Today's Birthdays

Charles Dibdin (1745-1814)
Eduard Strauss (1835-1916)
Johan Halvorsen (1864-1935)
Colin McPhee (1900-1964)
Lightnin' Hopkins (1912-1982)
Ben Johnston (1926-2019)
Nicolas Flagello (1928-1994)
Jean Rudolphe Kars (1947)
Isabel Buchanan (1954)

and

Richard Ellmann (1918-1987)
Ben Okri (1959)

and from the Composers Datebook:

On this day in 1985, Italian tenor Enrico Caruso, age 22, makes his operatic debut at the Teatro Nuovo in Naples, singing the lead tenor role in Domenico Morelli's comic opera "L'Amico Francesco."

Today's Birthdays

Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767)
Johann Gottlieb Goldberg (1727-1756)
Pierre-Louis Couperin (1755-1789)
JohaPedro Elías Gutiérrez (1870–1954)
Johann Strauss Sr. (1804-1849)
Lawrance Collingwood (1887-1982)
Witold Rudziński (1913-2004)
Quincy Jones (1933-2024)
Phillip Joll (1954)
Britta Byström (1977)
and

Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
Sylvia Beach (1887-1962)
Max Shulman (1919-1988)
Diane Arbus (1923-1971)

Today's Birthdays

Hugo Wolf (1860-1903)
Alec Rowley (1892-1958)
Irène Joachim (1913-2001)
Jane Rhodes (1929-2011)
Alberto Ponce (1935-2019)
Lionel Friend (1945)
Julia Migenes (1949)
Wolfgang Rihm (1952-2024)
Anthony Powers (1953)
Moses Hogan (1957-2003)
Terence Blanchard (1962)

and

Janet Flanner (1892-1978)
George Seferis (1900-1971)

Today's Birthdays

Thomas Arne (1710-1778)
Alexandre Guilmant (1837-1911)
Hans Knappertsbusch (1888-1965)
Ralph Shapey (1921-2002)
Norbert Brainin (1923-2005)
Philip Jones (1928-2000)
Helga Pilarczyk (1935-2011)
Liza Minnelli (1946)
James Taylor (1948)

and

George Berkeley (1685-1753)
Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach (1830-1916)
Vaslav Nijinsky (1889-1950)
Jack Kerouac (1922-1969)
Edward Albee (1928-2016)
Virginia Hamilton (1934-2002)
Naomi Shihab Nye (1952)
Carl Hiaasen (1953)
David Eggers (1970)

Review of Hamilton in Oregon ArtsWatch

The touring production of Hamilton wowed sellout audiences at the Keller Auditorium during its first week in Portland. Here's a link to my review in Oregon ArtsWatch.

Review of Cappella Romana's gospel-orthodox concert in OAW

My review of this most unusual concert is new available in Oregon ArtsWatch here.

Today's Birthdays

Carl Ruggles (1876-1971)
Henry Cowell (1897-1965)
Xavier Montsalvage (1912-2002)
Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992)
Sarah Walker (1943)
Tristan Murail (1947)
Bobby McFerrin (1950)
Katia Labèque (1950)

and

Torquato Tasso (1544-1495)
Ezra Jack Keats (1916-1983)
Douglas Adams (1952-2001)

Preview of Portland Opera's production of "The Shining"

The Oregonian has published my preview of the upcoming Portland Opera production of "The Shining." It is available online in Oregonlive here and will be in the print edition this Friday.

Today's Birthdays

Lorenzo Da Ponte (1749-1838)
Dudley Buck (1839-1909)
Pablo de Sarasate (1844-1908)
Arthur Honnegger (1892-1955)
Dame Eva Turner (1892-1990)
Bix Biederbecke (1903-1931)
Sir Charles Groves (1915-1992)
William Blezard (1921-2003)
Andrew Parrott (1947)
Stephen Oliver (1950-1992)

and

Henry Watson Fowler (1858-1933)
Zelda Fitzgerald (1900-1948)
Heywood Hale Broun (1918-2001)
David Rabe (1940)

Today's Birthdays

Josef Mysliveczek (1737-1781)
Archie Camden (1888-1979)
Dame Isobel Baillie (1895-1983)
Samuel Barber (1910-1981)
Thomas Schippers (1930-1977)
Ornette Coleman (1930-2015)
David Matthews (1943)
Kalevi Aho (1949)
Howard Shelley (1950)
Anna Clyne (1980)

and

Amerigo Vespucci (1454-1512)
Vita Sackville-West (1892-1962)
Mickey Spillane (1918-2006)
David Pogue (1963)

and from the Composers Datebook:

On this day in 1831, Italian violin virtuoso Nicolo Paganini makes his Parisian debut a the Opéra. Composers in the audience include Meyerbeer, Cherubini, Halvéy. and Franz Liszt (who transcribes Pagnini's showpiece "La Campanella" for piano). Also in attendance are the many famous novelists and poets, including George Sand, Victor Hugo, Alfred de Mussset and Heinrich Heine.

