I have yet to take up the suggestion to try and get a rush ticket to the Portland Opera or the Oregon Symphony, mainly because as I understand it you have to be a student, a senior or a member of the Armed Services to take advantage of them and I am neither of those things. Instead, I spent much of the free time I had last month seeking out free concerts and recitals around the area.

Attending these performances, though, felt just like going to a house show or some other small venue rock concert, as the audiences were most often populated by the lifelong classical obsessive’s who will go anywhere to get their fix alongside dozens more who were related to or friends of the musicians.

This was particularly true of the performance by Portland State University’s Women’s Chorus. The young women singers spent a fair amount of time before they hit the stage giving their boyfriends a rundown on how to use the camcorder or chatting with younger siblings. Whether it was the presence of these loved ones or not, the early parts of the program felt very tentative and shaky. But post-intermission, particularly during their rendition of Veljo Tormis’ challenging Modal Etudes, all the nerves were gone and the ladies provided some stirring moments of raw beauty.

For the Clark College Orchestra, the nerves held strong through the majority of their recent performance. It was fairly understandable considering the fact that the group was tackling a never before heard work by Vancouver-based composer Matt Doran. To add to the tension, Doran was in attendance to hear his Symphony #5 for Orchestra brought to life.

It was a fascinating work, reminiscent of some of Aaron Copland’s rousing symphonies with a bit of 20th century dissonance thrown in for good measure. Music director Dr. Donald Appert seemed to relish the moment, but the band played with a stiffness that held back some of the piece’s more interesting moments. You could almost feel the collective sigh of relief by the Orchestra when they settled into the last piece of the night, playing a comfortable sounding version of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.

If I’m honest with myself, I have to admit that I wasn’t terribly surprised to hear a bit of wobbly playing from these regional groups. I figure the price of admission alone frees them of any harsh scrutiny on the part of a neophyte like myself. But, I did come across a group that could command at least a nominal fee for their services on the strength of their playing, but instead perform for free out in the hinterlands of Southeast Portland.

The Sunnyside Symphony Orchestra played an incredibly strong group of pieces last month when I saw them, free of any cautiousness and with few distracting hiccups. They tackled everything from a lilting concertino by early 19th century composer Carl Maria Von Weber to a very cinematic sounding work by Aaron Copland, each piece sounding distinct and purposeful. It’s concerts like this one that make me so happy that I decided to take on this odd little project and leave me hungry for the next concert or recital. Who knows—I might actually be willing to pay for the music next time.

Furniture Music cartoon by Casey Jarman

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One of the most successful groups has been Classical Revolution PDX. This musicians’ collective gets together a few times a month to put on what they call “chamber jams” – a wildly varying program of classical, both old and new. And with 150 members at their disposal, no two shows are ever alike in lineup or set list.

I recently had some tea with Mattie Kaiser, the classically-trained violist and former San Franciscan who started CRPDX. She provided her unique insight on the classical scene and the work that her group is doing to break down what their manifesto calls “the elitist and inaccessible nature of the classical world.”

What is your take on the classical scene here in Portland right now?

It’s a rough scene right now. It’s pricey and it’s hard to get a job in it. It’s still amazing. If you go to the symphony, it’s going to be amazing. Or if you got to a Chamber Music Northwest performance, it’s going to be mind-blowing. But it’s also going to be expensive. And for those us coming out of the conservatory, we can’t get a job in those establishments. I know the Oregon Symphony had a viola audition and 109 people were there auditioning for one slot. It feels like the doors are closed on that system. If you’re ridiculously talented, sure, you can get in there, no problem.

I feel like they need to evolve a little. Its very stuck. That’s not to say they’re not trying. The Symphony just did that Antony and the Johnsons concert, which I guess was really successful. It’s not like they’re not paying attention, but when you have a board and you have more wealthy patrons to keep happy, you have to follow within the lines. Whereas with us, we are totally flexible because we have no one to please but ourselves. I think a lot of people think that we’re the anti-establishment but we’re actually just trying to create a passion there. We’re trying to create a fan base for classical music and just take away all the extra crap.

