Tag Archives: early music guild

Arts & Entertainment, Music

Seattle Baroque Orchestra Fills Town Hall with Bach Cantata Fans

Clara Rottsolk, soprano
Clara Rottsolk, soprano

I wasn’t the only person to think an evening of Bach cantatas with four super soloists would be something not to miss. The Early Music Guild virtually sold out of this concert, performed by Seattle Baroque Orchestra Saturday night at Town Hall. (The group returns with Haydn on March 23, 2013.)

I hope most of the audience didn’t neglect to read co-director Byron Schenkman’s thoughtful notes on the three cantatas in the main brochure. They enhanced the listening, giving background and understanding of some of Bach’s reasoning, and indicating moments to listen for.

The first two cantatas, Nos. 105, “Herr, gehe nicht ins Gericht mit deinem Knecht,” (“Lord, do not pass judgment on Your servant”) and 155, “Mein Gott, wie lang, ach lange?” (“My God, how long, ah, how long?”) are both ones of dichotomy, No. 105 the struggle between wrong and right, No. 155 between sorrow and joy, the contrasts vividly portrayed in the music.

No. 134, “Ein Herz, das seinen Jesum lebend weiss” (“A heart that knows its Jesus is living”) is upbeat all the way through, and was preceded in the program by just one aria from Cantata 170, “Vergnuegte Ruh,” (Delightful rest”) a lullaby of harmony.in music and emotion.

Four excellent soloists joined the orchestra led by Ingrid Matthews, though their voices, particularly soprano Clara Rottsolk (perhaps because her voice reached the highest register), seemed almost too big for Town Hall. Maybe St. James Cathedral next time? Alto Jennifer Lane, tenor Rufus Müller, and baritone Jesse Blumberg as well as Rottsolk, sounded well-matched and the orchestra of 16 had no trouble balancing them.

The rich, sound of Baroque voices and instruments filled Town Hall with warmth and all sorts of nuance, with many unforgettable moments. The plangent oboes of Debra Nagy and Curtis Foster and the bassoon of Anna Marsh gave an added timbral dimension.

Lengthy recitatives sung by Blumberg in both Nos. 105 and 155 sounded as though he was speaking solely to you, so expressive were they. In the former, violins and violas used bows, while cello, theorbo and double bass were plucked in accompaniment, creating an unusual and enhancing effect.

With her agile voice, Rottsolk made the most of her lilting, upbeat aria in No. 155, tricky to sing with a fast vocal line all over the register.  For several recitatives and arias, both in No. 155 and for almost all of No. 134, Bach joins alto and tenor together in duet. Lane and Mueller sounded absolutely right together, their voices expressively blending and moving apart with the music, the accompaniment for this cantata including viola da gamba, here played by Margriet Tindemans.

Arts & Entertainment, Music

What We’re Hearing This Month: Classical Music Picks for December

Need a break from holiday tunes? In December, when concert calendars are chock-full of seasonal events, it’s hard to avoid hearing yet another cheesy rendition of “Walking in a Winter Wonderland”. However, there are still many exciting performances out there for those seeking respite from holiday-themed entertainment or looking for more unusual seasonal fare. (If you’re a holiday music fan, don’t fear — we’ll post a special list of concert picks for you later this week). From hearty medieval carols to sensual tango melodies, there are plenty of unique ways to get festive at the concert hall this month.

Dec. 7 – 9 — The Esoterics chorus reprises SYBILLA, Frank Ferko’s settings of texts by 12th-century mystic Hildegard of Bingen, including a newly-composed world-premiere motet, O nobilissima viriditas. (A different church setting each night, so check location carefully.)

Last year’s performance of Phil Kline’s “Unsilent Night” in Edmonton, Alberta (Photo: Classical Music in Edmonton)

Dec. 10 — Head to Nordstrom Recital Hall for a trio of favorite piano sonatas. Legendary pianist Yefim Bronfman returns to Seattle for a solo recital, featuring sonatas by Haydn, Brahms, and Prokofiev.

Dec. 14 — The musicians of the Baltimore Consort present a festive program of seasonal music at Town Hall. This concert, hosted by the Early Music Guild, will feature a vast array of period instruments. Now’s your chance to see a crumhorn in action!

Dec. 16 — Vivaldi, Beethoven, J.S. Bach, and Vaughan Williams are on the program for Orchestra Seattle‘s “Winter Celebration” concert. Guest conductor Huw Edwards directs the ensemble for this performance at First Free Methodist Church in Queen Anne.

