Today's Birthday in Music: August 31 (Perlman)

1945 - Itzhak Perlman, Tel Aviv, Israel; violinist, conductor and pedagogue

Wikipedia
Making the Grade (Strings magazine, Aug./Sept. 2004)

Perlman plays:

Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto (Israel Philharmonic Orchestra in Russia, Zubin Mehta conducting)


March from Prokofiev's Love for Three Oranges (arr. Heifetz)


Perlman conducts a Master Class in Russia

Today's Birthday in Music: August 30 (Resnik)

1922 - Regina Resnik, New York City, U.S.A.; opera soprano and mezzo-soprano

Wikipedia

Regina Resnik sings:

(1965) "Les tringles des sistres tintaient" from Bizet's Carmen


(1990) As Mme Armfeldt, "Liaisons" from Sondheim's A Little Night Music

Knowlton's Festival Bel Canto: From Dream to Reality

The fifth and final report from Festival Bel Canto 2008 in Knowlton by Paul E. Robinson

In a mere matter of months, three gifted idealists – Swiss-Quebec businessman Marco Genoni, OSM (Montreal Symphony Orchestra) music director Kent Nagano and Santa Cecilia National Academy director Bruno Cagli – created a new music festival with international scope in one of the most unlikely of places – Knowlton, Quebec – and carried it off with huge success!

Now that the applause has died away, the performers have gone home and the chapiteau (tent) has been folded and put away, it is time to take stock of what was accomplished and to consider what the future might hold.

Festival's Major Events Drew Larger than Expected Audiences
The day after the festival, I sat down for a chat over a cup of cappuccino with festival founder Marco Genoni. While he was obviously still basking in the glow of success, Genoni was already hard at work analyzing what took place and planning next year's festival. He could look back with pride on the fact that all the major events were virtually sold out, that the artistic standard met or surpassed expectations and, not least of all, that there was no significant rainfall during the festival. Although advance publicity advertised a tent seating 600, for some events there were as many as 817 people in attendance.

Time and Talent of Local Volunteers Much Appreciated
On the negative side there were rumblings that local residents were dismayed by the high prices, couldn’t get tickets or couldn’t relate to the unfamiliar musical fare. As a reaction to some of the criticism, Genoni announced during the festival that as a way of “giving something back to the community” the OSM would give a free concert in Lion’s Park in Knowlton on Labour Day weekend. Unfortunately, it turned out that this free concert would not take place after all. The problem was that the concert would have been in direct conflict with the annual Brome Fair, a major local event. In addition, the local volunteers who worked so hard and so well for Festival Bel Canto could not handle another major event so soon. As Genoni put it, “it was a mistake made with goodwill in mind.”

Bel Canto and the Santa Cecilia Connection
As Genoni, Nagano and Cagli look to the future they must try to clarify the mission of the festival. Given the origin of this year’s festival as a collaboration between the OSM and the Santa Cecilia National Academy in Rome, the bel canto feature is important. Or perhaps it is less bel canto than Italian singing that is important. Most music-lovers can surely relate to a celebration of Italian singing and vocal music in the broader sense, but even that repertoire can be very limiting. I suspect the festival would have greater appeal if it could include symphonic repertoire and instrumental concertos.

Clearly, Genoni and his colleagues realize on the one hand that a concert featuring pop singer Gino Vanelli hardly fits any meaningful definition of bel canto; on the other hand, any festival devoted solely to bel canto will probably appeal largely to connoisseurs.

The Santa Cecilia connection is a good one and provides an interesting training component. Each year the festival will feature international singers but also some newcomers who can benefit from working with the stars. Knowlton will also have the opportunity to see some outstanding young singers before they become well-known.

I like the concept of a festival with a bel canto focus. Nagano and the OSM will enjoy their annual immersion in this repertoire, and I believe they will attract an audience for it. At the same time it may not be wise to limit the festival to a single theme.

Even Mozart’s huge repertoire has been found too limiting by some international festival organizers to carry an annual festival on its own. The founders of Festival Bel Canto may find that they too need to broaden their concept beyond bel canto style. Broadening it enough to include pop singer Gino Vannelli may, however, be going too far.

I would suggest rather broadening the musical scope to include non-vocal fare. After all, the OSM, one of the stars of this festival, is a world-class orchestra and most of the bel canto repertoire for orchestra is very limiting. It is interesting for them to work on the style but there are no great bel canto symphonies or concertos. Bel canto describes a certain period in the history of Italian opera and it was a period in which the orchestra was largely limited to an accompanying role.

