News – October 2002

Violist Jonathan Bagg, of the Ciompi Quartet, will play William Walton’s Viola Concerto with the Pioneer Valley Symphony this Saturday (October 19) in Greenfield, MA.
 

We invite our readers’ attention to a pending series of Milestones 2002 concerts, being presented by UNC and Duke as part of their ongoing musical partnership. The three-concert series features lots of new music, including several scores by local composers, and it begins on November 7. (See our calendar, or click here for an all-in-one-place recap: http://www.duke.edu/music/events/encounters.html [inactive 12/05].)
 

The NC Dance Theatre recently received $14,750 from the NC Arts Council for its innovative “Capturing Creativity” project, which “deals with the process of dance construction through the analysis of contemporary dance works created by prominent choreographers of our time.”
 

A dvd featuring the Raleigh Ringers, filmed during last season’s holiday concerts, has been released and is being sold by the ensemble; see http://www.rr.org/ for details of this new “stocking stuffer,” which is also available on VHS. Portions of this program will be aired by WUNC-TV in December.
 

The current issue of The Portland Phoenix contains an article by composer J. Mark Scearce, formerly of NCSU’s Music Department (and a Meet-the-Composer resident of Hickory in the not-too-distant past) about the recent appointment of Xiao-Lu Li, also formerly of NCSU’s Music Department, as Music Director of the Bangor Symphony Orchestra, which is said to be the oldest community orchestra (est. 1896) in America. For the online version of Scearce’s column (which appears regularly in the Phoenix ), see http://www.portlandphoenix.com/archive/music/02/10/11/classical%5Fxiao.html [inactive 8/06].
 

A profoundly moving profile of Raleigh-born dancer Mel Tomlinson, one of whose choreographed pieces is scheduled for performance on the Raleigh Symphony Orchestra’s Chamber Music Series in January, appeared in the 10/6 issue of Winston-Salem’s Journal-Sentinel , available (for a fee) from the paper’s online archives (via http://www.journalnow.com/ ). A shorter article covering some of the same ground is posted online at http://www.2jesus.org/testimony/light.html [inactive 3/04].
 

There are some major events pending in the sticky wickets that are the realms of copyright and broadcast rights. Eldred v. Ashcroft, a case that will surely influence copyright issues for years to come, was argued before the Supreme Court on October 9; a decision is expected sometime next spring. (See http://eldred.cc/ and/or http://eon.law.harvard.edu/openlaw/eldredvashcroft/ [inactive 10/06] for details of this attempt to set to rights the mess that is the so-called “Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension” act.) And as anyone who listens to WCPE or other major broadcasting outlets on the web already knows, there’s a parallel snarl going on in that arena that has caused Chicago’s WFMT to shut down its online service and that may soon impede other webcasts. (For details, see http://www.copyright.gov/carp/webcasting_rates_final.html .) This involves fees to be paid by the broadcasters/webcasters, fees that many small operations realize will force them out of cyberspace. There are two pieces of pending federal legislation, identified as House Bill 5469EH and 5469IH. The first of these has been passed and sent to the Senate. To look them up, go to http://thomas.loc.gov/home/c107query.html#billno , type in “h.r.5469”, submit the query, and then choose either the EH or the IH version of the bill.
 

In the category of “gee whiz” sites, see http://www.newmusicbox.org/ , where more than 30 works created through Meet the Composer commissions and residencies (including a piece by Duke’s Scott Lindroth) may be heard online – half now and the rest, after November 15 . The direct link to these works is http://www.newmusicbox.org/webcasts/theworks2/index.nmbx [ updated 11/15/02 ], more information is available at http://www.meetthecomposer.org/whatsnew.htm#works [inactive 10/05], and the (printed) program is posted at http://www.meetthecomposer.org/programs/theworksprogram.pdf [inactive 12/04].
 

Finally, there is a new website honoring the late Georg Solti, at http://www.georgsolti.com/, scheduled to debut 10/21 but apparently online now.

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A Bösendorfer Imperial Piano Arrives in the Triangle

Pianos Are in the Air
 

October 16, 2002: Till recently, music lovers could count on the fingers of one (perhaps mauled) hand the really good pianos in the Triangle, but as we noted in a recent CVNC review of UNC pianist Thomas Otten, that Chapel Hill institution has not one but two new Steinways, and some other celebrated Steinways are slated to “visit” the Triangle next month (see our current calendar item for Wednesday, November 6, for details), so things are definitely looking up. Perhaps the biggest piano news of all, however, is the arrival of a glistening new Bösendorfer Imperial, now part of Ruggero Piano’s growing arsenal. It’s high time.
 

