tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post8435322812506471255..comments2024-03-27T23:06:03.736-05:00Comments on The Music Salon: Friday MiscellaneaBryan Townsendhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09482696991279345516noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-58816007600424847572015-04-10T11:37:03.177-05:002015-04-10T11:37:03.177-05:00The only part of Mexico I'm at all familiar wi...The only part of Mexico I'm at all familiar with is Oaxaca; there are plenty of names Nahuatl-ish etc in Oaxaca; therefore, I presumed you were setting up the reCaptchas yourself: very bad logic, that. :-) Looking forward to the Friday Miscellany but work imposes just now, tsk.Marc in Eugenehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04331547981498637474noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-40398201576174812042015-04-10T07:40:24.515-05:002015-04-10T07:40:24.515-05:00Where I am we do not have our own orchestra, thoug...Where I am we do not have our own orchestra, though there are a couple of orchestras nearby. So I am a bit envious of all the programs you can attend live.<br /><br />Lately I have to prove I'm not a robot every time I leave a reply to a comment. The really twisty ones over black and white backgrounds drive me nuts so I just keep hitting "give me another one" until I get a readable one. Occasionally they give you beer, sushi or pasta for variety. But I haven't seen the Nahuatl street sign yet. Where I live we actually do have Nahuatl street signs like "Huitzilopochtle".Bryan Townsendhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09482696991279345516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-81207735758996881892015-04-09T14:43:27.150-05:002015-04-09T14:43:27.150-05:00Sorry! I so often forget to check the 'email ...Sorry! I so often forget to check the 'email when there are additional comments' button. <br /><br />Just the composers' names were advertised on the other night's program.<br /><br />Saw last night that the Eugene Symphony next year-- it's their 50th anniversary season-- are performing Varèse's Amériques, Adam's Short Ride in a Fast Machine, Ginastera's Estancia and his Piano Concerto no. 1. Roberto Sierra and Mason Bates. Duruflé's Requiem. Beethoven's... yes, that one, and Mahler's 4th.<br /><br />The 'prove you're not a robot' thingey-- last time, of a dozen images, select the pasta. The best was a street sign in Nahuatl or some cognate Mesoamerican language, twenty odd letters of it. :-)<br /> <br />[http://www.eugenesymphony.org/Events/2015-16-Season/]Marc in Eugenehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04331547981498637474noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-83824579909756216602015-04-09T08:18:36.204-05:002015-04-09T08:18:36.204-05:00Which Pujol? There are some nice quintets with gui...Which Pujol? There are some nice quintets with guitar by Boccherini. What Ginastera I wonder? He wrote a solo sonata for guitar.<br /><br />Sorry, I'm not sure what the reference is in your last sentence? Nahuatl?Bryan Townsendhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09482696991279345516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-64329024277008295882015-04-08T19:50:15.117-05:002015-04-08T19:50:15.117-05:00The two pieces of Heald were short, two or three m...The two pieces of Heald were short, two or three minutes and then perhaps five or six; excerpted from his 5th Quartet, written for the DSQ. (Their first concert next season, in November, includes the entire quartet, perhaps.) Named <i>Gramachree</i>, and the second <i>Croghan a Venee</i>, but I don't know my Irish folk melodies so no idea how he would describe the relations between sources and his own invention but I think there was certainly some underlying song brought into the second passage. Quite lush and sonorous, flowing and nary a whiff of dissonance, complementary to the spikiness of the Shostakovich they preceded and followed.<br /><br />Music-- Pujol, Boccherini, and Ginastera-- for guitar and strings next March, with James Edwards, guitarist.<br /><br />(The pasta was clever, but the Nahuatl? street sign name remains my favorite and was the most challenging.)Marc in Eugenehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04331547981498637474noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-979268314367922015-04-03T16:53:10.146-05:002015-04-03T16:53:10.146-05:00Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 9 is an exce...Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 9 is an excellent piece that I wrote about here: <br /><br />http://themusicsalon.blogspot.com/2011/10/shostakovich-quartets-part-5.html<br /><br />Looking forward to a report on the Jason Heald quartet.Bryan Townsendhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09482696991279345516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-44442796981477040282015-04-03T13:47:46.635-05:002015-04-03T13:47:46.635-05:00Am going to hear the premiere performance of the D...Am going to hear the premiere performance of the Delgani String Quartet Tuesday and will let you know if they include a piece of Glass's.... <i>Well, no. Dvorak's 13th and Shostakovich's 9th, and the premiere of Jason Heald's 5th-- part of it before the D. and part between the D. and the S. and part after-- apparently, that's how traditional Irish airs go in traditional Irish shows, ahem. We shall see. The violist has recorded the works of Gino Gorini (of whom I had never heard)... and they're on Spotify, ha. A viola sonata, a piano quintet, inter alia. Hmm.</i> <br /><br />The Oregon Bach Festival is featuring Part's Passio at the end of June....Marc in Eugenehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04331547981498637474noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-42603907145654003742015-04-03T12:27:55.595-05:002015-04-03T12:27:55.595-05:00For me it is usually a question of repertoire: the...For me it is usually a question of repertoire: the kinds of pieces I want to hear are not often featured on programs in my area. Chamber music and orchestral series both tend to keep turning up the same pieces. I'm longing to hear some Rautavaara or Pärt and they are playing Schumann. But the last orchestral concert I attended I did enjoy while also noting that, just as you say, with a good sound system, you can have virtually the same experience at home. Ironically, sometimes I find concerts annoying when they are trying too hard to make it an "experience" by, for example, talking too much before each piece (or at all), or making a big deal out of moving about or tossing of hair, that sort of thing. Listening to a recording you are not distracted by redundant visual elements.Bryan Townsendhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09482696991279345516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-70793205724496912182015-04-03T11:29:17.277-05:002015-04-03T11:29:17.277-05:00Too bad Blogger doesn't have an edit function....Too bad Blogger doesn't have an edit function... Apologies for the typos.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8827040061563065922.post-57376504494225167902015-04-03T11:27:20.492-05:002015-04-03T11:27:20.492-05:00For operas and recitals the added value of a live ...For operas and recitals the added value of a live performance is self-evident, but for symphonic music it's a real dilemma. I can listen to any symphony I want from the comfort of my home with a sound quality to die for. My last visits to the concert hall have been, frankly, disappointing. Expensive tickets, bad seats, people coughing, low volume, and the boring "spectacle" of a guy gesticulating with a baton for hours before a sea of quasi-motionless musicians.<br /><br />The musical experience I get at home is far superior, so why bother? There is nothing visual of compelling interest in the performance of a symphony. <br /><br />Of course, it's a different matter with an opera or a ballet or a piano recital.<br /><br />My last live performance of the Mass in Bm is equally disappointing: excellent ensemble (Koopman) but refusal to amplify the sound meant that I could barely hear the sopranos from where I was. <br /><br />In this day and age where you can buy the complete works of Bach (say, by Rilling) for about $200, the economics just doesn't work for concert halls.<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com