I was reading an essay by the editor of this classical music publication where he was saying that orchestras shouldn’t pander to the audience. If people aren’t smart enough to get what we’re doing, maybe this music isn’t for them. What do you think about that?

There’s a difference between inventive programming and dumbed down programming. I can’t stand these classical pops concert, where it’s “Classical for everyone!” And it’s usually light classical and it’s just totally (shrugs). I mean, program a Shostakovich concert and market it well. That’ll get people in there. I remember I was talking to Brett Campbell and he was quoting someone else that said “There’s nothing about classical music that wouldn’t be solved by lowering the ticket costs.” If you just programmed good stuff and lower the ticket prices, people will show up.

Are there things that the Portland classical community is doing right and are successful at?

The symphony I think they’re on the right track they know what to do but I think it takes an organization like that a really really long time to change. The TBA/Antony & the Johnsons show was a huge step and successful. I think Chamber Music NW puts on a really incredible concerts. Friends of Chamber Music are doing some incredible things but no one seems to hear about them. Or Third Angle – their TBA piece was really inventive and such a completely different experience.

Do you think that classical music is going to be dismissed and forgotten about in 30 or 40 years’ time?

It’s really not. I can say that with such assurance because of the way CR has taken over. It started in San Francisco and I started the pod here. Now, it’s started up in Reno, in Chicago and Philly and New York and Berlin and it just exploding. There’s so much energy and so many musicians out there that just love it so much that we won’t let it go. We won’t let that happen. It’s never irrelevant. There’s still amazing things being composed. The same people who are graduating with me are composers too doing really really cool stuff. A lot of it’s crap too, just like anything else, but time will tell on that.

How do you program CR shows?

Sometimes I try to put together a theme – like Bachxing Day or the Baroque Bash. But what I usually do have is through this Google group where they can go and sign up and say, “I want to play this Saint-Saens piece for harp and violin and I have a harpist.” I take all these pieces and create a set list and I say if there’s time at the end then we’ll jam. They’re really hasn’t been a program where I say, “Oh God, that didn’t work at all,” because I leave it up to the individual. I moderate it but I’m not designating the program by any means.

I imagine that the people who participate aren’t joining up CR hoping to make money but rather just for the love of the music. Is that right?

Totally for the love of the music. I was talking to the leader of the SF one, and he said that you can provide people with two kinds of gigs: you can provide them with a paying gig or you can provide them with a musically fulfilling gig. Usually paying gigs aren’t musically fulfilling. We’re playing weddings and were playing [Pachebel’s] Canon In D and playing classical fluff. But it plays really well. But at CR we can play Schubert’s cello quintet which is like the meaning of life. It’s so much more satisfying to me.

What you have to do to make ends meet?

A lot of us are teachers. Some of us do play in regional orchestras around town – the Columbia Symphony or the Vancouver Symphony.

You’ve done some work with Opera Theater Oregon, but are you planning on collaborating with other groups here in Portland?

I want do more collaborations with indie bands. Not like we’re playing together, but instead where we’re just like an opening band. They do our set, we do our set. Something where we can show that we’re not so different. You don’t have to be afraid of us. I’ve got a couple of those up my sleeve.

Are there any ideas that you really want to try out with Classical Revolution that you haven’t done yet?

I want to do guerilla chamber music. So that one day all over the city there’s a chamber group in the park blocks and there’s a chamber group in Alberta and there’s a chamber group on the MAX – everywhere you go, you’re running into more music. I want to do a big collaboration show with all these alternative groups. We had this one idea around Bach’s Goldberg Variations. We thought of this MAX route where every stop you make, you heard the next Goldberg Variation. For right now, I think just more spontaneous acts of chamber music would be really cool.

What has been your best experience with CR, the one where you really changed someone’s perceptions about classical music?

I think the looks on the faces of the kids at Holocene when we played Shostakovich. They mainly went for Stars Of The Lid, but we came out and we just rocked the shit out of Shostakovich. And to look at them, it was like they had been hit by a bulldozer.

