For those on the go during the holidays, Choral Arts‘ annual Christmas concert provides an tiny oasis of calm during December’s hustle and bustle. The choir’s hour-long program, sung with no breaks between pieces, is perfectly tailored to busy holiday schedules. The first of two performances of this yuletide program, the December 14th concert at First Hill’s Trinity Church drew a crowd that filled most of the church’s central pews, making for a cozy atmosphere. A second performance was held the next night at the roomier Capitol Hill’s St. Joseph’s.
Robert Bode, Artistic Director of Choral Arts (Photo: Choral Arts)
Ranging from medieval chant to contemporary carols, the medley of choral gems sparkled in Trinity’s intimate space. Despite the emphasis on meditative works that invite reflection and relaxation, the hour seemed to fly by, smoothly flowing from one tune to the next. At the helm, Artistic Director Robert Bode tied the program together with clear conducting and careful pacing. As a final touch, Bode and the ensemble wrapped each piece up with a perfectly-executed conclusion, final chords hanging in the air for just a moment before fading away. This is an ensemble that has mastered art of the juicy ending.
A small ensemble with the sound of a large choir, the 26-voice Choral Arts can do it all, from the rollicking Stephen Foster tune “Hard Times Come Again No More” to Robert Young’s setting of “In the Bleak Midwinter.” While the former flowed with the ease of a hearty pub shanty, filling the Trinity sanctuary, the latter unfolded with the steady pace of footsteps in newly-fallen snow. As the ensemble sung of the frosty morning of the first Christmas, the atmosphere seemed to grow more peaceful and intimate with each stanza.
Two highlights of the program were tiny masterpiece that would be poignant at any time of year. Full of shifting vocal textures, Francis Poulenc’s “Hodie Christus Natus Est” blends unusual harmonies with moving countermelodies in the men’s voices. Jake Runestad‘s “Nada te Turbe” combines staggered melodies passed between sections of the choir with accompaniment that evokes gently rolling waves. The 27-year-old Runestad has already received commissions from ensembles around the country. It’s worth keeping an eye on this young composer as his career unfolds in the coming years.
This year’s concert saw the return of guest guitarist Robert McCafferey-Lent, who performed a series of instrumental interludes and accompanied the ensemble on several pieces. McCafferey-Lent’s mix of gentle guitar melodies and carol excerpts provided an elegant bridge between vocal works. A former Choral Arts singer, the classical and Irish folk guitarist has plenty of experience in blending with a choir. His sensitive accompaniment colored Rick Asher’s “Psallite”, which alternates between peaceful and upbeat sections, and the 16th century chant “O Magnum Mysterium”, sung with tenderness by soprano Rebekah Gilmore.
The hour of music ended with a little bit of audience participation during two classic carols, “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear” and “Silent Night”. Bode turned around to conduct the crowd as the sanctuary filled with singing voices, an uplifting conclusion to one of Seattle’s most contemplative and peaceful holiday concert traditions. For those who missed this year’s “Christmas with Choral Arts,” head over to Seattle radio station KING FM’s Soundcloud page, where a streaming recording of the program is available.
Bode and the singers of Choral Arts have a busy schedule in 2014. In March, they’ll sing Brahms’ notoriously difficult “Ein Deutsches Requiem” as part of the University of Washington’s Brahms Symposium. They’ll follow that performance with a program of world folk music in May.
Seattle Pro Musica rehearses at St. James Cathedral (Photo: Seattle Pro Musica)
As one of the 20th century’s most beloved composers, Benjamin Britten stands out for his outstanding choral offerings. Born in 1913, the English composer left a legacy of vocal repertoire that continues to inspire to this day. In celebration of the Britten Centenary, the singers of Seattle Pro Musica have dedicated their annual holiday program the composer’s Christmas-themed choral works, including yuletide favorite A Ceremony of Carols.
Benjamin Britten
The concert pairs Britten classics with lesser-known gems by contemporary composers, making for an appealing blend of new and old that’s bound to delight fans of choral music. Festivities began with two performances at Town Hall on December 7 and continue with two more on December 14 at the Bastyr University Chapel. The program focuses on Britten’s fascination with historical texts, from 15th century British carols to 19th century poetry. Throughout his career, Britten drew upon older pieces of writing as compositional sources, passing on his penchant for combining ancient text with new music to many of today’s choral composers.
