Talking with Stephen Marc Beaudoin and Tuesday Rupp about their upcoming recital

It’s not often that you get the chance to hear a real German Lieder recital in Portland, but on Saturday afternoon (3 pm), August 9th, two up-and-coming singers, tenor Stephen Marc Beaudoin and mezzo Tuesday Rupp at the Community Music Center. Beaudoin and Rupp will sing works by Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms, and for extra measure they will also perform songs from Kurt Weill’s “Die Dreigroschenoper” (“The Threepenny Opera”) and “Die Silbersee” ("The Silver Lake”).

Both Beaudoin and Rupp have been very active in Portland’s music scene. Beaudoin, a graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music, recently completed performances of “Les Miserables” at the Broadway Rose Theater, and has sung with the Trinity Consort, Cappella Romana, Cantores in Ecclesia and the Portland Baroque Orchestra. Beaudoin is the founder of the male quartet FourScore and writes about the arts for many publications, including "Just Out," "Crosscut," and his blog, "From Every Corner."

Rupp is the music director at Milwaukie Presbyterian and sings with Cantores in Eccelsia, Cappella Romana, the Trinity Consort, and the Trinity Cathedral Chamber Choir. A graduate of Boston University, Rupp is pursuing a master’s degree in conducting from Portland State University. Rupp co-founded the women’s early music ensemble In Mulieribus, which has recently released its first recording, "Notre Dame de Grâce," and she does a lot of recording work for the Oregon Catholic Press.

Last week I met Beaudoin and Rupp at the BackSpace Café to find more about their upcoming concert.

Have the two of you worked together before? How did you meet?

Rupp: I first met Stephen at the William Byrd festival two years ago when we were both singing in Cantores in Ecclesia. We’ve continued to sing in several other choirs, and we’ve become good friends.

This recital was Stephen’s idea, and he invited me to be part of it.

Why aren’t there more lieder recitals in Portland?

Beaudoin: Yes, there’s a dearth of vocal recitals here. Portland has a huge pool of singers, but most work with ensembles. We’d like to open that up and work with other musicians. This concert, “Love 4 Ways,” will give us the chance to show what we can do.

Is Schumann’s song cycle “Dichterliebe” special to you?

Beaudoin: I’ve wanted to do the entire “Dichterliebe” since I was a young voice student – 16 or 17 years old. My voice teacher back then threw this work at me one day and my world shifted on its axis. The first tune in the set, “Im wunderschönen Monat Mai,” is one of hardest opening songs in a song cycle that I know – in terms of the technique that it takes to sing it, the delicacy of the piano part, and in terms of setting a tone for a cycle that is very fragile and unsteady. But all of the songs in “Dichterliebe” present all sorts of emotional and technical problems that are fun to work through. Some people might know “Ich grolle nicht.” I’ve wanted to go back and do the whole thing. Ian Bostridge talks a lot about the maturity of self and intellect that it takes to approach a cycle like this one. I want to take a bite of it and see if I can get there.

What about the Brahms songs and Schumann’s “Frauenliebe und Leben.”

Rupp: I’ve been picking around the Brahms songs for a long time but I’ve never done them. But I’ve always wanted to. The “Frauenliebe” is an extremely personal set of songs. Mezzos love to do them, partly because there aren’t that many song cycles for women’s low voice.

The art of lieder is an exciting thing for audiences to discover. The themes that we are singing about have meanings for anyone who has ever fallen in love. In the Schumann’s “Fauenliebe” contains eight songs that discuss love: courtship, marriage, childbirth, and death of a spouse. The emotional content is powerful and very real. The first song says “Ever since I’ve seen him I think that I’m going blind.” And that just gets things started.

Then there’s the Weill numbers…

Rupp: Yes, the Weill section at the end that is sort of a departure. But it’s still about love, just not the type of love that was romanticized in the 19th Century.

Beaudoin: Weill was a theater composer who is finally being treated as a serious composer. I think that’s great.

Since you are singing the songs in German will the programs have and English translation?

Rupp: Yes, but it would be nice to have supertitles.

