La Scena Musicale

Interview: Sondra Radvanovsky at The New Classical 96.3 FM

noreply@blogger.com (Joseph So) — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 22:54:00 +0000

(top) Soprano Sondra Radvanovsky in Concert at the New Classical 96.3 FM

(left) Radvanovsky interviewed by broadcaster Alexa Petrenko (Photos by Soula Zisidis)

Soprano Sondra Radvanovsky is Canada's - and Toronto's - best kept secret. I say that because the internationally renowned soprano sings in all the important opera houses of the world, yet hardly ever in her adopted country of Canada. The American-born Radvanovsky is married to a Canadian, Duncan Lear, who is also her manager. They have been living near Toronto for quite some years now. Yet the only time she has sung in Toronto was a brief appearance in LUNA, an opera concert during the Luminato Festival three years ago. But things are going to change. This Saturday March 20 8 pm, Radvanovsky and the Russian baritone sensation Dmitri Hvorostovsky will give an opera concert at Roy Thomson Hall. This is part of a tour sponsored by Show One Productions that will take them to Montreal and New York. They have sung together in many opera productions, but particularly in Verdi's Il Trovatore. They will reprise the opera at the Arena di Verona this coming summer. This fall, Radvanovsky will be making a belated COC debut, as Aida, which will also be her role debut. An authentic "Verdi soprano", Radvanovsky has a dark-hued and sumptuous soprano of beauty and power, with a remarkable range, from mezzo lows to a high E-natural. She is also capable of a full range of dynamics, from honeyed mezza voce to knock 'em dead fortissimos. I have heard Regine Crespin and Gwyneth Jones live, two legendary sopranos known for the huge sounds they made. Judging by yesterday's concert that Radvanovsky gave at the New Classical 96.3 FM, our Sondra has them beat in the volume department, and beautiful too!

For an hour, Radvanovsky sang a very generous recital of six arias, including four very substantial pieces. She began with 'Tacea la notte placida' from Il Trovatore. Hearing that vibrant, dark-timbred soprano up close was thrilling. She followed by "Tu che le vanita", Elisabetta's last act aria from Don Carlo, which she just sang in Paris last week. This long, 7 minute aria requires a true grandi voce and Radvanovsky has it in spades. The third aria was 'Ernani, involami', complete with the vocal fireworks, followed by Amelia's 'Morro, ma prima di grazia' from Ballo, a role she is going to tackle next season. She then surprised us with the chestnut, 'O mio babbino caro' - not something in her repertoire, but of course one of the most recognizable arias. It was amazing to hear her huge voice singing this essentially soubrette piece! Her last piece was an even bigger surprise, a song made famous by Canada-born Deanna Durbin, "Beneath the Lights of Home", a sentimental piece sung with great feeling by Radvanovsky. In between, she chatted with the host Alexa Petrenko. After the concert, I had a chance of interviewing the soprano, and she is a completely delightful person, very down to earth with no trace of the diva. Here is a transcript of our interview:

****************************

JS: Is it true that you started your career at the age of eleven? What were you singing at that age?

SR: I was singing a lot of Italian art songs. I did my first opera as a smoke girl in Carmen, at 13! It was in a little town in Richmond, Indiana.

JS: Have you always had this dark timbre in your sound?

SR: Yes, I have. Actually my voice developed very early. I started as a mezzo...that's where the colour came from. Maybe it's also the Czech part of my heritage. My father is Czech and my mom Danish?

JS: Can you still speak Czech?

SR: Yes, a little.

JS: Where did you do your vocal studies?

SR: I went to USC and UCLA, as a theatre major. I also studied privately with Martial Singher when I was at UCLA.

JS: You also studied with Ruth Falcon?

SR: Yes, for fourteen years - I left her two years ago.

JS: What about Diana Soviero? Do you still work with her?

SR: Yes, I work with her on and off - it's just hard to find the time. I work mostly with my coach in New York: I've been with him now for sixteen years. I basically know how to sing...I just need a set of ears to tell me if something is right or not.

JS: You said your voice changed drastically the last year and a half....can you explain?

SR: When a singer is forty, the voice starts to deepen and grow...it is a maturity thing that singers go through. I'm learning about my voice...

JS: Does that mean Norma is beckoning?

SR: Yes it does! I have three contracts for it, maybe even four...It'll be in 2012. I did Lucrezia Borgia a year ago and it's a really good step into Norma. I also have the three Queens (Donizetti's Maria Stuarda, Roberto Devereux, and Anna Bolena) slated. I'll be doing them together in one place...can't say where yet, but it's in a very large opera house (laughs). I'll then be doing them separately around the world....

JS: I'm so looking forward to your Aida....

SR: It's a role that has scared me for the longest time, I must say. There is so much tradition associated with this opera...

JS: With your high pianissimos it'll be perfect...

SR: What scares me more is the first aria, 'Ritorna vincitor' - it's so dramatic and so easy to get caught up in the drama as opposed to staying calm. Yes, I'm excited but a little nervous!

JS: Would you say the Trovatore Leonora is your signature role?

SR: Absolutely! I've done it hundreds of times.

JS: What about Elena in Vespri?

SR: Oh I do love sing Vespri! You get to show off so much of your voice - I throw in the high E-natural at the end of the Bolero. She has three really great arias...

JS: It's not done very often, is it?

SR: I think it's because it is such a big production, and it really requires some sincere, honest, true Verdi singers to carry it off. I'll be doing it in Torino in March 2011.

JS: Who had the biggest influence on you when you were growing up and studying to be an opera singer?

SR: The biggest influence was Placido Domingo. I saw him on TV singing in Tosca at the Arena di Verona when I was eleven. I said to my mom - 'I want to do that'! The first recording I bought was La forza del destino with Leontyne Price, Domingo and Sherrill Milnes. I listened to Price and I thought - oh, where did this voice come from?! It's so beautiful, like molten lava, the chocolaty warm sound. Then I found Maria Callas! Domingo, Price and Callas had the biggest influence on me. I was very lucky to find and be attracted to voices that are similar to mine too!

JS: What do you love most about your work, as an opera singer?

SR: I love to sing, I really do. It sounds cheesy and simple, but the thrill of standing on stage emoting, telling the story to the audience, capturing them for three hours, transporting them to a different world, having people forget their worries for three hours...for me, the visceral feeling of singing - there's nothing like it in the world! And I get paid to do it...

JS: Do you still study? Do you vocalize every day?

SR: Yes, studying - it's a constant, ongoing thing. During the opera season I vocalize every day, but in the summer time, I like to take time off. We sing such heavy music, I need a rest in the summer. I try to take three months off, but things sneak in. I'll go to Vienna for a Verdi Requiem, and then I go to Verona to sing Trovatore with Dmitri. I sang there six years ago. I was doing 'D'amour sull'ali rose', and a shooting star went across the sky - you think, where else in the world can you have this...

JS: Now, what do you NOT like about your profession?

SR: (Big laughs) The travelling! For me, travelling, and being away from home is difficult. Luckily, my husband travels with me, so I bring part of my home with me. It's become such a hassle after 9/11. Just simple things like taking a bottle of water on the plane, being body checked...you feel so violated. Just the hassle of it.

JS: Have you ever missed an engagement because of this?

