Three centennials of notable but far from mainstream composers have been celebrated this year: Olivier Messiaen
(1908–1992); Leroy Anderson (1908–1975); and Elliott
Carter, who turns 100 on December 11.
In Seattle, Messiaen has been honored at chamber-music performances
throughout the year. Yet only the just-concluded series of Messiaen’s
complete organ music at Saint Mark’s and St. James cathedrals achieved
the aim of a centennial celebration: convey the composer’s
essence. Organists Joseph Adam, J. Melvin Butler, and Clint Kraus
captured the French composer’s transcendent combination of eruptive
fanfares, birdsong-inspired hymns, and serene drones.
Anderson’s light, amiable pieces are being performed at pops
concerts across the nation, but they need no centennial revival. His
songs, especially “Sleigh Ride,” remain a staple of holiday radio and
orchestras (see the Seattle Symphony listing below). Even with corny
lyrics, I love “Sleigh Ride.” Giddy, skidding string lines frame
evocative sleigh bells and clip-clop percussion, which foreshadowed
the signature sound of Phil Spector and Pet
Sounds–era Brian Wilson. I swear that KRWM 106.9
FM, home of “Continuous Christmas Favorites,” plays it at least once an
hour.
Still thriving at 100, Carter is in the unprecedented position of
living to see his own centennial, a grand celebration with revivals
and premieres around the world. On Friday, as part of the
Washington Composers Forum “Transport” concert series, cellist
Alexander Ezerman and pianist Cristina Valdés tackle Carter’s
1948 Sonata for Cello and Piano, an impassioned—and
relatively accessible—work that hints at the fierce rhythmic
complexity heard in his landmark string quartets of the
1950s.
This weekend, the Esoterics commemorate both Messiaen and Carter.
Along with the latter’s Mad Regales composed in 2007, this a
cappella ensemble performs “To Music” and two vocal pieces by Messiaen,
“O sacrum convivium” and the chanting, mysteriously hieratic Cinq
Rechants set in French and peppered with Sanskrit syllables.
Symphony orchestras and chamber groups won’t have any blockbuster
centennials to celebrate in 2009; nor is anyone yet advocating for the
lesser figures: Vagn Holmboe (1909–1996) or his fellow Dane, the
serialist Gunnar Berg (1909–1989). No relation to Alban Berg
(1885–1935), Gunnar Berg’s tedious Piano Concerto demonstrates how “12-tone” music earned an undeserved reputation for
being formulaic crap. Instead, look forward to the centennials
of Samuel Barber (1910–1981), John Cage (1912–1992), and
Witold Lutosawski (1913–1994), and the bicentennial of Felix
Mendelssohn (1809–1847). Or content yourself with recordings
by legendary jazzmen born in 1909: Lester Young, Art Tatum, Ben
Webster, Machito, and Benny Goodman. 
Alexander Ezerman performs Fri Dec 12, Chapel Performance Space,
4649 Sunnyside Ave N, 789-1939, 8 pm, $5–$15 sliding-scale
donation.
The Esoterics sing Sat Dec 13, St Joseph Catholic Church, 732
18th Ave E, 8 pm, $15/$18; and Sun Dec 14, Holy Rosary
Thurs 12/11
SEATTLE SYMPHONY
Associate conductor Carolyn Kuan leads the band in Tchaikovsky’s
first symphony, nicknamed “Winter Dreams.” Also on the docket:
Vivaldi’s Oboe Concerto in C major, RV 447 and the Concerto
Grosso in C minor, op. 6, no. 8 by Handel (don’t worry,
Messiah shows up in a couple weeks). Ben Hausmann is the oboe
soloist in the Vivaldi, which, like most of his oboe concertos, is
mostly merry and light. Also Fri Dec 12 and Sat Dec 13 at 8 pm. Morning
kiddie concerts on Dec 13 at 10 and 11:30 am feature excerpts of the
Tchaikovsky symphony, Leroy Anderson’s “Sleigh Ride,” and other
seasonal favorites. Also Sun Dec 14 at 2 pm, but without the Handel.
Benaroya Hall, 200 University St, 215-4747, 7:30 pm,
$17–$105.
Fri 12/12
PEARL DJANGO
Named after the great guitarist Django Reinhardt, this quintet
recaptures the sleek, winsome sound of violinist Stéphane
Grappelli and Reinhardt’s Quintette du Hot Club de France. Who can
resist languid, vibratoless violin melodies that glide along a bed of
beguiling guitar strums? The absence of a drummer is a blessing, too,
creating space for rhythmic interplay. For this noontime concert, they
saunter through holiday and klezmer tunes. City Hall, 600 Fourth
Ave, 684-7171, noon–1 pm, free.
PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
Seattle experimental label Aphonia Recordings presents a live
soundtrack to Phantom of the Opera—not the Andrew Lloyd
Webber schlocksical but the 1925 silent film starring Lon Chaney Sr.,
whose skeletal grin, rotted golf-ball eyes, and leprous, ski-jump nose
still give me the creeps. With Derek M. Johnson, Rachel Carns, Heather
Hall, and Daniel Buscher, who reprise their performance from the 25th
Olympia Film Festival. Gallery 1412, 1412 18th Ave, 8 pm, free but
donations accepted.
SEATTLE CHORAL COMPANY
SCC’s holiday concert skirts standard fare with John Rutter’s “Blow,
Blow Thou Winter Wind,” the evergreen “Fantasia on Christmas Carols” by
Ralph Vaughan Williams, “Three Nativity Carols” by Stephen Paulus, and
more. SCC also tackles “Winter” for voices, harp, string orchestra, and
sitar by Eric Whitacre, who deftly burnishes his smoothly tonal works
with hints (creamy clusters, trapdoor modulations, sudden pauses) of
the avant. Also Sat Dec 13 at 8 pm. Saint Mark’s Cathedral, 1245
10th Ave E, 363-1100, 8 pm, $10/$20/$25.
Sun 12/14
YULETIDE BAROQUE
Every era teems with overlooked Christmas music: I’m listening to
the Concerto Pastoral of Johann Christoph Pez (1664–1716)
as I type this. Here, flutist Jeffrey Cohan and harpsichordist George
Shangrow inaugurate an ongoing series surveying compositions from the
Renaissance to today. Soprano Linda Tsatsanis joins them for Telemann’s
“Vor des lichten Tages Schein,” a pocket cantata written for the second
Sunday before Christmas. Another Telemann cantata—he wrote scads
of them—”Was gleicht dem Adel wahrer Christen,” excerpts from the
Christmas Oratorio by J. S. Bach, and variations on “What Child
Is This” by an anonymous 18th-century composer round out the program.
Blessed Sacrament Church, 5041 Ninth Ave NE, 800-281-8026, 2 pm, $15
suggested donation.
OPUS 7
This choral ensemble serves up a bevy of Brahms (“O Lord, tear open
the heavens”), Hugo Distler, and two rarely heard carols for choir,
oboe, and cello by Gustav Holst, composer of The Planets. St.
James Cathedral, 804 Ninth Ave, 782-2899, 7:30 pm, $18/$20, students
pay as able.