Beaudoin: Marilyn Horne's foundation tried that as a test drive for young singers a few years ago, but it got mixed reviews. Lieder doesn’t have a strong visual element like opera, so that might be why supertitles aren’t effective.

Rupp: My performance will be more conservative, although it would be fun to do something subtle in the way of movement and lighting.

Beaudoin: We’ve got the German down, except for some pattery stuff in the Weill that has tripped us up a bit. But we are looking forward to this performance.

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What: Love: 4 Ways, a dramatic recital of 19th and 20th century German music
When: Saturday, August 9 at 3 pm
Where: Community Music Center
3350 SE Francis St. Tickets

Cost: $15 suggested donation ($10 students/seniors) at the door

Today's Birthdays

Norman Del Mar (1919-1994)
Steuart Bedford (1939)
Reinhard Goebel (1952)

and

Primo Levi (1919-1987)

Today's Birthdays

Gerald Moore (1899-1987)
Meredith Davies (1922)
Moshe Atzmon (1931)
Paul Anka (1941)
Teresa Cahill (1944)
Alexina Louie (1949)
Christopher Warren-Green (1955)

and

Thorstein Veblen (1857-1929)
Henry Moore (1898-1986)
William Gass (1924)

French finale winds up Chamber Music Northwest’s summer festival

Chamber Music Northwest closed its 38th summer festival with a program of French music from Poulenc, Saint-Saëns, Ravel, and Fauré. The selection had undergone a few changes because a serious writs injury forced pianist André Watts to cancel his participation. Fortunately, Shai Wosner, was able to take the place of Watts and offered to perform pieces by Poulenc and Faure in place of the Frank Quintet in F minor for piano and string, with which he was unfamiliar. This was a wise choice, and the performance I heard at Kaul Auditorium on Sunday afternoon (July 27) sparkled like champagne.

Wosner and David Shifrin, CMNW’s artistic director and clarinetist par excellence performed Francis Poulenc’s Sonata for Clarinet and Piano. Poulenc wrote this piece in 1962 and finished his Oboe Sonata before he died a year later. Benny Goodman and Leonard Bernstein premiered the Clarinet Sonata in Carnegie Hall after Poulenc’s death.

In the space of three movements, Poulenc’s Clarinet Sonata covers a lot of ground and a life-time of emotions. The expressivity that Shifrin can attain from his clarinet is awesome. In the first movement, Siciliano: Largo, he takes us to a place that is light-hearted. I think that I heard the mocking tone of school children (nah-nah) at one point. The slow and somber second movement, Allegro, created a sense of suspension and timelessness, that made me forget about everything around me, and that’s when someone’s cell phone went off. Gads! (Oh well, at least this shows how great of an artist Shifrin is because he can make the sound of his clarinet completely spellbinding.) The final movement, Adagio, had lots of mad dashes and leaps. That mocking, schoolyard passage returned briefly, and there were plenty of soft and smooth spaces as well. No matter, Shifrin made it all come alive. Wosner played expertly as well, and the piece was terrific.

Violinist Carmit Zori and harpist Heidi Lehwalder played the “Fantaisie” for violin and Harp (Op. 124) by Camille Saint-Saëns, which he finished in 1907 while on vacation on the Italia Riviera. Writing music was as natural as breathing for Saint-Saëns, who was said to have written his first composition at the age of six. The complimentary color in the tone of the violin and harp in his “Fantaisie” were wonderfully realized by Zori and Lehwalder. Their beautiful combination of sounds created an ethereal atmosphere that was sumptuous and satisfying.

Lehwalder really showed her superior talent in the performance of Maurice Ravel’s “Introduction and Allegro” for Harp with the Accompaniment of Flute, Clarinet, and Strings (1907). Lehwalder’s fingers seemed to be everywhere on the harp and in endless combinations, but, of course, most gorgeous were the big waves of sound that she created while strumming over all of the strings.

Joining Lehwalder in this piece was flutist Tara Helen O’Connor, violinists Steven Copes and Zori, violist Toby Appel, cellist Sophie Shao, and clarinetist Shifrin. Together they mesmerized everyone with outstanding control of the rhythm and dynamics, especially when they softened up the sound.

