Tuesday (10/26) on OregonLive.com (Portland), The Oregonian’s David Stabler writes, “It’s all here: the stillness, the rage, the brutality and the beauty. The Oregon Symphony’s new CD serves two purposes. It’s a snapshot of the current state of playing after eight seasons under music director Carlos Kalmar’s demanding baton, and it’s an extension of the orchestra’s triumph at Carnegie Hall last May. … The orchestra recorded ‘Music for a Time of War’ in Portland just before performing the same program at the inaugural Spring for Music festival in New York. … New York critics raved about the ‘brilliantly worked-out program’ (Alex Ross in The New Yorker) and the musicians’ superb playing … The orchestra plays the first three pieces without pause, building a dramatic crescendo that climaxes with Vaughan Williams’ harsh Fourth Symphony. Ives’ short ‘The Unanswered Question’ materializes out of a silence that principal trumpet Jeffrey Work interrupts with repeated musical questions. Sanford Sylvan, a baritone of national reputation, sings consolingly in Johns Adams’ ‘The Wound-Dresser,’ based on Walt Whitman’s poems about his experience tending injured Civil War soldiers. … Concertmaster Jun Iwasaki weaves sweet-toned solos with Sylvan’s vibrant baritone.”
Posted October 26, 2011
