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.