The concert ended with Gabriel Fauré’s Quartet No. 1 in C minor for Piano, Violin, Viola, and Cello (Op. 15), which Fauré wrote in 1877 during a time when his fiancée broke off their engagement. Wosner, Shao, Appel, and Copies teamed up to give this work a sparkling performance. I especially enjoyed the silky smooth sound that the strings achieved in the second movement – it even bordered on sounding slithery. That was when Wosner accompanied them with some deft, pointillist-like playing, and the combination was marvelous. I also loved the part in the third movement when the violin and cello were playing the same notes an octave apart. The ensemble finished the piece in thrilling fashion with a dash to the finale, and the audience responded with a standing ovation.

Portland Festival Symphony - off leash orchestra in the parks

Starting this Wednesday (Aug. 30) at Peninsula Park, the Portland Festival Symphony begins its 28th season of free concerts. Over the next few weeks (plus one date in September) this orchestra will perform in seven concerts in six public parks, including Laurelhurst Park, Washington Park, Foothills Park, Grant Park, and Cathedral Park. The acoustics may not be the best, but the ambience is terrific and the price is dirt cheap because it’s free. You can bring a picnic lunch, your kids, your dogs, and stay as long as you want. The concert program varies a bit at each performance, but Haydn’s “Toy Symphony” with participation for the children is always on the program and offers a fun way to introduce kids to music. (For the complete program at each venue, click here.)

The Portland Festival Symphony is the brainchild of Lajos Balogh, a Hungarian violinist who came to the United States in 1967 and began teaching at Marylhurst University that same year. For 27 years, Balogh was the principal second violinist of the Oregon Symphony. Balogh is the founder and music director of the Metropolitan Youth Symphony and continues to teach music at Marylhurst.

I talked with Balogh over the phone recently about his summer orchestra.

Why did you start the Portland Festival Symphony?

Balogh: I started the orchestra in 1981 when I became a US citizen. I wanted to celebrate and give something back to whole community. I had played with the opera orchestra in Washington Park and liked the setting in the amphitheater. So, I approached the city to ask for funding and got money from the city’s arts commission and some sponsors. The first concert was a huge success. According to the park bureau, 7,000 to 8,000 people attended. Afterwards I had many requests to do it again and keep it going. The Laurelhurst neighborhood wanted something. So, that’s how it began.

I think that this is a great way to bring music to the people. Just take it to the people. They can bring their children, their dogs, whatever.

Who are the members of the orchestra?

Balogh: Well, the first two or three years the players came from the Oregon Symphony. Most of the musicians back then were unemployed over the summer. Now it’s some from the symphony, some from the opera orchestra, and some freelancers. All are paid union scale, and we rehearse at the union hall.

I noticed that for some of the programs, your orchestra will be playing Leroy Anderson’s “Typewriter.”

Balogh: For the Leroy Anderson piece, someone a first suggested an electronic recording of a typewriter, but I want the real thing. So, we’ll have an old-fashioned typewriter on hand and Steve Lawrence, a percussionist with the Oregon Symphony will play it. I appreciate Anderson’s music a lot. In a three or four minute timeframe, he creates something special.

We’ve got a nice set of orchestra pieces that should work well. Dvorak’s 8th Symphony is one of my favorites. It has wonderful melodies and harmonies and is very upbeat. The Johann Strauss piece is the overture to his opera “The Gypsy Baron.” Back in Hungary that opera is very popular. So it is close to home.

Also, my son, Bela, is going to conduct the Kodaly number, “Intemezzo from Hary Janos” at the concert on Sunday at Washington Park and at the last concert in Foothills Park. I gave him a recording of it when he was a little boy and he listened to it all the time. It was one of his favorite pieces.

When you aren’t conducting, what keeps you busy?

Balogh: I really enjoy playing soccer. I play two or three times a week. It keeps me in shape, and it’s mentally stimulating also. One team is coed and the other is for men over 40 years old. I get to meet a lot of different people: doctors, lawyers, airline pilots. They are nice people.

