Hear ahead

It's a great time of year for music in Boulder. Concerts and recitals everywhere, with many free and most well attended. I'm happy.

I'm not as active blogging as I used to be. Other projects and activities use up a lot of my time, so it's taken a weekend away with some skiing and partying to free up time for this little submission. It's cold in my condo right now but it will be colder on the mountain tomorrow at 8:30.

I'd like to touch on a few concerts and recognize some good performances and then introduce an thought I had about music, so here goes.

First chronologically, the University of Colorado's (CU) Symphony Orchestra played Rossini's William Tell Overture followed by Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony. Our favorite graduate student was concert-mistress -- she lives with us this year and is great. What I remember most was the beautiful cello solo by Andrew Briggs in the opening of William Tell. He's been to our house a few times, so I knew him a bit. He later in February was the winner of the CU Student Concerto Competition along with Cobus du Toit, who plays often with the Boulder Chamber Orchestra, so congratulations to both Andrew and Cobus.

Next CU had "Faculty Tuesdays", a concert featuring outstanding professors as performers. It's weekly and I try to go to most of them. More and more people in Boulder are coming to these, rightfully so. Jeffrey Nytch, director of the Entrepreneurship Center for Music, put together an eclectic program calling on many of the faculty. My favorite was a piece by Graham Fitkin, "Hard Fair" for Soprano Saxophone and Two Pianos. David Korevaar and Carter Pann slammed into this piece on piano and Grant Larson screamed with the Sax. I'd love to hear it again.

It was a very windy Wednesday and the CU Pendulum program was without program notes --they had "blown away" supposedly but understandably. The winds at my house that day, right below the National Center for Atmospheric Research lab, were measure at over 90 miles per hour. CU Pendulum features student compositions and new faculty works and I've enjoyed them in the past, though this one was a little less persuasive. One student composition went on interminably with unintelligibly spoken poetry covering sometimes interesting by mostly boring music. I encourage student compositions, so try, try again. What was interesting was a faculty work by John Drumheller -- its hard to say it's a composition since it was a dynamically computer processed transmission of a live performance by Nicolò Spera on a 10 stringed guitar. Perhaps Drumheller composed the guitar music, but with experimental music like this, one can't be sure.

On Friday night my wife and I went to an interesting performance sponsored by Playground, an off-shoot of the Boulder Symphony Orchestra, a relatively new group in town. The performances, mostly solos and duets, were by contemporary composers like Stockhausen, Reich, Berg and Gorecki. Two performances in particular stood out. Another computer enhanced performance by Ben Cantu on guitar playing "Electric Counterpoint" by Steve Reich. Having heard Drumheller's work earlier, it was a good comparison and very well done. Secondly, with high kudos, was performance of Gorecki's Piano Sonata No 1, Opus 6 performed by Heidi Brende Leathwood. Gorecki is most noted for his 3rd Symphony but has some interesting piano music including at least one Piano Concerto. This sonata was as electrifying as the recording of that concerto and compliments to Ms. Leathwood for tackling it.

The next night the Boulder Philharmonic, under Michael Butterman, gave a full audience a full plate -- Shostokovich, Gulda and Schubert's "Great C Major Symphony". Friedrich Gulda was new to me -- in fact I thought it was Fulda until I realized, after a Wikipedia search, that I had an F for a G, with Fulda a town and US Army base in Germany. Gulda was apparently quite the pianist but an oddball, faking his own death late in life. The piece, Concerto for Cello and Wind Orchestra, was performed by Joshua Roman, a young upcoming performer tied into the TED program. I have to say that it left me puzzled. Roman's cello was miked, though I suppose to guarantee clarity in the cavernous Mackey auditorium. The 5 movement piece centered on a cadenza that went on and on and on -- Roman clearly commands his instrument but this solo riff caused unfamiliarity to spawn boredom. The last two movements were better and more interesting, so the audience sprang up cheering. I guess they liked it more than I did.

While I had intended for this post to cover more, I think I'll stop here and introduce "head-ahead" on the next one.

Starting a new year

Okay, 2012 has to be better politically than last year. Troglodite republicans have destroyed the evening meal time when I listen to the news. It used to be music but the local station now only plays snatches of tracks so hogwash is better than garbage. What me worry?

January hasn't been bad. A decent Boulder Philharmonic performance of Howard Hanson's "Romantic" Symphony preceeded by the Takac String Quartet featuring Britten's String Quartet No 2 was a good start for the year. I was over-confident in my musical knowledge and bet Gerry Walther that Britten's "Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra" was based on a theme by Frank Bridge, the composer she featured in a small mini-concert. Wrong! She won $5 knowing, as I should have, that it was a Purcell theme, not Bridge. I'm glad I don't bet on the stock market.

A young friend invited me to a BBQ. Not what you think but a Boulder Bassoon Quartet performance. This instrument is a bit of a loner, not exactly a featured instrument or one that you want your kids to aspire to, but a solid and interesting one. This quartet performed an actual bassoon quartet written by Marjan Mozetich, a contemporary Canadian. I've heard other bassoon music by Mozetich and have always enjoyed it. He has a sound -- if you've heard him once you can recognize him again, kind of like some lesser known composer like Hovhaness and Martinu. A true mark of genius?

Two University of Colorado faculty performances were also enjoyable, though my current cold prevented me from completely enjoying them. Paul Erhard performed on two different double bass instruments in an evening of mixed classical and jazz. I have a friend playing double bass who once explained to me that there are several options on the instruments. Most only have 4 strings but some have 5. The principal bassist at the Colorado Music Festival was playing one, though the rest of his colleagues were playing one 4 stringed instruments. Based on first impressions, I though Erhard was switching from 5 to 4, but n0 -- both were 4 stringed. What do I know?

David Korevaar thrilled a large Tuesday night audience with 4 Bach Partitas. He always packs the house. My cold and cough forced me to leave at intermission. Oh, if only I had seen a doctor earlier.

Yesterday was a two-fer: a symposium on the future of the orchestra and Pendulum. Pendulum has student performances of faculty, visiting faculty and student composers. This was no different and, while well received, was problematic. Hsing-Ay Hsu accompanied Patrick Mason in a 20 minute piece by Ben-Amot. The music was fine but following Judeo-Spanish poetry with unpredictable breaks was really, really hard. Pendulum's highlight for me and some friends as Raechel Sherwood's "BOSS" performed by the Tesla Quartet. Though only two movements, it never lost interest and when it ended, I wanted more. Not bad for a young student composer. The Tesla continues to impress me with their playing and confidence on stage. This is their second year at CU and it will be a shamed to see them move on.

