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
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Sunday, November 22, 2009
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.
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.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
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.
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.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
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.
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.
Friday, November 6, 2009
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.
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.
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