Eric Clapton has been around a long time now. I first saw him in the mid seventies, about 35 years ago. Since that time, he got himself clean and sober (since 1987) and has gotten quite comfortable in his own skin. Memory is a funny thing so I won't pretend to be able to describe in detail the Clapton shows I saw at that time. I do remember two shows with George Terry as the other guitarist and one with Albert Lee. My clearest recollections are of a show in Huntington, West Virginia where myself and some intrepid travelers from Ohio University got pretty close on the floor at this general admission concert.
I bring these old memories to the fore because the shows in which I have seen Clapton this decade, 2004 in Columbus and 2008 at the Blossom Music Center have impressed me greatly, probably even more than the shows in the 70's. Both shows this decade had Doyle Bramhall on second guitar with him. I also had the luck to catch a random Clapton appearance in Columbus when he stepped out for three songs with his old friend Jimmy Vaughn in 2006.
So this show was unique for me in that it was the first time I have seen Clapton without another guitarist to partner with. This is the first tour since 1997 that Clapton has toured without a second (or third) guitarist with him. Clapton has remained stubborn in preparing and touring a set show each tour with little or no variation in the set list. Even the Rolling Stones have allowed themselves some flexibility on their last two tours, but not Eric. I do wonder how it might change what he is up to if he would allow himself some spontaneity. So this year, Clapton may play 50 shows but only 25 different songs. Contrast this with an extreme example, Phish in 2009 played a bit over 50 shows and over 200 different songs.
"Goin' Down Slow" opened the show, an old blues song written in 1941 by Jimmy Oden. While he might be going down slow, but it is actually an up tempo blues song. I liked this for an opener, Clapton doing a tasteful but not extravagant guitar solo. "Key to the Highway" come next. Two old blues songs to start the show, I'm O.K. with that. "Key to the Highway" is associated with Charles Segar and Big Bill Broonzy and first turned up on recordings in the early 40's. Clapton first did it on his only Derek and the Domino's studio album which features he and Duane Allman trading some blistering licks. Here it is relatively short with Eric opening it up just a bit more than the first song. Another Derek song, "Tell the Truth", written by Bobby Whitlock and Clapton came next. I should say, this and Key are old favorites of mine and always a treat to hear. Eric brings a bit more intensity here and, I should have mentioned earlier, is in good voice. One of the big differences with Clapton in his later years is that he has gained confidence and style in his singing such that he really can reach back on the blues numbers and bring something from deep within. This song builds again in intensity, bringing a bit more than the last. More blues follows with "Old Love", a song Clapton wrote with Robert Cray and Eric Patrick. Here, in the forth song Clapton delivers a blistering solo, a slow build, beautifully constructed, climaxing with some quick and smooth licks. Bob Marley's "I Shot the Sheriff" had an interesting little intro that I had not heard Clapton use before. Clapton's version of this song has not changed much over the years and is always enjoyable to hear. Again, this builds to a great climax and ends the first part of Clapton's show.
The now expected sit down part of the show. Clapton has been doing this now for a number of years. Chairs and acoustic guitars are brought out on stage. Clapton's acoustic playing is quite beautiful, the tone full and rich. Another 1940's blues number, "Driftin' Blues" credited to Charles Brown, Johnny Moore and Eddie Williams came next. This is another long time favorite of Clapton's and a wonderful example of slow acoustic blues. "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out", more old blues, this time from the 1920's written by Jimmy Cox. Another slow number, this time with the band joining in. More beautiful acoustic blues. "Running on Faith" is kind of a pop blues number, sung in heart felt fashion by Clapton.
The electric guitar returns, chair put away for another day, but this last part of the show starts with the popiest song of the evening, "I've Got a Rock and Roll Heart". I don't know if it was written for Clapton, but he had a hit single with it in the 80's. He and George Harrison wrote "Badge" together for Cream in the 60's. Eric has probably played this at every show since that time. The lyrics are rather opaque ah, but that bridge guitar riff is classic. It turns out that the name of the song came from a misreading of George's poor handwriting, Badge for Bridge. What is cool about that is that the bridge IS what is most striking about the song. Clapton later added the "Where is my badge" lyric and has done it that way for many years. The lyrical guitar part did not disappoint. "Little Queen of Spades" is another old blues number, this one written by the great Robert Johnson. For me this was the highlight of the show. Walt Richmond and Chris Stainton on piano and organ (not sure which was which) both played extended solos, showing off their talents with Eric climaxing the song with his most extended soloing of the night. Again, while Clapton is not an innovative guitarist, his lyricism, phrasing, musicality and alility to build a solo to a brilliant climax were on full display in this song. "Before You Accuse Me" is an uptempo blues song from the fifties written by Bo Diddley. This is one I didn't know and thoroughly enjoyed, more hot guitar licks. Clapton must love "Wonderful Tonight" though I never have. It is quite popular though and a crowd pleaser. Here it also serves as a respite between moments of intensity. I must say, the guitar solo was heartfelt and well done. The set closes with a rousing version of J.J. Cale's "Cocaine", long associated with Clapton. He gets to show off some rock and roll power chords and whips the crowd into a frenzy. The single song encore was another Robert Johnson song, long associated with Clapton since his Cream days, "Crossroads". This is not the blistering fast version immortalized on Cream's Wheels of Fire album. This version was more mid tempo but giving Eric ample opportunity to get in some last blues licks.
I was surprised that this was only a 90 minute show as I was expecting a full two hours. The fifteen songs were well done and the show had a good flow, alternating between moments of intensity and reflection. I must say that I do like Eric better with another guitarist. This may not be so much that Clapton plays better with another guitarist pushing him a bit but that he has always picked great guitarists to play with him. He also has always been ok with other guitarists fully showing what they have got. My only real complaint then is that I wanted more. I did like the heavy leaning on the blues, ten of the fifteen songs. Eric does seem happy to please himself with his sets these days, that is probably a good thing.