The musical entrepreneurial program, run by Jeffrey Nytch, sponsored a discussion on the future of orchestra. The panel included 2 representatives from the Colorado Symphony (I didn't write down their names), Gary Lewis from CU and conductor of the Midland Texas Orchestra, and Kevin Schuck, executive director of the Boulder Philharmonic. The discussion focused on the changing environment for classical orchestra and the challenges they face. I go to concerts at all of them (forget Texas) and I can understand the problems. The CSO is facing declining attendance and funding support and a complex board situation. My wife and I and friends would go the the CSO, but the traffic, parking, dinner and concerts ended with to much frustration. We've pretty much stopped going to Denver. I'm glad that the plans include the CSO coming to us, rather than the other way around. We'd love to hear them closer, perhaps at Mackey.

An interesting observation by one of the panelists struck true to me -- we've lost a generation of music lovers when school music programs were cut in the last decader or two. It's no wonder pop music is so horrid but profitable and covered by attorneys. The younger generation missed out and grasped what they could and it wasn't much.

The symposium was a good first step. I've suggested to Nytch that more follow with possible topics like:

* Orchestral/Union relationships. The musicians need them and I support them, but are they having a negative effect?

* Intellectual property rights and copyright. Are they limiting ourmusic experience? Are lawyers desecrating art?

* The missing generation. How do we get back our children's lost musical experience? Is music in pre-college education dead?

* Programming and familiarity. Are the "classics" limiting the reach to audiences and is some programming overplayed and chasing away audiences?

* Pensions. Can't musicians just die without them?

Okay, enough for tonight. January was pretty good. If only I could shake this cold.

Nirvana Boulder

It's wonderful to live in Boulder and have so much access to classical music. Lots and lots and lots of live classical music. Granted, two performances were live broadcasts of the Metropolitan opera, live classical music is alive and well in Boulder, Colorado. In the past two weeks I've seen 3 operas, one requiem, a Beethoven symphony and chamber music galore, 11 performances in all, and, yes, I'm a glutton when it comes to classical music.

Starting out on a Sunday afternoon, the University of Colorado's School of Music put on a very solid "Marriage of Figaro". Two singers stood out: Wei Wu as Figaro and Meagan Mahlberg as the countess. Each opera performance demonstrates the rising quality of the singers being attracted to Boulder.

Leon Fleischer played Prokofiev's 4th piano concerto with the Irish Chamber Orchestra. This is the first time I've heard that concerto live and never understood that it was for the left hand only. I never realized how many left-hand only piano pieces there were. Wikipedia lists 41, including compositions by Strauss, Hindemith, Martinů, Britten and a raft of others. For reasons known only to pianists, there don't appear to be any written for the right hand. I wonder why?

The university's Pendulum series was up next. A monthly concert of music written by faculty and graduate students, it's always appealed to me. The music is varied, some accessible, some not, but always worth the short trip to the music school. One particular piece, a piano quintet by Steve Sachse, was the best of the lot.

I went from Mozart's "Marriage" on Sunday to the Met's "Don Giovanni" on Saturday. While it's not fair to compare a university performance to the Met, there's something about a live performance that's hard to beat. Musically and vocally the Met is hard to beat. The Met had just been forced to replace the ailing Gary Lehman in their upcoming "Siegfried" with a young Jay Hunter Morris from Paris, Texas. He was interviewed by Rene Fleming at the "Don Giovanni" intermission and had a wonderful observation. When asked if he was wary or star-struck by a role at the Met, particularly one as difficult as that of Siegfried, he replied with something like "When the lights go down and I get into character, I don't know if it's the Met or a high school gym". Great response. The next Saturday he sang his heart out and was a Siegfried to remember.

More Mozart was on the agenda that Saturday. After listening to "Don Giovanni", my wife and I went with friends to a performance of the Boulder Chamber Orchestra's Mozart "Requiem". The Ars Nova Singers and soloists provided the vocals for a packed house. It was a solid performance and got a rousing ovation. Interestingly, after we left the church we saw a flash mob dance to Michael Jackson's "Thriller" on the Pearl Street Mall. From the religiosity of Mozart to strangely dressed dancers and zombies in a short block's walk. Only in Boulder.

Next up was a performance by the Takács String Quartet. Janacek's "Kreutzer" and Ravel's only quartet preceded a Dvorak String Quintet with Paul Erhard on String Bass. I particularly like the quintet. Erhard's instrument looked larger than any I had seen before, probably an illusion.

The next night I attended one of the Tuesday Colorado faculty performances, this time featuring music written by Carter Pann, composition and theory professor. It's hard to select a favorite here. Janet Harriman played a delightful harp piece "Emerald's on Artemis" and Joel Hastings, coming to Boulder from Florida State University, played 8 selections from Pann's "The Piano's 12 Sides ... for Joe Hastings". I had a great view and found it interesting to watch Hasting's facial expressions as he played. Back in high school I had a good friend who went to Julliard for keyboard studies. My friend and Joel both showed the same concentration and intensity and passion. It's a piano thing that I'll never understand. The graduate student quartet studying with the Takács this year, the Tesla Quartet, played Pann's 1st String Quartet. This was my favorite for the evening. I liked the quartet so much that I came back and ordered a recording the next day. I hope this recording is as good as the Tesla's performance though a live performance always wins out.

After attending a graduate student viola recital on Wednesday, we went to the Cantabile Singers performance later that night. The featured work was Ralph Vaughan Williams's "Flos Campi". The violist was Gerry Walther from the Takács String Quartet. This was a first for me, both for the piece and for the soloist stopping shortly into the work with a technical problem on her viola. With the problem fixed, Gerry finished the work flawlessly and got a standing ovation.

Following the endurance test of Wagner's "Siegfried" on Saturday, my wife and I attended a performance of a new group of 13 string musicians, Sphere. Founded this past spring, this time they granted me an earlier wish: another performance of Jeffrey Nytch's "Epilogue". I had heard it performed in September by the Tesla Quartet and now a performance by a small string ensemble. While the composer said he favors the ensemble version, I'm a bit partial to the string quartet version. The Sphere's performance of the young Shostakovitch's "Prelude and Scherzo" was dazzling.

Finally, yesterday afternoon I heard the Clavier Trio (Arkady Fomin, Jesus Castro-Balbi and David Korevaar) perform works by Haydn, Paul Schoenfeld and Brahms. I had convinced myself that I would recognize the Brahms Opus 8 Trio in D Major, but I was very wrong. This was completely new to me and I really responded as they played the scherzo.

