Category Archives: Press

March Music Moderne in the Press

Oregon Symphony plays to the ears and eyes with ‘SoundSight’ series

“Turangalila” is part of a trilogy Olivier Messiaen composed about love. One of the other components, the song cycle “Harawi,” is featured in a free concert at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 2, at Community Music Center, 3350 S.E. Francis St., as part of Messiaen Melange Musique, a festival of concerts and radio broadcasts perpetrated by Portland composer Bob Priest, one of Messiaen’s last students. Another free Messiaen-themed concert is at 7 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 4, at Community Music Center.

—Brett Campbell, The Oregonian (read the full article)

Messiaen, Modernists & More

But with the Oregon Symphony performing the mega-modernist Turangalîla symphony by 20th-century French mystic composer Olivier Messiaen — Priest’s teacher — this weekend, it made sense to move the mountain to Messiaen.

—Brett Campbell, Willamette Week (read the full article)

MMM Listing in Northwest Reverb

If you are an adventurous listener, the following concerts — courtesy of Bob Priest — will interest you:

—James Bash, Northwest Reverb (read the full article)

MMM at the Southeast Examiner

Here’s an article from the the Southeast Examiner issue that hit the stands today, and a shout-out to Brian QTN!

MusicWatch Weekly: The Art of Song

The former March Music Moderne has moved, for the nonce, to December, to coincide with the Oregon Symphony’s performances of the biggest music of one of its patron saints: Olivier Messiaen’s massive Turangalila symphony.

—Brett Campbell, Oregon ArtsWatch (read the full article)

Free Marz String Trio chronicles music of the mind and then eats it up

All of the pieces were played with the utmost commitment by the Free Marz String Trio, which sported an all-new look with violinist Hae-jin Kim, violist Kenji Bunch, and cellist Diane Chaplin. They gave top-notch performances to a full house at the Community Music Center on the evening of March 16th.

—James Bash, Northwest Reverb (read the full article)

March Music Moderne review: Arnica Quartet plays Britten

When they finally arrived at the rich, triumphant chords that resolve the dilemma of the concluding Chacony movement, an epic journey (longer than the other two movements put together) that begins with bold steps nonetheless at odds with each other, the rapt audience burst into well-deserved and enthusiastic applause.

—Jeff Winslow, Oregon ArtsWatch (read the full article)

March Music Moderne reviews: Judith Cohen, Friends of Rain

Simplicity. Complexity. Austerity. Lushness. Nonchalance. Passion. Driving rhythms. Timeless atmosphere. Bracing dissonance. Sweet, sweet consonance.

—Jeff Winslow, Oregon ArtsWatch (read the full article)

March Music Moderne reviews: Cascadia Composers’ Piano Bizarro; MC Hammered Klavier’s Storm Session

“In my concerts I want to present the story of the music in some sort of context that makes it meaningful so that people learn something, have fun, and go home wanting to share how the experience changed them. These little ripples make a huge difference cumulatively.” —Jennifer Wright

—Jana Hanchett, Oregon ArtsWatch (read the full article)

March Music Moderne review: Beyond the Moderns

Judging by what I heard at MMM this month, many of those composers, transcending false dichotomies and rejecting modernist orthodoxy, happen to live and create in Oregon. The modernist category itself was always pretty blurry, and the distinctions between modernism and post-mod have broken down almost entirely today, with composers happily evading easy categorization as modernist or whatever, sometimes even in the same piece.

—Brett Campbell, Oregon ArtsWatch (read the full article)