Phish - November 20 , 2009 - Cincinnati, Ohio

I have been thinking about how to write about a two show run with Phish. Do I pick apart every song, hit the highs and lows, do a sociological analysis of the entire phenomenon? So many choices. I'll probably just mix it up a bit. Cincinnati is a town of my youth with strong memories of Cincinnati Reds games, Rock n Roll concerts and nights of heavy drinking with my old college roommate. Things there have changed quite a bit, Riverfront Stadium is no more, newer buildings have risen. This creates a weird jumble in my brain as I walk to the show.

I arrive at the Millennium Hotel to meet up with my friends and it is awash in Phish fans. I can see why recession hit cities must love Phish coming through as there are lots of out-of-towners who come to spend their cash. As we walk to the elegantly named U.S Bank Arena, I realize that downtown Cinci has been overtaken as well. While there was a fun aspect of this (finding a good veggie burrito on the way for instance) it was a bit freaky seeing throngs of people buying Nitrous Oxide balloons on the street a few hundred yards from the venue. My first thought was that the economic hard times must have hit Cinci so hard that the powers that be do not what to alienate Phish from coming here. Perhaps the police were just clueless.

It is strange being here also because it brings back memories of seeing shows in this place as a teenager. Probably my favorite Rock'N'Roll concert from the Seventies was seeing the Who here in December, 1975. The Who was one of the three biggest bands of that time (along with Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones). This was the era of "Festival" seating, meaning that you were fighting for your best spot. With popular acts, this got quite scary. At the Who show in 1975, a high school friend, Karen Blake, who did not ride to the show with us was hanging out with me and my bunch. She was a lovely and petite lass, who I would have asked out if I had not been so painfully shy at that time. When the few doors opened, there was a mad push for the doors and it got seriously scary, especially for this 5'2", 110 pound girl surrounded by mostly drug and alcohol addled guys. We did survive and saw a rock show for the ages, complete with ringing ears for the next two days. And yes, this is the same venue where 11 Who fans were crushed to death in 1979. I was not at that show but knew folks that were. Ghostly memories aside, I was thankful that Phish Phans are a decidedly more agreeable bunch than Who fans from the 70's.

The first set on Friday really encapsulates what is great about Phish. 1. Rock'n'Roll (Chalkdust Torture), 2. Dance Trance (The Moma Dance), 3. Beautiful Art Rock (The Divided Sky), 4. Shuffling Roots Rock (Alaska), 5. Upbeat Country Rock (Water in the Sky), 6. Ballad (Fast Enough for You), 7. New aged tinged art rock (Time Turns Elastic), 8. Funky nonsense (Gotta Jibboo), 9. Prog rock anthem (Fluffhead). The band seemed to be saying to us, yes we can do all of these things, and well. I do want to comment about how the set finished. This was the third time I have heard Time Turns Elastic. It's a long song (17 minutes) and starts slowly and quietly. After the ballad, the crowd seemed quite restless for the beginning (bathroom break, beer run song). I was determined to give it a close listen as I was still unsure about how much I liked it. By the end, they had built to a big climax, winning over me and engaging the crowd. Gotta Jibboo kept up the intensity with some killer bass work by Mike Gordon. Fluffhead maintained that intensity through it's fifteen minutes and had the crowd on it's feet shouting Fluffhead with all it's might.

The second set continued the variety-fest. Punch You In The Eye is not always played to open a set though, by chance, it has been in the three of four times I have seen it. For me, it is the quintessential opener, short, intense, and in itself encapsulating the variety that Phish brings - thumping, visceral bass opening, piano fueled rumba dance in the middle, Santana-esque clean concise electric guitar solos. Tweezer is as monolithic as songs come for Phish, thumping bass and rhythm guitar and piano as a percussion instrument. Light as the name implies is as light as Tweezer is heavy. Light is well played and uplifting. Back on the Train is a straight forward up tempo rock song. Possum, country rock with the expectation of big guitar climaxes at the end of a linear progression delivered well. Slave to the Traffic Light, is a 180 shift yet again, broad, slow, delicate. You Enjoy Myself is a generous set closer. What can you say about this unique musical invention? Fiendishly difficult composed opening, visceral build to an enigmatic climax, nonsense lyrics, synchronized trampoline jumping over a keyboard solo and an improvised vocal jam to close the set.

