AUGUST 27TH 2008

someday lounge

Special thanks to the Willamette Week for the awesome article about the revolution!

Bach Cello Suite No. 2 on Guitar
Puccini 'Signore, Ascolta,' from 'Turandot' for soprano
Gian Carlo Menotti 'The Black Swan' from 'The Medium' for soprano
Jay Derderian 'Elegy' for flute, violin, viola, cello and piano
Beethoven Romanzen with Massive Attack for violin and tape

intermission

Vaughn-Williams 'Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal' for viola and piano
Lyle Lovett 'Baltimore' for viola and piano
Bartok 'Slovak Peasant's Dance' for viola and piano
Mozart viola quintet in G minor
Canon Jam

JULY 31ST 2008

costello's travel cafe

HH Brandt "Farven Blaar" for recorders
Vivaldi "Summer" from the Four Seasons for string trio
Schubert "In Der Fremde" for tenor
Schubert "Du Bist Die Ruh" for tenor
Schubert Cello Quintet mvt. I
Borodin String Quartet No. 2 mvt. I
Haydn String Quartet Op. 76 No. 1

JUNE 24TH 2008

someday lounge

Mozart string quartet no. 2
Beatrice "A chanter" for voice, viola and percussion
Jolivet "Chant de Linos" for flute and piano
Popper Requiem for three celli and piano
Bohemian Rhapsody performed by Opera Theater Oregon

intermission

Vivaldi concerto for two celli in g min
Verdi "Siciliana" from I Vespri Siciliani
Schumann piano quintet mvts. 1 and 2
Shostakovich cello sonata mvts. 1 and 2
Donizetti "Una Furtiva Lagrima" (see video below)

VIVA LA REVOLUTION

the movement is worldwide

Several articles have been brought to our attention lately about movements very similar to Classical Revolution PDX. For your reading pleasure here are some articles about fellow revolutions in the following cities:
London
New York
Atalanta
And of course there's revolutions already taking place in San Francisco, Montreal, and the newly formed Classical Revolution RENO! I wonder which city will be next...

MAY 28TH 2008

someday lounge

Gliere duet for cello and violin
Gastoldi recorder duo - Nachtigal Duo
Ysaye violin sonata No. 4
Dvorak trio for two vioins and viola
Johannes Kapsberger - Corrente No. 9, Gagliarda No.12 and Toccata No. 3 for lute
John Dowland "Come ye heavy states of night" for lute and tenor

* Selected works performed by FourScore:
Poulenc - Tout puissant, tres saint, from "Quatre petites prieres de Saint Francois d'Assise"
Schubert "Grab und Mond"
"Carolina in the Mornin"
Poulenc - Seigneur, je vous en prie, from "Quatre petites prieres de Saint Francois d'Assise"

* Hollis Taylor "Unsquare Dances" for clarinet, viola and percussion
Prokofiev flute sonata mvt. IV
Arutunian trumpet concerto
Mozart bassoon and cello sonata K. 292 mvt. 1
Dvorak "American" string quartet

*recordings available on our myspace!

MAY 15TH 2008

costello's travel cafe

Divertimento for Violin, Viola and Cello by Haydn
"Still Waiting" viola lament by Holly Bruce
Sonata for two Recorders Op. 1 No. 3 by Johannes Matheson
"Summa" by Arvo Pärt performed by the Portland Cello Project
**First ever CRPDX masterclass given on the performance on "Summa"!
Bach Cello Suite No. 6

APRIL 30TH 2008

someday lounge

Corrente Nos. 10 and 12, Gagliarda No. 3 by Giovanni Kapsperger for Lute
Corrente and La Sua Spesata by Bernardo Gianoncelli for Lute
Bach Sonata in E minor for Flute and Guitar
Notturno from String Quartet No. 2 by Borodin
Klughart Woodwind Quintet
"Down by the Salley Gardens" by John Corigliano for Tenor and Flute
"Pajaro del agua" by Rodrigo for Tenor and Flute
Tenor and Flute Improvisation by Nelsen/Beaudoin
Filaments for Flute and Tape by Jacob Gotlib
Piano improv by Paul Dirkson
Mendelssohn String Quartet No. 1
Beethoven String Quartets Op. 18 Nos. 4 and 6

