Phoenix Chorale Third Friday Open Rehearsal
When: Friday, April 16 at 6:30 PM
Where: Trinity Episcopal Cathedral (100 W. Roosevelt)

The Phoenix Chorale continues hosting its free Open Rehearsals during downtown Phoenix’s monthly Artwalk. These events are FREE and open to the public and take place inside Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, located on Roosevelt Row. Take Metro Light Rail to the Roosevelt Arts District stop.

The Chorale will hold a raffle at the rehearsal for great prizes from local organizations, including tickets to the Phoenix Symphony.  Arrive early—the first 50 visitors to the rehearsal will receive a goodie-bag that includes a free raffle ticket and music download!

Ola Gjeilo in Concert with Ted Belledin
When: Monday, April 26, 2010 at 7:30 PM
Where: Trinity Episcopal Cathedral (100 W. Roosevelt)

Phoenix Chorale Composer-in-Residence and pianist Ola Gjeilo performs a special concert in April with special guest, saxophonist Ted Belledin. The concert features the two musicians in a duet creating new music, completely improvised on the spot, and in the stylistic vein of improvisers like Keith Jarrett and Jan Garbarek. The hauntingly beautiful music will be just as informed by classical and world music as by jazz and unlike a lot of free-improv jazz, it will be melodic and unabashedly lyrical.

Tickets are just $10 and can be purchased by calling the Phoenix Chorale office at 602-253-2224. Please note: “25 & Under Free” is not eligible for this concert.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsFaUl4rPWs

[source: Danielle Chavez, intern, Phoenix Chorale]

-Edward Jensen

A quick note about the Christmas Oratorio: Unlike other grand oratorios from the period, Bach’s work is comprised of six separate cantatas that are for Christmas Day through Epiphany (January 6). Bach’s original design was for the six separate cantatas to be performed separately.  Modern concert performances perform all six. JS Bach’s cantatas combine grand choruses, settings of chorales, arias, and recitatives.  Some feature small overtures/sinfonias at the beginning of each cantata.

There is a strong element of musical foreshadowing in the Christmas Oratorio. Bach employs the Passion chorale Befiehl du deine Wege (usually sung in English as O sacred head now wounded) throughout the work. Most notably, the chorale concludes Part VI as well as the complete Oratorio. In addition, an aria and chorale from Part V (Wo ist der neugeborne König der Juden?) are borrowed from his St John Passion (S. 245).

Joining the 27-voice Phoenix Chorale was a 19-member chamber orchestra as well as a continuo organist. It should be noted that a key element to Bach’s works (and most Baroque works in general) is a strong basso continuo.  In the performance, cello and organ combined to play the continuo. Jan Simiz (cello) and Sue Westendorf (organ) were perfectly together in this respect.

For the most part, the Phoenix Chorale’s pronunciation of the German text was easily discernible. When the choir was singing the same words at the same time, even non-German speakers could transcribe the text. But like most of Bach’s work, unison writing is rare and often times the different vocal parts are singing different words. That, combined with the live nature of the space’s acoustics, muddied up the text. I was sitting about 30 feet from the choir so I cannot imagine what it was like for people sitting in the back of the house.

On his game at the concert was Erik Gustafson, a tenor in the Phoenix Chorale, who performed the role of evangelist. (In the Christmas Oratorio as well as the Passions, the Evangelist connects the different arias and chorales together with text from the Bible sung in recitative form.) He sung with a pure, refined sound that, in my mind, made for a perfect evangelist. Mr. Gustafson kept to the simplicity of the text and added vocal effects (e.g. vibrato) very sparingly that actually contributed to the success of that role.

It was good to see the Phoenix Chorale return to its roots (they were, until recently, called the Phoenix Bach Choir). The Chorale, along with the orchestra and conductor Scott Alan Youngs, performed this work brilliantly. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio is not a work that should be taken lightly. The combined ensemble presented the work in a manner that even those who do not appreciate JS Bach’s music would suddenly appreciate it; for those who admire the great composer’s music, their admiration would become even greater.

