Today's Birthdays

Johann Nepomuk Hummel (1778-1837)
Fanny Hensel (1805-1847)
Rev. John Curwen (1816-1880)
Aaron Copland (1900-1990)
Leonie Rysanek (1926-1998)
Jorge Bolet (1914-1990)
Narciso Yepes (1927-1997)
Robert Lurtsema (1931-2000)
Peter Katin (1930-2015)
Ellis Marsalis (1934-2020)
William Averitt (1948)

and

Claude Monet (1840-1926)
Astrid Lindgren (1907-2002)
William Steig (1907-2003)

Today's Birthdays

Jan Zach (1699-1773)
Louis Lefébure-Wély (1817-1870)
Brinley Richards (1817-1885)
George Whitefield Chadwick (1854-1931)
Marguerite Long (1874-1966)
Joonas Kokkoken (1921-1996)
Lothar Zagrosek (1942)
Martin Bresnick (1946)

and

St. Augustine (354-430)
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894)
Peter Arnett (1934-2025)
George V. Higgins (1939-1999)
Eamon Grennan (1941)

and from the Composers Datebook:

On this day in 1937, the first "official" radio broadcast by the NBC Symphony Orchestra took place with Pierre Monteux conducting. Arthur Rodzinski had conducted a "dress rehearsal" broadcast on Nov. 2, 1937. Arturo Toscanini's debut broadcast with the NBC Symphony would occur on Christmas Day, 1937.

Today's Birthdays

Alexander Borodin (1833-1887)
Jean Papineau-Couture (1916-2000)
Michael Langdon (1920-1991)
Lucia Popp (1939-1993)
Neil Young (1945)

and

Auguste Rodin (1840-1917)
Roland Barthes (1915-1980)
Michael Ende (1929-1995)
Tracy Kidder (1945)
Katherine Weber (1955)

From the New Music Box:

On November 12, 1925, cornetist Louis Armstrong made the first recordings with a group under his own name for Okeh Records in Chicago, Illinois. The group, called Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five, recorded his original compositions, "Gut Bucket Blues" and "Yes! I'm In The Barrel" (Okeh 8261) as well as "My Heart" composed by his wife Lil Hardin who was the pianist in the band. (The flipside of the 78 rpm record on which the latter was issued, Okeh 8320, was "Armstrong's composition "Cornet Chop Suey" recorded three months later on February 26, 1926.) Armstrong's Hot Five and subsequent Hot Seven recordings are widely considered to be the earliest masterpieces of recorded jazz. Posted b

Today's Birthdays

Bernhard Romberg (1767-1841)
Frederick Stock (1872-1942)
Ernest Ansermet (1883-1969)
Jan Simons (1925-2006)
Arthur Cunningham (1928-1997)
Vernon Handley (1930-2008)
Harry Bramma (1936-2026)
Jennifer Bate (1944-2020)
Fang Man (1977)

and

Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-1881)
Kurt Vonnegut (1922-2007)
Carlos Fuentes (1928-2012)
Mary Gaitskill (1955)

and from the Composers Datebook:

On this day in 1898, shortly after it was finished, the painting “Nevermore” by Gaugin is purchased by the English composer Frederick Delius. The painting was inspired by Poe’s famous poem and is now in the collection of London’s Cortland Gallery.

Verdi’s Requiem receives outstanding performance with the Vancouver Symphony

Verdi’s Requiem still packs a wallop!  That’s the conclusion that even the most jaded observer would give after hearing loud and sustained response from the standing-room-only audience for the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra’s program on November 7^th at Skyview Concert Hall. Concertgoers immediately rose to their feet applauding and cheering in recognition of an outstanding performance by the orchestra under its Music Director Salvador Brotons, guest soloists and the Portland Symphonic Choir.

Completed in 1873, Verdi wrote the Messa da Requiem in response to the death of Gioachino Rossini’s death. Its premiere the following year at St. Mark’s Church in Milan was an immediate success. It has been a staple of orchestras and some operatic houses ever since. As far as I know, this was the first time that the VSO has presented Verdi’s monumental piece.

