Tag Archives: four seasons

Arts & Entertainment, Music

What We’re Hearing This Holiday Season: Classical Music Picks For Christmas

Northwest Boychoir’s “A Festival of Lessons & Carols” (Photo: Northwest Choirs)

The holiday concert season may already be in full swing, but there’s still a full calendar of festive musical events set to spread Christmas cheer all around the Seattle area. Our list is just a small sampling of the vast seasonal offerings at this time of year, but we guarantee that you’ll find something here for everyone, from grandma to your hipster cousin. Christmas overload? We’ve included a few non-holiday-themed offerings for yuletide-weary souls.

Dec. 13 — The perfect gift for an avid early music fan! The Tudor Choir celebrates Advent with a program of Renaissance carols and motets at the intimate Northlake Unitarian Universalist Church chapel. This is a busy month for the ensemble. On December 28, they’ll perform a hearty mix of English Christmas carols and classics at the University District’s Blessed Sacrament Church.

Dec. 13 – 14 — As the winter chill sets in, Vivaldi’s Four Seasons provides a timely reminder that the cold and grey won’t last forever. The Seattle Symphony presents two performances of this audience favorite, one on December 13 as part of the casual “Symphony Untuxed” series, and another on December 14 with regularly-tuxedoed orchestra.

Dec. 13 – 22 — Handbell ensemble Bells of the Sound performs holiday favorites at a series of concerts hosted by churches around the Puget Sound region. The 15-member group will travel from Bellingham to Poulsbo on their December tour, with stops in Seattle, Renton, Bellevue, and Lynnwood.

Dec. 13 – 23 — The Northwest Boychoir‘s annual Christmas concert combines holiday readings with favorite yuletide songs. Hear “A Festival of Lessons and Carols” at some of Seattle’s best musical venues, including St. Mark’s Cathedral and West Seattle’s Holy Rosary Church, as well as a special performance at Benaroya Hall with the Northwest Sinfonietta.

Dec 13 – 29 — Of course, the big ticket in town this holiday season is Pacific Northwest Ballet‘s Nutcracker. Each year, PNB’s production charms audiences of all ages with Tchaikovsky’s timeless score, Maurice Sendak’s gorgeous sets, and breathtaking performances from a cast of over 200 dancers. Read Pippa’s review of this year’s PNB Nutcracker production for more details about this Seattle tradition.

Dec. 14 — This year, Seattle Pro Musica‘s annual holiday concert honors Benjamin Britten. The English composer, who would have celebrated his 100th birthday this year, penned several Christmas-themed choral works, including his beloved Ceremony of Carols. The singers of Seattle Pro Musica perform this holiday favorite alongside festive pieces by contemporary composers inspired by Britten.

Dec. 14 – 15 — Take a break from the whirlwind of shopping, cooking, and decorating with Choral Arts‘ Christmas program. Boasting the motto “Not Your Typical Holiday Concert,” the performance aims to help audiences relax and unwind with a medley of ancient chant, traditional carols, and contemporary works. Guitarist Bob McCaffery-Lent performs instrumental interludes between choral pieces.

Dec. 15 — The annual performance of Handel’s Messiah is a holiday tradition for many local ensembles. But for true Handel fans, Orchestra Seattle & Seattle Chamber Singers presents Seattle’s must-see Messiah. Thought many Messiah concerts trim Handel’s lengthy score to fit into a typical two-hour program, OSSCS’ Messiah is an afternoon-long event that features the work in its entirety, ensuring that you won’t miss a note of this Christmas favorite.

Dec. 15 — For a slightly different take on Handel’s Messiah, drop by Green Lake United Methodist Church for Seattle Mandolin Orchestra‘s “Mandolin Messiah.” Hear an abbreviated version of Handel’s masterpiece performed by an all-mandolin ensemble. They’ll be joined by four vocal soloists in this unusual homage to the holiday classic.

Dec. 21 — Part public sound sculpture, part flash-mob, Phil Kline’s Unsilent Night is an annual tradition that brings a wintry soundscape to neighborhoods around the country. Each participant downloads one of Kline’s four musical tracks onto an audio device of their choosing, then gathers with the group for a musical stroll through the city streets. Beginning at Wallingford’s Good Shepherd Center, Seattle’s performance of Unsilent Night is free, open to the public, and a unique way to get into the holiday spirit..

Dec. 21 — The Medieval Women’s Choir performs a program of 12th century sacred works originating from abbeys in France, Germany, and Spain. Experience the same music that medieval legends Hildegard of Bingen and Héloise d’Argenteuil may have heard during their time as nuns at these abbeys.

Dec. 24 — Join one of Seattle’s newest orchestras for a Christmas Eve celebration. Ensign Symphony & Chorus presents the second concert of their inaugural season at Benaroya Hall, where they’ll treat audiences to a medley of sacred and secular holiday favorites.

Dec. 28 – Jan. 4 — Ring in the new year with Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and the good tidings of “Ode To Joy.” This year, Seattle Symphony & Chorale pairs the Ninth with another classic, Brahms’ Variations on a Theme of Joseph Haydn.