If the facility in Knowlton is to be limited to less than 1,000 seats, the size of the orchestra may have to be limited too as it was this year, to something around 50 players. This means the OSM cannot do Berlioz, Mahler or Tchaikovsky but they can do Mozart, Beethoven and Mendelssohn. I am sure Nagano can come up with plenty of interesting programmes with this broader repertoire base.

The challenge then, is to market the festival in future as featuring bel canto but definitely not limited to it. The bel canto “plus” programming should attract not only fans of bel canto who will soon discover what wonderful work Nagano and Cagli are doing in Knowlton, but also customers with a more general love of classical music.

Addressing the Question of Acoustics
Another question mark is the performing facility itself. The tent used this year was expensive and not well-suited to classical music. The acoustics were only fair at best. According to Genoni, festival organizers would like to keep the size of the facility to less than 1,000 seats to simulate the experience of a small Italian opera house. Next year, he said, in addition to the refinements planned for the tent, the OSM will bring to Knowlton the portable shell which has served it well in its regular concerts in the parks in and around Montreal.

Where Have all the Critics Gone?
Overall marketing of this new festival’s debut was certainly not what it should have been. As far as I know, there were no critics from New York, London or Toronto and even coverage in Montreal was far less than the festival deserved. I suspect that this was one of those organizational aspects that failed to get enough attention due to the festival’s somewhat impetuous launch.

Festival Bel Canto Richly Supported by Knowlton Community
Finally, how does one answer those critics who say that Quebec or Canada already has enough festivals and that the money is spread too thin already? While very little taxpayer money went directly to the festival this year, festival organizers will soon be drawing up their grant applications for future years. If they can enrich the community, attract audiences and do a better job than competing organizations then they can claim legitimacy. It is early yet, after only one festival, to make firm pronouncements, but Genoni, Nagano, Cagli and their colleagues have at least earned the right to continue the realization of their dream.

Paul E. Robinson is the author of Herbert von Karajan: the Conductor as Superstar, and Sir Georg Solti: his Life and Music. For more on Paul E. Robinson please visit his website at http://www.theartoftheconductor.com/.

Today's Birthday in Music: August 29 (Roswaenge)

1897 - Helge Roswaenge, Copenhagen, Denmark; opera tenor

Grandi tenori
Wikipedia

Helge Roswaenge sings:

"Che gelida manina" (in German) from Puccini's La Bohème


(c. 1938) "Hier soll' ich dich denn sehen, Constanze" from Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail

Today's Birthdays in Music: August 28 (Tucker, Giordano)

1913 - Richard Tucker, Brooklyn, U.S.A.; opera tenor

Wikipedia
Richard Tucker remembered

Richard Tucker sings two Italian songs: "Non ti scordar di me" and "Torna a Sorrento" (early 1960s?)


Richard Tucker and Renata Tebaldi sing the final duet "Vicino a te" from Umberto Giordano's Andrea Chenier (recorded live in Chicago, 1956)



1867 - Umberto Giordano, Foggia, Italy; composer

Wikipedia
Biography

Jon Vickers sings "Come un bel dì di maggio" from Andrea Chenier


Jose Carreras, with Mirella Freni, sings "Amor ti vieta" from Giordano's Fedora (Barcelona, 1993)

In a critical condition (5)

When the versatile writer Alan Brien died in May this year, obituarists reminded us that he was the first person to be hired in 1960 by the new-founded Sunday Telegraph, in the post of drama critic. 'On this we can build,' the editor is supposed to have declared as, around Brien, he formed a team of witty, incisive and never-too-sententious Sunday writers.

Couldn't happen now, I hear you say. No paper would ever construct itself around an arts critic, and no critic could ever be held to personify a newspaper in the way that Brien did, or Neville Cardus on the Manchester Guardian, Marcel Reich-Ranicki on the Frankfurter Allgemeine, Pauline Kael on the New Yorker, and others of a golden age.

Or could it? We keep hearing media executives talk of innovation when they mean sackings - the latest to use this euphemism is the boss of The Age and Sydney Morning Herald in Australia, where 550 jobs are about to go.

But innovation is not made overnight. It comes from the experience and wisdom of newspaper veterans who have seen it all before and know what works and what won't. Getting rid of good critics is a symptom of media death wish. It declares that a newspaper has no sense of its past, present or future, and no conversation with its readers.

A newspaper that cherishes and promotes its critics - as The Scotsman does, for instance, during the Edinburgh Festival - offers readers a reliable benchmark against which they can measure their own reactions and opinions to things they have seen and heard. The Scotsman deploys its critical team strategically in festival time as a way of setting itself apart from the range of free newspapers that flood the city streets.

In Salzburg, likewise, the local Nachrichten is read more closely during festival time than any of the national or international papers because its critics provide a clearer context day by day of events in the present festival against triumphs of the past. Their value cannot be measured purely in payroll terms.

