Anthony De Mare: Re-Imagining Sondheim

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 from the worlds of classical and jazz to perfectly express what I call the “psychology” of his characters, De Mare has found composers who acknowledge that Sondheim has been a big influence on their own lives, and bring something of themselves in “re-imagining” Sondheim for the piano.

De Mare (pronounced “deh MAR”), who’s already been in Portland (2011, with Portland Piano International), has received interpretations of Sondheim’s songs from the likes of Steve Reich and William Bolcom, to Wynton Marsalis (from the world of jazz and classical, really), to film composer Thomas Newman, and younger talents from indie and pop genres (Ethan Iverson, Duncan Sheik). De Mare wanted them to not deconstruct the pieces – although Iverson does, to some extent, with Send in the Clowns – but to either expand on them, or to emphasize some aspect of the musical material. I greatly enjoyed the treatment that Duncan Sheik, Thomas Newman and Mark-Anthony Turnage gave to the songs of “Sweeney Todd”, which helped to whet my appetite for Portland Opera’s production next summer.

Sondheim can be heard, through the interpretations of these 36 composers, to be the genius that he is. Click on the link to enjoy my conversation, with musical examples, of Anthony De Mare sharing his passion for the music of Stephen Sondheim, on this new ECM release.

Liaisons: Re-imagining Sondheim From The Piano – Anthony De Mare
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Anne Akiko Meyers “Serenades” with passion

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 Bernstein, and an “exploration of love in all its dimensions”, to borrow her words. It’s a disc that certainly expresses love in all its many forms from beginning to end, and does it well.

Bernstein’s Serenade is inspired by Plato’s Symposium, effectively the description of a big “party” between Plato and philosophers who came before him; an imaginary bacchanal that probes deep questions about the nature of love. Bernstein’s piece is for violin and orchestra, but is not a concerto: it’s an expression of what the composer found in the writings of Plato.

Following this exuberant and, as Ms. Meyers’ admits, very challenging work (challenging to perform, not to listen to), the violinist plays eleven gorgeous melodies from stage and screen, all arranged by contemporary composers who put their mark on the pieces, but retained the original intent of the songs. “When You Wish Upon A Star”, originally from Disney’s “Pinocchio”, is one of the highlights of this sequence for me. Meyers plays the piece with sentiment, but not in an overly sentimental way (if that makes sense!). In my conversation with Anne, you’ll hear this melody, and as you listen to All Classical Portland, you’ll encounter more of these deftly-crafted arrangements.

Anne was a great joy to talk to, and I hope that we have the opportunity to have her back in Portland in the near future.

Anne Akiko Meyers: Serenade – The Love Album
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Yundi returns to Chopin, and Poland

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, Liszt, Beethoven and the like.

Now, with “Yundi Chopin: Preludes” (on Deutsche Grammophon), Yundi’s back to where he started, at least with the composer. At 33, and with 15 years between his big win and now, Yundi has refined his interpretation. I’ve always enjoyed Yundi’s Chopin performances, for his sensitive and nuanced approach. Now it seems even more so. I’ve heard plenty of recordings of the 24 Preludes of Opus 28 (and there are two more, by the way) where the main effect is stressing dynamic contrasts. Yundi’s utilizes that effect, but not for shock value or to test your sound system’s limits. The contrasts are tied to an emotional journey that Chopin takes us on.

This is late-period Chopin, when he had escaped the damp climate of Paris for what he hoped would be drier air for his tuberculosis, on Mallorca. Unfortunately, the weather was crummy there, too, and did him no good. Except, happily for us, in these marvelously-varied preludes. I think you’ll enjoy how Yundi revisits the composer’s past, as well as his own, in the pianist’s life-long relationship with this most sensitive of Romantic composers. Yundi and I had a great and insightful conversation about this recording, his return to Poland (now to be a judge in the Chopin competition, alongside Martha Argerich and Garrick Ohlsson), and plans for the future. It’s good to hear Yundi back with his old friend.

