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~ Journal 16 ~
I enjoyed the daylights out of this concert. Far from being a sleepy legacy group, the Julliard String Quartet blew all the music they played wide open. And they had a distinct sound, almost a coloring, like medium-brown, almond, and cream.
The program:
- Beethoven: Quartet in A Major, Op. 18, N...
On this night I went with friends to see Nareh Arghamanyan play the piano at Meany Hall. I had mixed feelings about this pianist. There was a lot of posing and acting going on, and a dress change at intermission, and a queenly posture like she was riding a chariot and/or casting commands from on hig...
On this Saturday afternoon I heard the Philahmonia Northwest (Julia Tai, conductor) do a concert titled "Finland 100", celebrating the 100th anniversary of Finnish independence. The Finnish ambassador was in attendance, all the way from DC, and gave a speech in which she pointed out that Finland has...
On this night I went with friends to the small hall at Benaroya to hear Hauschka. The opening act was Crystal Beth (the musician, not a NYC comedian), who started with soothing clarinet but soon added loop pedal and effects and vocals (singing, beatboxing, throat singing...), layer upon layer...
I ended up down a rabbit hole about the first piece on this album: the violin sonata by Gabriel Pierné. I've known this work from a different recording I found while chewing through Pierné's music, but this performance really grabbed me. The energy of it — the ardent nervousness — ta...