SR: No, thank goodness! But I've missed a plane because of it. That part of it is tough...missing birthdays, weddings, anniversaries. You really get to know who are your real, dear friends. Unfortunately, they often have to come travel to you. But you make it work. The good thing is you know when you are going to be home. I have my schedule for the next 6 or 7 years - I'm booked to 2016-17, so I know when I'll have a free week to go to the Bahamas!

JS: How many performances do you sing a year?

SR: It depends, maybe 40 operas. Including concert, it's maybe up to 50, 55.

JS: If you do have spare time, what do you enjoy doing?

SR: Sitting at home (laughs) I'm a real homebody...sitting at home and having friends over. It's such a simple joy. We have a new house we bought in September and I haven't seen the flowers grow yet. We have ten acres, trees, pond...I love going into the garden.

JS: Do you enjoy your life here in Canada?

SR: I do, I really love it! We live right by the forks of the Credit now...walking down there right by the river. Canada is breathtaking...this area is spectacular, and the people are so nice.

JS: When you are not learning music, not studying, what do you listen to?

SR: A lot of pop music...I just bought Barbra Streisand's CD - she's a good friend of ours. I also like Josh Groban... he's also a friend of ours. Love Billy Joe, 80's music, of my generation. It's fun, easy listening.

*****************

A short 2 minute video clip of the Radvanovsky concert at The New Classical 96.3 FM can be found on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8TXGwy8xl8

Cette Semaine à Montréal / This Week in Montreal (16 – 23 mars / March)

noreply@blogger.com (Crystal Chan) — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 18:04:00 +0000

Musique / Music

The prodigious German violinist Christian Tetzlaff makes his debut with the OSM on March 15 and 16 in a performance of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto. This concert will feature the renowned conducting skills of Sir Andrew Davis, who will also lead the orchestra in performances of Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune and Elgar’s first symphony. (www.osm.ca, 514-842-2112) – Hannah Rahimi

The Molinari Quartet celebrates the Russian composer Alfred Schnittke with a series of lectures and performances at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal. On March 17, 18, and 19, audiences can attend free lectures at 5 p.m. Each evening at 8 p.m. various Schnittke quartets will be performed (tickets are $5). The series culminates in a marathon concert on March 20 with performances of all four string quartets, In memoriam Igor Stravinsky for quartet, and the piano quintet with guest Louise Bessette. (www.quatuormolinari.qc.ca, 514-527-5515) – Hannah Rahimi

Pour clore la saison de leur 40e anniversaire, l’ensemble de musique de chambre Musica Camerata de Montréal présente Les Russes et le klezmer, comprenant deux œuvres pour clarinette, violoncelle et piano : le Trio Pathétique de Glinka et Les Noces du Klezmer de Srul I. Glick. Une première canadienne terminera le programme: un Quintette pour piano et quatuor à cordes de Sergey Taneyev. Le concert aura lieu le 20 mars à 20 h – et non en avril, comme indiqué au dépliant – à la salle Redpath de l’Université McGill. (514-489-8713, www.camerata.ca) – Renée Banville

Polyphonie européenne et musique traditionnelle latine, c’est ce métissage unique que présente le samedi 20 mars à 20 h l’Ensemble Caprice dans la Salsa baroque sous l’habile direction du flûtiste Matthias Maute. Reconnu sur la scène internationale, l’ensemble instrumental est récipiendaire avec le SMAM du prix Opus

« Concert de l’année – Musiques médiévale, de la renaissance, baroque » et d’un prix Juno « Meilleur album de musique classique – Catégorie musique vocale ou chorale ». (Chapelle Notre-Dame-de-

Bon-Secours. 514-423-3611, www.ensemblecaprice.com) – Renée Banville

Le dimanche 21 mars à 19 h 30, le Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal (SMAM), aussi lauréat aux prix

Opus, présente un concert avec les Voix Humaines. Intitulé La Traversée de la Manche, le programme comprend des oœuvres pour voix et violes signées Gibbons, Jenkins, du Caurroy, Lejeune et Bouzignac. Les oeuvres choisies démontreront ce qui se faisait de mieux autour de 1600 des deux côtés de la Manche, dans le domaine tant sacré que profane. (Église Saint-Léon-de-Westmount. 514-861-2626, www.smam-montreal.com) – Renée Banville

Le dimanche 21 mars à 15h30, la Chapelle est heureuse d’accueillir pour la première fois le pianiste belge de réputation internationale Olivier de Spiegeler. Encensé pour son jeu d’une grande clarté au timbre subtil et au toucher délicat, le pianiste interprète des œuvres de Schumann, Frank et Chopin. (Chapelle Historique du Bon-Pasteur, 514-872-5338) – Renée Banville

Jazz

Amateurs de musiques improvisées, prenez note ! Le mardi 16, la série hebdomadaire Les Mardis Spaghetti met sa main aux pâtes (sic) avec son Marathon Macaroni, soit 14 heures ininterrompues de musiques créatives tous azimuts, et ce, dès 10 h le matin. Plus d’une cinquantaine de prestations défileront sur la petite scène du Cagibi (5490, boulevard Saint-Laurent, angle Saint-Viateur) avec des participants d’ici et d’ailleurs (Canada, É-U. et Europe).

Mar. 16

* Le marathon Macaroni. La série hebdomadaire de musiques improvisées Les mardis Spaghetti fête ses deux ans au Cagibi de 10 h à minuit. [Programmation en ligne : www.myspace.com/mardispaghetti.]

* Jean-Nicholas Trottier Big Band. Maison de la culture Mercier. [872-8755] 20 h

Mer. 17

* Quartette du tromboniste Jean-Nicholas Trottier. (Lancement du disque sur Étiquette Effendi.) Upstairs Jazz Bar. 20 h 30 (En reprise, le 24 au même endroit.)

Jeu 18

* Quartette du batteur Simon Delage. Jazz Club Restaurant Dièse onze. 20 h 30

Mar. 23

* Le guitariste Larry Coryell et son ensemble. L’Astral. 20 h

– Marc Chénard

Arts visuels / Visual Arts

LE VERRE SELON TIFFANY. LA COULEUR EN FUSION

Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal, jusqu'au 2 mai 2010

Theatre

The Centaur follows up with The Comedy of Errors, a co-production with the National Arts Centre. Inspired by Montreal’s crazed festival season, the play provides a modern look at one of Shakespeare’s earliest and most comedic plays. It tells the story of a family divided by business. Two sets of twins, separated for 33 years, suddenly find themselves in the bustling city of Ephesus. Needless to say, mass confusion and hilarious accidents ensue, including mistaken identities, infidelities and wrongful beatings. Yet, the family is reunited through love in the end, and establishes a richer and deeper bond than ever before. The Comedy of Errors runs from March 2nd to the 28th. – Jessica Hill

Theatre: In March at the Segal, a co-production with Théâtre du Rideau-Vert brings us Old Wicked Songs, the story of a young American piano prodigy and his teacher. The young virtuoso, hoping to re-ignite his artistic spark, ventures to Vienna. However, he ends up colliding with his Viennese music teacher instead. Separated by their experiences, their ideas and their generations, it is their mutual love for music that becomes the one bond strong enough to bridge the gap. Robert Schumann’s songs are woven throughout the play as past and present confront each other through these two men.

