Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Igor Stravinsky, and John Adams: The teacher, the pupil, and the other guy. The Baltimore Symphony’s program Thursday night intrigued me enough to drag my behind up to Meyerhoff (it won’t be offered at Strathmore), but I thought that the BSO had missed a chance to program three related composers when they were already almost there.

It turns out that Scheherazade, the Firebird Suite, and Adams’ violin concerto do share something striking: They all drench the listener in novel instrumental colors, seducing and surprising by turns. And on Thursday, they shared something else: guest conductor Robert Spano led the BSO in bringing all those colors to extremely vivid life, in performances to remind you that sometimes you need to turn off the CD player and get to the concert hall, ’cause ain’t nothing like hearing the real thing, baby.

Spano has served as the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s music director for nine years and has brought notable new repertoire to the ATL; I’ve just about worn out the bits on the Spano/ASO CD of Jennifer Higdon’s Concerto for Orchestra and CityScape. In Scheherazade, one of the more excruciatingly familiar of all the symphonic blockbusters, he showed his chops early, as the BSO violins perfectly articulated the rocking of the sea at a steady tempo, building the tension to build to an initial climax that genuinely surprised me, much as I knew it was coming. The woodwindy aftermath seemed to float up in the air, establishing the hallmarks of Thursday’s performance: excellent BSO playing, rock-solid rhythms, well-controlled tempos, and super-detailed attention to orchestral textures that let Rimsky’s colors glow and singe like you always wish they would.

Felicitous details abounded throughout. In the “Kalendar Prince” second movement, the wind solos effortlessly channeled the Middle Eastern instruments that inspired R-K. The strings rustled sensuously, plucked precisely, and made a rough, commanding noise when called for too. (Remember when I was complaining about Marin Alsop not getting really precise playing from the BSO strings? Thursday is Exhibit A that they can do it.) The brass snarled and cooed, the percussion came right on time, and all the various players sounded like a unit in service to Rimsky’s coloristic inspiration; notably, they and Spano found myriad purposeful gradations of “loud,” saving the biggest and baddest for the final movement’s depiction of a shipwreck.

If you wanted to nitpick, the playing was not 100 percent gold-plated note-perfect. Also, concertmaster Jonathan Carney approached his solo Scheherazading as more of a 19th-century virtuoso than as a desperate storytelling seductress talking through the violin. Not to say he didn’t play seductively; his high, lonely whisper in the work’s final pages made an appropriately gorgeous ending to a truly memorable performance.

Violinist Leila Josefowicz joined Spano and the BSO for Adams’ violin concerto after intermission. Josefowicz, according to the extremely helpful program note, has been the concerto’s primary advocate in concert halls. I, on the other hand, had never heard this concerto before, and while listening I wished I’d picked up a recording before coming to the concert hall, as I kept understanding what had happened without being able to predict what was going to happen.

Adams works in his minimalist vein, with cells of notes evolving slowly over time, but in his concerto the violin has a complex, sometimes problematic relationship with said cells and their evolution. In the first movement, which Adams, in an extremely awesome move, titled “First Movement,” Josefowicz even goes to war with the orchestra over what rhythm to play (4/4 vs. 3/4, respectively). That part sounds pretty brutal, with the violin gradually reduced to insistent stabs, but the music leading up to the climax sounds like a cloud gathering into a storm. Adams uses two synthesizers in the orchestra, and they spend all their time making blurry, gauzy sounds, removing whatever edge remained on already very gentle orchestration and allowing the sharp sound of Josefowicz’s solo violin to stand out, rhapsodizing above. It need hardly be said at this point that Spano and the BSO rendered said accompaniment with attention to detail and minute gradations of color.

Adams has fun with the idea of a chaconne in the second movement, titled “Body through which the dream flows,” starting with a repeated bass figure in traditional chaconne style but eventually moving it around and tweaking it ever so slightly in the minimalist manner. The violin (the dream) weaves and soars in and out of the softest possible textures (the body), which are punctuated only in the gentlest possible manner. I became obsessed with a bell that occasionally rang, waiting for it to ring, then forgetting about it for a few seconds during which it would invariably ring, then feeling that of course the bell rang there, because look what happened. A game of the most beautiful kind. Josefowicz got her virtuoso on in the third movement, a blowout Toccata that rocked appropriately hard and featured a violin-drum duel with a hilarious surprise ending.

A bunch of audience members left the Meyerhoff after Josefowicz left the stage; the Stravinsky didn’t start until 9:50. As your intrepid critic, I stayed, but I have to admit that after two really intense listening experiences, I didn’t have enough steam left for a third. I could hear Spano and the BSO doing neat stuff — a mesmerizing hush in the Firebird’s Dance and Variations, raucous offbeat thrusts in the Infernal Dance — but didn’t feel them psychologically. Still, better than not hearing Stravinsky at all, and what an evening overall. The best BSO concert I’ve been to in a long time.

HELL IS OTHER DRIVERS

I realize there is absolutely nothing the BSO can do about this, but everyone in the Cathedral Street Garage after the concert either drove like a giant jerk (cutting in line, trying to make two lanes where one is clearly intended, sending pedestrians scurrying like mice into corners for safety) or had to deal with the inconvenience posed by the giant jerks. Not much takes the shine off the ending of Firebird quicker, I found, than having some jackass in a Jaguar back, tires screeching, across your path when he sees a nanometer of daylight open up between cars. Reason #237 why I prefer public transportation, although there is of course no way I am going to take Amtrak and associated additional trains to and from Meyerhoff on a work night, thus getting home at 12:30 am if I got home at all.

