Priest deserves toutes nos félicitations for putting together such an amazingly diverse — and free — festival on a baguette budget. That range, richness and freshness are also a tribute to the vital Portland classical music scene and of course to Debussy himself.
—Brett Campbell, Oregon ArtsWatch (read the full article)
ArtsWatch music writers and guest reviewers gang up on Oregon Symphony multimedia performance of Messiaen’s mega-symphony.
—Oregon ArtsWatch (read the full article}
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. The December 2 concert includes a song cycle setting the composer’s own surrealist poems and more, while December 4’s show features string trios by Messiaen, Debussy, Gorecki and other composers, including MMMpresario and Portland composer Bob Priest.
—Brett Campbell, Oregon ArtsWatch (read the full article)
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)
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)
Simplicity. Complexity. Austerity. Lushness. Nonchalance. Passion. Driving rhythms. Timeless atmosphere. Bracing dissonance. Sweet, sweet consonance.
—Jeff Winslow, Oregon ArtsWatch (read the full article)
“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)
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)
Still…when Lou Reed’s most aggressive album meets Japan’s most outre dance form, no one is safe.
—A. L. Adams, Oregon ArtsWatch (read the full article)
After a scintillating — and for some of us, exhausting — opening week, the final weekend of Oregon’s March musical madness, March Music Moderne, arrives, plus other chamber music concerts that flirt with modernity.
—Bret Campbell, Oregon ArtsWatch (read the full article)