Roger Daltrey was the opening act. He has been excoriated in the press and on blogs regarding the Super Bowl performance. There is no defending it except to say that the whole idea of trotting out a musical act for a twelve minute show is dumb anyway. The only one I remember ever really liking was the Prince show, whenever that was. I did not have high expectations for Daltrey, as much as i love his Who work. I was surprised at how much I liked his brief 45 minute ten song set. It was a treat to hear "I Can See For Miles" as the Who has largely neglected this over the years. I had never seen it in the 5 Who shows I have seen. "The Real Me" is another Who favorite of mine and it came across surprisingly well, with the famous bass runs nicely in place. Daltrey stretched a bit with three non-Who songs, "Days of Light", "freedom Ride" (that he mentioned in connection with the great Taj Mahal), and "give Me a Stone". I liked these a lot, especially "Freedon Ride". "Real Good Looking Boy" is a somewhat obscure recent Who song, Pete Townshend's old guy homage to a young Elvis Presley. "I'm a Man" is a Bo Diddley song the Who covered on their first album, way back in 1965 (Muddy Waters also did a version of this). A brief truncated "My Generation blues" flowed into Mose Allison's "young Man Blues" made famous by the Who's Live at Leeds version. It was the same intense arrangement. This was the only place where I felt they lost their way a bit but the two guitarists got it together with some power chords and wild riffs. Pete Townshend's famous and these days ubiquitous "Baba O'Riley" finished the show, pleasing this crowd of mostly long ago teenagers singing about teenage wasteland.
Daltrey has never been a guy with much range and he has made up for this with power. He may not have the power he had in the seventies but I thought he acquited himself well in this set.
I would like to dedicate this post to Jim Miller, who died of a sudden heart attack while at this show. He loved live music and saw/heard lots of great things in his too short 54 years.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
St. Vincent - Sunday February 21, 2010 - Diesel Nite Club, Pittsburgh, PA
It is hard these days to do new things in the world of popular music (popular used in a very broad sense). St. Vincent seems to have achieved this, which is an accomplishment in and of itself. While I will mention some reference points, I do want to underline how unique and refreshing was this show.
I went to this show relatively cold and I will assume you don't know this music either. Let me first describe: Annie Clark (aka St. Vincent)- Tall, thin, pale, striking dark curly hair, somewhat ethereal voice though with confidence and power; Evan Smith - sax, flute and clarinet variously ethereal and punchy on sax; Daniel Hart - mostly violin and some guitar, some backing vocals - no real virtuoso soloing, moody, floating above; Bill Flynn - lively, punchy but underneath; Anthony Lamarca - drums, solid and quick to shift gears, time signatures. The band, I assume through lots of recent touring, is tight, turns on a dime, delivers a wide range of sounds, moods through their unusual instrumentation.
St. Vincent is a study in contrast and contradictions, done with great engagement and creativity. Ethereal flute and violin figures interrupted by brittle, distorted electric guitar; strong and waif-like; singing "help me" or "save me from what I want", without conveying any sense that she needs help or saving. Songs start with delicacy and rise to big, loud, distorted crescendos.
I do want to mention what a fan I am of expertly distorted electric guitars. I have heard and seen many of the great ones, Pete Townshend, Jeff Beck, Larry Coryell, Tom Verlaine, Trey Anastasio, Thurston Moore, Lee Ranaldo Adrian Belew, Robert Fripp, Jeff Tweedy and Nils Cline. St. Vincent I gladly add to this venerable list. Her sound experiments are an integral part of her music, at times pounding her fist on the body of her guitar to get the desired effect/sound. While moments of this show recalled some of the punchy, wind, percussed sound of some Zappa or that obscure Fripp band, the League of Gentlemen, none of it sounded derivative, but rather fresh and new. With all of the music I see, new can be quite fun (Andrew bird is the other discovery from last year that goes in that category, thanks to Julia).
Highlights tonight were the beautiful, delicate, solo St. Vincent cover of Jackson Browne's These Days. Save Me From What I Want and Marrow, I find particularly alluring. Though I must say that I was engaged by the entire show and plan to explore St. Vincent's music with great interest and will not miss her when in town or close by.
Diesel is turning out to be a venue I like a lot. I saw a great Belew Power Trio show there last year. At this show, the sound was good, clean and capturing the sometimes delicate textures while also delivering power when needed. St. Vincent's light show added nicely to the performance.
I went to this show relatively cold and I will assume you don't know this music either. Let me first describe: Annie Clark (aka St. Vincent)- Tall, thin, pale, striking dark curly hair, somewhat ethereal voice though with confidence and power; Evan Smith - sax, flute and clarinet variously ethereal and punchy on sax; Daniel Hart - mostly violin and some guitar, some backing vocals - no real virtuoso soloing, moody, floating above; Bill Flynn - lively, punchy but underneath; Anthony Lamarca - drums, solid and quick to shift gears, time signatures. The band, I assume through lots of recent touring, is tight, turns on a dime, delivers a wide range of sounds, moods through their unusual instrumentation.
St. Vincent is a study in contrast and contradictions, done with great engagement and creativity. Ethereal flute and violin figures interrupted by brittle, distorted electric guitar; strong and waif-like; singing "help me" or "save me from what I want", without conveying any sense that she needs help or saving. Songs start with delicacy and rise to big, loud, distorted crescendos.
I do want to mention what a fan I am of expertly distorted electric guitars. I have heard and seen many of the great ones, Pete Townshend, Jeff Beck, Larry Coryell, Tom Verlaine, Trey Anastasio, Thurston Moore, Lee Ranaldo Adrian Belew, Robert Fripp, Jeff Tweedy and Nils Cline. St. Vincent I gladly add to this venerable list. Her sound experiments are an integral part of her music, at times pounding her fist on the body of her guitar to get the desired effect/sound. While moments of this show recalled some of the punchy, wind, percussed sound of some Zappa or that obscure Fripp band, the League of Gentlemen, none of it sounded derivative, but rather fresh and new. With all of the music I see, new can be quite fun (Andrew bird is the other discovery from last year that goes in that category, thanks to Julia).
