Barry Douglas delights OSO audiences with a surprise Beethoven Concerto

Barry Douglas

Sunday February 25 saw Oregon Symphony audiences presented with a surprise performance of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Minor by Barry Douglas, who flew in to Portland from Belfast 2 nights before opening night upon the illness of pianist Francesco Piemontesi, who had been slated to perform Franck's Symphonic Variations and Richard Strauss' Burleske.

Opening with Samuel Barber's Second Essay for Orchestra,  the OSO played this incredibly lush and inviting work well, changing from somber and beautiful to frenetic chasing, spritely and light, with a sure and deft hand.

The orchestral interpretation that associate conductor Norman Huynh chose for the Beethoven was a bit too polite and reserved, but Douglas was in fine form. His opening was dry, exposed and intimate, almost intentionally self-conscious it seemed, and he showed a deft, singing baritone that cut through the orchestral texture without being too pronounced. One could feel the true delight in his playing, which was almost dreamy at times.  The Largo was sleepy and yet his arpeggios were somehow quietly thunderous, gentle and yet full of character. The finale allowed Douglas to display show off his fireworks in the lightning chromatic motives. This was a performance marked by true understanding, and emotional as well as physical dexterity.

The marvelous, lengthy crescendo in the first movement of the Sibelius was built on spectral trumpet echoes and fierce tremolando from the strings, and the bassoon played a sad, baleful melody behind. There were balance issues during the fortissimos; it seemed impossible to restrain the crashing brass, and strings were at times completely subsumed though they were pounding away with all fury. Huynh however did a good job at bringing out a vague sense of menace, which could easily have been glossed over.  The Andante mosso was as pastoral as one could want, with different textures exploding from the depths of a dense sound-sea. The work closed with a grandiose blend from the brass, eliciting every ounce of emotion from the august swan theme.

Oregon Symphony plays Beethoven and themes inspired by ancient masters

Sunday November 19 saw the Oregon Symphony perform a night of Beethoven music and music inspired by the master, under the direction of guest conductor Johannes Debus, and featuring guest ensemble the St. Lawrence String Quartet.

The Viennese master's Symphony No. 2 in D Major comprised the first half of the concert. Its appropriately stentorian opening was followed by suitable delicacy when called for; the sort of work that is the OSO's bread and butter. In the Larghetto the strings groaned and breathed like a single great mellifluous organ, and later in the fourth movement they managed rapid acrobatics nicely. There were some good sounds here, but the overall interpretation felt a bit restrained, perhaps missing something personal that a straightforward work like this really needs in order to feel fresh.

John Adams enormous Absolute Jest from 2012 began the second half. This work consisted of a series of quotations of Beethoven (mostly the late string quartets) that were reworked (often intensely reworked harmonically) and stretched into an elaborate set of variations. In the form of a concerto for string quartet, the St. Lawrence String Quartet did the heavy lifting here. Following an extensive preview of some themes from the monumental Op 131 quartets, the group challenged the audience to find the 8 other Beethoven themes used throughout the work (Sidenote: I was able to identify a few, but nowhere near all 8. Intense Beethovenians would do much better at it than I.)  In the Presto, the work produced a disquieting sensation when a spritely scherzo by the quartet was played over a see of dissonant, vaguely ominous chordal motives from the orchestra. The piece at times became a confusing welter--alarming warbling exclamations from horns clomping around like the footsteps of some immense monster, blatting and burbling away in brutal syncopation.

The string quartet deserves high praise: this was an incredibly difficult rendering of incredibly difficult underlying music, and their lively, precise and enthusiastic interpretation was quite something. A tricky piece indeed to hold together--such was the character of the piece it felt close to careering off the rails at times but of course never did. Without particularly enjoying the overall effect, I felt profound respect for both Adams, the OSO and the St. Lawrence String Quartet at not shying away from a difficult challenge.

Paul Hindemith's Symphonic Metamorphosis of Carl Maria von Weber closed out the evening. The strings had a fascinating, insect-like sul ponticello scritching and the winds managed a difficult fughetta seamlessly. It was difficult to top off an afternoon of fireworks like this with a suitable bang, yet somehow the March at the end of the work achieved it. The concert was a bit of bold programming; it was fascinating to hear modernizations in such drastically different styles by composers of the high classical era.

