobiles. The patent was granted on May 3, 1910. The carhorn would later be used as a musical instrument by numerous composers ranging from George Gershwin in An American in Paris (1928) to Wendy Mae Chambers who developed a Car Horn Organ in 1983.

Today's Birthdays

Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643)
Michael William Balfe (1808-1870)
Lars-Erik Larsson (1908-1986)
Arthur Berger (1912-2003)
John Lanchbery (1923-2003)
Ted Perry (1931-2003)
Richard Wilson (1941)
Brian Eno (1948)

and

L. Frank Baum (1856-1919)
Arthur Schnitzler (1862-1931)
Katherine Anne Porter (1890-1980
Peter Shaffer (1926-2016)
Jasper Johns (1930)
Laura Hillenbrand (1967)

and from The New Music Box:

On May 15, 1972, the Concord Quartet premiered George Rochberg's String Quartet No. 3 at Alice Tully Hall in New York City. Rochberg, an established serialist composer, shocked the compositional scene by returning to tonality in this composition. Many cite this premiere as the birth of neo-romanticism.

Review(s) of Classical Up Close concerts posted on Oregon ArtsWatch

 This article for Oregon ArtsWatch has four reviews of Classical Up Close concerts. I was not able to get to the final two CUC concerts, but I think you will get the gist of this fantastic musical extravaganza.

Today's Birthdays

Otto Klemperer (1885-1973)
Sidney Bechet (1897-1959)
Lou Harrison (1917-2003)
Aloys Kontarsky (1931-2017)
Peter Skellern (1947-2017)
Maria de La Pau (1950)
Helen Field (1951)
David Byrne (1952)

and

Hal Borland (1900-1978)
Mary Morris (1947)

Preview of Bach Cantata Choir's season ending concerts - in preparation for Leipzig Bach Festival

 

My latest preview piece - this time for the Bach Cantata Choir - is now available one at oregonlive.com here. It will be in the print edition of The Oregonian this Friday.

Today's Birthdays

Arthur Sullivan (1842-1900)
Constantin Silverstri (1913-1969)
William Schwann (1913-1998)
Gareth Morris (1920-2007)
Ritchie Valens (1941-1959)
Jane Glover (1949)
Stevie Wonder (1950)
David Hill (1957)
Tasmin Little (1965)

and

Daphne du Maurier (1907-1989)
Bruce Chatwin (1940-1989)
Kathleen Jamie (1962)

and from the Composers Datebook:

On this day in 1875, the American premiere of J.S. Bach's "Magnificat" took place during the May Festival in Cincinnati, conducted by Theodore Thomas. The Cincinnati Commercial review of May 14 was not favorable: "The work is difficult in the extreme and most of the chorus abounds with rambling sub-divisions. We considering the ‘Magnifcat' the weakest thing the chorus has undertaken . . . possessing no dramatic character and incapable of conveying the magnitude of the labor that has been expended upon its inconsequential intricacies. If mediocrity is a mistake, the ‘Magnifcat' is the one error of the Festival". Thomas also conducted the next documented performance in Boston on Mar. 1, 1876 (for which composer John Knowles Paine performed as organ accompanist to a chorus of 300).

Today's Birthdays

Johann Baptist Wanha (Vanhal) (1739-1813)
Franz Anton Hoffmeister (1754-1812)
Giovanni Viotti (1755-1824)
Jules Massenet (1842-1912)
Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924)
Sir Lennox Berkeley (1903-1989)
Burt Bacharach (1928-2023)
Lajos Balogh (1931)
Anthony Newman (1941)
Dalmacio Gonzalez (1945)
Doris Soffel (1948)
Jory Vinikour (1963)

and

Edward Lear (1812-1888)
Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828–1882)
Florence Nightingale (1820-1910)
Rosellen Brown (1939)

Today's Birthdays

Jan Václav (1791-1825)
Anatoly Liadov (1855-1914)
Alma Gluck (1884-1938)
Irving Berlin (1888-1989)
William Grant Still (1895-1978)
Robert Johnson (1911-1938)
Ross Pople (1945)
Judith Weir (1954)
Cecile Licad (1961)

and

Martha Graham (1894-1991)
Mari Sandoz (1896-1966)
Salvador Dali (1904-1989)
Francisco "Paco" Umbral (1932-2007)

Today's Birthdays

Jean‑Marie Leclair (1697-1764)
Max Steiner (1888-1971)
Dmitri Tiomkin (1894-1979)
Maybelle Carter (1909-1978)
Artie Shaw (1910-2004)
Richard Lewis (1914-1990)
Milton Babbitt (1916-2011)
Maxim Shostakovich (1938)
Lori Dobbins (1958)

and

Karl Barth (1886-1968)
Fred Astaire (1899-1987)
Barbara Taylor Bradford (1933)

and from The New Music Box:

On May 10, 1987, David Lang, Michael Gordon and Julia Wolfe produced the first-ever Bang on a Can Marathon, a twelve-hour concert at the SoHo gallery Exit Art combining music by Milton Babbitt, Steve Reich, John Cage, George Crumb, Lois V Vierk, Lee Hyla, Aaron Kernis, Phill Niblock and others.