Today's Birthdays

Sigmund Romberg (1887-1951)
Charles Farncombe (1919-2006)
Avet Terterian (1929-1994)
Mikis Theodorakis (1925)
Peter Schreier (1935)
Bernd Weikl (1942)
Olga Borodina (1963)

and

Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859)
Paul Taylor (1930)

Today's Birthdays

Rudy Vallée (1901-1986)
Frank Loesser (1910-1969)
Kenneth Alwyn (1925)
Riccardo Muti (1941)

and

Ludwig A Feuerbach (1804-1872)
Beatrix Potter (1866-1843)
Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968)
Malcolm Lowry (1909-1957)

Chamber Music Northwest gives a glimpse into the world of Claude Debussy

Chamber Music Northwest explored the late chamber music of Claude Debussy in a concert that drew a capacity crowd to Kaul Auditorium (Reed College) on Thursday (July 22). The music revealed a bit of Debussy’s mindset, which may have been affected by the events of WWI and the deterioration of his own health due to colon cancer. Each piece had a transitory nature that may have depicted fleeting impressions and feelings or was a reflection on the ephemeral nature of our existence… or maybe a little of both.

David Shifrin, artistic director of CMNW, and pianist Shai Wosner, began the concert with “Premiere Rhapsodie” for Clarinet and Piano, which Debussy wrote in 1909. As a preface to the piece, Shifrin told the audience that he had played this work over twenty times with Andre Watts. That remark might have intimated most pianists, but Wosner didn’t blink an eye and proceeded to support Shifrin with an impeccable accompaniment. Shifrin played the work from memory and used his superior breath control to create all sorts of sounds – from smooth, expansive legatos to fluttery, buttery staccato runs. Overall, this was a pleasant piece that ended by looking forward on a note of hope.

Cellist Sophie Shao teamed up with Wosner to perform the next piece on the program, Debussy’s Sonata for Cello and Piano, which he wrote in 1915. Together, Shao and Wosner interpreted Debussy’s improvisatory style with élan and took us on a journey that covered a changing landscape of moods. Highlights included the eloquent opening of the first movement (“Lent”), the quixotic pizzicato and dance-like moments of the second movement (“Modérément animé”), and the seamless tempo changes in the third movement (“Final: Animé”). Shao, in particular, seemed to know this technically difficult work like the back of her hand and was totally immersed in the music. Wosner, a last minute replacement for an injured André Watts, seemed very comfortable with the piece as well.

Debussy finished his Sonata for Violin and Piano in 1917, and it became his final composition, because he died the following year. Although it is regarded as a short work, this sonata covers a lot of ground, and its episodic nature was given the full treatment by violinist Carmit Zori and pianist Wosner. I loved the Zori’s ardent and emotive playing, and she handled the virtuosic finale with panache. The singing tone of Zori’s violin was matched by Wosner, who could impressively change dynamics on a dime.

After intermission, Tara Helen O’Connor played “Syrinx” for Unaccompanied Flute. Debussy wrote this piece in 1912. The title was imposed in 1927 upon the publication of the piece and refers to an ancient Greek story in which the nymph Syrinx escaped Pan by being transformed into a reed by her sisters. Of course, Pan takes the reed and fashions a flute from it.

In the hands of O’Connor, the ephemeral qualities of Debussy’s “Syrinx” came to the forefront. The many arresting sounds – some of which flitted here and there, others of which evoked someone in distress – that I would’ve enjoyed hearing this short piece a second time.

The final piece on the program was the Sonata for Flute, Viola, and Harp, which was written by Debussy in 1916. O’Connor was joined in the performance of this work by violist Toby Appel and harpist Heidi Lehwalder. Lehwalder, by the way, was the first recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant and teaches on the music faculty of the University of Washington in Seattle.

The trio gave Debussy’s Sonata a wonderful performance, but the music is not easy to grasp. Like the other works in the program, this sonata had harmonic twists and turns. The music seemed very episodic with no particular destination in mind. The tempo did pick up dramatically at the end with a passage that reminded me of a snowball rolling downhill, gathering in size before it stops.