Theatre: Infinitheatre presents Fatherland during the month of March. It tells the story of a quiet Westmount family that finds its sheltered world shattered one Sunday morning. A young boy is busy writing an essay about Saddam Hussein’s two sons and the aftermath of the American invasion, when his uncle lets slip to his father that he owes money to a mobster and that the mobster is on his way over to collect. Outrage, desperation and tumult arise, leading the boy to draw parallels between Saddam’s sons and his own father and uncle: brothers trapped in an opulent house while a mortal enemy draws near. Fatherland explores the power of blood ties and the mutual debt owed between sons and fathers

– Jessica Hill

Théâtre

EXCUSE-MOI. L’auteur de la télésérie Aveux n’a plus besoin de prouver sa maïtrise du suspense, son don pour faire vivre avec sensibilité les personnages de gens ordinaires qui cachent de douloureux secrets. Dans cette nouvelle pièce attendue, Serge Boucher ramène le protagoniste de 24 Poses et Là, François, confronté ici à deux épisodes charnières de la vie de ses parents. Jusqu'au 27 mars, au Théâtre Jean-Duceppe

HUIS CLOS. On n’a plus guère l’occasion, à Montréal, de voir sur scène le théâtre de Jean-Paul Sartre. Quelle résonance aura aujourd’hui l’impitoyable – et la plus célèbre – pièce du philosophe existentialiste, créée en 1944 ? L’infernal trio condamné à passer l’éternité à se faire souffrir prend ici les visages de Pascale Bussières, Patrice Robitaille et Julie Le Breton. Jusqu'au 3 avril, au Théâtre du Nouveau Monde

– Marie Labreque

Danse / Dance

Jusqu’au 21, Tangente y va d’une programmation tous azimuts avec, notamment Caroline Dubois, Andrew Turner et Isabel Mohn. Du 5 au 20, Paula de Vasconcelos revient séduire avec sa dansethéâtre en racontant l’histoire de la découverte de la route des Indes dans Boa Goa. La danseuse tétraplégique France Geoffroy (voir le photo) se produit quant à elle au Monument national du 17 au 27, dans une chorégraphie d’Estelle Clareton précédée d’une pièce de hip hop. Du 18 au 27, les GBCM nous offrent un programme triple de pièces de Jiri Kylian alors qu’Harold Rhéaume se déplace de Québec pour mettre son âme à Nu sur la scène de l’Agora. Organisé par le Studio 303, le Festival Edgy Women s’invite à Tangente du 20 au 28 pour son volet danse et c’est avec du flamenco contemporain que mars rejoint avril.

– Fabienne Cabado

This Week in Toronto (March 15 - 21)

noreply@blogger.com (Joseph So) — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 11:17:00 +0000

Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Sondra Radvanovsky

(Photo: Pavel Antonov)

The big news for voice fans this week is the blockbuster concert starring Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Sondra Radvanovsky on Saturday 8 pm March 20 at Roy Thomson Hall. It is part of a concert tour the two are taking to a number of cities in North America, including Montreal and New York. This event is not to be missed! For a little preview, Radvanovsky will be giving a mini-recital live from the concert lobby at The New Classical 96.3 FM tomorrow (Tuesday 16) at 1 pm. You can tune in to your radio, or listen to it in a webcast. I am not positive but the concert may even be available for view on the website. Go to http://www.classical963fm.com/contests/concert-lobby-sondra-radvanovsky (Note: I just had confirmation from Linda Litwack, the publicist of this concert for Show One Productions that the concert will indeed be videocast live on the internet!)

Hvorostovsky is of course a frequent visitor to Toronto - I must have heard him here close to ten times since his first appearance here, around 1992. And I try to catch him wherever I can in my operatic travels. It is rare, however, to find Sondra Radvanovsky singing on local stages. This is particularly strange as she has been living in the GTA for quite a number of years, having married a Canadian. I heard her at the Met and Santa Fe as Violetta in La Traviata, but in Toronto, it was limited to only the LUNA concert of the first year of the Luminato Festival. If memory serves, she sang Casta Diva from Norma and wowed everyone. With her voice, it just takes two seconds and you just know that this is not your usual soprano voice. It is dark, rich, powerful, expressive, with stunning breath control and exemplary agility. It is, in fact, an authentic Verdi soprano, an extremely rare species. She arrives home fresh from a triumph as Elisabetta in Don Carlo at the Opera Bastille in Paris. I spoke with a friend who was lucky enough to catch her at the performance last Friday. She was in fabulous form, receiving endless ovations from the enthusiastic audience. Here is the photo of a smiling Radvanovsky backstage at the Opera Bastille after Don Carlo last Friday.

(Photo: Pierre Couture)

Another exciting event this week is the appearance of Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra (formerly the Kirov Orchestra), all the way from St. Petersburg. Anytime this orchestra tours, it is always an unforgettable event, so this time it'll be no different. There will be different programs on the two nights. The first, on March 16, has Berlioz's Royal Hunt and Strom from Les Troyens and selections from Romeo et Juliette, and Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 5; the second performance has Denis Matsuev playing Rach 3, and Shostakovich Symphony No. 15! Either program is terrific and if you can, go!

The Aradia Ensemble under conductor Kevin Mallon presents the music of Purcell's Theatre Music (Don Quixote presented with excerpts from Thomas D'Urfey's play Boduca), on Sunday, 8 pm March 21, at the Glenn Gould Studio. The soloists are sopranos Eve Rachel McCleod and Laura Albino, tenor Nils Brown and bass Jason Nedecky. For more information, go to http://www.aradia.ca/

The Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music presents a staged version of Massenet's Cendrillon conducted by Uri Mayer with stage direction by Graham Cozzubbo, with students from the GGS Vocal Program and Opera in Concert Chorus. I once saw this show at Santa Fe Opera, in the Laurent Pelly production, and it was incredibly funny. I am sure with the youthful enthusiasm of the GGS students and the expert baton of Mayer, this will be a very good show. It opens on March 20, 7:30 pm at Koerner Hall, with additional performances on March 21, 23, and 35, at different times. For details and tickets, go to http://performance.rcmusic.ca/viewallconcerts

German quartet wowed in Toronto

noreply@blogger.com (Crystal Chan) — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 22:10:00 +0000

By L.H. Tiffany Hsieh

The Hugo Wolf Quartett made its Toronto debut with Music Toronto at the Jane Mallett Theatre on March 11.

And this string quartet from Germany can play.

Made up of violinists Sebastian Gürtler, Régis Bringolf, violist Gertrud Weinmeister, and cellist Florian Berner, the quartet, founded at the Vienna Conservatory in 1993, opened the concert with Mozart’s String Quartet No. 21 in D major, K. 575, Prussian No. 1. Their articulation was clear and their sound pure and simple, with little or no vibrato. Gürtler’s phrasing was expressive without excess, and he was matched with an impeccable blend from the rest of the ensemble. It was Mozart as it should be, which always sounds easier than it actually is.

Immediately following Mozart, the quartet leaped 120 years forward with Webern’s Five Movements for Sting Quartet, Op. 5. Here, the players fed off each other’s sporadic squeaks and shrills with precision and taste. The auditorium was driven with an eerie suspense that lasted through each and every nuance, climax, and dead silence.

The showpiece of the program was Schubert’s Quartet in D minor, D. 810, better known as Death and the Maiden. From the fiendishly driven opening Allegro, the quartet displayed a superb sense of tension that was both urgent and paced. The cello, prominently featured throughout this piece, was played beautifully by Berner, who delivered some haunting solos and sweet melodies. Weinmeister on the viola was poised, her tone warm and sombre. Bringolf countered with perfect intensity and Gürtler kept the quartet in check in a gripping performance that was full of energy and excitement.

