June 29th, 2013: Saint-Saëns' "Organ" Symphony

The finale concert of the 2012-2013 season at the Seattle Symphony was led of course by Music Director Ludovic Morlot, and consisted of the Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde by Richard Wagner, the Overture and Venusberg Music from Tannhäuser by Richard Wagner, and Symphony No. 3 in C minor, "Organ" by Camille Saint-Saëns.

Originally the symphony was going to be in the first half of the concert and the Wagner works in the second half, but a decision was made to reverse it so that the evening would end with the epic organ-filled finale of the Saint-Saëns symphony.

This being the last concert for the season, we decided to have dinner in Measure, the restaurant designed for ticket-holders only and located inside Benaroya Hall in the Founder's Room. We got a 5:45 reservation and arrived at the Grand Lobby doors just before 5:40. The usher woman there ripped the stubs off my tickets (usually they just scan them with the machines), and we proceeded around to the back where the Founder's Room is tucked away. We were the first people there, and were seated by a window. The place was very classy, and the service and food were really good. For starters Christine got the caesar salad and I got a plate of local meats and cheeses. For our entrées she got the gnocchi and I got the cured duck. All was very, very good. Dessert was less than stellar however. We shared this chocolate cremeux thing which had all kinds of weird things in it that I won't go into detail about. The essence of the dessert was also not particularly sweet. Anyways, we got to our seats in the auditorium around 7:40.

Morlot came onstage to lead the orchestra in the two Wagner works comprising the first half of the concert. Efe Baltacigil was there last night leading the cello section masterfully. The last concert we had seen him in must have been the Bruckner 4, or maybe even before then. He disappeared for a while there, and it was really good to have him back. The cellos opened the Tristan und Isolde overture with a beautiful tone, and the winds joined them with the "Tristan" chord, wonderfully balanced and very expressive. The orchestral playing throughout the work was quite stellar, which was encouraging since this was the first concert I had seen conducted by Morlot in which the orchestra was playing the best I've heard them play.

The Tannhäuser overture was also wonderfully played, though overall I'm less familiar with the work compared to the Tristan. I was also becoming rather tired by this point for some reason, so for parts of it my eyes were closed and I just let the sound wash over me. It sounded like a very polished and engaged performance.

During intermission we headed to the Friends Lounge, and as we stepped into the hallway from the box, we saw Charlie and Benita Staadecker again, vanishing quickly out through a doorway. I still hadn't found an opportunity to give Charlie my card and invite him to come hear me play at Canlis, but they disappeared too quickly for me to do it at this point. Anyway, we had tea in the lounge and headed out onto the patio to enjoy the warm summer evening. After not too long we headed back inside to hear the Saint-Saëns symphony.

I was not familiar with this work at all before buying the tickets for this concert. In preparation I managed to squeeze in four listenings of it, which aided considerably in my engagement with the music last night. The first movement is a wonderfully dramatic piece of symphonic music, containing passages fit for cinematic battle scenes. The second movement is a lush, beautiful interlude full of lovely melodies and a sense of contended peace. The third kicks off immediately back into a violent, agitated mood and remains so for much of the movement. Under Morlot's leadership the orchestra gave a very compelling and convincing performance of these movements, bringing out the great contrasts in mood and dynamic between them.

The fourth movement begins with a full chord on the organ, which blasted out into the auditorium, followed by marcato passages in the strings leading to a second organ chord. Eventually it reaches the end of the introduction, punctuated by a final, longer chord played on the organ, which is followed by a lush soaring melody in the strings well known for being used in the movie Babe.

At the end of the symphony, the final chord was played by the entire orchestra and the organ, and Morlot demanded more and more sound from them, making it as loud as possible before finally giving the cutoff to bring the concert to an end. Vivacious applause and shouts followed immediately, and an almost complete standing ovation. Thus the 2012-2013 season came to an end. 

In the hallway outside the box following the concert, I got another chance to give Mr. Staadecker my card. They were heading towards the same door we saw them escape from during intermission, but they were saying goodnight to some people, and we were ahead of them. I was able to strike up a conversation and give him my card, as well as invite him to come hear me play. They both responded very positively! By the way, Charlie Staadecker is running for Mayor of Seattle, and you should vote for him.

Next up is the Opening Night Concert and Gala on September 15th! Stay tuned!

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http://www.seattlesymphony.org/symphony/buy/single/production.aspx?id=12234&src=t&dateid=12234

June 13th, 2013: Britten's 'War Requiem'

I attended this concert with my brother because he was in town on break, and our mom was singing in the choral. Even though I was there by default I did expect to enjoy the music thoroughly, based on little bits I had heard in advance, as well as reading a little about the piece. However, the whole thing was slightly more dissonant than I expected, and to me it lost its ability to deliver a really powerful emotional experience due to the relative absence of beautiful, engaging harmonies.

We sat about six boxes back on the right side of the second tier. The right side of the stage was blocked from our view by the other boxes, and overall I was not thrilled with the quality of the seats.

Before the concert began, the lights dimmed on the audience, and then on the stage as well. Very unusual, but clearly intended to set a dark mood prior to the beginning of the piece. Morlot and the two male soloists entered the stage slowly into that darkness, and they received applause from the almost full house, slightly marring the effect created by the darkened stage. Morlot then began the piece and the lights on the stage began to brighten slowly until after not too long it was lit like normal.

The music was quite underwhelming, constantly implying something grand and meaningful, but never utilizing harmonic or melodic techniques that would allow that grand, meaningful something to be fully conveyed to the audience.

The solos of the tenor and baritone singers in particular were sinfully boring, as they read English texts about war interspersed with the traditional latin texts of the Requiem mass being sung by the choral. The texts were great, but the music was practically non-existent. There was also a boys choir performing from boxes A and B on the left side of the second tier, and their passages were usually quite haunting. The organist sat with them in the box with a little organ, and he would seem to teleport between that one and the big organ on stage. That was the running joke, because we never paid attention when he got up to leave, so it seemed like he was suddenly at the other organ, and suddenly back again.

Certain parts of the Dies Irae and the Lacrimosa did enchant my ears, and perhaps if I were very familiar with the piece there would be parts that I'd really love listening to, but it was a slight let down in its use of dissonance beyond what I expected.

Much of the audience was following along with the text in the program (due to the English sections of poetry sung by the soloists) and when we'd come to a point where the page in the program would need to be turned, there was a massive wave of shuffling sound emanating from the audience as everybody turned their program page. It was pretty funny how loud and prolonged it was every time it would happen.

At the end of the piece, Morlot held a silence for at least twenty seconds, which some members of the audience did not respect. They shuffled around and coughed and what not instead of holding still in the atmosphere that Morlot desired to sustain beyond the end of the last note. When applause finally began though, there was a full standing ovation that called the performers back to stage at least four times.

Next up is the season finale concert on June 29th, conducted again by Ludovic Morlot!

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http://www.seattlesymphony.org/symphony/buy/single/production.aspx?id=12306&src=t&dateid=12306