Today's Birthdays

Marin Marais (1656-1728)
Louise Farrenc (1804-1875)
Billy Mayerl (1902-1959)
Alfred Deller (1912-1979)
Akira Ifukube (1914-2006)
Shirley Verrett (1931-2010)
Peter Yarrow (1938)
Bruce Adolphe (1955)
Marty Ehrlich (1955)

and

Ludwig Tieck (1773-1853)
Walt Whitman (1819-1892)
Clint Eastwood (1930)

Review: Lamsma and Märkl and the Oregon Symphony take flight

Dutch virtuoso Simone Lamsma delivered a stellar performance of Barber’s Violin Concerto with the Oregon Symphony under Principal Guest Conductor Jun Märkl. It was the highlight the first half of the program (May 22), which also featured colorful works by Respighi, Tchaikovsky, and Gabriela Lena Frank at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall.

The concert represented Lamsma’s final appearance as a member of the orchestra’s Creative Alliance in which she spent the prior week giving master classes and working with school kids and youth orchestras. The Barber flowed from her Stradivarius with an evocative, polished, and inviting sound. In the first movement, Lamsma created wistful, lyrical melodies that put listeners in a spellbinding trance. In the second movement, she followed Martin Hébert’s exquisite oboe solo with intimate yet passionate passages that were akin to singing. In the third, she let loose with a continuously busy series of notes as if running pell-mell and executing little jumps along the way. She arrived at the finish line in thrilling fashion, which caused the audience to erupt with a standing ovation.

After returning to the stage several times, Lamsma gave an immaculate performance of Eugène Ysaÿe’s Sonata No.3 “Ballade.” Its fiery and intense ending brought down the house again with sustained cheering and applause.

The second half of the program was for the birds – in a good way – because it offered Respighi’s “Gli uccelli” (“The Birds”) and selections from Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake Suite.” Both pieces fit Märkl’s graceful conducting style perfectly.

Based on music from the Baroque era, Respighi’s tone poem received a wonderful and lively interpretation by the orchestra. The musicians really got to strut their stuff, eliciting doves, hens, nightingales, and cuckoos. Hébert’s oboe created a mellow dove. The free-range chickens clucked with delight. The nightingale sang lovely tunes with kudos to Jeff Garza’s horn. The cuckoo echoed lightly throughout the orchestra.

Shortly after the five selections from the “Swan Lake Suite” started, I noticed that Märkl was conducting from memory. He probably conducted the “The Birds” from memory as well. In any case, the Tchaikovsky was infused with terrific dynamics and a gorgeous sound. I loved the way that the Valse (Waltz) leaned back and forth deliciously. The Matthew Tutsky’s superb harp solo in the fourth movement really stole the scene. Concertmaster Sarah Kwak executed lovely melodies and the total effect of the piece was heartwarming. All that was missing were the dancers.

Gabriela Lena Frank’ Concertino Cusqcueño expressed her Peruvian roots with a lot unusual combinations like the piccolo, bass clarinet, timpani, and celesta at the beginning, an eerie but not unfriendly sound that suggested the Incas. The principal strings (Sarah Kwak, Chien Tan, Amanda Grimm, Nancy Ives) wove melodic lines that were assimilated by the orchestra before returning to the opening ensemble. According to Frank, the one-movement piece was influenced in part by Benjamin Britten, and it created an enchanting setting for the rest of the concert.

The concert was sponsored by The Naito Family in memory of Bill and Micki Naito. I recall seeing Bill Naito at the Schnitz many times back in the day. He always seemed warm, very engaged with patrons, and not stand-offish in any way. I am not advocating for nostalgia, but it would be refreshing to see that connection to Portland’s power structure renewed in some way. Maybe there is a way to get that migratory path reinvigorated.

Today's Birthdays

Riccardo Zandonai (1883-1944)
Jelly Aranyi de Hunyadvár (1893-1966)
Benny Goodman (1909-1986)
George London (1920-1985)
Gustav Leonhardt (1928-2012)
Pauline Oliveros (1932-2016)
Zoltan Kocsis (1952)
Anne LeBaron (1953)

and

Howard Hawks (1896-1977)
Colm Toibin (1955)

and from the New Music Box:

On May 30, 1923, 26-year-old composer and conductor Howard Hanson, who would later be one of the founders of the American Music Center, led the world premiere performance of his Nordic Symphony, the first of his seven symphonies and still one of his best-known works, in Rome during his residence as first holder of the American Rome Prize.

Preview of Cascadia Composers' Ligeti concert in The Oregonian

My preview of the upcoming Cascadia Composers concert, featuring music of György Ligeti has been posted on Oregonlive here. It will be in the print edition this Friday.

