Today's Birthdays

Francesco Durante (1684-1755)
Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
Joseph Küffner (1776-1856) Serge Diaghliev (1872-1929)
Clemens Krauss (1893-1954)
John Mitchinson (1932-2021)
Herb Alpert (1935)
Nelly Miricioiu (1952)
Robert Gambill (1955)
Jake Heggie (1961)

and

René Descartes (1596-1650)
Andrew Marvell (1621-1678)
Nikolai Gogol (1809-1852)
Octavio Paz (1914-1998)
Cesar Chavez (1927-1993)
Marge Piercy (1936)

Review: Conrad Tao elevates Mozart with the Oregon Symphony and two Mendelssohn works evoke the landscape of Scotland

Pianist-composer Conrad Tao returned to play with the Oregon Symphony on March 19, giving a an wonderfully expressive and technically perfect performance of Mozart’s Concerto No. 21 in C major. Tao last played with the orchestra in January of 2024 when an ice storm struck and caused power outages throughout the city and concert cancellations (see my review here). This time around, the weather complemented the sunny disposition of Mozart’s beautiful music, and concertgoers were treated to an outstanding experience.

Under Tao’s fingers, the Mozart flowed organically and with great beauty. Within immaculate technique he expressed the arpeggiated runs flawlessly, accenting some notes so that the lines were always just a tad different. Often the end of phrases deliciously lightened up, tapering off into the distance. Tao superbly contrasted gracefully elegant melodies with dramatically expressive passages, playing everything with great sensitivity but not fussiness. The exuberance of the final movement, Allegro vivace assai, was joyfully and perfectly delivered, a testament to Tao’s deep understanding of Mozart’s style.

The orchestral arrangement for the performance was one that I had not seen before. Music Director David Danzmayr placed the trumpets behind the horns on the left side, and that tutti ensemble took its position behind the violins. It all worked extremely well, creating a balanced sound with the entire orchestra.

Going in an entirely different direction stylistically, Tao followed up the Mozart with Elliott Carter's Caténaires as an encore. With his hand flying all over the keyboard, the encore generated a supercharged scattershot of notes, that ricochetted about the hall like a randomly generate pinballs. The effect also suggested an electrical jolt with sparks flying everywhere. Tao shaped the piece with his superb, lithe touch, and it resulted in a vociferously positive response from the audience.

The majority of the concert was devoted to the landscape and culture of Scotland via the music of Mendelssohn, who toured the highlands in 1829. His Symphony No. 3, “Scottish” received an outstandingly expressive performance, starting with the brooding opening statement, inspired by the Palace of Holyrood in Edinburgh. The accelerando into an agitated theme suggested a storm-swept landscape in which shimmering strings heightened the mood with fiery jabs and then the cellos, evoking sleek waves and a contrasting woodwind sound that dwindled away. The cheerful dance of the second movement ended with a super-soft touch. Danzmayr and forces lovingly caressed the notes in the third movement. That was followed by an exceptional attack into the fourth movement and the magically forlorn clarinet (Mark Dubec) and bassoon (Carin Miller) duet before breaking into the final robust melody with the horns breaking through the clouds as if to announce triumphant ships sailing into the home port.

The concert began with another Mendelssohn gem, “The Hebridies Overture” (aka “Fingal’s Cave”), which marvelously evoked the seascape and isolated beauty around the remote cave. Under Danzmayr the orchestra unleashed a terrific burst of energy that conveyed crashing waves, which contrasted especially well with the soothing sounds of the clarinets (Dubec and Todd Kuhns). The furious bowing from the strings and especially the basses was exhilarating to watch and hear. That made the one-movement tone poem a perfect set-up for the rest of the evening.

Overall, this was an exceptional concert that should have drawn a full house. It’s a life-enhancing experience to witness such superb music-making.

PS: Apologies for the lateness of this posting. Yours Truly experienced a health scare last week. That caused a delay. Things are much better now and continue to improve.

