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Arts & Entertainment, Music

From Solemn To Sizzling With JP Jofre and the Hard Tango Chamber Band

JP Jofre (Photo: Sergio Reyes)

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.

Arts & Entertainment, Music

From Bach to Heavy Metal, Simple Measures Celebrates All Things Cello

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.

Arts & Entertainment

Jewish Renaissance Music Gets “Obscene” with Ensemble Lucidarium

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The members of Lucidarium. Photo courtesy of the Ensemble.

For some time Ensemble Lucidarium has been exploring and recreating Jewish music from medieval times and the Renaissance, and they brought one of the programs to Town Hall Saturday night under the auspices of the Early Music Guild.

Titled Una Festa Ebraica—Celebrating Life, the program covered the music of joyous Jewish occasions, from the bris—when a baby boy is circumcised—to weddings, even a song predating Shakespeare’s Seven Ages of Man, from infancy to the doddering centenarian. It was performed without intermission by the seven musicians, including three singers (two sopranos, one baritone), and four versatile instrumentalists playing a variety of recorders (sometimes one person playing two at once), lute and gittern (a small early guitar), hammer dulcimer, hand drums, and tambourine.

The short pieces came mainly from the 15th to 17th centuries, mostly from southern Europe, with words in Hebrew, Italian, Spanish, Yiddish, and from the solemn to the bawdy.

Some were sung cantorial style with the nasal tone and the slight sob, others had a folksong quality, and most were expressive, upbeat, cheerful and rhythmic.  Dance rhythms were frequent, even one which might have worked for a Scottish reel. The large audience had translations for the words, but it was sometimes difficult to work out which song was bring sung, though others were unmistakable.

In “Doz Mensh Geglikhn,” the song for celebrating the bris, Enrico Fink described every age by decades until he reached 100, when he appeared totally decrepit, sang the verse in a cracked voice and collapsed full length on the floor. Given his appearance— lanky, bearded, wild grey curls peaking out from under a brightly striped yamulka, it was very effective, and much appreciated by the audience.

Sopranos Gloria Moretti and Anna Pia Capurso had high pure voices, sometimes singing in duet, one song considered politically incorrect today in its advice for submission by a bride if her husband strayed or slapped her.

There was plenty of earthy humor as well as highflown advice in these songs. Indeed, one of the many wedding songs, according to the program notes, is so shockingly obscene that the group did not include the words. They performed only one tenth of “El Divrei Habaress” as suitable for tender 21st century ears, although the singer sang parts in English. All we heard was that the bride might bring skin diseases, weevils, and mice to the marriage while he would pluck a louse out of his beard and drop it on her!

Researching the music in depth, scholar-musicians and skilled performers like these bring a microcosm of life as it might have been lived at celebrations all those centuries ago. The EMG brought Lucidarium here in 2008 and it’s to be hoped it will bring the group back again.

For more racy reports on all aspects of music and Seattle culture, connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. 

Arts & Entertainment, Music

What We’re Hearing This Month: Classical Music Picks For November

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The Enso String Quartet performs at Town Hall Seattle on November 6 (Photo: Richie Hawley)

After the many musical treats (no tricks!) of October, the classical music season is in full swing here in Seattle. November’s calendar abounds with visits from touring ensembles and soloists, as well as exciting performances by local groups. Head to a concert hall and take advantage of this month’s diverse musical offerings, especially before the holiday music deluge inundates the concert calendar for December.

Nov. 6 — Most classical music fans know Puccini and Verdi through grand operas like Madama Butterfly and Rigoletto. But did you know that these famous Italians also penned string quartets? The New York-based Enso String Quartet brings these rarely-performed gems to Town Hall as part of their program “Opera Composers’ String Quartets”.

Nov. 8 – 17 — Immerse yourself in an evening of dazzling premieres at Pacific Northwest Ballet, featuring the work of choreographers Jiri Kylian and Crystal Pite. You’ll experience brilliant full-ensemble pieces and smaller-scale works, including Kylian’s Petite Mort, which incorporates fencing foils into the movements of six pairs of dancers.

Nov. 9 — Be transported to 18th century Constantinople by Portland’s Cappella Romana choir. Accompanied by guest director Achilleas Chaldaiakis, a cantor from Athens, the ensemble performs a program of Byzantine chants at the stunning St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church.

Nov. 15 & 17 — It’s all about the cello at Simple Measures‘ season opening concert. The chamber music collective has gained a loyal fan following for their up-close-and-personal performances featuring top-notch local talent. Hear their “Cello Divas” program at Town Hall (Nov. 15) or at Mt. Baker Community Club (Nov. 17).

