Today's Birthdays

Alphonse Hasselmans (1845-1912)
Arthur Foote (1853-1937)
Pauline Donalda (1882-1970)
Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959)
Anthony Hedges (1931-2019)
Barry Tuckwell (1931-2020)
Sheila Nelson (1936-2020)
Richard Hickox (1948)

and

Gerardus Mercator (1512-1594)
Frank Norris (1870-1902)
Leslie Marmon Silko (1948)

From The Writer's Almanac:

It was on this day in 1750 that the first Shakespearean play was presented in America. Richard III was performed by the actors of Walter Murray and William Kean’s troupe from Philadelphia. Theater was still new in the colonies. And though it was popular in Philadelphia, that city still preferred to pride itself on its scientific and literary achievements, so Murray and Kean set out for New York City.

Through the 1700s, New York’s primary form of entertainment was drinking. By the time Murray and Kean arrived in February of 1750, there were 10,000 city residents and over 150 taverns. Murray and Kean set up shop in a two-story wooden structure on Nassau Street, slightly east of Broadway.

Review: Oregon Symphony dances with Vivaldi, Bologne, and Mozart gems

Photo credit: Oregon Symphony

 Light, crisp, fun, and insightful – with a new twist on Vivaldi’s Four Seasons – that in a nutshell describes the Oregon Symphony concert that I heard Thursday night at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. Guest conductor Jeannette Sorrell led the concert, which featured three pieces from the Baroque and Classical periods, and she inspired each piece so that the music danced with elan. That included a wonderful performance of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons with the amazing mandolin virtuoso, Avi Avital, as soloist – rather than the usual violinist.

Sorrell made her name as a harpsichordist and has thirty recordings, including many with the Apollo’s Fire, which she founded in 1999. With that ensemble, Sorrell won the 2019 Grammy for "Best Classical Solo Vocal Album" with Songs of Orpheus. She has built an impressive conducting resume, leading orchestras all over the world from the New York Philharmonic to the Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León (Spain).

Using her storytelling talents, Sorrell, spoke to the audience before each movement of the Vivaldi, painting a picture of each movement with spot-on-descriptions that were briefly demonstrated by members of the orchestra. Introducing the first movement, for example, she highlighted the sound of birds, the brook, lightning, the sleeping shepherd, and the dog barking (perhaps a poodle or a German shepherd), and each mention was supported by a few bars of music.

Since the Four Seasons paints a bucolic picture, Sorrell noted that peasants might played a mandolin, and that served as the segue to introduce Avital. He then delivered an astonishingly moving and technically jaw-dropping performance as the soloist. There were a few moments, such as during the storm, in which the sound of the mandolin could not be heard over the orchestra. But otherwise, Avital’s playing perfectly enhanced all of the seasons – eliciting the joy of spring, hazy, lazy summers, a plentiful harvest, and the cold chill of winter – all of which was complemented superbly by chamber ensemble, which included a theorbo and Sorrell directing from the harpsichord. s

For an encore, Avital torched the hall with an amazing, off-the-cuff rendition of Bucimis, a traditional Bulgarian piece. On this YouTube video, Avital says that the piece has an unusual 15/16 rhythm and that he learned the piece from an accordion player. It started slowly and quietly, but ended in a madcap rush that brought down the house.

Photo credit: Oregon Symphony

The second half of the concert kicked off with the Symphony No. 2 of Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, a renown fencer and composer whose works have languished for a long, long time because of his African heritage. For his Second Symphony, the orchestra added a couple of horns and winds to a contingent of strings, and Sorrell conducted from the podium, encouraging delightful melodic lines to open the piece, transiting to a smooth and slightly slower pace in the middle section, and releasing a spirited, happy-go-lucky mood – with a little humorous pause that suggested Haydn – for the finale.

The concert closed with Sorrell leading the orchestra in a flat-out gorgeous performance of Mozart’s Symphony No. 35, “Haffner.” From the outset, the orchestra created excellent dynamic contrasts and the piece danced in a free-spirited way. The exchange between the oboe and bassoon provided a subtle highlight and the vivacious Presto with the rolling sound of the kettledrums added to the thrilling conclusion of the piece.

Sorrell seems to inhibit this music with an extra-special, innate quality that is just contagious to hear. I hope that she can return to the Schnitz; so that listeners can benefit from another concert in the near future. And Avital is a force-of-nature with his extraordinary talent. Hopefully, he will return as well.

