Oregon composers to travel to Cuba in musical exchange

Yesterday evening, during intermission of the Portland Columbia Symphony Orchestra concert, I ran in to composer David Bernstein, who is the founding president of Cascadia Composers. He told me that a group of eight members of Cascadia Composers will be traveling to Cuba in November to have their music presented there. Then in the following year, several Cuban composers will come to Portland to have their music presented here. How cool is that! To learn more and to help contribute to the effort to underwrite this unique exchange of composers, click on this Cuba Initiative gofundme site.

Today's Birthdays

Franz Lehár (1870-1948)
Louise Homer (1871-1947)
Frank Merrick (1886-1981)
Robert Shaw (1916-1999)
Günter Raphael (1903-1960)
Ellen Taaffe Zwilich (1939)
Garcia Navarro (1940-2002)
Vladimir Tarnopolsky (1955)

and

Alice B. Toklas (1877-1967)
John Crowe Ransom (1888-1974)
Winfield Townley Scott (1910-1968)
Annie Dillard (1945)
Josip Novakovich (1955)

And from the New Music Box:

On April 30, 1932, the very first Yaddo Festival of Contemporary Music began in Saratoga Springs, NY. Works programmed that year included Aaron Copland's Piano Variations as well as piano works by Roger Sessions, Henry Brant, Vivian Fine and Roy Harris, songs by Charles Ives and Paul Bowles, string quartets by Marc Blitzstein and Louis Gruenberg, and a suite for unaccompanied flute by Wallingford Riegger.

Oregon Symphony's Russian program satisfies...ultimately.

Simone Lamsma

The Oregon Symphony played the final night of a Russian-heavy program at the Schnitz Monday evening, featuring Shostakovich's Symphony No. 1 in F minor  and Tchaikovsky's Concerto in D Major for Violin and Orchestra, featuring Dutch player Simone Lamsma as soloist.

The folks who were parking during the "parking overture" didn't miss much, unfortunately. Danish composer Carl Nielsen's Helios Overture was flat from the start, literally and emotionally. A sour start and continued pitch issues from the horns muddied what should have been a quivering, bracing opening, and the orchestra followed suit with an underwhelming delivery. Surprising, frankly, because this is the sort of thing at which the OSO usually excels.

Immediately following was the Shostakovich. This piece felt like it took a minute or two to get going, but because of its length it could afford an unfortunate if understandable 'warm-up' phase. With so many rapid-fire entrances and exits from so many sections, the orchestra had to be right on cue--constant attention to the conductor was key. They achieved this, and there were tasty treats from many sections and players, including second chair first violin...a solo executed with just the right blend of gusto and restraint.  The second movement featured brilliant switching between the principal themes as they were bandied about between the sections.

The opening of the Lento third movement featured an oboe solo floating gently like a bird soaring over a hushed sea of strings--lush and full bodied, the strings perfectly captured the mysterious spirit of the movement. The final movement closed in raging moments of brutal exclamations from the brass and percussion. Such rapidly and radically shifting moods throughout the piece required a steady and able hand, and resident conductor Paul Ghun Kim ably guided them through the treacherous course.

The second half consisted of the violin concerto, and Lamsma had the audience hooked right from the start. She opened with a fine, broad cantabile, featuring a rich lower range. Her technical brilliance was unmistakable from the start--she executed difficult chordal and scalar passages with exciting thoroughness and clarity. Her lengthy, spritely cadenza was intensely interesting, featuring daring harmonics and glissandi.

During the Finale: Allegro vivacissimo she played with a rapidfire saltando that seemed at times to throw down a friendly challenge to the orchestra: just try and keep up! My tongue is planted firmly in cheek when I say she was having far to much fun for a soloist in such a serious work.

Today's Birthdays

Thomas Beecham (1879-1961)
Wallingford Riegger (1885-1961)
Sir Malcom Sargent (1895-1967)
Edward "Duke" Ellington (1899-1974)
Peter Sculthorpe (1929-2014)
Willie Nelson (1933)
Klaus Voormann (1938)
Leslie Howard (1948)
Eero Hämeenniemi (1951)
Gino Quilico (1955)

and

Constantine P. Cavafy (1863-1933)
William Randolph Hearst (1863-1951)
Robert Gottlieb (1931)
Yusef Komunyakaa (1947)

From the New Music Box:
On April 29, 1969, Duke Ellington was invited to the White House to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom on his 70th birthday. At the event, U.S. President Richard Nixon played "Happy Birthday" on the piano accompanied by the Duke Ellington Orchestra.