Why does this matter, and what does it mean for Central North Carolina? Many of us first encountered these instruments when Victor Borge toured the Tar Heel State, bringing with him what seemed to our eyes (they were a bit fresher back then) the biggest, slickest piano we’d ever encountered. In the floodlights, the case gleamed, as if it were covered with mirrors. But when Borge left town, the Imperial left with him. Years later, we stumbled across some CDs by the Abegg Trio, whose pianist was (and still is) a Bösendorfer artist. That ensemble’s recordings of the Beethoven trios (and others, by other masters) remain the finest we’ve yet heard, in part because of the exceptional sound of the piano (and also because, in the Beethoven set, the group adheres closely to what are clearly the composer’s own metronome markings). Impressed, and curious about why the Abegg Trio didn’t appear in America, we discovered that the reason is there are not enough Imperials here to sustain them as they travel. (Indeed, at the time, the group didn’t even have U.S. management.) Fast forward to September 2002, when word began to leak out that Richard Ruggero had completed a deal to bring an Imperial and other Bösendorfer models to Raleigh. The new Imperial will make its formal debut at the Fletcher Opera Theater on October 20, when Ignat Solzhenitsyn will play Fauré’s First Piano Quintet with the Brentano String Quartet. (For details, see our calendar.)
 

The Fauré doesn’t require any notes not on standard 88-key pianos, but the Imperial has a few more than normal, reflecting in wood and metal the ongoing evolution of the instrument over the centuries. The Bösendorfer firm, based in Vienna, dates from 1828 – it is the oldest piano manufacturer in continuous operation in the world. Since then, the company has turned out around 46,000 grands. Only 500 are made each year, nowadays, and only 150 of those reach the U.S. (Press materials reveal that it takes 62 weeks to build one, which may in turn explain the “manufacturer’s suggested retail price”; Imperials run “around $140,000.”) The construction of these instruments differs from Steinway’s and other manufacturers’ norms in that the Bösendorfer rims and cases, as Richard Ruggero puts it, “do not reflect ‘vibrational’ energy but instead vibrate along with the soundboard, for maximum ‘sustain’ and clarity.” In addition, like the strings of a violin, each string in these pianos is individually strung, which helps ensure greater stability in tuning and greater tonal purity as well. Bösendorfer’s design concepts helped secure the firm’s lasting fame: Liszt was unable to destroy the one he played, despite what must have been a ferocious onslaught…. The die was thus cast.
 

The current incarnation comes with those aforementioned extra keys, which (to help the player avoid mistaking where he/she is) are supplied in colors that differ from the “standard” keys. Those extra notes (down to C below the normal low A of a standard grand) are of course not called for in conventional piano literature, but many distinguished composers have written for them, including (again, according to press materials) Bartók, Busoni, Dohnányi, Frank Martin, Roger Sessions, and Vaughan Williams. Apparently, too, the Vienna Philharmonic uses an Imperial to reinforce the sound of the bells in its performances of music from Wagner’s Parsifal (since the “original” Bayreuth bells – which, even by the late ’20s, were no longer in tune with the Festspielhaus’ orchestra – were melted down by the Nazis for the war effort…). Music by these composers for those extra notes constitute comparatively rare exceptions, we’ll admit, but it doesn’t take formal training to hear the added richness of these instruments’ exceptional sonority. October 20 won’t get here a moment too soon.
 

For more information, visit Ruggero’s website at http://www.ruggeropiano.com/ or go see the new arrival (and the firm’s other fine instruments by Schimmel, Mason & Hamlin, Charles Walter, and Estonia Piano) at Ruggero Piano, 801 West Morgan Street, Raleigh (closed Mondays). Ruggero has devoted a section of his website to Bösendorfer (http://www.ruggeropiano.com/bosendorfer.html), and the firm’s own site is http://www.boesendorfer.com/.

