Copyright © 2018
John F. Oyler
February 22, 2018
The Grammy Winners
I don’t
really pay much attention to the various award shows, probably because, being
several generations out of date, I don’t know any of the contestants. This
year, however, for some reason I did skim over the hoopla associated with the
Grammies and was surprised to see that the Pittsburgh Symphony was one of the
winners.
Unfortunately,
they didn’t get the publicity locally that this achievement warrants. A
performer known as Bruno Mars was the big star, winning six awards in “popular”
categories. According to Wikipedia Mars is either an “R and B” or rap artist.
There was a time when I was interested in rhythm and blues, but it was
certainly far removed from the “music” Mars performs. For me his only redeeming
feature is that he was nicknamed in honor of Bruno Sammartino.
Reading
down the list of nominees I did see a handful of familiar (to me) names.
Michael Buble and Tony Bennett were nominated as “Traditional Pop Vocalists”.
Scattered through the other categories I recognized few others – Reba McEntire, Alison Krause,
Bill Charlap, and Joey DeFrancesco – but most of the performers in the very
long list of categories were completely unknown to me.
I did
finally locate the category entitled “Best Orchestral Performance, Classical
Field”, and sure enough the PSO was there. Their competition was significant –
the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, the Detroit
Symphony Orchestra, and the Minnesota Orchestra.
Equally
impressive was the list of their conductors – Louis Langree, Michael Tilson
Thomas, Leonard Slatkin, and Osma Vanska – all well known to me. Incidentally,
Vanska was the PSO’s guest conductor this weekend, for the Beethoven Fifth
Symphony, and did indeed live up to his press clippings. Nonetheless I prefer
our Maestro Honeck to all of them. He, too, is a recent awardee – the Artist of
the Year, by International Classical Music Awards.
.
The PSO
entry was a recent recording of Shostakovich’s “Fifth Symphony” and Samuel
Barber’s “Adagio for Strings”. It was recorded at Heinz Hall, possibly at a
concert we attended. We do recall a very special performance of the
controversial Shostakovich last year, one that could well have been the basis
for this recording.
We think
the fact that our local orchestra has been honored for producing the best orchestral
record in the world should be widely publicized and loudly applauded. It is a
sad commentary on our society that this year’s fad “music” (Bruno Mars) is the
source of huge excitement while so few people seem to know what our symphony
orchestra has accomplished.
Fortunately,
we were with those fortunate few who do appreciate music on a recent evening in
Sewickley. Our grand-daughter is heavily involved in the Quaker Valley Middle
School Strings Program; the event was their annual fund raiser, “For the Love
of Music”. About three dozen middle-schoolers performed in a variety of
combinations.
Perhaps
the neatest thing they did was a semi-flash mob version of a tune called “Flop
Eared Mule”. The program listed two bass players as performers. They set up on
the stage and began the piece. Suddenly four cellos joined them and picked up
the beat, shortly followed by violins, violas, guitars, and ukuleles parading
all around the auditorium. A very infectious event.
Another
impressive presentation was that of a string quartet playing “Concerto No. 1
for Violin and Viola”, by Charlie Crane, with the composer performing as the
violist. Not bad at all for a group of middle school students.
The
highlight of the evening was the arrival of four members of the Pittsburgh
Symphony – first violinists Chris Wu and Kelsey Blumenthal, violist Paul
Silver, and principal cellist Anne Martindale. After they were introduced and received
the proper acknowledgment of their being Grammy stars, they took their place on
the stage.
They
were then joined by the student quartet that had played Charlie’s Concerto, to
form a double quartet which then played Mozart’s “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik” and a
medley of John Williams’ “Star Wars” themes. What a thrill for a group of
teenagers to perform with peers of their hero Bruno Mars!
The PSO
quartet then played four other pieces, much to the delight of the audience,
then broke up so they could mingle with the student musicians and their
parents. It was a real treat to hear the professional musicians close up and
observe their obvious joy in their craft. Talking to them afterwards it was
equally obvious that these are very special people, with a real commitment to
music and to sharing it with young people.
For me
the biggest thrill was hearing Mrs. Williams and her cello “close up”. I have
heard her numerous times at Heinz Hall, where the acoustics are excellent, and
am well aware of her world-class stature. Nonetheless I was overwhelmed at the
tone she got from her cello when I heard it from just a few feet away.
The
cello was made in Rome in 1701 and, in the hands of an artist like Mrs.
Williams, produces remarkably gorgeous sounds. How fortunate we are that this
particular instrument has ended up in the hands of someone who can exploit its
potential.
The
director of the Strings Program and producer of this specific event is Mrs.
Corrie Nye. I suppose there are many other equally capable musical educators in
middle schools throughout the country. Nonetheless I am grateful that my very
special grand-daughter has had the opportunity to be part of this specific
program.