Directed by Karen P. Thomas, the 80-member Seattle Pro Musica continues to charm audiences with their annual Christmas concert, which has become a local holiday tradition. This year’s Britten celebration follows on the heels of other Seattle Pro Musica events commemorating the 100th anniversary of the composer’s birth, including a performance of the massive War Requiem in June alongside the Seattle Symphony and Chorale.
December 7th’s afternoon concert began with a candlelight procession performed by the women of the choir. The ensemble filed through the auditorium and onto the Town Hall stage while singing a medieval English Christmas chant, “A solis ortus cardine”. This opening provided a meditative counterpoint to the more energetic works ahead, while also paying tribute to the ancient chants and texts that inspired Britten and others.
Two suites of yuletide carols by Britten anchored the program, one written during the composer’s youth and the other as he was reaching artistic maturity. Composed when Britten was just 19, A Boy was Born demonstrates the budding composition student’s gift for creating complex vocal textures and using musical effects to “illustrate” words or phrases. The suite of seven carols follows a theme and variations format that explores a variety of musical moods, from the ethereal opening chorale to the victorious fanfare of the sixth and final variation, “Noel”. Thomas and the choir expertly navigated the sudden transitions between variations, which often flowed from one to another through a connecting syllable or note.
The combination of Britten’s descriptive writing and Seattle Pro Musica’s vocal versatility resulted in many magical moments during A Boy was Born’s seven movements. In the fifth variation, “In the Bleak Mid-winter”, soprano Chrissie Graham’s lush voice soared overhead in a mournful allegory of Jesus’ death. Her solo was accompanied by soft chants of the phrase “snow on snow” from the choir, transporting me to a winter landscape framed by the steady fall of snowflakes.
Premiered in 1942, Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols is full of similarly rich sonic illustrations and layered harmonies. Like A Boy was Born, A Ceremony of Carols demonstrates Britten’s penchant for all things old, especially his love for historic English poetry and chant. The work begins with a processional strikingly similar to the medieval chant that opened the concert and quickly departs on a whirlwind tour of musical expression.
Nuanced accompaniment by harpist Catherine Barrett blended well with the choir in both solo and ensemble sections. Particularly moving was the brief third movement, “That younge childe”, which featured Barrett and soprano Amanda Jessup echoing each other on a melody full of sorrowful sighs. Barrett’s playing evoked a variety of imagery throughout the work, from a rocking cradle to the biting winter wind. With this foundation, the women of Seattle Pro Musica filled in the rest of the musical story. Dramatic movements like “This little Babe” showcased the choir at its best, weaving together overlapping melodies with an ease that left me enraptured.
A surprise hit of the concert was the choir’s performance of Conrad Susa’s Carols and Lullabies: Christmas in the Southwest. Susa, who just passed away in November, wrote the piece as a companion to A Ceremony of Carols. Based on Spanish and Latin-American carols, the colorful choral suite adds guitar and marimba along with harp accompaniment. Guitarist Michael Partington and percussionist Timothy Helming brought just the right amount of Latin flavor to the suite’s ten movements.
Though the traditional Spanish tunes in Carols and Lullabies probably aren’t familiar to most American audience members, their celebratory spirit and catchy melodies give them instant appeal. The carol “Alegría” begs for a sing-along, especially given Susa’s arrangement. Baritones Jeff Myers, Jon Repp, and Lee Maneman lustily belted out the verses, then were joined by the full choir for the refrain. Other movements featured more complex harmonies influenced by Spanish folk songs and dances. With its tongue-twisting title and guitar-tinged refrain, “Chiquirriquitín” provided lots of folksy fun for both audience and choir.
Like Britten’s A Ceremony of Carols, Susa’s Carols and Lullabies is full of solos, duets, instrumental interludes, and opportunities for the entire ensemble to shine. Full of vivid colors, Seattle Pro Musica’s performance swept me away from the Seattle chill to a boisterous Latin-American Christmas celebration in warmer climes. The final carol in Susa’s suite captures the work’s exuberance, complete with emphatic strums on the guitar to emphasize the cries of “Fum! Fum! Fum!” in the refrain. Like much of the piece, it has an infectious melody which stuck with me long after the concert ended, leaving me hoping that Susa’s work will be performed more regularly.