The encore underscores my theme of variety being the spice of life. Joy is a wistful ballad, Golgi Apparatus a rousing crowd pleaser complete with Flamenco guitar climax and Tweezer reprise with it's visceral build to a big stomping crescendo.

Overall excellent if not transcendent (but you can't experience that all the time or it would not be thus).

Umphrey's McGee - November 19, 2009 Mr. Smalls, Millvale, PA

This show was on a warm and lovely late November Thursday Night in Millvale. The show was sold out and jam packed (notice the double entendre). My friend's helped - Anita, Markus, cousin Fugate, Nadina and MattR. were present and accounted for. Umphrey's, being Umphrey's, opens with an old original song, not on any of their 7 studio albums, Syncopated Strangers. Nine minutes of what they do so well, incisive rhythms, brilliant staccato guitar, complicated multi-part mood shifts, heavy-delicate. Next song, Resolution, is yet another old original not on a studio recording - eighteen minutes of impressive shifts, two or three minutes in, they start playing with Norwegian Wood riffs, This goes on for many minutes, completely different in mood from the original Beatles song - Norwegian progressive jazz fusion Wood - then back to Resolution, into some funky improve territory, nice organ solo by Joel, eventually ending up in Voodoo Chile land about 13 minutes in, not really attempting a faithful version of this either, getting funkier as they go along. This flowed into Got Your Milk Right Here. An Ali Baba's Tahini song that Umphrey's plays regularly, a nice straight forward rocker with a nice chorus. An extremely faithful version of Dear Prudence comes next (with some sweet and tasteful guitar fills) - very nicely done. Rocker Part II starts mellow and weaves some delicate solos with occasional morphs into heavier sounds. After the vocals, this builds to an impressive guitar jam by the end of it's 11 minutes. Example 1, yes yet another example of an old original song not on a studio album. A Jazzy bouncy number that feels like an interlude but builds to some more impressive guitar feats. Seven songs and an hour into the show, Umphrey's breaks out a song that is actually on one of their studio albums, my favorite actually, Anchor Drops. Walletsworth starts heavy but morphs into a thoughtful, regretful ending. Andy's Last Beer from Local Band Does OK finishes the set. The band plays a little joke on the audience by getting us to clap on a song with a fractured time signature. Of course, it is a disaster, then Jake counts out time for us. 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4, 1-2, 1234567. They finish with some out of control (not really), guitar solos by Janke and Brendan.

They open the second set with probably their one anthem rocker, Wine Women and Song from Saftey in Numbers. They pull it off nicely without Huey Lewis. They stretch it out quite a bit and get some sing along in the crowd. Hurt Bird Bath from Local Band Does OK stretched out seriously, totaling 19 minutes of many moods and improve madness. A reggae interlude in the middle was quite nice, heating up again about 14 minutes in and a hot prog improv finish. Spires was the only song played off of their newest album Mantis. An unusually straightforward rock song, concise, a nice place for it in the set. An old epic song followed, Wappy Sprayberry. This has an insistent beat. Pittsburgh native, bassist Ryan Stasik, got to show off some nice bass work in the middle of the song. Some dancy trancy heaviness follows. This song segued nicely into Kimble from the band's first album, Greatest Hits Volume III. Marcus requested this from his old friend, Joel Cummins, who co-wrote the song. Kimble has a lightness that was welcome at this point and some beautiful acoustic piano work in the second part of the song after a big guitar climax. A cover of Steely Dan's Show Biz Kids was quite a treat, only the second time the band has played this. The set closes with Smell the Mitten, yes yet another original without a studio recording. Incredible organ work from Mr. Cummins and a manic dash finishes the song. A generous encore followed with The Floor then 40's Theme. The Floor being relatively mellow building to a nice climax. 40's Theme is a prog improv extravaganza, 9 minutes of tight staccato insistence and hip hoppy vocals. The climax of the song being an incredible unison guitar jam, the likes of which no one else I have ever seen does.