Today's Birthdays

Enrique Granados (1867-1916)
Ernő Dohnanyi (1877-1960)
Igor Markevitch (1912-1983)
Mario del Monaco (1915-1982)
Carol Vaness (1952)

Today's Birthdays

Serge Koussevitsky (1874-1951)
Tadeusz Baird (1928-1981)
Alexis Weissenberg (1929)
Anthony Gilbert (1934)
Roger Smalley (1943)
Angela Hewitt (1958)
Mick Jagger (1943)

and

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)
Carl Jung (1875-1961)
Pearl S. Buck (1892-1973)
Aldous Huxley (1894-1963)

New music by Sierra Sierra shares stage with Janáček and Schumann at Chamber Music Northwest concert

Since 1990 Chamber Music Northwest has commissioned 27 new works, a remarkable feat for any arts organization, and according to Linda Magee, executive director of CMNW, “more commissioned works are in the hopper.” That great news, because CMNW sponsorship gives today’s composers an opportunity to create new pieces and hear them performed. On Tuesday evening (July 22) at Cabell Center (Catlin Gabel School) I heard the world premiere of the latest CMNW-sponsored work, Roberto Sierra’s “Concierto de Cámera” for woodwind quintet and string quartet.

Sierra, a native of Puerto Rico, has many works that have been performed world-wide by ensembles ranging from the Kronos Quartet to the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. He has also won numerous awards and since 1992 teaches composition on the music faculty of Cornell University.

Sierra’s “Concierto de Cámera,” co-commissioned by Chamber Music Northwest and the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, is a lively, five-movement work with no pause between the first two. As the program notes pointed out, this work begins as a nonet, then is directed toward two separate ensembles, and ends up presenting the musicians as virtuoso soloists. So, in the way, the music gradually fragments in the way that it is played, yet it all sounded as a whole. That, of course, can be accomplished when it is played by two virtuoso ensembles, the Imani Winds and the Miami String Quartet. They displayed a wonderful way of transcending this difficult work and giving the audience an exciting journey into a new soundscape.

I really liked the second movement which seemed, for an extended passage, to evoke the flight of birds and ended with statement that seemed to question everything that had been played up to that point. The third movement had a quick-footed, agitated state and lots of aggressive sounds with sharp edges. The fourth movement juxtaposed an arresting legato from the winds and first violinist with pizzicato from the other strings. The last movement was jaunty and dance-like. All of the musicians from both ensembles really got into the work and the resulting applause was very enthusiastic.

The Imani Winds with David Shifrin on bass clarinet began the concert with Leoš Janáček’s “Mládí” (“Youth”), a sextet that he wrote in 1924 at the age of 70. In this four movement piece, Janáček recalls the exuberance of his childhood, and, indeed the music from the get-go chrips along at a fast clip. The blasts from Jeff Scott’s French horn, were wonderfully echoed by others in the ensemble. The second movement seemed to have a more serious tone, which at one pointed became almost sultry. It also contained some intriguing passages for the clarinet, which were played wonderfully by Mariam Adam, and somewhere in this movement the group of musicians seemed really gel and take the music to a higher level. The happy, chirpy sounds returned in the third movement before there was an abrupt shift to a more lyrical style. The fourth movement was energetic and ended joyously, which the audience embraced wholeheartedly.

After intermission, The Miami String Quartet teamed up with pianist Shai Wosner to give an outstanding performance of Robert Schumann’s Quintet in E-flat major for piano and strings, Op. 44. Their collaboration was superb, due in part to the wonderful sense of communication. Everyone in the ensemble was looking and listening to each other so intently that they got the utmost out of this piece. You can hear a great recording of this work, but to hear it live like this goes beyond what any recording can do.

