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"David
Robertson was music director, and the context was impossibly
rich -- war and peace, modern times and tradition, technology
and divinity.
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Is
there any question by now that the Ojai Music Festival is
far and away the most important international cultural event
in these tri-counties? Any doubts seemed brushed away over
the weekend, as the striking 62nd annual festival was unveiled
under the brilliant scheming of mastermind David Robertson.
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a
good number of the 20th centurys most acclaimed musical
creators and interpreters have directed the four-day extravaganza."
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San
Francisco Classical Voice
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Ojai
Music Festival conductor and 2008 music director David Robertson
made that simple statement when he took the podium Friday
night for a weekend that brought together music of genres
and styles crisscrossed with influences from a world that
grows ever closer in music as in every other human activity.
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They
have a jones for contemporary music in Ojai, the more far-fetched
the better. Something in the water must make them perpetually
curious.
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Four
days of some of the most compelling music of our time, played
by some of its finest interpreters. Like I said, paradise.
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San
Francisco Classical Voice
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this
festival was the best yet in the era guided by artistic director
Thomas Morris.
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"As
for year 2008, the festival will be remembered as the stunning
debut of Mr. Robertson, whose ingenious programming and conducting
instincts make him tailor-made for repeat visits to this fabulous
thinking person's festival.
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Then
came the highlight, and one of the peak experiences of my
musical life, a live performance of Reichs Drumming.
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San
Francisco Classical Voice
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In
between came an extraordinary 65-minute performance of 1971s
Drumming, a piece of pure minimalism
for four pairs of tuned bongo drums, three marimbas, three
glockenspiels, two female voices, whistling and piccolo, that
hypnotized as much with its thrumming rhythms somersaulting
in the air as with the tag-team choreography of the instrumentalists
(including, again, Reich) who played it, their hands and arms
interacting in a robotic ballet.
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Reich
contains multitudes and continues to express himself in new
and surprising ways. His output since the 1960s stands up
remarkably well to the kind of close attention given at Ojai,
and it was a great pleasure to hear his works, early and late,
in the magical Libbey Bowl. Reichs work manages to be
both pleasing even in large dosesand eminently
provocative for reflection on the nature and state of music
today.
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Santa
Barbara Independent
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the
composer {Reich] was central to "Drumming," a hypnotic
hourlong celebration of the power of the beat, setting the
pace on bongos with a pattern that ultimately moved to marimbas,
and added voices to underscore and elevate the subtle shifts.
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Manoury
layers synthesized sounds and plays with the soprano's voice
to create a new and daring texture;
Snapper stood still, alone on the stage before screen panels
that lit up with patterns, but her extraordinary
voice and the technical variations worked on it gave the piece
an otherworldly aura.
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Here
it is the electronic score that responds to the solo vocal
line, but it is a response of infinite subtlety. The effect
is haunting, other-worldly, with a sense of barely controlled
hysteria in the face of utter loneliness. Los Angeles-based
Snapper, known for her off-the-wall work, sang the challenging
part with superb control.
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Here
it is the electronic score that responds to the solo vocal
line, but it is a response of infinite subtlety. The effect
is haunting, other-worldly, with a sense of barely controlled
hysteria in the face of utter loneliness. Los Angeles-based
Snapper, known for her off-the-wall work, sang the challenging
part with superb control.
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Her
hour-long dramatic retelling of the Trojan War from the losers
perspective (based on Christa Wolfs 1983 novel) was
gripping throughout. The music itself, played by the Ojai
Orchestra, mostly hovered in the background, supplying atmosphere
and punctuation, but taken as a whole, the performance was
an audience-pleasing success.
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San
Francisco Classical Voice
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the
real main event on Saturday evening was the West Coast premiere
of Michael Jarrell's hour-long "spoken opera" "Cassandre."
Its rich and ranging orchestral score swirled around the force
of nature that was the great German actress Barbara Sukowa,
dazzlingly performing the text by Gerhard Wolf.
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[Dawn
Upshaw] She is a singer who does not stay in the same place.
Her voice is filling out, and her involvement in music keeps
reaching new levels of intensity.
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Can
you imagine anything more divine than waking up on a sunny
Saturday morning, strolling through a leafy park, and sitting
a few yards away while Dawn Upshaw sings Debussy? Me neither.
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San Francisco Classical Voice
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a
selection of her [Upshaw] favorite songs highlighted a consummate
artist with impressive linguistic ability and a great sense
of musical style. She was superbly languid in Debussy, displayed
a gamine freshness for Schumann's Er ist's! tenderness
for Wolf's Die Bekehrte, and perfectly captured
the heartbreak of Kurt Weill's Je ne t'aime pas.
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San Francisco Classical Voice
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