True, few critics these days have the fame or clout that Brien, Cardus and Reich-Ranicki did in their pomp, but arts critics still form the thin blue line between a newspaper of value and a throwaway sheet.

They can be, in the public perception, the soul of a newspaper or at the very least its conscience. Executives who ignore that truth will follow the critics they fire very rapidly onto the nearest dole queue.

Source: Artsjournal

Today's Birthdays in Music: August 27 (R. Clarke, E. Coates)

1886 - Rebecca Clarke, Harrow, England; composer and violist

Wikipedia
Rebecca Clarke Society

Rebecca Clarke's Sonata for Viola and Piano (Igal Braslavsky- viola , Luba Barsky-piano; Jerusalem, 2007)



1886 - Eric Coates, Hucknall, England; composer and violist

Wikipedia
Short biography

Eric Coates's Knightsbridge March (Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg, Potsdam, under the direction of Scott Lawton)

Today's Birthday in Music: August 26 (Sawallisch)

1923 - Wolfgang Sawallisch, Munich, Germany; conductor and pianist

Wikipedia
Biography and pictures

Sawallish rehearses and conducts the Bavarian State Orchestra in Strauss's Till Eulenspiegels lustige spiel (early 1970s)


J.S. Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor, transcribed by Stokowski; Wolfgang Sawallisch conducts the Philadelphia Orchestra (Yokohama, Japan, 1999)

Bellini's Norma Triumphant Finale for Festival Bel Canto

This is the fourth in a series of reports from Festival Bel Canto 2008 in Knowlton, Quebec, by Paul E. Robinson

The organizers of Festival Bel Canto 2008 programmed a lot of music by the great bel canto composers – Rossini, Donizetti and Bellini – but only one full-length opera. And they chose well in the inaugural season; Bellini's Norma is generally regarded as perhaps the greatest of the genre. But Norma has always been problematic too in that it requires an exceptional artist to conquer the challenges of the title role. Callas, Sutherland and Gruberova have done it, but very few others in recent memory. Micaela Carosi accepted the challenge in Knowlton this past Sunday, in the closing performance of the festival, and acquitted herself admirably, as did the rest of the cast, conductor Kent Nagano and the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (OSM).

Vincenzo Bellini (1801-1835) is one of those composers – Mozart and Schubert are the prime examples – who died well before his time and accomplished extraordinary things during a short life. Bellini wrote very little instrumental music, preferring to compose operas. He is sometimes dismissed as "superficial." Musicians point to the simple harmonies and accompanying figures as evidence that he had nothing new or profound to say, but one could argue that Bellini's "simplicity" is often like Mozart's: with simple means both composers could portray great depth of feeling. The character Norma, for example, is one of the most complex personages in opera; she is a Druid leader dedicated to throwing off the yoke of the hated Romans and yet she has had two children by the Roman leader Pollione. When she discovers that Pollione has been having an affair with her fellow priestess Adalgisa, her sorrow and rage lead her to thoughts of kill ing her children, Pollione and Adalgisa. In the end she decides to sacrifice her own life.

Wagner might have depicted all of Norma's varied emotions with distinct musical ideas, but like Mozart, Bellini proceeds with more subtlety. He never forgets that his medium is primarily vocal music and that vocal music can never be less than beautiful.

Bellini's vocal lines are often florid and highly ornamented, thereby conveying extremes of emotion from the heights of joy to the depths of sadness. It is the measure of a bel canto performer how well he or she uses this ornamentation to convey emotion. For many singers the goal seems to be accuracy; this approach reduces Bellini's art to empty display. Yesterday afternoon Micaela Carosi treated the bel canto festival audience not only to a mastery of the notes but also to a clear understing of how the notes can be used to enhance expression. She has a large and beautiful voice and gave a convincing portrayal. Her performance of the famous "Casta diva" was both accurate and moving.

As good as Carosi was, I felt others in the cast provided a greater range of emotion. Mezzo-soprano Kate Aldrich as Aldalgisa has an even more beautiful voice than Carosi and brought her character to life with much more intensity. Aldrich conveyed a great deal through facial expression and careful attention to rhythmic detail.

Tenor Francisco Casanova was also in command of the technical requirements of Bellini's score and in the final scenes he captured the pain and agony of the situation with remarkable power. And he did it without resorting to the Italian tenor's usual tricks of holding high notes for effect or adding crude sobbing. With strong singing and a few well-chosen gestures he helped to make these scenes intensely poignant.

Canadian bass-baritone John Relyea played the chief druid Oroveso, also Norma's father, and showed why he has rapidly risen to become a star at many of the world's great opera houses including the Met. While hardly old enough to be credible as Norma's father, he sang with strength and an uncommonly beautiful sound.

