Concerto

Trpceski and an all French program take the stage at the SSO this weekend

June 11, 2010

By R.M. Campbell Gerard Schwarz has long had an affinity for French music, thus a program like the one that opened Thursday night and continues through Sunday afternoon at Benaroya Hall. There were many pleasures along the way. Principal among them was the reading of Saint-Saens’ Second Piano Concerto by Simon Trpceski. Now, in full [...]

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Gilbert Varga takes the podium in a commanding performance with the SSO

April 16, 2010

By Philippa Kiraly With flair, Swiss conductor Gilbert Varga made his debut on Seattle Symphony’s podium Thursday night for remarkable performances of Enescu’s “Romanian Rhapsody No. 1, Stravinsky’s “Petrouchka” and, with Horacio Gutierrez, Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4. It was hard to take your eyes off him. Varga almost danced the music, gracefully using his [...]

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Bach to the future

March 29, 2010

By Philippa Kiraly This time of year always has lots of concerts paying homage to Bach whose birthday was March 21 (he’s 325 this year), and it’s hard to choose which one to go to. I’m glad I picked Northwest Sinfonietta, which played at Nordstrom Recital Hall Friday night. The program was well-chosen, the performances [...]

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Poland, Russia and Finland covered in SSO program

March 26, 2010

By R.M. Campbell The Seattle Symphony Orchestra’s current program, which runs through Saturday, was always interesting, sometimes compelling, sometimes unsatisfying.

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Exciting Ravel, robust Brahms at the SSO

March 21, 2010

By Philippa Kiraly Russian conductor Vassily Sinaisky takes the podium this week for four concerts with the Seattle Symphony at Benaroya Hall, the first of which was Thursday night. The well-designed program, not blockbusters but two big works by Brahms and Ravel, created a study in contrasts between the two. Written a short generation apart, [...]

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Sinaisky returns to Seattle with Brahms and Ravel

March 19, 2010

It was couples only night Thursday at the Seattle Symphony. French and German. Ravel and Brahms. Cello and Violin. Daphnis and Chloe. Returning to the podium was the conductor Vassily Sinaisky. With everyone wondering who will be the Seattle Symphony’s next music director, Sinaisky is undoubtedly at the top of the list for some people. [...]

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OSSCS takes Torke, Strauss, and Bartok to Meany Hall

March 18, 2010

About once a year, Orchestra Seattle performs its “big orchestra” concert at the University of Washington’s Meany Hall. A few years ago, Benjamin Britten’s “War Requiem” was chosen for the concert. Last year, the orchestra was absent from the Meany Hall stage. This season, Orchestra Seattle returned to the University of Washington with a concert [...]

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Ingrid Fliter Makes Her Seattle Debut Thursday night at Benaroya Hall

March 13, 2010

By R.M. Campbell Until pianist Ingrid Fliter was awarded the Gilmore Artist Award four years ago, she was little known beyond the borders of her native Argentina. That coveted prize gave her international press she could not buy and launched her career. Prestigious dates at prestigious halls and with prestigious conductors followed quickly. So did [...]

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Elisa Barston shines in Mozart “Turkish” Concerto

March 3, 2010

By Peter A. Klein Elisa Barston, the Seattle Symphony’s principal second violinist, was the featured soloist in three all-Mozart concerts this past weekend. With everything else going on in town, Benaroya Hall was not full, but still comfortably well-populated on Saturday evening. Those in attendance were treated to some fine playing, with Music Director Gerard [...]

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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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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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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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One from Mozart and one from Mendelssohn

January 30, 2010

By Gigi Yellen The CD “Live in the Fiddler’s House,” played in the car as I headed for Benaroya Hall to hear “Reb Itzik” play. That would be Itzhak Perlman, the wildly famous virtuoso violinist, whose Jan. 28 concert as soloist and conductor was the second in a two-night stand that launched this year’s Seattle [...]

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Violin is featured in Bellevue Phil and Seattle Baroque concerts

January 24, 2010

You could say the violin is the foundation of classical music.  There are more violins in the modern symphony orchestra than any other instrument.  String quartets use two of them.  Piano trios depend on the instrument’s singing qualities to balance out the piano.  Concerti for the instrument are some of the most famous pieces in [...]

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The best concerts of 2009

December 31, 2009

In no particular order, the top ten concerts of 2009 — according to me.

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Peter and the Wolf and Saint-Saens’s Christmas Oratorio: an unusual holiday pairing

December 23, 2009

Over the years, I have attended number of oddly programmed Orchestra Seattle concerts. Unique programs are George Shangrow (the long-time music director) staples. Before a concert once, Shangrow remarked that he likes variety, even if the pieces don’t naturally fit together. The December 20th Family Holiday concert at the First Free Methodist Church was probably [...]

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Astor Piazzolla’s Four Season’s of Buenos Aires; Q&A with violinist James Garlick

October 8, 2009

The Northwest Sinfonietta returns to action this week with a program that features eight seasons — Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons” and Piazzolla’s “Four Seasons of Buenos Aires.”  James Garlick — friend of the Gathering Note, frequent concertmaster with the Sinfonietta, and occasional contributor — took a few moments to talk about Piazzolla’s “Seasons.”  Garlick is soloing [...]

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