Today's Birthdays

Paul Sacher (1906-1999)
Margaret Vardell Sandresky (1921)
Zubin Mehta (1936)
Jeffrey Tate (1943)
Nicola LeFanu (1947)
Elise Ross (1947)
Michael Daugherty (1954)

and

James Monroe (1758-1831)
Karl Kraus (1874-1936)
Robert Anderson (1917-2009)
Harper Lee (1926-2016)
Carolyn Forché (1950)

From the New Music Box:
On April 28, 2003, Apple Computer launched its iTunes Music Store and sold 1 million songs in its first week.

PSU Opera camps it up with frothy fun-filled Fledermaus

Infectious energy combined with outstanding singing and acting to make the opening night performance (April 22nd) of “Die Fledermaus” by Portland State University Opera a veritable hit. The singing was uniformly outstanding (alles auf Englisch) and the acting had a natural and spontaneous quality that generated buckets of laughter from the audience at Lincoln Performance Hall. Director Brenda Nuckton deserved high praise for encouraging the principals to embrace the full silliness of the story without compromising any musicality. Ken Selden led a spry and spirited orchestra, which supported the entire enterprise with a generous layer of schmaltz.

Set in fin de siècle Vienna, “Die Fledermaus” is a farce in which a high-class gentleman (Dr. Falke) gets revenge on his old buddy Gabriel von Eisenstein by playing on his vanity. Falke also applies the same idea on Eisenstein’s wife, Rosalinde, their maid Adele, and the prison warden Frank, tricking them into assuming different identities at a ball hosted by the incredibly wealthy Prince Orlofsky. Among the many hilarious moments, the best of all involves Herr Eisenstein trying to seduce an Hungarian countess, who is actually his wife in disguise. The masks finally come off at the jailhouse where identities are revealed, and everyone laughs it off by blaming the champagne.

Saori Erickson charmed everyone as Rosalinde, singing superbly throughout the evening. But she also showed excellent acting chops: melting into the arms of her old flame Alfred one moment, banishing him from the house in the next, and then fanning the skirt of her dress as wide as possible to hide him from her husband. Darian Hutchinson’s Gabriel von Eisenstein was full of bluster and amiable conceit, blundering without hesitation into Dr. Falke’s elaborate plot.

As Dr. Falke, Justin Birchell conveyed the figure of a masterminded who knew how to mix fun with gravitas. Hannah Consenz sparkled in the role of Adele, generating tons of laughs while executing all of the difficult vocal gymnastics with ease.

Ethan Reviere’s Alfred pursued Rosalinde with ringing high notes, a carefree bravado, and preening charm. Grace Skinner cut a dashing Orlofsky, the Russian prince, but her demeanor was more bemused than bored; so it wasn’t a big deal when Orlofsky finally did laugh.

Adam Ramaley created a wonderfully likeable Frank, hamming things up delightfully when he returned to the prison in a disheveled state. Jonathan Green defended himself with moral rectitude as Dr. Blind, the lawyer, and Savannah Panah backup of Adele as her loyal sister Ida. Scott Parker made the most of his role as the drunk and loveable jailer, Frosch (which, btw, means Frog auf Deutsche). In his commentary on singing of imprisoned tenor Alfred, he said “You think that’s bad. You should’ve heard him when I was sober.”

The chorus, expertly prepared by Ben España, sang with gusto, and they deftly exchanged partners while singing during the dance that was choreographed by Alexandrous Ballard.

Artistic director Christine Meadows deserved high praise for finding just the right opera for these students. She also found an exceptional English adaptation that was written by Quade Winter. All of the singers got spoken lines that included a terrific zinger or two, such as when Alfred proclaimed “It’s too late for scruples,” while dining with Rosalinde. And Rosalinde, fuming at her husband philandering intentions, said that she would “qualify him for the Vienna Boys Choir.” The audience responded with lots of laughter and a standing ovation at the end of the performance.

Finally, it should be noted that this review only covers one cast of principals. The PSU Opera program is strong enough to field a second cast, and I have the feeling that they are as remarkably trained as the one I heard.

