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Monday, February 8th 2010

12:07 PM | Robert McBride

Dem Saints




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Friday, February 5th 2010

2:27 PM | Andrea Murray

As of December I am officially that Last Woman In America To Buy An MP3 player.  Until then, I openly scoffed at the idea .  “I don't need to have music with me everywhere I go. I prefer to experience reality directly, without an after-market soundtrack.   Dear Lord, how I prattled on about that.   To say nothing of my equally tiresome rant about how music deserves to be paid attention to, not just employed as sonic chewing-gum.

That all changed when  I realized that music might keep me distracted enough to endure occasional exercise, something I otherwise regard as a form of corporal punishment. So lately I’ve been going on ½ hour walks, propelled by music that seems designed for that purpose.  I’ll spare myself the embarrassment of publicly divulging a typical playlist; it suffices to say  that I just returned from a lunchtime saunter with the words “WAR! HUH!  Good God y’all” stuck in my head.

 It strikes me, though, that as a Licensed and Bonded Classical Music Announcer, I really ought to include some classical music in my exercise routine.  Any suggestions?  

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8:30 AM | Christa Wessel

Have you seen the All Classical Arts Calendar lately?!?  There are a ridiculous number of concerts to choose from in the upcoming week.  Heck, even this weekend offers a wealth of choices.

It's difficult to decide between events, but tonight I'm definitely going to opening night of the Portland Opera's "Cosi Fan Tutte".  I'll also indulge in more opera by sitting in a darkened movie theater to enjoy the Metropolitan Opera's HD broadcast of Verdi's "Simon Boccanegra" -- this is Placido Domingo's first baritone role, and there's no obstacle you can place in front of me that will keep me away from the theater Saturday morning.

On Northwest Previews this week I featured Portland Camerata's "Adventures of a Music Master", which seems like a definite possibility for a fun Saturday night.  (If you missed NWP Thursday night, you can still listen on-demand to hear more about upcoming concerts.)   Ooh, and let's not forget about the remarkable series of concerts at the Oregon Symphony this weekend.  Sibelius' Second Symphony?  Yes, please!

Whew.  I think I'm going to need to take a vacation day on Monday just to recover!  :^)  How about you?  Do you have any fun plans this weekend?  Anything cool I should know about?


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Tuesday, February 2nd 2010

7:45 AM | John Pitman

Classical Grammys:  What’s that, you say?  There are Grammys for classical music?

Sunday evening, much later than I would have liked (since I get up so early), my wife and I watched part of this year’s Grammy awards.  It was pretty spectacular, I have to admit, from Lady Gaga’s costumed spectacle to Pink’s nearly-nude trapeze stunt, the performances were dazzling.  However, and you may not know this, by the time of the highly publicized awards for the main pop categories, there have already been awards held for the many other categories, including classical music.

 

But you will probably never see this portion aired, and I don’t need to tell you why.  Classical music, at least in the United States, comprises about 3 percent of the total revenue of the recording industry, so it gets little notice.  In fact, on the Grammy site itself, the “classical music” category is second to the bottom, right after “production, classical”, and “music video”.  I doubt that even the top classical artists could match the acrobatics of the women who wowed audiences on Sunday evening.  Perhaps that’s just as well, given the raised expectations of the crowd!

 

It’s interesting to look over the list and see the type of music that the instrumental and vocal soloists, orchestras, choirs and record producers chose in their nominated and winning CDs.  Here’s a link to the winners of the 2010 Classical Grammy awards.

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Monday, February 1st 2010

8:17 PM | Robert McBride

The Future Isn't What it Used to Be

I'm still grappling with the fact that I'm alive in the year 2010. Isn't this way into the future? Shouldn't we be on our second mission to Jupiter by now? Where's my flying car?! Actually, pessimist that I used to be, I thought we would have blown ourselves up by now. (And please, spare me the inane movies about the Mayan calendar. They just ran out of room, that's all! Besides, if they were so smart, how come they're not around now to make a new calendar?)

Anyway, thoughts about the future have been on my mind lately not just because of the cool-looking date 2 0 1 0 but also because I've been to season-preview events put on by Portland Opera and the Oregon Symphony. What riches lie ahead for us! Portland Opera will be doing both of Maurice Ravel's operas, neither of which I've ever seen. And the symphony will be bringing us Mahler's Symphony No. 10, the Percussion Concerto by Jennifer Higdon that won a Grammy award yesterday, and a whole concert celebrating the orchestra, featuring six principals in solo roles, plus the Concerto for Orchestra by Bartok. Nice.

I didn't expect to be here now, but I'm glad I am. I wonder if I (we) can make it to 2020.

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Wednesday, January 27th 2010

10:18 AM | Christa Wessel

Earlier this week I had the opportunity to sit down with Israeli composer Yaron Gottfried to chat about his upcoming appearance with the Portland Chamber Orchestra.  Mr. Gottfried has composed a series of classically-themed "jazz suites", one of which uses as its basis Peter Warlock's "Capriol Suite":



I love how the opening of the work is almost a note-for-note tribute to the original, then suddenly a jazz trio comes in and takes the theme to lovely and unfamiliar places.

Also on the PCO's weekend program is Gottfried's "Mozart Swings" suite and the work which inspired it:  Mozart's Symphony No.40.

I'll be sharing my conversation with Yaron Gottfriend with you on Northwest Previews this week.  (The always-exuberant PCO director, Yacov Bergman, joins in, too, to discuss how this 'blending of the arts' is at the heart of the Portland Chamber Orchestra's mission.)  Tune in Thursday night at 6pm to hear more...


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