Today's Birthdays

Francesco Fanciulli (1853-1915)
Isaac Albéniz (1860-1909)
Rudolf Tobias (1873-1918)
Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897-1957)
Iannis Xenakis (1922-2001)
Helmuth Rilling (1933)
Michael Berkley (1948)
Linda Esther Gray (1948)
Melissa Etheridge (1961)

and

G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936)
Oswald Spengler (1880-1936)
John F. Kennedy (1917-1963)
Steven Levitt (1967)

and

from the Composers Datebook:

On this day in 1913, Stravinsky's "Le Sacre du printemps" (The Rite of Spring) received its premiere performance in Paris, by Diaghilev's Ballet Russe, Pierre Monteux conducting.

Today's Birthdays

Thomas Arne (1710-1788)
Josiah Flagg (1737-1795)
Thomas Moore (1779-1852)
Giovanni Sgambati (1841-1914)
Sir George Dyson(1883-1964)
T-Bone Walker (1910-1975)
Nicola Rescigno (1916-2008)
György Ligeti (1923-2006)
John Culshaw (1924-1980)
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (1925-2012)
Richard Van Allan (1935-2008
Maki Ishii (1936-2003)
Elena Souliotis (1943-2004)
Levon Chilingirian (1948)

and

Thomas Moore (1779-1852)
Oswald Spengler (1880-1936)
Ian Flemming (1908-1964
May Swenson (1913-1989)
Walker Percy (1916-1990)

Today's Birthdays

Jacques Halévy (1799-1862)
Joseph Joachim Raff (1822-1882)
Louis Durey (1888-1979)
Claude Champagne (1891-1965)
Ernst Wallfisch (1920-1979)
Margaret Buechner (1922-1998)
Thea Musgrave (1928)
Donald Keats (1929-2018)
Elizabeth Harwood (1938-1990)
James Wood (1953)

and

Julia Ward Howe (1819-1910)
Wild Bill Hickok (1837-1876)
Isadora Duncan (1877-1927)
Dashiell Hammett (1894-1961)
Rachel Carson (1907-1964)
John Cheever (1912-1982)
John Barth (1930)
Linda Pastan (1932)

Review: Brotons unleashes emotional Fourth Symphony – Bailey delivers trenchant Shostakovich cello concerto

The Vancouver Symphony gave a powerful and emotionally charged world premiere of Salvador Brotons’ Fourth Symphony (“Sacra”) at Skyview Concert Hall (May 20), aptly reflecting the composer’s dynamic personality. Whether descending into the depths, resting in a calm place, or ascending into the heavens, Brotons’ music conveyed a sense of motion that took the audience on a satisfying journey. It was an excellent piece with which to close out the orchestra’s 44th season.

Using seven movements from the Catholic Requiem Mass, the Symphony No 4 started with a scattershot from the woodwinds, including three piccolos playing notes that were entangled. Perhaps that was a metaphorical statement about the human condition. In any case, the entire orchestra joined in and, urged on by Brotons, amassed a muscular, massive sound - culminating with terrific blows from the timpani and bass drum – before dissipating into quietness

If anyone had fallen asleep, they were awakened with explosive percussion blasts in the Dies irae that followed. Different melodic lines created threads that suggested flames, and a constant propulsive drive from the entire ensemble climaxed to a stunning end that drew wows from the audience. Interjections from a trio of trombones dominated the Tuba mirum, which gradually slowed down to reveal glassy glissandos from the strings. The Lacrimosa offered a bleak, desolate, yet poignant lamentation that subsided into the lower strings and lowermost registers of the other instruments. The Poenas inferni featured a muted trumpet that seemed to nag the orchestra into a staggered waltz, but the trombone (played marvelously by Greg Scholl) interjected with devilishly tricky passages. Straight, non-vibrato tones whispered from the strings to open the Lux aeterna. Light, twinkly phrases from the piano and the xylophone added to the ethereal quality of the movement, which ended in a high tremolo. The Libera me surged with back and forth, exposing pizzicatos from the harp at one point, and gathered steam from all forces to conclude triumphantly.

The audience responded to the 40-minute work enthusiastically, and Brotons deserves high marks for creating a work that painted each movement with brilliant colors. In an exchange of email, I asked him if he was at work on his next symphony, and he replied that he has already written the next three! All of them are commissioned. So, Vancouver patrons will probably hear more of his creations in the near future.

Grammy-award-winning cellist Zuill Bailey gave an incisive and warm performance of the Shostakovich Cello Concerto No. 1, playing it impressively from memory. He put excellent finishing touches on his phrases and added plenty of verve when the music became agitated. He made his cello growl and finessed passages where he had to strum and play a normal note at the same time. The helter-skelter section in the third movement took things up a notch or two further with his fingers racing all over the place. Principal horn, Dan Partridge, also had a number of exceptional solos that made the piece a winner. Overall, Bailey and the orchestra gave an outstanding performance, and listeners erupted into a standing ovation.