I LIKE SCHEHERAZADE

As a composition of which I became enamored in high school, Scheherazade is extremely close to my heart. In fact, my main problem with hearing Scheherazade in the concert hall is that I want to punch the air repeatedly and jump around like a meth-addicted frog during the fourth movement, which is what I do when I am listening at home (to the Fritz Reiner recording; I’ve tried others). My secondary problem is that I want performances of Scheherazade to be nearly perfect or I walk out disproportionately dissatisfied, because no one can be disappointed as hard as high-schoolers can, and I totally revert whenever I listen to Scheherazade. It is my considered opinion that Thursday’s performance was nearly perfect.

O.P.P.: Tim Smith agreed with me. He even did a quickie review like I did earlier. (His full review is not up yet as I write this.)

You can still go see all these works, although you have to do two shifts on Saturday: AM and PM.

There’s a performance of this tomorrow night, and I’m not going to get to write a full review until tomorrow night due to having to go to work tomorrow. So just read this and know: This concert, which was led by Robert Spano, the Atlanta Symphony’s music director, and featured Scheherazade, the Firebird Suite, and John Adams’ violin concerto with Leila Josefowicz, reminded me of why it’s not only necessary but fun to turn off the CD player and listen to a concert every once in a while. The three pieces have in common a seemingly inexhaustible wealth of novel and intoxicating tone color, and Spano and the BSO (and Josefowicz, where appropriate) render those colors incredibly well, in a way you can only really appreciate in live performances. If you had any inkling of desire to go to the performances on Friday or Saturday (the latter divided into AM and PM shows), I urge you to go.

I reserve the right to borrow liberally from the above when writing my full review.

You know how on “Charlie Parker With Strings,” Bird and his group played standards with the titular accompaniment serving as ornament and sonic carpet but never driving the musical argument? Well, Jennifer Higdon’s “Concerto 4-3″ for the string trio Time for Three, which received its world premiere with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra under music director Marin Alsop on Thursday night, should really be called “Time for Three With Strings.” Mind, J-Higgy wrote some interesting music in this concerto, but precious little of it ever leaves the hands of those three musicians.

Backing up: Tf3 (the group’s abbreviation, not mine!) consists of bassist Ranaan Meyer and two violinists: Zach De Pue and suburban Maryland’s own Nick Kendall. While studying at the Curtis Institute of Music up in Philly, they discovered that they loved to use their instruments to fiddle in the bluegrass mode, improvise like jazzmen, and shred like rockers as well as saw their way through the Classical Canon. Higdon, for her part, hails from Tennessee (cue Arrested Development) and retains affection for the bluegrass that filled the house in her youth. A composer-performer match made in heaven, right?

Well, you lose some things in the move from Tf3’s originals and covers to the “21st-century” idiom in which Higdon composed the work — specifically, you lose high-profile melody and a sense of play. The outer movements of “Concerto 4-3″ sizzle and burn, but they don’t break into something recognizable and followable; they’re sensation above all, delivered by three entertaining musicians. In these movements, the orchestra souned thoroughly inessential to the musical argument; worse, only very occasionally did Higdon deliver the timbral felicities fans of her work have come to expect, and most of those came from deployment of percussion to underscore rhythms already explicit in the Tf3 music. (To ensure that Tf3 could be heard above the large orchestra, the trio was amplified, and the resulting imbalance put the orchestra further into the background; one hopes this will be corrected at future concerts.) Tf3 took an optional cadenza after the first movement, which in this context felt like more of the same. One remembered the Higdon violin concerto in which Alsop led the orchestra and Hilary Hahn last June and felt the absence of the robust interplay between soloists and orchestra here.

The middle movement, “Little River,” had more of the good stuff, especially a vein of hymnlike melody that flowed throughout (just like the title!). Higdon had the Tf3ers play glassy high harmonics eerily mimicked by tinkling bells in the orchestra, and the BSO’s winds came together with a fine choir sound over which to hear the long violin lines De Pue and Kendall essayed with sensitivity. But for crowd-pleasing value, nothing in Higdon’s concerto could touch Tf3’s encore, “Orange Blossom Special,” which borrowed unashamedly from the vernacular, playfully quoted other songs, buzzed with showoff virtuosity, and generally showed why Tf3 had a concerto written for them. Would that Higdon had given them less abstract music to play and got more from the backing band.

While Tf3’s violin lines coruscated and turned on dimes, the BSO strings played with the vagueness to which Alsop’s audiences must by now be accustomed. I have heard the BSO strings play with a degree of precision that Alsop simply seems disinclined to demand, preferring a warmer, more rounded sound, but she does not show enough flexibility in her preferences to make changes when warranted. “Time For Three With Strings” didn’t suffer too much simply because the strings weren’t doing anything interesting, but the three Brahms Hungarian Dances that opened the program simply didn’t have enough point to make a listener think of moving his or her body, and in Tchakovsky’s Fourth Symphony, which followed intermission, the third movement, which pips along mostly in pizzicato, foundered on indistinct plucking. I just don’t understand why Alsop doesn’t want that extra degree of precision (and I’m sure she has some reason for not wanting it).

That said, the rest of the Tchaikovsky Fourth hit pretty hard in terms of dramatic impact, from the massed horns intoning the stern Fate theme at the beginning of the work (and how absurd those horns would have sounded if there had not been an intermission after “Orange Blossom Special”!) to the even more massive outbursts of the finale. Alsop really had her Leonard Bernstein podium-jumpin’ mojo working on Thursday, and the BSO responded with just as much athleticism; even the most sentimental of the melodies (and those are pretty damn sentimental, in this work) had a kinetic quality that rescued them from becoming pure sap. (I loved the on-point, nicely present drumming punctuating the big melody of the first movement.) Alsop shaped the arguments and climaxes with attention to the whole span of the work, a task at which she has sometimes faltered in the past. Sometimes the symphonies following Alsop’s presentations of exciting modern works feel anticlimactic, but such was not the case here. If the orchestra had gotten to show these kind of chops when backing up Tf3, it might have been the concert of the year.