Today's Birthdays

Tommaso Traetta (1727-1779)
Ted Heath (1900-1969)
Sandor Szokolay (1931-2013)
John Eaton (1935-2015)
Gordon Mumma (1935)
Eric Clapton (1945)
Maggie Cole (1952)
Margaret Fingerhut (1955)
Sabine Meyer (1959)

and

Francisco Jose de Goya (1746-1828)
Anna Sewell (1820-1878)
Paul Verlaine (1844-1896)
Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890)
Sean O'Casey (1880-1964)

Today's Birthdays

Henri Lutz (1864-1928)
Rosina Lhévinne (1880-1976)
Sir William Walton (1902-1983)
E Power Biggs (1906-1977)
Sir Richard Rodney Bennett (1936-2012)
Guher Pekinel (1953)
Suher Pekinel (1953)

and

Ronald Stuart Thomas (1913-2000)
Eugene McCarthy (1916-2005)
Judith Guest (1936)

And from the Composers Datebook:

On this day in 1871, Royal Albert Hall is formally opened in London by Queen Victoria.

Today's Birthdays

Joseph Weigl (1766-1846)
Willem Mengelberg (1871-1951)
Paul Whiteman (1890-1967)
Rudolf Serkin (1903-1991)
Jacob Avshalomov (1919-2013)
Robert Ashley (1930-2014)
Martin Neary (1940)
Samuel Ramey (1942)
Richard Stilgoe (1942)

and

Raphael (1483-1520)
Nelson Algren (1909-1981)
Mario Vargas Llosa (1936)
Russell Banks (1940-2023)
Iris Chang (1968-2004)
Lauren Weisberger (1977)

And from the Composers Datebook:

On this day in 1842, the Vienna Philharmonic plays its first concert (as the "Vienna Court Orchestra") in the Redoutensaale under the director of composer Otto Nicolai, the director of the Vienna Court Opera. The program included Beethoven's Seventh Symphony, his concert aria "Ah, Perfido," and the "Leonore" No. 3 and "Consercration of the House" Overtures, along with other vocal selections by Mozart and Cherubini.

Oregon musicians in the Hawaii Symphony - Oregon Arts Watch

Aloha! I interviewed three pros from Oregonian who are members of the Hawai'i Symphony Orchestra. The story is now up on Oregon Arts Watch here.

Today's Birthdays

Vincent d'Indy (1851-1931)
Patty Smith Hill (1868-1946)
Ferde Grofé (1892-1972)
Anne Ziegler (1910-2003)
Sarah Vaughn (1924-1990)
Mstislav Rostropovich (1927-2007)
Poul Ruders (1949)
Maria Ewing (1950-2022)
Bernard Labadie (1963)

and

Henri Murger (1822-1861)
Heinrich Mann (1871-1950)
Edward Steichen (1879-1973)
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969)
Budd Schulberg (1914-2009)
Louis Simpson (1923-2012)
Julia Alvarez (1950)
John O'Farrell (1962)

And from the Composers Datebook:

On this date in 1808, Franz Joseph Haydn makes his last public appearance at a performance of his oratorio "The Creation" in Vienna in honor of the composer's approaching 76th birthday. Beethoven and Salieri attend the performance and greet Haydn.

Today's Birthdays

Josef Slavík (1806-1833)
Wilhelm Backhaus (1884-1969)
André Cluytens (1905-1967)
Harry Rabinowitz (1916-2016)
Pierre Boulez (1925-2016)
Kyung Wha Chung (1948)

and

Edward Bellamy (1850-1898)
A. E. Housman (1859-1936)
Robert Frost (1874-1963)
Joseph Campbell (1904-1987)
Tennessee Williams (1911-1983)
Gregory Corso (1930-2001)

Today's Birthdays

Johann Adolph Hasse (1699-1783)
Arturo Toscanini (1867-1957)
Béla Bartók (1881-1945)
Haydn Wood (1882-1959)
Magda Olivero (1910-2014)
Julia Perry (1924-1979)
Cecil Taylor (1929-2018)
Sir Elton John (1947)
Makoto Ozone (1961)

and

Flannery O'Connor (1925-1964)
Gloria Steinem (1934)

and from the Composers Datebook:

On this day in 1949, Shostakovich (accompanied by KGB "handlers") arrives in New York for his first visit to America, for the Cultural and Scientific Conference for World Peace, held at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. His anti-Western statements and criticism of Igor Stravinsky embarrassed his American sponsors, including Aaron Copland, and later provided political fodder for the notorious Red-hunter, Senator Joseph McCarthy.