Enough for now. Classical music is abundantly available here in Nirvana, a.k.a Boulder, Colorado.

Students

The other night I attended the opening concert of the University of Colorado's Symphony Orchestra. Gary Lewis again enthusiastically leads the orchestra and programmed three works: Beethoven's Leonore No 3, Strauss's Don Juan and Brahm's Violin Concerto.

First an observation. It appears that some students are now required to attend a number of concerts as part of their class work. The students click-in and click-out with their cell phones and their 'clickers'. They do this to confirm attendance and convince their professors of their participation. I believe this was started last year and it seems to have a positive effect on students. Or at least I've convinced myself of that based on their reactions.

Gary Lewis's opening for the Beethoven was spot on -- bright and clear and very professional. The students sitting in front of me commented at the end something to the effect "Hey, they are really good! Surprisingly good!"

But what really got me was the young violinist Ross Snyder's Brahms. Snyder, the first violin with the Tesla Quartet, the student quartet studying directly under CU's famous Takács Quartet, was outstanding. Here for all the students was a different representative of CU. Not an athlete, not someone hyped on the sports page, but a quiet skilled musician. Classical music probably does not top most student's preferences, but that night the audience, again mostly students, erupted with genuine enthusiam to Ross's talent and to the orchestra's performance.

I suspect that the kids at CU that heard that performance will remember it for a long time, and perhaps classical music gained some converts.

Resuming in the fall

Restarting after a long absense is always tough. I'm lazy when writing about music, but active in trying to avail myself as much as possible to music.

The summer saw some concerts at the Music Festival. Michael Christie's programming was again not much to my liking, but I attended several concerts. As usual, the orchestra was in top form, but it seemed that something wasn't quite there. The Mahler 6th seemed lackluster and long; Schubert's "Unfinished" should remain incomplete, and the ending Berlioz was mismatched with a jazzy string trio. Enough said.

With the University of Colorado back in session, the school of music has begun to offer the standard fare:faculty performances, student recitals and the school orchestra. The school of music, under dean Dan Scher, continues to improve and the students certainly show it. The Tesla Quartet (Ross Snyder, Michelle Lie, Megan Mason and Kimberly Patterson) played crisp and certain Haydn, (G Major, Op 76 No 1) following the lead of their mentors, the Takács String Quartet. Takács also opened their season with Haydn (D Major No 53 "The Lark"). Clearly the students are learning well from their teachers. Takács also did Benjamin Britten's Quartet No 1 in D Major, the highlight of the evening for me: new and calm and clearly very British -- wish dashes and sprinkles of "Peter Grimes".

The faculty concerts got off with a bang with Elizabeth Farr doing double duty. In early September she performed on harpsichord some Bach's preludes and fugues from from the Well-tempered Clavier. Then nearing the end of September she played on organ Bach's Leipzig Chorale Preludes. As a non-musician, I find her stamina and attention to detail amazing. She writes her own program notes which I find very technical, but she also provides supplementary observations on the individual pieces that helped the listening. Keep it up.

CU celebrated the 10th anniversary of September 11th with a memorial concert that was packed. Gerry Walther, violist with the Takács, performed a very appropriate and somber excerpt from Shostakovich's last work, the Sonata for Viola and Piano. A young Canadian violist lived with us for two years and performed the whole sonata for her degree requirements -- it's a lovely piece with quotations from Beethoven's "Moonlight". For me, the highlight of this concert was a performance by 10 string players of Jeffrey Nytch's "Epilogue". Nytch, who is Director of the Entrepreneurship Center for Music at CU, pointed me to his web site (jeffreynytch.com) where
I was able to access a orchestral version of "Epilogue". I really like this piece and hope others will get a chance to hear it.

I can't forget the Boulder Phil and Michael Butterman. The season opened with Hsing-ay Hsu playing the Bach Keyboard Concerto No 1 in D minor. The program notes omitted that this was a transcription by Busoni, so Hsing-ay worked her magic on the audience hearing slightly different Bach. The Phil's Mahler's First symphony was quite as successful, but Mahler is always good.

A fun swing of the Pendulum

It was another interesting Pendulum series concert last night at the University of Colorado. This series is a venue for student composers to show their works, along with tried and true works from known composers.

This is the second (or third?) time that I've heard music by Elisabeth Anne Comninellis. Last night's "flight" for 8 performers was quite nice. She explained who the movements were named for, introducing me to someone I'd never hear of, Sir William Cayley. As it turns out, after a few blind alleys on Google, it was Sir GEORGE Cayley she was composing about. Regardless, the music was fine and ended with the performers disappearing ala Haydn's "Farewell" Symphony with the solo trumpet, Greg Simon, serenading the audience. If my memory serves correctly, at an earlier Pendulum series she had string quartet members move to different locations on the stage and exit individually. Must be her thing, I guess.

Hunter Ewan, a very frequent contributing composer for Pendulum, premiered his "Red River Folk Tales", a choral piece set to his own poem about growing up. Ewan has done some nice electronic music before and had an interesting "live" electronic piece done at the CU Black Box Theater with Terry Sawchuck on "processed trumpet". Here in "Tales" Ewan displayed a nice touch for choral composing. The University Choir, under Jeffrey Gemmell, sang and enunciated well, though reading along helped. I enjoyed it and thought it reminded me of the current choral superstar, Eric Whitacre. Perhaps it would have sounded better without the electronics in the background, completely a capella.

A piece by Steve Reich for 4 violins, "Violin Phase", illustrated sound shifting. The ending was amusing with the violinists ending simultaneously, as planned, and then looking at the audience with a strong sense of relief.

The concert ended with Warren Benson's "Passing Bell" with the CU Wind Symphony. It was, to say the least, loud, almost overwhelming the auditorium. I enjoyed it but was amused watching some in the audience hold their ears during the crescendos. I felt sorry for the poor harpist, plucking away for all she was worth and still being completely drowned out by the winds. For some reason I never considered the harp a wind instrument -- live and learn.

Oh Susannah

Since someone wondered if I was going to Susannah, I'll make some comments.

No, Susannah was not a Stephen Foster retrospective. Don't go expecting to hear "Camptown Races", "Old Black Joe" or "Beautiful Dreamer". This is one of America's most performed operas, written in 1955 by Carlisle Floyd. It was done several years ago at Central City, but this is the first time it was done at the University of Colorado. The setting is the evangelical hills of Tennessee and it's pretty bleak.