Several Christmas-themed works by contemporary composers may have received their Seattle premiere at the December 7 performance, including Bernard Hughes’ “The Shepherd’s Carol” and Gabriel Jackson’s “The Christ-child”. Originally commissioned by the Seattle Men’s Chorus, Alice Parker’s romp Roll round with the year brought a bit of jolly good fun to round out the program.
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.
With its expressive, reedy tone and air-filled bellows that can expand more than three feet, the bandoneón is one of the world’s most dramatic instruments. Related to the accordion and concertina, the bandoneón was invented in Germany and brought to Argentina in the 19th century by German emigrants, missionaries, and sailors. It’s known for its role in Argentine tango music, where its soulful melodies and crackling chords convey the passion of the dance. Today, tango and the bandoneón are virtually inseparable.
A youthful upstart hailing from the tradition of great Argentine bandoneónists, New York-based Juan Pablo Jofre brings explosive energy to the tango genre with his lightning-fast chops and flair for drama. After starting his musical career as a drummer in a metal band, Jofre switched to bandoneón and found an outlet for his creative energies. His first album, Hard Tango, combines Jofre’s own compositions with arrangements of tango favorites. In February 2012, during their first visit to Seattle, Jofre and his ensemble blew Town Hall audiences away with tracks from the 2011 release. The energy in the hall was downright electric, with Jofre and his three-member band locked into a solid groove and amping up the excitement level with each successive tune. It was one of the most memorable performances I attended that year.
Jofre’s anticipated return to Seattle on November 22 did not disappoint. Town Hall’s main auditorium was abuzz with chatter from the crowd, eager to hear what the master bandoneónist had cooked up in the past year. Accompanied by an all-new Hard Tango Chamber Band, Jofre’s program included several solos and duets, as well as pieces for the full four-member ensemble. While last year’s quartet was comprised of musicians who hail from the tango tradition, the Hard Tango Chamber Band features players with strong classical roots. Pianist Daniela Candillari and cellist Yves Dharamraj both have orchestral experience and perform regularly in the classical realm. Well-versed in classical, jazz, and other improvisatory styles, violinist Christiana Liberis rounded out the quartet.
Clad in a slick, all-black outfit complete with his trademark dark glasses, Jofre opened the show with the cadenza from his Bandoneón Concerto. The extended solo highlighted the instrument’s enormous range, spanning from barely-audible sighs to layered chords that seemed to pay tribute to Jofre’s heavy metal past. A commanding soloist, Jofre held the audience captive with his playing, his arms spreading to stretch the bandoneón to its full wingspan while his fingers blazed over the instrument’s keys. These moments showcased Jofre at his best, as a soloist captivating the crowd with his bold musical storytelling.
Though not as energetic as Jofre’s solo sections, his set of four duets — two for violin and bandoneón, and two for cello and bandoneón — illustrated a different side of the composer’s personality. Tangodromo, an expressive duet for violin and bandoneón, swapped the traditional roles of the two instruments by assigning the melody to the bandoneón and the accompaniment to the violin. From smooth legato passages to plucked pizzicato countermelodies, Liberis balanced Jofre’s melancholy melodies with a variety of textures. A soulful player, cellist Dharamraj brought an understated poignance to his duets with Jofre, Como el Agua (“Like Water”) and Sweet Dreams.
Sandwiched between the duets was the world premiere of Jofre’s Carta de Amor. Confidently performed by Candillari, the piano solo’s opening melodies gradually blossomed into a sweet flower of a piece. Though a bit on the sentimental side, Carta de Amor demonstrates Jofre’s ability to seamlessly transform a simple mood or melodic line into something far more eloquent and complex.
The full quartet rallied for the program’s ensemble pieces, delivering the drama and intensity that audiences have come to expect from Jofre’s performances. In addition to favorites from the Hard Tango album, including the driving Universe and sprightly Primavera, several new tunes made an appearance. Written in honor of the drummer for Metallica, Lars captures heavy metal’s thrashing energy in the guise of a tango tune. Slow and sentimental, After the Rain provided a welcome break from the non-stop action. In true Argentine fashion, Jofre’s pair of Tango Movements paid tribute to his country and his mother, a moving duo of pieces that traversed a range of emotions.