Today's Birthdays

Johann Adam Reinken (1623-1722
Friedrich von Flotow (1812-1883)
Serge Prokofiev (1891-1953)
Nicolas Slonimsky (1894-1995)
Guido Cantelli (1920-1956)
Igor Oistrakh (1931)
Hamish Milne (1939)
Jon Deak (1943)
Christian Zacharias (1950)

and

Edward Gibbon (1737-1794)
Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797)
Samuel Morse (1791-1872)
Herbert Spencer (1820-1903)
Ludwig Bemelmans(1898-1962)
C(ecil) Day Lewis (1904-1972)
August Wilson (1945-2005)

And from the Writer's Almanac:
On this day in 1667, the poet John Milton (books by this author) sold the copyright for his masterpiece, Paradise Lost, for 10 pounds. Milton had championed the cause of Oliver Cromwell and the Parliament over the king during the English Civil War, and published a series of radical pamphlets in support of such things as Puritanism, freedom of the press, divorce on the basis of incompatibility, and the execution of King Charles I. With the overthrow of the monarchy and the creation of the Commonwealth, Milton was named Secretary of Foreign Tongues, and though he eventually lost his eyesight, he was able to carry out his duties with the help of aides like fellow poet Andrew Marvell.

When the monarchy was restored in 1660, Milton was imprisoned as a traitor and stripped of his property. He was soon released, but was now impoverished as well as completely blind, and he spent the rest of his life secluded in a cottage in Buckinghamshire. This is where he dictated Paradise Lost — an epic poem about the Fall of Man, with Satan as a kind of antihero — and its sequel, Paradise Regained, about the temptation of Christ.

Today's Birthdays

Erland von Koch (1910-2009)
Pierre Pierlot (1921-2007)
Teddy Edwards (1924-2003)
Wilma Lipp (1925)
Ewa Podleś (1952)
Patrizia Kwella (1953)

and

David Hume (1711-1776)
John James Audubon (1785-1851)
Frederick Law Olmsted (1822-1903)
Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951)
Bernard Malamud (1914-1986)

And from the New Music Box:
On April 26, 1965, Charles Ives's Fourth Symphony, which was composed mostly between 1910 and 1916, is given its first complete performance by the American Symphony Orchestra led by Leopold Stokowski and two assistant conductors.

Today's Birthdays

Ella Fitzgerald (1918-1998)
Astrid Varnay (1918-2006)
Siegfried Palm (1927-2005)
Digby Fairweather (1946)
Truls Mørk (1961)

and

Frederick Law Olmsted (1822-1903)
Howard R. Garis (1873-1962)
Guglielmo Marconi (1874-1937)
Edward R. Murrow (1908-1965)
David Shepherd (1931)
Ted Kooser (1939)
Padgett Powell (1952)

Today's Birthdays

Giovanni Martini (1706-1784)
Charles O'Connell (1900-1962)
Violet Archer (1913-2000)
John Williams (1941) - guitarist
Barbara Streisand (1942)
Norma Burrowes (1944)
Ole Edvard Antonsen (1962)
Augusta Read Thomas (1964)
Catrin Finch (1980)

and

Anthony Trollope (1815-1882)
Willem De Kooning (1904-1997)
Robert Penn Warren (1905-1989)
Stanley Kauffmann (1916-2013)
Sue Grafton (1940)
Clare Boylan (1948-2006)
Eric Bogosian (1953)

From the Writer's Almanac:
On this day in 1800, the Library of Congress was established. In a bill that provided for the transfer of the nation's capital from Philadelphia to Washington, Congress included a provision for a reference library containing "such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress — and for putting up a suitable apartment for containing them therein ..." The library was housed in the Capitol building, until British troops burned and pillaged it in 1814. Thomas Jefferson offered as a replacement his own personal library: nearly 6,500 books, the result of 50 years' worth of "putting by everything which related to America, and indeed whatever was rare and valuable in every science."

First opened to the public in 1897, the Library of Congress is now the largest library in the world. It houses more than 144 million items, including 33 million catalogued books in 460 languages; more than 63 million manuscripts; the largest rare book collection in North America; and the world's largest collection of films, legal materials, maps, sheet music, and sound recordings.

Today's Birthdays

Andrea Luchesi (1741-1801)
Edmund Rubbra (1901-1986)
Artie Shaw (1910-2004)
Jean Françaix (1912-1997)
Alicia de Larrocha (1923-2009)
Robert Moog (1934-2005)
Roy Orbison (1936-1988)
Joel Feigin (1951)

and

William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
James Patrick (J. P.) Donleavy (1926)
Coleman Barks (1937)
Barry Hannah (1942-2010)
Jane Kenyon (1947-1995)

From The Writer's Almanac:
Today is the birthday of Roy Orbison (1936), born in Vernon, Texas. One day, during a songwriting session with his partner Bill Dees, Orbison asked his wife, Claudette Frady Orbison, if she needed any money for her upcoming trip to Nashville. Dees remarked, “Pretty woman never needs any money.” Forty minutes later, Orbison’s most famous hit, “Oh, Pretty Woman,” had been written.