Bailey responded with a wonderful encore, an intimate rendition of “The Song of the Birds,” a Catalan lullaby that Pablo Casals helped to make popular.

The orchestra delivered the Overture to the opera “Taras Bulba” by Ukrainian composer Mykola Lysenko with gusto. The big, sweeping melodies had lots of vim and vigor. Entries were crisp, and the trombones got to shine briefly. The splashing finale made it a snappy curtain-raiser.

Today's Birthdays

Al Jolson (1886-1950)
Eugene Goossens (1893-1962)
Ernst Bacon (1898-1990)
Vlado Perlemuter (1904-2002)
Moondog (Louis Thomas Hardin) (1916-1999)
François‑Louis Deschamps (1919-2004)
Peggy Lee (1920-2002)
Joseph Horovitz (1926-2022)
Miles Davis (1926-1991)
Teresa Stratas (1938)
William Bolcom (1938)
Howard Goodall (1958)
Armando Bayolo (1973)

and

Aleksandr Pushkin (1799-1837)
Dorothea Lange (1895-1965)
Frankie Manning (1914-2009)
Alan Hollinghurst (1954)

and from the New Music Box:

On May 26, 1953, Aaron Copland appeared before the Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Today's Birthdays

Thomas "Blind Tom" Wiggins (1849-1908)
Miles Davis (1926-1991)
Beverly Sills (1929-2007)
Franco Bonisolli (1937-2003)

and

Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)
Theodore Roethke (1908-1963)
Raymond Carver (1938-1988)
Jamaica Kincaid (1949)

and from the Composers Datebook:

On this day in 1944, Arturo Toscanini conducts the combined NBC Symphony and New York Philharmonic in a benefit concert of music by Wagner, Verdi, and Sousa at the old Madison Square Garden. The concert raised $100,000 for the Red Cross. During an intermission auction, New York mayor Fiorello LaGuardia auctioned off Toscanini's baton for $10,000.
I wonder where that baton is today...

Today's Birthdays

Paul Paray (1886-1979)
Joan Hammond (1912-1986)
Hans‑Martin Linde (1930)
Maurice André (1933-2012)
Harold Budd (1936-2020)
Bob Dylan (1941)
Konrad Boehmer (1941-2014)
Fiona Kimm (1952)
Paul McCreesh (1960)

and

William Trevor (1928-2016)
Joseph Brodsky (1940-1996)
Declan Kiberd (1951)
Michael Chabon (1963)

Today's Birthdays

Andrea Luchesi (1741-1801)
Ignaz Moscheles (1794-1870)
Louis Glass (1864-1936)
Edmund Rubbra (1901-1986)
Artie Shaw (1910-2004)
Jean Françaix (1912-1997)
Alicia de Larrocha (1923-2009)
Robert Moog (1934-2005)
Joel Feigin (1951)

and

Margaret Fuller (1810-1850)
Margaret Wise Brown (1910-1952)
Jane Kenyon (1947-1995)

Today's Birthdays

Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
Johann Schrammel (1850-1893)
Minna Keal (1909-1999)
Sun Ra (1914-1993)
George Tintner (1917-1999
Humphrey Lyttelton (1921-2008)
Claude Ballif (1924-2004)
John Browning (1933-2003)
Peter Nero (1934)

and

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930)
Laurence Olivier (1907-1989)
Peter Matthiessen (1927-2014)

and from the New Music Box:

On May 21, 1893, in an lengthy article published in the New York Herald titled "Real Value of Negro Melodies," Bohemian composer Antonin Dvorak, during his three-year sojourn in the United States, prognosticated that the future of American music should be based on "negro melodies" and announced that the National Conservatory of Music, where he was serving as Director at the time, would be "thrown open free of charge to the negro race." It was to be the first of a total of seven articles in the Herald in which Dvorak expounded these ideas which provoked comments ranging from incredulity to denunciation by composers and performers around the world including Anton Bruckner, Anton Rubinstein and John Knowles Paine.

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)

Oregon Symphony cools off at the Keller with Gershwin and Shostakovich

An uncommon heat wave brought the air conditioning system at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall to its knees, and that forced the Oregon Symphony to relocate its concerts to the cool confines of the Keller Auditorium (née Civic Auditorium) for the first time in over forty years. The switch didn’t deter the enthusiasm of the audience, which was treated to an outstanding program (May 13) led by Dutch conductor Antony Hermus that featured pianist Aaron Diehl in Gershwin’s Concerto in F Major, Unsuk Chin’s “Frontispiece for Orchestra, and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 10.