This concert was one part of the Arizona Bach Festival, and so far, each of the performance spaces have been packed houses. It truly is heartwarming that, even in times of economic peril and also in a state whose legislators do not recognize the value of arts in the community, people enjoy and support the arts. With a concert like last night’s, it can be truthfully said that there are artistic gems in this desert.

-Edward Jensen

(For pictures from last night’s concert as well as the previous concerts in the series, check the Festival’s Facebook page at facebook.com/arizonabachfestival.)

Coming in just a couple days (actually, beginning on the 3rd!) is the premiere Arizona Bach Festival.  It’s the logical next step in Phoenix’s American Bach series that just wrapped up a seven-year cycle of the complete JS Bach cantatas as well as his St Matthew and St John Passions at All Saints’ Episcopal Church.

So this month, from the 3rd-7th, the Festival will happen at locations up and down Central Avenue. The orchestra features members of the Phoenix Symphony, the chorus is the Phoenix Chorale (of Grammy fame), the guest concertmaster is Dr. Stephen Redfield, the concert organists are Dr. Kimberly Marshall and Scott Dettra, and the conductor is Scott Youngs.

There are five events: two organ recitals (both at All Saints’), a solo violin recital (in the lobby of the Viad Tower in Midtown Phoenix), a performance of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio (at Central United Methodist Church), and an educational component sponsored by ASU and Arizona School for the Arts.  The events list is online here and tickets are available here.

It's Bach. In Arizona. Can it get any better?

I’ll be seeing you at the Arizona Bach Festival!

-Edward Jensen

From the Minneapolis Star Tribune:

Paul Manz was a church organist who took the liberty of being creative at the keyboard. He liked to introduce hymns that the congregation at Minneapolis’ Mount Olive Lutheran Church would sing with improvisations. Church members loved them, and word about his compositions eventually led to Manz playing at hymn festivals nationwide.

For 37 years, he led music at Mount Olive at 3045 Chicago Av. S., where his music will be played and prayer services will be held from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday to mourn and honor him. He died Wednesday in St. Paul following a long illness. He was 90. [source]

Now, he’s with the company of Bach, Handel, Buxtehude, Mozart, and the entire company of saints. He will be missed but his music lives on.

-Edward Jensen

One of these programs is called the College Club Card. For $30, you get free tickets to most of the PSO’s concerts this season at Symphony Hall.

From the PSO’s website:

The Phoenix Symphony’s College Club Card gives Phoenix-area college students the opportunity to attend unlimited Symphony Classics concerts for only $30. Tickets can be picked up – one per cardholder, student ID required – at the Symphony Hall Box Office from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, or online using the preset promotional code COLLEGE. There is a limit of one ticket per cardholder and a maximum of 100 tickets available per concert; therefore, availability is not guaranteed to all Classics concerts. Tickets are distributed on a first-come, first-serve basis.

The PSO’s box office is located on the second floor of 1 N 1st St (the northeast corner of 1st St and Washington, click for map). When you go, make sure you bring your student ID and a copy of your current course schedule.

For the complete list of eligible concerts, click here. And for more information, call the PSO’s box office, (602) 495-1999, or drop by (they’re open 10a-4p, and they’re quite lovely people!).

And I’ll be seeing you at the Symphony!

-Edward Jensen

On the repertory for the evening’s performance was John Adams‘ On the Transmigration of Souls, a piece written in memory of the 11 September 2001 attacks (and how apropos it was played on the eighth anniversary of that terrible day), Mozart‘s Ave verum corpus and Beethoven‘s Symphony no. 9 in d minor.  In those three pieces, the PSO under the ever-capable baton of Maestro Michael Christie reminded us all that they are a tour de force symphony orchestra in the American Southwest.

