The LA Guitar Quartet is a group of guitar virtuosos that has been performing for 27 years. The show had two distinct halves. Before the intermission were performances with the symphony and after the intermissions were performances by just the quartet.
first half:
Manuel de Falla's Selections from El Armor Brujo Ballet
Sergio Assad's Interchange for Guitar Quartet and Orchestra
My most distinct recollection of these performances was that I didn't care for the guitar and orchestra together. I have this feeling in general about soloist/orchestra combinations with violin and piano soloists. Of the ones I have heard it is rare that the performance is enhanced by the combination rather than a fully integrated orchestra or a pure solo performance. In this case it was four guitarists and the orchestra and I thought the guitarists more than capable of carrying themselves without the orchestra. This includes the percussive knocking on the guitars and other alternate playing styles. The breaks as the compositions moved between the orchestra and guitars were abrupt and not well integrated.
second half:
various short works for guitar including Baden Powell's Samba Novo, Paulo Bellianati's A Furiosa, traditional's (;->) Shenandoah and Aaron Copland's Hoe-Down from Rodeo
I enjoyed the second have tremendously. The quarted demonstrated their flexibility, skill and overal pleasure of playing. The 5-song Imagens de Brazil section was especially enjoyable giving a selection of samba, basa nova and other styles.
There was also a section of American classic songs including a Sousa march, The Black Horse Troop! That was fun surprise.
Showing posts with label classical music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label classical music. Show all posts
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Monday, March 2, 2009
Faure's Requiem, Op. 48
The perfomance we saw was guest-conducted by JoAnn Falletta with the SSO. The SSO was joined by the Seattle Symphony Chorale and soloists Joyce Guyer and Michael Anthony McGee. The piece also used SSO's pipe organ.
Faure originally composed this piece in 1886-87; it was first performed in 1900 in Paris.
The program promised that this Requiem would be different in tone than many others, and having heard a few (can't remember which), we both agreed. As Faure himself said of the piece, "it is gentle in character, like myself." There was no fire and brimstone anywhere to be felt, which was really nice. It was meant to be more of a consoling piece for the mourners than other Requiems I have heard.
The result was quite beautiful. I was engaged with it throughout, and was moved to tears during many moments, especially during the beautiful solos of McGee. It was for me a definite musical success in that it seemed to truly communicate through music the feelings & experience it was intended to convey.
Faure originally composed this piece in 1886-87; it was first performed in 1900 in Paris.
The program promised that this Requiem would be different in tone than many others, and having heard a few (can't remember which), we both agreed. As Faure himself said of the piece, "it is gentle in character, like myself." There was no fire and brimstone anywhere to be felt, which was really nice. It was meant to be more of a consoling piece for the mourners than other Requiems I have heard.
The result was quite beautiful. I was engaged with it throughout, and was moved to tears during many moments, especially during the beautiful solos of McGee. It was for me a definite musical success in that it seemed to truly communicate through music the feelings & experience it was intended to convey.
Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 1 in F-sharp minor, Op. 1
We saw this piece guest-conducted by JoAnn Falletta with the SSO. The piano soloist was Nikolai Luganski.
This 3-movement concerto was originally composed in 1891 and revised in 1917. It was originally performed while Rachmaninov was still a student at the Moscow Conservatory. He was dissatisfied with the original, but was pleased with his final 1917 revision. It never attained the popularity of his other Concertos, and remains the least known of his works for piano and orchestra.
The piano part was somewhat interesting, obviously required alot of skill, and seemed to move some of the audience members sitting near us. However, it didn't do much for me and I ended up being pretty bored by the end. I liked the energetic first movement the best of the three movements.
There was a fair amount of woodwinds, but hardly any percussion to speak of.
This 3-movement concerto was originally composed in 1891 and revised in 1917. It was originally performed while Rachmaninov was still a student at the Moscow Conservatory. He was dissatisfied with the original, but was pleased with his final 1917 revision. It never attained the popularity of his other Concertos, and remains the least known of his works for piano and orchestra.
The piano part was somewhat interesting, obviously required alot of skill, and seemed to move some of the audience members sitting near us. However, it didn't do much for me and I ended up being pretty bored by the end. I liked the energetic first movement the best of the three movements.
There was a fair amount of woodwinds, but hardly any percussion to speak of.
Ravel's La Valse
We saw this piece guest-conducted by JoAnn Falletta with the SSO.
It's a piece we've heard before, used for a Balanchine ballet of the same name. (While Ravel originally planned the piece years before he worked on it in full, he ended up completing it in 1920 as a commission for a ballet that was never performed for Sergei Diaghilev.)
This is an interesting & engaging waltz. It's heavy on woodwinds.
Ravel described La Valse as an "apotheosis of the Viennese waltz, which was linked in my mind with an impression of a fantastic whirl of destiny leading to death." The program says it "proclaims its arrival as surely the most stridently modern work of its day."
It's a piece we've heard before, used for a Balanchine ballet of the same name. (While Ravel originally planned the piece years before he worked on it in full, he ended up completing it in 1920 as a commission for a ballet that was never performed for Sergei Diaghilev.)
This is an interesting & engaging waltz. It's heavy on woodwinds.
Ravel described La Valse as an "apotheosis of the Viennese waltz, which was linked in my mind with an impression of a fantastic whirl of destiny leading to death." The program says it "proclaims its arrival as surely the most stridently modern work of its day."
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