The piece ended with a unison “Wow” from the audience.

Returning to stage for an encore, the Hugo Wolf Quartett played the third movement of Janacek’s String Quartet No. 2, Intimate Letters with outpouring emotion, leaving a trail of poignancy lingering in the brisk evening air.

This quartet was at times rigid but never dull. Their stellar sound and wonderful presence make them well worth hearing live. A return engagement in the near future is most welcome.

Rach 3 Rocks with Nissman and the Austin Symphony!

noreply@blogger.com (Paul E. Robinson) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:53:00 +0000

by Paul E. Robinson

Last week, at the Long Center for the Performing Arts, Peter Bay and the Austin Symphony presented an all-Russian program: Rachmaninov’s Vocalise, followed by the Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 3, and closing with the Shostakovich Symphony No. 5, the Russian composer’s most popular symphony.

As always, Maestro Bay had prepared well and interpreted the music with assurance and without exaggeration of any kind.

In the opening piece, Vocalise, Bay went for a nuanced, understated beauty that suited this slight work very well. Personally, I would like to hear more expansive phrasing in some sections, but then I may be biased by my own current research on that most rhapsodic of conductors, Leopold Stokowski.

Standing Ovation for Nissman’s Illuminating Rachmaninov!'

The Rachmaninov Third Piano Concerto (Rach 3), performed on this occasion by soloist Barbara Nissman (photo: right), has become a calling card for piano virtuosi or would-be virtuosi from the days of one of the greatest, Vladimir Horowitz. It is a concerto guaranteed to bring down the house with its generous number of good tunes, its fearsome technical demands and its big finish.

But over the years we have learned that, while crucial, impeccable technique is not nearly sufficient for success with this piece. Finally, with Nissman, we got a performance that went deeper and illuminated more of the composer’s vision than any I have heard in a long time.

In Rach 3, many soloists settle for merely playing the notes accurately, in itself a formidable challenge. The great ones go further, as did Nissman, to make the music fresh and original, leaving listeners with a sense of having heard it for the first time.

In Nissman’s performance, this was especially true of the playful sections. Yes, the famously “sourpuss” Sergei Rachmaninov did indeed have a playful side. True, he wrote dark pieces such as The Isle of the Dead, but he wasn’t always morbidly depressed.

The third movement of Rach 3 has a scherzando section; it is here that we discern whether pianists are interpretive artists or merely technicians. Nissman played this section as it was surely meant to be played, in an improvisatory fashion, capturing all the sparkle and fun. It is not ‘Marx Brothers funny’ but it is witty and light-hearted. To capture the true spirit of this section is to add another dimension altogether to this great work, and Nissman did just that.

In the big peroration at the end of the concerto – clearly modeled after the ending of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 – Nissman played with both power and exuberance. There is a lot going on here with tempi and dynamics changing in almost every bar. Conductor and soloist had not quite managed to reach complete consensus; nonetheless, this was joyous music-making.

Ginastera-Nissman Collaboration Has Deep Roots

The Austin audience, clearly moved by Nissman’s performance, demanded an encore. She obliged us with music by a composer with whom she is closely identified.

Nissman first met Argentinian composer Alberto Ginastera (photo: right) when she was a student at the University of Michigan. She went on to become one of his foremost interpreters and his Piano Sonata No. 3 Op. 55 is dedicated to her.

On this occasion Nissman played two of Ginastera’s Danzas Argentinas Op. 2. The first of these is a lovely song with simulated guitar accompaniment and the second, a celebration of the Argentinian gaucho or cowboy in a virtuoso piece bursting with Latin dance rhythms - both great encore pieces - which Nissman played with the utmost panache and authority.

Shostakovich Fifth Symphony Music or Politics?

Scholars still argue over the meaning of the Shostakovich Fifth Symphony - the last work on the program - particularly the final section with its triumphant, major key fanfares. Many, at the time of its writing (1937), took this music at face value, concluding that Shostakovich was forced to compose this kind of ‘programmed propaganda” music under threat from the Soviet authorities.

Shostakovich, since the premiere of his opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk in 1934, had been branded as a composer with ‘formalist’ tendencies, meaning that instead of writing music to celebrate the worker’s revolution, he was composing difficult and depressing music.

Before the premiere of the Fifth Symphony, Shostakovich himself had suppressed his Fourth Symphony, one of his most forward-looking and uncompromising works, realizing that if it saw the light of day, he would probably be signing his own death warrant.

Taking into consideration the history of the Fourth Symphony, and the political climate in Stalin’s Soviet Union at the time, the Fifth Symphony is thought to have been an attempt by Shostakovich to win favor by writing music which could be more easily understood by the masses and which left its listeners with a positive message. But there is more to it than that.

This assessment was expounded in Testimony: the Memoirs of Shostakovich (1979), a manuscript compiled by Solomon Volkov, and smuggled out of the Soviet Union. In Volkov’s words:

“I think that it is clear to everyone what happens in the Fifth. The rejoicing is forced, created under a threat, as in Boris Godunov. It’s as if someone were beating you with a stick and saying, ‘ your business is rejoicing, your business is rejoicing, and you rise, shakily and go marching off muttering ‘Our business is rejoicing, our business is rejoicing.’ ”

The veracity of Volkov’s argument is still in dispute in some quarters, but there can be no doubt that in spite of its largely accessible style, the Fifth Symphony is a piece that contains many pages of struggle and despair. The question remains whether all this angst is alleviated in the end in accordance with socialist principles, or something else.

Timeless Power & Beauty: Bay and ASO Get it Right!

Shostakovich composed the Fifth Symphony well over 60 years ago; Stalin is long dead; and since 1989, the Soviet Union has collapsed and been consigned to the dustbin of history.

Most of us today enjoy Shostakovich’s ’s Fifth Symphony purely as music, and are unconcerned about its meaning. One may argue that it is music composed in a context, to be sure, but it endures because of its beauty, its range of feeling and its power to excite us.

My sense was that Peter Bay approached the music in this spirit; that is, pay attention to getting the notes right and the ‘music’ will emerge as the composer intended.

The Austin Symphony performed very well indeed. From the opening bars, the string phrases were precise and played without exaggeration. The dynamic marking here is only forte, after all, and the effect has a distinctly baroque character. The real drama in the piece is yet to come.

Bay followed the composer’s tempo instructions at the beginning of the last movement admirably. Shostakovich was very precise about wanting the movement to start rather slowly, then gradually accelerate over nearly thirty pages of score. It is very difficult for a conductor to make these tempo increases seamless, and the ideal result can only be achieved through sufficient rehearsal and performance.

Bay got it right. Compare, for example, Leonard Bernstein, a famous interpreter of the Shostakovich Fifth, who, in his classic first recording with the New York Philharmonic, starts with a very fast tempo and then has nowhere to go, having completely ignored the composer’s explicit intentions at the beginning of the movement.

Whether Peter Bay and the Austin Symphony played the final bars of the symphony as heroic or tragic is for the listener to judge, but there is no doubt that they played them loud. The Dell Hall in the Long Center has admirable clarity, but the players have to dig a little deeper to get enough sound out in the big climaxes. For once, timpanist Tony Edwards got the big sound I have been hoping to hear in this hall.