The evening’s performance of the Adams work was the first time I had heard anything from his pen.  I went in armed with a little bit of knowledge of what to expect, and the piece met those expectations.  The piece is scored for orchestra, chorus, and audio tape with people reading missing person signs, quotes from those inside the two hijacked aircraft, and other 9/11-related texts. Adams’ work is rather dissonant and atonal, but the PSO and the four choirs (more on this later) handled it with ease.  I did find that the tape and choir covered each other up to the point where I couldn’t discern both. All the same, four choirs joined in the fun: the Phoenix Symphony Chorus, the Arizona State University Symphonic Chorale, the Phoenix Boys’ Choir, and the Western Illinois Singers – over 400 personnel on the stage!

Segued on to the end of the Adams was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s moving motet, Ave verum corpus (KV 618).  Mozart’s work is only four minutes long, and it balanced out the dissonance of the Adams rather nicely.

The main highlight of the season-opening concert came after intermission.  Beethoven’s Symphony no. 9 in d minor is one of those pieces that’s sadly almost become cliché in American mainstream culture because of the finale movement. But the other three movements explore the gamut of emotions en route to the finale movement wherein Joy is discovered.

For whatever reason, the usually lush strings sounded rather hollow during the Beethoven. In the first movement – Allegro ma non troppo, un poco maestoso – Beethoven’s lush string orchestration didn’t carry through by the PSO.  The orchestra didn’t seem to perform this work with reduced personnel, so I can’t quite figure out why.  Still, key passages came through loud and clear and the orchestra was on top of its expression.  Each movement built on the previous, and all were delights to hear in their own ways. The second movement – Scherzo (Molto vivace – Presto) – is frenetic and hurried but accentuated by tympani tuned at an octave. The third movement – Adagio molto e cantabile – is a sublime serenade with sensuous orchestration for wind instruments that (maybe by Beethoven’s design) lulls the listener into a false sense of calm before the finale movement.

And then we get to the fourth movement (Presto, etc.). For those not familiar with Beethoven’s score, the first several minutes of this movement explore themes from the previous three movements in the work’s persistent search for joy. The familiar theme (what many know as the Ode to Joy) is introduced by the basses and celli and is built upon. Christie kept the orchestra under control here, which is notable because this area has great potential to fall apart. Then comes the highlight and the reason why Beethoven 9 is called the “Choral” Symphony: enter the choir and soloists. The baritone soloist did a fantastic job on the piece’s opening récitative (O Freunde, nicht diese Töne!) and the choir was magnificent in its diction of the German text. My common complaint of listening to recordings of this piece is that the German text is difficult to understand. This changed with the Minnesota Orchestra’s 2006 release of Beethoven 9, when the Minnesota Chorale sang the words with phenomenal diction that non-German speakers could transcribe it. And so too did the Phoenix Symphony Chorus.

My persistent observation (bordering on complaint) about Maestro Christie and the PSO is that they have a tendency to rush their tempi. Last season, I noted this in my reviews of Haydn’s Creation and Orff’s Carmina Burana. It has mixed results, but when the orchestra can’t play 110% at that rushed tempo, then why even bother? A couple of sections in the Beethoven come to mind – the Presto in the second movement and the faster sections of the final movement – where the orchestra was clearly scrambling to keep up with Mr. Christie’s conducting.

Finally, as an alumnus of the Phoenix Symphony Youth Orchestra and self-confessed concert-going snob, I was rather dismayed when the audience clapped in between each of the Beethoven’s four movements.  This threw off Christie’s pace but the orchestra recovered quickly. To the audience: you do not clap in between movements of any symphonic work! EVER!

Audience distractions aside, the PSO performed three works fantastically well and only reaffirmed that they are a cultural gem in this desert. Let’s hope that the economy rebounds quickly so that the PSO can keep performing symphonic masterworks for years and decades to come.