Yet another incredible Umphrey's show, my eighth. They have never failed to impress, while each show has it's own feel. The theme of this show seemed to be, we don't feel like playing anything new or much that we have actually put on a studio album. This might be a problem for most bands, but not for Umphrey's. It started with Cinninger being emphasized. The second set provided Cummins with some great moments to shine. Though really the way this 6 wheeler can turn on a dime in terms of mood, time sigs, etc... makes you just shake your head and smile.

Thanks to Phantasy Tour for song info and the Live Internet Archive for streaming Timothy Brown's audience recording of this show. You can find this here:
http://www.archive.org/details/umphreysmcgee2009-11-19.akg463s.ps2.flac24

Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra - November 13, 2009

I wrote this last week but it got lost in the place where messed up computers send things. I will recreate my thoughts as best I can.

I have been trying to discern themes at these shows or at least currents within them. This one had some kind of Asia Minor/West Asia theme. Richard Danielpour's Concerto for Orchestra (Zorastrian Riddles) was half played (First two of the four movements), Mozart's Fifth Violin Concerto with it's Turkish bit in the third movement finished the first half, and Richard Straus' Also Sprach Zarathustra was the second half. Zoraster and Zarathustra are names that refer to the same ancient Persian mystic/holy man. In addition, Danielpour notes in an interview in the cd booklet for the PSO recording of his piece that the riddles idea came from an account of Mozart, in costume, reading elaborate riddles to the audience between musical pieces.

That said, I do not discern anything musical that connects these pieces. For me, the real riddles were: Who is Andris Nelsons (the conductor); Who is Stefan Jackiw (the violinist); and most important, why do half a piece that was clearly concieved as a whole piece, particularly when the show was not overly generous in terms of ammount of music?

I have no answer to the first question but it seems a lousy way to treat their "Composer of the Year". I found the Danielpour interesting but the influences seemed obvious, Bernstein, Copland, Stravinsky ala Petrushka. Maybe I will get to hear the rest when they randomly program the second half of the piece someday.

Stefan Jackiw has been getting good notices where he has played but is not known otherwise to me as he has not had any reordings released yet. I am not sure I would grab a recording unless the repertoire was interesting but I was impressed with his playing. I have been told by violinist friends how deceptively difficult Mozart's violin concertos are. I believe this is because you have to be musical first and a virtuoso second (does that make sense?). Jackiw did a good job not jumping all over the piece but giving it space, particularly in the slow middle movement. His encore of the first movement of Bach's third partita was quite a treat, especially as I had just heard Jennifer Koh play the entire piece just weeks before (see my earlier entry for that). The differences between the two reminds me of the importance of context in performance, Jackiw was showing off with this piece after the relative restraint of Mozart (and showing off in a good sense, brilliant playing) while Jennifer Koh's performance was restrained and beautiful, setting up the intense performace of the Ysaye piece that followed.

Also Sprach Zarathustra was well played, the brass being outstanding as always. The guest concertmaster (from the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra) was excellent in the solo violin bits. Nelsons conducted with a good bit of animation though the reading was a fairly broad one, clocking in at about 34-35 minutes. I sometimes have trouble with this piece because I know Nietzsche too well. Straus' piece seems a bit sentimental and that does not seem a good fit for Nietzsche. And the best part of the piece really is that incredible beginning made famous by Kubrick. I was able to set those things aside and enjoy the show.

