Thomas May's Blog, page 7

Mozart and the Fortepiano

replica of a Viennese fortepiano built by Rodney Regier that will be used for the Mozart concertos

A week after its sold-out immersion in Winterreise with baritone Charles Robert Stephens (on Schubert’s birthday), Seattle Chamber Orchestra presents a program exploring the fortepiano – the kind of keyboard Mozart knew.

Mozart had to carve out his own path as a freelance artist in Vienna during the final decade of his career. He relied on his reputation as a celebrity virtuoso to cultivate a core audience, largely through his dazzlingly inventive series of piano concertos (as we call them), which he typically premiered in subscription concerts that doubled as crucial fundraising opportunities.

Conductor and pianist Lorenzo Marasso, SCO’s founder and music director, has curated a program around two of these concertos, which will be performed using a fortepiano: K. 449 in E-flat major and K. 488 in A major, with Tamara Friedman and Marasso as the soloists. He will also conduct SCO in Mozart’s Divertimento in D major, K133, and the great G minor Symphony, K. 550.

“A fortepiano is an early piano,” Marasso explains. “In principle, the word fortepiano can designate any piano dating from the invention of the instrument by Bartolomeo Cristofori in 1698 up to the early 19th century. Most typically, however, it is used to refer to the mid-18th- to early-19th-century Viennese instruments, for which composers of the Classical era, especially Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, wrote their piano music.”

The concertos will be performed on a replica of just such a Viennese fortepiano, which was built by Rod Regier and is borrowed from the collection of historical keyboards of Prof. George Bozarth and Tamara Friedman. 

The concert will be held on 7 February 2025 at Plymouth United Church of Christ in downtown Seattle (1217 6th Ave). A pre-concert talk will take place at 7:15pm; the performance begins at 8pm. Admission includes the pre-concert talk and the performance, accompanied by drinks and appetizers. Tickets here.

PROGRAM:

Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART 

Divertimento in D major K133

Piano Concerto No. 14 in E-flat major K449

Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major K488

Symphony No. 40 in G minor K550

Tamara Friedman fortepiano
Lorenzo Marasso fortepiano & conductor
Seattle Chamber Orchestra

Seattle Chamber Orchestra provides this bio:

The newly formed SCO is rooted in our cherished Pacific Northwest’s casual and open culture and brings together the region’s top instrumentalists to create an all-sensory experience of music where you are invited to be part of the experience rather than merely witnessing it. Founded in 2021, the Seattle Chamber Orchestra seeks to bring music lovers tantalizing combinations of the traditional and contemporary repertoire, performed by world-class professional musicians. Brought to life through thoughtful programming that educates as much as it inspires, SCO seeks to reinvigorate live classical music by providing opportunities for musicians and audiences to explore traditional and new music and challenge established boundaries.

Ludovic Morlot’s Month in Seattle

Ludovic Morlot’s return to Seattle Symphony during the first month of this already profoundly troubled year has been a balm, offering some reassuring proofs of music’s ability to uplift in times  of uncertainty and upheaval. Earlier in January, he led members of Seattle Symphony  at Seattle Opera in an immersive account of the second part of Les Troyens, the grandest and yet most personal of Berlioz’s masterpieces at Seattle Opera. 

Even without full staging, this performance of the “Carthage” part of the epic opera was spellbinding from start to finish. Incredibly, Seattle Symphony’s conductor emeritus insisted on continuing with the engagement despite losing his home and entire musical archive to the recent wildfires in the LA region.

The connection they made with Berlioz’s multi-dimensional score turned out to be the perfect preparation for this weekend’s all-French program back in the concert hall. Fauré’s Suite from Pelléas et Mélisande instantly brought back treasured memories of Morlot’s early years with the orchestra. (They recorded it on their all-Fauré album on Seattle Symphony’s in-house record label in 2014.) 

Morlot also reminded us of his commitment to contemporary composers. It’s always a risk-taking venture, but one that during his tenure resulted in some wonderful new music by John Luther Adams, for example. He led pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet and principal harp Valerie Muzzolini in the world premiere of Hanoï Songs, a duo concerto commissioned from French composer Benjamin Attahir that strives for a Ravelesque combination of fantasy and meticulous clarity.

The best part of the program was the all-Ravel second half. Introduction and Allegro, written as a showpiece for the double-action pedal harp, benefited from Morlot’s gently fluctuating sonic choreography, subtly balancing ensemble and soloist. Muzzolini, now fully in the spotlight, played with luminous charm. 

Morlot then led the orchestra in the complete Mother Goose — not just the suite but the expanded ballet score that Ravel fleshed out with connecting material to create a more coherent sense of narrative. It was sheer bliss to experience how deftly Morlot conjured each atmosphere, leaning into exquisite sound colors that were both transparent and intricate while articulating the score’s rhythmic subtleties with grace. The musicians played with rapt attention and obvious enjoyment.

Much more than an endearing string of fairy-tales, Morlot’s Mother Goose conveyed an opera’s worth of emotions, along with a sense of tonal refinement that has deepened and matured. The concluding “Enchanted Garden” at times even radiated an almost “Parsifal”-like serenity that, for some precious minutes, kept the chaos outside at bay.