As an ensemble, the Hard Tango Chamber Band doesn’t possess the fire and razor-sharp coordination of Jofre’s 2012 quartet. Instead, the musicians of the Chamber Band bring a different set of talents to the table. November 22’s performance gave Jofre’s repertoire a classical spin with smoother articulations and more pedal in the piano. In this case, the name “Chamber Band” is an apt choice — the ensemble combines the traditions of chamber music with the dramatic stylings of tango.
Jofre’s performance is part of Town Hall’s Global Rhythms series, featuring musical traditions from around the world. Next up in the series is the Krar Collective, an Ethiopian band that blends folk sounds with contemporary rock. They’ll perform at Town Hall on January 24, 2014. After that, the ladies of the Barefoot Divas present a Valentine’s Day concert on February 14.
Haruko Nishimura dances in a performance of Degenerate Art Ensemble’s “Warrior” at the Triple Door in June 2013. The piece was performed again with the Kronos Quartet in November 2013. (Photo: Bruce Tom)
On November 16, the University District’s historic Neptune Theater buzzed with energy as an excited crowd packed into the auditorium’s two tiers. Fans young and old came to help the Kronos Quartet celebrate their 40th anniversary as an ensemble. The Grammy Award-winning string quartet is renowned for their adventurous globe-trotting repertoire and support of contemporary composers. In their forty-year history, the ensemble has commissioned over 800 works. Not content to stay within the boundaries of the classical, jazz, and rock genres, Kronos has thrived on decades of exploring the world’s musical traditions, including collaborations with top artists from around the globe.
What many listeners might not know is that Kronos, based in San Francisco since 1978, was actually born in Seattle. The brainchild of a young University of Washington violinist named David Harrington, the group played its first concert in Seattle in November 1973. Three of Kronos’s original members still perform with the quartet, with Harrington and John Sherba on violins and Hank Dutt on viola. Cellist Sunny Yang joined the group in June 2013, after the departure of Jeffrey Zeigler.
Kronos Quartet (Photo: Jay Blakesberg)
Though a Kronos Quartet performance always promises to be fresh and unique (the ensemble has never played the same program twice) the ensemble pulled out all the stops for their 40th anniversary bash at the Neptune. Almost as much of a love letter to Seattle as a celebration of Kronos’s career, the evening was packed with collaborations featuring several of Seattle’s hottest artistic luminaries. Local composer Jherek Bischoff, a rising star on the national stage, joined the quartet for a performance of his work “A Semiperfect Number,” commissioned in honor of Kronos’ anniversary. Towering over the other musicians, the lanky composer brandished his bass guitar like a rock star, propelling the textured piece along with emphatic waves of chords.
Along with “A Semiperfect Number,” the first half of the evening featured a cornucopia of pieces that spanned Kronos’s entire history, with Bischoff’s piece representing 2013 and Seattle composer Ken Benshoof‘s “Traveling Music” paying homage to the quartet’s early years. Back in 1974, the fledgling Kronos Quartet commissioned their very first work. According to popular legend, the four music students paid Benshoof a commission fee of “a dozen donuts and a cup of coffee” for “Traveling Music.” It’s easy to see why the youthful Kronos Quartet was drawn to Benshoof’s writing. The three-movement work weaves jazz, bluegrass, and folk influences into its pleasantly meandering melodies. Benshoof was on hand at the Neptune for the performance, joining Kronos onstage to accept a box of donuts and round of hugs from the ensemble.
Composed in 1960, Krzyzstof Penderecki’s “Quartetto per archi” is the musical equivalent of a Jackson Pollack painting — blots of sound splat in a seemingly random manner, from sudden taps and scratches to deliberate, drawn-out tremolos. A performance of this abstract work could easily be bewildering for audiences, but Kronos brings it back down to earth with a clever tactic: reading from a scrolling video of the score that’s projected onto the stage wall, a technique that Kronos has employed with this piece in the past. The result is fascinating, inspiring audience members to appreciate the sheer technical difficulty of the work. The projection enables the audience to watch the complex score unfold as the music is played and associate each sound with a visual symbol or marking.