One of the highlights of the first movement included the way that violist Yu Jin finished the phrases that cellist Keith Robinson began. The sweet tone of Benny Kim’s violin during second theme of the second movement was delicious to the ears. The melancholy themes, the dreamy sections, the parts that sounded like a beehive at work: they were all outstanding. The way that Wosner kept the piano in balance with the strings was fantastic! I loved the way that he crouched at the keyboard and looked at Kim in anticipation of the first note of the last movement before pouncing on it. The audience got completely swept up in the music and went bonkers at the end. It was a great way to end the evening.

Today's Birthdays

Alfredo Casella (1883-1946)
Maureen Forrester (1930)

and

Elias Canetti (1905-1994)

Oregon Symphony still in precarious financial situation

The Portland Business Journal today gives an updated accounting of the Oregon Symphony's continuing struggle to remain financially viable. The good news is that Elaine Calder, the president of the OSO and the board have done an excellent job to trim the deficit and are on the right track. The tough news is that there's still a long ways to go.

Note: David Stabler and Charles Noble in their blogs have pointed out several errors in this article (including a deficit of $549,00 instead of $671,000).

Also, last year, I attended the annual meeting of the Oregon Symphony, and the big emphasis focus on corralling the big deficits and balancing the budget after the 2008-2009 season. Looking at the final tally of the deficit from the 2007-2008 season, I would have to say that Calder and company have taken great strides and may very well achieve the balanced-budget goal next year.

Today's Birthdays

Adolphe Charles Adam (1803-1856)
Ernest Bloch (1880-1959)
Robert Farnon (1917-2005)
Ruggiero Ricci (1918)
Guiseppe de Stefano (1921-2008)
Wilfred Josephs (1927-1997)
Peter Serkin (1947)
Philippe Hurel (1955)

and

Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?)
Robert Graves (1895-1985)
Frank Wedekind (1864-1918)

Today's Birthdays

Franz Berwald (1796-1868)
Francesco Cilea (1866-1950)
Leon Fleisher (1928)
Bernard Roberts (1933)
Maria João Pires (1944)
Susan Graham (1960)

and

Robert Graves (1895-1985)

Article on Portland Piano Festival in Crosscut

Last week, I attended several concerts at Portland Piano International's Summer Festival and then wrote an article for Crosscut. You can read it here.

Although I did not attend Fredric Chiu’s concert, I did hear him present an unusual demonstration-lecture (July 19) in which he explained techniques for practicing without a keyboard. Chiu handed out a short piece by Mendelssohn (Opus 72, No. 1) to thirteen people in the audience. They studied the dynamics, rhythm, ornamentation, harmonic structure, and other elements of the piece before coming up on the stage and playing it. Each person only played a couple of measures and thereby completed the work from memory. It seemed to be a positive experience for all of the participants, though I think that most pianists would be careful to correct any mistake as quickly as possible.

Today's Birthdays

Hans Rosbaud (1895-1962)
Licia Albanese (1913)
George Dreyfus (1928)
Ann Howard (1936)
Nigel Hess (1953)

and

Edward Hopper (1882-1967)
Raymond Chandler (1888-1959)
Alexander Calder (1898-1976)

Sing Faure's Requiem this Wednesday

Join members of the Portland Symphonic Choir this Wednesday evening in a special summer rehearsal of Gabriel Faure's "Requiem" and "Cantique de Jean Racine." Anna Song, the assistant director of the Portland Symphonic Choir will conduct. All singers of any level are welcome and scores will be provided. The cost for anyone who is not a member of the Portland Symphonic Choir is $7. Tickets available only at the door.

When: July 23rd at 7 pm
Where: Moriarty Arts and Humanities Building on the Cascade Campus of Portland Community College (Corner of North Killingsworth and Albina)
Cost: $7

Extra note: Last weeks rehearsal of Verdi's "Requiem" drew over 150 singers and went very well.

Today's Birthdays

Anton Kuerti (1938)
Isaac Stern (1920-2001)
Cat Stevens (1948)

and

Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961)
Garry Trudeau (1948)

Today's Birthdays

Vilém Tauský (1910-2004)
Michael Gielen (1927)
Nam June Paik (1932)
Hukwe Zawose (1938-2003)
Carlos Santana (1947)

and

Francesco Petrarca (1304-1374)
Pavel Kohout (1928)