1st time Listener and Zappa Convert

On August 27th, Transparent hosted a listening party for the premiere of Bob Ludwig’s new master of Frank Zappa’s Sheik Yerbouti.   Bull Moose Music’s Chris Brown organized the party which was open to a select group of contest winners.  There could be no greater first listen to Frank Zappa’s Sheik Yerbouti than in Transparent’s state of the art listening room with legendary mastering engineer Bob Ludwig’s recounting of his original sessions at MasterDisk with Frank Zappa.  

To sum up the experience with a phrase, it blew my mind.  This album had all the traits that shoot straight to my heart: incredible sound, diligent composition, sarcasm, and ripping guitar solos.  I was amazed and delighted to learn that this album used takes from live shows, many of them as basic tracks.  There are incredible examples of virtuoso musical improvisation on the album, notably the epic live guitar solo in ‘Rat Tomago’ and the uncanny pairing of bass and drums in ‘Rubber Shirt’.

Zappa’s satirical and parodying lyrics added the crowning touches to the genius of his musical production on the album.  The dichotomy of such silly, sometimes perverse lyrics joined  with highly evolved music and musicianship is unmistakenly Frank.  The album flowed with rock music that defies convention.  I have never laughed so hard or have never been so musically awestruck by an album before.  I will now venture on my journey through his prolific career. 

by Katie Gilchrest

Portland Symphony Final Concert of the Year Features the Organ



by Carl Smith

The 100 year old Kotzschmar organ was featured last night before going out of commission for a couple of years for a multi-million dollar overhaul. It sounded great but some major aspects of the organ need restoration. When it was built in 1912 it was the second largest organ in the world and it has been enlarged four times since then to a total of nearly 7000 pipes. Brad, Josh and Portia, Dave, Amy, Demos and Jen, Katie and I attended the concert, which had also been performed on Sunday afternoon.

The brief opening modern work, Toward the Splendid City, by Danielpour was extremely loud from where most of us were sitting not far from the stage and this made it hard for me to enjoy. However, the Symphonie Concertante for Organ and Orchestra by Joseph Jongen, though also loud, sounded wonderful. I attended a Portland Symphony performance of this piece with the legendary organist Virgil Fox in 1974 and this was the first performance by the orchestra of the work since then. Virgil Fox was amazing but I felt that last night's performance by the Portland Municipal Organist Ray Cornils provided a more satisfying balance between the organ and the orchestra. Dave commented that he was impressed by how the sound ranged from just barely audible to perhaps 120 decibels as the extremely powerful organ at times would play much louder than the entire orchestra playing at its loudest.

The Saint-Saens Symphony #3 in C minor, nicknamed the "Organ Symphony", makes no use of the organ until the second part of the first of its two movements and then mostly for orchestral color. However, in the second and final movement the organ plays a series of extremely powerful chords that have to be experienced to be believed. Saint-Saens also included a piano but compared to the organ the piano is barely audible. The "Organ Symphony" is one of the great classics with irresistible melodies and awe inspiring organ passages, and the Symphony played it beautifully.

We are looking forward to hearing the 192k/24 bit digital recordings of this concert made with a system designed and donated to the Portland Symphony by Transparent Audio last fall. It will be our first opportunity to hear how the new recording system captures the sound of the mighty Kotzschmar organ.

Valentine’s Day Performance by the Portland Symphony Orchestra, by Katie Gilchrest

The Transparent crew, consisting of Amy Farwell, Josh and Portia Clark, Brad and Gina O’Toole, and I, attended the Portland Symphony Orchestra performance last night. Two powerfully dramatic pieces featuring the tragic love story of Romeo and Juliet framed the night, mediated by a Mozart piano concerto full of love, life and beauty.

The first piece was Tchaikovsky‘s Romeo and Juliet Overture-Fantasy. Looking around at the audience, it was apparent that the majority of the listeners were so captivated that they were unaware of their surroundings. The music’s power to sweep us away to another time and place was a testament to the PSO’s engaging performance. At one point, a bassoon began a melody that was played so lyrically I thought someone onstage was singing. Both Amy and Brad remarked on the dramatic role of the strings, particularly Tchaikovsky’s use of pizzicato, and the powerful crescendo that ended the work.

Henry Kramer, Cape Elizabeth native and Yale music student, then confidently led us through Mozart’s Concerto No. 21 for Piano in C Major. Mr. Kramer performed virtuosic lines effortlessly and his playful ease with the music sometimes gave me the impression that performer and composer were sharing private jokes. In the pre-concert talk, he shared with us some thoughts on the piece, remembering what special day it was. The characters in Mozart’s operas, he explained, always fall in love in the key of F major, which was the key of the andante movement. The audience responded to Mr. Kramer and the PSO with a standing ovation.

Serge Prokofiev created three orchestral suites from the music he composed for his ballet Romeo and Juliet, Op. 64. Conductor Robert Moody has selected portions of these suites and arranged them chronologically to match the story line of Shakespeare’s play. Four actors from the Portland Players joined the orchestra on the stage and introduced each selection with lines from the play. It was an exciting merger of the two art forms, and one could picture the scenes clearly as the music progressed. Josh really liked the performance and was impressed with how the actors added to it. Unusual timbres graced the hall throughout the suite, including a celeste, a triangle and a tenor saxophone. The cello theme after Mercutio’s death was especially haunting. Robert Moody himself confessed before the concert that if he could bring one recording to a desert island with him, it would be Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet.

Bravo to the PSO, Henry Kramer and Robert Moody for delivering pure love on Valentines day, with all of the heartache, pain and strife that may or may not come with it.

http://www.portlandsymphony.org/content/?performance=romeo-and-juliet