Today's Birthdays

Giovanni Paisiello (1740-1816)
Adolph von Henselt (1814-1889)
Jacques Singer (1910-1980)
Carlo Maria Giulini (1914-2005)
Nigel Douglas (1929-2023)
Billy Joel (1949)
Michel Beroff (1950)
Joy Harjo (1951)
Linda Finnie (1952)
Anne Sofie von Otter (1955)
Alison Hagley (1961)

and

James Matthew Barrie (1860-1937)
Alan Bennett (1934)
Charles Simic (1938-2023)

PSU Steinway Piano Series: Pianist Tom Hicks to replace Oxana Yablonskaya in May 2024 Residency

From the Press Release:

Due to unforeseen circumstances, the PSU Steinway Piano Series has reconfigured its Spring 2024 Residency. The Series will no longer be hosting Oxana Yablonskaya this May, but instead, will proceed with events by featuring the “brilliantly evocative” (International Piano) pianist Tom Hicks. The Series’ founder and director, Susan Chan writes, "We will greatly miss our experiences this spring with the legendary pianist Oxana Yablonskaya, but hope to reschedule a visit with her soon. In the meantime, we look forward to welcoming the incredibly impressive Tom Hicks to PSU for what promise to be beautiful and impactful performances and masterclasses.”

Tickets already purchased for the May 10th PSU Steinway Piano Series recital remain valid. Should anyone who has already purchased tickets to the recital wish to relinquish their ticket and receive reimbursement due to this program change, they may make this request by contacting the Box Office at 503-725-3305 or tickets@pdx.edu.

Spring 2024 Residency: Friday - Sunday, May 10 - 12

CONCERT:

Music at Night starring Tom Hicks

This program, inspired by the night, shares works for the piano that are dreamy and atmospheric, and also includes nightmares and fantasies. The concert begins with several of Chopin’s most celebrated nocturnes, before exploring other beloved works of the genre by Scriabin, Debussy, Fanny Mendelssohn, and Clara Schumann. Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata concludes what promises to be a popular program with finger-twisting fireworks.

Friday, May 10 at 7pm - PSU Lincoln Recital Hall, Room 75
$25 General Admission; $10 Students, Seniors, PSU Faculty/Staff, OMTA teachers

GUEST ARTIST MASTER CLASS:

With guest pianist Tom Hicks and featuring current and former PSU students

Saturday, May 11, 7 pm - PSU Lincoln Recital Hall, Room 75
FREE and open to the public

FACULTY MASTER CLASS:

With PSU piano faculty Susan Chan and featuring students from the community

Sunday, May 12, 2 pm - PSU Lincoln Recital Hall, Room 75
FREE and open to the public

TICKETS: Available at pdx.edu/music-theater/steinway-piano-series

Today's Birthdays

Carl Philipp Stamitz (1745-1801)
Louis Moreau Gottschalk (1829-1869)
Mary Lou Williams (1910-1981)
Heather Harper (1930-2019)
Carlo Cossutta (1932-2000)
Keith Jarrett (1945)
Felicity Lott (1947)

and

Phillis Wheatley (1753-1784)
Edmund Wilson (1895-1972)
Gary Snyder (1930)
Thomas Pynchon (1937)
Roddy Doyle (1958)

All Classical Radio's Recording Inclusivity Initiative to release second album, ELEVATE

 

From the Press Release:

PORTLAND, OR - All Classical Radio announces the release of ELEVATE, the second installment from its award-winning Recording Inclusivity Initiative, GRAMMY® award-winning Navona Records, and PARMA Recordings. ELEVATE will be released digitally on all streaming platforms on May 10. CDs will also be available later in the year.