Special credit must be given to Kent Nagano who masterminded the entire production. He set the tempi, adjusted the delicate balances between singers and orchestra and within the orchestra, and gave clear guidelines as to the style of singing and playing. In conversation onstage with the CBC's Kelly Rice before the performance Nagano commented on how much the orchestra had learned about bel canto style from being immersed in it for the past few weeks. Nagano pointed out how a recent Mendelssohn performance by the OSM sounded quite different, and appropriately so, from this concentrated work on the music of one period.

But Nagano is that kind of conductor - very serious about his work and always curious about learning something new and better. Montreal is lucky to have his inquiring mind, not to mention his enormous conducting skill. Norma is full of recitatives which many conductors find either boring or impossible to sort out. Nagano gave clear and strong directions for every recitative passage; it may not mean much to the audience but I am sure the singers and the members of the OSM were very appreciative. The orchestra played superbly throughout the performance and the OSM Chorus was excellent too.

Incidentally, there was a huge gong which sat on the left front of the stage throughout the performance but it was never used. In Act 2 Scene 7 Norma strikes a sacred gong three times to indicate that it is time to go to war against the Romans. In the Jürgen Rose production of Norma given in Munich in 2006 and issued recently on DVD, Norma (Edita Gruberova) is seen to strike a remarkably similar gong. What happened in Knowlton? We heard the three strokes on the gong but the strokes were delivered by the percussion section of the OSM. Why have the gong on stage if it is never going to be used? It reminded me of Chekhov's old maxim about a gun; if a pistol is seen on the wall in the first act one expects it to be fired later in the play or it shouldn't be there.

Breaking News From Knowlton:

At the Norma performance on Sunday, Honorary Chairman of the festival Marco Genoni announced that at next year's festival the featured opera will be Donizetti's La Fille du Regiment, sung in French.

Paul E. Robinson is the author of Herbert von Karajan: the Maestro as Superstar and Sir Georg Solti: his Life and Music, both available at www.amazon.com. For more about Paul E. Robinson please visit his website at www.theartoftheconductor.com.

Today's Birthday in Music: August 25 (Bernstein)

1918 - Leonard Bernstein, Lawrence, U.S.A.; conductor and composer

Official website
Wikipedia

Bernstein conducts the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra in the Symphonic Dances from West Side Story (Tokyo, 1987)


"Almighty Father" from Bernstein's MASS: A Theatre Piece for Singers, Players and Dancers (State Choir "Latvija" and Latvian National Symphony Orchestra; Riga, 2007)


June Anderson and Gerry Hadley sing "Make Our Garden Grow" from Candide (concert version, Barbican Centre, London, 1990)


Ravel's La Valse (finale): Leonard Bernstein and l'Orchestre Nationale de France (Paris, 1975)

Report from Seattle's Wagner Competition

Imagine that you are a tenor, an aspiring Wagnerian heldentenor. You have entered Seattle Opera’s International Wagner Voice’s Competition and got yourself through to the finals, held on August 16th in McCaw Hall. What else can you possibly sing as your competition aria but Walther’s “Prize Song” from Die Meistersinger? But wait a minute, who is sitting up at the judge’s table in the first tier of the auditorium? Ben Heppner, probably one of the greatest Walthers on the planet. And who is that next to him? Stephen Wadsworth, director of the current Ring Cycle. Oh yes and there’s the managing director of the Berlin Philharmonic, the general director of Bremen Opera and Peter Kazarias, a former Loge. Not to mention a great-granddaughter of Richard Wagner himself, Eva Pasquier-Wagner.

Sweden’s Michael Weinius faced this daunting prospect but was brave enough to stick to his choice of the Prize Song for his first offering. This writer had some reservations about his performance - he seemed to lack conviction and power - but these were swept away when he sang a heartfelt and herioc “Amfortas, die Wunde” from Parsifal in the second half.

The judges agreed, apparently, awarding Weinius one of the two $15,000 prizes. The other prize went to South African soprano, Elza van den Heever. Until now, Van den Heever had not envisaged a Wagner career; she recently sang Donna Anna in San Francisco’s Don Giovanni. But she impressed the judges with her clear, bright, highly musical renditions of “Dich Teure Halle” from Tannhauser, and “Einsam in truben Tagen,” from Lohengrin.

Before the judge’s decision was announced, both the audience and the orchestra were given a chance to vote too. Seattle’s uber-enthusiast General Director, Speight Jenkins, has created such a comfortable and happy atmosphere in the company, off duty singers often attend other performances. When our audience filed out to the urns in the foyer, I found myself lining up to vote behind the current Seattle Aida, Lisa Daltirus and their Ring’s reigning Wotan, Greer Grimsley. The audience also voted for Elza van den Heever.

