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appreciation

Nancy Ives - Photo: Charles Noble

On my mind over the past couple weeks has been the dual concepts of appreciation and recognition. In one’s capacity as a leader of an orchestra, whether as a music director or as a guest conductor, I feel it’s vitally important to make certain that not only does one appreciate what they have in the ensemble before them, but that they give recognition where it is due.  A little bit of that can go huge distances in maintaining the morale of those of us in the trenches, so to speak.

This weekend, it’s been our wonderful principal cellist Nancy Ives who has gotten some long overdue appreciation and recognition.  The Brahms Second Piano Concerto has one of the most sublime and difficult lyrical cello solos in the repertoire, and I must say that Nancy has played her heart out in this weekend’s performances.  Emanuel Ax has been very effusive in his praise of her solos for the rehearsals and performances – he’s heard the best in the business play them – and tonight he gave an incredible show of recognition as one artist to another.

After the numerous curtain calls, he came over to get Nancy for another solo bow (he would take her up to the edge of the stage near the concertmaster’s chair for her bow), and they had a brief discussion, and she exchanged seats with concertmaster Jun Iwasaki, and she and Ax began to play as a joint encore, a movement from the ineffably beautiful Fantasy Pieces by Robert Schumann.  Ax played without a score – he’s doubtless played this piece hundreds of times with his recital partner Yo-Yo Ma – and he and Nancy played beautifully together.  She was relaxed and assured, and the sound just came with great ease from her cello.  Many of us in the orchestra had misty eyes, for this was a moment that was long overdue for Nancy.  No one tries harder than she does, and no one thinks more about the art and craft of making music than she, and I think that that very earnestness is often misconstrued, and it’s easy to lose sight of the sensitive musician-artist inside.  No one has a bigger heart than Nancy, and it was such a great moment tonight to get to see it exposed in all its glory at the Schnitz.

Brava, Nancy.

15 replies on “appreciation”

I was bursting with pride for her last night, and am so glad to read this post and find that you feel the same.

I’m getting a little teary right now, in fact, after reading your post. I don’t know all of the members of the OSO, but I’m friendly with enough of you to know that there is a spirit of camaraderie in this orchestra far surpasses other professional ensembles I’ve been involved with.

Brava, Nancy. And kudos to all of you.

What can one say about Nancy other than she is as wonderful a person as she is a cellist, which is saying quite a bit since she is a superb cellist.

Charles, this is so lovely, I’m quite teary-eyed! With Mr. Ax’s generous (to say the least) acknowledgements and the wonderfully warm support of the audience and my colleagues, I feel so blessed it’s almost a Cinderella-like feeling. Last time I had it to this extent must have been ten years ago when I won my dream job. :>)

I was there last night (Monday) and the audience was again graced with the opportunity to hear the Schumann Fantasy Piece. Good going, Nancy! Up with cellos!
The Brahms was great, too.
I also enjoyed “Color”, which was beautiful and far more interesting than a description of it might suggest.

wow, as expected, last night was truly memorable.

nancy looked & sounded right at home with the “Ax Man.” who needs yo-yo when we’ve got nan-nan? :)))

as for the dalbavie, yes, a terrific piece. le monsieur has “deep ears” – as one might expect from a boulez protege.

i was particularly mesmerized by d’s subtle timbral transformations (tubular bell attack to muted trumpet pitch emergence, etc). the score was full of orchestrational candy with generously slathered pate on its bones.

a very surprising (and somewhat non-parisian) aspect of dalbavie’s piece is its enveloping “nordic mist.” i registered a nearly frozen sense of glacial time as though french spectralism was being projected through a finnish forest in slo-mo. my guess is that dal-baby is a late-sibelius fan. in other words, i would NEVER have guessed that 20 minutes had elapsed from beginning to end.

thanx sooooo much to OSO for programming such excellent, out of regular earshot, fare. i have long heard about dalbavie’s music and believe the buzz to be believable.

more PLEASE.

ps
to those of you that enjoyed “color,” check out some works by scelsi, murail, grisey, haas, saariaho & radulescu. these are composers well a-tuned to the musical magic of each moment.

ok, ok, rave mode now off.

pps
wait, one more “note . . . ”

i LOVED evan kuhlmann’s deliciously primordial contra bassoon seismology.

roto-rooter, baby!

Fantastic!! We are so grateful to all of you in the Oregon Symphony. Nancy – you were great. K & A

Charles,

Thank you so much for this place where you celebrate the joy of orchestral music making. Making art with others has been the lodestone in my life. Most people do not understand the sacrifices and struggles that artists undertake.

What a noble thing it is when we recognize those who give so much of themselves. Nancy, we salute you.

-Christopher

I was so privileged to be there at the Monday night concert. The program worked so well! As others have mentioned, “Colour” was an unexpected gem, and seemed far shorter than the rated 20+ minutes.

But the Brahms was out of this world. The duet between piano and ‘cello at the end of the third movement brought tears to my eyes, and the encore between Nancy and Mr. Ax capped a sublime evening of music.

Congratulations once again Nancy! You deserve all the praise and appreciation shown here!

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