My wife and I went last night and we both had similar reactions. I don't like to knock the home team, but I want to be honest about all this. It was less than sterling entertainment. That doesn't mean the singers were bad, they weren't. The music was accessible and pleasant and the staging well done. What was missing was comprehension. I kept asking my wife if she could understand what was just sung and the answer was always no. The orchestra, some 44 musicians, sounded fine but too often covered the singers. Some of the cast, particularly Wei Wu and Emily Martin, had the volume, but the diction in most cases just wasn't clear. I could hear some sung words, but too often they were muffled or insufficiently loud enough. Clearly this was an opera that begs for super-titles. We are used to reading the words for operas sung in other languages, but it seems to me that sung English can often be even more unintelligible than French, Italian or German. Without comprehension the art suffers.

Should Susannah have been done in Macky Auditorium? With over 2000 seats, it was disappointing to see so many empty seats, though I've been told there were more upstairs than I would have guessed. Performing it in the Music Theatre might have been a better choice, though the large orchestra might not have fit in the pit. My gut tells me that this opera would be more accessible with smaller orchestration and a smaller venue.

Was Susannah a good opera for CU? I think not. I suspect the decision of what to perform is a function of the current crop of singers, the budget and the artistic vision of Leigh Holman. Susannah might have been a good opera for CU in concept, but compared to some other recent ones, "Dead Man Walking" comes to mind, it wasn't so hot.

A friend's question

A good friend, after a concert, posed a question to me: "How is it that you do not listen to other types: (jazz- there are all varieties, oldies - 40's through the 70s, modern contemporary, new age, religious, country and blues, etc. etc.)? It seems to me that these various genres include many selections that overlap parts of the classical music spectrum." In a nutshell, why classical above all else?

Like all things, we start somewhere and live on through it -- such was the case with music. In recalling my early musical experiences, I'm reminded of three things: symphonic music shorts at the movies; accordion lessons and my teacher Mr. Williams. When I went alone to movies for the first time, way back in the 50's, theaters showed short clips other than ads for popcorn and coming attractions. There were cartoons, news reels, and sometimes concert performances. They weren't long, but I distinctly remember watching the magnificence of a conductor in front of a large orchestra and the final amazing clash of the cymbals. I really liked that. My parents cleverly decided that the cymbals weren't the way to go, so off to Keyboard Studios where I took accordion lessons for many years. I learned to read music, perform it poorly, and develop a sense of what went where. Fast music was more fun, slow was sad, loud didn't go with slow and the right hand needed to cooperate with left. Then along came Mr. Williams, our music teacher in high school. A somewhat strange looking fellow that some kids teased, he exposed us to the classics, choral music, "musicals" and band. Since playing the accordion in the band was frowned on, I skipped that part now wishing I hadn't. He was dedicated and with a passion for what was "art" and what was "right" -- not just classical music, but singing on key and acting the role properly - no messing around. He was devoted, as best I can remember, to the 3 B's, and that became my first real exposure to the giants. I've always held Grieg and Khachaturian close because I played "In the hall of the Mountain King" and "Sabre Dance" fairly well, but fast, on the accordion.

So my youthful experience lead to me thinking more about music. I grew up in the 50 and 60's, so I heard Elvis, Rickie Nelson, Fats Domino and the Beatles. I listened and danced to folk and rock 'n roll stations like other normal kids. But one night, on a date, a rock announcer completely mispronounced Wagner's name and "Siegfried's Idyll". I knew better, so why ever trust them again? Rock's credibility was blown. I made money delivering papers and saved enough to buy a used component stereo system, so next the challenge was to buy records. My first purchase was Stravinsky's "Petrouchka", though I can't now imagine why. I would stand in the middle of my small narrow bedroom and blare it out and pretend to conduct it. That was, I believe, the start of my continuing kinetic reaction to music -- absorb it but play it and conduct it and feel it. Over time I collected many records, mostly "classical", but a sprinkling of the Kingston Trio, Joni Mitchell, the Modern Jazz Quartet, Dave Brubeck, the Beatles, Ahmad Jamal, Harry Belafonte, Ramsey Lewis and many others, some known and some not. This small writing exercise somehow makes me want to listen again to some, but old scratchy LP's are all I've got. When I google some I find them, but it's not satisfying. I found Ahmad Jamal's Trio performing "Poinciana", but it's definitely not what I remember. It is why I don't appreciate about jazz -- the lack of repeatability and dependence. To me much of what I tend of ignore in music is improvisational and not repeatable. Composers composed. They wrote down what they wanted to say and offered the performers guidelines. For me the art and the emotion and the reaction is in the performance of well composed music. That's not to say that jazz and rock and folk and country isn't well-done, to me it's just not what I like.

In remembering Mr Williams, it occurs to me that I can be influenced by other's suggestions. My college music instructor, Larry McIlvain, introduced me to a lot of new music: German lied, Benjamin Britten, Olivier Messiaen and string quartets. I've enjoyed books by the current critic for The New Yorker, Alex Ross. His latest, "Listen to This" had some interesting chapters on musicians that I ignored. He writes about Radiohead and about Björk. Okay, I said, if he found them interesting I'll try them. Our resident violist, Rachael Gibson, shared some Radiohead and also recommended Sigur Rós. YouTube had some Björk. I guess I can see why some people (make that many of people) like them, but they really don't appeal to me. Listen once or twice, then forget. Listen once to Mahler or Beethoven or "The Ring" or even Arvo Pärt and you don't want to forget. You want to hear it again and again and again.

I'm not sure that fully answers the question, but it's a start.

Restarting in 2011

Silence is golden. Actually here it's been activity and lethargy, running hot and cold, and finally motivation. I haven't written anything since early October and I'm overdue.

It's not that I've been missing concerts. During the fall and early winter I continued to do my thing and listen to the Boulder Philharmonic, the Colorado Symphony, the CU Faculty Tuesdays, the CU Pendulum concerts, the Takacs String Quartet, the Boulder Chamber Orchestra, Metropolitan Opera simulcasts, a few student recitals and an occasional single performance here in Boulder. I just never wrote about any of them because I was busy, busy, busy. At least that's my excuse.

So the new year is here and I'll start afresh. I recently attended the CSO's performance of Rachmaninoff's Second Symphony with Michael Daugherty's “Time Machine”. The later was fun watching 3 separate orchestras respond to 3 different conductors, simultaneously synchronized together. While normally a fan of contemporary compositions, the first movement didn't do much for me, but “Future”, the second movement got me going.