The orchestra, whose experience is perhaps the ‘purest’ given that they can’t see any of the contestants, voted for German mezzo-soprano, Nadine Weissmann. Weissmann’s Erda and Waltraute monologue had the requisite exciting rich, dark tones but, at this point in her career, she seemed to lose a little power in longer phrases, failing slightly to deliver on the initial promise.

Seattle’s competition is unique in its focus on Wagner and, in the wise choice to set an age range of 25-39 - given that dramatic singers take longer to mature. By encouraging the careers of young Wagner singers, Seattle Opera, often called “the American Bayreuth” because of its devotion to the German genius, is ensuring its own future.

- Janette Griffiths (Visit Janette's blog)

Photo: Rozarii Lynch

Bel Canto Diva Sumi Jo Wows Festival Audience!

The third in a series of reports from Festival Bel Canto 2008 in Knowlton, Quebec, by Paul E. Robinson.

Korean-born Sumi Jo is well-known as an international artist specializing in the coloratura soprano repertoire. She was an excellent choice for the first Festival Bel Canto with her success in a wide range of roles in operas by Bellini and Donizetti. In addition, Sumi Jo studied at the Santa Cecilia Academy in Rome, one of the artistic collaborators on the festival with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (OSM). Sumi Jo gave us a taste of this repertoire last night but she also dazzled the audience with superb performances of Mozart's Exultate, jubilate and, as a much deserved encore, with a highly theatrical excerpt from Offenbach's Tales of Hoffman.

Once again Le Chapiteau on Tibbits Hill overlooking Lac Brome was filled to capacity as Festival Bel Canto 2008 entered its second and last weekend. And in this summer of near legendary rainfall in the Eastern Townships the sun was shining and the temperature was, well, as it should be in the middle of summer – warm. Kent Nagano and the OSM opened the evening with Haydn's Symphony No. 101, nicknamed "the Clock" for its tick-tock effect in the second movement. How this piece fits into a bel canto festival is a mystery to me, and Dieter Rexroth's essay on bel canto in the festival's programme book sheds no light on the matter. More likely than not, we were treated to the Haydn simply because the OSM presented this entire Tibbits Hill programme in Montreal just a few days ago minus the bel canto focus.

In any case, Nagano gave us a welcome taste of his current approach to music of the classical period. To my ears, it shows the influence of Nikolaus Harnoncourt. This means a preference for quick tempi, particularly in slow movements and minuets, very little vibrato, lots of expressive variety in bowing, strong accents, and forceful trumpets and timpani. Whether one agrees with all of the interpretative decisions or not, Nagano's Haydn is fresh and thoughtful and on this occasion the OSM gave him everything he asked for.

Even before she sang a note Sumi Jo's first appearance in a tight low-cut blue green evening gown was greeted with oohs and aahs and even cheers. The same thing happened again in the second half when she reappeared in an even more dazzling gold gown. Sumi Jo is a beautiful woman and her sparkling form-fitting gowns were designed to show her off to the max. After only a few bars of Mozart's Exultate, jubilate it was clear to all in the hall that she is not only a great beauty, but also a great artist. Her bel canto runs and trills were delivered with effortless clarity and the top note in the final Alleluia rang out with confidence and fullness. Nagano and the OSM were with her every step of the way.

After intermission Nagano warmed up the band again with Rossini's La scala di seta overture. Wonderful playing especially from the oboe soloist. It is a challenge to keep track of who is playing on any given night at the festival since the OSM has split the 100-piece orchestra into two sections, and sends only one section for each concert. I can't be sure but I believe it was associate principal Margaret Morse who played so many notes so quickly and so well in the oboe solos. Later, Nagano led a performance of the overture to Bellini's Norma, perhaps for those unable to get a ticket for the full opera in its two performances at the festival.

Ultimately, the night belonged to Sumi Jo who was featured in excerpts from Donizetti's Linda di Chamounix, Bellini's I Capuletti e I Montecchi, and Bellini's I Puritani. All were performed with total involvement and mastery of the numerous technical challenges. It should be emphasized that Sumi Jo chose arias of substance rather than those with crowd-pleasing virtuosity, just as June Anderson had done in her concert in the festival last weekend. My favourite in Sumi Jo's bel canto group was Giulietta's romance from I Capuletti e I Montecchi, not least of all because of the hauntingly beautiful French horn obbligato.

