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Claudio Monteverdi: Cantate Domino (Odhecaton)
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Alexander Glazunov: Ballet Scenes (Minnesota Orchestra)
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WKSU Classical Channel
Classical Music
With Gillian Martin
9:01
Antonio Ruiz-Pipo: Song and Dance No. 1 (David Russell, guitar)
9:06
Francois Couperin: Mysterious Barricades (Alexandre Tharaud, piano)
9:08
Claudio Monteverdi: Cantate Domino (Odhecaton)
9:12
Alexander Glazunov: Ballet Scenes (Minnesota Orchestra)
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The Cleveland Orchestra has begun its eight-concert tour of four cities in Japan and Korea, and WKSU is taking you along on the trip. Join us as Vivian Goodman covers the concerts, recitals and interaction of some 100 Northeast Ohio musicians with audiences in venues ranging from Suntory Hall to the Seoul Arts Center.
Sponsored by:the Noble Foundation, Western Reserve Academy, and Summa Health System. |
Monday November 22, 2010Cleveland means music and baseball for KoreansVivian GoodmanThe Cleveland Orchestra wrapped up its two week tour to Japan and Korea over the weekend. WKSU's Vivian Goodman reports on a cultural exchange that drew attention to northeast Ohio from fans of classical music and major league baseball alike: (Click image for larger view.)
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[ more ] Monday November 22, 2010Orchestra, many others benefit from tourVivian GoodmanA lot has changed since the last time the Cleveland Orchestra visited Seoul, South Korea. The tour may not be as profitable as it once was, but WKSU’s Vivian Goodman reports that the cultural and economic benefits of the Cleveland Orchestra continue for the orchestra and Northeast Ohio. (Click image for larger view.)
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[ more ] Friday November 19, 2010Orchestra tour pays offVivian GoodmanThe Cleveland Orchestra continues to delight audiences in Japan. In the past, the orchestra would have settled for losing a little money on a tour in return for spreading its reputation. But the President of the Musical Arts Association, which oversees the orchestra, says that’s not true any longer. In Tokyo yesterday (Thursday), Dennis LaBarre spoke about the finances of the Asian tour with WKSU’s Vivian Goodman, who’s following the orchestra on the trip … (Click image for larger view.)
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[ more ] Friday November 19, 2010Sightseeing takes a back rowVivian GoodmanIf you walk the halls of the hotel where the Cleveland Orchestra is staying on tour, you’ll often hear music leaking from doorways as many of the musicians practice in their rooms.
On the current tour of Japan and South Korea, the players have little time to be tourists. WKSU’s Vivian Goodman managed to talk with one musician over lunch. Trumpeter Jack Sutte told her time for sight-seeing is at a premium…
Trumpeter Jack Sutte has been with the Cleveland Orchestra 11 years. He last played in Japan and South Korea as a student 15 years ago. (Click image for larger view.)
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[ more ] Thursday November 18, 2010For some, the Cleveland Orchestra means businessVivian GoodmanThe Cleveland Orchestra’s Asian tour comes at a time when China, India, Japan and Korea are aiming for major roles in international business. Japan is still climbing out of a long recession, but remains one of the biggest markets for western classical music. And there’s no shortage of concert-goers even at Tokyo ticket prices of up to $250.
Most of the Cleveland Orchestra concerts in Tokyo are sold out, and as WKSU’s Vivian Goodman reports , that’s encouraging to Northeast Ohio-based companies who do business worldwide: (Click image for larger view.)
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[ more ] Thursday November 18, 2010Orchestra performs Beethoven to conclude Tokyo residencyVivian GoodmanYou wouldn’t know it today with Starbucks and 7-Eleven’s all over downtown Tokyo, but Japan was once isolated from the western world. The Japanese weren’t exposed to classical western music until the second half of the 19th century, but they liked what they heard, especially Beethoven.
To conclude its residency at Tokyo’s Suntory Hall, the Cleveland Orchestra performs nothing but Beethoven. WKSU’s Vivian Goodman reports it follows a Japanese-flavored program that was enthusiastically received. (Click image for larger view.)
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[ more ] Thursday November 18, 2010An emperor in the audienceIt’s the last day WKSU’s Vivian Goodman gets to chat with us from Japan, before the Cleveland Orchestra moves onto South Korea to perform two more concerts. Franz Welser-Möst, conducting Mozart, Debussy, and Bruckner again. She talks about jogging musicians, the business side of the orchestra tour, and the emperor and empress (friends of Welser-Möst) in the audience for the all-Beethoven concert. (Click image for larger view.)
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[ more ] Wednesday November 17, 2010Suntory Hall prepared for Cleveland OrchestraVivian GoodmanThe Cleveland Orchestra performed to a sold-out audience last night at Tokyo's Suntory Hall. Mitsuko Uchida conducted Mozart from the keyboard and it was an artistic as well as a business triumph for one of the world's most celebrated acoustic spaces, Suntory Hall. Japanese audiences show their appreciation by clapping their hands over their head, the equivalent of a standing ovation, and all hands were raised after Uchida took hers off the keyboard.