Other People’s Perspectives (hereinafter O.P.P.): Joe Banno, Charles T. Downey, Tim Smith, T.L. Ponick, Mike Unger

BLOGGO A GO-GO

As Charles T. Downey noted in the review linked to above, Thursday was also Blogger Night at the BSO. This was a fun exercise in which we learned:

• Blogging involves a lot of writing
• It doesn’t pay
• It sure is fun sometimes

That’s basically why I’m here. Thanks to Downey, Anne Midgette, and Tim Smith (who did not remember giving me pointers on writing reviews back in 2002, but he did anyway) for giving us their thoughts, and thanks to the BSO for providing the venue and free wine and munchies.

The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s annual summer performance of Beethoven’s Ninth at Strathmore was sold out well before the concert began at 8 pm. Preshow, the lobby buzzed with activity, as patrons streamed in chattering and hopeful enthusiasts asked “Extras? Any extra tickets?” Off to the side of the patio outside the Music Center’s orchestral level, a family of nine deer munched contentedly on the vegetation, in full view of some delighted humans. Bunnies scampered across other Strathmore hills. Earlier, buckets of rain had fallen as the sun blazed on; the air still hung full of moisture, lending a special brilliance to the waning light. Plus it turned out that my favorite rapper was cohosting on my favorite radio station as I drove over. The evening had a palpable sense of occasion and specialness, is what I’m saying.

Obviously, the Ninth draws its crowds with the most popular tune in classical music history. (Eat that, Pachelbel!) But there’s a whole lot of music before the cellos hum that fourth-movement theme, and the Ode to Joy really only works in the context of all that has come before, which Beethoven even acknowledges by doing a series of “Previously…In Beethoven’s Ninth” episodes before said cello humming.

Conductor Günther Herbig, helming the BSO for this endeavor, understands this in his marrow. He seemed to have thought about every moment in terms of its thematic material, texture, tempo, and volume, judged it against the surrounding music and against the piece as a whole, and calibrated each element so that Beethoven’s overall structure — which can certainly feel ungainly, or even perfunctory, in the wrong hands — led inexorably to the finale’s eruptions.

Sometimes he had to sacrifice to achieve this effect. He took the first two movements at something close to Beethoven’s metronomic markings, in the modern period-influenced manner, and kept his textures light, so that the climaxes of the first movement perhaps did not have the same sheer weight they do in other performances. Yet said climaxes still whipped up plenty of excitement, as the Balmer strings played the open fifths of the main theme in enough of a whisper to provide the necessary contrast.

The scherzo, which has to be the second most-reused movement of this symphony, zipped forward at an athletic pace, but without enough rhythmic spring to find that hint of a dance. Yet even going fast, the BSO provided well-detailed playing, with fine gradations of dynamics and smooth handoffs of the melodic material between strings and woodwinds, to usher the listener smoothly along.

These last virtues became especially prominent in the slow movement, which proceeded slightly faster than usual but with plenty of dramatic ritards, so the big moments piled up drama before smoothly returning to tempo. Here the BSO’s strings, which typically excel in heart-on-your-sleeve melodies, shone at their brightest, the woodwinds and brass continued to play splendidly, and Herbig relentlessly followed the line of argument through Beethoven’s ecstatic meditation, thus heightening the temporary suspension of reality.

One moment can speak for many: after one climax, Beethoven picks up a little three-note motive (first two notes repeated, the third a step up) and moves it around the scale, groping for the next direction. On one repetition, Herbig really brought out the dissonance the basses play under the third note as it’s sounded in the violins, underscoring the uncertainty that little bit more. I’ve never heard that detail so clearly before, and I am deeply grateful to Herbig for bringing it to my attention.

The Millionen sold out the hall, of course, for the finale, and as you may have guessed by now, Herbig and the BSO did a splendid job building up to this theme that has featured in so many commercials and TV shows and movies and ringtones and electronic keyboard demo tracks and seriously everything you can think of, making it sound new once more and expanding their sound to a new, previously unheared level to fill the hall in the purely orchestral first climax (giving me goosebumps in the process). Then baritone Stephen Powell came in and, stentorian, rich, and ringing, took it that one step further with a knock-’em-flat solo.

From there the performance got just a teeny bit messier. Soprano Heidi Stober and mezzo Kelley O’Connor possess fine voices but had some trouble balancing them. Tenor Gordon Gietz got a case of the behinds in his big solo (“Froh, wie seine Sonnen”), which normally one would excuse except that a military march like this one requires on-beat swagger.

The Baltimore Choral Arts Society, being composed of mortals, at times failed to make Beethoven’s ridiculous choral writing sound completely natural, although none would dare quarrel with the power of their full-throated climax on the big theme or the stern remonstration of “Seid umschlungen, Millionen” that followed it. The choristers’ sturdy German pronunciation can no doubt be traced to their director, Tom Hall, and they responded well to Herbig’s architectural conception of the double fugue right before the part that leads up to the coda (or is that just one huge coda? One can never tell with Beethoven).