For Those Wanting More…

Barbara Nissman has recorded all of Ginastera’s piano music (Pierian 0005/6 2CD set) including the encores she played in Austin. She is working on a book about Prokofiev’s piano music and has recorded all nine Prokofiev sonatas (Newport Classic NCD60092/3/4 reissued by Pierian as PIR0007/8/9 3CD set). Bartok enthusiasts might want to check out Nissman’s Bartók and the Piano: a Performer’s View (Scarecrow Press).

While in Austin Nissman gave a Master Class at UT and a recital of works by Bach, Prokofiev, Rachmaninov and Ginastera, in a private home. The highlight of the recital for me was Nissman’s superb rendition of Prokofiev’s rarely-played Piano Sonata No. 6.

For a complete Nissman discography visit her website.
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 Amazon.com.

Cette semaine à Montréal (8 à 13 mars) / This Week in Montreal (March 8 - 13)

noreply@blogger.com (Crystal Chan) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 21:29:00 +0000

Musique, théâtre, arts visuels et danse à Montréal cette semaine

Music, theatre, visual arts and dance in Montreal this week

Arts visuels : Le verre selon Tiffany. La couleur en fusion » Montréal, Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal, du 12 février au 2 mai 2010

Danse : Dès le 4 et jusqu’au 21, Tangente y va d’une programmation tous azimuts avec, notamment Caroline Dubois, Andrew Turner et Isabel Mohn. Du 5 au 20, Paula de Vasconcelos revient séduire avec sa danse-théâtre en racontant l’histoire de la découverte de la route des Indes dans Boa Goa tandis qu’Isabelle Van Grimde présente Bodies to Bodies, une œuvre ouverte pour danseurs et musiciens, à l’Agora du 9 au 13. – Fabienne Cabado

Théâtre : Excuse-moi - L’auteur de la télésérie Aveux n’a plus besoin de prouver sa maîtrise du suspense, son don pour faire vivre avec sensibilité les personnages de gens ordinaires qui cachent de douloureux secrets. Dans cette nouvelle pièce attendue, Serge Boucher ramène le protagoniste de 24 Poses et Là, François, confronté ici à deux épisodes charnières de la vie de ses parents. » Du 17 février au 27 mars, au Théâtre Jean-Duceppe – Marie Labreque

Théâtre : Lipsynch - L’événement incontournable de la saison, que cette visite du magicien du théâtre Robert Lepage. Par la quête des origines d’un orphelin, cette création collective fouille la voix humaine sous ses diverses incarnations. Peaufiné depuis cinq ans, ce spectacle-fleuve à la (dé)mesure du créateur de La Trilogie des dragons propose tout un défi aux spectateurs : neuf histoires entremêlées, racontées en autant d’heures ! » Du 27 février au 14 mars, au Théâtre Denise-Pelletier – Marie Labreque [Voir la critique ici]

Theatre: The Centaur follows up with The Comedy of Errors, a co-production with the National Arts Centre. Inspired by Montreal’s crazed festival season, the play provides a modern look at one of Shakespeare’s earliest and most comedic plays. It tells the story of a family divided by business. Two sets of twins, separated for 33 years, suddenly find themselves in the bustling city of Ephesus. Needless to say, mass confusion and hilarious accidents ensue, including mistaken identities, infidelities and wrongful beatings. Yet, the family is reunited through love in the end, and establishes a richer and deeper bond than ever before. The Comedy of Errors runs from March 2nd to the 28th. – Jessica Hill

Theatre: In March at the Segal, a co-production with Théâtre du Rideau-Vert brings us Old Wicked Songs, the story of a young American piano prodigy and his teacher. The young virtuoso, hoping to re-ignite his artistic spark, ventures to Vienna. However, he ends up colliding with his Viennese music teacher instead. Separated by their experiences, their ideas and their generations, it is their mutual love for music that becomes the one bond strong enough to bridge the gap. Robert Schumann’s songs are woven throughout the play as past and present confront each other through these two men. – Jessica Hill

Theatre: Infinitheatre presents Fatherland during the month of March. It tells the story of a quiet Westmount family that finds its sheltered world shattered one Sunday morning. A young boy is busy writing an essay about Saddam Hussein’s two sons and the aftermath of the American invasion, when his uncle lets slip to his father that he owes money to a mobster and that the mobster is on his way over to collect. Outrage, desperation and tumult arise, leading the boy to draw parallels between Saddam’s sons and his own father and uncle: brothers trapped in an opulent house while a mortal enemy draws near. Fatherland explores the power of blood ties and the mutual debt owed between sons and fathers. – Jessica Hill

Théâtre : Les États-Unis vus par... - En quatre ans et huit pièces, le Théâtre de l’Opsis a exploré, généralement avec bonheur, le vaste territoire de la dramaturgie états-unienne. La compagnie conclut son « cycle américain » en donnant la parole à des auteurs d’ici. Michel Marc Bouchard, François Archambault et Richard Séguin sont au nombre des dramaturges et auteurs-compositeurs qui livreront leur vision, à travers textes ou chansons, de notre fascinant voisin du Sud. » Du 23 février au 13 mars, au Théâtre Prospero – Marie Labreque

Jazz : Mer. 10 » Nous perçons les oreilles (duo Jean Derome et Joane Hétu) suivi de 33 * 45 * 78 (duo Martin Tétreault, tourne-disques, et Bernard Schick, projections). Spectacle présenté dans le cadre de la série Musiques topographiques, organisée par les Productions SuperMusique. Institut Gœthe, 418, rue Sherbrooke Ouest. 20 h

Jazz : Jeu. 11 » Quartette du guitariste Simon Legault. Maison de la culture Marie-Uguay [872-2044] En reprise le ven. 19 à l’église Notre-Dame-des-Sept-Douleurs [765-7150]. Ces deux spectacles sont à 20 h.

Musique de chambre : Le jeudi 11 mars à 20 h, le Trio Reiner, un des nouveaux ensembles les plus dynamiques au pays, présente un programme d’œuvres de Joseph Suk, Robert Schumann et Antonin Dvořák. Composé du pianiste Paul Stewart, du violoniste Jonathan Crow et de la violoncelliste Élisabeth Dolin, le trio est reconnu pour ses brillantes interprétations et son jeu d’ensemble impressionnant. Chapelle historique du bon-pasteur. 514-872-5338 – Renée Banville

Jazz : Jeu. 11 » Ensemble Fortin-Léveillée-Donato-Nasturica. L’Astral. 20 h

Jazz : Ven. 12 et sam. 13 » Le quartette du saxo ténor Joel Miller avec invité spécial de New York, le batteur Matt Wilson. Upstairs Jazz Bar. 20 h 30

Musique ancienne : La Nef et les Voix Humaines en concert; musique élisabéthaine pour Broken Consort. La compagnie de création et de production La Nef est connue dans le milieu de la musique ancienne pour ses concerts de qualité, permettant de faire découvrir toute la richesse et la subtilité des musiques anciennes, baroques ou Renaissance. Le samedi 13 mars à 20 h, à la chapelle Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours, le luthiste Sylvain Bergeron accueillera les deux gambistes Margaret Little et Susie Napper du duo Les Voix humaines pour un concert unique visitant une époque charnière de la musique anglaise. Dans une formation originale et trop rarement entendue, le Broken Consort mêle instruments à cordes pincées, frottées et flûte traversière et sera accompagné de la soprano Catherine Webster. Au programme : des pièces de Dowland, Morley et Byrd ainsi que des ballades élisabéthaines. – Isabelle Soraru

Maestra Keri-Lynn Wilson

noreply@blogger.com (Crystal Chan) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 20:08:00 +0000

By Wah Keung Chan

[Pour la version française, cliquez ici]

Conducting a great orchestra is like driving a Mercedes,” said the 42-year-old Keri-Lynn Wilson, the most prominent Canadian female conductor today. “When you get behind the wheel, it just feels right.” Wilson’s path from orchestra member to conductor came by chance. “I was just watching the Juilliard conducting class, and somebody asked me: ‘Oh, are you going to audition to conduct at Juilliard?’ I said, ‘No, no, no, I’m just watching’,’’ she related. That night, Wilson thought “What a great idea!” She prepared for the next 6 months and passed the audition.