As the orchestra took positions on the stage it quickly became apparent that the size of the stage at the Keller is much bigger than that of the Schnitz. The musicians could really spread out, and the piano seemed to have the space of a football field all to itself. On top of that, from my perch in the first balcony –just under the lip of the second balcony – the ensemble seemed far, far away… and that was because the distance to the stage is indeed much further than the distance at the Schnitz. The acoustics were surprising good – probably because I was sitting in the center section.

Diehl (age 37) is an acclaimed jazz pianist, who can also hold his own in the classical field. Delivering the Gershwin with immaculate technique, he generated a clear yet warm sound that was instantly appealing. The jazzy sections bounced along with a carefree, jaunty looseness, and he wrapped up the first movement with such a terrific flair that the audience immediately broke out with applause. He made the bluesy segments sing (with additional kudos to principal trumpet Jeffrey Work) and sailed through the piece with panache. His playing brought the audience to its feet with loud cheering, and Diehl responded with a slow, gentle encore – Thelonious Monk’s “Ruby, My Dear.”

The Shostakovich received a trenchant performance that was genuinely thrilling. From the moody, broody beginning to the electrifying ending, the sound was stellar. The helter-skelter passages, the unrelenting drives, the incredibly soft and tender phrases, the shifting dynamics with exciting tempo changes – they were all superbly executed by the orchestra. Highlights included the somber double-basses, the plaintive clarinet of James Shield and the first violins, lovely lines from the flute of Martha Long, a wonder bassoon and contra-bassoon number with Carin Miller and Kai Roche, the dark woody cellos, a poignant melody from the English horn of Jason Sudduth, and the four horns of the apocalypse with Jeff Garza in the lead. The cumulative effect of the orchestra was riveting and caused an immediate standing ovation.

Chin’s “Frontispeice for Orchestra” was a short and esoteric piece in which the composer obfuscated references to music by Strauss, Scriabin, Stravinsky, and others. Extended techniques like the breathy tone from the flutes made the first part sort of chaotic, but then it briefly coalesced into a sound that was more familiar – at least one passage seemed to imitate Bruckner – before staggering to the finish line. For those of us who are interested in all sorts of sounds – even unusual ones – it was fun to hear, but that made it a connoisseur’s piece for sure.

Hermus conducted the orchestra without a baton and with a terrifically crisp downbeat. He looked at times like he was chopping a block of cheese or some huge vegetable. The first beat of each measure seemed always at the bottom of his hand-movement instead of the top, except for the bluesy segments of the Gershwin when he shifted his gestures from side to side. I’ve seen other conductors use a downbeat now and then, but Hermus consistently did so, and it worked spectacularly!

Today's Birthdays

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

and

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

Camerata PYP and In Mulieribus create fresh sonic worlds with music by Meyer and Roustom

An evening of music featuring women’s voices and string orchestra mesmerized the audience at St. Philip Neri Church (May 12). The concert featured In Mulieribus, the professional women’s vocal ensemble, and Camerata PYP, the top-notch chamber orchestra of the Portland Youth Philharmonic, in a unique collaboration to present the world premiere of Jessica Meyer’s “Because I Will Not Despair” and the West Coast premiere of Kareem Roustom’s “Hurry to the Light.” Conducted by PYP musical director David Hattner, each piece created a fresh sonic world augmented by thought-provoking texts that impressively emphasized the female perspective.

Since the PYP had previously commissioned Meyer, a professional violist and composer based in New York City, in 2020 for the terrific viola octet, “A Fire to be Kindled,” she was co-commissioned by In Mulieribus and PYP for the new work. She responded with “Because I Will Not Despair,” in which she knit together four poems by Alicia Jo Rabins, an award-winning poet who lives in Portland.

Meyers gave the four movements of “Because I Will Not Despair” different titles than the title of the original poems, and that gave the music more a fluid context. Starting with “Healing/Breaking,” the words suggest a struggled within the soul, and the orchestra supported that feeling with dynamic contrasts that surged ahead and subsided to a calmer space. “The Name Beneath Our Names” linked women through the generations with an harmonic underlayment from all forces and two briefly evocative cello solos. “By the Flames” expressed resilience through troubling times with leaping sounds and the strings swelling to a slashing ending. “Resist” began acapella with syllabic fragments that gradually became words. The strings joined in and gradually raised a thrilling crescendo to the culminating statement: ‘Because I will not despair I resist.’

Meyer’s piece delivered a panoply of dynamic contrast for both the singers and the instrumental ensemble. Several exposed passages for individual members of In Mulieribus were wonderfully sung by mezzo Hanna Penn and soprano Amanda Jane Kelley. Incisive playing by the orchestra involved extended techniques and tricky tempo changes, and the musicians conquered with panache. The overall sound was not deterred by the warm, echoing acoustic of the church, and the audience responded with a standing ovation.