WORDS ABOUT WORDLESS

we're speechless

April 17th, 2008 was a big night. The west coast premier of NYC's Wordless Music Series was gaining a lot of attention with the Willamette Week, Portland Mercury , Oregonian, and countless other blogs all saying "go to this show!" Classical Revolution PDX was ready to represent.

Andrea Murray interviewed Mattie Kaiser and Matthew Cooper (Eluvium) about the upcoming Wordless performances for AllClassical.org:

The show itself was amazing. But you don't have to take our word for it....

reviews

When classical comes to the turf of rock and electronica
James McQuillen, special to The Oregonian

A good mix | Classical Revolution PDX melds with Christopher Willits and Stars of the Lid

In the words of its own mission statement included in the program for Thursday night's concert at Portland club Holocene, the New York City-based Wordless Music series is "devoted to the idea that the sound worlds of classical and contemporary instrumental music --in genres such as indie rock and electronica --share more in common than conventional thinking might suggest."

It's not a new idea, of course; performers such as Kronos Quartet and Christopher O'Riley, with his piano transcriptions of the music of Radiohead, are among legions of musicians striving to demolish the genre boundaries between classical music and everything else.

The audience of twenty- and thirtysomethings was exactly the demographic that classical music presenters desperately crave.

Willits opened with improvisations accompanied by electronic augmentation, moving his hands rapidly from his guitar to the laptop in front of him (the Apple logo was the brightest thing in the room; indie experimental music has given the company brilliant product placement). Behind him was a projected display including washes of color, an animated diagram of a heart, supersaturated photos of forget-me-nots --a visual analogue of Willits' organic, distortion-filled soundscape.

Violinists Lucia Conrad and Marya Kazmierski, violist Mattie Kaiser and cellist Erin Winemiller brought on the classical in the form of Dmitri Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 8. On paper, it seemed an odd choice, not least because it's a searingly intense, personal work, and intensity has little place in electronica. In context, though, its dissonances and mercurial transitions worked on the level of pure sound, and the audience was rapt.

Kaiser, who animated the Shostakovich with slashing bow strokes and full-throated sound, returned with pianist Briana Ratterman for "Spiegel in Spiegel" by the Estonian composer Arvo Part, a gem of utter simplicity and a natural segue for Stars of the Lid, who gave a set beginning with Part's mystical-minimalist "Fratres." Accompanied by a fine string trio --violinist Kate O'Brien, violist Ella Baruch and cellist Julia Kent the duo of Brian McBride and Adam Bryanbaum spun off into a world where Part meets Brian Eno, space is bathed in clouds of electronically generated overtones and generic boundaries are blissfully abolished.

...........................................

Wordless Music strikes a nerve
Lorin Wilkerson, Northwest Reverb (click for full review)

Next up was CRPDX, with Dmitri Shostakovich’s titanic String Quartet No. 8 in C minor. I actually missed the opening moments waiting in the long line for beer, but I will say this about hearing classical music at a club: as music and craft beer are my two great passions, it was singularly enjoyable to be able to sit in the dark and sip a bottle of Rogue Brewery’s Nut Brown Nectar while listening to the haunting strains of a Shostakovich quartet. This work was performed by Lucia Conrad and Mary Kazmierski, violins, Mattie Kaiser, viola, and Erin Winemiller, cello.