Preparing for the audition meant lots of studying. There are written exams in music history and theory, every instrument, and every composer and their repertoire. There are also practical exams like reducing a score on the piano, sight-reading and ear training. A select few then get to conduct the Juilliard orchestra for a final test to narrow hundreds of applicants to two. That first time in front of her colleagues, Wilson conducted The Rite of Spring and Beethoven’s Symphony No 8. “I was nervous, but not nervous enough. Any conductor has a lot of courage. There’s something in you that is strong, that comes from preparation and knowledge. If you know a score, you’re that much more prepared. But what is unfamiliar to the young conductor are the gestures, the physical interpretation. Mentally you might have it, but it has to come out physically,” she remarked.

It wasn’t really a Cinderella story. Wilson explained, “I had had 12 years of sitting under the nose of a conductor in the orchestra; that’s a lot of knowledge already, watching and absorbing different styles.” Her passion for music started when she was three. Growing up in a musical family (her father was a violin teacher and the conductor of the Winnipeg Youth Orchestra), Wilson studied piano with her grandmother and “a bit of singing”, unsuccessfully, with her grandfather, before starting the violin with her father and eventually taking up the flute. Music was constantly heard in the house, and for Wilson, who was obsessed with music, it was a blessing. “Music was a part of my entire being and I couldn’t live without it,” she said.
Wilson kept up all three instruments throughout high school, and she was influenced by her uncle, cellist Eric Wilson, a star student of Leonard Rose’s at Juilliard. “I wanted to be just like him; going to Juilliard was the coolest thing,” said Wilson. At age 13, she studied for two weeks at Juilliard with flutist Julius Baker, who gave her encouragement. When she went back to audition for Juilliard for university studies, Baker remembered her and she was accepted.

Wilson’s first five years at Juilliard were packed. “I played under great conductors and I just loved the orchestral life of the musician. I loved the sound of the orchestra. Above all, the orchestral repertoire for a flutist is much more interesting than anything you can do as a soloist. I loved the Mahler, Brahms and Beethoven symphonies,” she explained. In her last year, Wilson slowly veered away from the flute: there were courses in Wagner and Verdi operas, and she accompanied singers on the piano.

The way Wilson dealt with her first feelings of nerves in front of the Juilliard orchestra has served the maestra well every time she meets a new orchestra. “What’s familiar is the unfamiliar. It makes the first encounter with a new group always exciting; there’s a bit of the unknown. I feel a little anxious; if you’re afraid, you’re in the wrong profession. In the first two minutes of music making, they are judging you on your musicianship. It’s an art that we’re doing and so there should be no reason why women can’t do it as well as men. It’s just something that’s coming from knowledge and emotional communication,” she said.

Wilson thrives on bringing that knowledge to her work. Her four years studying conducting taught her to analyse and study an orchestral score thoroughly. “When I started conducting I spoke two languages, and now I speak five. Now I know so much more about the composers, their lives—I’ve studied historically what’s going on. And doing a lot of operas, I can say I’ve read all the Pushkin, I’ve read all the Dostoevsky, everything that the operas stemmed from. It’s so important to just have all that knowledge,” she stated.

At Juilliard, Wilson studied with Otto Werner Mueller. She also spent a summer in Europe watching the maestros, including Claudio Abbado, work. Wilson observed that the German style is very clear and everything that you do connects exactly with the music. There is no sort of frivolous or extraneous movements that wouldn’t be exactly what the music indicated. “The Abbado [Italian] approach is much more fluid and spontaneous in his gestures. I think if you put together the German and Italian Schools, it makes for an interesting combination,” she said. “I like to be very clear and expressive. Everything I do physically is directly connected to your heart and mind.” There is also something quite Canadian in her conducting approach, which is based on diplomacy. “I like to make music together,” said Wilson. “I don’t like to dictate. I like to praise, and criticize during encouragement.” Being a woman, Wilson claims, has nothing to do with it. Wilson is adamant, “It’s 100% based on personality, even women can be tyrants.”

When Wilson talks about her favourite repertoire, the list of Shostakovich, Mahler, Brahms, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Mozart, Puccini, Verdi, Wagner, Strauss, shows that she a big romantic at heart. “I’m more extroverted and expressive.” Naturally, Wilson is equally at home in opera as the symphonic rep. When we spoke, she was studying Tchaikovsky’s Pique Dame for the first time as a replacement for Tel Aviv Opera in June.

“Before I even open the score of course I read Pushkin’s story, both in English and in Russian. Then I’ll see what Tchaikovsky was trying in his life; then you open the music and I’ll go through the entire libretto and know every word and its meaning. I do speak Russian, but at the same time there are words that I might not know so I sit with my best friend who is Russian. And then I markup my score, I do my analysis, and then put the words and the notes together and see what Tchaikovsky was looking for. Then I study it constantly so it becomes a part of your blood. Hopefully when it comes time to the first rehearsal I’ll know it cold.” Wilson also finds it important to listen to old and new recordings, especially operas to be aware of the traditions “because the breathing, cadenzas or flourishes are not necessarily in the score.”

Simon Boccanegra and Verdi

As part of the Montreal Opera’s 30th season, Wilson will conduct Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra, a story set in 14th Century Genoa, Italy, about the rise and fall of the city’s chief magistrate. “I love Verdi, especially late Verdi,” Wilson said. “It’s an opera that’s not done very much because of its convoluted, ridiculous storyline, and it doesn’t have the show-stopping tunes you’ll find in La Traviata or Rigoletto.” Verdi started writing Boccanegra in his middle period but revised it in his later period. “We think of Verdi’s operas and he pretty much follows the formula handed down from the Bellini-style operas with stop and go points where we all get up on our feet and applaud. But then we have Boccanegra and Otello, where he avoided this stopping. It’s more through-composed; he would write orchestral interludes [between scenes] instead. It was just much more continual music, which dramatically is stronger. There is rarely applause stopping the action, because he uses the carpet of the orchestra underneath these dramatic, transition moments. It’s much more Wagnerian in that sense.

When Wilson talks about the high points of the opera, you feel her enthusiasm. “For the audience it’s probably the finale of Act 1 where you have the entire chorus at its fullest, the orchestra is playing up a storm and then it comes to a halt with Boccanegra’s big concertate aria. From the slow movement, you go into a fast, virtuosic ending and it’s fun to conduct. I love the last act when Boccanegra is dying, Fiesco tries to comfort him and they reach peace together in a gorgeous duet, which is extraordinary for the darkness and its very rich harmonic colours. The way it ends is also very beautiful, and unoperatically quiet.” Wilson is also drawn to Boccanegra’s character, “He is a dream for a singer because he has so many different things going on emotionally in his life—his affections for his daughter, his devotion to his country, his hatred and all the things that come up in his life that make him a very complex and extraordinary figure.”

