Strathmore 4-20-06

Pretty self-explanatory
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notangry
Posts: 15
Joined: Wed Feb 18, 2004 9:38 am

Strathmore 4-20-06

Post by notangry »

A friend sent me this review:

Enjoyed the first part with just the Orchestra, the musicians were amazing.

Highlights:
1) All This Useless Beauty
2) Painted from Memory
3) Almost Blue (great arrangement)
4) God Give Me Strength

Special Notes:
1) Loved the "jazziness" of Watching The Detectives but did not like
the sped up vocals. Would have been better with reduced or even no words.
I also loved the way he introed the song - "about someone who was so into watching
a detective show on TV that he had homicidal thoughts when his spouse interrupted
his viewing".

2) Stringed intro for Alison. Amazing. He should have introduced the first
chair Cellist (Asian lady - her face looked like she was waiting for him to point
her out afterward - kind of disappointing). But, she and the next cello (a guy) were having a blast playing Elvis's songs –

3) Loved one new song - (The River In Reverse - now I'll buy
the CD on the first day of release in June;)

4) The violinists behind Steve Nieve were marveling at his bright red socks. Theywere pointing and chuckling. I guess they weren't familiar with his sense of style. Amusing to watch.

5) Last violinist (female directly in front of the harp) was grooving to Alison and Watching
the Detectives. Again, fun to watch. She looked like she
was probably a fan.

6) I've heard the last song (off mike) done before. Definitely a crowd pleaser. "Couldn't Call
It Unexpected #4". Beautiful song - stupid title. Enjoyed him coming down into the audience - righti in front of us.

Final Note: He was in a great mood and it seems that he really enjoyed himself.
johnfoyle
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Location: Dublin , Ireland

Post by johnfoyle »

Stringed intro for Alison. Amazing. He should have introduced the first
chair Cellist (Asian lady - her face looked like she was waiting for him to point her out afterward - kind of disappointing).
http://www.baltimoresymphony.org/about/ ... sp?id=2050

Chang Woo Lee
Associate Principal

' When world renowned cellist Janos Starker gave a master class in Seoul, Korea in 1967, he had no idea what level of performance to expect from the cellists there. But one of them was CHANG WOO LEE, who, still in high school, had just won a prestigious national competition open to professional soloists of all ages. He was so impressed with her playing that he offered her a full scholarship to study with him at Indiana University. Unable to emigrate immediately, Ms. Lee pursued her musical studies at Seoul National University. She then came to the U.S. and earned her Artist's Diploma under Starker at Indiana. She played in orchestras in Mexico and Canada before assuming her current post as Assistant Principal cellist of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.

In addition to her BSO duties, she has been active in chamber music, recital performances, and teaching, both in Baltimore and Seoul. Her CD release "Invitation to Romance" is a collection of popular songs mostly from Broadway. Arranged for cello with keyboard, bass, winds and percussion, it features Ms. Lee's lyrical style.

Ms. Lee has frequently appeared as a soloist with the BSO. The Washington Post described her performance of the Elgar concerto as "a solid, earnest, at times compelling account...Lee's big sound pleaded the concerto's case well."

Ms. Lee joined the BSO in 1978.'

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
But, she and the next cello (a guy) were having a blast playing Elvis's songs –
Dariusz Skoraczewski, Assistant Principal

' Dariusz Skoraczewski joined the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in 2000 where he holds the position of the assistant principal cello.
Previously, he was the principal cellist and resident guest artist with the Montgomery Symphony Orchestra. He has been a featured soloist with the Columbia Orchestra, the Montgomery Symphony, the Alexandria Symphony, the Santa Barbara Symphony and most recently with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.

Dariusz was a semifinalist at the Eleventh International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow and received the Gery Mois Prize at the Third International Leonard Rose Competition. He has also received first place awards in the Young Artist String Competition in Santa Barbara, California, the Mary Graham Lasley Concerto Competition of the Alexandria Symphony and the Baltimore Music Club Competition.