This piece, perhaps the most-often performed work in his seminal collection of quartets, was composed in a furious 3-day spurt of creativity when Shostakovich was in Dresden in 1960, and it was intended as a remembrance of the victims of fascism and totalitarianism. I attempted to pay special attention to the audience, as I surmised this style would be unfamiliar to many of them. It seemed like a number didn’t quite know what to make of it at first, but they sat in rapt silence and paid close attention; classical music audiences who are often coughing, shuffling and whispering could learn a thing or two from the serene meditative complacence with which this Holocene crowd attended the Shostakovich. One other thing that suggested an unfamiliarity with classical etiquette was an attempt to clap between movements, although the later movements flowed attaca one into the other, so that eliminated this problem. This was an audience that sincerely wanted to hear new music, as shown by the growing throng that was willing to sit packed together on the cold concrete floor.

The syncopated atonality that permeated large parts of this work proved a stark contrast to the dreamy ambient music immediately preceding it, and it actually took me a moment or two to adjust aurally. The opening Largo was very somber and intentional; it began with a sobbing motif that Shostakovich often uses as his musical signature. There were a few intonation problems right at first but they soon worked themselves out. Part of it could’ve been the loud hum of the overhead fans which was inaudible during the amplified sets of the other performers. But, it interfered with my hearing and could easily have proved a distraction to the unplugged musicians attempting to play in a whispering pianissimo.

By the time the Allegro Molto was in full swing the audience was hooked. The viola dominated an important segment of this movement, and Kaiser rendered these fiendishly difficult phrases with demoniac intensity, hammering out triple and quadruple stops with such ferocity that I thought strings might snap. I couldn’t help but visualize extreme violence during this section, families torn from their roots and ripped apart to be scattered unto death by the winds of a soulless, inhumane force. The Allegretto was a pleasant contrast to this, a bacchanalian dance that belied the fury of the former movement. The work closed with two sparse Largos, and Lucia Conrad played the return of the opening theme that dominated these movements with as much mesmeric intent as any fan of hypnotic music could hope for.

CRPDX finished with the minimalist Spiegel im Spiegel (Mirror in Mirror) by Arvo Pärt, a consonant piece more in keeping with the overall dreamy timbre of the evening. For this work Kaiser was joined by Briana Ratterman on an electronic keyboard. This was a simple piece featuring a languid, happy melody on the viola hovering over a repetitive motif on the keyboard. Ratterman had a deceptively challenging task in keeping the ostinato fresh and invigorating, and she did this well.

WORDLESS MUSIC SERIES

april 17th @ holocene 9pm

Have you heard about Wordless Music?

It's a music series that started in NYC that's dedicated to pairing electronic/rock concerts with classical/chamber music with the aim of dismantling genre distinctions. We here at Classical Revolution PDX can get behind that... in fact, we're helping to kick off the Wordless Music Series here in Portland!!

April 17th 9pm
Holocene and SPECTRE present...
the WORDLESS MUSIC SERIES
featuring Stars Of The Lid
Classical Revolution PDX
Christopher Willits

We'll be performing
Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 8 in C minor
Arvo Part's "Spiegel Im Spiegel" for viola and piano

Holocene is located at 1001 SE Morrison, PDX.
Tickets are $12 advance, $14 at the door.

ALLCLASSICAL.ORG INTERVIEW

Andrea Murray interviews CRPDX for "Northwest Previews"

MARCH 12TH 2008

someday lounge

Mozart Quartet K421
Ginastera Flute Quintet
Hildegard von Bingen vocal piece w/droning quartet
Mozart Piano Quartet in G minor
*intermission*
Original music by Sallo
Mozart's violin/viola duo K423
Milhaud - La Californienne (Viola and Piano)
Dvorak Viola Quintet mvt. 1 & 2
Solo Flute music by Bach and Piazzolla

MARCH 6TH 2008

costello's travel cafe

Beethoven Duets for Violin and Cello
Mozart Viola Quintet in G minor mvt. 1 & 2
Gary Schocker "3X2" Flute Duet
Mozart Flute Quartet in G major mvt. 1
Dohnanyi Trio for Violin, Viola and Cello
Beethoven's 7th Symphony mvt. 2 arranged for 4 celli
Haydn Quartets Op. 76 - No. 1 and No. 4