Overall an excellent show, with two new performers showing potential. But PSO programers, please go ahead and play a whole piece, especial as a way to support new music.

Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic - November 9, 2009

This show was designed for the 71st anniversary of Kristallnacht. A German Jewish woman who was 4 years old in Stuttgart shared her remembrances. She reminded me that the Holocaust became the Holocaust later, that most believed that the upsurge in antisemitism in 1930's Germany was not different than other times and would fade. Kristallnact changed that for her father and he got her and their family out of Germany as soon as was possible. I was impressed by the fact that she did not feel proprietary about genocide, noting others targeted by the Nazis and those suffering similar fates since and even now.

The music was chosen to tie into this theme. The Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic was conducted by their new music director, Ronald Zollman. Martinu's Memorial to Lidice began the program. Lidice was a town in Czechoslovakia destroyed by the Nazi's in retaliation for the killing of an SS officer. I did not know this piece though I do have a good deal of Martinu's music. While a heavy piece for Martinu, this still sounded like Martinu to me. This is as it should be I suppose but I did not feel the music captured the horrors the piece was referencing. I was glad to hear Martinu live, which I believe was a first for me.

Erwin Schulhoff's first symphony came next. Schulhoff was a Czech Jew who died in a Nazi concentration camp in 1942. His symphony from 1925 was also new to me. Schulhoff, according to the program notes, was all over the place in terms of influences, Reger, Debussy Schoenberg and Jazz all noted. This piece was also all over the place in a way that I found pretty enjoyable and amusing. I was reminded of early Stravinsky (Petruska), Debussy and Symanowski with a brief mix of serious dissonances and weird percussion effects. There were also these martial sounding percussion moments at the end of movements that seemed like foreshadowing of the war to come. My feeling was that Schulhoff had captured the wildness of 1920's Germany quite well in this piece. The Orchestra presented the music well. I would like to hear it again and will have to look for a recording.

Unlike the first half of the show, the second half was all familiar music. The music was also performed without pauses for applause from the audience. Barber's Adagio for Strings opened. This was my second Adagio in a few weeks as I had just heard the PSO and Leonard Slatkin do it on October 23rd. So how does a student orchestra compare with a world class ensemble? The Carnegie Mellon strings did quite well. The interpretations were quite different. While I didn't time them, I would guess the PSO performance came in at about nine minutes while this performance had to be about 7 minutes (reminded me of a version I have by Leopold Stokowski). It was certainly not as intense of an experience. I wondered about Zollman's choices here: does he just prefer a faster tempo? was the faster tempo due to a student ensemble not being well suited to the slower tempo? or was the choice due to Zollman presenting this as the first "movement" in this half of the program? I don't know but as the last bits of the Adagio were fading, the percussion section was getting ready. Schoenberg's A Survivor from Warsaw could hardly be more different from the Barber Adagio. Survivor is as furious as the Adagio is peaceful and comforting. Zollman went straight in without pause, the trumpet blaring and the percussion ringing loud. The narrator performed from the left box above the orchestra. This was the third time I have heard the "Survivor" live, each time it was an intense emotional experience and this was no exception. As the narrator, Douglas Ahlstedt, finished his last part and the orchestra and percussion reach their frenzied climax, it sent shivers down my spine and the chorus singing the Shema Yisroel brought tears to my eyes. I don't think there is a more intense seven minutes in all of classical music. Again without pause, Zollman started the Mahler Totenfeier (Burial Ceremony). All of us Mahler fans know this better as the music that became the first movement of his Second symphony. I have read that the differences are many but slight. I can't say that I could pick out any of them. While this piece probably presented the orchestra with it's most difficult challenges and they did sound at times like a very good student orchestra, this was a great choice for end of this program. Zollman was incisive without being rushed. It allowed me to recover my equilibrium after the Schoenberg.