Highlights tonight were the beautiful, delicate, solo St. Vincent cover of Jackson Browne's These Days. Save Me From What I Want and Marrow, I find particularly alluring. Though I must say that I was engaged by the entire show and plan to explore St. Vincent's music with great interest and will not miss her when in town or close by.
Diesel is turning out to be a venue I like a lot. I saw a great Belew Power Trio show there last year. At this show, the sound was good, clean and capturing the sometimes delicate textures while also delivering power when needed. St. Vincent's light show added nicely to the performance.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Laura Motchalov, Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra, Lawrence Loh - Saturday February 20, 2010
I recently met Laura Motchalov through a mutual friend. When she told me she was performing the Shostakovich First Violin Concerto with the Youth Symphony, I had to attend. I love Shostakovich and I love violin concertos, how could I resist. Seriously, this concerto is the most recent concerto that can be called standard repertoire (though you could argue for Bernstein's Seranade, I don't think it is quite there yet). Most solo violinists now record the Shostakovich First and the major orchestras are not too afraid to program it. Even our beloved, conservative PSO is doing it next year with Leila Josefowicz.
The PYSO is made up primarily of High School musicians with a few college underclasspersons mixed in. Lawrence Loh is in charge of the orchstra and also Resident Conductor for the PSO. Laura is in the Second Violin section of the PSO and also plays with the local new music group, IonSound. Mr. Loh, talking before the performance, stated that he gave Ms. Motchalov carte blanche to choose a piece, and I and quite happy she choose this one.
The PYSO opened with Shostakovich's Festive Overture. I believe this was the kind of music that the Soviets wanted Dmitri to write. It is short, a little bombastic, and actually Festive. The PYSO played it with gusto. I was having a little thought experiment about what if Copland and Shostakovich had been switched at birth. Copland, under less overt pressure, created music that really celebrated America. Shostakovich, under great pressure to celebrate, often seemed to be mourning his country.
That brings us to the First Violin Concerto. The story about the concerto is quite revealing about the concerto. Shostakovich kept the piece unplayed for many years until Stalin died and he felt it was safe to have it played in public. It is exactly the kind of piece that they did NOT want Dmitri writing. Two long slow movements, each followed by fast, biting, over the top wild music. In the opening movement, the sounds were muted, which emphasized the symphonic element of the movement. This isn't exactly an orchestra piece with violin obbligatto as the violin p[art is too important and prominent. Still there really are no virtuoso elements to it. Slowly the solo violin weaves it's way in and around the orchestra, playing with rather than in opposition. This must present challenges in sustaining a somber mood through about 12 minutes of music. Laura, Mr. Loh and the orchestra did this well. Nothing hurried about it but with good concentration.
The Second, scherzo movement, changes mood immediately with these rhythmic bursts from the solo violin. This builds in speed and intensity until it becomes wild, playful, sarcastic. I expect that Stalin particularly would have hated the juxtaposition of the somber with sarcastic. Laura's violin work was nicely playful in this movement, fleet and lively.
For me, it is the Third movement that is the crux of the piece. Here the somberness of the first movement becomes out and out mournful. Even with the distractions which come with this type of concert, such as the little guy across the aisle banging on his armrest with his Spiderman action figure (at least it was in time with the music), this performance was quite moving. I felt overwhelmed by it for a few moments. A great live performance can do that in a way that even a great recording can't really capture.
The violin cadenza that bridges the Third and Fourth Movements is the longest cadenza that I know. It also really does advance the musical argument of the piece. It finishes the Third movement and slowly works it's way toward the last movement, called Burlesque by Shostakovich. The soloist does get to show off a bit in the cadenza and Laura showed off quite well.
Going from mournful to Burlesque is quite a trick, Shostakovich takes a full four and a half minutes for the Cadenza to accomplish this. Then we are off to the races, the violin needing to be fleet, bouncy and powerful often all at the same time. Laura brought this off, often with a good bit of flair. Again, the juxtaposition of the third and Fourth movements is powerful. This Burlesque, while certainly fun, is over the top in its frivolousness, just what the Soviets didn't order. Thoroughly enjoyable. The PYSO supported Laura and followed Maestro Loh well.
I do enjoy seeing a student orchestra when they play as well as this group does. The differences between them and a top orchestra are vast. This helps remind me what an accomplishment it is to do what great orchestras do. The PYSO did present the music such that I could enjoy it. That is quite a accomplishment and some of these musicians will surely go on to musical careers.
The PYSO is made up primarily of High School musicians with a few college underclasspersons mixed in. Lawrence Loh is in charge of the orchstra and also Resident Conductor for the PSO. Laura is in the Second Violin section of the PSO and also plays with the local new music group, IonSound. Mr. Loh, talking before the performance, stated that he gave Ms. Motchalov carte blanche to choose a piece, and I and quite happy she choose this one.
The PYSO opened with Shostakovich's Festive Overture. I believe this was the kind of music that the Soviets wanted Dmitri to write. It is short, a little bombastic, and actually Festive. The PYSO played it with gusto. I was having a little thought experiment about what if Copland and Shostakovich had been switched at birth. Copland, under less overt pressure, created music that really celebrated America. Shostakovich, under great pressure to celebrate, often seemed to be mourning his country.
That brings us to the First Violin Concerto. The story about the concerto is quite revealing about the concerto. Shostakovich kept the piece unplayed for many years until Stalin died and he felt it was safe to have it played in public. It is exactly the kind of piece that they did NOT want Dmitri writing. Two long slow movements, each followed by fast, biting, over the top wild music. In the opening movement, the sounds were muted, which emphasized the symphonic element of the movement. This isn't exactly an orchestra piece with violin obbligatto as the violin p[art is too important and prominent. Still there really are no virtuoso elements to it. Slowly the solo violin weaves it's way in and around the orchestra, playing with rather than in opposition. This must present challenges in sustaining a somber mood through about 12 minutes of music. Laura, Mr. Loh and the orchestra did this well. Nothing hurried about it but with good concentration.