 

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Projects Worthy of Support
 

CVNC seeks financial support (in any and all amounts – see “About Us”), but we’re hardly alone, so here are some worthy-of-support-&-patronage items, in no particular order. Some are ongoing things that require what is, in the trade, called “operating support,” while others are special projects that may involve “naming rights” (a development buzz phrase for “give us money and we’ll stick your name on it”):

* WCPE-FM, “The Classical Station,” online at http://www.theclassicalstation.org/ .

* The “Transformation” of UNC’s Memorial Hall; an event involving composer Richard Adler on November 9 (see our calendar) would be a good place to start.

* Air conditioning and a general face-lift for UNC’s Hill Hall.

* A piano (a Bösendorfer, perhaps?) and a shell for Fletcher Opera Theater. (The shell should be moveable, so it could be used with small groups in Meymandi Concert Hall….)

* An organ for Meymandi Concert Hall.

* A new leader and a shot in the arm for the languishing Sanford Performing Arts Institute (see http://www.indyweek.com/durham/2002-08-28/cover.html [inactive 4/04] for details).

* The NC Symphony’s Great Artists Series, supported, in part, by the A.J. Fletcher Foundation, through next season. Ticket sales cover only 46% of the cost, so contributions must make up the difference.

* The NC Symphony in general, so it may add permanent players and expand at last beyond the nominal 64-player size that has for so long been one of several factors limiting its artistic potential….

* Plus ALL THE OTHER GROUPS whose performances enrich our lives, from various youth ensembles all the way up to the tops of the several heaps. Our readers know these groups as well as we do, and some of them are at risk now, due to the sour economy, diminished grants, and several other pressing factors….

[Please note that we are not intentionally playing favorites in the previous section; these are simply notices we’ve received in recent weeks. If this section draws favorable comment, we will attempt to present more such recaps in the future, from time to time.]

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Sturgis to Stay in North Carolina
 

On Tuesday evening, October 23, Alfred Sturgis, director of the Raleigh Oratorio Society and musical director of the Carolina ballet, announced his intention to remain in North Carolina. Sturgis had been offered-and was on the verge of accepting-the position of director of the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir.
 

What changed his mind? In a phone conversation, Sturgis summarized the truly compelling reasons to stay. “First of all,” he said, “I want to make clear that there were no negatives on this end when I first decided to go to Indianapolis.” He had always intended to retain his position with the Ballet, but the demands here were becoming increasingly consuming of both time and energy, including projected international engagements and as many as 54 performances per year. Add to that a grueling commute between Indianapolis and Raleigh-now minus a direct flight-and the task just seemed too daunting.

Members of the Raleigh Oratorio Society were “elated” at the news and gave Sturgis an emotional standing ovation at Tuesday’s rehearsal. On his end, Sturgis is excited about taking them “to the next level.”

-Elizabeth Kahn

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Robert Moran’s Quasi-Residency at UNC
 

The name of composer Robert Moran is probably not familiar to many of our readers, but he’s an American (b.1937 in Denver) and he’s still alive and kicking, and UNC-CH is celebrating his music this year with not one but two events. The first, reported above by Roy Dicks, was a performance of “Points of Departure.” The festivities continue in April, when UNC’s Opera Workshop presents two performances of his opera “From the Towers of the Moon.” We met and interviewed Moran during a UNCSO rehearsal on October 3. Tonu Kalam will conduct the opera, and the production will be directed by Terry Rhodes. Moran missed the performance reviewed above due to a prior commitment in Munich.
 

Moran doesn’t know Roger Hannay, distinguished composer emeritus of UNC, but the two have much in common. Both had singularly wild periods of activity early in their careers; both later seem to have embraced the realities of contemporary performance and the needs of our increasingly aging concert audiences – in America, at least.
 

Moran seems to have known everybody who was anybody and to have studied with many of ’em. An early convert to opera (thanks in part to the Met’s radio broadcasts), he credits 12-tone specialist Hans Erich Apostel (an acolyte of Schoenberg), Luciano Berio and Darius Milhaud among his principal teachers but was a friend of such diverse artists as Janis Joplin, John Cage, and members of The Grateful Dead (before the group assumed that name). His first huge splash was an extraordinary San Francisco happening in August 1969 that this writer, returning from Viet Nam, missed by just two months. The event was a city-work for the entire Bay Area that, according to a blurb at his website (at http://members.macconnect.com/users/r/rbtmoran/ [nactive 3/05]) involved “100,000 performers, 2 radio stations, 1 tv station, 30 skyscrapers, 6 airplanes, dance ensembles in the streets, etc.” He readily concedes that such a thing could not happen now, in the wake of September 11.
 