Dec. 29 — After a month of Christmas carols, there’s nothing like chamber music to celebrate the end of another joyous holiday season. The Byron Schenkman & Friends concert series continues with a collection of Vivaldi concertos. Harpsichordist Schenkman will be joined by a chamber orchestra of baroque winds and strings for this performance at Benaroya Hall’s cozy Nordstrom Recital Hall.

Arts & Entertainment, Music

A Remarkable Young Quartet in Modigliani

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Photo by Jerôme Bonnet.

Photo by photo Jerôme Bonnet.

Modigliani Quartet 1 (photo Jerôme Bonnet) thumbnail
Modigliani Quartet 2 (photo Jerôme Bonnet) thumbnail

The Emerson String Quartet came to mind more than once during the performance by the Modigliani Quartet at Meany Theater Tuesday night. It was not just that the ten-year-old French group of four close friends began as a quartet right after school (maybe in school), nor that within a year of forming it began to win prestigious prizes. It was the musicianship, the close communication that seemed effortless, the fresh outlook and thoughtful interpretation, and the undeniable topflight quality of performance that made the connection.

At the UW International Chamber Music Series Tuesday, the Modigliani began with the last quartet, “No. 3 in E-Flat Major,” by Juan Crisostomo Arriaga, an immensely gifted younger Spanish contemporary of Schubert who died at 19. Not at all a lightweight composition, Arriaga’s work fits into the pantheon of the late Haydn Quartets and of Mozart. The second movement owes something to Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, with its birdsong imitations in the first and second violins and a splendid storm created with tremolos and eerie lulls.

The Modigliani played much in the style of the time: clean, with emotions and energy inside an elegant frame. As a group, the musicians are spare with their vibrato, using a little for expression but often none. Only cellist Francois Kieffer used it continually thought the program.

The last Beethoven Quartet, “No. 16 in F Major,” composed two years later than the Arriaga, is clearly more forward looking, but at the same time, Beethoven here created almost a distillation of his musical ideas, so it is sparer, more concentrated than some of his earlier works. Although in F Major, its extraordinary third movement, profound and unhurried most of the time, was not joyful in the Modigliani’s hands, while the last moody movement, with its repeated emphatic chords, gave the feeling of Fate knocking on the door. It was a riveting performance, but not more so than the Debussy which followed.

The four are playing superb instruments, from a Mariani viola of 1660 with a deep velvety sound to a Goffriller cello from 1706, and violins by Gagliano (1734) and Guadagnini (1780). The musicians have found out how to draw the most responsive sound from them, beautiful, rich and warm, with attack and emphasis where the music demands it, but with no forcing, dragging or pushing to its creation.

They used more vibrato but, again, more as an ornament than as a continual style in Debussy’s only quartet, in G Minor. Where the music required it they merged their voices, while at other times sounding distinct and individual, as though having a conversation, whether in the many plucked-string sections or the muted third movement. The music sounded fresh minted, fresh washed, with its colors glowing.

It was not a capacity audience for this astonishingly gifted quartet, but the listeners at Meany were as quiet as one ever hears them until the end, when they brought the quartet back for two encores — the first a minuet with two trios, Schubert’s D 89, again elegant and sprightly; the second a complete change of pace, a Shostakovich polka which left everybody laughing.

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Arts & Entertainment, Music

Itzhak Perlman Performs Classical Favorites with Seattle Symphony

Legendary violinist Itzhak Perlman is back in Seattle this week for two concerts with the Seattle Symphony.  It’s always inspiring to watch Perlman in action, whether as a violin soloist or conductor. This time, Seattle audiences get to see Perlman in both roles. Last night’s concert featured a grab-bag of favorites including Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, Mozart’s “Prague” Symphony, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7. Perlman and the Symphony will repeat the program tonight.

Itzhak Perlman

Despite its ubiquitous presence in classical compilation CDs and car commercials, Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons was a treat with the world’s foremost violinist at the helm. Perlman and the orchestra performed the “Summer” and “Winter” concertos, with Perlman playing the solo part and conducting from the ranks of the first violin section. Both concertos are full of drama. Slow, languid solo melodies provide stark contrast with rapid, buzzing textures that involve the entire string section.

In the fast movements, particular the frantic final movement of “Summer,” Perlman and the orchestra maintained a high level of excitement despite a few rough spots, particularly involving the contrasting timbres of the violins and harpsichord. Perlman’s violin sung out best in the slower movements, especially in the sweet and sorrowful middle movement of “Winter.”

The audience got its first glimpse of Perlman solely in a conducting role with Mozart’s Symphony No. 38, known as the “Prague” Symphony. Perlman’s clear direction brought the orchestra together, particularly in the fine ensemble playing in the fast third movement. Also of note were interesting and unexpected harmonies between the strings and winds that rose to the surface in the slow second movement. Unsurprisingly, Perlman’s conducting occasionally mimed the playing of a violin–only natural for one who has achieved international fame as a concert violinist.

The evening’s performance concluded with Beethoven’s beloved Symphony No. 7. Here Perlman seemed to take a step back as a conductor, letting Beethoven’s writing speak for itself. The result was enthralling, from the somber, stately second movement to the joyous horn calls of the fourth movement.

If last night’s near-capacity crowd was any indication, tickets will likely be scarce for tonight’s performance. Arrive at Benaroya Hall early if you’re hoping to grab a seat.