The Second, scherzo movement, changes mood immediately with these rhythmic bursts from the solo violin. This builds in speed and intensity until it becomes wild, playful, sarcastic. I expect that Stalin particularly would have hated the juxtaposition of the somber with sarcastic. Laura's violin work was nicely playful in this movement, fleet and lively.
For me, it is the Third movement that is the crux of the piece. Here the somberness of the first movement becomes out and out mournful. Even with the distractions which come with this type of concert, such as the little guy across the aisle banging on his armrest with his Spiderman action figure (at least it was in time with the music), this performance was quite moving. I felt overwhelmed by it for a few moments. A great live performance can do that in a way that even a great recording can't really capture.
The violin cadenza that bridges the Third and Fourth Movements is the longest cadenza that I know. It also really does advance the musical argument of the piece. It finishes the Third movement and slowly works it's way toward the last movement, called Burlesque by Shostakovich. The soloist does get to show off a bit in the cadenza and Laura showed off quite well.
Going from mournful to Burlesque is quite a trick, Shostakovich takes a full four and a half minutes for the Cadenza to accomplish this. Then we are off to the races, the violin needing to be fleet, bouncy and powerful often all at the same time. Laura brought this off, often with a good bit of flair. Again, the juxtaposition of the third and Fourth movements is powerful. This Burlesque, while certainly fun, is over the top in its frivolousness, just what the Soviets didn't order. Thoroughly enjoyable. The PYSO supported Laura and followed Maestro Loh well.
I do enjoy seeing a student orchestra when they play as well as this group does. The differences between them and a top orchestra are vast. This helps remind me what an accomplishment it is to do what great orchestras do. The PYSO did present the music such that I could enjoy it. That is quite a accomplishment and some of these musicians will surely go on to musical careers.
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Leonard Slatkin - Friday February 19, 2010
I was surprised when I sat down with my program that the Mason Bates piece Liquid Interface was the major work, in terms of length, on this program. After the literal half measure taken earlier this year in programing Danielpour's Zorastrian Riddles, they program two new works in their entirety as the centerpiece between two crowd pleasers.
Leonard Slatkin noted that the theme of this show could be four generations of American composers. Bernstein, the second generation represented here, came first on the program with Three Danse Episodes fromOn The Town. This is Bernstein at his most jazzy and accessible. This was originally music for Broadway after all. I made a flip remark to Markus before the show that his is not Bernstein at his best. I like Bernstein's more serious music, the Chichester Psalms, the Serenade, the symphonies. But Bernstein was good a writing music that straddled different worlds, so I should cut him some slack for these pieces. My worry, or frequent complaint, with this kind of music is about the orchestra being able to produce what I think the composer was going for, In this case, Swing is the key. I really should not have worried about the PSO and Slatkin. Perhaps as this music gets older in relation to the orchestra, that just isn't an issue. Could just be a good collaboration. The music was light, flexible, and fun as it should be for these pieces.
Mason Bates came next with his thirty minute Liquid Interface. This was my first encounter with Bates live (discounting DJ Masonic on Wednesday), and while I listened to some short classical pieces on the internet, almost my first encounter at all. This is programmatic music, ala Debussy and Srauss. The piece, though referencing liquid, is actually about water in all of it's forms. Water is the only substance on Earth that naturally exists in solid, liquid and gaseous forms. The piece starts with glaciers cracking (with sounds sampled from Daniel Grossman's recordings of actual glaciers). This is all accessible music, reminiscent at times of John Adams second generation minimalist music. The second part, sort of a scherzo, moved faster and included more of Mason's live electronica contributions, very non-orchestra kind of sounds, clicks, pops representing water droplets. The third movement is called Crescent City, a New Orleans nickname that was new to me. This connects up with the power of water in the form of a hurricane. It connects with the city through New Orleans Jazz sounds, moving in and around the rest of the music. I could not tell how much of he jazz, if any was sampled and how much played live. This was definitely my favorite part of the piece as I liked the mix of different elements. This build to a climax that became the sounds of the hurricane delivered electronically. The last movement is sort of a coda as the climax is definitely past. This is supposed to represent water evaporating, becoming gas, lighter than air. This makes sense musically and artistically and even emotionally as you may not want to leave us destroyed by a hurricane. It does remind me of the pitfalls of ending a symphonic piece quietly. Just as Brahms Third symphony probably gets less of a ovation than it deserves, audiences do react to where they are when a piece ends. I myself want to hear more from Mr. Bates. He kept my attention and the 30 minutes did not seem like 30 minutes to me.
I am only mildly interested in Richard Danielpour's music as what I had heard prior to this show was well constructed, enjoyable but I did not really engage with it. The third piece on the program and the third generation represented at this show was Danielpour's Pastime. This was his homage to three Negro League Baseball players, Josh Gibson, Jackie Robinson and Henry Aaron. The lyrics were adapted from poems by Michael Harper. Danielpour spoke before the piece was performed and spoke of his own love of baseball, his stint as a batboy for the Atlanta Braves and feeling mentored by Henry Aaron during that time. Perhaps all of those things made this a more engaging piece for me. Perhaps my own love of baseball as a kids and my strong memory of seeing Henry Aaron hit a homerun against my team the Cinncinati Reds at Crosly Field in the late sixties. Baritone Gregg Baker, a mountainous African American singer, delivered the words beautifully. He was a striking figure, towering over Leonard Slatkin even with Mr. Slatkin on the raised podium. I am also not always engaged by vocal classical music but on this occasion, I found the performance quite moving, the most emotionally satisfying part of the evening.
Gershwin was the first generation represented and the last one on this program. His An American in Paris was certainly the best known piece on the program. This was nicely done, fun and enjoyable. For me though, I liked all of the other pieces better. I wonder what the rest of the audience thought about this. Markus did have the same experience of this that I had.