WKSU's Vivian Goodman is in Tokyo. While the orchestra rehearsed for the concert, she took a tour of Suntory Hall with its senior manager for artistic programming, Junichi Isogai: (Click image for larger view.)
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[ more ] Wednesday November 17, 2010Pianist Mitsuko Uchida achieves rockstar status in JapanVivian GoodmanPianist Mitsuko Uchida grew up in Austria and lives in London but Japanese classical audiences celebrate her as one of their own. She has drawn raves conducting Mozart from the keyboard in the first four concerts of the Cleveland Orchestra's Asian tour and she’ll play an all-Beethoven program Thursday night at Tokyo's Suntory Hall.
She told WKSU's Vivian Goodman that she treasures her long association with the Cleveland Orchestra. (Click image for larger view.)
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[ more ] Wednesday November 17, 2010Day 3: Music never stopsVivian GoodmanI just got back to the hotel from Tokyo's Suntory Hall and the music is still running through my head. Also echoing is the applause that just wouldn't stop after the program of Debussy, Takemitsu and Bruckner concluded. There were nine standing ovations, and even after the orchestra finally left the stage, Franz Welser Most had to come back for one last bow because the audience wasn't budging. Some of them paid $250 for their tickets and from the applause it sounded like they thought they got the best bargain in this expensive town.It was a free treat for 200 Tokyo schoolchildren who were invited to the rehearsal this afternoon. After that rehearsal I ran into violinist Scott Weber and his 16-year-old daughter and obliged the Japanese friends they had connected with here in Tokyo by taking a picture for them next to the entrance of Suntory Hall.
Another highlight of my day was the half-hour I spent with Mitsuko Uchida in her dressing room. The composer and pianist is very pleased with the reception she's getting here in Japan with the Cleveland Orchestra, and she treasures the 20 years of top quality music they've made together.
I told her I was going to a tea ceremony later in the day and she said she doesn't care much for the tea in her native land, preferring Darjeeling, and only drinks it out of vintage English porcelain. She keeps a tea set in her London home that dates from the 1600s.
I had coffee today with Hiroyaki Fujita, the CEO of Quality Electrodynamics of Mayfield Village, who invited about six guests to tonight's concert, including a high-ranking Toshiba executive. He travels on business to Japan and Germany about four months out of the year and says the Cleveland Orchestra is good for his international business because it shines such a positive light on Northeast Ohio.
At tonight's concert I chatted with Cleveland Orchestra trustee Barbara Robinson, now Chairman Emeritus of the Ohio Arts Council, about how East meets West through cultural exchange. Another reason she came along on the tour is to play with a grandchild who lives here with her son and Japanese daughter-in-law.
I better get a little shut-eye. Tomorrow's another big day with conductor Seiji Ozawa and the Emperor and Empress of Japan expected to attend the final concert in Tokyo. It'll be all-Beethoven, a favorite composer in Japan.
[ more ] Wednesday November 17, 2010Rave reviews contrast with the more mundane experiences
A sold-out Tokyo audience gave the Cleveland Orchestra nine standing ovations, and WKSU’s Vivian Goodman says the reason is clear. Meanwhile, free time for the musicians turns out to be on the mundane side, including eating lunch in a 7-11. Vivian also previews her interview with Mitsuko Uchida.
(Click image for larger view.)
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[ more ] Tuesday November 16, 2010Cleveland Orchestra visits young Japanese musiciansVivian GoodmanCleveland Orchestra musicians are performing in magnificent concert halls in Japan and Korea this week, but today a quartet of trombonists played in a more modest venue. WKSU’s Vivian Goodman reports on a recital and master class at a suburban Tokyo junior high school: (Click image for larger view.)
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[ more ] Tuesday November 16, 2010Blog Day 2: Tokyo lives up to billing as most expensive cityVivian GoodmanIf I hadn't learned from my Scottish mother that "the best laid plans of mice and men gang aft a gley," I would have learned it from my experience here in Tokyo.  I was all set to take a taxi tomorrow to the famous Toho Gakuen music school in Chofu City, about an hour away from Tokyo. It's the alma mater of Seiji Ozawa and several string players of the Cleveland Orchestra. But I found out it would cost $200 round trip.
They told me this was one of the world's most expensive cities. I didn't believe it and was all set to shop at the 24-hour grocery store near the Hotel Okura to find out if it was true that a single apple can cost $2. But I haven't had time for either a good restaurant meal or a shopping trip. I wish I could have come along when a group of musicians visited the famous Tsukiji fish market auction at 5 this morning. I also missed a trip to Yamazoto, the tempura restaurant in the basement mall of our hotel which was recommended by Mitsuko Uchida, the pianist and conductor touring with the orchestra.
I did get to breakfast at the hotel, which was wonderful: traditional Japanese specialties like boiled vegetables, rice porridge, grilled fish, cod roe, miso soup, pickled mushrooms and lychee nuts on one side of the buffet and oatmeal, bagels, bacon and eggs on the other side.