Dec. 21 — Grab your cellphone, MP3 player, or boombox and participate in this year’s performance of Phil Kline’s Unsilent Night, a piece that’s “written specifically to be heard outdoors in the month of December.” Presented by the Seattle Composers’ Salon, the event begins at Wallingford’s Chapel Performance Space and will flow out onto the streets of Seattle.

Dec. 22 — Earshot Jazz presents their 24th annual Sacred Music concert, featuring works by Duke Ellington. The Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra will be joined by the NW Chamber Chorus, guest vocalists, and a tap dancer for this performance at Town Hall.

Dec. 28 – 30 — Seattle Symphony‘s annual performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony has become a local holiday tradition. But this year, the orchestra’s adding a little Latin flavor to this beloved seasonal concert with Astor Piazzolla’s The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires, complete with tango dancers.

Arts & Entertainment, Music

Jordi Savall & Hespèrion XXI Take the Viola to New Heights

Jordi Savall

Awesome may be an overused word, but it describes Jordi Savall’s viola da gamba playing to a T: technically, musically, in his historical accuracy (to the best of his deep knowledge), and in his ability to reach the audience. With himself on the treble viol, Savall and his Hespèrion XXI came to Town Hall Saturday night for what appears to be its seventh or eighth appearance on the Early Music Guild series since 1978.

Currently, the group comprises seven superb musicians: five viol players from treble to violone (double bass size), plus vihuela (very similar to today’s guitar) and theorbo player, and percussionist.

Hespèrion’s concert was titled, The Musical Europe: The Golden Age of Consort Viol Music 1500-1700. In this, the second of two different Seattle programs over the weekend, Hesperion played groups of consort music, mostly dances, from Italy, England, Spain, France and Germany, with a final group including one work from each.

The music was light, sprightly, occasionally stately, almost always in a major key, with each group comprising about five short works, played without interim applause.

Several groups ended with improvisations, in which the group played the underneath lines and Savall took off in ever more exciting flights of musical fireworks, the first one based on the familiar Folia melody. For some of these, only Savall was using his bow, the other players plucking their viols in accompaniment.

With his drum, tambourines and whistlelike instrument, percussionist David Mayoral gave an extra dimension to a consort of what often is only strings. His artistry gave rhythm, punctuation, commentary, and variety to almost all the dances, though used less in the German ones.

As well as the Folia melody, another familiar point was Dowland’s song Flow my teares used as the base for a Pavane by him, and more than a hint of Greensleeves turned up in a Spanish Fantasia.

The final improvisations were built on a Spanish tune called El Jarabe loco (The Crazy Dance). Crazy indeed and liveliest of all, with syncopated rhythms, everyone but Savall plucking furiously, and Savall playing faster than a whirlwind and ever wilder, El Jarabe loco came to a totally abrupt end, and the sold-out audience surged to its feet with enthusiasm displayed in prolonged applause.

Arts & Entertainment, Music

2012-13 Season Preview: The Year Ahead in Seattle Classical Music

Fall has arrived. Summer vacations are coming to an end, and it’s time to head back to school and work. For classical musicians, it’s back to the concert hall for the start of a new season. Now that autumn’s here, Seattle’s classical music ensembles have been announcing their performance schedules for the upcoming year. It looks like we have a fantastic season of concerts in store!

Here are few highlights from the major local ensembles, a list of notable events, and tips on groups to watch in the coming year.

Seattle Symphony Music Director Ludovic Morlot (Photo: Michael DiVito)

Seattle Symphony

  • The usual roster of visiting luminaries returns to Benaroya Hall this year, including Joshua Bell, Itzhak Perlman, Andras Schiff, Hilary Hahn, Emanuel Ax, Garrick Ohlsson, Gil Shaham, Yefim Bronfman, and Anne-Sophie Mutter.
  • (Untitled), the Symphony’s exciting new concert series, provides a much-needed space for 20th century and contemporary classical music at Benaroya Hall.
  • Sonic Evolution returns for a second year. This popular fall concert features new symphonic works inspired by icons of the Seattle pop and rock scenes. This year’s Sonic Evolution includes local alt-country favorites Star Anna and the Laughing Dogs.
  • Hear all four of Rachmaninoff’s piano concertos at Rach Fest, in early January. Four up-and-coming young pianists will perform the concertos in two concerts with the Symphony.
  • The Symphony presents their premiere performance of Messiaen’s Turangalîla Symphony in January. This important 20th century work features the ondes Martenot, an electronic musical instrument similar to the theremin.