Nov. 16 — Hailing from Northern Italy, the members of Ensemble Lucidarium are dedicated to exploring the music of the Medieval and Renaissance eras. Their Seattle performance, hosted by the Early Music Guild, celebrates the circle of life with a festive program of Jewish music.

Nov. 21 & 23 — Giuseppe Verdi wrote his monumental Requiem Mass in honor of his friend, Italian poet Alessandro Manzoni. Seattle Symphony offers two performances of this beloved work, which features full orchestra, chorus, and four soloists.

Nov. 22 — Experience the passion of tango at Town Hall. Young bandoneónist J.P. Jofre, a rising star in the tango world, returns to Seattle with his Hard Tango Ensemble after wowing local audiences in 2012. The quartet puts a fresh, exciting spin on smoky Argentine classics.

Nov. 22 — The Seattle Modern Orchestra explores “open form” with a set of innovative works from the 20th and 21st centuries. In these pieces, the musicians get to make decisions about the musical form during performance, resulting in a truly unique experience each time the work is played.

Nov. 24 — Begin the holiday season early with a complete performance of Handel’s Messiah by the Our Lady of Fatima Parish Baroque Orchestra and five guest soloists. No shortened versions here — this is the real Messiah deal, featuring every note of Handel’s expansive score.

Arts & Entertainment, Music

JACK Quartet Blazes Through Seattle With Adventurous New Music

JACK Quartet (Photo: Rachel Papo)

In the spring of 2011, the JACK Quartet arrived in Seattle for the first time, treating the city to two very different performances. For the first, an intimate, sold-out event at the Sorrento Hotel’s Top of the Town ballroom, the quartet performed Austrian composer Georg Friedrich Haas’ improvisational String Quartet No. 3 in complete darkness. The next day, on the stage at Town Hall, the four New York-based musicians brought the crowd to its feet with blistering renditions of works by Ligeti, Xenakis, and other modern composers, all performed passionately with hair-raising technical precision.

Last week, Seattle audiences returned for JACK Quartet’s second visit to Town Hall. A sizable crowd filled the Great Hall’s pews for the Tuesday evening performance, the final concert in Town Hall’s 2012-13 TownMusic series. In keeping with the TownMusic tradition of commissioning works from emerging composers, the program featured a new piece by composer Jefferson Friedman, who traveled from his home in Los Angeles for the premiere of his Quintet, written for two violins, viola, and two cellos. Acclaimed cellist and TownMusic artistic director Joshua Roman joined the members of JACK Quartet onstage for the performance.

Composer Jefferson Friedman (Photo: Liz Linder)

Full of emotional intensity, Friedman’s Quintet tackles the subject of grief head on. Written both “about the grieving process, and at the same time (as) part of it,” the work maintains a strong focus on expressing emotion while subtly traversing melodic, rhythmic, and timbral ideas. The addition of an extra cello to the traditional string quartet instrumentation beefed up the bass range considerably, bringing a sense of weight to the music and contributing additional momentum and energy that propelled the piece along.

The work zips between moods with transitions as sudden as a summer rainstorm. At the start of the piece, a singing viola solo is framed by humming — both high-pitched and low — from the other strings, as well as warm cello harmonies. Later, sharp stabbing bow strokes create angry lightning bolts of sound while fervent melodies are passed around the ensemble. An experienced chamber musician, Roman blended effortlessly with the quartet, especially in duet sections with JACK’s cellist, Kevin McFarland.

Polish composer Witold Lutosławski’s dazzlingly difficult String Quartet dominated the second half of the program. Born in 1913, Lutosławski was a major proponent of 20th century aleatoric composition techniques, which utilize chance and randomness to determine melodic, rhythmic, and timbral elements. Unlike traditional classical compositions, the String Quartet doesn’t specify how the four musicians’ parts fit together. Instead, the work is broken up into “mobiles.” Transitions between mobiles are made as an ensemble, but within each mobile the musicians are free to interpret how the parts should intersect.

For JACK Quartet, Lutosławski’s work provided an opportunity to showcase the well-oiled machine that is their ensemble dynamics. Every nuance in timbre and timing was perfectly coordinated between each of the four musicians — no small feat given the large number of musical ideas that the piece tosses around. At the cliff-hanging climax, the performers traded vehement bow strokes, building up tension like a glass about to overflow. Teetering on the brink, the musicians began to back down one by one, in a painstakingly gradual release. A single, resigned note from cellist McFarland finally pulled the plug, releasing the web of tension and causing a near-audible sigh of relief to sweep across the room.