It was a satisfying conclusion to a performance that, minor quibbles aside, gripped the listener the whole way through. Even with the crowd, the deer, and the sunny rain, the evening’s sense of occasion ultimately came from Herbig, the BSO, the soloists, the chorus, and (not least) Beethoven.

STUFF THAT IS TOO IRRELEVANT TO INCLUDE IN A REVIEW EVEN OF THIS LENGTH

• Herbig’s bio in the program says that he “left the challenging political environment of East Germany and moved to the United States in 1984.” Is it too forward (or something) to just say “totalitarian government”? Or “Soviet satellite state “? I’m not sure what’s gained by the ellipticism.
• I ended up giving my second ticket to one of the hopeful enthusiasts mentioned above, and it was a good deal because she had gone to the rehearsal at the Meyerhoff the night before and had inside info (Herbig had really demanded a lot of the woodwinds, for example). She also mentioned that Stephen Powell is “easy to look at,” which I am just throwing out there for you. After the concert, she said that Herbig needed UnderArmor, which was true, in that his formerly severe collared black shirt was clinging to his body, completely drenched in sweat. I wonder if a performance/compression garment could be made for conductors? And if so, who would wear it?

I just heard the Baltimore Symphony perform Beethoven’s Ninth at Strathmore. They’re doing it again tomorrow at the Meyerhoff in Baltimore. If you are reading this and have the opportunity to go to that show, I really suggest that you do so. Günther Herbig has a really well-judged, compelling intepretation, the BSO, on the whole, plays extremely well for him, and most of the singing is top-notch.

I’ll have a review up tomorrow or Saturday (depending on how the social ramble plays out), but just wanted to get that out there for all my B-more homies.

…love is in the air!!

Dear FINAL FANTASY Fans,

February is here and love is in the air. We have started a new fan page on Facebook and we’re already feeling the love from all of our fans. Stop by our Facebook page, post a comment on the wall, check out some concert photos and videos, or upload your own. We also have our own page on YouTube and this month’s contest involves videos and singing. We’d like your help creating a greeting to Uematsu-san from all of you.

We asked Nobuo-san what he loves about composing, he said, “Same as starting a new project with someone, writing, or making pasta from flour. I think I like to create something out of thin air.”

His favorite love song? Simon & Garfunkel’s “Bridge over Troubled Water”

Did you know that on Valentine’s Day in Japan, it is customary to give a gift to the men, instead of women? In honor of this tradition, we invite you to post yourself singing ‘Bridge over Troubled Water’ as a video response to our page on YouTube. We will send them to Uematsu-san, and contact one winner via YouTube to receive a free concert booklet.

New song, discounted hotel, and win free meet/greet tix in MSP!

We are introducing a new song in Minneapolis that hasn’t been played at any other Distant Worlds concerts. We won’t tell you the title yet, so you’ll just have to go to the concert to find out. To help you get there, we’ve secured a special room rate with the Doubletree Guest Suites Minneapolis, three blocks away from the Orpheum Theatre. The rate will be available until April 12th or until the group block is sold-out. Each guest room is available for $69. Book your reservation USING PROMO CODE “FAN” at ffdistantworlds.com/msphotel. (don’t worry, click on ‘book now’ and continue and it’ll have the correct rate.)

If you already have tickets to the Minneapolis show, email us at feedback@ffdistantworlds.com for information about joining our street team. Put ‘MSP street team’ in the subject so we can respond right away. We need a 2-4 people in the Minneapolis area that can help out with the show and we have a free meet/greet pass available for each street team member selected.

Special guest: Susan Calloway in Grand Rapids!

We were so fortunate to record the title song from our CD, Distant Worlds: music from FINAL FANTASY with Detroit vocalist Susan Calloway. When we scheduled our Grand Rapids concert, we just had to invite her out as our guest. On April 14th, for the first time live with the Grand Rapids Symphony and Chorus, Susan will perform “Memoro de la Stono~Distant Worlds” from Final Fantasy XI.

“the voice of Susan…is a ray of light piercing through clouds”~music4games.net

“…the vocals propel that melody into a stunning melodic sequence.”~Squareenixmusic.com

Remember, you can now buy the full CD for only $14.99 on Amazon.com, including all of the beautiful artwork and personal greetings from Uematsu-san himself.
Check out Susan’s music on facebook, myspace, or at susancalloway.com.

Singapore, Taipei, and Baltimore tickets on sale
Singapore Nobuo Uematsu attending pre sale March 4-8 Distant Worlds: music from FINAL FANTASY will make its Asian premiere as part of the Singapore Arts festival for two concerts on May 22nd and 23rd at 7:30pm in the Esplanade Theatres on the Bay. There is a special pre-sale available to ArtsFest Club members – March 4th-8th. Visit singaporeartsfest.com from March 4th to register as a member and enjoy immediate discounts. Membership is free. Tickets for the general public go on sale on March 9th, 2009 online at singaporeartsfest.com and sistic.com.sg or by phone at (65) 6348 555. Know 15 people? Call the Festival Ticketing Office for group rates at (65) 6837 9589. Ticket prices are SG$80 / SG$60 / SG$45 / SG$35 / SG$20		Taipei, Taiwan Nobuo Uematsu attending on sale March 2 Distant Worlds: music from FINAL FANTASY will make its Taiwan premiere in Taipei City on May 27 at 7:30pm at the historic National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall. We are absolutely stoked about performing in this venue! The history and the setting are truly wonderful. Tickets for Taipei go on sale March 2nd via artsticket.com/tw. Ticket prices are $800 / $1200 / $1600 / $2000 / $2600 / $3200 (New Taiwan Dollars) For more information go to ffdistantworlds.com/taipei		Baltimore, MD Baltimore Symphony on sale March 2 Distant Worlds: music from FINAL FANTASY: Baltimore is confirmed! For one night only, now on June 27th at 8pm, Arnie Roth will conduct the Baltimore Symphony in Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. Tickets go on sale March 2nd, at BSOmusic.org or by phone at 410-783-8000. This is going to be a breathtaking concert. The Baltimore Symphony is one of the finest orchestras on the East Coast, for that matter, the entire US. We will now be performing in Baltimore with the Baltimore Symphony in Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, a gorgeous venue known for its pristine acoustics. For the latest info go to ffdistantworlds.com/baltimore

Square Enix concert tribute in Germany!

