Press

…as in the composer’s other works, melodic and harmonic elements play less of a role than do rhythmic elements. Much of the music’s interest derives from the shifting metric foundation that undergirds a stream of simple melodic patterns built on arpeggios. But the 1991 work also is endowed with a many beautiful melodic gestures, played expressively by violinist Ruby Chen and Ron Blessinger, violist Charles Noble and cellist Marilyn de Oliveira.

An homage to the Marquis de Sade, New York composer John Zorn’s Cat o’ Nine Tails plucks my guts every time the players pick at their stringed instrument. The churning tickly sensation in my abdomen stops after three minutes.

It started as a typical internet flame war. Writer criticizes something. Target reacts with inflammatory defensiveness. Comment thread explodes, grows simultaneously nastier and less relevant to the original subject. Site moderator cuts off comments to avoid alienating disgusted readers.

We’ve all seen this way too many times. A sharp review, words are exchanged online, things get personal. And the next thing you know everyone’s typing in all caps, using death’s head emojis and … well, it's just getting out of hand. We love a good art feud as much as anyone, but usually nothing much comes of them.

At a time when legions of musicians struggle to be heard, it may be hard to imagine – while it is crucial to remember – that extremists of various stripes have found music sufficiently threatening to silence it. This was the foundation of Saturday night's “Forbidden Music” at the Old Church by Portland chamber ensemble 45^th Parallel.

45^th Parallel offers chamber music with liberal doses of the unexpected. The Portland group has no problem attracting audiences for stately Baroque music, tart contemporary sounds, raucous drumming and music using body percussion. Not all on one concert, but spread over an entire season.

The chamber ensemble 45^th Parallel outdid themselves last Tuesday night at the Old Church in Portland, bringing together a crack team of local solo and ensemble string players – including Oregon Symphony concertmaster Sarah Kwak and principal cellist Nancy Ives, violist and renowned composer Kenji Bunch, and celebrated touring cellist and Portland State University professor Hamilton Cheifetz.

The players of the Oregon Symphony are unquestionably the hardest working musicians in town, and any moron who says otherwise can blow it out their skinny-jeaned ass. Case in point: Greg Ewer.