The Grammy Winners. February 22, 2018

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I don’t really pay much attention to the various award shows, probably because, being several generations out of date, I don’t know any of the contestants.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.

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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.