Arnie Roth is coming to Germany again. After the amazing success of Symphonic Shades last year, he has been invited to conduct the WDR Radio Orchestra and the WDR Radio Choir on September 12, 2009 (Saturday) at the beautiful Philharmonic Hall in Cologne, Germany. Square Enix fans listen! This very special and unique concert is entitled Symphonic Fantasies – and entirely dedicated to Square Enix! 70+ minutes of music will be performed: from the Final Fantasy series, the Kingdom Hearts series, the Mana series, and the Chrono series. It gets even better: three famous Japanese video game composers will be in attendance, joining a Meet and Greet. Act quickly if you are planning to attend as only a few tickets are left.

PLAYSTATION®3, Xbox 360 OMG! Our jaws dropped when we saw this trailer. Remember, Distant Worlds: music from FINAL FANTASY is the only concert where you can see the amazing graphics from games throughout the FINAL FANTASY series. Each concert is performed live by a full symphony orchestra and chorus. That’s right, no pre-recorded tracks, totally live! The FINAL FANTASY series has always been beautiful, but even we were stunned by what we saw. We are off to watch it again, in fact, and we suggest you do the same!

The Distant Worlds concerts are produced by composer Nobuo Uematsu, AWR Music Productions, and SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD.
ffdistantworlds.com

From/De: Final Fantasy Distant Worlds [ffdistantworlds.com]

…Distant Worlds CD debuts at number one in Japan!!

Dear FINAL FANTASY Fans,

AWR Music Productions, together with Nobuo Uematsu and Square-Enix, are proud to announce that Distant Worlds: music from FINAL FANTASY was released on Jan 14th in Japan, and worldwide on iTunes. To further establish our CD as the definitive recording of Final Fantasy music, the album made an unprecedented debut at #1 in the Game music, New Age music, soundtracks, and Anime music categories. We would like to thank all of those who have purchased our CD and have helped make Distant Worlds the concert to see in 2009. To celebrate our sales milestone, we have lowered the price of our CD on Amazon.com. For a limited time, you can now buy the full CD for only $14.99USD, including all of the beautiful artwork and personal greetings from Uematsu-san himself.

“The title selection, the recording quality, and the performance quality is exellent. These factors make me call it a Best of Final Fantasy album in every regard,” – composer Nobuo Uematsu

Amazon.co.jp TOP 10 LIST

*Five stars* “Finest recording yet for the Final Fantasy series” – amazon.com review

“The Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, under the direction of Grammy-winner Arnie Roth, brings out the maximum of every music piece.” – german website review

“You owe it to yourself to pick up Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy” – music4games.net

Buy on Amazon.co.jp

Buy on Amazon.com

Buy on iTunes

Taipei, Taiwan on sale soon!
Distant worlds: music from FINAL FANTASY will be performing in Taipei, Taiwan as part of our Asia tour. We are excited to be performing in the historic National Dr. Sun Yat-sen memorial Hall on May 27th. Tickets will be available online in January, so keep checking ffdistantworlds.com/taipei for that announcement.

Minneapolis, MN
Sat, April 11th, 2009 – 8:00PM
Orpheum Theatre
Distant Worlds Philharmonic
ffdistantworlds.com/minneapolis

Grand Rapids, MI
Tues, April 14th, 2009 – 7:30PM
DeVos Performance Hall
Grand Rapids Symphony
ffdistantworlds.com/grandrapids

Taipei, Taiwan
Wed, May 27th, 2009
Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall
ffdistantworlds.com/taipei

Seattle, WA
Fri, July 10th, 2009 – 8:00PM
Sat, July 11th, 2009 – 8:00PM
Benaroya Hall – S. Mark Taper Auditorium
Seattle Symphony
ffdistantworlds.com/seattle

The Distant Worlds concerts are produced by composer Nobuo Uematsu and AWR Music Productions, and are an official production of AWR Music Productions LLC and SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD.
ffdistantworlds.com

On sale in March!

Singapore City, Singapore
May 22nd and 23rd, 2009
Esplanade Theatres on the Bay
ffdistantworlds.com/singapore

Baltimore’s version of Siestema gets some air time courtesy of Ari Shapiro and NPR.  According to the story that ran on NPR this morning, Alsop gave $100,000 to a program she hopes will get inner city children playing instruments and in many cases their own instruments.

From/De: Final Fantasy Distant Worlds [ffdistantworlds.com]

…a special thanks and congratulations to our contest winners

Dear FINAL FANTASY Fans,

We want to thank all of you for participating in our special holiday give-away. The response has been amazing, and we thank all of you who also took the time to send personal letters via email. We will be holding more contests during 2009, so be sure to check your email or watch ffdistantworlds.com for more updates. The contest winners have been contacted directly via email, and our congratulations go out to them.

Happy Holidays from Nobuo Uematsu!

Nobuo Uematsu sent us an email with a short message that we would like to pass along to all of our fans…”Merry Christmas & Happy New Year! I hope I can attend the future “Distant Worlds Concerts” as much as possible, and visit your country! See you at the Concert Hall!”