Musica Maestrale features the Schneiderman- Yamaya duo playing Beethoven on guitar

Hideki Yamaya and John Schneiderman

From Musica Maestrale:

Saturday, Nov. 11, 2017; 7:30PM

Beethoven for Two Guitars

John Schneiderman, terz guitar
Hideki Yamaya, Romantic guitar, terz guitar, Milanese mandolin

MM welcomes back guitar virtuoso John Schneiderman for a program of all Beethoven for two guitars! The Schneiderman - Yamaya Duo just released a CD of arrangements of Beethoven for two guitars by the German label hänssler CLASSIC, which was reviewed very favorably by Classic Guitar Magazine (you can read it here).  The duo is presenting this same program at the prestigious Yale Collection of Musical Instruments in December.  Also included in the program is Beethoven's lesser known works for mandolin and piano, arranged for mandolin and terz guitar. Here's a look at us rehearsing the Sonatine for mandolin and piano (arranged by me for mandolin and terz guitar): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-d9eP3XHW_0&feature=youtu.be

First Christian Church
1314 Park Ave.
Portland, OR 97201

Admission:
In advance: $18 general; $16 senior; $8 student
At the door: $20 general; $18 senior; $10 student
Tickets: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/3094209

Emerson Quartet delivers triumphant Shostakovich and Beethoven at CMNW

The Emerson String Quartet
Photo by Lisa Mazzucco

Sunday, July 9 at the PSU's Lincoln Performance Hall saw the world-renowned Emerson Quartet present a spectacular and varied concert featuring works by Purcell, Beethoven and Shostakovich. This year's artists-in-residence for Chamber Music Northwest, the Emerson Quartet (Eugene Drucker and Philip Setzer, violins, Lawrence Dutton, viola, and Paul Watkins, cello) showed once again why they are among the best of the best, and how fortunate CMNW is to have such a prestigious ensemble as
artists-in-residence for an entire year.

Opening each half were two short fantasias by Henry Purcell, No. 8 in D Minor, Z. 739 to start the concert, and No. 11 in G Major, Z. 742 in the second half. Originally written for viols, in the first fantasia the group presented a fascinating study in timbre, as the group played with an extremely light and delicate bow such that at times, with one's eyes closed it was easy to imagine listening to a chest of viols. The G Major contained wistful, dreamy baroque melodies, and both were over almost as soon as they began.

Shostakovich's famous String Quartet No. 8 in C Minor, Op. 110, provided the meat of the first half. In this piece there is so much 'air,' compared to a structurally denser work such as the Beethoven, and the Emerson Quartet used this to spectacular effect. The early threnody by the first violin over a long, sustained chord from the other instruments was a great example of this: subdued, yet full of color. This tribute to the victims of war gave the impression of a nameless ghost from a nameless atrocity, one among millions, wandering, lost.  The ferocity of the attaca into the Allegro Molto was terrifying, transforming into a ceaseless energico, the main theme bandied back and forth with each performer offering something new. An almost gay dance of the dead gave way to a sadness beyond tears, a bone weary exhaustion, like death by slow heartbreak. The brief cloud break late in the work was surrounded again by a thunder that was never far off.

Beethoven's titanic String Quartet in C-sharp Minor, Op. 131 provided a distinct contrast from the Shostakovich, and displayed the depth that the Emerson is known for. Keen insight and judicious restraint, accompanied by downright explosive oubursts, yielded incredible passion. As a listener, to almost forget that music is being played, and is not something that simply exists in and of itself is an incredible experience. The Emerson quartet forged such a tight synchronization that at times it felt like one instrument. There were many great moments, from the sublime melody by the first violinist in the Allegro Moderato to a comical molto pizzicato that had the audience giggling, to snatches of melody from the viola that cried out ferociously and then as suddenly subsided. As the work progressed they somehow kept eliciting more and more and more sound, yet with no loss of quality, and still even the most whispering pianissimo was as rich in timbre as anything. During the galloping Presto the rapidity of the dynamic shifts and coordination of the infinitesimally delicate filigree was absolutely stunning. The Emerson Quartet's incredible range of timbres, colors, emotions and technique was put to the full test in this ambitious program, and no one in the audience was left wanting for anything.

Dvorak's New World Symphony is fresh and new in the hands of the Oregon Symphony

Yefim Bronfman

Monday evening at the Schnitz saw the Oregon Symphony perform Symphony No. 9 in E Minor, Dvorak's famous 'New World' Symphony, as well as a Beethoven concerto and a striking new work by Sebastian Currier.

Called Microsymph, an accurate title, Currier's work consisted of five short movements for a total of about 12 minutes. Short, expressive and engrossing, here is a sample of the impressions each movement left behind:

quickchange: Hectic, repercussive, tumltuous, like busy traffic that suddenly detoured into a mystic silent alleyway. minute waltz: Chuffing 'cuckoo, cuckoo,' discordant yet sweet horns. adagio: Elegiac, hypnotic--the ability--nay, necessity-- of drawing in the listeners' imagination in the shortest possible time was on display. nanoscherzo: Tootling, mechanical, tock-ticking. kaleidoscope: Brass squawking, imploring, cajoling, sighing unison chonking, secret whispering between sections. This piece was imaginative and bold, and the OSO handled it like champs.