Takacs kicked off 2011 with 2 Haydn quartets and Smetana's “From My Life”. Haydn's “Apponyi” quartets were fairly late (1793) but didn't send me into ecstasy. The Smetana did!

Last night Erika Eckert, Associate Professor of Viola at the University of Colorado's Boulder campus, mesmerized the audience with her “The True Nature of Things” faculty performance. Playing sometimes with others, sometime with electronics and computer synthesis and finally with an overtone singer, the program was extremely entertaining. Kudos to Erika for providing such an entertaining evening.

Two pieces in particular stood out: “At Rome around Jovian Moons” a collaboration between Erika and Paul Rudy and “Down the Stream” another cooperative effort with “throat singer” Paul Fowler. The combination of the viola with Fowler's harmonic singing/whistling, with visual cues and student percussions and rain sticks made for an enjoyable end to a fun concert. Coincidentally I recently bought Shostakovich's “Odna (Alone)” film music which features an overtone singer in one section.

I also want to mention a TV program on Glenn Gould that I saw a few weeks back. Gould, a favorite of mine, was featured in depth with many interviews and a lot of Bach. I was surprised at the program's end that the cover music for the credits wasn't Bach but instead Wagner's “Siegfried's Idyll”. I was curious and tracked down on Amazon two versions of “Idyll” involving Gould: one with him conducting and one playing a transcription. The TV special emphasized that Gould did things “his way” and this carried over into the “Idyll”. His "Idyll" is 24:31 minutes long with orchestra, and a gorgeous 23:35 on piano. As a comparison, Bahman Saless conducted the Boulder Chamber Orchestra in a speedier 20:21, but slow compared to a version by Roger Norrington who zips along at 16:19. a mere 10 seconds slower than Toscanini's 16:09. I've listened to them all repeatedly one afternoon and it's the piano transcription hands down.

Some past concerts

This is just a quick comment on some concerts past, including one last night.

I only went to 2 performances by the Colorado Music Festival. Their programming hasn't appealed to me since they switched focus to world music. Their Wagner evening, essentially "The Ring without Words" with some Tristan, featured Jane Eaglen. It was fine though the audience was surprisingly small for such a great singer. I heard her sing Brunnhilde at the Seattle Opera's Ring in 2000 and 2005. The CMF season ended with Mahler's 5th, well played but strangely paired with a piece of aboriginal chant, electric guitar and didgeridoo. World music, indeed.

The University of Colorado has cut back on it's summer music offerings this year, probably for budgetary reasons. However, that didn't prevent them from two operatic offerings, one of which I missed. The one I did attend though, "The Autumn Orchard" by Dan Kellogg with words by Michael Martinez, was very good. This is apparently Kellogg's first venture into opera. I've heard a bunch of his vocal music including "Arise my love" and some selections from Ben, but I wasn't sure how he would handle the solo voice. He did fine. It's a chamber opera, with 5 singers accompanied by piano, in this case Robert Spillman. It's nicely packaged and was well sung. One thing did strike me as odd. When the lovers are physically together, they didn't sing together -- they sing to each other. However, when they are separated, he in jail and she at home, they sing a duet. A spiritual thing, I guess.

When the university resumed the fall session, I started back into my weekly trips to the newly renovated Grusin Hall in the Imig music building for the Faculty Tuesdays. My first exposure to the changes was a concert of bassoon and piano. I thought the sound was a bit harsh to my ears, but later concerts, have changed my mind. While the cover for this year's programs features the new stage with drapes across the back, it's always been barren, so I've nothing to compare it with. Other listeners that I've talked to are quite satisfied, so I'm not going to worry.

Over the past few weeks I've heard the Boulder Philharmonic do an okay Beethoven's 3rd Symphony; heard the University of Colorado's Symphony Orchestra also do Beethoven's 3rd; and heard the Boulder Chamber Orchestra with Andrew Cooperstock perform Beethoven's 3rd Piano Concerto. Lot's of Thirds. Attendance at the CU student performances is up this year now that music appreciation students must attend a certain number of concerts and proving their attendance electronically with a "clicker". With the exception of one rude student texting through a whole symphony, the young audience was well behaved, and, hopefully, appreciated the performance.

The Takács quartet started their season with the welcome return of Karoly Schranz, just recovered from shoulder surgery. Their performance of Shostakovich's 2nd Quartet sent shivers through the audience. Ed Dusinberre's violin sang plaintively against the other's drone-like lament. I had prepared for this concert with a cursory listening to the Shostakovich, but nothing prepared me for the real thing. This has been my musical highlight of the fall thus far.

Margaret McDonald is Assistant Professor of Collaborative Piano at CU. So we had a collaborative pianist collaborating with a collaborative pianist from UC-Santa Barbara, Natasha Kislenko. Piano 6 hands, piano 4 hands and two pianos -- such great fun, particularly the Poulenc Sonata for Two Pianos.

The night after McDonald's concert the Stockhausen 2010 series started the CU Pendulum New Music program. I wrote about it earlier and I'm still scratching my head over it.

Last night a young and attractive Chinese pianist Di Wu re-introduced me to the French Impressionists: Debussy and Ravel. Each year the Takács programming introduces other artists, mostly other young string quartets. This year it was Di Wu, a pianist with amazing technique. I was seated forward and on the far left and had a great view of her hands flying over the keyboard. She performed Debussy's Preludes, Book 2 and, for comparison, Ravel's "Miroirs". I've always favored DeBussy's piano composition versus Ravel's piano music, though Ravel's is the better orchestrator. Now I'm not sure. Wu's "Le vale de cloches" ending the Ravel was phenomenal. Her fingers flew so quickly and surely it amazed me. Great concert.

You can't blink.

After a summer's slumber, I've finally gotten back to my blog. I'm taking a leap forward to the present and will later comment on some earlier concerts, but today I finished my attendance at the University of Colorado's Pendulum series “Stockhausen 2010”. I missed one concert and a colloquium, but attended three events, all surprisingly fun.

Stockhausen isn't in my music collection anywhere. I've known about him and Varese and Cage and others like them, but never had an affinity for them. Alex Ross, in “The Rest is Noise” relates him to the Darmstadt's hypermodern musical scene and comments on Gruppen and Licht and generally views him as important.