The sentiment and direction of Meyer’s “Because I Will Not Despair” segued perfectly to Roustom’s “Hurry to the Light,” which is based on Homer’s “The Odyssey” in a new, acclaimed translation by Emily Wilson that tells the famous legend from a female perspective. Presenting crucial elements of the story through the words of Penelope, Circe, Athena, Anticlea, and the Sirens, Roustom created a colorful sonic tapestry that was absolutely captivating.

Consisting of seven movements, “Hurry to the Light” began with an orchestral snap and the women singing in Ancient Greek. As Penelope (Odysseus’s wife), they told of her crafty method to hold off the many suitors while waiting for her husband to return. The orchestra underscored the scene with lines that threaded back and forth. This was followed by Circe’s instructions for Odysseus so that he could survive the many dangers on his way home. The agitated tremolos from the orchestra emphasized the treacherous rocks that harbored the monstrous Scylla, and the movement came to a furious end with the women emphatically warning Odysseus to “Row fast!” The movement in which a phantom visits Penelope to reassure her about her son. Despite soothing passages, there was an undercurrent of restlessness, and when Penelope – sung with vivid emotion by soprano Henriët Fouriet – asked about her husband, the phantom gave an elusive reply, complemented by strings that faded into silence. This was followed by the sirens enticing Odysseus with their glissando-like voices – a highlight of the piece. Soprano Catherine van der Salm invoked the warning of Odysseus’s mother, admonishing him to “Hurry to the Light” on his journey homeward. An orchestral interlude depicting Penelope’s questioning of Odysseus featured staggered entries and a layering effect that culminated with a terrific emotional release into the final movement in which wife and husband are reunited. The piece concluded with glassy, smooth, sounds – no vibrato – and bliss.

Roustom ingeniously created the music for the women – all of whom were expertly prepared by IM artistic director Anna Song – so that we heard solo voices, duets, sections (for example, all altos), and other combinations that made the piece so compelling. Word painting by the orchestra wonderfully complemented the text, and with Hattner on the podium, the results were superb.

During the talk back session after the performance, Meyer paid high compliments to the orchestra and singers. I am wondering if there would be a chance for PYP to make a recording of these pieces, because they were performed at such a high level. I will not despair if no recording is made, but I would still hope that IM and Camerata PYP would do this program again in the near future.

Preview of VSO concert with premiere of Broton's 4th symphony in The Columbian

 

The VSO will do the world premiere of Salvador Broton's Fourth Symphony this weekend. The concert includes Zuill Bailey performing Shostakovich's Cello Concerto No. 1 also. You can read my preview of the concert in The Columbian newspaper here.

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.

Review of Opera Theater Oregon's Sacajawea Story posted on OAW

 My review of OTO's unique opera has been published in Oregon ArtsWatch here.

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)

Preview of concert featuring Ukrainian wedding music published in The Oregonian

 

My preview of Cappella Romana's Ukrainian Wedding concert is now on Oregonlive here.  It will appear in the print edition of The Oregonian this Friday.  Ura!

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 (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)

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.

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.

Today's Birthdays

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

and

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

Kalmar subject of Title IX investigation

The Chicago Tribune has reported that Carlos Kalmar, former music director of the Oregon Symphony is under investigation for sexual harassment at the Cleveland Institute of Music where he is director of orchestral studies and the conducting program. 

The Chicago Tribune article is here.

The Willamette Week has also reported it:

https://www.wweek.com/music/2023/05/12/former-oregon-symphony-conductor-carlos-kalmar-faces-title-ix-investigation/

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)

Review of Oregon Symphony's "Law of Mosaics" concert posted on OAW

 

Deanna Tham and the OSO put together a fine concert - with works curated by Gabriel Kahane at The Reser. My review is posted here on Oregon ArtsWatch.

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)

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)

Portland Opera makes big splash with fanciful "Rusalka"

Karen Vuong in the title role of Portland Opera's 2023 production of Rusalka. Photo by Christine Dong.

Portland Opera left no boulder unturned in its straightforward presentation of “Rusalka.” Its evocative performance (April 28) at Keller Auditorium brilliantly conveyed the cautionary fairy tale with colorful projections, dynamic orchestral music, and the stellar singing of Karen Vuong in the title role. The production marked the first time in the company’s 59-year history to produce Antonín Dvořák’s greatest opera.

Based on a Slavic folk story with a libretto by the Jaroslav Kvapil, “Rusalka” tells of a water nymph (or mermaid-like creature), who lives in the forest. But she falls in love with a prince who, while hunting, chances by the place where Rusalka lives. She instantly falls in love with him and pleads with her father, the Water Gnome, to become human. He warns her of such desires and storms off. Rusalka then goes to the witch, Ježibaba, who gives her the potion, but it comes with stipulations: if Rusalka does not find love with the prince, he will die and she will be eternally damned. Rusalka willing drinks the potion anyway. But things do not go well for her after this moment.

