Farewell

Seattle Times music critic Melinda Bargreen penned her last story over the weekend, a farewell and a reflection of Seattle’s changing music and cultural environment.   At a time where the classical music industry is undergoing significant change both in how audiences hear live music (changes in venue, programing and format) and how music is distributed (MP3’s, iTunes, etc.), the number of active critics continues to dwindle.  The future might rest with the Internet but nothing can replace the tactile bliss of newspapers.  Newspapers may continue to provide classical music coverage with a stable of reviewers but what will be missing is the institutional memory of performances past and present.  Bargreen sums up decades of interviews with performers and uncovers a truth about music criticism.

Opera stars like Dame Joan Sutherland and Birgit Nilsson joked about their size and stamina, telling funny anecdotes about their earlier years (Sutherland was particularly hilarious on the subject of a youthful stint as a Rhinemaiden in the “Ring”). The extraordinarily gifted Yo-Yo Ma always used terms like “incredibly fortunate” and “blessed to have such wonderful colleagues.” And Murray Perahia always wanted to talk about how great Bach was, never about how fabulously Perahia played the “Goldberg” Variations.

Looking into the future, I have great hopes for the future of classical music, despite the prognostications of several gloom-predictors. Classical-music downloads are surprisingly strong; so is concert attendance. And whenever Seattle Opera opens a sales period for its “Ring” (coming up in 2009, by the way), the surges of inquiries always crash the phone system, and all 36,000-plus tickets are gone within 24 hours. And whenever anything big happens — tragedy (Sept. 11), triumph (the fall of the Berlin Wall) — we instinctively turn to great music to commemorate it. Conversely, the classical genre is also making its way into clubs, taverns and all sorts of unusual venues.

Music, like art is always evolving, and criticism is always vested in the cause of good music.

Upcoming events

Josh Roman ends his Town Music series today with a recital featuring music for two instruments by some of Roman’s favorite composers: Derek Bermel, Zhou Long, Johan Halverson and Joni Mitchell.  May 11, 2008.

Monday, Seattle’s Music of Remembrance presents their spring concert, “Ray of Sunshine.”  The title for the performance is taken from a movement from Paul Schoenfield’s Ghetto Songs.  Ghetto Songs was commissioned for the performance and received its world premiere this coming Monday.  Also on the program are works by Viktor Ullmann and Erwin Schulhoff.  May 12, 2008.

The American String Project begins their spring concert series this week.  For seven years, the String Project, has built a reputation of presenting standard repertoire for string quartet, quintet, etc. but arranged by bassist Barry Lieberman for larger forces.  This year, repertoire includes: Shostakovich’s String Quartet No.4; Brahms String Quartet No.2; and Dvorak’s String Quartet No.9. May 14, 16 and 18, 2008.

Interview with Lisa Daltirus - Portland Opera’s Aida

Soprano Lisa Daltirus is staring in the title role of Portland Opera’s “Aida,” which opened last night at Keller Auditorium. Earlier this year, Daltirus did a fantastic performance of “Tosca” with Seattle Opera and will be performing “Aida” with them in August. I talked to her a couple of days ago in order to find out more.

Tell us a little of your background and how you got interested in opera?

Daltirus: My father was an amateur trumpeter and played with jazz bands. My mother loved Broadway musicals. There was always music in the house. I was always sort of performing impromptu. My mother encouraged me to do skits. My mother bought me a piano, and I took lessons at an early age. I was heavily involved in music in my church, which gave me a wide selection of styles from classical to gospel. What intrigued me early on was a production of ‘Amahl and the Night Visitors.’ I was in the chorus and did some dancing. I loved the idea of a production – of putting it all together. I loved the idea of performing. I did know that I would go into opera until high school when I had an epiphany moment. I was more into straight drama. I did a lot plays at the school and did recitation competitions. Then one day it all came together. I loved singing and my voice liked the classical style and I liked acting. So, that meant opera.

Portland Youth Philharmonic triumphs in season finale

The Portland Youth Philharmonic met the challenges of a very demanding program in its final concert of the season. Under the baton of former music director and conductor Huw Edwards, the orchestra tackled the March No. 4 in G Major Edward Elgar’s “Pomp and Cirrcumstance”, Benjamin Britten’s “Sinfonia da Requiem,” and Anton Bruckner’s “Symphony No. 4 in E-flat Major, “Romantic.” The Britten piece marked a premiere by the PYP and the Bruckner was a premier of the complete work.

More press on Muti

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Moscow Virtuosi: more Russian music please

It was 1979, the Shah fled Iran for Egypt, the United States and China established full diplomatic relations, Senator Ted Kennedy announced he would challenge President Carter for the Democratic nomination, and at the Chicago Symphony violin virtuoso, turned conductor, Vladimir Spivakov, made his conducting debut.

Not long after his debut in Chicago, Spivakov returned to the Soviet Union and founded the Moscow Virtuosi. Spivakov hand picked many of the 24 members from the Soviet Union’s elite orchestras. The original 24 didn’t last very long. A retreat to Spain, with the goal of enhancing the nascent ensemble’s sound and precision resulted in half of the players staying in Spain. Undeterred, Spivakov returned to the Soviet Union, replenished the group’s ranks, and proceeded to launch the Virtuosi on a thirty year trajectory recognized this year with a North America tour by the group.

The U.S. leg of the tour has been selling out venues from Boston to California. Sunday, the Virtuosi came to Benaroya Hall with a program that is an atypical mix of classical and Twentieth Century works for an ensemble known for their interpretations of Russian music.

It’s Official

It’s official.

Iwasaki delivers electrifying Sibelius

Many concertgoers have wondered just how good of a violinist is Jun Iwasaki, the concertmaster of the Oregon Symphony. We’ve heard him play exceptionally well as primo violinist of the orchestra, but it’s always in brief snatches whenever he has an exposed solo. Fortunately, at Friday night’s concert with the Portland Columbian Symphony Orchestra, we got to hear the 26-year-old virtuoso perform Jean Sibelius’ Violin Concerto in D minor, and it was absolutely amazing.

Puritanical I Puritani Isn’t

Normally, Seattle Opera pulls out all its stops for its sumnmer production, usually the biggest event of the Seattle Opera year, but I can’t see even this August’s Aida outshining the current production of Bellini’s I Puritani, which opened Saturday night at McCaw Hall.

Brentano Quartet

Regular readers of this site know I occasionally wax on and on about my hometown of Davenport, Iowa and its classical music scene. I have mentioned the wonderful chamber music series put on every year by Quad City natives Thomas Sauer and Greg Sauer. Regularly, the Sauer brothers would bring friends along with them for their winter and mid-summer recitals. Two of the artists the brothers brought with them were Mark Steinberg and Serena Canin. For the record, Serena pretty much had to come to the Quad Cities since she’s married to Thomas Sauer. These two are also ½ of the Brentano Quartet. Alex Ross has taken note and written a fine piece about the group and recent series of recitals.