Today's Birthdays

Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
Carlos Surinach (1915-1997)
Cecil Aronowitz (1916-1978)
Samuel Adler (1928)
Bernard Haitink (1929-2021)
Aribert Reimann (1936-2024)
Ralph Kirshbaum (1946)
Leanna Primiani (1968)

and

Khaled Hosseini (1965)

And from the Composers Datebook:

On this day in 1801,the U.S. Marine Band performed for Thomas Jefferson's inaugural. Jefferson, an avid music lover and amateur violinist, gave the Marine Band the title "The President's Own." Since that time, the band has played for every presidential inaugural.

Today's Birthdays

Henry Wood (1869-1944)
Federico Moreno Torroba (1891-1982)
Margaret Bonds (1913-1972)
Frank Wigglesworth (1918-1996)
Doc Watson (1923-2012)
Martin Lovett (1927-2020)
Florence Quivar (1944)
Roberta Alexander (1949)

and

James Merrill (1926-1995)
Ira Glass (1959)

From the Writer's Almanac:

Beethoven’s “Moonlight” Sonata was published on this date in 1802. Its real name is the slightly less evocative “Piano Sonata No. 14 in C Sharp Minor, Opus 27, No. 2,” and its Italian subtitle is translated as “almost a fantasy.” In 1832, five years after Beethoven’s death, a German critic compared the sonata to the effect of moonlight shining on Lake Lucerne, and the interpretation became so popular that, by the end of the century, the piece was universally known as the “Moonlight Sonata.” Beethoven himself had attributed the emotion of the piece to sitting at the bedside of a friend who had suffered an untimely death.

It was on this day in 1875 that the opera Carmen appeared on stage for the first time at the Opéra-Comique in France. When it premiered, the audience was shocked by the characters of Carmen, a gypsy girl, and her lover, Don José. The opera ran for 37 performances even though it came out late in the season, and it came back the next season, too.

Nietzsche heard Carmen 20 different times, and thought of it as a musical masterpiece. Tchaikovsky first heard Carmen in 1880. Bizet died of a heart attack just three months after the opera's debut.

It was on this day in 1931 that "The Star-Spangled Banner" became the official national anthem of the United States.

The lyrics come from a poem written by Francis Scott Key more than a century before, "Defence of Fort McHenry." He'd spent a night toward the end of the War of 1812 hearing the British navy bombard Baltimore, Maryland. The bombardment lasted 25 hours — and in the dawn's early light, Francis Scott Key emerged to see the U.S. flag still waving over Fort McHenry. He jotted the poem "Defence of Fort McHenry" on the back of an envelope. Then he went to his hotel and made another copy, which was printed in the Baltimore American a week later.

The tune for the Star-Spangled Banner comes from an old British drinking song called "To Anacreon in Heaven," which was very popular at men's social clubs in London during the 1700s. Francis Scott Key himself did the pairing of the tune to his poem. It was a big hit.

For the next century, a few different anthems were used at official U.S. ceremonies, including "My Country Tis of Thee" and "Hail Columbia." The U.S. Navy adopted "The Star-Spangled Banner" for its officialdom in 1889, and the presidency did in 1916. But it wasn't until this day in 1931 — just 80 years ago — that Congress passed a resolution and Hoover signed into law the decree that "The Star-Spangled Banner" was the official national anthem of the United States of America.

Today's Birthdays

Hélène de Montgeroult (1764-1836)
Bedřich Smetana (1824-1884)
Tom Burke (1890-1969)
Kurt Weill (1900-1950)
Marc Blitzstein (1905-1965)
John Gardner (1917-2011)
Robert Simpson (1921-1997)
Bernard Rands (1934)
Simon Estes (1938)
Robert Lloyd (1940)
Lou Reed (1942)

and

Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss) (1904-1991)
Mikhail S Gorbachev (1931)
Tom Wolfe (1931-2018)
John Irving (1942)

and from the Composers Datebook:

Starting on this day in 1967 and continuing over the next two weeks, Russian cellist Mstsilav Rostropovich performed 26 works for cello and orchestra at 8 concerts with the London Symphony at Carnegie Hall in New York City -- including some world premieres!

Today's Birthdays

Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)
Dimitri Mitropoulos (1896-1960)
Glenn Miller (1904-1944)
Leo Brouwer (1939)
Moray Welsh (1947)
Lorraine Hunt-Lieberson (1954-2006)
Galina Gorchakova (1962)
Thomas Adès (1971)

and

Oskar Kokoschka (1866-1980)
Ralph Ellison (1913-1994)
Robert Lowell (1917-1977)
Richard Wilbur (1921-2017)

Review: Vancouver Symphony celebrates Simon, Copland, and Gershwin in All-American program

 

The Vancouver Symphony celebrated the nation’s 250^th birthday in grand style at Skyview Concert Hall (February 21) with an All-American program that put the spotlight on the orchestra rather than on a soloist. The lineup was bookended with works by Carlos Simon and George Gershwin, drawing from African-American music, which aptly complemented Black History Month. Filling in the center were two beloved works by Aaron Copland, and all of the selections were led energetically by Music Director Salvador Brotons, who noted their challenging musical demands.