I went to the first concert not really knowing what to expect. A Stockhausen piano specialist, Frank Gutschmidt, played two pieces from 2005/6, “Natürliche Dauern” 10 and 15, the first played with 4 bells on his right hand, tinkling along wonderfully on all the high fast notes. Then a John Cage piece was performed (twisted, cranked, turned) on 12 radios by 24 performers. By pure coincidence, Alex Ross just this week had an article in the New Yorker, "Searching for Silence" on John Cage and commented on “Imaginary Landscapes No. 4”, the self-same piece. Talking of Cage's development, Ross says “As randomness took over, so did noise.” He'll get no argument for me on that.

The first concert ended with a 16 minute Stockhausen piece “Komet” performed by percussionist Stuart Gerber, striking a variety of instruments and somehow summoning various tracks he had earlier sampled. Fun but perplexing, I guess.

I missed one concert when I succumbed to Beethoven and Mozart, but more on that at another time.

I set aside Sunday afternoon for in-depth Stockhausen. Karlheinz Stockhausen, who died in 2007, used Bryan Wolf for 10 years as his personal sound engineer. Wolf, in his spatialization demonstration, described the technical content of the works for the later concert, explaining the evolution of the sounds and technology and playing short bursts of samples. I was puzzled by the comments of the “taped” sounds, but after the concert asked Wolf who clarified that all the sounds were from 24-bit WAV files.

Then the concert. Since much of it, attended by 150 people, was performed by the electronic music in the dark, we all quickly learned about the unintended consequences of the law. Exit signs must be lighted at all times, even if it destroys the environment for art – I had to shut my eyes to avoid the glare. In the dark, a small moonlike projection up front should have been the only thing to focus on, as Alex Ross's New Yorker article mentions that Cage used too. Oh well.

A small ensemble played “Kreuzspiel”, an early Stockhausen piece. Christina Jennings performed “Flautina” from 1989 on flute, piccolo and alto flute, commendably of course. The final work, all 32 minutes of it, was “Cosmic Pulses” from 2007, a selection from Stockhausen's unfinished Klang cycle. As explained by Wolf at the earlier lecture it had 241 musical loops of sound circling the audience on 8 high tech speakers in the Atlas Black Box auditorium. Loud, complex and appealing with a final coda of high and low frequencies ending in silence.

So what does all of this amount to musically? I'm not sure. Generally it seemed unemotional and without consequence, just pure sound. Interesting? Yes. Would I want to hear it again? Yes, I've actually just listened to “Cosmic Pulses” again, after a few clicks on Last.fm. My wife came down, listened for a few minutes and then scurried away, so I guess it wasn't to her liking. While listening during the concert I noticed something about my reaction to this music. I'm a kinetic listener – my foot bounces, my fingers play along, my head bobs and weaves. With Stockhausen, I was frozen and still -- that has to say something.

As to this blog's title, again while sitting in the dark and absorbing all these loud and strange and changing sounds, it dawned on me that you can't blink. When the sun shines brightly in your eyes, you blink. There nothing physically equivalent when you listen. I think Stockhausen makes you blink.

Shared denouements

Mahler's 5th Symphony, for some reason, seems to be a favorite final piece for a conductor leaving his post. This past Sunday my wife and I heard Jeffrey Kahane lead the Colorado Symphony Orchestra in rousing and emotional performance of the 5th. While the CSO had performed it on Friday and Saturday, Sunday's was Kahane's valedictory performance as the Music Director for the CSO. At the end, the large crowd sprang to their feet, cheering, whistling and applauding Kahane's tenure.

In the summer of 1999, Giora Bernstein also chose to end his career as the Music Director of Colorado Music Festival, in Boulder, with a performance of Mahler's 5th. Giora was the founder of CMF and it's conductor and music director for over 20 years. He was a fan of Mahler and Brahms, Beethoven, Bach and Mozart. Giora was adventuresome, once programming the long Bruckner's 8th, Chavez's 1st Symphony, and George Crumb's "Ancient Voices of Children". I was always mystified as to why Giora chose to end with Mahler's 5th.

Mahler's 5th is a long piece, with a beautiful and familiar "Adagietto", with a glorious and happy ending. But it's the ending that puzzles me the most. It's not as grand or as overwhelming as the 2nd or 3rd. The strings slide upward to a brass minor chord and bass drum thump, then a full orchestral chord and another thump. I don't know why, but that last 15 seconds always seems to me as if Mahler was thumbing his nose. I hope neither Giora or Jeffrey Kahane felt that way.

In mentioning the "Adagietto" I'm also reminded of my growing displeasure with our local "classical" music station, KVOD. Many months ago they switched frequencies and lost most of Boulder listeners who couldn't receive their signal. Now, KVOD is also broadcasting on another frequency that comes in stronger, sometimes. But it's not their signal I'm concerned about but the content. Colorado Public Radio, CPR, was always somewhat of a "kitch" classical music provider. Play popular and short, ignore the challenging and long. Now, I've noticed that they are at times only broadcasting individual movements of longer works of art. They would broadcast Mahler's "Adagietto" but not the whole 5th symphony. A few weeks back they played one movement from Elgar's "Enigma Variations". So would it really be a variation? You couldn't say "Enigma Variation" (singular) since a variation assumes a base for comparison. No base, no comparison, no variation. I guess it should have been announced as Elgar's "Interesting piece of music". Bah!

I wonder if there has been some change of commercial broadcasting rights? Perhaps copyright enforcers now limit over-the-air transmissions to individual tracks, as they do on internet radio stations. If so, this is desceration of art, legally enforced.

Since I'm complaining, I'll also return to an annoyance about the Colorado Music Festival and their web site. The site is decent enough but I was unable to find any reference to Giora Bernstein, their founder and music director for over 20 years. A shameful omission.

Boulder MahlerFest XXII

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.

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.

Ending the student year

It's about the end of the school year at the University of Colorado. Within the next few weeks exams start and then they leave, blessing Boulder with a more quiet environment. Unfortunately that also means the end of the faculty and student recitals. Summer will bring the Colorado Music Festival back, but their season, once the highlight of my summer, has been dismally broken with crappy world music and miserable programming.

Last week I heard 3 concerts, two at CU. First was a performance of the Colorado Symphony in Denver with Ralph Kirschbaum in Shostakovich's Cello Concerto No. 1. It was sterling performance and he really drew me into the long cadenza which separates the second and last movements. The CSO admirably played Dvorak's "From the New World", with the anticipated audience reaction. Kirschbaum apparently also held a master class at CU later in the week.

The Pendulum series at CU has always been one of my favorites, where students and faculty have new works introduced by various players from the music school. This time a guest group, "The Playground Ensemble", was featured in two separate works by graduate students Anthony Green and Leanna Kirchoff. A frequent complaint of mine has been the diction of the singers. Even when singing in English and singing something as familiar as the Gettysburg Address, I just have a hard time making out the words. As a result, the art suffers.