Sumi Jo has recently enjoyed great success in performances of Offenbach's Tales of Hoffmann and on the basis of what she showed us last night one can see why. Offenbach is not one of the "official" bel canto composers but much of this opera draws heavily on stylistic features of the vocal writing of Bellini and Donizetti. With Kent Nagano alternately wielding a baton and a key, Sumi Jo sang the great aria for Olympia the mechanical doll. Music and movement were presented with almost uncanny skill in this immensely entertaining aria. The audience demanded more and Sumi Jo sent them home even happier with "O mio babbino" from Puccini's Gianni Schicchi.

I'll be at Bellini's Norma today, the festival's final offering in this inaugural season. I'll post a report on that and then offer an overview of the festival's achievements and shortcomings based on my own thoughts and observations and a conversation with the festival's founding spirit and honorary chairman, Marco Genoni.

> 2nd report

> 1st report

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Paul E. Robinson is the author of Herbert von Karajan: the Maestro as Superstar and Sir Georg Solti: his Life and Music, both available at www.amazon.com. For more about Paul E. Robinson please visit his website at www.theartoftheconductor.com.

Today's Birthdays in Music: August 24 (Dubois, A. Marcello)

1837 - Théodore Dubois, Rosnay, Marne, France; composer and organist

Wikipedia

Prelude in C minor (Paul Wagener, organ)


Rehearsing The Seven Last Words of Christ (Franco Tenelli, tenor; Julie Dufresne, soprano; Catherine Todorovski, organ)



1669 - Alessandro Marcello, Venice, Italy; composer and violinist

Wikipedia

Concerto for oboe and orchestra in D minor (Paolo Grazzi, oboe; Il Giardino Armonico, dir. Giovanni Antonini)

Today's Birthdays in Music: August 23 (Krenek, Primrose)

1900 - Ernst Krenek, Vienna, Austria; composer

Wikipedia
Biography

Späte Zeit, op.114 for Cello, Piano and Tenor



1904 - William Primrose, Glasgow, Scotland; violist

Wikipedia
Biography

William Primrose plays Walton's Viola Concerto, 1st mvt. (William Walton conducting)

Sparkling Ariadne auf Naxos closes Toronto Summer Music Festival

Photo: Melinda Delorme (Ariadne) and Steven Sherwood (Bacchus)

Thanks to conductor Agnes Grossmann and her Toronto Summer Music Festival, local opera lovers enjoyed a high calibre, fully staged opera in the dog days of summer, something that had not been possible until the last couple of summers. The offering this year was Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos. A connoisseur's piece, Ariadne represents Strauss at the height of his powers, a clever juxtaposition of comedy and tragedy, filled with sublime melodies for the four principals. I had the good fortune of attending the opening night of Munich Opera's new production of Ariadne last month, starring Canada's own Adrianne Pieczonka. TSM's Ariadne might not be on the same grand scale, but on the "enjoyment meter", it was right up there.

Seen on opening night (August 14), it featured an excellent quartet of principals, headed by soprano Melinda Delorme as Ariadne. During her tenure as a member of the COC Ensemble Studio, Delorme was rather overshadowed by her more high profile colleagues. She never received the plum roles, with the possible exception of Aksinya in Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk two seasons ago. This Ariadne really showed what Delorme is capable as an artist. Becomingly costumed, Delorme sang powerfully and with stamina, her bright tone ringing out impressively in the McMillan Theatre. Yet she is also capable of delicacy and nuance, as her nice pianissimi in "Ein schoenes War" amply demonstrated. I heard her "Es gibt ein Reich" at the Ensemble Farewell Concert in June. Back then it was a work in progress, but now her singing was altogether lovely. Her German was very good, as was almost everyone in the youthful cast - kudos to diction coach Adi Braun.

Sharing top honours with Delorme was Erica Iris Huang as the Komponist. Her high mezzo has the right timbre for this role and her portrayal of the impulsive, idealistic Composer was spot on. If I were to nitpick, her high pianissimo needs greater security and the same beautifully rich tone colours as her middle voice. I look forward to hearing more from this singer.

Zerbinetta is one of the greatest coloratura soprano roles in the repertoire. Her 11 minute "Grossmachtige Princessin" is an acid test of vocal technique and endurance. Soprano Desiree Till has a small but pretty voice to match her petite stage presence. Though hampered by an unattractive costume, Till was a fine Zerbinetta, singing her big aria with nice tone and sure sense of pitch, all the way up to a totally secure high F. The only thing lacking in her voice is a decent trill, not at all in evidence on opening night. Much of Zerbinetta's music requires a well developed trill. Hopefully it is something Ms. Till will work on in the future.