Other pieces in the program’s first half represented Kronos’s commitment to musical diversity and genre bending. Performance artist Laurie Anderson‘s “Flow” created a lovely, wistful soundscape that ended all too soon. Guitarist Bryce Dessner of the rock band The National composed his work “Tenebrae” for Kronos in 2011. The piece explores the concepts of light and darkness with layers of sound, incorporating Kronos’s live performance with pre-recorded snippets. An arrangement of singer Geeshie Wiley’s “Last Kind Words” provided contrast to the newer works on the program. Originally recorded in the 1930s, the song captures the emerging soulfulness of early blues tunes.
Anticipation grew during intermission as stagehands placed fluorescent tube lights and candles on the stage, forming a large, glowing rectangle, a stage-within-a-stage for dancer Haruko Nishimura of Degenerate Art Ensemble. The experimental group combines aspects of modern dance, Japanese Butoh, and Western performance art traditions to create dark, fantasy-inspired pieces. Based in Seattle, they’ve garnered accolades and acclaim throughout the artistic community and were featured in an exhibition at the Frye Art Museum in 2011. At the Neptune, it seemed that everyone was excited to see what they were able to cook up in their dream-come-true collaboration with Kronos Quartet.
Occupying the entire second half of the program, Joshua Kohl’s “Warrior” begins in darkness. Mysterious figures clad in white spacesuits file through the auditorium, chanting alternating syllables. The procession mounts the stage, where the musicians of Kronos await. Together, the string quartet and spacesuit chorus introduce Nishimura, who steps into her glowing box clad in a stunning white bodysuit, each of her legs encased in a thick, puffy layer of white feathers. Nishimura moves deliberately to the drone-like, ritualistic music as video clips are projected on the wall behind her. Her motions evoke pantomime; she’s running frantically, battling an unseen foe with karate-like kicks and punches, and bobbing around underwater.
As part of Degenerate Art Ensemble’s Predator Songstress series, “Warrior” tells the story of “an indigenous rebel taking back a modern city from its colonizers.” Though this plot evokes themes of racial injustice, Western imperialism, and female empowerment, the piece didn’t seem to tackle any of these issues head on. Instead, most of the work’s energy went towards depicting the plot in a literal fashion. A skilled dancer with an impressive range of movement, Nishimura is captivating to watch, whether she’s aggressively springing into a crouch with hands dramatically smacking the stage or tumbling head-over-heels in slow, deliberate somersaults. Despite its slick aesthetic appeal, “Warrior” ultimately felt more like an artistic representation of one of history’s many heroine myths than the powerful contemporary retelling I was expecting.
After “Warrior,” the members of Kronos took the stage for an encore, filling the Neptune with the stadium-rock sound of “Death is the Road to Awe” from science-fiction film The Fountain. With a driving rhythm track in the background, the quartet blazed their way through the piece with strings wailing and an energy level through the roof.
After decades of intensive touring and countless performances, many top-notch string quartets begin to fade as members inch towards retirement. Not the case with Kronos. Harrington, Sherba, and Dutt are still at the top of their game, delighting audiences with their technical mastery and passionate playing. The addition of Yang gives the ensemble an extra boost of fresh, youthful energy, with show-stopping cello chops to boot. But what’s perhaps the most impressive about these four musicians is the sense of unity in their performances. Together, they throw themselves headlong into the music they play — whether it hails from the 20th century avant-garde, ancient Chinese folk traditions, or something entirely new — and inspire us to follow.
Head bobbing and curls flying, Matt Haimovitz plays the cello like a rock star, leaning into his instrument to conjure forth a bold sound that captures your attention. A jack-of-all-trades in the classical music world, the Montreal-based cellist’s career is full of star-studded collaborations (among them Philip Glass, Isaac Stern, and Mstislav Rostropovich, to name a few) but also marches to the beat of his own drum. He was the first classical musician to play at New York’s notorious punk rock club CBGB and currently leads Montreal’s all-cello ensemble, Uccello, performing a repertoire that spans from Bartók to big band.
Haimovitz’s freewheeling style made him the perfect guest artist for Simple Measures, a local chamber music concert series that emphasizes the up-close-and-personal experience (“Any closer and you’d be licking varnish!” proclaims their website). The brainchild of Seattle cellist Rajan Krishnaswami, Simple Measures combines top-notch local talent (and the occasional out-of-town visitor) with eclectic programs of chamber music and a casual concert format, including audience Q&A sessions during the show.
