The Boulder MahlerFest has just concluded its 22nd festival, a remarkable achievement. Congratulations to the festival board and good luck to the new president, Barry Knapp.
This past Wednesday night Jennifer Bird-Arvidsson and Patrick Mason collaborated with Mutsumi Motoki in a selection of late Romantic songs, two by Mahler. I heard Bird-Arvidsson earlier this year at one of the university faculty concerts and she is just wonderful, a great addition to CU. Her rendition of Mahler's "Ging heut morger übers Feld" was perfect. Mason, too, was in top form. I had to laugh with him singing Hansel in a duet from Humperdinck's fairy-tale opera, normally sung by a mezzo. The final Delius "Prelude and Idyll", though, was a bit tedious.
On Saturday night and again on Sunday afternoon, the full Mahlerfest Orchestra, all 102 members strong, performed the Third Symphony, . I've always like the third a bit less than the second, "Resurrection", but now I'm not so sure. Robert Olson conducted with a pace and passion that sometimes brought me upright in my seat, particularly in the middle of the 6th movement. Julie Simpson's "O Mensch!" was spot on. The Boulder Chorale was very good, along with the combined Boulder Children's Chorale and Niwot Treble Choir with their bells of "Bimm, Bamm".
In both performances I was drawn to the trombonist John Neurohr. He's a big fellow and was in complete control of his phrasing and intonation. I was very impressed as was the audience who responded noticeably louder when Olson pointed to him during the applause. We also liked the principal trumpet, Doug Reneau, beautifully playing off-stage solos in the third movement. Maestro Olson brought both players to the front to share the standing ovation, something you rarely see. Annamarie Karacson (violin), Charles Lee (cello) and all the horns also deserve special notice.
Mahler used off-stage bands in the second symphony and here in the third, a single trumpet. Only a live performance can give the listener an appreciation of these subtle little performance enhancements. Recorded music just fails to do this, I'm afraid.
My wife and I heard the evening performance down on the main floor of the auditorium. Sunday I went up into the balcony and had a better, more complete view of the orchestra and choirs. Since I could see better, for some reason I seem to hear better. I guess it's me but when I can see a musician play, I seem to receive the sound better. Sunday's overall performance was better, to me.
I've got tickets to more Mahler this summer, in Denver with the CSO and the Colorado Music Festival here in Boulder. Both are Mahler's 5th Symphony, a bit of musical redundancy. Too bad local orchestras ignore what others schedule.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Monday, May 03, 2010
I ended to soon!
In my last post I commented about the end of the University of Colorado student year and the wealth of music that each semester brings. I guess I hurried to much and forgot some. Since one student observed that I missed a good one, I thought it best to "catch up" and correct my mistake.
Over a three night period last weekend I heard 3 performances over at the University: A DMA recital, the CU Opera and the Boulder Phil. Then last week I heard the CU Orchestra reprise of their CU at Boetcher concert and last night I heard the final Takacs String Quartet performance. I really was a bit early in ending the semester.
While I normally don't attend a lot of student solo recitals, I attended this one with my wife and a friend because a young Canadian violist, Rachael Gibson, has been living with us this year. Rachael is a member of the Altamira String Quartet, along with Oscar Soler, violin, Kahyee Lee, violin and Clayton Vaughn, cello. The quartet performed Schumann's E-flat Piano Quintet with Eneida Larti, who was presenting her Doctor of Musical Arts Recital. Ms. Larti also performed two other Schumann pieces. one with cello and one with violin. While normally not a big Schumann fan, all three were performed with great student zest and were well received.
Zest and enthusiasm was about all on display for the Friday night performance of "Our Town". Thorton Wilder wrote this famous stage work back in the 30ths and just recently Ned Rorem wrote an opera based on the play. I remember seeing the play back in college and have a mental image of a blank stage and two stepladders. The CU music school faithfully confirmed that image. My wife had read the play with woman she is tutoring, so I also could check to see the words were faithfully sung unchanged. The student performers were in top form, particularly Sarah Gilbert as Emily and John Lindsey as the Stage Manager. Unfortunately as an opera, though, it did little for me. Perhaps it's lack of familiarity contributed to my reaction, but there just didn't seem to me to have any musical appeal. While I normally enjoy contemporary opera, this one left me cold. A few years ago CU did Poulenc's "Les Mamelles de Tirésias", also somewhat stark and surreal. It, too, just didn't give me much music to latch onto. Oh well, next year we get the musical "Carousel", Carlisle Floyd's "Susannah" and Bernstein's "Mass"; a musical, an opera and a work for stage. I hope this doesn't mean that CU is moving away from an opera repertoire.
This summer, running in its austerity mode, CU has cut the normal musical offerings. When I first came to Colorado in the middle of the eighties, Gilbert and Sullivan ruled. The famous patter tenor John Reed sang and directed many of the famous ones. Wits at the music school "localized" some of the famous songs bringing local Boulder into the middle of Japan or jolly old England. It was all great fun. That said, there will be some "Opera Scenes" offered mid-summer, featuring composers Robert Altridge, Herschel Garfein and Daniel Kellogg.