While Strauss may have lavished his best music on the female voice, he was singularly cruel to tenors. Just about all Strauss tenor roles - from the Kaiser in Die Frau, to Menelaus in Die Aegyptische Helena, Matteo in Arabella, or Bacchus in Ariadne - are ridiculously high. Dramatically these characters aren't terribly rewarding either, so the biggest challenge in any Ariadne production is finding a good Bacchus. Tenor Steven Sherwood was a workmanlike Bacchus. His voice has a pleasant timbre, although a bit small and didn't sufficiently project, especially when paired with a big-voiced Ariadne. Still he acquitted himself honourably.

The rest of the cast was strong, with kudos to the terrific trio of Rhinemaiden-like Nymphs of Anna Bateman (Najade), Laura McAlpine (Dryade) and Ada Balon (Echo), their voices blending beautifully. Also deserving of mention was the sturdy baritone of Gene Wu as the Musiklehrer. The youthful comedians sang and acted with enthusiasm, with Stephen Bell an amusing if stereotypically swishy Tanzmeister.

The production is quirky, but it's par for the course when it comes to modern stagings of Ariadne auf Naxos, surely one of the most likely candidates for postmodernist updating! Overall I feel the direction by Austrian Titus Hollweg was good. (Incidentally he did a superb job as the Major Domo) The Prologue, set in the lobby of an "island resort", works surprisingly well. Using the same basic set for the Opera proper however is more problematic. Furnitures are covered with white sheets, signs set askew, giving it an appropriately dusty, disheviled look. Have we wandered into the living room of Miss Havisham in Great Expectations? Onstage is Ariadne's wedding cake, which she samples, eliciting snickering from the audience. There were more belly laughs from this audience over the antics of the comedians than I have ever experienced in the many Ariadnes I have seen. Yes this is a comedy to be sure, but is it really that funny? A surfeit of rip roaring laughs takes away from the profundity of this work as far as I am concerned. Another misfire is the shadow play right in the middle of Zerbinetta's great scena. In this sublime musical moment, we don't need any irrelevant staging to take the attention away from Zerbinetta herself. On the other hand, the arrival of Bacchus, standing behind the cutout of a cardboard ship's captain uniform is suitably pompous and amusing.

The musical side of things were commendable. Agnes Grossmann gave a precise, tightly controlled reading of the score, perhaps a little metronomic at times, as in the orchestral prelude to the entrance of Bacchus, but overall her conducting was enjoyable. The opening minutes of the Prologue was marred by some balance problems, with the brass and woodwinds overwhelming the strings. But things settled down quickly soon after and the youthful orchestra played well, a few sour notes from the horns notwithstanding. All in all, an audacious but highly rewarding production of a scintillating opera. I look forward to the offering next summer!

Today's Birthdays in Music: August 22 (Debussy, Stockhausen)

1862 - Claude Debussy, St-Germain-en-Laye, France; composer

Wikipedia

"L'Isle joyeuse" played by Desislava Bobrina (Sofia, Bulgaria, 2006)


Quartet in G minor, Op. 10 (Maria Bessmeltseva & Paris Paraschoudis, violins; Jesse Griggs, viola; Heather Scott, cello)



1928 - Karlheinz Stockhausen, Mödrath, Germany; composer

Wikipedia
Obituary (The Times, UK, Dec. 8, 2007)

Klavierstück XI, played by Aloys Kontarsky


Gruppen, for three orchestras (City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra: Simon Rattle, John Carewe, Daniel Harding, conductors; 1998 performance)

Today's Birthdays in Music: August 21 (L. Boulanger, Janet Baker)

1893 - Lili Boulanger, Paris, France; composer

Wikipedia
Women of Note

Lili Boulanger's Psalm 24 for chorus, organ and orchestra (Monteverdi Choir and London Symphony Orchestra, John Eliot Gardiner conductor)



1933 - Janet Baker, Hatfield, England; opera and concert mezzo-soprano

Wikipedia
Biography and pictures


Janet Baker sings:

"Che farò senza Euridice?" from Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice (studio performance, 1982)


Schubert's "Who is Sylvia?", accompanied by Murray Perahia (at Covent Garden)

Today's Birthdays in Music: August 20 (Bernardi, Vengerov)

1930 - Mario Bernardi, Kirkland Lake, Canada; conductor



Biography (Encyclopedia of Music in Canada)


1974 - Maxim Vengerov, Novosibirsk, Russia; violinist

Wikipedia
Official website
Cordes sensibles (La Scena Musicale, Nov. 2002)

Maxim Vengerov plays "Ballade" by Ysaÿe

Today's Birthdays in Music: August 19 (Enescu, G. Schwarz, A. Monk)

1881 - George Enescu, Liveni, Romania; composer, conductor, violinist, pianist, teacher

Wikipedia
Biography and pictures

TRAFFIC String Quintet plays Enescu's Romanian Rhapsody (live concert, Bucharest, 2008)