What surprised me most at this Pendulum performance was a piece performed by Hunter Ewan. A graduate student and frequent participant in Pendulum, Ewan performed his own composition "Ohi'a and Lehua" on alto saxophone wired into a system which manipulated and synthesized play back. He controlled it with a foot pedal and got very interesting results. I couldn't help but think that music like this would make good movie background music.

Finally, I attended a performance by Oscar Soler, violin and Clayton Vaughn, cello doing their DMA chamber recital. They first performed Ravel's Sonata for Cello and Violin, a work I've never heard. It was very well played. Then they were joined by Kahyee Lee, violin and Rachel Gibson, viola to form the Altamira String Quartet. Rachel has been living with us this past year and I try to follow her performances and her quartet. The quartet did two, now fairly familiar works: Bartok's Second Quartet and Haydn's Op 76 No 1. Somewhat to my surprise I enjoyed the Bartok more. As I told them later, they really hit a home run in the second movement. Crisp, snappy and perfect.

I'll probably not contribute much more to this blog until the fall season starts again. I think I've got a Boulder Phil performance of Carmina Burana coming up, but little else. It's a good thing that I've got a large collection of MP3s to keep me happy.

Some Prokofiev

Over the year I've really grown fond of Prokofiev. "Kije" and "Nevsky", "Three Oranges", 2 string quartets and 5 wonderful piano concertos. I've put two of his ballets, "Romeo and Juliet" and "Cinderella", on one of my mp3 players and listen to them as I ski -- it's seems to help my rhythm sometimes. So it was a good week when I heard two of his works in two different concerts.

Ending the University of Colorado's "Music Faculty Tuesdays" was Margaret McDonald, the Assistant Professor of Collaborative Piano. I guess we used to call them accompanists, but now collaborative pianist is the preferred and more accurate term. Dr. McDonald appears quit frequently with other CU faculty, but this time she was the center of attraction. She performed the "Seven Popular Spanish Song" by de Falla with mezzo Julie Simpson; two Schumann pieces with Michael Thornton, horn and alternating with Dan Silver, clarinet and Judith Glyde, cello. The clarinet and cello took turns collaborating, an interesting idea. Christina Jennings got me going, though, in Prokofiev's "Sonata in D Major". McDonald commented before each work what instruments were paired with the piano. I've heard the Prokofiev with violin, so it was exciting to hear it with flute, which is normally not one of my favorite instruments.

Last night Prokofiev's Second Violin Concerto was performed by Lindsay Deutsch with the Boulder Chamber Orchestra, Bahman Saless conducting. I must admit that I was a bit apprehensive about it because it's reputed to be a complicated piece for all involved. Deutsch and Saless pulled it off successfully. I'm tempted to go again tonight, but we have Japanese guests so I can't. Deutsch seemed to play effortlessly and with joy and the larger-than-normal orchestra responded.

The concert began with the premiere of Saless's own "Tango Variations for Violin and Orchestra". Saless apparently wrote the piece with Lindsay Deutsch in mind and it was a success. The audience responded very positively to this new, highly accessible set of variations on an old Nat King Cole theme "Nature Boy". Interestingly, my own reaction to the variations was that it would have been more interesting if it had a different theme. However, I did recognize the theme as it recurred and tangoed. My wife, on the other hand, said she didn't recognize the theme at all, but enjoyed how it all fit together anyway. Let's hope Saless gets his new composition performed again.

Music and murder

I went to the St. Patrick's day performance of the Boulder Phil the other night. Too bad I had to miss one of the university's Pendulum Series, but Angela Cheng's playing of Chopin's Second Piano Concerto was something I didn't want to miss. She has always been a favorite here and she didn't disappoint. Conductor Michael Butterman also showed great initiative in selecting Andrej Panufnik's "Hommage à Chopin" to precede Ms Cheng. Audiences need to be exposed to more than just the old war horses and this one fit the bill -- accessible and lyrical.

Earlier my wife and I went to the university's performance of "Don Giovanni". The students always amaze me with their professionalism and vocal capabilities. The graduate student Wei Wu, in particular, was outstanding as Leporello.

Something missing in Boulder. though, are reviews and previews of classical music in the local paper, the "Daily Daguerreotype", née "Camera". Granted main stream media is having some difficulties in the Internet age, but if they can pay staff to put together several weeks worth of agonizing detail about a local murderer and his victims, you would hope that management could find a few pennies to promote art locally. Nah! No money in it. Anyway, if the school systems continue to eliminate music in the schools, why worry?

A busy musical week

Over that last 8 days I've attended 6 concerts -- such is the wealth of music in Boulder and at the University of Colorado.

First was the CU student orchestra under Gary Lewis, with Mozart, the "Three Cornered Hat" and "Til Eulenspiegel". I enjoyed Lewis's quick overview of the themes and settings from "Til", though the violist living with us complained it was like playing the whole thing twice. The concert ended with an interest piece by contemporary composer Arturo Marquez "Danzon No 2".

Next night, Saturday, was a performance by this year's Graduate String Quartet-in-Residence, the Tesla Quartet. They studying with the world famous Takacs Quartet at CU and consist of Ross Snyder, Xian Meng, Kimberly Patterson and Megan Mason. It was a busy two nights for Xian and Megan, who the night before performed the Mozart Symphonia Concertante. This night they did Beethoven's Opus 18, No. 6, Bartok's No. 2 and Smetana's "From My Life". Bartok I can leave or take -- it just doesn't do anything for me. The Smetana was my favorite that night, particularly the sedate second movement.

Sunday night my wife and I went to the Boulder Phil's Spanish Valentines day concert. No Spanish composers, mind you, but a Capriccio, Symphony, and Rhapsody -- all of the "Espagnole" flavor. Music of Rimsky-Korsakov, Lalo and Ravel respectively. The Lalo was wonderfully played by Jennifer Frautschi. Several people commented about the sound she got from her violin, which apparently is a Strad. The conductor, Michael Butterman ended the concert with a 10 -- Ravel's "Bolero". It's a fun piece and the audience responded, but I think that Butterman should have placed the snare drummer in front where the audience could see her (Hiroko Hellyer). I've seen several performances of Bolero and it's been fun watching the performer start with a muffled drum, typically a cloth covering over the head of the drum. As the music progresses, at one point they need to keep cadence but swiftly remove the cloth. It seems hard to do and is easy to miss if you don't know that it's going to happen.