Yundi: Chopin Preludes
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Creating a “Catalyst” for music old and new

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 individual outside the group, but was a collaborative process by Catalyst’s four members. Two of them, violinist Karla Donehew-Perez, and cellist Karlos Rodriguez, joined me in conversation about Bach, his gorgeous set of variations, Glenn Gould’s influence – and his string quartet – and what it means to be a creative artist in classical music in this day and age. Along the way, you’ll hear music by Bach and Gould, in this recording that shows that it truly takes four individuals to create a cohesive voice.

Catalyst Quartet: Bach/Gould Project
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Stephen Hough: Pianist and Composer

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 the many distractions of Portland (Cacao Chocolates, Powell’s bookstores), and shared his wonderful insight into the intimate piano miniatures of Grieg known as “Lyric Pieces”, of which Stephen recorded his favorites.

The second CD we talk about pairs Mr. Hough with his longtime friend and musical collaborator, cellist Steven Isserlis. On this particular disc they recorded Grieg’s one-and-only cello sonata (a nice follow-up to the Lyric Pieces), and Mendelssohn’s D Major sonata. But Stephen is also an accomplished composer of many types of music, and tells the story of how he wrote a cello sonata for a left-hand pianist who ultimately refused to play Hough’s piece (find out in the audio blog).

Thirdly, Mr. Hough has recorded a gorgeous choral work called “Missa Mirabilis”, and so named for good reason, as Hough had a car accident before he’d completed the work. Happily, the pianist survived along with the sketches. You’ll hear a portion of his mass in the course of my conversation with Stephen. A dramatic story that precedes what turns out to be a lyrical, haunting and inventively-orchestrated new piece. I eagerly await more from Stephen Hough, but with these three new CDs, there’s plenty to keep us all satisfied for some time.

Grieg Lyric Pieces

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Cello Sonatas by Grieg, Mendelssohn and Stephen Hough

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Stephen Hough’s Missa Mirabilis (with choral works by Vaughan Williams)

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Meet the Musicians: Academy of St Martin in the Fields

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 of the Companions of Honour list by Queen Elizabeth II this past June.

The Order recognizes those who have made substantial achievements in the arts, music, science, politics, literature and religion.

Marriner, a violinist and past member of the London Symphony Orchestra, began conducting in 1969 – the same year he became the Music Director of the renowned Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. According to the Academy’s website, no other orchestra and conductor has recorded more together than Marriner and the Academy.

The Academy also has a touring chamber ensemble composed of principal players from each instrument in the orchestra. The ensemble has released more than 30 CDs.

Since 2011, virtuoso violinist Joshua Bell has been the Academy’s Music Director – the only person to hold that position since the orchestra’s inception.

Bell began playing the violin at age 4 and is considered one the era’s most celebrated and talented violinists. He has recorded more than 40 CDs since his first recording on the Decca label when he was 18, according to the Academy’s website.

Bell is also a senior lecturer at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. A fervent supporter of music education, Bell works with Education Through Music to help provide children and teens in inner city areas of America with access to instruments.

Bell, Marriner and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields can often be heard on the airwaves of All Classical Portland with their impressively vibrant and varied list of recordings.

Bell will play with the Oregon Symphony February 20-22, 2016, with a program including music by Wagner, Sibelius’s Symphony No. 6 and Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1.

The Academy’s most recent recording with Bell is an all Bach CD from 2014 on the Sony Classical label featuring Bach’s first and second violin concertos, chaconne, air, gavotte en rondeau.

A pianist channels Billie Holiday

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. Downes’ latest is inspired by a singer whose unique style certainly changed the landscape of jazz forever after: Billie Holiday. Downes grew up listening to Holiday and other performers of jazz and classical, and has found that, at this stage in her career, Holiday is one that has influenced her own approach to piano interpretation.

Her new CD is not a note-for-note transcription of Holiday’s phrasing and vocalizations, but the work of arranger and pianist Jed Distler, who collaborated with Downes on these songs. There is as much of Lara Downes as there is Billie Holiday in these wonderful performances.