Daniel Kellogg is on the CU composing faculty and one of his works was opening music for the Boulder Philharmonic's final season concert. Dan spoke a few words about "Rush" from the stage, amusingly commenting it was from his "early" period and detailed his emotions of sitting in a car in big city traffic. That little insight made the music more enjoyable and I could transport myself to those same frustrating emotions.
Following Kellogg's piece was "Rainbow Body" by Christopher Theofanidis, in town from Yale for the performance. Conductor Michael Butterman did a neat thing by broadcasting a short snippet of the main theme of "Rainbow Body" as was originally written by Hildegard von Bingen during the 12th century. This fairly short 6 or 7 note chant stayed in my mind as Theofanidis's work was performed. It returned many times, beautifully orchestrated. I was going to order a CD of it, but Amazon was out of stock. I've got to hear that one again.
The Boulder Phil's performance ended with a rousing "Carima Burana". What more could you ask for? A large orchestra, lots of percussion, a huge chorus, a cute children's choir and 3 distinguished singers. I've heard "Carmina" live eight or ten times now, even in the two-piano version, and it never fails to please. I've got a friend who said "Oh, I've heard that one before so I don't need to hear it again." Sheesh! I've seen the Mona Lisa once, so there's no need to look at it again, I guess. The tenor William Parsons sang the roasted swan, and Dennis Jesse sang the baritone voicewell, but it was soprano Mary Wilson who impressed me most. In the ending, she put down her music and sang beautifully above everyone. The crowd sprang to its feet applauding the singers, the orchestra, the conductor and the end of a good Boulder Phil season.
Mid-week we went to the CU Orchestra's final semester performance. It had been performed the night before in Denver to a decently sized audience at Boettcher. The concert was only two works: Beethoven's "Choral Fantasy for Piano, Chorus and Orchestra" and Mahler's First Symphony, both conducted by Gary Lewis. The large chorus had a minor mishap and a few soprano's left the stage before the singing actually began. David Korevaar played flawlessly but the audience responded strangely with only a luke-warm reception. The Choral Fantasy was where Beethoven first introduced the major theme used to end his Ninth Symphony, so perhaps the audience wasn't expecting to hear it. Maybe the audience expected it to continue, but while they warmly applauded, then didn't stand as had been the case in Denver the night before, as reported to me by Rachael. After intermission, a larger CU orchestra did a fine job on the Mahler. The pace was a little slow at times, but this long early symphony was greeted with a well-deserved reaction from the audience.
Last night the Takacs, with Lina Bahn substituting for the recuperating Karoly Schranz, played late Beethoven. It must have been exhausting for the quartet to play two full concerts hours apart, but their playing was effortless and the audience responded with rousing applause. They played the last quartet, Opus 135 to open the concert and ended it with The B-flat Major, Opus 130. Displaying their virtuosity, the Takacs chose the "Grosse Fuge", the original last movement of the 130. It's often played by itself and is Beethoven as his most complex. I enjoy it yet find my mind often trapped into thinking of the "wrong next note".
Between the Beethoven, the Takacs programmed "A Cool Wind" by the New Zealander John Psathas. Ed Dusinberre commented about the piece from the stage, explaining that Psathas crafted it based on music for the duduk, an Armenian double reed instrument said to be one of the oldest in the world. He explained that it was played with limited intervals, so the string writing does so. Ed humorously said he couldn't really find any "happy sounds" during his searchings on YouTube. The quartet played it fairly soulfully and I wasn't certain if I liked it or not, but as it progressed I changed to favoring it. It's one of those pieces that requires a second hearing. Lina Bahn's solo ending it was wonderful.
Now maybe the spring season of music is over.
Over a three night period last weekend I heard 3 performances over at the University: A DMA recital, the CU Opera and the Boulder Phil. Then last week I heard the CU Orchestra reprise of their CU at Boetcher concert and last night I heard the final Takacs String Quartet performance. I really was a bit early in ending the semester.
While I normally don't attend a lot of student solo recitals, I attended this one with my wife and a friend because a young Canadian violist, Rachael Gibson, has been living with us this year. Rachael is a member of the Altamira String Quartet, along with Oscar Soler, violin, Kahyee Lee, violin and Clayton Vaughn, cello. The quartet performed Schumann's E-flat Piano Quintet with Eneida Larti, who was presenting her Doctor of Musical Arts Recital. Ms. Larti also performed two other Schumann pieces. one with cello and one with violin. While normally not a big Schumann fan, all three were performed with great student zest and were well received.
