Saturday 25 May
 
 

IndianGiver — Plafond EP

If you were to peruse the “About” section of IndianGiver’s Facebook page, you’ll notice how the instruments attributed to each of the Oklahoma City band’s five members are described with downright flippancy: Dylan Jordan plays “sticks & animal skins,” while Jazzton Rodriguez earns his keep with “shanties & loud noises,” and so on.
05/22/2013 | Comments 0

Various artists — Never Give Up: Celebrating 10 Years of The Postal Service

Few indie bands have had the impact on current music that The Postal Service has. Even fewer have done so with only one album.
05/15/2013 | Comments 0

Big Worm — Bench All-Stars

Fans of the comedy classic Friday may recognize the name Big Worm, but the Big Worm behind Bench All-Stars is rooted not in South Central L.A., but on the streets of Oklahoma City.
05/08/2013 | Comments 0

Code 22 — Going Soft: The Acoustic Album!

The guys of Oklahoma City’s Code 22 seem like a likable group of fellas. Their latest release, Going Soft: The Acoustic Album!, is likable enough as well — so likable that on first listen, I took its clean, acoustic sound and clear, unstressed vocals as an alternative praise-and-worship band.
05/08/2013 | Comments 0

Eureeka — Polysynthetic Fields

It’s always refreshing to hear music that embraces its own eccentricity, yet presents it in an accessible and meek fashion. Eureeka — the Norman-based duo of Jordan Vargas and Devin Wahl — has tapped into this rarified air on its self-released EP, Polysynthetic Fields.
05/08/2013 | Comments 0
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Scoop of Brahms


Brightmusic continues its season with a program featuring the cream of the crop of ‘German Romanticism’ composers.

Stephen Carradini March 2nd, 2011  

Brightmusic Society of Oklahoma
7:30 p.m. Monday
Fee Theatre, Casady School, 9500 N. Penn
7:30 p.m. Tuesday
St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral, 127 N.W. Seventh
brightmusic.org

If you take a peek at the concert poster for Monday and Tuesday’s “German Romanticism” concert by Brightmusic Society of Oklahoma, you’ll find a dapper-looking German guy hanging out on it. It’s Johannes Brahms, whose Piano Quartet No. 2 in A major, op. 26, will be performed.

Wait, wasn’t Brahms a crazy dude?

“It’s early Brahms. Later in life, he turned into an eccentric, but this was the handsome young German man who wrote ‘Requiem’ and this piece,” said David Johnson, chair of Brightmusic’s executive committee.

Much like how the early truth of Brahms doesn’t match the later stereotype, this concert will go against classical music’s gnarled opinion in the ears of many. The two guest pianists, Ning An and Gloria Chien, will make sure of that.

“Part of their act is pieces for four hands,” said David Grizzard, chair of Brightmusic’s audience development and publicity committee. “It’s a flurry of notes that is very exciting for the audience.”

And, unlike the past concert that featured a contentious and provocative piece by modern composer Arnold Schoenberg, this concert will be all for those in attendance.

“I told someone at our last concert that it was three-quarters comfort food and one-quarter Schoenberg,” Johnson said. “This concert is 100 percent comfort food. It’s three of probably the most famous and certainly beloved composers of the romantic period. They’re all three the kinds of composers that people love.”

Among them is Franz Schubert’s Fantasy in F minor, op. 203, D.940, which Johnson was quick to highlight.

“It strikes what Schubert was good at doing. It has a touch of melancholy, but isn’t depressing,” he said.

In addition to the two pianists, four Brightmusicians will play throughout the evening. They will be accompanying, leaving the heavy lifting to the guest pianists. “Any people who are interested in piano should check it out,” Grizzard said. “It will be a very piano-heavy evening.”

It actually will be two evenings — both with admission via donation — with Monday’s concert at Casady School, and Tuesday’s at St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral. Grizzard warned attendees to arrive early to the St. Paul’s show, which will fill up quickly. Brightmusic’s last concert there resulted in a standing-room-only situation. The Casady show, however, is in a larger venue and shouldn’t be a problem.

However, with the mass appeal that Grizzard sees for this concert in particular, one never knows.

“It will be a real crowd-pleasing show,” he said. “Romanticism is very popular with audiences. It’s familiar, and it sounds like classical.”

 
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