Seattle Opera

  • Seattle Opera‘s season began last month with a gorgeous production of Turandot and continues with Beethoven’s Fidelio in October. Other upcoming productions include Rossini’s Cinderella, Puccini’s La Boheme, and a double-bill featuring Poulenc’s La Voix Humaine and Puccini’s Suor Angelica.

Pacific Northwest Ballet

  • PNB has a fantastic collection of audience favorites in store this season. Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake is likely to draw crowds, as well as productions of two Prokofiev ballets: Romeo & Juliet and Cinderella.

    Pianist Hélène Grimaud (Photo: Mat Hennek / DG)

UW World Series

  • The President’s Piano Series brings another crop of all-star pianists to UW’s Meany Theater, including Hélène Grimaud, Christopher O’Riley (host of NPR’s From the Top radio program), and Jon Kimura Parker, who will perform his own transcription of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring.
  • Prepare for an impressive line-up of chamber music concerts this season with the International Chamber Music Series. Seattle audiences will be treated to performances by the Emerson String Quartet, Juilliard String Quartet, Tafelmusik, Tokyo String Quartet, and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.
  • This season’s World Dance Series includes two exciting collaborations between international dance companies and local classical music ensembles. In November, the Paul Taylor Dance Company will team up with Seattle Modern Orchestra for a piece featuring music by Arvo Pärt. Then, in January, Compagnie Marie Chouinard will be joined by the UW Symphony Orchestra for a performance of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring.

Early Music Guild & Seattle Baroque Orchestra

  • The Early Music Guild’s International Series presents a prestigious list of visiting ensembles this season, including Musica Ficta, Hesperion XXI, the Baltimore Consort, the King’s Singers, and Tafelmusik. Also on the calendar is a special performance of the epic poem Beowulf by harpist and bard Benjamin Bagby.
  • Bach fans will be pleased to hear that the Seattle Baroque Orchestra is planning two concerts of Johann Sebastian’s music this season. In addition, soprano Ellen Hargis returns to Seattle for a program of arias from Italian Baroque operas.

TownMusic

  • TownMusic artistic director Joshua Roman kicked off Town Hall’s classical music series this week with a concert of piano trios. The series continues with performances from the musical comedy duo Ingudesman & Joo (of “Rachmaninoff Had Big Hands” fame), the Talea Ensemble, JACK Quartet, and violinist Jennifer Koh.

    Portland Cello Project (Photo: Jason Quigley)

Ensembles to Watch

  • The Seattle Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra may be a new orchestra on the block, but they have an exciting fourth season in store. Their season opener features Vaughan Williams’ beloved Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis.
  • Lutenist Stephen Stubbs’ early music ensemble Pacific Musicworks is back with another season of ambitious programming, including Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610, a collaboration with the Seattle Dance Project, and a performance of Handel’s newly-discovered cantata Gloria.
  • Tacoma’s Broadway Center for the Performing Arts get my vote for “venue to watch” this year. This season they’ll present the Fireworks Ensemble, experimental cellist Zoe Keating, the Portland Cello Project, and violinist Mark O’Connor.

Exciting Events

  • Philip Glass shuns Seattle in favor of the Eastside for the second year in a row. The renowned composer returns to Kirkland Performance Center in late October for a performance with Foday Musa Suso, a master of the African Kora.
  • Celebrate the John Cage centennial with the Seattle Modern Orchestra. Their John Cage Festival in early November features a documentary about the composer’s life as well as performances of some of his most famous works.
  • Known for their orchestral arrangements of Radiohead, Queen, and the Arcade Fire, the ever-popular Seattle Rock Orchestra rings in the new year with a concert of new works for orchestra.
  • Chicago-based contemporary music ensemble eighth blackbird pays a visit to Kirkland Performance Center in January. This GRAMMY-winning ensemble is a must-see for new music fans.
  • Choreographer Donald Byrd and the edgy, experimental dancers of Spectrum Dance Theater present their take on Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana in April.
Arts & Entertainment, Music

In Alexander’s Memory, Music on the Ceng, Oud, Ney, and Saz

Detail of the Alexander Mosaic, representing Alexander the Great on his horse Bucephalus. (Image: Wikipedia/public domain)

For the second time in a couple of weeks, the ancient instrument known as the angular harp has appeared prominently on a local stage. We heard the kugo, as it’s known in Japan, at SAAM, and (in a different design but clearly still the same instrument) the ceng from Turkey in the unusual program brought by The Boston Camerata and Dunya at Town Hall Saturday night, under the auspices of the Early Music Guild. The two ensembles collaborated in a performance of words and music commemorating Alexander the Great.