As I noted in writing about Jennifer Koh's recital, a well designed program ends up being greater than the sum of it's parts. While the Barber was a bit of a stretch in terms of the historical tie in, it was perfect as a musical emotional set up of what came after. The CM Philharmonic brought things off well, while not achieving technical perfection they delivered a great concert. I thought Douglas Ahlstedt was spot on as the narrator in the Schoenberg, my favorite of the three performances I have seen.

Jennifer Koh - Finney Chapel, Oberlin College - October 29, 2009

I saw and heard Jennifer Koh's solo violin recital at Oberlin last week. It was not entirely solo as she had video accompaniment on one piece written by Esa-Pekka Salonen. This show was a nice mix of Baroque (Bach times 2), early 20th century (Ysaye) and contemporary (Carter, Saariaho and Salonen). It was also put together in a thoughtful and intelligent manner. For example, the concert opened with Bach's Partita #3 followed by Ysaye's Sonata #2. Ysaye's sonata was written for his friend and violinist Jacques Tibaud, who was obsessed with the Bach partita. Ysaye quotes the Bach to start his piece. Jennifer Koh played the Bach with great calm, upright, Apollonian, even a bit reserved. As she finished, she lifted her bow off the strings but paused without bringing her bow down and relaxing. She then launched straight into the Ysaye. It starts with the Bach quote then gets intense, impassioned. Jennifer's playing and body language mirrored this change. Knowing these pieces, I have thought it would be great to hear them together. Hearing them presented like this, without pause, I thought "Wow, that is exactly right". The Ysaye, with all of it's Dies Irae quotes was intense and beautiful, excellent contrast to Bach even forgetting the connection between the pieces.

The next two pieces were Elliot Carter's Remembering Roger and Kaija Saariaho's Nocturne in memoriam Witold Lutoslawski. Both of these pieces were written in memory of an appreciated older composer. This tie-in helped them hang together though they really were not much alike. I especially liked the Saariaho piece, introspective, difficult with unusual violin effects such as pressing "too" hard, creating a gritty sound. Saariaho's violin concerto Graal Theatre is a favorite of mine among new concertos and this piece is much in that vein.

The Salonen piece included the premiere of an abstract video accompaniment by Tal Rosner. I know the piece from Leila Josefowicz's recording and was looking forward to hearing it live. Jennifer did not disappoint though I am not able to compare her performance to the recording. The visuals really changed my experience such that I was not thinking about comparisons. The piece itself takes it's name from bit of Schoenberg's Pierrot lunaire and means Laughing Unlearnt. The video did not refer to this reference but stayed abstract though with lines of varying thickness that did seem to refer to the violin strings. You probably need to see it yourself which you can do as this piece with the video is on Jennifer Koh's latest Cedille release. I do not yet have a copy as all of the discs were quickly snatched up in the lobby at intermission.

The program ended after the intermission with a bookend of Bach's quite substantial Partita #2. The Apollonian Koh was back with a brilliant performance. Having seen Jennifer Koh now twice (the first being an incredible performance of the Ligetti violin concerto in a suburban Cleveland church), I place her in the top rung of my favorite violinists, along with Hilary Hahn, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Leonidas Kavakos and Gidon Kremer. This was a great program, put together with intelligence and performed with passion and brilliance.

Jackie Greene - October 27, 2009 - Rex Theatre Pittsburgh

I received a call from Mister Zed telling me that Jackie Greene was playing at the Rex, last minute show etc... I only know Jackie from seeing Phil Lesh and Friends at the 2008 All Good Festival when Jackie was one of Phil's friends but he did make a good impression from that show, so I said "yeah". I picked up his latest cd, "Giving Up the Ghost" (good stuff) and streamed some Phil Lesh and Friends shows from the Archive when Jackie was in the band.