Review: Hagen Quartet just a tad off in performances of Haydn and Schumann

Photo by Tom Emerson

Although its legacy as one of the world’s premiere string quartets will remain firmly intact, the Hagen Quartet didn’t shine as brightly as it could when it recently performed (February 27) at the First Baptist Church. Sponsored by Chamber Music Northwest, that concert was part of a farewell tour that the eminent ensemble is undertaking before it retires at the end of next season.

Based in Salzburg, the Hagen Quartet was founded in 1981 by four siblings and since 1987 has continued with three siblings: violist Lukas Hagen, violist Veronika Hagen, and cellist Clemens Hagen, plus violinist Rainer Schmidt. The ensemble has played in concert halls throughout the world, won prizes, made numerous recordings, including many on the Deutsche Grammophon label, and teach at the Salzburg Mozarteum and the Hochschule für Musik Basel.

On tap for the Hagen Quartet’s performance in Portland, was Haydn’s String Quartet in A Major and his String Quartet No. 4 in E Minor, and Schumann’s String Quartet No. 3 in A Major. Each piece sounded terrific except for a few of the wickedly highest notes that Lukas Hagen didn’t quite play cleanly, causing the tone to be slightly off-balanced. That happened in the first movements of both Haydn numbers, and in the third movement of the Schumann.

That problem didn’t derail the fine interpretations that the ensemble offered, but it did reduce the sheen. The Allegro opening of Haydn’s String Quartet in A Major danced brightly, and in the adagio cantabile Lukas’s violin sang above the hymnlike passages. The Minuet offered playful exchanges that tapered off gently, and the Finale: vivace robustly wrapped up passages that were layered on each other like a delicious cake.

The ensemble elicited a wonderful, mysterious statement at the beginning of the first movement of Haydn’s String Quartet No. 4. The second movement was elegant and restrained with terrifically nuanced phrasing. The beautiful expressions from Clemens Hagen’s cello and the ease in which he caressed each note was a highlight of the third movement. The group excelled with the quicksilver demands of the fourth and brought out its lighthearted humor.

In Schumann’s String Quartet No.3, the Hagen Quartet incisively contrasted the poignant and contemplative sections with the agitated and uptempo ones. The final movement had a delightful, rustic brashness that closed the program with verve.

The audience rewarded the musicians with thunderous applause and a standing ovation. They responded with an encore, Mozart’s Quartet in G major.

Today's Birthdays

Carlo Gesualdo (1566-1613)
Carl Philip Emanuel Bach (1714-1788)
Avril Coleridge-Taylor (1903-1998)
Alan Hovhaness (1911-2000)
Dick Hyman (1927)
Christian Wolff (1934)
Robert Tear (1939-2011)
Barthold Kuijken (1949)
Simon Halsey (1958)

and

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1841-1935)
Kenneth Grahame (1859-1932)
Leslie Fiedler (1917-2003)
Neil Postman (1931-2003)
John McPhee (1933)
Leslie A. Fiedler (1948)
Jeffrey Eugenides (1960)

Today's Birthdays

John Wilbye (1574-1638)
Tomaso Antonio Vitali (1663-1745)
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
Heino Eller (1887-1970)
Christopher Seaman (1942)
Uri Segal (1944)
Townes Van Zandt (1944-1997)
Nicholas Kraemer (1945)
Clive Gillinson (1946)
Okko Kamu (1946)
Montserrat Figueras (1948-2011)
Michael Chance (1955)

and

William York Tindall (1903-1981)
William Boyd (1952)

and from the Composers Datebook:

On this day in 1897, Johannes Brahms attends his last concerts and hears his Symphony No. 4 conducted by Hans Richter.

Today's Birthdays

Oscar Straus (1870-1954)
Julius Rudel (1921-2014)
Sarah Caldwell (1924-2006)
Wes Montgomery (1923-1968)
Ronald Stevenson (1928-2015)
Lorin Maazel (1930-2014)
Dame Kiri Te Kanawa (1944)
Stephen Schwartz (1948)
Marielle Labèque (1952)
Mark Gresham (1956)
Yannick Nézet-Séguin (1975)

and

Michelangelo (1475-1564)
Cyrano de Bergerac (1619-1655)
Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861)
Ring Lardner (1885-1933)
Gabriel García Márquez (1928-2014)
Willie Mays (1931-2024)
Dick Fosbury (1947-2023)

Today's Birthdays

Thomas Arne (1710-1778)
Alexandre Guilmant (1837-1911)
Hans Knappertsbusch (1888-1965)
Ralph Shapey (1921-2002)
Norbert Brainin (1923-2005)
Philip Jones (1928-2000)
Helga Pilarczyk (1935-2011)
Liza Minnelli (1946)
James Taylor (1948)

and

George Berkeley (1685-1753)
Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach (1830-1916)
Vaslav Nijinsky (1889-1950)
Jack Kerouac (1922-1969)
Edward Albee (1928-2016)
Virginia Hamilton (1934-2002)
Naomi Shihab Nye (1952)
Carl Hiaasen (1953)
David Eggers (1970)