-Edward Jensen

The concert is in a week’s time, 7PM, Friday August 21st, at Trinity Cathedral (100 W Roosevelt St, Phoenix). It’s free and open to the public, with a free-will retiring collection taken to support the Cathedral’s fantastic music program.

See you there!

-Edward Jensen

A couple of good friends from my high school, Eric Choate and Sean Colonna, have put together a summer choir that’s called the Camerata Singers, and I’m in the choir.  Over the past weeks, we’ve prepared music by Palestrina, de Victoria, des Prez, Morley, Gasparini, Rachmaninoff, Vaughan Williams, and a couple settings of folk tunes. Rather than keep this incredible music to ourselves, we want to share it with you!

With this said, join us for our season concert this Sunday, August 2nd, at the First Congregational United Church of Christ, 1407 N 2nd St, in Phoenix. (It’s near the McDowell/Central Avenue Metro station.) The performance begins at 3:30pm and a free-will retiring collection will be taken.

For more information, check out the Facebook page for the concert. And I hope to see you there!

-Edward Jensen

A couple of good friends from my high school, Eric Choate and Sean Colonna, have put together a summer choir that’s called the Camerata Singers, and I’m in the choir.  Over the past weeks, we’ve prepared music by Palestrina, de Victoria, des Prez, Morley, Gasparini, Rachmaninoff, Vaughan Williams, and a couple settings of folk tunes. Rather than keep this incredible music to ourselves, we want to share it with you!

With this said, join us for our season concert this Sunday, August 2nd, at the First Congregational United Church of Christ, 1407 N 2nd St, in Phoenix. (It’s near the McDowell/Central Avenue Metro station.) The performance begins at 3:30pm and a free-will retiring collection will be taken.

And, if you’re bold enough, join the church for its 5:30pm evening service and see me conduct the Camerata on Tomás Luis de Victoria’s O magnum mysterium. It’s a really beautiful piece:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IMPV11p7tU

For more information, check out the Facebook page for the concert. And I hope to see you there!

-Edward Jensen

A C, an E-flat, and a G go into a bar. The bartender says: “Sorry, but we don’t serve minors.” So, the E-flat leaves, and the C and the G have an open fifth between them. After a few drinks, the fifth is diminished: the G is out flat.

An F comes in and tries to augment the situation, but is not sharp enough. A D comes into the bar and heads straight for the bathroom saying, “Excuse me, I’ll just be a second.”

An A comes into the bar, but the bartender is not convinced that this relative of C is not a minor. Then the bartender notices a B-flat hiding at the end of the bar and exclaims: “Get out now! You’re the seventh minor I’ve found in this bar tonight.” The E-flat, not easily deflated, comes back to the bar the next night in a 3-piece suit with nicely shined shoes.

The bartender (who used to have a nice corporate job until his company downsized) says: “You’re looking sharp tonight, come on in! This could be a major development.” This proves to be the case, as the E-flat takes off the suit and stands there au natural. Eventually, the C sobers up and realizes in horror that he’s under a rest. The C is brought to trial, is found guilty of contributing to the diminution of a minor, and is sentenced to 10 years of DS without Coda at an upscale correctional facility.

-Edward Jensen

So, here is Tom Trenney performing on the Trinity Wall Street organ, which should be familiar to you because this is where Robert Ridgell performed quite possibly the best tribute to Michael Jackson.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_N9PF2JwIc

Much better, I think.

-Edward Jensen

Fast forward to 1891, when young church organist and composer Charles Ives composed his Variations on ‘America’, which you might know as either My country, ’tis of thee or God save the Queen (how ironic).

Finally, fast forward to today, 4 July 2009, where you’ll listen to the late concert organist Virgil Fox play this piece:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNpJJLNI6xg

So happy Independence Day, America!

