The fastest rising US orchestra of 2014
mainThis has not been a red-letter year for the concert sector.
Aside from Boston and Houston, with exciting new music directors, the rest of the orchestral league worried about a rash of industrial disputes and trod water on the creative side.
With one notable exception.
An orchestra with a best-selling album of contemporary music, with challenging programmes and a healthy budget.
An orchestra with stable internal relations, a conductor who’s going places, a supportive board and an audience that’s not half-dead.
Hmmmmm …. lemme think. Hint: Its latest release is my album of the week on sinfinimusic.com. Click here.
The orchestra you mention and reviewed for a new cd, has always been one of the most respected. I remember their survey of works by Howard Hanson for Delos–including his terrific Piano Concerto which only a few include in their list. Wonderful orchestra on the rise.
Years ago, this orchestra, in Seattle, left the AFM, the main musicians union. I imagine that lowered its costs, but perhaps not.
The Seattle Symphony musicians’ forming their own separate union certainly made it possible for the orchestra to release a long series of recordings on the Naxos label, many of them featuring unrecorded American music, that would not otherwise have been made at all.
To give credit where it is due, most of the Seattle recordings on Naxos were originally recorded and released by Delos.
Well, it is easier be be fast-rising from a lower level, and that orchestra has been coming off a long period of artistic stagnation.
I think Seattle long ago stopped being a remote outpost of any kind. The Symphony was actually doing interesting things 30 years ago when it bounced back from near-bankruptcy, in the early years of Gerard Schwarz’ tenure, when he was still a promising young conductor.
In any case, why shouldn’t a place like Seattle have an orchestra every bit as good as in Cleveland or Philadelphia? There’s less tradition, but more money, and no less sophisticated an audience.
True, Seattle is no remote outpost anymore.
It probably seems remote when viewed from Europe, although it’s considerably nearer to most of Europe than Los Angeles is.
Seattle is full of surprises and treats. The Seattle SO has a very impressive track record in taking the unexpected path. For several decades under Speight Jenkins the opera gave the Met and LA a run for their money. It’s a vibrant multi-cultural city – just a bit cold at this time of the year.