Summer performances included Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, Pacific Music Festival in Japan, and the Adirondack Music Festival. He was invited twice to perform at the prestigious Gregor Piatigorsky Seminar for Cellists at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and was featured on radio stations in Baltimore and New York.

As a chamber musician and recitalist Dariusz has performed at the Polish Embassy in Washington D.C. and in numerous concert series including the Candlelight Series and the Music at the Great Hall in Baltimore and the Barge Music Festival in New York City. Most recently, Dariusz joined the Monument Piano Trio with whom he will perform numerous concerts during the 05/06 season.

A native of Poland, Dariusz graduated from the Peabody Conservatory of Music, where he was a student of Professor Stephen Kates.

The arrival of daughter Anna in October has brought much joy to Dariusz and his wife Pei.'

http://www.dskora.com/
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johnfoyle
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Joined: Wed Jun 04, 2003 4:37 pm
Location: Dublin , Ireland

Post by johnfoyle »

From listserv -

The interesting thing about this show from my perspective is that I
was able to get the reactions of three non-otaku. Our babysitting fell
through and my wife kindly insisted I go anyway, so I took my
next-door neighbor, who always kind of liked EC but, l;ike so many of
our generation, stopped paying attention some years ago. And at the
show I ran into a couple of my friends from Cato, one of whom used to
be a huge fan but stopped buying records after Spike, and his younger
girlfriend, who, so far as I know, had nothing *against* Elvis, but
didn't measure her days by the man either.

All three thought the show was wonderful. Gene, my Cato friend, liked
that "he's embraced his inner lounge singer." All three loved the
performances.

Me, I thought the combination of song selection/arrangements a bit too
miscellaneous for my tastes. "RIver in Reverse" is a good song but an
odd choice to immediately follow the Il Sogno selections. "Veronica"
on piano and guitar seemed a crowd pleaser, but stuck out awkwardly to
me.

While we're grumbling:

* I'd have picked different PFM numbers, though I realize there's no
getting away from GGMS. It's the PLU of Standards Elvis.

* I'd have done another TJL song or two in addition to "The Birds
Will Still Be Singing."

* EC's art/pop song technique is regressing a bit. At one point, Burt
had trained him out of reflexively crescendoing on all rising lines
and decrescendoing on the low notes. (This tic ruins his old cover of
"Love for Sale.") Now Elvis seems to be drifting back in that
direction. This is the first thing high school chorus teachers get you
to stop doing.

On the other hand!

ATUB and "Birds" were wonderful. "Detectives" was a knockout, esp the
sax and trombone solos. (The sax player may have been MVP. Steve
played melodica on one of the songs while EC held down the piano, and
the odd combination of melodica (he was bending notes practically in
half) and full orchestra was weirdly compelling.

The Mingus song made a great closer, and gave him something to do with
the electric guitar.) It kept sitting there, and I actually thought
for a moment, "My god, they really are going to do 'Pump It Up.' "
That might have been pretty entertaining, actually.)

All in all, not in my Top 5 of Elvis shows, but a very nice evening.
And, for the record, the closest has ever performed to my house
(within about three miles).

Best,


Jim
johnfoyle
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Joined: Wed Jun 04, 2003 4:37 pm
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Post by johnfoyle »

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 00915.html

Image
Elvis Costello joined the BSO at Strathmore for both classical and pop.
Photo Credit: By Danielle Chappell

The Washington Post

PERFORMING ARTS

Monday, April 24, 2006

Elvis Costello

Elvis Costello received a standing ovation before he even started on Thursday at Strathmore. The legendary singer-songwriter was in town to perform with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra as part of the venue's "BSO Pops Rocks" series, which brought out eager Costello fans who might not normally venture into the blond-wood auditorium -- or even bother with his various orchestral and jazz-oriented works.

While the sold-out audience seemed to enjoy the first 35 minutes of the concert -- where the symphony, alone, ran through 12 brief selections from "Il Sogno," Costello's score for an Italian ballet company's version of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" -- the crowd blew a collective gasket when Elvis reentered the building and grabbed his acoustic guitar.