-Edward Jensen

Sarah Kriehn’s “Abstractions”

Meet the artist during the OPENING RECEPTION, Thursday, July 16, 7-9 pm

Join the Cathedral Center for the Arts and Trinity Episcopal Cathedral for a month long print exhibit showcasing the work of Sarah Kriehn.  An Arizona native and graduate of Arizona State University, Sarah Kriehn’s career in the arts spans over twenty years.  In additional to serving on the Arizona Humanities Council, she was awarded the 2003 Elementary Art Educator of the Year award, and was the 2005 Art Education Nominee for the Governor’s Art Award.

Her prints are created by transferring an image inked onto Plexiglas to paper. Using both biomorphic and geometric abstraction, her images investigate the boundaries of time and space and their relationships to the natural and human world.

The gallery and reception are free and open to the public.

My favorite JS Bach organ work -- and quite possibly my favorite organ work ever -- is his Fugue in E-flat Major, colloquially known as the “St Anne” fugue after the English hymn tune (you probably know it as “O God, our help in ages past”).  My favorite recording of this is Masaaki Suzuki‘s (you may know him as the director for the Bach Collegium Japan) as part of the Clavier-Übung III, but I could never find a decent edition on YouTube.

Say no more. Earlier today, I did, and here is what I found:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWAskyBz5wM

-Edward Jensen

In between the show before Red Green and The Red Green Show (like 10.55pm), they’d play something from Animusic, and the Aqua Harp was by far my favorite.  It was beautiful then, it’s still beautiful now, and so I have to share it with you.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cgt4DEBQy50

-Edward Jensen

Next season, the PSO explores the music of German composer Ludwig van Beethoven (you may have heard of him) with their Beethoven Festival from 1-10 April 2010 and also their Opening Night (11/12 September 2009) performance of his glorious Ninth Symphony.

But in between their survey of Beethoven’s music, the PSO will present many other innovative works, and ones I think that you should check out.  After all, the PSO have a great student tickets program, and if you live on the ASU Downtown Phoenix campus, then you have no excuse not to go to these great concerts.

Newbies to the Classical music repertory cannot afford to miss Opening Night and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony (11/12 September 2009).  The culmination of that work is the majestic Ode “to Joy” that has become so ingrained in our culture.  In addition to the Beethoven at that concert, the PSO will present John Adams‘ On the Transmigration of Souls and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart‘s Ave verum corpus as a memorial to the heroic men and women in public safety.

Some other highlights include Hindemith’s Symphonic Metamorphoses on Themes of Carl Maria von Weber and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony no. 5 (15/17 October 2009), John Adams’ innovative opera Nixon in China (12/14 November 2009), Mozart’s Requiem (18/20 March 2010), and a concert of American Masters (1 May 2010).

There’s more, and I encourage you to check out the entire 2009-2010 season program for the PSO by viewing their online brochure.  And if you need any recommendations for concerts to attend, let me know.

-Edward Jensen

Dena Frei, our Community and Student Engagement Manager, is a freelance theatre light designer, and has designed the lights to a musical that her brother, Kevin Frei, wrote. Entitled Final Vinyl: A Rock Invasion, it’s a funny, silly, campy and family-friendly show about a space traveler, rock and roll, and a planet of happy jazz and brass music-loving dorks. If you’re not wondering “what in the heck?!” right now, you didn’t read that correctly. It’s all just crazy enough to have been given a big splashy article on the front page of the Arts & Entertainment section of a recent edition of The Arizona Republic, or you can check out the web version.

Final Vinyl is being performed at Hamilton High School in Chandler this Wednesday through Saturday, June 10-13, at 7:30pm. Hamilton HS is on Arizona Ave. about a quarter mile south of Queen Creek road (click for map). If you don’t live on the east side, yes, it’s quite a hike. But we can promise you it will be a show unlike any other you’ve ever seen, and a whole darn lot of fun. If you do live on the east side, well you’re that much closer to a really great time!

For more information, including ticketing, check out the Final Vinyl website at http://www.fvinvasion.com/.