A Billie Holiday Songbook / Lara Downes
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Oregon Music Festivals Bring Diverse and Rich Sounds to the Community

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 and most critically acclaimed festivals of Bach’s music. The festival’s mission is to “Inspire the human spirit through the art of music by providing the highest level of performances and educational opportunities.”

On July 8, the festival will present a lecture and concert of Bach’s “St. John Passion” led by Maestro Helmuth Rilling at the Hult Center in Eugene, Oregon. The University of Oregon Chamber Choir, Oregon Bach Festival Orchestra, and Oregon Bach Festival Baroque Orchestra will perform the piece.

The OBF Orchestra will perform the piece again on July 9 at the Hult Center with the Berwick Chorus, soprano Joanne Lunn, mezzo-soprano Roxana Constantinescu, tenor Nicholas Phan, baritone Tyler Duncan, and bass Nathan Berg.

The world-renowned Canadian Brass ensemble will also perform at the festival on July 10. The festival concludes with Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, a true tour de force, conducted by Matthew Halls and played by the OBF orchestra, Berwick Chorus, soprano Nicole Cabell, and mezzo-soprano Roxana Constantinescu. According to the festival’s program notes, Mahler himself said, “A symphony must be like the world. It must embrace everything.” Mahler’s second symphony does just that and the festival raves on its website that the symphony also “Relays the story of life: the essential quest for understanding, and coming to terms with life’s challenges.”

To learn more about the festival and to purchase tickets, visit www.oregonbachfestival.com.

Chamber Music Northwest, now in its 45^th season, is one of the largest festivals of its kind. Its mission is to “Inspire listeners through concerts celebrating the richness and diversity of chamber music, performed by artists of the highest caliber.”

The festival is committed to performing diverse chamber works as well as newer 21^st century contemporary classical music by premiering a variety of new compositions this summer, many of which are world premieres by Peter Schickele, John Steinmetz, and David Schiff.

Concertgoers are able to attend open rehearsals of festival performances that conclude with a question and answer session, allowing for an intimate setting with the performers and the rich, vibrant music.

The festival is taking on the huge task of performing all of Beethoven’s violin sonatas. The sonatas are being performed in a series of three parts; two remain this summer, including Part II, which includes sonatas 2, 5, 3, and 10, performed by violinist Jennifer Koh and pianist Shai Wosner on Thursday, July 9, at Reed College. The final installment in the series concludes with sonatas 1,4, and 9, performed by one of the worlds’ leading solo violinists—Augustin Hadelich—on July 16, at Reed College.

Other notable concerts during the festival include a celebration of the viola’s diversity with Schubert, Schumann and Massenet, Messiaen’s emotionally-charged Quartet for the End of Time, and the festival’s finale celebrating concertos by Bach and Mozart.

To learn more about the festival and to purchase tickets, visit www.cmnw.org.

Whether you are a devotee to baroque music, contemporary classical, or a combination of the two, there is plenty of music left to be heard this summer. Tune in to Played In Oregon hosted by Brandi Parisi on All Classical Portland on Sunday’s at 1 p.m. for a chance to hear some of Oregon’s most diverse and vibrant classical music performed by local ensembles.

James Horner Leaves Listeners a Lifetime of Music

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 youth and later went on to earn his bachelor’s degree in music at the University of Southern California and his master’s and doctorate at the University of California Los Angeles, where he taught music theory.

Alex Harwood, an American composer, is quoted in an article from The Guardian, stating that “James was one of the last of that old school of composers, like John Williams, with proper classical training and unbelievable music knowledge.”

Horner told the New York Times in an interview in 2000 that, “I [write] it at a desk with pen and paper … I don’t use a computer in writing at all. I’m sort of old-fashioned about it.”

Horner notes that many of his scores were influenced by classical composers including Benjamin Britten, Sergei Prokofiev and Thomas Tallis, many of which are often heard on All Classical Portland.

Horner won two Academy Awards, two Golden Globes and received 10 Oscar nominations during his lifetime. His first full length score was for the 1979 film “The Lady in Red” and his first major breakout score came from “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” in 1982.

