In Thursday’s (2/4) Seattle Times, Michael Upchurch writes, “This may be Gerard Schwarz’s last season as Seattle Symphony music director before he becomes Conductor Laureate. But it looks like a good one. Highlights include a two-night celebration of local composer Alan Hovhaness (1911-2000), new Rush Hour concerts and a multimedia ‘Beyond the Score’ series. … The biggest Masterworks Series event may be the Hovhaness tribute, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the late composer’s birth. It includes his ‘Mysterious Mountain’ (Symphony No. 2) along with four other Hovhaness works, one of them new to the symphony’s repertoire (Symphony No. 7, ‘Nanga Parvat,’ for orchestral winds) and one to [be] played by the University of Washington Wind Ensemble (Symphony No. 14, ‘Ararat’). … ‘Beyond the Score’ is a concert format originated by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra that uses multimedia presentation to reveal the character of such classics as Debussy’s ‘La Mer,’ Vivaldi’s ‘Four Seasons’ and Dvorak’s ‘New World’ Symphony. It replaces the ‘Musically Speaking’ series.”
Posted February 4, 2010
