MUSIC
BY BRETT CAMPBELL
CHICANO BATMAN
VOICES & VINO
Underrated Beethoven, Argentine music and a uke master come to town
I
magine a single concert that featured the public
premieres of these classical masterpieces: Beethoven’s
mighty Fifth (da da da DAH) and Sixth symphonies,
fourth Piano Concerto and Choral Fantasy.
No wonder the other work on that famous program of
premieres was overshadowed. On Saturday, Feb. 25, at the
Hult Center, you can hear that relative Beethoven rarity, his
underrated Mass in C, when Eugene Concert Choir sings
it along with one of the 20th century’s most popular choral
masterworks: Leonard Bernstein’s joyous Chichester Psalms.
If your vocal music tastes run to a more intimate — and
inebriate — scale, that same evening at Central Lutheran
Church, 1857 Potter Street, you can instead hear five of
Portland’s finest professional classical singers (all veterans
of the city’s finest choirs) sing songs written from the
15th through 20th centuries. Although created by a wide range
of composers (Mozart, Verdi, Lassus, Schubert, Offenbach,
Haydn, Schein, Faure and more), the opera arias, motets and
other songs are all about or inspired by wine.
Given what’s going on in Washington, D.C., we could
all use a drink — or an escape. Fortunately, still another
vital vocal performance on Saturday offers classical songs
about travel. At Tsunami Books at 5 pm (so you could make
one of the other vocal concerts afterwards), tenor Brendan
Tuohy sings songs by Schubert, Dvorak, Vaughan Williams
and more, accompanied by pianist Julia Brown.
The following week brings still another fine singer,
Scandinavia’s premiere jazz vocalist, Sinne Eeg,
on Friday, March 3, at Broadway House, 911 West
Broadway, accompanied by one of Oregon’s jazz treasures,
Portland keyboard master George Colligan. Call 541-686-
9270 for reservations.
Still more vocal baubles glitter Sunday, March 5,
at First United Methodist Church, 1376 Olive Street,
when the University of Oregon Chamber Choir sings
contemplative evensongs by a range of Anglo-American
composers, from Renaissance masters Tallis and Morley
through 20th-century composers Holst and Howells.
After all that vocal music, how about some instrumental
chamber music? This Sunday afternoon, Feb. 26, at United
Lutheran Church, 22nd Avenue and Washington Street,
Oregon Bach Collegium plays early 18th-century French
music by Couperin, Marais and Hotteterre, all composers
whose graceful music should be heard more often here —
especially when performed by these historically informed
baroque specialists playing instruments (violins, cello,
harpsichord) or replicas from the time this music was written.
More recent chamber music is on tap the next day, Feb.
27, at Springfield’s Wildish Community Theater, when
Chamber Music Amici plays 20th-century music by
Argentina’s great nuevo tango composer Astor Piazzolla,
Spanish composer Joaquín Turina and an original tango
by Amici’s own Victor Steinhardt, the longtime UO prof
who’ll play piano. The show also features string quartet
music by the fascinating composer Erwin Schulhoff, who
tragically died in the Holocaust before we could experience
the full fruits of his genius, and more.
For more Spanish-accented sounds, check out the
suave, soulful melange of pan-Latin rhythms (from Afro-
Colombian to Mexican to Brazil’s psychedelic-tinged
tropicalia sound) purveyed by L.A. quartet Chicano
Batman at Hi-Fi Lounge Feb. 25.
On March 1, Mexico’s three Villalobos Brothers
and their band play their original blend of folk, jazz
and classical music. The Latin Grammy award winning
ensemble (violin, guitar, piano, vocals, bass and drums)
has earned ¡Viva!s for their performances on various
world tours, including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center,
Shea Stadium, Kennedy Center and even Harlem’s Apollo
Theater. Now based in Nueva York, the Veracruz natives
have worked with musicians ranging from the Chieftains
to Pierre Boulez to Dolly Parton.
Next night, The Shedd brings the blues with veteran
California bluesmen Tommy Castro & The Painkillers
on March 2. On March 3, the great Hawaiian ukulele
prodigy Jake Shimabukuro returns to The Shedd for the
fourth time. Or that same night at 755 River Road, you can
hear mandolin master Radim Zenkl, who deploys a variety
of mandolins and flutes in his original jazzy/bluegrassy
songs and Eastern European covers. Email mmeyer@efn.
org for reservations.
It gets funkier March 7 when Portland’s MarchFourth
unleashes its groovy brass music at Hi-Fi Music Hall. And
the world beats resume there the next night when Dirtwire
(which includes members of Beats Antique, Bolo and Jed
& Lucia) cranks out its world beat electronica jams on
banjo, electric violin, harmonica, mbira, laptop, guitar and
more. ■
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eugeneweekly.com • February 23, 2017
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