See you there!

-Edward Jensen

As I mentioned in my review of the Creation concert back in October 2008, the Phoenix Symphony have established themselves as a “master of large but nimble symphonic works.”  Ms. Hidgon’s Concerto is one of those works, and the orchestra performed it brilliantly.

The fourth movement of Higdon’s Concerto was a true percussion soli, and as a percussionist (in high school and for a couple years at the Phoenix Symphony Youth Orchestra), I was ecstatic.  Higdon exploited percussion in ways that I have not seen in a while.  For a moment, the Symphony’s percussionists ran bows across cymbals, mallet percussion instruments, crotales, and quite possibly other instruments, too.

Carmina Burana was simply a treat to hear.  The Phoenix Symphony Chorus, the orchestra’s all-volunteer chorus, was at the top of their game.  All three soloists were fantastic, as usual.  They even got into the moment and acted the parts that there were singing (i.e. schwungvoll).  Truth be told, it was unique, and something I had not heard before.

Something on which I have commented before (see my review of the PSO’s performance of Haydn’s Creation) about Maestro Christe is how he likes to take some things too fast.  Having performed Carmina Burana before and familiar with the work, there were some moments that Christie simply too fast.  Unlike in the Creation concert, the choir and orchestra seemed able to keep up with Mr. Christie, but it still seemed rushed and hurried.

There will be those that argue that Carmina Burana is an overplayed piece of the Classical repertory.  True, its first and final movements might be, but the twenty-three in the middle are a delight to hear.

-Edward Jensen

Are you wanting a summer experience singing in a choir with two of the hottest composers/conductors music has ever seen?

Join celebrated Eric Choate and Sean Colonna for a summer project called The Camerata Choir in which you will participate in weekly rehearsals, a final concert, and the world premiere of two works by Choate and Colonna.

If you are interested, sing well and are willing to commit to rehearsals, contact Eric Choate (choate [at] stolaf [dot] edu) or Sean Colonna (sc647 [at] bard [dot] edu).

Rehearsals are Sunday evenings at the First Congregational Church (1407 N 2nd St, Phoenix) from 7.00-9.00pm.  If taking the Metro, your stop is McDowell/Central Ave.

-Edward Jensen

Stephen Schermitzler, one of my classmates, good friends, and an up-and-coming composer is taking part in a composition recital later today at the Phoenix Art Museum.  He wrote a string quartet inspired by “Upside Down, Inside Out”, a piece currently on display in the Katz Wing of the museum.  Come for all the fantastic music, poetry, and art on display.

Details: 1.00pm later today (Saturday 18 April), tickets are $10/adults and $8/students.

The Phoenix Art Museum is at the northwest corner of Central Ave and McDowell Road, easily accessible from the McDowell/Central Ave light rail station.  I’ll see you there!

-Edward Jensen

We conclude JS Bach Week with one of my favorite works, the motet “Der Geist hilft unser Schwachheit auf” (S. 226). JS Bach’s motets combined several styles: antiphonal choral music, contrapuntal writing, and Bach’s use of the chorale.  This video features the Men and Boys of the St Thomas Church Choir in Leipzig, where JS Bach served as cantor from 1723 until his death in 1750. (From 2:10-2:29 in the video, his grave is visible in front of the baptismal font.)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wDxkup3oQ4

He wrote many works, and though we will never know how many works he did write because of improper care, over 230 cantatas (written for various days in the liturgical year), hundreds of works for the keyboard and organ, and two hundred works for various orchestras.  His style was simultaneously complex and beautiful.

As part of JS Bach Week, we have sampled some exemplar pieces of each of JS Bach’s styles and different instruments.  As a young composer, Bach borrowed compositional styles from great composers who preceded him.  As he wrote more and more, his compositional style became his own that has often been imitated but never fully duplicated.  This is the genius of Bach.

Happy Birthday, JS Bach!

-Edward Jensen