pass it on…

giftable artwork from Calgary's ArtCity '09

The Artcity Festival is going on this week in Calgary — on Sunday I ran into one of the artists handing out these little plastic tchotchkes. The idea is that you give them to someone else — a friend, stranger, anyone — and see where they end up. I gave mine to Dana Blonde, the owner of the Yoga Shala Calgary, but not before I took this picture so I could also pass it on through my blog.

This Saturday evening at Epcor Centre, the CPO will be performing a short concert for Alberta Arts Days — still another arts festival, this one with lots of theatre and music. One of the pieces on the program is the Rheinberger Organ Concerto, featuring our magnificent Jack Singer Organ and soloist Neil Cockburn.

“ingenious recoveries”

“In jazz, there are no mistakes, just ingenious recoveries.”

- Chris Brubeck, on the advantages of improvisation

Week One of the CPO season finished with two performances with the Brubeck Brothers Quartet — actual brothers  Chris and Dan Brubeck along with Mike Demmico and Chuck Lamb. They’re an extraordinarily well-matched group of musicians, with a shared love of not only the music of Dave Brubeck, the legendary father of Chris and Dan, but of the art of jazz improvisation. The Friday and Saturday night concerts were absolutely, gloriously different — I’ll never understand when people rave about a performance that sounded “just like the cd.” This quartet never gives the same performance twice.

We classical musicians, and especially orchestral classical musicians, are rarely so spontaneous. In fact, I feel even less spontaneous accompanying a jazz group — maybe because I’m not so well-versed in the style, and don’t have an intrinsic feel for where there’s space for creativity. Still, it’s still an incredible, vicarious pleasure to watch such a group work, and it inspires me to bring a bit more freshness into music where I’m better versed.

Alex Ross’ article in the August 31 New Yorker, “Taking Liberties”, reviews some attempts by other classical performers to revive the art of classical music improvisation. If you’ve never associated classical music with improvisation, you’re not alone — even though Mozart, Beethoven, and almost every famous classical composer were best known in their own time as brilliant improvisers. In fact, it was unheard of for an accomplished classical musician to not improvise. How did we get so far away from that ideal?

Personally, I think it’s a symptom of larger trends in our society and culture — in which we seek out a single, authoritative text, rather than enjoying all the variety and mystery of multiple versions. My father and step-mom are visiting Paris this month, and along with thousands of other people they’ll be likely be in line to take a look at the Mona Lisa in the Louvre. That’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience for most people, and so they’d prefer to see the same immortal, unchanged Mona Lisa that Leonardo painted, that has enchanted millions of other people. When we go to classical concerts, often, we’re looking for that same once-in-a-lifetime, museum-quality experience.

Classical music isn’t a museum, though, and the works we perform do change — with new performers on stage, new ideas about the style and interpretation, new conditions in the concert hall. Next Thursday, the CPO will perform Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto #5, a piece this orchestra has played countless times and almost everyone has heard, in one form or another. And yet, this will be the first performance on a new harpsichord which the CPO just acquired. The Brandenburg #5 really shows off the full range of a harpsichord, with several extended cadenzas — the classical music equivalent of a solo section in jazz. Just having that new sonority can take a performance in an entirely new direction for the musicians — and it can hopefully reveal some ingenious recoveries for the audience as well.

scratch that – keep reading here!

Since this blog attracted a bit of a following during the convention, I’ve decided to carry on blogging here instead. I’m planning to write more about happenings at the Calgary Philharmonic, where I work, though I should probably set out right away with a legal disclaimer:

Any comments and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author, me, and do not represent the views of the Calgary Philharmonic or any other organization.

I’d like to consider this blog my own little commentary track to the CPO season, like you might have on a DVD. OF course, very few people actually listen to those commentary tracks — I’m not expecting readers in the thousands, or even the dozens! High single-digits might be nice.

That’s not so important though — mostly it’s just a forum to share ideas and content, and if anyone finds something of use or interest, all the better.