Pianist Yefim Bronfman joined for Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4. in G Major. This much more quiet, subdued work seemed to be right in Bronfman's wheelhouse. The orchestral opening was suitably grandiose yet not overblown, and Bronfman's brilliant runs of thirds were shining and crisp at the outset. The delicacy of his touch was almost surprising--nothing was ever overstated. The orchestra succeeded at the incredibly difficult task of allowing the gentility of the pianist's touch to yet shine through the orchestral texture. Kalmar's sense of balance was superb, and the orchestra followed. The numerous trills needed to be kept fresh and varied in the latter movements, and Bronfman again did not disappoint, going on further to display an entirely different timbre for each individual voice within contrapuntal sections to a truly marvelous effect. This concerto, so different from some of Beethoven's more iconic works, was fresh and lively in Bronfman's hands.

The second half consisted of Dvorak's iconic symphony, labeled 'From the New World.'  The genesis of what might be thought of as an 'American' sound for classical music, the OSO did not shy away from the bold statements to be found herein. The grandiose opening theme built in the brass until it was like towering thunderheads piling up over a far landscape. The strings sang a prairie lullaby with tenderness and rusticity, tossed gently between the strings and solo flute.  In the second movement the woodwind choir played the tender theme with such warmth and care that it enfolded the listener in a womb of calm and repose. The explosive exposition of the fourth movement featured controlled power from the brass--pushing the absolute limit without going over the edge. The delicate tremolando from the violins, the saltando theme when violas were the only strings playing, the powerful, sawing theme from the low strings--all were executed to perfection.

The transportative nature of the music at this concert lay not in the compositions alone, but in the interpretation--superb execution by elite players is required to complete the effect. Kalmar's reading was as expansive and wide-ranging as the music required to bring its meaning to fruition. This is what the OSO can deliver when they are at their best--and Monday night they were indeed.

Miró Quartet delivers a nuanced, subtle evening of Beethoven

The Miró Quartet. Photo by Jim Leisy.

The Miró Quartet undertook a feat that was near Herculean in magnitude on Thursday, July 11, when they performed all three of the Opus 59 String Quartets by Beethoven, the famous 'Razumovsky' quartets. The performance took place at Kaul Auditorium on the Reed College campus, as part of Chamber Music Northwest's Summer Festival. These pieces, which marked a striking new direction in the genre, are demanding both technically and emotionally, and to perform them all in one sitting was a work of determination and fortitude.

These players (Daniel Ching and William Fedkenheuer, violin, John Largess, viola, and Joshua Gindele, cello)  gave a performance that was marked by restraint, and that is using the word in its best sense. Such restraint was necessary to perform this lengthy concert of works that range all over the emotional and spiritual map: too much of a thing, at any given moment, and the balance would be all wrong. By the same token timidity when boldness was called for would yield a similarly dissatisfying result, and the Miró Quartet found the perfect equilibrium.

Throughout the works there were so many entrances that required delicacy of phrasing yet metronomic precision of timing for the effect to be pulled off properly, and there was not one entrance in an entire long evening of demanding entrances that was anything other than exactly what was called for. It would, even for top-notch performers, have been easy to become lost at certain points in the bewildering forest that constitutes these works, yet utter surety was a hallmark of the evening.  There were so many varying textures spread throughout, from surpising and modern-sounding sparseness to hammering monophony, filigreed counterpoint to waltzing scherzos, and the Miró Quartet never let a chance pass to highlight any of these differences. Their dynamic phrasing was exquisite...when an evening is marked by the restraint that they displayed, a giant range of emotional possibilities grows to the point where it feels almost infinite...every crescendo or decrescendo was imbued with meaning and lent this sense of limitless scope.

Some particularly memorable moments included the third movement of the titanic Op. 59 No. 1 quartet, wherein Ching's solo seemed to materialize inexorably and repeatedly from deep water, only to be subsumed again and then reappear a moment later in a slightly altered form, and then finally to hang there in a fragile, almost frail trill that was the only link between this and the sudden bold attacca into the bracing finale. In the opening of the No. 2 quartet, Ching showed he was capable of acrobatic, almost avian articulation. The Allegretto of this quartet was manic, spritely and intricate; well-navigated, it felt like candor, like a frank expression of the idea at hand and then come what may. The hectic tempo of the famous Presto of this work was as fast as I've ever heard it; the only unfortunate side effect of this was that some of the more delicate melodic material was blurred or obscured at this pace. In the third quartet, the variation in the fierce, pulsating rhythm of the opening movement was exhiliarating, and during the second movement Gindele played his pizzicato section with an unabashed, almost alarming plunk!

It is no surprise that the Miró Quartet is capable of delivering this kind of performance, but the fact that they actually did so is another thing entirely; capability and actuality are often two different things, but in this case the group gave as magnificent a perfect performance as one could want on a musical topic of such depth and variety. Every year CMNW brings such top-notch talent to town that one runs out of superlatives when trying to relate the experience of a performance, but that's not a bad thing.