Directed by Eric Simonson, the production – with scenery, projections, and costumes from Minnesota Opera – clearly contrasted the vibrant, fun-filled, and idyllic life of water creatures in the woodlands with the sterile, hard-edged life, and inebriated world of the aristocrats at the ball. Kärin Kopischke’s fanciful clothing for the water nymphs added to the zest of the forest. Everything was expertly lit by Robert Wierzel.

The opera opened with a knockout scene, featuring flat rocky surfaces split by a deep stream and projections of watery depths. Wendall Harrington’s projected imagery seamlessly changed to lush forest and a lakeside with an enchanting moon that graced the famous “Song to the Moon” aria.

Karen Vuong totally embodied the title role. Her voice filled the hall with an undercurrent of emotion – whether it was elation, longing, or despair – that was absolutely mesmerizing. Her pleading with her father and the witch to become human had a conviction and genuine urgency that was palpable. When she appeared in the last act with bloodshot eyes and a ghostly white face, it was pure tragedy.

Ben Gulley as the Prince. Photo by Christine Dong.

Ben Gulley came across as a bit stilted in the role of The Prince, and his passionate tenor needed just a little more volume. But he did save his best moments for the last act, when he revealed some thrilling high notes with high octane gusto.

Karen Vuong in the title role and Jill Grove as Ježibaba. Photo by Christine Dong.

Mezzo Jill Grove’s superb Ježibaba with an incredibly well-timed array of smirks, side glances, grins, shrugs, and eye-rolls that enhanced her rich, declamatory singing, even while smoking a pipe. She magically made the witch sort of enchanting and repulsive at the same time.

Karen Vuong as Rusalka and Andrew Potter as Vodnik. Photo by Christine Dong.

Andrew Potter expressed the role of Vodnik, the Water Gnome, with a gentle stateliness, except for his protesting against humans, who he forewarned were treacherous beings. Because of his exceptionally tall height. he could have stood in the chasm between the boulders and embraced Rusalka and still be taller than her.

 

Othalie Graham as the Foreign Princess. Photo by Christine Dong

Othalie Graham as the Foreign Princess augmented an imperious demeanor with a stentorian, steely soprano that shattered the bonds between The Prince and Rusalka.

Jasmine Johnson, Maddy Ross, and Rachel Hauge as the Wood Sprites. Photo by Christine Dong.

 The trio of Wood-Sprites (Madeline Ross, Rachel Hauge, and Jasmine Johnson) exhibited an infectious camaraderie that easily won over the audience. They gleefully teased the old Water Gnome, playfully chased each other about, and preened with unself-conscious admiration.

Choreography by Shaun Keylock allowed the dancers lots of expressive freedom as water-nymph sisters. They became stuffy, stuck-up party goers who could only cut loose after consuming lots of alcohol during the dance scene in Act II.

The orchestra, under German conductor Elias Grandy, exuded a terrific dynamic range from the quietest passages to super-charged Wagnerian fortes. Yet, throughout the opera, the orchestral sound never overwhelmed the singers.

If you would like to hear Vuong again, she will be singing in Seattle Opera’s production of “Bound,” starting on June 9th.

For anyone who has waited for a long time to experience Rusalka in Portland, consider the fact that Portland Opera actually beat La Scala, which is presenting “Rusalka” for the very first time in June. Who would’ve guessed that!

Rachel Hauge, Jasmine Johnson, and Maddy Ross as the Wood Sprites i. Photo by Christine Dong.

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)
Awadagin Pratt (1966)
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.

Benefit concert for the SWWA Center for the Arts’ “Uplift!” children’s project

 

From the press release:

(Vancouver, WA) Celebrated jazz and blues vocalist Shelly Rudolph takes the Kiggins Theatre stage May 17th at 6pm for “Soul!” - a special concert to benefit the SWWA Center for the Arts’ “Uplift!” children’s project. Shelly will be joined by renowned jazz innovator, pianist Tom Grant, along with the Swank Soul Band guitarist Dan Gildea, saxophonist Renato Caranto (of the Mel Brown Septet), bassist Bill Athens, drummer Edwin Coleman III, and Paul Mazzio on trumpet. National Cirque Champion Aerialist Rebecca Palmer with Aerial Muse Collective will accompany Ms. Rudolph with a special choreographed performance.