Today's Birthdays

Giuseppe Torelli (1658-1709)
Dame Ethel Smyth (1856-1944)
Eric Fenby (1906-1997)
Kathleen Ferrier (1912-1953)
Yehudi Menuhin (1916-1999)
Charles Mingus 1922-1979)
Michael Colgrass (1932)
Jaroslav Krcek (1939)
Joshua Rifkin (1944)
Peter Frampton (1950)
Jukka-Pekka Saraste (1956)

and

Henry Fielding (1707-1754)
Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)
Vladimir Nabokov (1899-1977)
Louise Glück (1943)

Mandolin wizzard Chris Thile is new Portland resident

I heard Chris Thile say on last weekend's edition of The Prairie Home Companion that he had just moved to Portland from New York City. Now, I've found confirmation in this article from The Guardian newspaper:

"Thile will tape five or six episodes in the show’s longtime home base – the Fitzgerald Theater in Saint Paul, Minnesota – and make the rest around the country, including New York. For now, he will commute from Portland, Oregon, where he lives with his wife, actor Claire Coffee, and their 11-month-old son, Calvin."

So, don't be surprised when you bump into Thile at a coffee shop. 

Today's Birthdays

Randall Thompson (1899-1984)
Leonard Warren (1911-1960)
Bruno Maderna (1920-1973)
Locksley Wellington 'Slide' Hampton (1932)
Lionel Rogg (1936)
John McCabe (1939-2015)
Iggy Pop (1947)
Richard Bernas (1950)
Melissa Hui (1966)

and

Charlotte Brontë (1816-1855)
John Muir (1838-1914)
Elaine May (1932)
Nell Freudenberger (1975)

“The Pianist of Willesden Lane” wraps fear, pain, loss, and hope with music

Photo credit: Patrick Weishampel/blankeye.tv

A grand piano and four huge gilded picture frames are the only props that Mona Golabek needed in order to tell the poignant, bittersweet but uplifting story of her mother’s flight from the stranglehold of Nazi-crazed Vienna to freedom in London and the solace that she found in music. Over the course of 90 minutes, Golabek delivered “The Pianist of Willesden Lane” with genuine, heartfelt emotion that connected immediately with the audience at Portland Center Stage on Friday evening (April 15). The production was directed by Hershey Felder, who adapted it for the stage from “The Children of Willesden Lane,” which was written by Golabek and Lee Cohen.

Being a classically trained pianist, Golabek interlaced her mother’s story with piano pieces that her mother had played. Stepping up to the Steinway Grand that was placed on a raised platform in the center of the stage and playing with authority, Golabek performed snippets of Debussy, Beethoven, Chopin, Rachmaninoff, Scriabin, Bach, and Grieg. Photographic images and historic film footage effectively underscored various points of the story, helping the story to move along at a steady pace. The story resonated even more, because of Golabek’s uncanny channeling of her mother and her ability to modulate her voice to portray various characters.

The story began in 1938 in Vienna, Austria where Golabek’s mother, Lisa Jura, lived with her parents and two sisters. While Vienna descended into the madness of Nazi-inspired control, 14-year-old Jura’s world revolved around her piano lessons and the dream of playing Grieg’s Piano Concerto in the Musikverein – the gilded concert hall that is the home of the Vienna Philharmonic. But Jura’s father, after losing most of his income because of the abusive laws against Jews, turned to gambling. On Kristallnacht, he returned home from an evening of gambling – beaten up but still in possession of a ticket that would allow one of his children to go on the Kindertransport to Great Britain. That ticket was given to Lisa.

After she got to London, Jura’s worries were not over, but she preserved, living with other children from the Kindertransport in home on Willesden Lane that is run by a stern Mrs. Cohen and working as a seamstress in a factory to make clothing for the British troops. She also kept playing the piano, and was at the keyboard when German bombs fell on her home. She miraculously survived the bombing and later qualified for a scholarship to study piano at the Royal Academy of Music. Her teachers found her a job playing in the lobby of a hotel that served as the temporary quarters for soldiers. It is there that she was introduced to a French officer who later became her husband after the war. And yes, as part of her graduation, Jura plays the Grieg Piano Concerto.