Midori in Seattle

Midori offers a provocatively thoughtful account of the Brahms concerto, with Anja Bihlmaier making her Seattle Symphony debut on the podium. Photo (c) Jorge Gustavo Elias

My review for The Strad of Midori’s recent performance with Seattle Symphony:

In the more than 15 years since Midori last performed with Seattle Symphony,  the orchestra has undergone dramatic transformation, yet the violinist, now 53, returned with the same intense focus and uncompromising artistry that have long defined her career….
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Seattle Chamber Music Society’s Winter Festival 2025

Friday night is the opening concert of Seattle Chamber Music Society‘s Winter Festival 2025 (over this weekend and next). Some wonderful programs to look forward to: Brahms Op. 34; a fecund piano quintet by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, written when he was 18 (SCT is represented on this weekend’s Seattle Symphony program as well); Bartók’s Sonata for 2 Pianos and Percussion; Enescu’s Octet; Rebecca Clarke’s Viola Sonata; Schoenberg’s “Verklärte Nacht” in the original sextet version (with James Ehnes in the ensemble, and more.

complete program

Drones and Opioid Dreams: Daniel Pioro and Manchester Camerata Reimagine Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons”

Daniel Pioro in rehearsal with Manchester Camerata

I spoke with the adventurous British violin virtuoso for The Strad about why he couldn’t resist adding his stamp to one of classical music’s most beloved icons.

The Four Seasons hardly lacks for representation on disc or in the concert hall. But Daniel Pioro will make you reconsider your assumptions about Vivaldi’s beloved concertos. To celebrate the release of his extraordinary new recording with Manchester Camerata, the virtuoso violinist joined the ensemble to perform the cycle on Saturday 18 January at King’s Place in London, UK….

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Krishna Thiagarajan to Depart Seattle Symphony

Seattle Symphony released a bombshell announcement this afternoon:

The Seattle Symphony and Benaroya Hall today announced that Dr. Krishna Thiagarajan, President & CEO, will resign after six and a half years of dedicated service to the organization. His last day will be April 30, 2025.   

“It’s been a deeply fulfilling experience to work with all the talented and dedicated people at the Seattle Symphony, Benaroya Hall and its foundation,” stated Dr. Thiagarajan. “Leading the organization through COVID, the rebuilding of audiences and the historic appointment of Xian Zhang as the first female and woman of color Music Director have been some of the highlights of my time here.”   

… The Symphony board of directors is forming a search committee to launch an international search for Dr. Thiagarajan’s successor. While the Seattle Symphony begins its search for its next President & CEO, Maria Yang, Chief Development and Project Officer, will serve as Acting CEO to ensure a smooth transition. 

Jan Lisiecki’s Year of Beethoven: All Five Concertos with the Toronto Symphony

Jan Lisiecki: © Ksawarey Zamoyski | Deutsche Grammophon

I spoke with the pianist Jan Lisiecki about his upcoming Beethoven concerto marathon with the Toronto Symphony:

Jan Lisiecki’s immersion in the piano concertos of Ludwig van Beethoven began right at the deep end. Rather than offer his interpretation of just one work, his very first recording of music by the German composer (which appeared in 2019) encompassed nothing less than a complete concerto cycle. 

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PostClassical Ensemble Presents Music by Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate

PostClassical Ensemble continues its Amazing Grace New Year’s tradition on Monday, 13 January, with a chamber program saluting the music of Native American composer Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate. The concert takes place at 7:30 pm ET at the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater.

“This annual event celebrates the universal expression of the human spirit through music, inviting a living composer to curate a concert designed to uplift and inspire,” says PCE artistic director Angel Gil-Ordóñez.

The program includes Tate’s Chokfi’ for strings and percussion; selections from his rhapsodic Standing Bear: A Ponca Indian Cantata (performed by baritone Javier Arrey);  Hymn and Spider Brings Fire from Lowak Shoppala’ (Fire and Light), a work expressing Tate’s Chickasaw heritage through music, to texts by poet Linda Hogan. The concert will also feature the Larghetto from Prokofiev’s Symphony no. 1 (“Classical”) and Samuel Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 (performed by Mvskoke soprano Kirsten C. Kunkle).
tickets here

Inauguration of the Seattle Bach Festival

From left: Debra Nagy, Tekla Cunningham, Danielle Reutter-Harrah, David Morris, Tyler Duncan and Ross Gilliland perform at the Whidbey Island Music Festival, founded and directed by Cunningham. Cunningham is also founder and director of the new… (Dennis Browne)

The brilliant violinist, artistic director, and educator Tekla Cunningham has been extra-busy of late laying the groundwork for a promising new venture that launches this weekend. I had the privilege to speak with Tekla about the inspiration behind the Seattle Bach Festival:

For Tekla Cunningham, music happens in the connections — not only between the notes but between the humans who produce and experience them. …
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8 Seattle Classical Music Picks To Look Forward to in 2025

In March, Xian Zhang will conduct Seattle Symphony in Gustav Holst’s “The Planets” — her first program with the orchestra since she was announced as its next music director. (Courtesy Seattle Symphony)

Here’s a brief list of suggestions — far from exhaustive — for Seattle area music lovers for the first months of 2025:

Stepping into a new year means embracing its promises but also facing its challenges. Fortunately, the performing arts offer a reliably inspiring source of motivation. Following are some recommendations — by no means exhaustive — of classical music events to mark on your calendar for the coming months. May you find them inspirational in the new year….
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