Sincerely,
Nobuo Uematsu

For details about all upcoming concerts go to ffdistantworlds.com/tickets.
To purchase the CD “Distant Worlds: music from FINAL FANTASY” go to amazon.com or ffdistantworlds.com/cd.

Tickets are going fast!

Minneapolis, MN
Sat, April 11th, 2009 – 8:00PM
Orpheum Theatre
Distant Worlds Orchestra
ffdistantworlds.com/minneapolis

Grand Rapids, MI
Tues, April 14th, 2009 – 7:30PM
DeVos Performance Hall Grand Rapids Symphony
ffdistantworlds.com/grandrapids

Seattle, WA
Fri, July 10th, 2009 – 8:00PM
Sat, July 11th, 2009 – 8:00PM
Benaroya Hall – S. Mark Taper Auditorium
Seattle Symphony
ffdistantworlds.com/seattle

The Distant Worlds concerts are produced by composer Nobuo Uematsu and AWR Music Productions, and are an official production of AWR Music Productions LLC and SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD.
www.ffdistantworlds.com

Also coming soon!

Baltimore, Maryland, USA
May 16th, 2009
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall
Baltimore Symphony
ffdistantworlds.com/baltimore

San Francisco, California, USA
July 17th and 18th, 2009
San Francisco Symphony
ffdistantworlds.com/sanfrancisco

Taipei, Taiwan
Date/Time TBA
Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall
ffdistantworlds.com/taipei

Singapore City, Singapore
May 22nd and 23rd, 2009
Esplanade Theatres on the Bay
ffdistantworlds.com/singapore

From/De: Final Fantasy Distant Worlds [ffdistantworlds.com]

…a holiday announcement from Distant Worlds: music from FINAL FANTASY music director and maestro, Arnie Roth

Dear FINAL FANTASY Fans,

Happy Holidays! I cannot believe a whole year has passed since our premiere of Distant Worlds: music from FINAL FANTASY in Stockholm. I am excited to announce on our one-year anniversary that we will be visiting even more cities in 2009! We have confirmed concerts all around the world, including many concerts in the USA and for the first time ever in Asia! I am happy to announce that more post concert meet & greet tickets have been made available for Grand Rapids. They are only available by phone, so call today and do not miss out on a chance to hang out after the concert with Uematsu-san and me. We will be signing autographs after the concert exclusively for fans with meet and greet tickets.

A lot of fans have asked us when we will be visiting the east and west coasts of the U.S. and I want to thank you so much for your kind and encouraging words. Your requests have been helpful in planning concerts in these regions in 2009. Today, via pre-sale only, you can buy tickets to see Distant Worlds: music from FINAL FANTASY in Seattle with the Seattle Symphony for two shows only on July 10th and 11th at 8:00pm. The Emmy award winning Seattle Symphony orchestra will be performing in Benaroya Hall – S. Mark Taper Auditorium, noted for its architectural and acoustical splendor. See below for full details including the pre-sale promo code.

Tickets will also be on sale soon for two more USA cities: May 16th with the Baltimore Symphony in Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, a gorgeous venue known for its pristine acoustics and versatility and July 17th and 18th with the Grammy award winning San Francisco Symphony! I know everyone has been waiting for these, so keep checking ffdistantworlds.com for info about these exciting events. We will be sending out email announcements early in the New Year about Nobuo Uematsu attending all of these Distant Worlds concerts!

Asia tour!

We are excited to perform Nobuo Uematsu’s music of Distant Worlds: music from FINAL FANTASY on tour in Asia in 2009! In May, we will travel to Taipei and Singapore for two concerts in each city. Distant Worlds will make its Asian premiere in Taiwan at the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall, and in Singapore we are proud to be part of the Singapore Arts festival for two concerts on the 22nd and 23rd at 7:30pm in the Esplanade Theatres on the Bay. Tickets will be on sale in March 2009.

Holiday Contest!

With each newsletter, we plan on bringing special offers available only to our fans. As an exclusive offer we are announcing a CD, T-shirt, and concert program give-away just in time for the holidays. The official concert T-shirt and program are usually only available at the live concerts and not online so don’t miss this great opportunity to win these gifts. Our CD, Distant Worlds: music from FINAL FANTASY is rapidly becoming the definitive recording of Final Fantasy music. To participate, simply forward this newsletter using the FORWARD TO A FRIEND link below to one of your friends, and you will be automatically entered in the drawing. Five lucky winners will be chosen at random from our list. We will contact the winner via email on Dec 22nd to claim the prize. Sign up and forward early and often to win!

Good luck and best wishes!

Sincerely,
Maestro Arnie Roth
Music Director of Distant Worlds

For details about all upcoming concerts go to ffdistantworlds.com/tickets
To purchase the CD “Distant Worlds: music from FINAL FANTASY” go to amazon.com or ffdistantworlds.com/cd

Tickets on sale now!

Tickets for Seattle Symphony exclusive presale offer are AVAILABLE NOW USING CODE 7097 BY PHONE AND ONLINE by calling 206-215-4747 or 1-866-833-4747 and on sale online now at ffdistantworlds.com/seattle or at seattlesymphony.org. Act fast! Tickets go on sale to the general public beginning at 10:00am on December 8th and start at $17.