On November 15, Haimovitz arrived in Seattle with a selection of his favorite cello pieces for the first Simple Measures concert of the 2013-14 season. The second of Simple Measures’ “Cello Divas” shows, the performance brought three local cellists — Krishnaswami, Seattle Symphony Assistant Principal cellist Meeka Quan-DiLorenzo, and Central Washington University cello professor John Michel — to join Haimovitz on the Town Hall stage for a celebration of all things cello.
The first half of the program featured six works for solo cello performed by Haimovitz. Ranging from Bach to the Beatles, the short pieces showcased the cellist’s ability to capture and convey the musical essence of a work, no matter what century it was composed. The Prelude from J.S. Bach’s Cello Suite No. 3 in C Major served as the inspiration for the first part of Haimovitz’s mini-recital, which paired the familiar piece with an earlier work by Italian composer Domenico Gabrielli as well as the Seattle premiere of Philip Glass’ Dance Movement for Solo Cello.
All three pieces featured climbing and falling melodic lines that showcased Haimovitz’s ability to lift written notes off the page, making them feel fresh and improvisational. In particular, his interpretation of Gabrielli and Bach took many liberties with tempo, but the dramatic stretching and compression of phrases was convincing and accentuated the natural ebb and flow of each phrase.
A trio of modern pieces based on folk, jazz, and pop traditions followed, immersing the audience in a diverse range of sounds from across the globe. Based on Serbian folk tunes, Lisa Bielawa‘s “Why Did You Lie to Me” alternated between winding melodies and buzzing rhythmic sections. Written as a memorial for victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, jazz composer David Sanford‘s “7th Avenue Kaddish” uses the cello to pay homage to John Coltrane’s soulful saxophone in “A Love Supreme” as well as the haunting tones of a Jewish cantor singing a song of mourning.
Haimovitz rounded out the solo portion of the evening with the Beatles, performing an arrangement of “Helter Skelter” by Luna Pearl Woolf, his wife. Full of opportunities to show off his technical wizardry and rock star showmanship, the arrangement had Haimovitz sliding helter skelter up and down the fingerboard, his cello wailing like an electric guitar.
The other three cellists joined Haimovitz on stage for the rest of the program, which featured works for cello ensemble. Again, the repertoire was all over the map, a fun blend of music that represented everything from jazz and tango to Bartok and heavy metal. Composed for Duke Ellington’s big band, Billy Strayhorn’s “Bloodcount” sizzled as a piece for cello ensemble. With Haimovitz comfortable as any jazz musician in the improvisational soloist role, David Sanford’s arrangement captured the soul of the original tune.
Another highlight was Woolf’s arrangement of Bartók’s Roumanian Dances, one of the composer’s most beloved piano works. In Woolf’s four-cello version, the third movement’s faint melancholy melody high on the piano becomes a haunting, otherworldly wail that’s only possible on a string instrument. In contrast, the fourth movement’s low tones rumbled out of Haimovitz’s cello with a tolling sonority that sent shivers down my spine.
A pair of gems by early 20th century composer Bohuslav Martinů were a treat for the ears. Performed by Krishnaswami, Michel, and Quan-DiLorenzo, the two Arabesques contrasted intense layers of glorious cello tones (“Arabesque No. 5”) with light and bubbly splashes of sound evocative of Impressionist composers like Debussy and Ravel (“Arabesque No. 6”). Consistent ensemble playing coupled with a lighthearted mood made for a lovely performance of these rarely-performed works for three cellos.
One of the evening’s unexpected treats was a cover of “Path” by Apocalyptica, a heavy metal cello band from Finland. It turns out that metal’s driving melodies and pulsing beats sound fantastic when rendered on an ensemble of four cellos. The Simple Measures quartet blazed through the arrangement, pulling out all the stops and looking like they were having the time of their lives. Their energy was infectious, and I found myself walking out of Town Hall at the end of the evening humming the song’s main melody.
Krishnaswami and the rest of the Simple Measures crew have a wide variety of offerings planned for the rest of the season. Their next program, with performances on February 14 and 16, features Seattle Symphony principal flutist Demarre McGill. Looking further ahead, concerts in spring 2014 include collaborations with Northwest Boychoir and Spectrum Dance Theater.