Wilson’s schedule shows lots of guest conducting appearances in operas and symphonies around the globe. Right now she’s happy with not having an orchestra of her own as she hasn’t had the right offer from the right orchestra that fits her personal life, as her marriage to Metropolitan Opera General Manager Peter Gelb keeps her hub in New York. You wouldn’t find a website for the maestra because she likes to keep her personal life private. “I’m in a profession where you can’t have any inhibitions when it comes to being very expressive in communicating the emotion in music. At the same time, I would rather read a book with candlelight.”

UPCOMING:
› ‑VERDI: SIMON BOCCANEGRA, Montreal Opera March 13, 17, 20, 22, 25, 2010  operademontreal.com
› ‑SHOSTAKOVICH: SYMPHONY NO. 5, Orchestre Métropolitain Jan. 27, 29, 30, 31, 2011  orchestremetropolitain.com

Maestra Keri-Lynn Wilson

noreply@blogger.com (Crystal Chan) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 19:37:00 +0000

Par Wah Keung Chan

[For the English version, click here]

Diriger un grand orchestre, c’est comme prendre le volant d’une Mercedes : on roule dans le confort le plus absolu », déclare Keri-Lynn Wilson, la plus connue des chefs d’orchestre de sexe féminin au Canada. Et comment est-elle arrivée sur le podium ? Par hasard. « J’observais le cours de direction d’orchestre à Juilliard quand quelqu’un m’a demandé si j’allais me présenter à une audition », raconte-t-elle. Elle a répondu non, elle ne faisait que regarder, mais un peu plus tard, elle s’est dit que ce serait vraiment une bonne idée. Elle a consacré les six mois suivants à se préparer à cette fameuse audition.

Cette préparation lui a demandé énormément de travail. Il fallait passer des examens écrits en histoire et théorie de la musique, connaître chaque instrument, chaque compositeur, tout le répertoire. Il fallait aussi se préparer à des examens pratiques sur la transcription, la lecture à vue, le solfège. Quelques candidats sont ensuite choisis pour diriger l’orchestre de Juilliard, dernier test qui permettra de sélectionner deux heureux élus sur les centaines qui se présentent. Pour cette première expérience, Mme Wilson a dirigé le Sacre du printemps et la Symphonie no 8 de Beethoven. « Bien sûr, j’étais nerveuse, se remémore la musicienne de 42 ans, mais pas tant que ça. Les chefs d’orchestre sont des gens très téméraires. Ils ont une force qui leur vient de leur énergie, de leur travail de préparation et de leur savoir. Quand on connaît sa partition, on se sent bien. Ce que les jeunes chefs connaissent moins bien, c’est la gestuelle, l’interprétation physique; même s’ils ont tout compris dans leur tête, il faut que ça sorte physiquement.

Personne ne dira que Keri-Lynn Wilson est partie de rien. « J’avais déjà passé 12 ans sous la férule d’un chef d’orchestre. Cela représente tout un bagage de connaissances, d’observation et d’initiation à différents styles. Mais je me suis tout de même sentie bizarre. » Ce qui n’est pas bizarre, en revanche, c’est sa passion pour la musique, qui a commencé quand elle n’avait que trois ans. Issue d’une famille mélomane (son père était professeur de violon et chef de l’Orchestre des jeunes de Winnipeg), Mme Wilson a étudié le piano avec sa grand-mère et un peu le chant, sans succès, auprès de son grand-père, avant de se mettre au violon avec son père, puis de se tourner vers la flûte. La maison résonnait toujours de sonorités, et pour une fille aussi passionnée de musique, c’était merveilleux. « J’étais musicienne dans chaque fibre de mon être, dit-elle, je ne pouvais m’en passer. »

Keri-Lynn Wilson a continué de jouer de ces trois instruments tout le long de ses études secondaires et elle a subi l’influence de son oncle, le violoncelliste Eric Wilson, qui était le plus brillant des étudiants de Leonard Rose à Juilliard. « Je l’idolâtrais : étudier à Juilliard, rien de plus cool ! » À 13 ans, elle a étudié la flûte pendant deux semaines à Juilliard avec le flûtiste Julius Baker, qui l’a encouragée. Quand est venu le temps d’auditionner à Juilliard, Baker l’a reconnue et on l’a acceptée.

Elle a travaillé d’arrache-pied pendant ses cinq premières années à Juilliard. « J’ai joué avec de grands chefs et j’adorais la vie du musicien d’orchestre. Le son de l’orchestre me plaît énormément. En plus, le répertoire pour les flûtistes d’orchestre est bien plus intéressant que celui des solistes. J’aimais beaucoup les symphonies de Mahler, de Brahms, de Beethoven. » Pendant sa dernière année, elle a quelque peu délaissé la flûte, puisqu’elle est devenue accompagnatrice au piano pour des chanteurs qui participaient aux cours sur les opéras de Wagner et de Verdi.

Le moyen qu’elle a pris pour calmer ses nerfs la première fois qu’elle a dirigé l’orchestre de Juilliard lui sert encore chaque fois qu’elle rencontre un nouvel orchestre. « Ce qu’on connaît, c’est ce qu’on ne connaît pas, explique la maestra. Et la première rencontre avec un nouveau groupe est toujours excitante, à cause de ce qu’on ne connaît pas. Je ressens un peu de nervosité, mais si j’avais peur, ça voudrait dire que je me suis trompée de vocation. Cela ne prend que deux minutes aux musiciens pour juger des aptitudes musicales du nouveau chef. Nous faisons de l’art, et les femmes peuvent réussir autant que les hommes. Tout dépend du savoir qu’on détient et de sa façon de transmettre les émotions. »

Keri-Lynn Wilson aime puiser dans ce savoir pour son travail. Les quatre années qu’elle a consacrées à l’étude de la direction d’orchestre lui ont appris à analyser les partitions et à les analyser à fond. « Au début de ma carrière, je parlais deux langues; maintenant j’en parle cinq. À présent, j’en sais beaucoup plus sur les compositeurs, sur leur vie, sur l’histoire de leur époque. Et maintenant que je dirige beaucoup d’opéras, je peux dire que j’ai lu tout Pouchkine, tout Dostoïevski, tout ce qui a inspiré les opéras. Ce sont des connaissances capitales à avoir. »

À Juilliard, Mme Wilson a étudié auprès d’Otto Werner Mueller. Elle a également passé un été en Europe à observer les maestros, dont Claudio Abbado, au travail. Elle a constaté que le style allemand est très clair et que chaque geste est exactement accordé à la musique. Il n’y a aucun mouvement frivole ou superflu qui n’aurait rien à voir avec la musique. « La façon de faire d’Abbado est beaucoup plus fluide et spontanée. Mais si on pouvait rassembler les écoles allemande et italienne, cela pourrait donner un mélange intéressant, ajoute-t-elle. Je veux être à la fois claire et expressive. Tout ce que je fais sur le plan physique est directement raccordé au cœur et à l’esprit. » Sa façon d’aborder la direction d’orchestre pourrait être caractérisée de typiquement canadienne, puisqu’elle est fondée sur la diplomatie. « J’aime qu’on fasse de la musique ensemble, dit-elle. Je n’aime pas donner des ordres, mais je préfère distribuer les éloges et combiner mes critiques à des encouragements. » Ce n’est pas parce qu’elle est une femme mais, elle en est sûre, c’est une question de personnalité. « Il existe des tyrans chez les femmes aussi ! »

Quand Mme Wilson parle de son répertoire de prédilection, les noms de Chostakovitch, Mahler, Brahms, Beethoven, Tchaïkovski, Mozart, Puccini, Verdi, Wagner et Strauss évoquent une âme plutôt romantique : « Je suis passablement extrovertie et expressive ». Bien entendu, elle se sent aussi à l’aise dans le répertoire lyrique que symphonique. Au moment de notre entretien, elle étudiait la Dame de Pique de Tchaïkovski pour la première fois, en vue d’un remplacement à l’opéra de Tel-Aviv au mois de juin.