Tickets for Grand Rapids are going fast AVAILABLE NOW BY PHONE AND ONLINE by calling (616) 454-9451, Ext. 4 and on sale online now at ffdistantworlds.com/grandrapids
Grand Rapids Meet and Greet details:
A limited number of meet and greet tickets remain. These tickets are available only by calling the Grand Rapids Symphony office at (616) 454-9451, Ext. 4 and will not be available online. Be sure to mention special offer code CHOCOBO when calling. Meet/greet ticket price is $50 USD and a ticket to the concert (sold separately) is also required to attend the meet/greet.

Seattle, WA
Fri, July 10th, 2009 – 8:00PM
Sat, July 11th, 2009 – 8:00PM
Benaroya Hall – S. Mark Taper Auditorium
Seattle Symphony
ffdistantworlds.com/seattle

Grand Rapids, MI
Tues, April 14th, 2009 – 7:30PM
DeVos Performance Hall Grand Rapids Symphony
ffdistantworlds.com/grandrapids

The Distant Worlds concerts are produced by composer Nobuo Uematsu and AWR Music Productions, and are an official production of AWR Music Productions LLC and SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD.
www.ffdistantworlds.com

Also coming soon!

Baltimore, Maryland, USA
May 16th, 2009
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall
Baltimore Symphony
ffdistantworlds.com/baltimore

San Francisco, California, USA
July 17th and 18th, 2009
San Francisco Symphony
ffdistantworlds.com/sanfrancisco

Taipei, Taiwan
Date/Time TBA
Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall
ffdistantworlds.com/taipei

Singapore City, Singapore
May 22nd and 23rd, 2009
Esplanade Theatres on the Bay
ffdistantworlds.com/singapore

I’ll be the first to admit that I was a bit skeptical when I read about this. We’ve heard jazz renditions of Grateful Dead tunes and other various interpretations over the years, but Lee Johnson’s Symphony is no muzak rendition of these beloved songs. It is, in fact, something to truly marvel at.

According to Johnson’s web site:

“Lee Johnson has conducted and recorded with world class orchestras such as: The Russian National Orchestra, The London Symphony Orchestra, The Taliesin Orchestra, The London Session Orchestra, The American Rock Orchestra, The Cyberlin Philharmonia, among many others.

“He has composed six symphonies, numerous chamber works, four musicals, two operas, concerti, choral and vocal works, works for ballet theater, feature and experimental film, and hundreds of works for multimedia and interactive technologies.”

Great credits, but it still doesn’t mean the guy understands the music of the Dead, right? Maybe so, but it didn’t take long for this listener’s ears to realize that Mr. Johnson not only “gets” the Dead, but has expanded on them. Which is only appropriate as the Dead’s music was based in improvisation and experimentation.

Deadsymphony.com states:

“It was “China Doll” that opened the door for Lee Johnson, initiating his personal journey into the Dead, through an introduction by longtime fan and music producer, Mike Adams. Mike took the Beethoven, Stravinsky, and Shostakovich loving composer and introduced him to American roots music, as exemplified, by the Grateful Dead. Each and every recording, score, and lyric that was experienced and studied helped to pass the genetic material of the Dead’s core essence into Lee’s creative compositional mind.”

Take a moment and listen to a sample of Mr. Johnson’s Dead Symphony conducted by Johnson and performed by the Russian National Orchestra.

If you like what you hear, the entire symphony can be purchased (download or CD) at:

http://deadsymphony.com/

And you can read Grateful Dead biographer Blair Jackson’s review of this work here.

The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra will be performing this work in its entirety under the direction of Mr. Johnson himself at Baltimore’s Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall on August 1st (which would have been Jerry Garcia’s 66th Birthday).

“The essence of the Dead’s music was improvisation, and the root of that is an attitude that says transformation is at the center of all art. Dead Symphony takes different fragments of the Dead’s music and reweaves them into a sparkling tapestry that satisfies a whole ‘nother realm of possibility.”