In several sections performed without intermission, the program used words of prophecy and commentary from the Book of Daniel to the 17th century, from Turkey and Greece (such as Plutarch) to France, England, Italy, (such as Alexandre de Paris and Thomas de Kent), some read, some sung, in a variety of languages. The music didn’t originally go with the words. The two groups chose excerpts which fit the style and the dates from classical Ottoman or Turkish music, Sufi music, and chant from Koranic, Hebrew, Byzantine, Gregorian, or Greek origins, while some of their performance was improvised in typical fashion.

The whole came together in a hypnotic and fascinating evening of music and style relatively unfamiliar to many in the West. It covered Alexander’s rise, his far-reaching education at the behest of his father, his prowess in battle and as a lover, marvels associated with him, and finally his death.

Anne Azema, voice and artistic director of The Boston Camerata described a couple of the segments in English, but it would have helped if she had had a microphone as, unlike her singing voice, her speaking voice was too soft to reach clearly to the back of Town Hall.

With her came vielle and harp player Shira Kammen and guest Tom Zajac, who played endblown and transverse flutes, recorders, shawm (precursor of the oboe), psaltery and zither. Dunya, a Turkish ensemble based in Boston, included its cofounders, Robert Labaree, playing the ceng and tambourine, and Mehmet Sanlikol, singer and player of the oud (Middle Eastern lute), ney (an endplayed flute) and saz (a small-bodied, long-necked plucked instrument), as well as drum player Cem Mutlu.

To those who have attended performances by Cappella Romana in their regular visits here, the singing style would have been familiar; how it emphasizes, its long melismatic phrases, and the way the singer comes to the note from underneath. Sanlikol and Azema were the lead singers, but all the performers joined in at times particularly in rhythmic sections.

Some of the fascination with this program came from the many different instruments, their sound, their place in the ensemble, and how they were played. Labaree, on the versatile ceng, could make subtle and temporary pitch changes on a string to give characteristic sliding micro-intervals. Its usually delicate sound was often in the background but it could be louder as needed. With Zajac, it was a question of what instrument he would pick up next.

Both the Camerata and Dunya are deeply versed in the historical and cultural backgrounds and styles of the music they play, not to mention being highly skilled musicians. Dunya often collaborates with other musical groups to bring the relationship of Turkish music with others to the fore. It would be a pleasure to have both these groups back in the future.

Arts & Entertainment, Music

What We’re Hearing This Month: Classical Music Picks for April 2012

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It looks like April is the Month of the Symphony in Seattle.  Our calendar is full of concerts featuring some of classical music’s most beloved works of the symphonic genre. Composers represented include many of the classical greats. Symphonies by Mozart, Mahler, Prokofiev, Mendelssohn, and Shostakovich will all be heard in Seattle in April. No matter what style or time period you prefer, the symphony is a winning bet this month. Head to a local concert venue to brush up on your favorites, sample new works, and revel in the glorious orchestral sound.

Apr. 5 – 7 — Acclaimed pianist John Lill joins the Seattle Symphony for a performance of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 24. Also on the program is Mahler’s Symphony No. 1.

Emerson String Quartet

Apr. 12 – 14 — Contemporary Australian dance ensemble Chunky Move makes their Seattle debut at University of Washington’s Meany Hall.

Apr. 17 — The legendary Emerson String Quartet returns to Seattle with a program of late Mozart string quartets.

Apr. 19 & 21 — Seattle Symphony performs Dukas’ beloved work, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. Also on the program is Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major, featuring pianist Simon Trpčeski.

Apr. 20 — Local pianists Tiffany Lin and Adrienne Varner present the world premiere of Kyle Gann’s Implausible Sketches. Also on the program are works by Erik Satie, Janice Gitek, György Kurtág, and Arvo Pärt.

Apr. 21 — Travel back in time to the days of Alexander the Great. The Early Music Guild presents Boston Camerata in “Alexander the Great: Hero, Warrior, and Lover”, a collaborative concert with Turkish music ensemble Dünya.

Apr. 26 — Contemporary music ensemble Alarm Will Sound performs a blend of classical and pop-influenced works at Town Hall.

Apr. 26 & 28 — Gerard Schwarz returns to conduct the Seattle Symphony in a program of works by Prokofiev and Mendelssohn [With “famed pianist Alexander Toradze,” adds reader Evelyn–ed.].

Apr. 27 – 29 — Cellist David Requiro joins Northwest Sinfonietta in a performance of Saint-Saëns’ Cello Concerto No. 1 alongside symphonies by Prokofiev and Mendelssohn.

Apr. 28 – 29 — Auburn Symphony presents a diverse program of works by Prokofiev, Vaughan Williams, Shostakovich, and Elgar.