1947 - Gerard Schwarz, Weekawken, U.S.A.; conductor

Wikipedia
Biography and pictures

Gerard Schwarz rehearses the New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra in Louis Gruenberg's Violin Concerto (Koh Gabriel Kameda, violin; Tokyo, 2002)



1942 - Allan Monk, Mission, Canada; opera and concert baritone

Biography (Encyclopedia of Music in Canada)

Allan Monk and Marilyn Horne sing "Ai capricci delle sorte" from Rossini's L'Italiana in Algeri (Metropolian Opera, 1986)

Today's Birthdays in Music: August 18 (MacMillan, Salieri)

1893 - Ernest MacMillan, Mimico, Canada; conductor, composer, organist, pianist

Wikipedia
Biography (Encyclopedia of Music in Canada)


1750 - Antonio Salieri, Legnano, Italy; composer and conductor

Wikipedia
Truth or Fiction?

Diana Damrau sings "Sento l'amica speme" from Salieri's Semiramide

Bel Canto "Greatest Hits" Program Thrills Audiences

The second in a series of reports from Festival Bel Canto 2008 by Paul E. Robinson

Although Festival Bel Canto had its official inaugural concert in Knowlton, Quebec on Friday, August 15 with a recital by Jennifer Larmore, one could argue that the real opening came the next night with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal (OSM) making its first appearance and with a program that amounted to a virtual bel canto –“Greatest Hits.”

American soprano June Anderson provided star power and was joined by members of the Opera Studio of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in operatic excerpts from works by Donizetti and Rossini. There were copious excerpts from the Barber of Seville by Rossini, and shorter arias, ensembles and overtures from various Donizetti operas including L’elisir d’amore and Lucia di Lammermoor. The best-known piece on the programme was undoubtedly Rossini’s overplayed warhorse, the William Tell overture.

If the idea was to send the audience members away with a smile on their faces and a desire to hear more bel canto then the festival organizers certainly achieved that goal; all the performances were at least competent and some were even memorable. To my taste June Anderson provided the musical highlights beginning with an exquisite ‘Piangete voi…Al dolce guidami’ from Donizetti’s Anna Bolena. The duet with English horn was especially beautiful. Later came an aria from Rossini’s Otello. Verdi’s Otello is, of course the finest opera ever written based on this Shakespeare play but Anderson and Nagano reminded us that parts of Rossini’s Otello are also well worth hearing from time to time. Members of the OSM matched Anderson’s finely-controlled expressiveness with notable obbligato contributions.

Santa Cecilia Academy’s Maestro Carlo Rizzari Shares Podium With Nagano

Kent Nagano, the OSM’s music director, shared the podium with the young Italian conductor Carlo Rizzari. This was another example of the festival’s collaboration between the OSM and the Santa Cecilia Academy in Rome. Rizzari is the assistant conductor of the Orchestra of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, a distinguished and wholly professional ensemble connected with the Academy. Rizzari proved to be highly competent if a little flamboyant in his gestures especially as compared to the austere Nagano. But then Nagano is a special case. Like the legendary Fritz Reiner, Nagano is a minimalist who gets maximum results. More on that subject in a later blog.

The young singers from Italy acquitted themselves well, although I doubt that we were seeing any stars in the making. Although Italy prides itself on being the country that gave birth to bel canto and often suggests that it produces the finest current practitioners, one might justifiably question that claim; Jennifer Larmore and June Anderson are both Americans. That too is a subject for a later blog.

Making Music in a Tent an Acoustical Conundrum

I have now heard two concerts in the Chapiteau Tibbits Hill, the tent especially constructed for Festival Bel Canto 2008, and I can offer at least a preliminary assessment of its acoustics. As one might expect, a canvas tent seating 600 with nothing like a proper shell to reflect sound on the stage is not going to sound like Symphony Hall in Boston or the Musikverein in Vienna. It will not even sound like Place des Arts in Montreal. It is, after all, a small tent. Classical music needs space and it needs reflecting surfaces. For symphony orchestras a big shoebox design usually gets the best results. The size of the tent also forced Nagano to reduce the size of his orchestra to about 50 players. Fortunately, that is about the optimum size for an orchestra specializing in bel canto repertoire.

With all of this in mind Nagano and the festival organizers prepared themselves to improve on nature by bringing along a sound system. All the instruments are miked and a sound engineer at the back of the tent tries to mix the sound as best he can to produce a pleasing effect. At the Friday afternoon dress rehearsal for “Norma”, the result was far from pleasing. In fact, it was harsh and unmusical. But that is why orchestras (and sound engineers) have rehearsals. Last night the sound quality was much improved.