Leonard Slatkin noted that the theme of this show could be four generations of American composers. Bernstein, the second generation represented here, came first on the program with Three Danse Episodes fromOn The Town. This is Bernstein at his most jazzy and accessible. This was originally music for Broadway after all. I made a flip remark to Markus before the show that his is not Bernstein at his best. I like Bernstein's more serious music, the Chichester Psalms, the Serenade, the symphonies. But Bernstein was good a writing music that straddled different worlds, so I should cut him some slack for these pieces. My worry, or frequent complaint, with this kind of music is about the orchestra being able to produce what I think the composer was going for, In this case, Swing is the key. I really should not have worried about the PSO and Slatkin. Perhaps as this music gets older in relation to the orchestra, that just isn't an issue. Could just be a good collaboration. The music was light, flexible, and fun as it should be for these pieces.
Mason Bates came next with his thirty minute Liquid Interface. This was my first encounter with Bates live (discounting DJ Masonic on Wednesday), and while I listened to some short classical pieces on the internet, almost my first encounter at all. This is programmatic music, ala Debussy and Srauss. The piece, though referencing liquid, is actually about water in all of it's forms. Water is the only substance on Earth that naturally exists in solid, liquid and gaseous forms. The piece starts with glaciers cracking (with sounds sampled from Daniel Grossman's recordings of actual glaciers). This is all accessible music, reminiscent at times of John Adams second generation minimalist music. The second part, sort of a scherzo, moved faster and included more of Mason's live electronica contributions, very non-orchestra kind of sounds, clicks, pops representing water droplets. The third movement is called Crescent City, a New Orleans nickname that was new to me. This connects up with the power of water in the form of a hurricane. It connects with the city through New Orleans Jazz sounds, moving in and around the rest of the music. I could not tell how much of he jazz, if any was sampled and how much played live. This was definitely my favorite part of the piece as I liked the mix of different elements. This build to a climax that became the sounds of the hurricane delivered electronically. The last movement is sort of a coda as the climax is definitely past. This is supposed to represent water evaporating, becoming gas, lighter than air. This makes sense musically and artistically and even emotionally as you may not want to leave us destroyed by a hurricane. It does remind me of the pitfalls of ending a symphonic piece quietly. Just as Brahms Third symphony probably gets less of a ovation than it deserves, audiences do react to where they are when a piece ends. I myself want to hear more from Mr. Bates. He kept my attention and the 30 minutes did not seem like 30 minutes to me.
I am only mildly interested in Richard Danielpour's music as what I had heard prior to this show was well constructed, enjoyable but I did not really engage with it. The third piece on the program and the third generation represented at this show was Danielpour's Pastime. This was his homage to three Negro League Baseball players, Josh Gibson, Jackie Robinson and Henry Aaron. The lyrics were adapted from poems by Michael Harper. Danielpour spoke before the piece was performed and spoke of his own love of baseball, his stint as a batboy for the Atlanta Braves and feeling mentored by Henry Aaron during that time. Perhaps all of those things made this a more engaging piece for me. Perhaps my own love of baseball as a kids and my strong memory of seeing Henry Aaron hit a homerun against my team the Cinncinati Reds at Crosly Field in the late sixties. Baritone Gregg Baker, a mountainous African American singer, delivered the words beautifully. He was a striking figure, towering over Leonard Slatkin even with Mr. Slatkin on the raised podium. I am also not always engaged by vocal classical music but on this occasion, I found the performance quite moving, the most emotionally satisfying part of the evening.
Gershwin was the first generation represented and the last one on this program. His An American in Paris was certainly the best known piece on the program. This was nicely done, fun and enjoyable. For me though, I liked all of the other pieces better. I wonder what the rest of the audience thought about this. Markus did have the same experience of this that I had.
DJ Masonic with Jeff Grubbs; Kerem Gokem; DJ aFugate - Wednesday February 17, 2010 - WYEP
It may not be obvious but this post connects to the next one I will write as DJ Masonic is the DJ moniker of Mason Bates, the composer of the major work on the Pittsburgh Symphony's weekend program. I was not planning on attending any of these shows but got roped in by Markus and my own ears after streaming some of Mason Bates' classical compositions.
My friend and honorary cousin, aFugate was the opening dubster. The music he creates (?), channels (?), mixes (?) with mesmerizing visuals is quite intense, fairly in your face (definitely in your eyes). At one loll between numbers, he bemusedly looked out at the audience, asked if we were doing OK and noted that "this isn't really sit down music". Yes, we in the audience were sitting on our asses, drinking our complimentary beer or wine and munching down pizza and pierogies. This confirms again how important context is in the producing and experiencing music. In a club or hall with young people who have come to move, you would have had a throng of bodies synced up with the music and visuals. Anthony does play some live percussion with his music and actually is responding to it himself in his movements. His music is quite visceral and does call that forth.
Kerem Gokem was a different kind of DJ. His music was generally quite chilled out and as he changed things with his computer and mix board, he looked like a technician rather than a musician. Perhaps he was responding to the context and decided not to get in our faces and let us be comfy on our bums.
DJ Masonic was somewhat like Kerem in the way he presented to the audience. One twist was the he had Jeff Grubbs, bassist from the Pittsburgh Symphony, playing live with him. Mason noted that they had just met an hour before this show so there wasn't time to actually rehearse. While it took them a few minutes to get into a groove together, once locked in it was something to see and hear. The DJ Masonic mix was at times overtly jazz, with sax solos, etc... Jeff mostly played pizzicato with some bowing mixed in. I don't think of PSO musicians as able to improve but Jeff was impressive in his lively and inventive bass lines. DJ Masonic clearly was playing off and with Jeff though again looked like a technician. He could have been updating his facebook page and we would not have known it in the audience.
My friend and honorary cousin, aFugate was the opening dubster. The music he creates (?), channels (?), mixes (?) with mesmerizing visuals is quite intense, fairly in your face (definitely in your eyes). At one loll between numbers, he bemusedly looked out at the audience, asked if we were doing OK and noted that "this isn't really sit down music". Yes, we in the audience were sitting on our asses, drinking our complimentary beer or wine and munching down pizza and pierogies. This confirms again how important context is in the producing and experiencing music. In a club or hall with young people who have come to move, you would have had a throng of bodies synced up with the music and visuals. Anthony does play some live percussion with his music and actually is responding to it himself in his movements. His music is quite visceral and does call that forth.