Links:
Classical Revolution PDX

Illustration by Casey Jarman

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So, I wasn’t terribly surprised to see such a diverse audience at the Kaul Auditorium recently for the Third Angle New Music Ensemble’s performance of Reich’s magnum opus. There were the stodgy looking classical fans dressed in crisp suits and evening gowns alongside aging artists wearing glasses with multi-colored frames next to the rumpled appearance of members of the bands At Dusk and Canoofle.

That range of personalities fits quite well with the piece. It’s a work of startling complexity that brings together an assortment of influences—the rhythms of Balinese gamelan and West African ensembles as well as the complex chants of 12th Century polyphonic music.

If you’re unfamiliar with those musical styles (I only have a rough idea myself having pulled those mentions from the notes Reich wrote for the LP release of Music For 18 Musicians), the best way I can use to describe this music is by using a metaphor of a metaphor.

In an interview after the release of Magnolia, director Paul Thomas Anderson said this: “Writing a film is like ironing. You start at the top and iron from left to right. Then you move down a bit and do the same again, while maybe going back over the bit you’ve just done. Then repeat this as you move down the shirt.”

Anderson’s comment came to my mind as I listened to Third Angle’s performance. Members of the group started off with one rhythmic pattern, then others would join in with either similar patterns or complementary rhythms. Then they would repeat and repeat, melding together into one big, beautiful smear of sound.

Reich has also noted that he is fascinated by the psychoacoustics or the study of how the brain processes sounds and what effect they have on a person. It is something that he obviously took into account when writing this, because I certainly had a psychosomatic reaction to this work. There were moments where the combination of rhythms and melodies actually gave me the feeling of being in trance, like I was floating in a dreamy haze.

I didn’t get a chance to ask if anyone else experienced the a similar reaction but the audience was obviously impressed, judging by the extended standing ovation they gave the ensemble at the end of its nearly hour-long performance. Even if the audience was praising the sheer tenacity of the performers—particularly two marimba players who kept a steady one-two-one-two beat throughout almost the whole thing—they certainly earned the applause.

Links:
Third Angle New Music Ensemble

Illustration by Casey Jarman

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So, why did I still feel so daunted when I went to see Cappella Romana recently? Blame the location: An ornate, 83-year-old Catholic church with spotless, gleaming marble floors, 40-foot high ceilings and walls covered in icons and carvings of a martyred Jesus. It would be hard for anyone who didn’t grow up in that denomination to simply ease into this rarefied environment.

This is par for the course for Cappella Romana, a chamber group that has been active for almost 20 years, and who spend most Sundays singing to the devout in churches like this all over the city. They are also active members of the larger musical community, performing in concerts around the country and releasing CDs like the one they were celebrating on this evening, Kontakion on the Nativity of Christ.

Richard Toensing composed this expansive work, using ancient Orthodox texts regarding the birth of Jesus and age-old methods of choral composition to create an expansive and rather haunting work regarding this familiar story. True, the holiday associated with this event had come and gone by the time this performance went down but it was a perfect fit for the Catholic calendar, as by early January, they are just reaching the end of the 12 Days of Christmas. Which helped explain for me the wreaths and red bows that the church was still festooned with.

Christian or not, you’d have to have ice water in your veins to not be moved in some way by CR’s performance. 26 members strong, the group put on a commanding show, wending their voices together into harmonies that ached one minute and roared the next. The power of this long piece was really in the solo sections, particularly Blake Applegate, Aaron Cain and David Stutz’s humble turn as the Magi and the sublime combination of Kari Ferguson and Mark Powell as the Christ child (a soprano and a tenor singing together to emphasize Jesus’ dual nature).

Besides the unique locale, one of the few aspects of this show that I was taken aback by was the sheer precision of the chorus’ vocals. I imagine this is a result of having spent the last few years on a strict diet of American Idol-style histrionics and the throat-shredding antics of any number of rock bands. To hear such clarity of tone and pitch was, frankly, a little chilling at times. It was hard to make myself believe that those sounds were really coming out of the voices of the people in front of me.