The full-orchestra “Points of Departure” (1993) was prepared for a CD recorded by David Zinman in Baltimore. It is based on an earlier dance work of the same name for chamber orchestra that has proven to be one of Moran’s most enduring scores. Rehearsals are the workshops in which music comes to life, so when time permits we tend to seek them out. (Please note that aside from the NC Symphony’s “open rehearsals,” students and other interested citizens may arrange to attend many of our preparatory sessions at no charge.) The UNCSO rehearsal of October 3 was revelatory in many respects. Kalam is an outstanding conductor who each season must rebuild his mostly-student ensemble from the ground up. He doesn’t confine his programming to mainstream works although for many of his players things like the Swan Lake Suite are “new” discoveries. The Moran is tricky but gelled quickly and made a big impression. As Dicks has noted, it is both catchy and danceable, and it ends “with a searching, uplifting theme.” It also sounds American, but American as colored by the best of the great 20th-century French school. There’s a touch of influence of the so-called minimalist composers but this is no minimalist piece. This is understandable in the context of one of Moran’s most telling remarks: he observed that the first great example of what we now call minimalism is the introduction to Wagner’s Das Rheingold.

It will be interesting to experience a live performance of one of Moran’s operas, and the April 19-20 renditions of From the Towers of the Moon will give local audiences that opportunity. As the composer’s website notes, the one-act work features a libretto by Michael John LaChiusa, was commissioned and premiered by Minnesota Opera in 1992, is based on an ancient Japanese legend of the Moon Goddess, who comes to Earth, and lasts approximately 80 minutes. It is scored for flute/piccolo, oboe/English horn, clarinet/bass clarinet, bassoon, trumpet, horn, trombone, three synthesizers, one percussionist (playing one timpani, triangle, two suspended cymbals, large tam, suspended car coil, vibraphone, chimes, two timbales, and two sets of bongos) plus two violins, viola, cello (or strings without bassi). The revised version of the opera includes roles for soprano, two mezzos, three tenors, two baritones, a bass, and a mixed chorus portraying various moon gods, the court, etc. Watch cvnc’s calendar for details.
 

by John W. Lambert

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Swalin Lobby Dedication at BTI Center
 

The Benjamin and Maxine Swalin Lobby in Meymandi Concert Hall will be christened on Saturday, October 13, starting at 1:30 p.m., and the public is cordially invited to attend. The free event begins with remarks in the hall by a panel of distinguished guests that includes Maxine Swalin, widely admired and recognized as the mother of the NC Symphony as we know it, and the playing of several musical selections culled from archival tapes of the NCS led by Dr. Swalin. After the speeches, a bronze double bust of the Swalins, commissioned from James Barnhill, sculptor, of Greensboro, will be dedicated in the lobby. The Swalin Lobby is named in memory of Benjamin Franklin Swalin, Music Director of the NCS from 1939-72, and in honor of Mrs. Swalin, and has been funded by generous gifts from Dr. Albert and Susan Jenkins and Elizabeth Moore Ruffin. The inscription on the base of the sculpture itself quotes the words of Governor Terry Sanford: “But for Ben Swalin, the North Carolina Symphony would not be. But for Maxine, Ben would not have prevailed. BRAVO!” A commemorative plaque, which is approximately 16″ x 22″ and is affixed to a nearby wall, cites the Swalins for “their vision, uncommon talents, dedication to childrenís education, and lifelong commitment to the North Carolina Symphony, the first state symphony in the nation.”
 

Participants in the project have included the Jenkinses, Assad and Emily Meymandi, Betty Williams, Beth Paschal, and the author of this note who, along with hundreds of thousands of people who grew up in North Carolina, was personally enriched by symphonic music routinely provided by our state-supported orchestra under the leadership of Maestro Swalin, constantly aided and abetted by Maxine Swalin. The orchestra is clearly one of our state’s cultural jewels, and Mrs. Swalin is our last and best living link to its earliest years, its growth and development, its crucial endorsement and continuous funding by the Great State of North Carolina (starting in 1943), its nationally-recognized educational programs, and its present excellence. Please join all of us who have been involved with this project in celebration of the contributions of these two adopted Tarheels. For more information, contact Pat Hall at the NCS at 919/733-2750.