Simon, whose album Requiem for the Enslaved, was nominated for a Grammy-award in 2023, has emerged as one of our country’s best composers. His music has been performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the National Symphony Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, and many other ensembles.

The VSO opened its concert with Simon’s Four Black American Dances, which was commissioned and premiered by the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 2023. In the first dance, “Ring Shout,” the percussion section created crispy snaps and dashes. The strings launched into a vigorous motoric sequence. Raspy trumpets and sliding trombones put everything into a groove that went full bore. The strings led the way in an elegant and leisurely second dance, “Waltz,” and the third dance “Tap!” took things up a notch with the snare drum accenting the sound. The final dance, “Holy Dance,” had a delightful mélange with tubular bells, snappy wood stick, and wah-wah-ing trombones that suggested a Hamond-organ sound. The piece wrapped up in big-band-symphonic style that reminded me of Gershwin.

Next on the program came “Four Dances Episodes” from Rodeo, which Copland originally wrote as a ballet for Agnes de Mille. The orchestra kicked things off with a feisty “Buckaroo Holiday,” that conveyed the lively goings-on at a rodeo. The gentle interplay between the bassoon and oboe, the dusky sound from the lower strings, and the soothing trumpets gave the “Corral Nocturne” a poignant quality. The famous melody permeated the “Saturday Night Waltz” with a lovely, relaxed feeling. The “Hoe-Down” charged up the atmosphere with toe tapping energy.

Copland originally wrote Appalachian Spring for thirteen instruments, but his version for full orchestra, which he uncorked a year later (1945) captures the original spirit of the piece perfectly. Brotons paced the orchestra deftly so that the music opened slowly and gracefully like a flower in bloom. The animated sections galloped along well, although the oboist struggled to play some phrases cleanly. The Shaker Hymn “Simple Gifts” sounded carefree and graceful, and the orchestra concluded the piece resolutely and with an air of hopefulness.

Saving the best for last, the orchestra gave an inspired performance of Catfish Row, which is a suite of tunes from Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, which is considered the greatest and most-well known American opera ever written. Inflected with musical style of Black Americans, including jazz, most of the audience recognized familiar numbers like “Summertime” and “Bess You Is My Woman Now.”  The brass section of the orchestra really got into the swing of the jazzy style from the opening passages, which have a busy, bustling openness and hopefulness. Michael Liu made the piano sing with the strains of honkytonk strains of “Jazzbo Brown’s Piano Blues” and special guest Peter Frajola (former associate concertmaster of the Oregon Symphony) brightened things up with his banjo for the “I Got Plenty of Nuttin” song. The orchestra aptly delivered passages that portray a hurricane, violent fights, and several other dramatic moments of the opera - all of led up to the thrilling finale when Porgy eagerly resolves to go to New York City to pursue Bess. It all made this reviewer wonder if there would be a way for the VSO to present a concert version someday.

Today's Birthdays

John Alden Carpenter (1876-1951)
Sergueï Bortkiewicz (1877-1952
Guiomar Novaes (1895-1979)
Geraldine Farrar (1882-1967)
Roman Maciejewski (1910-1998)
George Malcolm (1917-1997)
Joseph Rouleau (1929-2019)
Osmo Vänskä (1953)
Markus Stenz (1965)

and

Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592)
Linus Pauling (1901-1994)
Stephen Spender (1909-1995)
Zero Mostel (1915-1977)
Frank Gehry (1929-2025)
John Fahey (1939-2001)
Stephen Chatman (1950)
Colum McCann (1965)
Daniel Handler (1970)

and from the Composers Datebook

On this date in 1882, the Royal College of Music is founded in London.

Today's Birthdays

Sir Hubert Parry (1848-1918)
Lotte Lehmann (1888-1976)
Marian Anderson (1897-1993)
Elizabeth Welch (1904-2003)
Viktor Kalabis (1923-2006)
Mirella Freni (1935-2020)
Morten Lauridsen (1943)
Gidon Kremer (1947)
Frank-Peter Zimmermann (1956)

and

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882)
John Steinbeck (1902-1968)
Lawrence Durrell (1912-1990)
N. Scott Momaday (1934-2024)
Ralph Nadar (1934)