Today's Birthdays

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

and

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

From The Writer's Almanac:

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

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

Today's Birthdays

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

and

Khaled Hosseini (1965)

And from the Composers Datebook:

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

Today's Birthdays

Eugen d'Albert (1864-1932)
Henry Wood (1869-1944)
Federico Moreno Torroba (1891-1982)
Margaret Bonds (1913-1972)
Frank Wigglesworth (1918-1996)
Doc Watson (1923-2012)
Martin Lovett (1927-2020)
Florence Quivar (1944)
Roberta Alexander (1949)
Katia Labèque (1950)

and

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

From the Writer's Almanac:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Today's Birthdays

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

and

Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss) (1904-1991)
Mikhail Gorbachev (1931-2022)
Tom Wolfe (1931-2018)
John Irving (1942)

and from the Composers Datebook:

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

Review: Oregon Symphony expands from Bach to Mendelssohn with elan

Oregon Symphony latest concert expanded from small to large in a program that featured a chamber orchestra number by Bach and a large-scale work for choir, soloists, and orchestra by Mendelssohn. The program, given on February 24 at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, was led by Music Director David Danzmayr, who elicited terrific dynamics and ensemble playing throughout the evening.

During the summer of 2021, the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall underwent a $5 million renovation that really improved its acoustics. The improved sound was a big factor in the orchestra’s superb performance of Bach’s Suite No. 3 in D Major for Orchestra (BWV 1068). Every note came across in a crystal-clear way, but also with warmth and a richness that enhanced the music. The harpsichord, which centered toward the back of the chamber orchestra, could be heard throughout – even when the orchestral tutti sections.

Tight ensemble playing by Concertmaster Sarah Kwak, Principal Second Violinist Chien Vivianne Tan, Principal Violist Amanda Grimm, and Principal Bassist Jason Schooler highlighted the first movement. The slow, restrained second movement – with the sound of the harpsichord stirring above the meditative strings – created an air of serenity that was heavenly. The third movement embodied stateliness with a rich sound – like a full-bodied red wine. The surging rumble of the kettle drums – played by Principal Sergio Carreno – accented the playful character of the fourth movement, which wrapped up the piece with a delightfully – and made listeners – like myself – want to hear even more Bach.

After intermission Mendelssohn’s “Symphony No. 2 in B-flat Major”, aka “Lobgesang” (Hymn of Praise) received it first-ever performance by the Oregon Symphony. The unusual demands of the piece might have been a major factor in delaying the piece. It requires a large choir, but the choir doesn’t sing in the first three movements and then must warble in the following ten movements. It also asks for three soloists with powerful voices because of the large orchestral forces, but one of the soloists doesn’t sing all that much. What a conundrum…

Sopranos Ellie Dehn and Deanna Breiwick and tenor John Matthew Myers teamed up with and the Oregon Repertory Singers and the Oregon Symphony to wrangle Mendelssohn’s hour-long extravaganza. One of the biggest problems in singing this work was the singer’s diction. Words were easily understood when accompanied by quieter passages or whenever a small contingent of the orchestra played. But when the musicians were at the mezzo level or louder, it was impossible to understand the text.

But in the quieter moments and when the orchestra played softly, I could easily understand what was being sung. That really paid off when the chorus sang “Nun danket alle Gott” (Now thank we all our God), which sounded ganz herrlich until the orchestra came in.

The same issues also applied to the soloists. They were enunciated the German, but a lot of it was just unintelligible. Just from pure sound, each soloist was gorgeous – with Dehn singing with a remarkable gold, vibrant tone. Breiwick had to make do with a lesser part, which was very unfortunate. For whatever reason Mendelssohn gave the second soprano short shrift.

Myers gave his passages plenty of verve, and his duet with Dehn in “Drum sing ich mit meinem Liede” (So I will ever sing my song) glowed brightly. The chorus, well-prepared by Ethan Sperry, conveyed the spirit of the piece, but the sopranos – with soaring power – won the day in the last movement, “Ihr Völker, bringet her dem Herrn Ehre and Macht” (Ye nations, offer to the Lord).

The orchestra sounded glorious in the first three movements of the piece – with the trombone choir fashioning a grand statement at the outset. Kudos also to clarinetist Todd Kuhns and Principal Bassoonist Carin Miller for their evocative contributions.

There must be a way for full-throttle numbers like Mendelssohn’s “Logesang” to shine with clear diction that doesn’t seem overblown. I know that it easier said than done, but to get to the highest levels of artistry, that’s what needs to happen.