The success of Horner’s score for “Titanic” as well as his original song “My Heart Will Go On” performed by Celine Dion, for both of which he won an Academy Award, has not been forgotten in the 20 years since he composed it. Many orchestras and vocalists have done recordings of Horner’s work because of its richness and popularity.

His music for “Titanic” focused on Celtic instrumentation in order to reflect the ship’s origins, which was built in Belfast and carried hundreds of Irish natives.

Horner’s music is known and critiqued as music on an “epic scale” with “bolder and more contemporary sounds” and a “subtle and contemplative flare” as critiqued by the New York Times.

The Atlantic also noted that Horner’s scores “tended to be more delicate things; rummaging through musical history and diverse cultures.”

James Cameron said jointly with producer Jon Landau from “Avatar” in a BBC News article that, “James’s music affected the heart because his heart was so big.”

Cameron is also quoted in an article from the Hollywood Reporter saying that Horner totally committed himself to “Titanic.” “He blocked out his schedule and sat down and watched maybe 30 hours of raw dailies to absorb the feeling of the film.”

Cameron also mentioned that the orchestra loved Horner and that he worked with a lot of the same musicians and also conducted his own music, which not all composers do.

Horner’s score for Cameron’s 2009 film “Avatar” showcased his experimentation and dedication to providing listeners with exotic sounds that resonated deeply.

Horner said that Avatar was one of the most difficult films he has worked on and the biggest job he has undertaken.

Spencer Kornhaber writes in his article about Horner in The Atlantic that the best film music does two things: “It emphasizes the story on screen and it creates its own parallel story.” Horner’s scores did just that as he was ambitiously driven to produce the highest quality of sounds for film.

Though the world may never again see a composer as gifted, dedicated and thoughtful as Horner, it is left with more than 100 scores for listeners to track down and authors to curate, as many of the great artists who leave us leave with them an astonishing lifetime of work.

Tune in Saturday, July 11, at 2 p.m. for a tribute program to James Horner on The Score with Edmund Stone.

Monica Huggett: a Conversation in Trio Form

Recently I had the pleasure of sitting down with the renowned violinist – and Artistic Director of Portland Baroque Orchestra – Monica Huggett. Since there was so much to talk about, this CD review is presented as a special three-part series.

Part the First: Remembering Christopher Hogwood

I’ve known Monica for essentially the two decades she’s been here. I’ve interviewed her about concerts, special recording projects, and have seen her perform with the PBO. But it also occurred to me that Monica is part of the fantastic period instrument movement. She’s recorded with all the major conductors, the pioneers of the practice. Christopher Hogwood was one of them. The conductor (who died in 2014) and Monica recorded Vivaldi concertos in the 80s, and Monica was part of the Academy of Ancient Music on their very first LP, in 1973. I take Ms. Huggett on a journey back to the early days with some of those now classic recordings.

Arne: Eight Overtures / Hogwood, Academy Of Ancient Music
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Part the Second: Monica Huggett and the Portland Baroque Orchestra’s new Bach CDs

Portland Baroque Orchestra has discovered that its audiences, following a concert, love to purchase PBO’s CDs, right in the lobby. The orchestra has been busy the past few years releasing CDs of concertos for oboe (with PBO Principal, Gonzalo Ruiz), and violin. Here’s something I found delightful: Monica has handed the solo parts over to several of the orchestra’s very talented musicians. You’ll hear some of them in this part of our recent conversation.

J.S. Bach Concertos for Oboe and Oboe d’amore
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Part the Third: Monica becomes director of Juilliard Baroque

As if Monica weren’t busy enough, she’s now performing and recording with fellow professors at Juilliard. We talk about the work that went into their new Naxos CD of Francois Couperin’s Les Nations: a series of trio sonatas that espouse the musical styles of several nations in Europe. Don’t know what a trio sonata is? Never fear! Listen to our conversation and hear the music.

Couperin: Les Nations / Juilliard Baroque
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