Costello did a solo rendition of the new song "The River in Reverse" (about New Orleans) and was joined by the BSO for "All This Useless Beauty" and "The Birds Will Still Be Singing" before intermission.

One woman on her way to the lobby spoke for pretty much everyone when she said, "At least he's playing some songs we know now."

And Costello didn't let that lady down in the second half.

Joined by the BSO and Steve Nieve, his longtime pianist from the Attractions, Costello performed plenty of favorites, including a pretty "Almost Blue," a jazzy, jumbled and awkward "Watching the Detectives" and three orchestral-pop tunes he wrote with Burt Bacharach: "Painted From Memory," "God Give Me Strength" and "I Still Have That Other Girl," the last of which came with his first encore. In fact, it was Costello's encores, such as a gorgeous "Alison" and an off-mike rendition of "Couldn't Call It Unexpected No. 4," that worked best -- even if they made the show run a bit late and caused one nervous stagehand to pop out onstage and give Costello the neck-slash "cut" sign.

-- Christopher Porter
ChokingOnMyPrideandPity
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Location: DC Suburbs (Maryland)

not the PIC

Post by ChokingOnMyPrideandPity »

FYI...that picture above (from today's Washington Post) is not a picture taken at the Strathmore show. EC was wearing a black tux at Strathmore.
sabreman
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Post by sabreman »

Looked like he got a shorter hair cut too.
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verbal gymnastics
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Post by verbal gymnastics »

And a new suit. It makes a nice change to see a picture of him not wearing a black suit.

Was he wearing the infernal silver boots with his tuxedo? :lol:
Who’s this kid with his mumbo jumbo?
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John
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Location: North of England

Post by John »

He really should get a shave - it would knock years off him !

I can only think he is trying to compensate for the lack of hairs on his head.
legman open to offers
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Post by legman open to offers »

I rather like the unshaven look, and wish I could pull it off without looking like a crazy prospector. :?

In Austin there were no shiny silver boots, he was wearing the proper shiny black dress shoe.
Now I'm the invisible man, and you can't see me.
johnfoyle
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Post by johnfoyle »

http://www.affbrainwash.com/genehealy/a ... 020994.php

Lucky Goons

by Gene Healy | Apr 30, 2006

So a week ago Thursday my lovely and amazing girlfriend got us tickets to Elvis Costello with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra as a surprise for our third anniversary. And a successful surprise--I was in the dark until we were inside the venue.

As an disgruntled little guy, I was a huge Elvis Costello fan growing up, though I stopped buying albums after Mighty Like a Rose, because I didn't like the warbling troubadour tack he was taking. Thursday night he concentrated mainly on that later material. Nonetheless, I found the whole performance tremendously affecting. I can't think of any rock star that's aged more gracefully. The key--and the difference between Elvis and another of my teenhood faves, Bruce Springsteen--is a sense of humor. (Pete Seeger covers? Jesus.)

You think back to what Costello was like when he broke onto the scene in '77: an angry, spastic, little whippet of a man. A difficult man, chafing against his own skin and determined to bite the hand that feeds him, motivated only, as he once put it, by "revenge, fear, and guilt." And then you sit down at the Strathmore, and you're presented with this character: a portly, charming guy in a tux, a man who'd be comfortable hosting his own Christmas special. A guy punk enough to write songs with Burt Bacharach, because, bugger off if you don't like it. A man with a twinkle in his eye about the absurdity of performing "Alison" with a string section. A man who's embraced his inner lounge singer. We all descend into self-parody. Some of us do it with class.

He closed with "Couldn't Call It Unexpected No. 4," an ominous, beautiful song that's about (near as I can tell) embracing life despite (or because of) the fact that death awaits us all. The lyrics are typically dark, but the extended, uplifting musical refrain at the end subverts and recasts them. Costello encouraged the audience to hum the song to a close. And the crowd: beltway lawyers with paunches, Bethesda soccer moms with opera glasses, fiftysomething Elvis fans with mortgages and tuition payments, hummed along. There's hope for us all.
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