 

“Soul!” was created as part of the SWWA Center for the Arts’ “Uplift!” children’s project, a day of giving, art, and music experiences for children ages 8 - 12 from Boys and Girls Clubs, Friends of the Children, and local shelters. Businesses and nonprofits have teamed up for this project, including the Clark County Food Bank, Artstra’s Creative Relief Clark County, Beacock Music, Star Wars Oregon’s Cloud City Garrison, Riverview Community Bank, and more. The piano will be generously donated by Portland Piano Company.

 

About Shelly Rudolph

Shelly Rudolph’s projects have embraced soul, jazz, blues, R&B, reggae, and pop. She has performed all over the world with ensembles that range from intimate duets to jazz orchestras and most everything in between. Ms. Rudolph has been dubbed a “robust and captivating vocalist” by Jazz Times, and the LA Weekly praised her ability to use her “honey-glazed throat to send chills up and down your spine.” As a songwriter and vocalist, she has collaborated and recorded with Grammy-winning cellist David Darling, bassist David Piltch (kd lang), Ken Stange (Joe Cocker), David Mathews (Etta James), Tom Lackner (Airto and Flora Purim) smooth jazz pioneer Tom Grant and Pink Martini’s Phil Baker. Ms. Rudolph’s recordings have established her as a notable musician among peers and press, and garnered songwriting and recording work nationally and internationally. Shelly has received placement on national and international jazz stations, including Europe, Japan, Indonesia, and the middle east.

 

 

About Tom Grant

As one of the Pacific Northwest’s most renowned musical artists, Tom Grant’s career achievements reflect his unique ability to embrace the full spectrum of contemporary music. Tom has performed with jazz luminaries like trumpeter Woody Shaw, saxophonists Joe Henderson and Charles Lloyd. His most life-changing gig was with drummer Tony Williams who himself transformed the 1960’s Miles Davis Band both musically and commercially into a worldwide jazz phenomenon. With Tony and bassist Patrick O’Hearn, Tom recorded and toured worldwide. Tom was considered by many to be the father of the Smooth Jazz sound, recording albums on major labels including Verve, Shanachie and Windham Hill. Several of these shot to number one on the Smooth Jazz charts.  Tom has appeared on the Jay Leno show and was featured in many of the national music mags as well as CNN.

 

About The Swank Soul Band

The Swank Soul Band features Renato Caranto, saxophone (performed and/or recorded with The Temptations, The Four Tops, Merle Haggard, Esperanza Spalding, Arturo Sandoval, and more), Paul Mazzio, trumpet (performed with Tony Bennet, The Moody Blues, Natalie Cole, the Woody Herman Orchestra, and others), Edwin Coleman III, drums (performed with the Neville Brothers, at Lincoln Center, the Waterfront Blues Festival, etc.), Dan Gildea, guitar, and Bill Athens, bass.

 

About Rebecca Palmer

Rebecca Palmer is an acclaimed performance artist and the 2016 Cirque Sport International USA Lyra Champion. Her experience includes 15 years Ballet with the Royal Academy of Dance, 10 years Modern Dance, 4 years competitive Ballroom Dance, 8 years competitive Figure Skating, 8 years international competitive Diving (platform/springboard), 5 years Musical Theater, and 10 years Costume Design & Makeup. Ms. Palmer is an MBA graduate from the University of Portland and founder/Director of The Aerial Muse Collective. Her show-stopping performances push the boundaries of physical limitation and motion.

 

About Arts for a Cause

SWWA Center for the Arts believes Art is one of the most compelling advocacy and educational tools to create change. With that in mind, we’ve committed to partnering with other change makers to present timely and relevant programs that utilize the Arts in all its forms to facilitate meaningful change in our communities. Through the “Arts for a Cause initiative”, we strive to create arts events with a purpose, transforming our communities through the arts.

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)

All Classical Portland to move HQ to KOIN Tower in Downtown Portland

 Big news!  

From the press release:

Portland, OR, USA May 3, 2023–All Classical Portland proudly announces their new headquarters at KOIN Tower in downtown Portland, complete with a unique performance space and a new state-of-the-art recording studio available to local composers and performers. Their relocation to KOIN Tower in early 2024 will bring All Classical to the heart of downtown Portland, where they will serve as a national beacon for arts-based urban regeneration and increase the range of activities All Classical can offer. Looking ahead to their 40^th anniversary, All Classical’s new space reflects their ambition to share the dynamism and joy for classical music with all audiences — regionally, nationally, and internationally.

 

Station highlights in recent years include ground-breaking Artist in Residence and Youth Ambassador programs, an arts journalism mentorship, and the award-winning Recording Inclusivity Initiative (winner of the coveted national Local that Works Award). In addition, the network launched a second station in 2019 (icanradio.org), designed to increase access for children to arts education. Currently, over 250,000 people in the Pacific Northwest enjoy the services of All Classical every week, and millions stream across the United States and around the world in over 100 countries.