Kerem Gokem was a different kind of DJ. His music was generally quite chilled out and as he changed things with his computer and mix board, he looked like a technician rather than a musician. Perhaps he was responding to the context and decided not to get in our faces and let us be comfy on our bums.
DJ Masonic was somewhat like Kerem in the way he presented to the audience. One twist was the he had Jeff Grubbs, bassist from the Pittsburgh Symphony, playing live with him. Mason noted that they had just met an hour before this show so there wasn't time to actually rehearse. While it took them a few minutes to get into a groove together, once locked in it was something to see and hear. The DJ Masonic mix was at times overtly jazz, with sax solos, etc... Jeff mostly played pizzicato with some bowing mixed in. I don't think of PSO musicians as able to improve but Jeff was impressive in his lively and inventive bass lines. DJ Masonic clearly was playing off and with Jeff though again looked like a technician. He could have been updating his facebook page and we would not have known it in the audience.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra - Friday February 5, 2010 - Manfred Honeck, Anne-Sophie Mutter, violin
While what will undoubtedly be known as the Great Blizzard of 2010 relentlessly fell upon the city, all was not serene within Heinz Hall. Well, there were some serene moments but those provided brief moments of respite amidst the rest. It was a simple program featuring just two pieces, both warhorses in these parts and probably elsewhere. The Brahms Violin Concerto is perennially (and this has been true for over fifty years) the most performed violin concerto in major American concert halls. The Mahler First Symphony has a great deal of competition but must rank fairly high on the list of most performed symphonies in the last thirty years at least. It definitely is the most performed piece by the pairing of Manfred Honeck and the PSO. He choose it for his first official concert here as music director in September 2008. I was there at that show and was interested to hear it again. I don't remember having had a chance to hear the same piece twice by the same conductor and orchestra over just a 17 month period. In the meantime, the orchestra played in on tour just last September.
Anne-Sophie Mutter is certainly one of the great ones of her generation. The only other violinist in their forties of comparable stature (she is 46) is Joshua Bell. While he IS a great violinist, my money is on Anne-Sophie. Her advocacy for contemporary composers is quite amazing. Lutoslawski, Rihm, Moret, Penderecki, Previn, Gubaidulina and Duteleux have all written pieces for her. However, on this occasion, she is advocating for Brahms. She played it with great flair. For example, she waited until the last possible moment to bring her violin under her chin for the entrance. That seemed to be a way of conveying a certain attitude. Her attacks had a lot of bite and I believe that works well in this piece. She worked well with the orchestra in this most symphonic of concertos. The long first movement came together and stayed together beautifully. The second movement had the sweetness needed to give respite between the intensity for the outer movements. The Oboe solo by Cynthia DeAlmeida was extraordinary. I am told she did it without a pause for a breath. While that is impressive, it only matters if the end result is as beautiful as it was on Friday. The finale was energetic, joyful, exiting. I do love Brahms music and generally feel that you can hear how carefully crafted it is. I believe that means he leaves out joyful exuberance in his music. I do hear it a few places: the end of the first symphony; the last movement of the First Piano Quartet; and of course in the finale to the Violin Concerto. That came through quite well in this performance.
Anne-Sophie did treat us to an encore as well and of course, it was Bach again. Not that I am complaining. She did NOT do the preludio from the Third Partita. She choose to follow exuberance with the quiet reserved Sarabande from the First Partita.
I have heard the Mahler First Symphony here in Pittsburgh many times over the last 29 years. I still have a special place in my heart for Zdenek Macal's version sometime in the early to mid Eighties. As I nted above, the PSO have already done it many times with Manfred Honeck. It is interesting that he wanted to work on it a bit more before taking it to New York. Going by my memory of the performance in September 2008 (which I loved, by the way), I felt like he was letting the orchestra loose a bit more (and maybe himself too). Like the last three weeks, he and the orchestra seem to be working well together. I was thinking about how clear his beat is and how enjoyable it is to watch his left hand as it is quite expressive. All of the wonderful oddness of the piece came through - the klezmer clarinet bit, the children's tune Frere Jacques (or Are You Sleeping, Brother John in this country) as a funeral dirge, the finale that seems endless until the horns stand for their final blow. This all seemed just a bit more unhinged, in a good way. Honeck's big signal for the last chord showed his exuberance. It also showed they were ready for the Big Apple.
The crowd was surprisingly large given the aforementioned blizzard. And the crowd went wild for both pieces, though bigger for the Mahler even than the Brahms.
Anne-Sophie Mutter is certainly one of the great ones of her generation. The only other violinist in their forties of comparable stature (she is 46) is Joshua Bell. While he IS a great violinist, my money is on Anne-Sophie. Her advocacy for contemporary composers is quite amazing. Lutoslawski, Rihm, Moret, Penderecki, Previn, Gubaidulina and Duteleux have all written pieces for her. However, on this occasion, she is advocating for Brahms. She played it with great flair. For example, she waited until the last possible moment to bring her violin under her chin for the entrance. That seemed to be a way of conveying a certain attitude. Her attacks had a lot of bite and I believe that works well in this piece. She worked well with the orchestra in this most symphonic of concertos. The long first movement came together and stayed together beautifully. The second movement had the sweetness needed to give respite between the intensity for the outer movements. The Oboe solo by Cynthia DeAlmeida was extraordinary. I am told she did it without a pause for a breath. While that is impressive, it only matters if the end result is as beautiful as it was on Friday. The finale was energetic, joyful, exiting. I do love Brahms music and generally feel that you can hear how carefully crafted it is. I believe that means he leaves out joyful exuberance in his music. I do hear it a few places: the end of the first symphony; the last movement of the First Piano Quartet; and of course in the finale to the Violin Concerto. That came through quite well in this performance.