The concert began with two works representing rhythmic complexity from opposite ends of the musical timeline — one from 1400, and the other from 2008. Composed at the turn of the 15th century, Rodericus’ Angelorum Psalat contains some of the most complex examples of rhythm and vocal harmony of its time. JACK Quartet violinist Christopher Otto’s arrangement of the work for string quartet sounded surprisingly fresh and modern. After a meditative introduction by first violin and viola, pizzicato harmonies in the second violin and cello added an element of buoyancy, accentuating the piece’s lilting rhythms.

In contrast, Brian Ferneyhough’s Exordium exemplifies 21st century rhythmic exploration. Written in 2008 to commemorate composer Elliott Carter’s 100th birthday, the nine-minute piece is comprised of 43 tiny movements full of scratches, screeches, and glissandos, many performed in unison. The piece poses a bevy of challenges, particularly of the technical variety. Ever heard a string quartet squeak in unison, while staying perfectly in tune and varying dynamics at exactly the same rate? JACK Quartet delivered on this promise.

In his introductory speech, Roman revealed concert details for the 2013-14 TownMusic season, including an appearance by composer Caroline Shaw, winner of the 2013 Pulizer Prize for Music. She’ll be performing with the vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth. Other highlights include performances of Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale, Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire, and three new TownMusic commissions. Stay tuned for the full season announcement from Town Hall.

Arts & Entertainment, Music

Byron Schenkman and Friends and an “Entrancing” Schubertiade

We have a plethora of top-quality classical music performances in Seattle in all genres but one. There are orchestral concerts, chamber music concerts, instrumental recitals, brass performances, sacred music and secular, and choral concerts large and small — we have one of the best choral traditions in the country here.

But what we don’t hear much of, live, is art song or lieder, the large literature of beautiful songs for solo singers written by composers from baroque days to today: Handel, Schumann, Brahms, Wolf, Ravel, Gershwin, Poulenc, up to Ned Rorem, Lee Hoiby, and William Bolcom, just to name a few. And of course, the towering figure of Schubert, whose exquisite songs number at least 600.

Clara Rottsolk, soprano

This gap was filled briefly Sunday night, when Byron Schenkman and Friends put on an evening of music such as Schubert did, when the composer sat at the piano trying out his songs and and new compositions with friends in an informal gathering. In the intimate environs of “Downstairs” at Town Hall, with Schenkman at the piano, violinist Liza Zurlinden, clarinetist Sean Osborn, and soprano Clara Rottsolk together gave an entrancing version of a Schubert gathering.

The Sonata in D major for violin and piano, D. 384, introduced this listener to Zurlinden, a newcomer to Seattle with impressive credentials. These were born out by her approach to this lively sonata, in which she and Schenkman were closely in sync with phrasing and expression, and she used vibrato to shade rather than lathering it over every note. (It did sound as though they had not had much rehearsal, as at times they weren’t exactly together.)

Almost all the rest of the concert was given over to Schubert songs. Schubert really understood the voice, while Rottsolk has the perfect vocal quality for his music and the ability to put across the meaning of the words with her demeanor and facial expression as well as in her singing.

I don‘t remember who it was who said “An art song is an opera in three minutes,” but it’s true. The singer must put across in that time what takes three hours in an opera, and it is an art which Rottsolk has mastered. She sang several well-known Schubert lieder, including “Im Fruehling,” “Auf dem Wasser zu Singen,” “Ganymed,” and “An die Musik,” as well as a couple less familiar. Rottsolk’s voice glows, sometime softly, sometimes burnished. Her pitch sense is unerring, and her technique easy. It’s a lovely vehicle for these songs and I could have listened to a dozen more.

The piano here is as important as the voice. Schenkman is an unerring musician himself, and the pairing of the two made for a true collaboration.

Towards the end, Rottsolk took a short break while Schenkman gave a fine performance of the substantial Allegretto in E-Flat major, D. 946, No. 2, not published until Brahms found it later in the century. As the icing on the performance cake, Rottsolk, Schenkman, and clarinetist Osborn ended the program with “Der Hirt auf dem Felsen” (“The Shepherd on the Rock”), one of Schubert’s more glorious inspirations, which we rarely get to hear live in such a professional performance.

The concert was all too soon over and we are again faced with a dearth of lieder and art song performance. Perhaps Schenkman and Friends could schedule something like this every year (maybe not on a fine June night) to feed the perennial hunger of art-song lovers in Seattle.