 

All Classical's new space will host community concerts and events, with recording and video studios available to document and amplify local artists. The technical capabilities available will facilitate the next wave of innovative production for the station:

 

"This move will enable us to expand our community-focused service on and off the air, and substantially strengthen our position in the digital world," shares All Classical’s President & CEO Suzanne Nance. “Our station has matured into one of the most successful in the nation and is becoming a truly integrated arts and culture network."

 

All Classical must raise $6 million to help build and equip their new home and has already raised nearly half of the necessary funding. Prudential Real Estate Investors (KOIN Tower landlord) has offered a significant financial investment to help All Classical build out the space, alongside generous donations from community members and businesses such as Oregon Lumber Company.

 

"These strong plans for All Classical's next chapter honor everyone who has invested in this service over the past 39 years. It is the work and vision of countless community members and supporters that has made All Classical the vibrant, accessible, community treasure it is today."

- Elaine Durst, Chair, All Classical Portland Board of Directors.

 

All Classical’s service is vital to the economies of Oregon and SW Washington. Oregon Arts Commission cited a pre-pandemic study (2015) that outlined — “the arts sector of Oregon generates $687 million in annual total economic activity. This economic impact study sends a strong signal that when we support the arts, we not only enhance our quality of life, but we also invest in Oregon’s economic well-being.” All Classical is the area’s largest megaphone for the arts and amplifies the work of countless organizations and businesses around the region.

Article about Portland Youth Philharmonic families in The Oregonian

 

My article about families with multiple kids in the PYP has been published by The Oregonian here. Well, if figured that why only sports families be covered in the paper. Classical music families should also get a chance.

Review of PSU's Magic Flute now published in Oregon ArtsWatch

 

My review of Portland State University's production of The Magic Flute is now available in Oregon ArtsWatch here. 

Oregon Symphony Mahler 4 and Golijov hit the sweet spot with soprano Tilling

The Oregon Symphony performance on Saturday, April 22nd at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall was the best concert that I have heard to date with David Danzmayr on the podium. Danzmayr masterfully led a program that featured Camilla Tilling singing Osvaldo Golijov’s “Three Songs for Soprano and Orchestra” and Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 in which she sang the last movement. The Swedish soprano’s gorgeous voice and the orchestra’s superbly evocative playing made the concert an extra special, memorable event.

Tilling and the orchestra delivered the “Three Songs for Soprano and Orchestra” with exquisite beauty that just makes a person realize how precious life is. The first song “Night of the Flying Horses” had lilting melody and a wistful ephemeral quality, because it started as a lullaby and ended in a fast gallop. Tilling’s plaintive, creamy soprano had an underlying vibrancy that heightened the poetry of the text. In the second song “Lúa descolorida” (“Moon, colorless”), based on a poem by Rosalia de Castro, Tilling and the orchestra created the sense of longing and yearning that was almost palpable. You didn’t even have to understand any of the words (all were in Gallego, a Spanish dialect), because Tilling got you to feel them. “How Slow the Wind” spun together two short poems by Emily Dickenson. One of the mesmerizing passages offered marimba and clarinet and another the basset horn, but Tilling’s voice elicited an elevated poignancy and her ability to delicately and effortlessly place high notes after long pauses was just stunning.

Before Mahler’s Fourth Symphony started, I noticed that the horns had been moved to the left side of the stage – in front of the percussion and just behind the (mostly) second violins. That looked like the first big adjustment that Danzmayr has so far. But the forces were enlarged with eight double basses, twelve violas, ten cellos, and twenty-seven violins. That made the sonic texture bigger, wider, deeper and wonderfully resonant.

When the orchestra began playing, you could hear the nuances of well-shaped phrases and dynamics that made the music thrive. The polished sound of principal horn Jeff Garza and his colleagues added to the sonic thrill. A sorrowful lament, expressed by the basses and lower strings in the third movement was absolutely heartfelt, and the orchestra excelled so much at creating the feeling of tension that one of the audience members near me began coughing and could not stop; so she had to leave. Tilling sang with stellar diction and expression in the fourth movement. Her voice filled the hall, but she never stressed it out. It was always perfectly matched to the text and the music, and she used almost no vibrato on her final words, which made them all the more heavenly.

With such an excellent performance, Danzmayr and the orchestra are really getting in sync. The Mahler gave listeners a rollercoaster ride that will not be forgotten for a long time

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).

Review of Akiho's concerto for steel pan and orchestra posted in Classical Voice North America

My review of the Oregon Symphony concert featuring Andy Akiho's "Beneath Lighted Coffers" and Schubert's Ninth Symphony ("The Great") has been published in CVNA here. Kudos to editor Larry Johnson for the witty headline!

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)