Anne-Sophie did treat us to an encore as well and of course, it was Bach again. Not that I am complaining. She did NOT do the preludio from the Third Partita. She choose to follow exuberance with the quiet reserved Sarabande from the First Partita.
I have heard the Mahler First Symphony here in Pittsburgh many times over the last 29 years. I still have a special place in my heart for Zdenek Macal's version sometime in the early to mid Eighties. As I nted above, the PSO have already done it many times with Manfred Honeck. It is interesting that he wanted to work on it a bit more before taking it to New York. Going by my memory of the performance in September 2008 (which I loved, by the way), I felt like he was letting the orchestra loose a bit more (and maybe himself too). Like the last three weeks, he and the orchestra seem to be working well together. I was thinking about how clear his beat is and how enjoyable it is to watch his left hand as it is quite expressive. All of the wonderful oddness of the piece came through - the klezmer clarinet bit, the children's tune Frere Jacques (or Are You Sleeping, Brother John in this country) as a funeral dirge, the finale that seems endless until the horns stand for their final blow. This all seemed just a bit more unhinged, in a good way. Honeck's big signal for the last chord showed his exuberance. It also showed they were ready for the Big Apple.
The crowd was surprisingly large given the aforementioned blizzard. And the crowd went wild for both pieces, though bigger for the Mahler even than the Brahms.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
moe. - January 31, 2010 - Carnegie Library of Homestead
I have had an weird experience regarding this show. Mr. Zed and I went to this Sunday night show which was packed with moe.-rons at this little concert hall at the old Homestead Library. I have seen 3 shows there previously but never from the balcony. In fact, the shows I have seen there were all impressive, Patti Smith touring her covers album was typical of Patti meaning unique, transcendent, memorable; Nickel Creek played there in their "Farewell (for now) Tour including hilarious jammed out versions of Brittany and Michael Jackson songs; Gov't Mule played a fine show on my last visit.
I have seen moe. on four previous occasions so while I am not an aficionado of moe. I do have an idea about what to expect. And the results were actually quite impressive. A five piece band that have toured so long and hard with each other that they synced up with each other and their light guy that it is a wonder to see and hear. All of the musicians are impressive, though tonight I was most impressed by their bass player, Rob Derhak. Chuck Garvey and Al Schnier are locked in, trading licks in a fast and furious manner, particularly how they shoot out short phrases that the other takes up literally without missing a beat. While the drummer, Vinnie Amico, is high energy and plays some complex rhythms, it is their percussionist, Jim Loughlin, who creates what I consider a truly unique and distinctive sound for them. He plays a lot of congas that add complexity but it is his vibe, xylophone work that is quite different than other bands.
We were in the balcony for this show, center, third row. The sound, while presenting all of the instruments distinctly, was overwhelming in this small and compact hall. The vocals were lost such that neither of us could make out the lyrics. The sounds was so dense that I the show took on a relentless feel to it.
I know there is nothing particularly weird about all of this. So Monday I sit down to start writing this review and find an audience recording already up at the live music archive. You can get it or stream it here:
It is a Front of Board tape by Lenny Stubbe. It has a good bit of space in it, clean and the vocals are clear. You can take in much of the subtlety of the guitar work for example. It seems to have captured a different show than the one I just experienced. In fact, I want to go to THAT show. This illustrates my view that each experience of a show (and each recording) of a show can be seen as just one interpretation. I am now wondering if I could have experienced at least some version of THAT show if I had wandered downstairs and stood by the soundboard.
The highlights for me tonight musically were a long complicated and fairly psychedelic "32 Things" in the first set. The finish of the second set was pretty spectacular. The last hour of the three hour show was "Meat(25:20)> The Pit (13:47)> Brent Black (21:34)". The encore was the most mellow part of the evening "Funky Reuben" and "Gone". I should also finish by saying that the light show was simple and impressive because it was clear that the light person was closely following all the improvised nooks and crannies of the musicians, synced up in a way that can only come from knowing the band thoroughly.
I have seen moe. on four previous occasions so while I am not an aficionado of moe. I do have an idea about what to expect. And the results were actually quite impressive. A five piece band that have toured so long and hard with each other that they synced up with each other and their light guy that it is a wonder to see and hear. All of the musicians are impressive, though tonight I was most impressed by their bass player, Rob Derhak. Chuck Garvey and Al Schnier are locked in, trading licks in a fast and furious manner, particularly how they shoot out short phrases that the other takes up literally without missing a beat. While the drummer, Vinnie Amico, is high energy and plays some complex rhythms, it is their percussionist, Jim Loughlin, who creates what I consider a truly unique and distinctive sound for them. He plays a lot of congas that add complexity but it is his vibe, xylophone work that is quite different than other bands.
We were in the balcony for this show, center, third row. The sound, while presenting all of the instruments distinctly, was overwhelming in this small and compact hall. The vocals were lost such that neither of us could make out the lyrics. The sounds was so dense that I the show took on a relentless feel to it.
I know there is nothing particularly weird about all of this. So Monday I sit down to start writing this review and find an audience recording already up at the live music archive. You can get it or stream it here:
It is a Front of Board tape by Lenny Stubbe. It has a good bit of space in it, clean and the vocals are clear. You can take in much of the subtlety of the guitar work for example. It seems to have captured a different show than the one I just experienced. In fact, I want to go to THAT show. This illustrates my view that each experience of a show (and each recording) of a show can be seen as just one interpretation. I am now wondering if I could have experienced at least some version of THAT show if I had wandered downstairs and stood by the soundboard.
The highlights for me tonight musically were a long complicated and fairly psychedelic "32 Things" in the first set. The finish of the second set was pretty spectacular. The last hour of the three hour show was "Meat(25:20)> The Pit (13:47)> Brent Black (21:34)". The encore was the most mellow part of the evening "Funky Reuben" and "Gone". I should also finish by saying that the light show was simple and impressive because it was clear that the light person was closely following all the improvised nooks and crannies of the musicians, synced up in a way that can only come from knowing the band thoroughly.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra - friday January 29, 2009 - Gil Shaham and Manfred Honeck
This show was two Fridays in a row with the PSO and next Friday will make three. I am enjoying seeing so much right together. Getting a good dose of Manfred has been great and the soloists are top notch.