FEBRUARY 27TH 2008

someday lounge

This performance included our heroes, the Portland Cello Project. I can't believe we had 16 cellos on stage. 16! Besides the massive celli gathering we also had some top notch performances, including:

Beethoven String Quartet No. 4 - mvt. 1
played by Betsy (cello) Mattie (viola) Justin and Jody (violins)

Cavallini, Adagio & Tarantella
played by Travers (piano) and Theresa (clarinet)

Mozart G minor Piano Quartet - mvt. 1
played by Travers (piano) Kate (violin) Doug (cello) and Mattie (viola)

Schubert Death and the Maiden string quartet - mvt. 2
played by Erin (cello) Mattie (viola) Lucia and Jody (violins)

Villa Lobos Bachianas Brasilleras No. 5 - mvt. 1
played by the Portland Cello Project with soprano Allison Armerding

De Falla Ritual Firedance
played by lots and lots of celli!

*intermission*

Handel-Halvorsen's Sarabande and Variations
played by Lucia (violin) and Andrea (viola)

Villa Lobos Bachianas Brasilleras No. 1 - mvts. 1 & 2
played by "the cello rejects" Nikki and company

The Lookout! Chamber Ensemble performed music written by Michael Hagmeier - Enenel, and One Donut Short
Elise (flute) Michael (didgeridoo) Betsy (cello) Jack (percussion) and Kelly (violin and piano)

JANUARY 10TH 2008

costello's travel cafe

So this evening we seemed to be the Portland Flute Project, as we had SIX flute players show up! Wow, but want an eclectic night of music it turned out to be.

Bach, Wachet Auf
Mozart, Divertimento #1
Mozart, Piano Concerto #21
played by Nikki (cello) Mattie (viola) Kathy and Jourdan (flutes)

Haydn, Echo Flute Duet
played by Kathy and Jessie (flutes)

Beethoven, Allegro and Minuet
played by Christie and Jessie (flutes)

Schnocker, Nymphs
Miyagi arr Howard, Haru No Unie
played by Flöte

Blavet, Sonata in Gminor for flute and continuo
played by Nikki (cello) and Elise (flute)

Haydn, Divertimento #1 for violin (flute) viola and cello
played by Jessie, Mattie and Nikki

Michael Hagmeier, Nile and Night mvt 1 and also Calm within the Storm
played by Elise (flute) and Michael (didgeridoo)

Collective improve with flute, flute, flute, spam, flute, viola, and didgeridoo.

DECEMBER 26TH 2008 - BachXing Day

the someday lounge

Thanks to everyone who came out to bachxing day last night! Both the performers and the audience had a really good time, and what amazing performances we had!

Sometimes we play pieces we know and love, and we tell the audience something like "thisisthedvorackamericanstringquartetsecondmovement" and you fall in love with the piece (who wouldn't??) but have no idea what we said it was....

Solution! I'm going to start posting our set lists after the shows (and we'll also try to be more articulate during the shows) so you can find the piece you fell in love with.

Bach, Cello Suite #1 Prelude
played by Mattie (viola)

Telemann, Canonic Sonatas
played by Erin and Skip on celli

Bach, Violin Partita, allegro movement from a Bach flute sonata
played by Theresa (clarinet)

Shostakovich, String Quartet #8
played by Justin, Marya, (violins) Erin (cello) and Mattie (viola)

Intermission with Piano improv by Jay

Bach, Flute Duets
Kathy and Jessie on flutes

Bach Cello Suite #3 Gigue
Played by Skip (cello)

Erin challenged Mattie to a "Bach off" and played the Cello Suite #1 Prelude

Sallo, original compositions
Skip (cello) and Sallo (piano)

Bach 2 part intervention (err, I mean invention) #2
played by Jeff on Banjo,

Dvorak American String Quartet mvt. 2 (and later mvt. 4)
Lucia, Marya, (violins) Erin(cello) and Mattie (viola)

Bach, Chorals
TUTTI led by Shawn on Trombone