Thanks for visiting!

new blog

I’ve just started another site for CPO posts and stories, also on WordPress. Check it out at:

hella frisch at the philharmonic

I’m wondering if I should just drop the ‘hella frisch’ moniker once and for all — it derived from a German bottled water mascot, and I just chose it as a placeholder when I first started blogging. At this point, it seems to be better known than me (among a certain class of geeky bass players, at least).

signing off from ISB ‘09

The ISB convention ended this evening, with performances by Thomas Martin and John Pattitucci, and grateful applause for general manager Madeleine Crouch, and convention director (and new ISB president) Robert Nairn. By all signs, this convention was the most successful yet, with over 1200 attendees over 6 event-packed days. During these evening recitals, it really feels as though all of bass-dom is in one room together, enjoying the music-making of our colleagues and sharing the love of our instrument.

It’s hard to choose even a short list of highlights from this convention, but I’ll never forget last night’s concert by Ron Carter and Russell Malone; this afternoon’s performance by Joel Quarrington; and the Tuesday evening recital by Hal Robinson — along with the fantastic solo competition performers on Monday and Tuesday. This convention did seem particularly rich in recitals and performances, as opposed to talks and masterclasses, though that may have just been the events I happened to see. I was especially glad to meet up with Jason Heath and some of my former colleagues from the New World Symphony (shown below).

Matt Heller, Scott Dixon, Aaron White, Sean O'Hara on Saturday

I’ll be flying home tomorrow, but might just post some more convention reviews and stories in the coming days. Thanks to everyone for reading, and so long for now!

Joel Quarrington recital

I first heard Joel Quarrington perform live at the 2007 ISB convention, and I wasn’t the only one who was impressed — following that recital, he was invited to perform in China, Denmark, Vienna, and others. Mostly at other bass conventions, but still… He also recorded that repertoire for a forthcoming CD on Analekta, with such high-quality recording of the bass tone that “you could listen in your car with the windows open,” according to Joel.

Joel Quarrington and Jean Demerais in recital Saturday

So his return performance was a much-anticipated event, and people were speculating about what he might play. True to form, he brought a bunch of surprises, beginning with the Schumann Adagio and Allegro (originally for horn). As with everything else on the program, he played from memory, and with the pianist on his left and opened to the back of the hall, opposite of the traditional configuration. It worked incredibly well, though — not only was he turned towards pianist Jean Demerais, but the sound of the open lid never overwhelmed Joel’s playing, even in the most delicate passages.

The next piece on the program, Brahms’ Sonata for violin and piano in G major, had some breathtaking dynamic shadings, especially in the gorgeous second movement. Joel justified his transcription, saying, “Brahms’ father was a bass player, and if he found his dad playing this piece, he would be pleased.” No disrespect to Herr Brahms, but I doubt he or any other bassist could do it justice as Mr. Quarrington did today. He followed it up with two more violin transcriptions: Korngold’s “Garden Scene” from his suite “Much Ado About Nothing”; and then the Sarasate Zigeunerweisen, which Joel has recorded previously and plays with intricate ornamentation and awesome gusto. The recital closed with an encore, Bottesini’s Elegy in D, played with elegant tenderness.

Pittsburgh Symphony Bass Quartet

The good news is that the bass quartet repertoire is expanding enormously, thanks to musically resourceful groups like the Pittsburgh Symphony Bass Quartet, heard on Saturday morning at Esber Recital Hall. The bad news is that we still won’t be booking many wedding gigs, judging from their program.

The main work, Dave Anderson’s Quartet, has two movements entitled “Wedding Music (I and II)”, but it sounds more like entry music to the apocalypse. It’s an awesome sounding piece nonetheless, with an eloquent recitative movement and a finale that builds from a fugue to a heavy metal stomp — you may now kiss the bride, or just head-bang. Micah Howard played the top part on the Anderson, but the whole group had solo turns; John Moore, Jeffrey Grubbs, and Peter Guild were the other members for the Anderson quartet.

Aaron White is the newest member of the Pittsburgh bass section, and he joined the quartet for the rest of the program, featuring three of his lucidly-scored arrangements. His Prokofiev Scherzo is a bright, articulate piece, but the real stunner was his version of Piazzola’s “Oblivion”, which managed to transport us from a Saturday morning in central Pennsylvania to a Buenos Aires nightclub. The program began with a Telemann transcription by Stuart Sankey, one of the pioneers of the bass quartet genre, and they gave it all the clarity and elegance you could wish for. Peter Guild also played his own unaccompanied composition, four movements based on Penderecki sketches, with beautiful tone and bracing energy.