Zest and enthusiasm was about all on display for the Friday night performance of "Our Town". Thorton Wilder wrote this famous stage work back in the 30ths and just recently Ned Rorem wrote an opera based on the play. I remember seeing the play back in college and have a mental image of a blank stage and two stepladders. The CU music school faithfully confirmed that image. My wife had read the play with woman she is tutoring, so I also could check to see the words were faithfully sung unchanged. The student performers were in top form, particularly Sarah Gilbert as Emily and John Lindsey as the Stage Manager. Unfortunately as an opera, though, it did little for me. Perhaps it's lack of familiarity contributed to my reaction, but there just didn't seem to me to have any musical appeal. While I normally enjoy contemporary opera, this one left me cold. A few years ago CU did Poulenc's "Les Mamelles de Tirésias", also somewhat stark and surreal. It, too, just didn't give me much music to latch onto. Oh well, next year we get the musical "Carousel", Carlisle Floyd's "Susannah" and Bernstein's "Mass"; a musical, an opera and a work for stage. I hope this doesn't mean that CU is moving away from an opera repertoire.
This summer, running in its austerity mode, CU has cut the normal musical offerings. When I first came to Colorado in the middle of the eighties, Gilbert and Sullivan ruled. The famous patter tenor John Reed sang and directed many of the famous ones. Wits at the music school "localized" some of the famous songs bringing local Boulder into the middle of Japan or jolly old England. It was all great fun. That said, there will be some "Opera Scenes" offered mid-summer, featuring composers Robert Altridge, Herschel Garfein and Daniel Kellogg.
Daniel Kellogg is on the CU composing faculty and one of his works was opening music for the Boulder Philharmonic's final season concert. Dan spoke a few words about "Rush" from the stage, amusingly commenting it was from his "early" period and detailed his emotions of sitting in a car in big city traffic. That little insight made the music more enjoyable and I could transport myself to those same frustrating emotions.
Following Kellogg's piece was "Rainbow Body" by Christopher Theofanidis, in town from Yale for the performance. Conductor Michael Butterman did a neat thing by broadcasting a short snippet of the main theme of "Rainbow Body" as was originally written by Hildegard von Bingen during the 12th century. This fairly short 6 or 7 note chant stayed in my mind as Theofanidis's work was performed. It returned many times, beautifully orchestrated. I was going to order a CD of it, but Amazon was out of stock. I've got to hear that one again.
The Boulder Phil's performance ended with a rousing "Carima Burana". What more could you ask for? A large orchestra, lots of percussion, a huge chorus, a cute children's choir and 3 distinguished singers. I've heard "Carmina" live eight or ten times now, even in the two-piano version, and it never fails to please. I've got a friend who said "Oh, I've heard that one before so I don't need to hear it again." Sheesh! I've seen the Mona Lisa once, so there's no need to look at it again, I guess. The tenor William Parsons sang the roasted swan, and Dennis Jesse sang the baritone voicewell, but it was soprano Mary Wilson who impressed me most. In the ending, she put down her music and sang beautifully above everyone. The crowd sprang to its feet applauding the singers, the orchestra, the conductor and the end of a good Boulder Phil season.
Mid-week we went to the CU Orchestra's final semester performance. It had been performed the night before in Denver to a decently sized audience at Boettcher. The concert was only two works: Beethoven's "Choral Fantasy for Piano, Chorus and Orchestra" and Mahler's First Symphony, both conducted by Gary Lewis. The large chorus had a minor mishap and a few soprano's left the stage before the singing actually began. David Korevaar played flawlessly but the audience responded strangely with only a luke-warm reception. The Choral Fantasy was where Beethoven first introduced the major theme used to end his Ninth Symphony, so perhaps the audience wasn't expecting to hear it. Maybe the audience expected it to continue, but while they warmly applauded, then didn't stand as had been the case in Denver the night before, as reported to me by Rachael. After intermission, a larger CU orchestra did a fine job on the Mahler. The pace was a little slow at times, but this long early symphony was greeted with a well-deserved reaction from the audience.
Last night the Takacs, with Lina Bahn substituting for the recuperating Karoly Schranz, played late Beethoven. It must have been exhausting for the quartet to play two full concerts hours apart, but their playing was effortless and the audience responded with rousing applause. They played the last quartet, Opus 135 to open the concert and ended it with The B-flat Major, Opus 130. Displaying their virtuosity, the Takacs chose the "Grosse Fuge", the original last movement of the 130. It's often played by itself and is Beethoven as his most complex. I enjoy it yet find my mind often trapped into thinking of the "wrong next note".
Between the Beethoven, the Takacs programmed "A Cool Wind" by the New Zealander John Psathas. Ed Dusinberre commented about the piece from the stage, explaining that Psathas crafted it based on music for the duduk, an Armenian double reed instrument said to be one of the oldest in the world. He explained that it was played with limited intervals, so the string writing does so. Ed humorously said he couldn't really find any "happy sounds" during his searchings on YouTube. The quartet played it fairly soulfully and I wasn't certain if I liked it or not, but as it progressed I changed to favoring it. It's one of those pieces that requires a second hearing. Lina Bahn's solo ending it was wonderful.
Now maybe the spring season of music is over.
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