As well, if classical music is actually going to have another 50 years of relevance, chances are it will be thanks to groups like Cappella Romana. The majority of the performers were a lot younger than I was anticipating (the mean age had to be no older than 35). I don’t think there will ever be a shortage of people who want to sing (see my American Idol reference above or go to a karaoke bar some Saturday night) but I was happy to see some youthful voices keeping these traditional songs alive, if only for one more night.

Links:
Cappella Romana

Furniture Music Logo by Casey Jarman

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The title of this column comes from a term coined by the composer Erik Satie. It is, quite literally, a form of background music to be played at dinners or receptions—music that wouldn’t draw the attention away from conversation or eating but was still easy on the ears.

I chose it because it cut closest to what most fans of popular music consider classical to be—easy listening background noise. The type of music they play in fancy eateries or high-end stores. Music easily ignored and easily forgotten about.

Here in America, classical music is so often portrayed as the refuge of the upper class and the highly educated. It is about older couples, bedecked in tuxedos and evening gowns, going to performances by people with indecipherable accents or virtuosic 7-year-olds.

Classical has turned into one of the most seemingly inaccessible styles of music still being played today. But it is just music, right? There’s got to be some way that someone like me, who has grown up on a diet of indie and punk rock, to tap into this world, isn’t there?

I’m interested to find out if that is the case as I attend as many concerts and performances as I can, including this month’s recital by pianist Polina Leschenko and the Third Angle Ensemble’s performance of Steve Reich’s “Music For 18 Musicians”, as well as trying to dip into the vast amount of classical CD releases that come out each year. I will be reporting back on my findings on a regular basis here on the LocalCut blog.

For my first step, I decided to talk to Douglas Jenkins, the de facto leader of the Portland Cello Project, a fluctuating group of cellists who play Vivaldi and Edward Elgar and contribute string arrangements for bands like Loch Lomond and Weinland. I wanted to talk with someone who is tapped into both the classical music world and the pop world and see if he/she had any insight into what is keeping them apart, and Jenkins seemed like the perfect candidate. He was kind enough to chat with me during our recent snow storm about the state of the classical scene here in Portland and what is keeping younger people from tapping into it.

WW: What do you think is holding groups like the Oregon Symphony from pulling in a younger audience?
Douglas Jenkins: It really comes down to communication. These organizations are not getting the word out as much as they could. They have very traditional ways of doing PR and how they spend money on advertising. As well, they don’t do enough to try to reach out to the musical community in Portland as a whole. Classical organizations reach out to other classical organizations but that’s it.

Classical music also has a bit of a stigma attached to it as well.

There are connotations. It’s something you do maybe once a year, where you want to get dressed up and go to a symphony concert. But you look at our first show at the Doug Fir where we were doing Villa Lobos and Vivaldi. We got no press and the Doug Fir said, “We’re not going to be able to pay you most likely.” But because of what we were doing, we ended up having the place packed. I do think that if these other classical groups were doing something that was edgy and weird and cool and make it more interesting, young people will want to go see it.

But I keep hearing about shows like the Decemberists playing at the Hollywood Bowl with the L.A. Philharmonic. It would make sense for them to do something with the Oregon Symphony or another group but they haven’t.

Well, there was the show that the Symphony did with Antony and the Johnsons show this past summer. And to her credit, Elaine Calder [president of the Oregon Symphony Association] got onstage and said, “If there are Portland bands that you want to see play with the Symphony, send us a Facebook message.” Their heart is in the right place, but I’m guessing they have a lot of bureaucracy to deal with to make something like that happen.

What would you do differently if you were in charge?

It all comes down to a traditional way of running an orchestra. They usually program things out two or three years in advance. I understand if you need to schedule it to get your soloists on the calendar but otherwise planning so far out doesn’t make any sense at all. You have to try to make it relevant right now. Maybe a movie comes out that has some Arvo Part in it, so maybe you should try putting that into the program next month. Little things like that that makes something relevant in someone’s mind. Go where the wind blows and you might pull a few extra audience members.

Links:
Portland Cello Project
Bob Ham’s Blog The Voice of Energy

Illustration drawn by Casey Jarman

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1. Furniture Music #4: Classical Revolution PDX Part of my
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