February 2010

The Fisher Ensemble “At the Hawk’s Well”

February 28, 2010

By Harlan Glotzer Entering the Chapel at the Good Shepherd Center this evening, I was struck with the calm and focus of a dedicated artistic space. This was largely due to the beautiful ambiance of the stage and sonic arena created by the Fisher Ensemble for the world premiere of the piece At the Hawk’s [...]

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“Kafka Fragments” live blog

February 27, 2010

You can watch/read the live blog of Mikhail Shmidt and Agata Zubel’s performance of Kurtag’s “Kafka Fragments” here (after the jump) starting at 7:30 pm PST.

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Fiddle and Drum Is Given its American premiere at the Paramount

February 26, 2010

By R.M. Campbell Joni Mitchell, who made her name in the late 1960s and 1970′s as a folk singer, has spent most of her career in the United States. However, she was born in Canada and is still recognized as a Canadian artist. A few years ago Jean Grand-Maitre, artistic director of Alberta Ballet, approached [...]

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Shmidt discusses Kurtag’s Kafka Fragments

February 23, 2010

Here is my second interview with Mikhail Shmidt.  In this video Shmidt talks about Hungarian composer Gyorgy Kurtag’s “Kafka Fragments,” a piece he will perform this Saturday as part of Icebreaker V.  “Kafka Fragments” is no ordinary piece; it is one of Kurtag’s most important works and one of his most difficult.  People describe it [...]

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Joshua Bell and Jeremy Denk at Benaroya Hall

February 23, 2010

By R.M. Campbell Joshua Bell discovered some years ago that being a very good violinist was not sufficient to earn fame. So, he turned his attractive personality and boyish looks into a populist appeal. He appeared on television in all sorts of roles, did soundtracks, to name a few. The music world had already noticed [...]

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Mikhail Shmidt discusses Icebreaker V: Love and War

February 21, 2010

Starting Friday, the Seattle Chamber Players embark on their fifth Icebreaker festival – “Love and War.” While other Icebreakers have focused on American, Russian, and Baltic contemporary music, the latest festival centers on Western Europe. Mikhail Shmidt, one of SCP’s founding members spoke with me about the festival. You can watch and hear Shmidt’s thoughts [...]

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Offenbach’s “La Perichole” is, amazingly, based on truth

February 21, 2010

By Philippa Kiraly Watching Seattle Gilbert & Sullivan Society’s 2nd Stage production of Offenbach’s “La Perichole,” it seems blatantly impossible it could have stemmed from a true story, as it is silly to the point of unbelievability. But Offenbach no doubt twisted the truth for his own ends, and the music is entrancing. However, this [...]

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Auburn Symphony dazzles in all Franck concert

February 21, 2010

By Philippa Kiraly I love hearing the Auburn Symphony Orchestra. Let me count the ways (not counting the time it does to get there from Seattle): No cost and no problems parking. An acoustically good auditorium, large enough to host a symphony orchestra but small enough for the audience to feel close up and intimate [...]

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Russian National Orchestra plays glorious concert Wednesday

February 19, 2010

By R.M. Campbell The Russian National Orchestra spends a good share of its collective life on the road. Since its founding, in 1990, the ensemble has spurned government funding, perhaps unique in all of Europe, in favor of American style private funding. Inevitably it has an international board that insist on an international profile. It [...]

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A Simple Measure of good music can be satisying…

February 18, 2010

By Philippa Kiraly One of its biggest audiences ever filled the little Chapel at the Good Shepherd Center in Wallingford Monday night, for the last of Simple Measure’s Fire-themed concerts. (We had Earth earlier this season, the Air group take place in April, the Water ones in May.) It’s possible part of the draw was [...]

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Cappella Romana devotes an evening to Serbian Orthodox music

February 15, 2010

By R.M. Campbell The Puget Sound region has an abundance of choral groups, from very small ensembles to large masses of singers. While they vary in quality, most are more than respectable and some first-class. They cover the repertory in astonishing breadth and depth.

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Win the new Mendelssohn CD from Ma, Ax, and Perlman

February 14, 2010

Sony’s new release of Mendelssohn’s piano trios is the first time the trio of Yo Yo Ma, Emanuel Ax, and Itzhak Perlman have recorded together.  Courtesy of Sony, TGN is able to give away a brand new copy of this CD to one of its readers. There are two ways you can win this new [...]

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Chamber sized Mahler is part of “Romancing the Muse”

February 14, 2010

It isn’t surprising Erwin Stein picked Mahler’s Fourth Symphony to reduce for chamber ensemble for performance in Schoenberg’s Society of Private Musical Performance. The symphony is Mahler’s smallest in scope even if the impetus is other-worldly. As with all of Mahler’s symphonies, the composer sought to encompass themes larger than himself even if they are [...]

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Barber and Brahms are the program this weekend at Benaroya

February 13, 2010

R.M. Campbell There weren’t many people at Bernaroya Hall Thursday night (alas): The music deserved better. The two highlights were Stefan Jackiw in Barber’s Violin Concerto and Arnold Schoenberg’s orchestral transcription of Brahms’ G Minor Piano Quartet.

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Ohlsson plays the second of his two all-Chopin concerts

February 10, 2010

By R. M. Campbell Garrick Ohlsson’s first of two concerts devoted solely to Chopin — to celebrate the 200th anniversary of his birth and Olhsson’s 40th anniversary of winning the prestigious Chopin competition in Warsaw — was a brilliant affair, what one has come to expect from this pianist in his long and distinguished career. [...]

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A little symphonic science fiction

February 9, 2010

By Peter A. Klein Everyone in Seattle who loves classical music must have breathed a collective sigh of relief when the Seattle Symphony musicians and management announced they had come to a tentative contract agreement. I know I did. During the troubled negotiations, I was reminded of an old science fiction story called “The Tunesmith,” by the late Lloyd Biggle, Jr. Science fiction is [...]

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Dynamic Schumann at the SSO

February 7, 2010

Busoni, Schumann and Strauss was the line-up of composers on this week’s SSO subscription concert. Ferruccio Busoni’s Turandot Suite opened the program followed by Richard Strauss’ youthful Violin Concerto. James Ehnes was the guest soloist. The night closed with Robert Schumann’s 3rd Symphony “Rhenish.” For most of the audience, the pieces chosen — with the [...]

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Scottish harp is the focus of Baroque Northwest

February 7, 2010

By R.M. Campbell Baroque Northwest is one of those small ensembles in Seattle that lives a little below the public radar but  sustains itself with evocative programs, good music-making and a faithful audience.

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Review: Ancestors of the Guitar

February 6, 2010

By Lorin Wilkerson In a concert entitled ‘The Ancestors of the Guitar,” Portland lutenist/guitarist Hideki Yamaya presented an insightful look into three early instruments on Friday night, January 29th at the Little Church in NE Portland. Despite a delayed start as the artist waited for latecomers (there was a mistake in The Oregonian directing listeners [...]

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PNB’s “Sleeping Beauty” Ensconced at McCaw

February 6, 2010

By R.M. Campbell Pacific Northwest Ballet waited nearly three decades before mounting “Sleeping Beauty.” “Nutcracker,” “Swan Lake,” “Coppelia,” A Midsummer Night’s Dream” all preceded it. There was wisdom in waiting. If “Swan Lake,” in 1981, was a stretch for the company, “Sleeping Beauty” would have been a disaster. There is no challenge like this monumental [...]

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