Bert Turetzky recital

My Friday morning started with a performance by legendary bassist/composer Bert Turetzky. Interspersed with stories, sermons, testimony and advice for young bassists, Bert played several pieces which required him to simultaneously recite poetry. He chose works connected to his thoughts on life, philosophy, and music-making — not just bowings and fingerings, which “aren’t interesting, because ther don’t lead to anything.” Even at his most curmudgeonly, Bert always seemed to have something interesting and amusing to say.

Bert Turetzky performing a solo recital Friday morning

There was an homage to the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, with words by Dave Henderson and music by Turetzky. Another Turetzky piece, “Of Love and Loss”, began as an improvisation inspired by the death of his mother, a strong-willed Polish immigrant who couldn’t take pride in his achievements until he became a professor, and she could tell her friends he was “concertizing.” Other pieces by Youssef Komeniaka (an ode to Mingus), Herman Blunt (aka Sun Ra), Thelonius Monk, and Kurt Schwitters followed — all of them accompanied by more memories and stories, like playing for Armenian-Greek weddings, “a very sad affair” since each culture hated the other’s music.

Saying that “we live in an age of pygmies,” Bert told young bassists, “Find out who you are, and be a good one — the best one — at that.” His recurring theme was the importance of continuous learning and collaboration, with other artists and art forms, such as poetry. As he reminded us, “We’re never schleppers, we’re collaborators.”

tag-team Harbison concerto

John Harbison’s Concerto for Bass Viol and Orchestra has already been played at least 16 times with orchestras; but yesterday afternoon saw a world premiere of the version for bass and piano, featuring pianist Svetlana Rodionova and three of the original soloists: Dennis Trembly, Volkan Orhan, and Scott Best.

Svetlana Rodionova, Dennis Trembly, Scott Best, and Volkan Orhan

The tag-team performance, in which each bassist played a single movement, was symbolic of the community effort that produced this piece, as moderator Jeremy Kurtz noted. (Jeremy has also performed the piece, with the San Diego Symphony.) Two more bassists, Paul Ellison and Hunter Capoccioni, also appeared to describe the genesis of the work. Hunter Capoccioni recalled that when his father passed away in 2000, the family was given a check for $10,000 from Walmart, the company Mr. Capoccioni had long served. Hunter was a student of Paul Ellison at Rice at the time, and they happened to be talking about commissioned pieces — Paul remembered ruefully how a consortium of bassists led by Barry Green had commissioned Alberto Ginastera to write a bass concerto in 1980, only to see the commission postponed (“we were next in line, but Ginastera’s wife got ahead”) and then left undone at the composer’s death.

Fortunately, this Harbison piece didn’t fall to the same fate (John Harbison is still alive and well, and Jeremy Kurtz read a gracious e-mail he sent earlier in the week thanking the ISB and his bassist colleagues “so endowed with fantasy, composure, and boldness.”) A whole assortment of other people, such as Harvard prof/pianist Robert Levin, Rice dean Michael Hammond, and ISB manager Madeleine Crouch, played a part in carrying off the commission, which Paul Ellison called “like a birthing experience.” (Also, no one forced them to name it “The Walmart Concerto” or anything like that.)

The three movements of the piece seemed quite varied, though the three different performers might have accentuated the differences. Dennis Trembly played the first entrance with a bold, declamatory style, relaxing into the tranquil second theme then driving through a racing coda. Volkan Orhan’s second movement was simply gorgeous, a cantabile melody which develops into Bach-like counterpoint, eventually taking on a rhythmic momentum. The most virtuosic playing seemed to be reserved for the last movement, which Scott Best carried off brilliantly, ending with a whirling-dervish race to the top of the instrument.

basses gone wild

a sign in Pasquerilla Center promises a topless bass

While walking through Pasquerilla Spiritual Center on Wednesday, I noticed this sign from the Guarneri house: “11:30 Wednesday – We will remove a top to repair rib crack. Come by and watch!! (In basement)”

Of course, I immediately went down to see, but I was too late to watch the top being removed. I found it already off, as you can see below.

I wish I could have photographed the actual removal; but thanks to Steven Reiley at Guarneri House for providing this great, only-at-a-bass-convention moment. They’re just one of many shops and luthiers who have been here all week offering repair services, along with instruments and bows for people to try. Almost every performance has started with a shout-out to some repair shop that loaned the instrument, since so many bassists decided (as I did) not to bring our own. (I just hope that my bass is keeping its top on and behaving itself back in Calgary.)

a Christopher bass loses its self-control