I took a two night break, missing some additional opportunities at CU, but started back up on Wednesday night with the CU Pendulum series of contemporary music. This series has always been a favorite of mine, though it has it's ups and downs. Unfortunately this time was pretty much a down. Perhaps it was the longish jazz piece by Liz Comninellis that got me off on the wrong foot, but nothing that night really appealed to me. During two of the pieces I kept wondering about the distinction between sound and music. The sounds were interesting, but was it music? I'm not sure it was, though the effort was valiant. The new professor of musical entrepreneurism, Jeffry Nytch, performed his own new composition with Michael Dunn on tuba. Nytch is a countertenor, which has always been somewhat off-putting to me. I just couldn't understand the words, so it all went over my head, no pun intended.

The following night I was back at CU at Mackey Auditorium for the Artist Series. Pianist Haochen Zhang absolutely floored the audience. He is not yet 20, but has already won the prestigious Van Cliburn competition. What talent! He tenderly treated Mozart, Brahms, Chopin and Schumann, then savagely attacked Stravinsky's "Petrushka" The orchestral version of "Petrushka" was the very first record I purchased back in the late 50's, with Pierre Monteaux conducting. As a kid I'd stand in the middle of my small bedroom and "conduct" the music, always annoying my mom. I still have the record, but really no way to play it anymore. The piano version just seems to have a lot more notes and Zhang played with a speed and intensity that was amazing. He had to have an extra finger or two on each hand to make that much sound. He's one to watch.

Finally, on Friday night, I attended the Boulder Chamber Orchestra's chamber music mini-concert, the "BCO Musicians and Friends". I was fortunately sitting next to Kelly Dean Hansen, a local music reviewer and PhD student at CU. Kelly had brought the scores for two of the night's pieces, Dvorak's "Five Bagatelles" and the Brahm Piano Quartet No. 3., so I watched both the scores and the performers. What a treat to see the music in all it's complexity and to hear it as happens. I've got several scores at home and I sometime follow a recording of a Beethoven quartet or, choke-choke, one of Wagner's "Ring" operas. If you've never tried it, give it a whirl because you sometime will see something that you hadn't heard before.

I'm really glad all these performances are so easily avaible in Boulder. And they say retirement is boring?

More good music

A few weeks ago I heard the Colorado Symphony Orchestra in Denver then last weekend I listened to the Boulder Philharmonic. The CSO played Beethoven's Seventh Symphony and the Phil played Beethoven's Fifth. Since both works are so familiar and ingrained in my mind, your ear picks up anything out of the ordinary. The CSO's performance was crisp and clear. The brass seemed extraordinarily strong. The Phil's performance was nearly as crisp, but the first violins seemed a bit reticent and quiet. Still, while I prefer new and unfamiliar music, when the old warhorses are played, your listening is tested.

Two facility performances at the University of Colorado started off the new semester. The first was Lina Bahn, Judith Glyde, Daniel Silver and Alexandra Nguyen performing Paul Moravec's "The Tempest Fantasy" with Alexandra Lewis acting the role of Miranda and Lyndia McGaughey doing interpretive dance. For some reason Moravec's music reminded me of Leonard Bernstein. I don't know what it was, but in the middle of the piece that thought came to me and stayed throughout. The dancing did little for me, but that's normal. The spoken words were delivered well, but one phrase stuck out in my mind, summarizing my reaction to this whole work of art -- "thorns without roses".

The second faculty performance was by pianist David Korevaar. I've always been a fan of his and I have several of his CD's. He played Debussy and a Beethoven sonata "Pastorale" and ended with a favorite of mine, Liszt's "Years of Pilgrimage: Switzerland". Someone commented last night during the intermission of the Metropolitan Opera's HD movie performance of "Der Rosenkavalier" that she thought the Liszt was so sad. I agree. On the morning when the Denver airport opened for the first flights after 9/11, I took a Japanese friend to the airport and saw her depart. On the drive back "Années De Pélerinage" was on the radio and it just exaggerated my sadness. Korevaar's playing confirmed that sadness with an excellent performance.

"Der Rosenkavalier" is one of my all time favorites. I've seen it live at Santa Fe and at Opera Colorado, but the music sticks with me mostly from Cd's. Just listening to the music doesn't do it justice, though. This performance with Renée Fleming, Susan Graham, Christine Schäfer and Kristinn Sigmundsson was outstanding. I sat fairly close to the huge screen and got drawn into it. My German is rusty so the sub-titles helped me understand more about what was really going on. The Marschallin's sadness at her aging comes out more than you can get from just a musical performance -- and in the end of the first act you could see Fleming's tears on the big screen. Now I wish I had gone to the Saturday morning broadcast a few weeks ago so I would have seen it twice.

UnSilent Pandora and Chumby

I've been quiet lately. While I've been at a few musical events, nothing really sparkled. I heard two Brahms symphonies: the First by the Colorado Symphony, and the Second by the University of Colorado Orchestra. Neither grabbed my fancy, but it's Brahms, not the performances.

We attended a fun happening last Friday night -- the annual Boulder "UnSilent Night" boom-box procession on the Boulder Pearl Street Mall. Over 100 people participated, carrying a variety of music players, all playing one of the four tracks from Phil Kline's Christmas composition. It is a new-age sound that merges chimes and percussion and electronic sounds and choruses. On a crisp, clear night the sounds are wonderful as they merge and reverberate from the buildings. Many thanks to Dan Kellogg from the CU School of Music for starting and coordinating this.

I've been watching Pandora pervade more and more devices. Nightly I listen from my Chumby next to my bed. I can listen to Pandora from my main Linus workstation and from my Mac iBook. My iPod touch has a Pandora App and now I've configured my Roku to stream Pandora's offerings --- Not bad. Still, Pandora is not for serious classical music fans because they only play individual tracks, not complete compositions. A Mahler symphony or a Beethoven string quartet is meant to be digested completely, not in little sips. A curse on the lawyers and executives that force this desecration of art.

While I'm cursing, a pox on the Chumby developers, too. When I'm finished reading at night I like to set the Chumby timer to turn off the music. Clearly no one would ever want to listen for more than 60 minutes! What a silly limitation. Then, when I try to turn the timer on I press and press and press and curse and curse because it just ignores my touch. If I'm lucky I can set it after 5 touches, though sometimes it's many more. I don't know if it's the hardware touch-screen or the software, but most other Chumby features seem to work okay.

Happy holidays to everyone.