December 11, 2015
I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Matt Haimovitz, the American cellist who garnered a lot of attention fifteen years ago, when he performed in “unusual” venues, including brew pubs and rock clubs. This was ground-breaking stuff back then; now it seems less surprising to see a cadre of bass-instrument players strike bow to …
October 21, 2015
Anthony De Mare has been on a journey of discovery and affirmation. For the past several years, the pianist has been celebrating the extraordinary music of what he calls “one of our greatest American composers”, Stephen Sondheim. And he’s taking dozens of today’s top composers along with him on this journey. Fittingly, as Sondheim draws …
October 8, 2015
American violinist Anne Akiko Meyers recently visited us at All Classical Portland, as part of her performance with Vancouver Symphony Orchestra in Leonard Bernstein’s Serenade (After Plato’s “Symposium”). Just before her arrival, Anne and I spoke by phone about “Serenade: The Love Album” (Released on the Entertainment One label), which features that very work by …
October 2, 2015
Yundi, who at 18 was the youngest winner of the Chopin International Competition, is renowned for his interpretation of the great, Polish-born Romantic composer. Chopin’s music has continued to figure in Yundi’s recitals in recent years, but after his first few CDs, the Chinese pianist moved on to other corners of the repertoire, recording Prokofiev, …
September 17, 2015
The Catalyst Quartet makes its debut with the Goldberg Variations of Bach. The variations, which began as a harpsichord piece, have been transcribed for innumerable instruments in recent years (accordion, anyone?), as well as two fine versions for string trio. This version is the first for quartet, and the arrangement was done not by an …
September 1, 2015
In May, when British pianist Stephen Hough was in town to perform with the Oregon Symphony Orchestra and Carlos Kalmar, I asked him if he wouldn’t mind stopping by All Classical to tell me about three fantastic new CDs that the Hyperion label released this summer. Stephen was more than happy to do so, despite …
August 12, 2015
The Academy of St Martin in the Fields is one of the world’s most acclaimed and actively recording chamber orchestras. It is also one of the most played ensembles heard on All Classical Portland. Based in London, England, the ensemble was formed in 1958 by Sir Neville Marriner who was recently named to the Order …
July 30, 2015
Pianist Lara Downes, a Steinway & Sons artist, has made a number of recordings for the piano company’s label in recent years with some intriguing concepts behind them. “Exiles’ Cafe”, for example, highlighted European composers who had to leave their homelands, and in so doing, changed the landscape of music in their adopted country. Ms. …
July 8, 2015
As the summer begins to heat up, so does the music festival scene in Oregon. The Oregon Bach Festival and Chamber Music Northwest are each in the midst of their summer concert series with fresh sounds, artists, and performances. The Oregon Bach Festival, founded in 1970, is one of Oregon’s and the United States best …
June 30, 2015
The American composer James Horner, who composed more than 100 film scores, including “Titanic,” “Apollo 13,” “Braveheart” and “Avatar” passed away June 22 at the age of 61. Horner was a classically trained musician and scholar, who began playing the piano at age 5. He attended the Royal College of Music in London as a …