Golabek’s storytelling was riveting but it never became melodramatic – even when relating moments of extreme loss and pain. She terrifically evoked scenes of Vienna in those bygone years and of London during the war, including the music that her mother knew so well and clung to in a desperate way that helped her endure the chaos and loss.

Today's Birthdays

Nikolai Miaskovsky (1881-1950)
Lionel Hampton (1908-2002)
Christopher Robinson (1936)
John Eliot Gardiner (1943)
Robert Kyr (1952)

and

Pietro Aretino (1492-1556)
Harold Lloyd (1893-1971)
Joan Miró (1893-1983) 
Sebastian Faulks (1953)  

From the Writer's Almanac:

It was on this day in 1939 that Billie Holiday recorded the song "Strange Fruit," which describes the lynching of a black man in the South. The song began as a poem written not by Holiday, but by a Jewish schoolteacher from the Bronx named Abel Meeropol (using the pseudonym Lewis Allan) who was deeply disturbed by a picture he saw of a lynching. Meeropol set the song to music with his wife, Laura, and performed it at venues in New York City. (Meeropol and his wife are also noteworthy for adopting the orphaned Rosenberg children, Robert and Michael, after their parents, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, were executed for espionage.) 

Holiday met Meeropol through a connection at a nightclub in Greenwich Village. She wanted to record the song, but her record label refused to produce something so graphic and she was forced to record it on an alternative jazz label.

Holiday's recording of "Strange Fruit" is unique in American music for its unflinching look at one of the darkest periods in national history. 

Southern trees bear a strange fruit
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root
Black body swinging in the Southern breeze
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees
Pastoral scene of the gallant South
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth
Scent of magnolia sweet and fresh
And the sudden smell of burning flesh!
Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck
For the sun to rot, for a tree to drop
Here is a strange and bitter crop.

Oregon Symphony musicians and administration ratify new three-year contract

From the press release on April 15th:

Oregon Symphony Association Board Chair Jack Wilborn today announced that the Symphony and the American Federation of Musicians, Local 99, have ratified a new three-year collective bargaining agreement for Oregon Symphony musicians. The contract begins retroactively from September 2015 and runs through May 2018.

 

“On behalf of the entire Board, I extend my deep appreciation to our musicians, our President, and everyone involved in these negotiations for their diligence and collaborative spirit. With this agreement, we will become an ever-stronger force in our community,” he said.

 

Shortly after he joined the Symphony in July 2014, President Scott Showalter and the union extended the musicians’ previous collective bargaining agreement, which covered 2011 through 2014, for one year. Although that extension expired in August 2015, orchestra performances and operations have continued while this new contract was negotiated.

 

Under the new contract terms, musicians will receive annual cost of living increases based on the Consumer Price Index average of all U.S. cities. The musicians will continue to receive full health care coverage for themselves and their dependents, along with pension contributions of 5% each year. The contract also provides for greater flexibility in rehearsal and performance schedules. Separately, the musicians’ union also ratified a new electronic media agreement, which will allow the Oregon Symphony to invest in radio broadcasts, online streaming, and recordings.

 

These salary increases for musicians are the first since the 2011/12 season, ending a post-recession period during which musicians and administrative staff took salary cuts to balance the budget. The Oregon Symphony has balanced its budget in each of the last six years.

 

Showalter noted that this contract “recognizes the musicians for their artistry, which is drawing audiences and donations in record numbers. It is a tough climate for orchestras today, but we are building a foundation upon which this exceptional orchestra will grow. I hope that we can do even more in the future.”

 

Since Showalter’s arrival from the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Oregon Symphony has enjoyed significant growth. The 2014/15 season set records for total tickets sold, sold-out concerts, ticket revenue, new ticket buyers, donors, gift totals, and new donors. During the current 2015/16 season, the Symphony earned a Grammy nomination and expanded its broadcasts, while diversifying its concert series and producing more community and education programs. The recently announced 2016/17 season includes a 20% increase in the total number of classical performances and a 14-60% increase in the number of concerts in classical subscription packages. Advance ticket sales are outpacing last year’s sales at this same date by double-digit percentages.