–Dennis McNally, Grateful Dead Historian and Publicist

    Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman appointed to the Supreme Court, graduated in 1952 near the top of her Yale Law School class. Yet, the only job she was offered after graduation was that of legal secretary. What a contrast with today, when voters in this country seem totally comfortable with the notion of electing a woman to the most to powerful job in the world. It seems there are no more barriers for women to shatter. So, I was somewhat surprised to hear about a ‘first woman’ milestone that was recently achieved.
On September 27, 2007, the Baltimore Symphony made history when Marin Alsop became the first woman to head a major symphony orchestra. Reading about her made me realize why we need more women in leadership positions in classical music. Critics have written glowingly about her musicianship. Her credits and awards are impressive; in fact, she has just won the 2008 Theodore Thomas Award from the Conductors Guild. But what struck me was her approach to music as a way to create a relationship between orchestra and audience. In The Christian Science Monitor from September 26, 2007, Marin Alsop said, “Everything in life is about personal relationships – including the way one feels about music. I want to create as many opportunities for people to have that ‘aha’ moment – give people the chance to really connect with the composers.”
Marin Alsop’s style is to break the invisible wall between orchestra and audience. As noted in The Christian Science Monitor, “She talks to her audience, swiveling around on the podium and leaning over the rail to explain the composition about to be played.” Her goal is to make classical music accessible to everyone, to take it out of the realm of fusty elitism. Many people undoubtedly view classical music like taking medicine or doing a daily workout – something that’s a chore but will somehow make them a better person. Frankly, some days I’d rather listen to Huey’s “Pop, Lock & Drop It” than to some soporific string quartet. But Marin Alsop wants to make classical music a choice we joyfully embrace. I must admit I’d gladly spend my shrinking entertainment dollars on one of the inventive programs that she has created.
She is designing concerts that combine a traditional piece, Beethoven or Mozart, for example, with a selection by a contemporary composer. The January 7, 2008 issue of The New Yorker called her inaugural season “Startlingly ambitious…Eleven living composers make appearances.” She is building an audience for new music by inviting these prominent composers to discuss their works in public conversations. The “Composers in Conversation” series seems totally fascinating. How often do you have a chance to ask the next Stravinsky about their creative process, how a piece evolves from head to sheet music to concert hall?
Sounds great, you say, but you don’t live anywhere near Baltimore. Marin Alsop is bringing the Baltimore Symphony to you. She has brought technology to the symphony; live concerts and new recordings are now readily available. Concerts are broadcast live on XM satellite radio. At the Marin Alsop website, you can download tracks from the Baltimore Symphony to your iPod. Downloads are also available at iTunes. You can buy a Baltimore Symphony CD. After not recording in decades, the Baltimore Symphony is back in the studio. The musicians, by the way, are elated.
Like Leonard Bernstein, her beloved mentor, she is a conductor for the people. As noted in The Christian Science Monitor, “The people of Baltimore embraced Alsop without hesitation. They were charmed by her down-to-earth manner. The morning the box office opened for this season, hundreds of people lined up to buy tickets. Alsop joined them on line, serving doughnuts to sweeten the wait.” Talk about making a connection with your audience! In the early `70’s, I met the conductor Carlo Giulini backstage at the Chicago Symphony. Somehow the vision of this austere figure passing out doughnuts just doesn’t compute.
But it’s a new day and Marin Alsop is bringing much needed fresh air into the staid world of classical music. Orchestras in major cities are having trouble with funding. In fact, the Baltimore Symphony spent years in debt playing to small houses. Now, thanks to her dynamic personality and fresh approach, attendance is up. TV shows, like HBO’s current series “The Wire”, and before that, “Homicide: Life on the Streets”, paint a grim picture of Baltimore, but the actual city has much to celebrate with a new maestra in town!

Jan Bina, blogger for In The Trenches Productions
The First Entertainment Website for Women Over 40!

The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra successfully balanced its books in the 2006-2007 season, ending a five-year deficit streak, the Baltimore Sun reported on Thursday. One might wonder whether the financial turnaround might be linked with the appointment of the symphony’s new conductor, Marin Alsop.

 Alsop took over as the symphony’s musical director last September, becoming the first woman to lead a major American orchestra. (The attention she received from the media caused an argument over what constitutes a “major” orchestra. Many argued that JoAnn Falletta — the music director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra since 1999 — was the first female music director. The pro-Baltimore side won in the end, with many conceding that Buffalo didn’t have the budget or location to be considered “major.”)

Alsop has planned what The New Yorker  called “a startling ambition” inaugural season. The season includes appearances by contemporary composers John Adams, John Corigliano and Joan Tower in the Composers in Conversation series. The symphony will perform with soloists Art Garfunkel, Andre Watts and Jean-Yves Thibaudet.

Although the season is impressive, the more likely reason for the financial about-face is that the symphony’s board of directors started an initiative in 2006 that called for $27 million of the orchestra’s endowment to end the symphony’s debt and create a cash reserve, according to the Baltimore Sun. A $1 million challenge grant also helped the symphony’s situation.

At the same time, contributions to the symphony increased 35 percent last year over the previous year. Perhaps the contributions were inspired by Alsop’s appointment.

And now for something completely different: Delighted by a trio of great stories emanting from my old network the past few days. Car horns and tire rims making beautiful music from Ghana, Arkansas high school choristers giving it all they’ve got at the National High School Choral Festival at Carnegie Hall, and Marin Alsop digging her hands into the primordial Russian soil to dissect Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring.” Brilliant pieces all…and I guarantee the video of the Ghanaian “Por Por Music” on the excellent Smithsonian Global Sound web site will bring a smile to your face. Tag it and share it!
As for the other two audio pieces, Jeff Lunden’s piece on the high schoolers really captures the nervous energy, excitement, and awestruck sensation of what it’s like to be sixteen and stepping out on to a big stage. As for Alsop (I’m a fan, as noted elsewhere in this space) she has both some fascinating observations about the Rite, and as a bonus you get to hear her conduct the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and the

Peabody Conservatory students in a complete performance.

The consistently interesting conductor Marin Alsop’s debut season as the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s new Music Director promises to be one of the most interesting seasons in Bawlmur in years. Tim Smith in today’s Baltimore Sun has all the details. Sample grab:
“With cheap seats, conversations with high-profile composers and programming that includes a CSI-style forensics exploration of Beethoven next season, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra will challenge two of the most common complaints about classical music – that it’s too expensive and too old-fashioned. As part of a strategy unveiled yesterday to bolster attendance, the BSO will reduce the average subscription cost to classical and pops programs by 40 percent. New and current subscribers to the BSO’s 2007-2008 season, the inaugural season of music director Marin Alsop, will pay only $25 per concert for seats anywhere in Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, including the usually pricey box seats.”

CSI business aside (which may be a little gimmicky), what caught my eye was Alsop’s “Living Beethovens” initiative – putting some of today’s most accomplished contemporary composers on programs cheek-by-jowl with ol’ Ludwig himself – and even inviting the composers to conduct! So, for 25 bucks a pop, you’ll be able to see John Adams conduct both his own works, as well as Beethoven’s 7th Symphony – a terrific idea. 17 contemporary compositions in all, by the likes of Adams, Tan Dun, and Aaron Jay Kernis. I like what Marin said to the Sun:

For Alsop, the aim of mixing “standard repertoire with something new is to hear the old in a different light. It’s like seeing a Rembrandt next to a Jackson Pollock.”