This weeks top notch guy,Gil Shaham, has been doing some interesting shows this year. He has been doing two concertos per show. All of these combinations have been interesting in different ways: Mozart and Stravinsky in St. Louis in March (different eras), Prokofiev 2 and Barber last week in Kansas City (same decade, the golden age for violin concertos, the 1930's) and here Haydn 2 and Mozart 2. While dating pieces from those days can be vague, these were likely written only ten years apart, Haydn in the 1760's and Mozart in 1775. The Haydn was written first and played first at this show. While Haydn is played regularly, this concerto is not. I don't have a copy of it in my rather large collection of Violin Concertos and Arkiv Music doesn't have one available. Gil Shaham played this piece with great restraint and beauty. I am not sure if restraint is the right word, as it is trying to define the performance negatively. Shaham was elegant and paced himself well. This was especially true of the middle slow movement, reminding me that Haydn was a great writer of slow music.
The Mozart Second Violin concerto is certainly more known than Haydn's but less played and recorded than his third or fifth concertos. The contrast with these pieces was striking just in watching the orchestra change personnel for the Mozart, lose the harpsichord continuo, add some brass and winds. Again, a beautiful performance that was elegant and paced just right for me.
I wonder if the first movement of the Bach Third Partita is just what violinists do after playing Mozart. Gil Shaham's encore was the same as the one Stephan Jackiw played here in the fall after Mozart's Fifth Concerto. Gil was perhaps even more brilliant in showing off to the audience. Bravo. He certainly must be considered one of the great violinists in a time of many great ones.
The Mahler Fourth Symphony was billed as his "chamber" symphony. It is his most petite symphony, though still 50 minutes and requiring massive forces. There are many opportunities to show off individual members of the orchestra, with many solo moments for the concertmaster, and exposed parts for the horn and oboe just to name a couple. And of course, it is a Mahler piece so you get his characteristic mixing of the sublime with the ridiculous. Honeck's interpretation was not eccentric in any way. So how does a non-eccentric performance stand out amidst a crowd of conductors and orchestras performing Mahler. Well, I suppose that is about precision, nuance and brilliant playing. Bill Caballero was strong and spot on as usual, jarring at times (by design of course). Andres Cardenes reappeared after a number of guest concertmasters have sat in his chair this year. I expect that he could not resist the chance to play this piece which even required an extra violin (alternate tuning, I assume).
The soprano soloist seemed underpowered and i am not sure what else to say. Mark thought it may be related to the fact that they were recording this concert for commercial release. I had forgotten how silly the words seem in translation about frolicking in heaven and having asparagus to eat. Actually, good asparagus IS heavenly, but still. According to the liner notes, Mahler wanted this sung without irony. Gustav was a strange man, but that is probably why he wrote such strange and beautiful music.
I am looking forward to more Mahler next week and especially the Mahler Third Symphony in June. Honeck and the PSO are a great combination for this music.
This weeks top notch guy,Gil Shaham, has been doing some interesting shows this year. He has been doing two concertos per show. All of these combinations have been interesting in different ways: Mozart and Stravinsky in St. Louis in March (different eras), Prokofiev 2 and Barber last week in Kansas City (same decade, the golden age for violin concertos, the 1930's) and here Haydn 2 and Mozart 2. While dating pieces from those days can be vague, these were likely written only ten years apart, Haydn in the 1760's and Mozart in 1775. The Haydn was written first and played first at this show. While Haydn is played regularly, this concerto is not. I don't have a copy of it in my rather large collection of Violin Concertos and Arkiv Music doesn't have one available. Gil Shaham played this piece with great restraint and beauty. I am not sure if restraint is the right word, as it is trying to define the performance negatively. Shaham was elegant and paced himself well. This was especially true of the middle slow movement, reminding me that Haydn was a great writer of slow music.
The Mozart Second Violin concerto is certainly more known than Haydn's but less played and recorded than his third or fifth concertos. The contrast with these pieces was striking just in watching the orchestra change personnel for the Mozart, lose the harpsichord continuo, add some brass and winds. Again, a beautiful performance that was elegant and paced just right for me.
I wonder if the first movement of the Bach Third Partita is just what violinists do after playing Mozart. Gil Shaham's encore was the same as the one Stephan Jackiw played here in the fall after Mozart's Fifth Concerto. Gil was perhaps even more brilliant in showing off to the audience. Bravo. He certainly must be considered one of the great violinists in a time of many great ones.
The Mahler Fourth Symphony was billed as his "chamber" symphony. It is his most petite symphony, though still 50 minutes and requiring massive forces. There are many opportunities to show off individual members of the orchestra, with many solo moments for the concertmaster, and exposed parts for the horn and oboe just to name a couple. And of course, it is a Mahler piece so you get his characteristic mixing of the sublime with the ridiculous. Honeck's interpretation was not eccentric in any way. So how does a non-eccentric performance stand out amidst a crowd of conductors and orchestras performing Mahler. Well, I suppose that is about precision, nuance and brilliant playing. Bill Caballero was strong and spot on as usual, jarring at times (by design of course). Andres Cardenes reappeared after a number of guest concertmasters have sat in his chair this year. I expect that he could not resist the chance to play this piece which even required an extra violin (alternate tuning, I assume).
The soprano soloist seemed underpowered and i am not sure what else to say. Mark thought it may be related to the fact that they were recording this concert for commercial release. I had forgotten how silly the words seem in translation about frolicking in heaven and having asparagus to eat. Actually, good asparagus IS heavenly, but still. According to the liner notes, Mahler wanted this sung without irony. Gustav was a strange man, but that is probably why he wrote such strange and beautiful music.
I am looking forward to more Mahler next week and especially the Mahler Third Symphony in June. Honeck and the PSO are a great combination for this music.
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