ELEVATE is a testament to the power of composers and musicians uplifting each other. The recording brings to life the sonatas of Japanese composers Yuko Uébayashi and Nobu Kōda, and a string quartet by Damien Geter, with performances by leading classical performers: pianist María García, All Classical Radio's 2022-2023 Artist in Residence; Yoko Greeney, piano; Jennifer Arnold, viola; Martha Long, flute; Nancy Ives, cello; Emily Cole, violin; Inés Voglar Belgique, violin; and Ruby Chen, violin. All the tracks were recorded in Portland, OR.

To address the inequities in the classical music recording industry, the Recording Inclusivity Initiative is highlighting music from underrepresented communities to build a more diverse and inclusive soundscape around the world. The album follows AMPLIFY, released in 2022.

About the Composers and their Music 
Yuko Uébayashi (b. 1958) – Sonata for Flute and Piano
The music of Japanese-born composer Yuko Uébayashi is described as impressionistic, while also evoking Japanese film music. When creating her pieces, Uébayashi often starts with someone specific in mind, drawing inspiration from the artistry of fellow prominent musicians. She only accepts commissions from people with whom she feels a distinct connection.

Written between 2002-2003, Uébayashi’s Sonata for Flute and Piano, in four movements, is dedicated to flutist Jean Ferrandis and pianist Emile Naoumoff. A highly personalized piece, the sonata offers a challenging, albeit rewarding, opportunity to explore the composer's evocative musical language.

Nobu Kōda (1870-1946) – Sonata in E-Flat Major; Sonata in d minor
Nobu Kōda (1870-1946) is historically significant for composing some of the first works ever written by a Japanese composer in the Western style. After graduating from the Tokyo Music School, Kōda became the first student to receive a government grant to study abroad, first in Boston, then in Vienna. In 1895, she returned home and joined the staff at the Tokyo Music School.

Several of Kōda's known works were written during her tenure there, including her Sonata in E-Flat Major (1895), in three movements, and the single-movement Sonata in d minor (1897) for violin and piano. After nearly 15 years of teaching at the institution, Kōda resigned because of rejection and criticism from her male colleagues. She spent the rest of her career instructing female members of the royal court. Kōda's legacy lies in her role as a musical forerunner.

Damien Geter – String Quartet No. 1, Neo-Soul
Damien Geter is a composer, actor, and bass-baritone. In his compositions, he focuses on social justice, uplifting and also challenging his audiences.  He thoughtfully infuses classical music with styles from the Black diaspora, such as jazz, gospel, and rhythm and blues.

Commissioned by All Classical Radio in 2020, Neo-Soul was the precursor of the Recording Inclusivity Initiative, driven by the need to build a more diverse and inclusive soundscape in America. The quartet is an ode to the genre of music that became popular in the 1990s and put a spin on the classic sound of soul. The piece consists of three movements: I. "Bop"; II. "Feelin' Some Type of Wayz"; and III. "Please Don't Kill My Vibe."

About the Recording Inclusivity Initiative
All Classical Radio’s Recording Inclusivity Initiative is a response to the classical music industry’s longtime need for greater diversity, with the purpose of increasing awareness and opportunities for previously marginalized artistic communities. The Recording Inclusivity Initiative was made possible in part by the generous support of the Oregon Cultural Trust, The Sorel Organization, the Regional Arts and Culture Council, and IBEW Local 48. Learn more at recordinginclusivity.allclassical.org.

About All Classical Radio
All Classical Radio is an independent, community-funded radio station and multimedia platform with international reach. It is consistently ranked in the United States' top three classical radio stations. The network is recognized for its bold collaborations and outreach, and for broadcasting 98% locally-produced programming, including innovative music playlists, interviews, and live broadcasts. Home to the award-winning Recording Inclusivity Initiative and the International Children's Arts Network, All Classical Radio is one of the first classical stations in the nation to name artists in residence and to develop robust youth journalism mentorships. Learn more at www.allclassical.org.

Martha Long and María García recording Yuko Uébayashi: Sonata for Flute and Piano

Today's Birthdays

Carl Heinrich Graun (1704-1759)
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Piotr Ilych Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
Anton Seidl (1850-1898)
Edmond Appia (1894-1961)
Elisabeth Soderstrom (1927-2009)
Cornelius Cardew (1936-1981)
Philip Lane (1950)
Robert Spano (1961)

and

Olympe de Gouge (1748-1793)
Robert Browning (1812-1889)
Archibald MacLeish (1892-1962)
Angela Carter (1940-1992)
Peter Carey (1943)

and from The New Music Box:

On May 7, 1946, Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering is founded with about 20 employees. The company, later renamed Sony, would eventually invent the home video tape recorder, the Walkman and the Discman, as well as take-over Columbia Records, later CBS Records, which under the leadership of composer Goodard Lieberson (1956-1973) released numerous recordings of music by American composers.
and from the Composers Datebook:

On this day in 1824, Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 ("Choral") was premiered at the Kärntnertor Theater in Vienna, with the deaf composer on stage beating time, but with the performers instructed to follow the cues of Beethoven's assistant conductor, Michael Umlauf.