I don't know why this was a last minute show (show elsewhere cancelled?) but those of us who showed up (about 100 people in the audience) got a real treat. Jackie's only comment as he came on stage was "Oh, I guess it will be an intimate show". The band was a basic setup, two electric guitars, bass and drums. There is a lot to be said for keeping it simple. The music as electric, rootsy, gritty and thoroughly enjoyable. They threw in some Beatles from my favorite Beatles album revolver(Taxman>Tomorrow Never Knows) that was quite nice. The Grateful Dead covers were perhaps not as surprising given Jackie's connection with Phil. Scarlet Begonias was a kind of slow groove that worked well for this song. The New Speedway Boogie encore was everything you want from that song, gritty, loud, bluesy, post-apocalyptic. Jackie and his guitar partner/bandmate were great trading licks through the show.

Pittsburgh Symphony - Friday October 23, 2009

This was a regular PSO subscription concert. Named "Made in America" for obvious reasons, Copland's 'El Salon Mexico', Sam Barber's Overture to the School for Scandal, Adagio for Strings and Medea's Meditation and Dance of Vengence comprised the first half of the show. John Williams' Horn Concerto played by our own Bill Caballero and a return to Copland with the Four Dance episodes from 'Rodeo' finished up the show.

I prepped for the show by listening to Thomas Schippers on the Barber pieces, Copland conducting his own work, John Williams Oboe and Violin Concertos (since his Horn Concerto hasn't been recorded). I do like preparing for shows, classical, jazz or whatever, but it can be a set up for disappointment. Schippers is one of the great Barber guys and Copland has some authority with his own music. Not to worry though as Leonard Slatkin is another of the great ones with this kind of American classical music, that I would call mainstream conservative. And the PSO seems to have always done this kind of music well as long as I have been coming to shows here (since 1981).

So how did things work out? I was not disappointed except by the fact that Anita was not feeling well and I had to go solo. I only spoke with one fellow who was sitting behind me who asked me what it meant in the program that Barber's music was called 'lyrical'. I came up with some quick answer about Barber writing recognizable melodies as opposed to Beethoven who likes fragments of melodies. This seemed to satisfy him.

Copland and Barber certainly have much in common, including, I think, that while they may be lyrical and melodic, being incisive and precise is extremely important. Barber especially has lots of little delicate interweavings through his pieces that Slatkin and the PSO captured. Barber's Overture to the School for Scandal is a favorite of mine. My one quibble is that I would have liked the achingly beautiful Oboe solo in the middle to have gotten more emphasis. Slatkin instead emphased the clarinet phrase that comes shortly after. I think my slight disappointment is something I did to myself by wanting it a certain way. This piece does need to explode at certain moments and it did. The strings were beautiful in the Adagio. The Medea piece was excellent as well though I have always felt that Barber did not capture to horrors of a mother murdering her children. He may have been too gentle of a soul to do so.

The John Williams Horn Concerto was the longest piece on the program, played by PSO principal horn, William Caballero. It is hard to believe he has been the principal here for 21 years. His predecessor here, Howard Hilyer, had a beautiful tone but was so completely unreliable at the end of his time that horn solos were painful and cringe filled events. Bill Caballero is and has been so reliable that it might be easy to take him for granted. Williams' concerto is in five movements and seems more like a tone poem for Horn and Orchestra in that it doesn't follow traditional form and doesn't end with a big finish. Each movement has an extra-musical name and bit of poetry attached. The music itself fits in well with the rest of the mainstream conservative rest of the program. John Williams seems to keep his movie music consciousness separate from his writing of regular classical music. I wonder how he actually does this but this concerto fits in well with the other concertos of his I have heard, serious and somber, well crafted but not necessarily much fun. Bill Caballero brought it of seemingly effortlessly. I can't imagine even it's dedicatee, Chicago's Dale Clevenger, playing it better. It was great to hear a modern horn concerto as opposed to Mozart and Straus yet again.

Overall, a great show, amazing horn player who we are lucky to have here, great orchestra and conductor working together on music they could probably play in their sleep but instead made sound fresh and brilliant.