I had a wonderful trip today with four Cleveland Orchestra trombone players to a junior high school in a Tokyo suburb where the musicians gave a recital and master class in front of 600 students. At the door of the school the Japanese members of our party, including the translator, took off their shoes and put on the same blue paper slippers teachers wear. The children are allowed real footwear, but only tennis shoes.
The real culture shock for me was the ladies room. Fortunately one stall was American-style, the rest required more thigh strength than I can muster. I was also struck by how many students wore surgical masks. You often see people wearing them on the street here.
It's 2 a.m. as I close. Later today I hope to visit the Meiji Shrine, the Emperor's shrine, and then tonight one of the highlights of the tour: Franz Welser Most conducting the orchestra in a program including a work by the famed Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu, also known for his film scores for Akria Kurosawa including “Women in the Dunes.” Bruckner's 7th is also on the bill and tomorrow afternoon 200 Tokyo schoolchildren are invited to attend a rehearsal for free.
Cho Eun A Chim Im Nee Da or as we like to say in Northeast Ohio, Good Morning!
[ more ] Tuesday November 16, 2010German influence and developing musiciansWhat does Herbert von Karajan have to do with a concert hall in Tokyo where the Cleveland Orchestra is playing? Vivian Goodman lets us know. She also shares her experience as a witness to a concert and master class with four trombonists and 600 junior high students. (Click image for larger view.)
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[ more ] Monday November 15, 2010Orchestra Asia tour blog: Day 1Vivian GoodmanI really have no right to complain because this is the trip of a lifetime. But my feet still haven't thawed out from the frigid, roughly 12-hour plane trip from Newark to Tokyo. The flight information panel said the outside temperature was minus 80 degrees and it felt like that inside, too.I really have no right to complain because this is the trip of a lifetime. But my feet still haven't thawed out from the frigid, roughly 12-hour plane trip from Newark to Tokyo. The flight information panel said the outside temperature was minus 80 degrees and it felt like that inside, too. 
Keyboardist Joela Jones sat directly in front of me and she shivered through the whole trip, too. I got my mind off of the cold by watching “Citizen Kane,” “Coco Before Chanel” and “Babette's Feast,” just three of the 188 movies to choose from in the flight-entertainment program. Food was welcome,too, and offered frequently, always accompanied by chopsticks and the kind of steamed rice Americans associate more with sushi . One of our meals was unexpected: a microwaved cheeseburger with a small tub of vanilla ice cream.
At Newark Airport, waiting for our flight to Tokyo, I ran into Andrew Grams, former assistant conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra. He had taken the flight from Cleveland to Newark to accompany his fiancé, flutist Saeran St.Christopher, but then continued on to Hamburg for a conducting engagement. So goes the life of professional musicians.
To kill time during our two hour lay-over in Newark, double bassist Martin Flowerman regaled me with stories of previous Asian tours, including the first one in 1970 under George Szell. He said the exchange rate then was 360 yen to the dollar (it's now about 80 yen to the dollar), so the musicians went wild snapping up the latest electronic gadgets and indulging in other great shopping. They also had time to tour Expo 70, the World’s Fair in Osaka. And he recalled visiting a department store where a whole floor was devoted to raw fish.
About raw fish, tour doctor Kathryn Teng advises the musicians to stay away from it if possible. But who can resist sushi in Tokyo? Teng recommended everyone get hepatitis A and B shots. I didn't, but I intend to avoid the street food if possible. I'm told there's a 24-hour grocery store near the hotel. Dr. Teng said orchestra members are generally health-conscious and worry her a little with all their biking, hiking, mountain-climbing and other sports-related injuries. She offered no great advice about jet lag but told me she planned to sleep for just two hours on the plane and then try to adjust to Japan time. I'm going to try to sleep now. Tomorrow I plan to tour Suntory Hall, where the four Tokyo concerts will take place, and attend a junior high school where members of the orchestra's low brass section are giving a master class.
Sayonara,
Vivian
(Click image for larger view.)
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[ more ] Monday November 15, 2010Cleveland Orchestra's Asia trip is underwayVivian GoodmanThe Cleveland Orchestra is united now in Tokyo. The first group of musicians for a four-city, eight-concert tour of Japan and Korea arrived last week. The second contingent joined them early this morning.
For some of the musicians, it’s a homecoming. For others, a return trip. And for some, a brand new experience. (Click image for larger view.)
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[ more ] Monday November 15, 2010Touchdown in JapanEven before the plane landed, WKSU’s Vivian Goodman learned quite a few words in Japanese thanks to the language lessons offered on the 13-hour flight. Turn out that words such as ‘fork’, ‘glass’,’ knife’, ‘peanuts’ ‘restaurants’, ‘spoon’, and ‘wine’ were not that hard to learn. We talked about why, about the less-than-glamorous aspects of classical music touring and about why Cleveland Orchestra musicians are doing what they’re doing. [ more ] |
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.JPG "The student orchestra at a Tokyo Junior high performs for the Cleveland Orchestra")