 

Today's Birthdays

Alexandre Pierre François Boëly (1785-1858)
Germaine Tailleferre (1892-1983)
Ruben Gonzalez (1919-2003)
Bernhard Klee (1926)
Dudley Moore (1935-2002)
Kenneth Riegel (1938)
Jonathan Tunick (1938)
David Fanshawe (1942-2010)
Murray Perahia (1947)
Yan-Pascal Tortelier (1947)
Natalie Dessay (1965)

and

Sarah Kemble Knight (1666-1727)
Etheridge Knight (1931-1991)
Sharon Pollock (1936)
Stanley Fish (1938)

and from the New Music Box:

On April 19, 1775, William Billings and Supply Belcher, two of the earliest American composers who at the time were serving as Minutemen (militia members in the American Revolutionary War who had undertaken to turn out for service at a minute's notice), marched to Cambridge immediately after receiving an alarm from Lexington about an impending armed engagement with the British.

Perahia frames piano recital with classical restraint

Acclaimed pianist Murray Perahia gave a brilliantly reserved performance of works by Haydn, Mozart, Brahms and Beethoven to a very large audience that filled most of the capacious Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall on Sunday afternoon (April 10th). Perahia’s performance, which was part of Portland Piano International’s recital series, avoided emotional excesses in favor of a more restrained, classical style that worked well for the most part, but his playing didn’t put the concert into the transcendent sphere.

Right from the start, Perahia gave a clear-eyed, refined sense of Haydn’s Variations in F minor. Crystalline passages flowed effortlessly from the Steinway grand, and the slower, sadder passages were elegantly stated. But Perahia shied away from making more of an emotional statement at the end of the piece, which made the piece oddly unsatisfying.

Perahia loosened up a bit more with Mozart’s Sonata No 8 in A Minor. His playing was playful and almost carefree. He took extra care to make the softest sections wonderfully gentle. But his immaculate playing hinted at the tragic sensibility in the dissonances of the Andante cantabile con espressione, but he kept the mood confined.

In his playing of five selections by Brahms, Perahia used his impeccable control to allow the leading lines to be heard over top of the thick textures. The Intermezzo in A Major, Op. 118, No. 2 – easily the most familiar of the selections – with its beautiful, nostalgic melody, didn’t drip with sentimentality and instead flowed very naturally. His feather-light playing of the Intermezzo in E minor, Op 119, No 2 generated a quick burst of applause. The Ballade in G minor, Op. 118, No 3, Intermezzo in C Major, Op. 119, No. 3, and Capriccio in D minor, Op. 116, No 1 also received marvelous interpretations from Perahia.

The big mountain in the program was Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 29 in B-flat Major, known as the “Hammerklavier,” a near hour-long excursion that features some of the most demanding dynamic contrasts in the repertoire. Perahia launched fearlessly into the massive chords of the Allegro, and excelled with the blastissimo effects. He also successfully created a hot and cold atmosphere for the Scherzo in which jokey passages became briefly darker and almost sour before returning to their lightheartedness. He explored the gravitas and moody nature of the Adagio sostenuto with great success, evoking the sense of someone fighting through clouds to get to the sunshine. In the final movement (Largo; Allegro; Allegro resoluto), Perahia exhibited wonderfully delicate playing and execute the impossibly complex fugue section with terrific speed and dexterity. But the final measures were understated and anti-climactic – which was a real shame considering the length and breadth of the journey.

The audience rewarded Perahia with massively loud applause that brought him back to the stage five times. It seemed that people hoped to elicit an encore from him, but it was not to be. He looked exhausted by the end of the “Hammerklavier” and politely left the stage with a weary smile.

One odd thing that I found about the recital was that the piano and pianist were positioned in the center of the stage area, which was fairly far from the audience. It would seem that the artist would want to be closer, but the positioning gave me the feeling that Perahia didn’t want that closeness. As a result the performance atmosphere was not as warm as it could have been.

Today's Birthdays

Giacomo Carissimi (1605-1674)
Franz von Suppé (1819-1895)
Leopold Stokowski (1882-1977)
Miklós Rózsa (1907-1995)
Sylvia Fisher (1910-1996)
Penelope Thwaites (1944)
Catherine Maltfitano (1948)

and

Clarence Darrow (1857-1938)
Susan Faludi (1959)

Also a historical tidbit from The Writer's Almanac:

On this day in 1906 an earthquake struck San Francisco. The earthquake began at 5:12 a.m. and lasted for a little over a minute. The world-famous tenor Enrico Caruso had performed at San Francisco's Grand Opera House the night before, and he woke up in his bed as the Palace Hotel was falling down around him. He stumbled out into the street, and because he was terrified that that shock might have ruined his voice, he began singing. Nearly 3,000 people died.