Today's Birthdays

William Walker (1809-1875)
Jascha Horenstein (1898-1973)
George Perle (1915-2009)
Godfrey Ridout (1918-1984)
Murry Sidlin (1940)
Ghena Dimitrova (1941-2005)
Nathalie Stutzmann (1965)
Teddy Abrams (1987)

and

Robert Peary (1856-1920)
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)
Gaston Leroux (1868-1927)
Randall Jarrell (1914-1965)
Orson Wells (1915-1985)

Today's Birthdays

Stanislaw Moniuszko (1819-1872)
Hans Pfizner (1869-1947)
Maria Caniglia (1905-1979)
Louis Kaufman (1905-1994)
Kurt Böhme (1908-1989)
Charles Rosen (1927-2012)
Mark Ermler (1932-2002)
Tammy Wynette (1942-1998)
Bunita Marcus (1952)
Cédric Tiberghien (1975)

and

Søren Kierkegaard (1813-1855)
Karl Marx (1818-1883)
Nellie Bly (1864-1922)
Christopher Morley (1890-1957)
James Beard (1903-1985)
Kaye Gibbons (1960)

From the New Music Box:

On May 5, 1891, Walter Damrosch led the New York Philharmonic in the very first concert in the large auditorium at Carnegie Hall, now called Stern Auditorium. The program consisted entirely of European repertoire: Beethoven’s "Leonore Overture No. 3," Berlioz’s "Te Deum," Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky "Festival Coronation March" (with the composer making a guest appearance on the podium), the hymn "The Old One Hundred" and "My Country 'Tis of Thee" (then America's unofficial national anthem although the tune is that of the British anthem "God Save The Queen").

This was not actually the first concert in the building, however. On April 1, Liszt-pupil Franz Rummel had already given an all-European solo piano recital in the space that now holds Zankel Hall. The oldest known program for the third of Carnegie's stages, what is now called Weill Recital Hall, a chamber music concert produced by the Society for Ethical Culture, dates back to October 31, 1891 and included the song "At Twilight" by the American composer Ethelbert Nevin.

Review: Oregon Symphony elicits lovely Mendelssohn with Leong and shines with Poska

 

Photo credit: Jason Quigley

Canadian virtuoso Kerson Leong gave a superb performance of Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto with the Oregon Symphony (April 29) at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. So did guest conductor Kristiina Poska, who collaborated expertly with Leong and also inspired the orchestra with drive and precision in works by Britten and Beethoven.

Both Leong and Poska made their Oregon Symphony debuts int the concert series over the weekend despite busy schedules. Leong gave master classes in Rome, Italy just a few days before flying to Portland, replacing Baiba Skrida, who withdrew for personal reasons. Before coming to Portland, Poska spent the prior weekend conducting the Minnesota Orchestra.

The artistic resumes of Leong and Poska are impressive. Leong (age 27) won the Yehudi Menuhin International Competition in 2010 and has enjoyed an international career ever since. Estonian-born Poska (age 45) is the Chief Conductor of the Flanders Symphony Orchestra, the Principal Guest Conductor of the Latvian National Symphony, and in 2025 will become the Music Director of the Orchestre Français des Jeunes. She is the first female conductor to be named to those positions.

Leong delivered everything you could want in the Mendelssohn. He evoked the grandeur and beautify of each phrase, tailoring his sound down to silvery thread during the most delicate passages and expanding it with elan to the boldest ones. The entire piece was incredible well-shaped with impeccable articulation of quicksilver lines that required the utmost in technical virtuosity.

Listeners eagerly paid attention of all of the nuances of this beloved piece, and rewarded Leong with a standing ovation and many bravos, which brought him back to center stage several times. Leong responded with an encore, Francisco Tárrega’s “Recuerdos de la Alhambra” (‘Memories of the Alhambra”) in an arrangement for violin by Ruggiero Ricci. With the constant wistful tremolo against a countering tic-toc line, it seemed as if two people were playing instead of just one, and all was immaculately rendered by Leong. That caused another round of vociferous applause.