Noted for its operatic and dramatic style, Verdi’s Requiem requires singers who have the vocal heft and stamina to project over a boisterous orchestra. The VSO’s quartet of soloists – soprano Abigail Krawson, mezzo-soprano Hannah Penn, tenor Brian Cheney, and baritone Anton Belov – expressed the heights and depths of the piece with elan. The chorus, prepared by its Artistic Director Dr. Alissa Deeter, sang with conviction and delivered the vocal fireworks with gusto. The orchestra with Ron Blessinger as guest concertmaster supported the singers expertly.

The piece opened superbly with the choir’s whispery sound and well-tapered phrasing establishing a hushed solemn and serious feeling. That contrasted sharply with the ominous blasts from the bass drum in the fiery second movement, Dies Irae. Together, the chorus and instrumentalists delivered a searing warning, and Belov’s resonant voice added gravitas to his solo (“Mors stupebit et Natura”). The trio for soprano, mezzo-soprano, and tenor (“Quid sum miser tunc dicturus?”)  was well-balanced, and Krawson soared to a stratospheric high note and caressed it exquisitely. Penn delivered “Recordare, Jesu pie” sincerely and beautifully, and her duet with Krawson was intimately earnest. Cheney’s anguished voice made his solo (“Ingemisco tamquam reu”) almost palpable, and the quartet and chorus created a wonderfully graceful plea (“Pie Jesu domine”) at the end of the movement.

Highlights of the third movement, Offertorio, included Belov’s firm “Libera eas de ore leonis,” Cheney’s tender “Hostias et preces tibi Domine” and a sweet solo passage that Blessinger played. The fourth movement, Sanctus, featured stellar work by the choir, singing an eight-part fugue for double chorus.

Brotons eschewed the baton for the fifth movement, Agnus Dei, using only his hands to get a soft, gentle sound from Krawson, Penn, and the choir. The sixth movement, Lux Aeterna, glowed – even during the final phrases when Belov used his basso profundo voice.

The choir returned to its terrific hushed sound at the beginning of the seventh and final movement, Libera Me. All of the forces, urged on by Broton’s emotive conducting, combined to make a fervent petition, but the star was Krawson, who sang with mesmerizing intensity.

After the final notes faded into the hall, the audience erupted with heartfelt applause and a standing ovation that was well-deserved.  The choir should have received an endurance award for standing throughout the concert. It is too bad that the stage does not have enough room for seats. Perhaps that can be rectified in the future.

Before the concert began, Hal Abramas, VSO Director of Development, spoke about the $300k gift that was successfully matched. It is really great to hear that the community is stepping up financially for the orchestra. Coupled with the two sold-out concerts of Verdi’s Requiem (November 7 and 8), the future of the VSO looks hopeful and bright. 

Today's Birthdays

Martin Luther (1483-1546)
François Couperin (1668-1733)
John Phillips Marquand (1873-1949)
Carl Stalling (1891-1972)
Ennio Morricone (1928-2020)
Graham Clark (1941-2023)
Sir Tim Rice (1944)
Andreas Scholl (1967)

and

Oliver Goldsmith (1730-1774)
Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805)
Vachel Lindsey (1879-1931)
John Phillips Marquand (1893-1960)

and from the Composers Datebook:

On this day in 1900, Russian pianist Ossip Gabrilowitsch makes his Carnegie Hall debut in New York City during his first American tour. In 1909 he married contralto Clara Clemens, the daughter of the American writer Samuel Clemens/Mark Twain.

Today's Birthdays

Burrill Phillips (1907-1988)
Pierrette Alarie (1921-2011)
Piero Cappuccilli (1929-2005)
Ivan Moravec (1930-2015)
William Thomas McKinley (1938-2015)
Thomas Quasthoff (1959)
Bryn Terfel (1965)

and

Ivan Turgenev (1818-1883)
Hugh Leonard (1926-2009)
Anne Sexton (1928-1974)
Carl Sagan (1934-1996)

Today's Birthdays

Friedrich Witt (1770-1836)
Sir Arnold Bax (1883-1953)
Lamberto Gardelli (1915-1938)
Jerome Hines (1921-2003)
Richard Stoker (1938-2021)
Simon Standage (1941)
Judith Zaimont (1945)
Tadaaki Otaka (1947)
Elizabeth Gale (1948)
Bonnie Raitt (1949)
Ana Vidović (1980)

and

Dorothy Day (1897-1980)
Margaret Mitchell (1900-1949)
Raja Rao (1908-2006)
Kazuo Ishiguro (1954)