Under Poska, the orchestra created the hauntingly vivid moods of Britten’s “Four Sea Interludes” from his opera “Peter Grimes.” The sound of waves crashing into a rocky shoreline while seagulls circled and cried painted an isolated and beautiful, but tragic scene. Sometimes the music pulsated with anticipation, and stormy fourth movement, with its snarly brass and ascendent strings pitching everything into the heavens subsided into a quiet morass before getting whipped up into a tempestuous finale.

Poska also ardently commanded the orchestra, evoking an outstanding performance of Beethoven’s Eighth Symphony. Impressively conducting from memory, she deftly sculpted the piece from beginning to end, eliciting terrific dynamics that kept the music fresh – like hearing the double-basses in the first movement. Attacks were sharp, and pauses were precise. The lyrical lines had an wonderful ebb and flow, and the wicked solo that Principal Cellist Nancy Ives executed – with lovely horn accompaniment – in the third movement was a highlight.

One interesting point about Poska is that she is left-handed, but she enjoyed using her right hand very effectively, throwing jabs and punches to elicit crisp attacks from the musicians. She conveyed each piece with judicious tempos so that the Britten and Beethoven never dragged. Amidst loud applause from the audience, she graciously signaled recognition for contributions by individuals and sections of the orchestra.

I hope that we will see Leong and Poska on the stage at the Schnitz in a return engagement in the very near future.

Today's Birthdays

Marianne (Anna Katharina) von Martínez (1744-1812)
Bartolomeo Cristofori (1655-1731)
Emil Nikolaus Von Reznicek (1860-1945)
Mátyás Seiber (1905-1960)
Tatiana Nikolayeva (1924-1993)
Roberta Peters (1930-2017)
Gennadi Rozhdestvensky (1931-2018)
Marisa Robles (1937)
Enrique Batiz (1942)
Peter Ware (1951)

and

Horace Mann (1796-1859)
Frederick Church (1826-1900)
Graham Swift (1949)
David Guterson (1956)

Today's Birthdays

Alessandro Stradella (1639-1682)
Richard D'Oyly Carte (1844-1901)
Marcel Dupré (1886-1971)
Bing Crosby (1903-1977)
Sir William Glock (1908-2000)
Léopold Simoneau (1916-2006)
Pete Seeger (1919-2014)
John Lewis (1920-2001)
James Brown (1933-2006)
Jonathan Harvey (1939-2012)

and

Niccol Machiavelli (1469-1527)
Jacob Riis (1849-1914)
May Sarton (1912-1995)
William Inge (1913-1973)
Yehuda Amichai (1924-2000)

From the New Music Box:

On May 3, 1943, William Schumann received the very first Pulitzer Prize for Music for his Secular Cantata No. 2 - A Free Song, a work published by G. Schirmer and premiered by the Harvard Glee Club, the Radcliffe Choral Society, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Serge Koussevitzky on March 26, 1943.
and from the Composers Datebook:

On this day in 1971, debut broadcast of National Public Radio's "All Things Considered" was made with an electronic theme by composer Don Voegeli of the University of Wisconsin (In 1974, Voegeli composed a new electronic ATC theme, the now-familiar signature tune of the program).

Preview of Portland Columbian Symphony's Latin American concert in OAW

 

My preview of this weekend's PSCO concert is now posted on Oregon ArtsWatch here. I hope that you enjoy reading it.

Today's Birthdays

Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725)
Jean‑Baptiste Barrière (1707-1747)
Ludwig August Lebrun (1752-1790)
Hans Christian Lumbye (1810-1874)
Carl Michael Ziehrer (1843-1922)
Lorenz Hart (1894-1943)
Alan Rawstorne (1905-1971)
Jean‑Marie Auberson (1920-2004)
Arnold Black (1923-2000)
Horst Stein (1928-2008)
Philippe Herreweghe (1947)
Valery Gergiev (1953)
Elliot Goldenthal (1954)

and

Jerome K Jerome (1859-1927)
Dr. Benjamin Spock (1904-1998)

Today's Birthdays

Marco da Gagliano (1582-1643)
William Lawes (1602-1645)
Sophia Dussek (1775-1831)
Hugo Alfvén (1872-1960)
Leo Sowerby (1895-1968)
Jón Leifs (1899-1968)
Walter Susskind (1913-1980)
Gary Bertini (1927-2005)
Judy Collins (1939)

and

Joseph Addison (1672-1719)
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955)
Joseph Heller (1923-1999)
Bobbie Ann Mason (1940)