« Avant même de jeter un œil sur la partition, j’ai lu l’œuvre de Pouchkine en anglais et en russe. J’étudierai la vie de Tchaïkovski à cette époque-là. Puis je lirai le livret dans tous les sens pour m’en imprégner. Je parle russe, mais il y a des mots que je ne connais pas, alors je ferai appel à ma meilleure amie, qui est russe. Ensuite, je passe à travers la partition avec mon crayon, je l’analyse, puis je réunis les mots et les notes pour essayer de discerner les intentions de Tchaïkovski. J’étudie sans relâche. Dès la première répétition, je devrais connaître l’œuvre de bout en bout. » Mme Wilson tient également à écouter les enregistrements anciens ou nouveaux pour s’exposer à différentes traditions « puisque, surtout dans le cas de l’opéra, les respirations, les cadences ou les ornements ne sont pas nécessairement indiqués dans la partition ».

Simon Boccanegra et Verdi

Pendant la 30e saison de l’Opéra de Montréal, maestra Wilson dirigera Simon Boccanegra, qui raconte le destin glorieux et tragique du doge de Gênes au 14e siècle. « J’adore Verdi, surtout ses œuvres tardives, souligne-t-elle. C’est un opéra qu’on ne monte pas très souvent à cause de son histoire rocambolesque et parce qu’on n’y retrouve pas les grands airs à la Traviata ou à la Rigoletto. » Verdi avait commencé à travailler sur Boccanegra pendant ses années de maturité, mais il a retouché la partition sur le tard. « Les opéras de Verdi suivent plus ou moins la recette héritée de Bellini, avec ses moments forts qui déchaînent des tonnerres d’applaudissements. Et pourtant, dans Boccanegra et dans Otello, il évite ces temps d’arrêt. La composition est plus fouillée, avec des interludes orchestraux. La musique se poursuit sur un élan continu qui lui donne un effet dramatique plus fort. On a rarement le temps d’applaudir au milieu du déroulement de l’action, parce que les transitions dramatiques sont soutenues par l’orchestre. C’est une façon de faire plus wagnérienne. »

Quand Mme Wilson parle des points culminants de l’opéra, son enthousiasme est palpable. « Pour l’auditoire, c’est probablement la finale du 1er acte avec le chœur au grand complet, l’orchestre qui joue frénétiquement, et tout cela s’arrête brusquement sur le grand air de Boccanegra. On passe d’un mouvement lent à une finale d’une vitesse folle, et c’est emballant à diriger. J’aime le dernier acte, l’agonie de Boccanegra, quand Fiesco essaie de le réconforter et qu’ils font la paix dans un magnifique duo, plein de tonalités sombres et de couleurs harmoniques très riches. La fin est magnifique et très douce, ce qui est rare à l’opéra. » Mme Wilson est également attirée par la personnalité de Boccanegra. « C’est un rôle de rêve, parce qu’il se passe toutes sortes de choses sur le plan émotif : l’amour paternel, l’amour de la patrie, la haine, et toutes ces choses qui font de lui un personnage extraordinairement complexe. »

Le calendrier de Mme Wilson est rempli d’engagements à titre de chef invitée dans des maisons d’opéra et de concert du monde entier. Pour le moment, elle n’est pas mécontente de ne pas avoir d’orchestre attitré, car elle n’a pas encore reçu d’offre qui convienne à sa vie, qui se déroule à New York depuis son mariage avec Peter Gelb, directeur général du Metropolitan Opera. Elle n’a pas non plus de site Web parce qu’elle préfère rester discrète sur sa vie privée. « Dans ma profession, il ne faut pas se gêner pour étaler ses sentiments dans la musique. Mais en fait, j’aimerais mieux lire un livre à la lueur d’une chandelle ! »

PROCHAINEMENT :
› ‑VERDI : SIMON BOCCANEGRA,  Opéra de Montréal 13, 17, 20, 22, 25 mars 2010  operademontreal.com
› ‑CHOSTAKOVITCH : SYMPHONIE NO 5, Orchestre Métropolitain 27, 29, 30, 31 janvier 2011  orchestremetropolitain.com

This Week in Toronto (March 8 - 14)

noreply@blogger.com (Joseph So) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 04:18:00 +0000

Baritone Nathan Gunn (Photo: Dario Acosta)

The big news for voice fans this week is the first Toronto appearance of American baritone Nathan Gunn, in town on Wednesday, March 10 8 pm at Roy Thomson Hall as part of its Vocal Series. Mr. Gunn is the archetypal "bari-hunk", a term invented some years ago by person unknown to describe baritones who are as pleasing to the eye as to the ear. There is a long tradition of singers of this ilk, from Lawrence Tibbett in the 1930's to Sherrill Milnes in the 1970's - hunky baritones with great voices. But there seems to be many more of them today, undoubtedly a reflection of the public favoring singers who look good on stage. In addition to Nathan Gunn, baritone poster boys today include the New Zealander Teddy Tahu Rhodes, Italian Luca Pisaroni, Uruguayan Erwin Schrott, American Jason Hardy, and Canada's own Dan Okulitch. There are many more, but these ones come to mind readily. They all have beautiful voices and are convincing actors onstage. With Mr. Gunn in town for a recital at Roy Thomson Hall, we'll get to judge for ourselves. I first heard him thirteen years ago, as Orestes in the famous Francesca Zambello production of Iphigenie en Tauride in Glimmerglass, arguably the show that propelled him to fame. He is singing better than ever. On the program are songs by Schubert, Charles Ives and American spirituals, accompanied by his wife Julie Gunn.

On the subject of voice, a worthwhile concert to attend is one given by Canadian soprano Yannick Muriel Noah. Several years ago, she was plucked out of the COC Ensemble to fill in for an indisposed soprano as Tosca. Critics and audience were impressed with her huge, gleaming lirico-spinto. She has since sung La Wally at Klagenfurt in Austria, and was Cio-Cio-San in COC's Madama Butterfly last fall. This spring, she returns to Klagenfurt as Aida. Noah will be giving a recital of songs and arias by Weill, Strauss, Verdi, and Puccini, with Liz Upchurch at the piano. It takes place on Saturday March 13, 8 pm at the Runnymede United Church, 432 Runnymede Road. Tickets are $25 ($20 for students and arts workers) and can be purchased as her website www.yannickmurielnoah.com/recital.

On Sunday March 14 2:30 pm at Walter Hall, Edward Johnson Building at the U of Toronto Faculty of Music, the Aldeburgh Connection presents Hugo Wolf: Mighty Miniaturist. Soloists are soprano Monica Whicher, tenor Michael Colvin, and baritone Brett Polegato, with Stephen Ralls and Bruce Ubukata at the piano. As usual, there will be tea at intermission! I have attended a few of their concerts in the past and they are never less than delightful.

Elsewhere, the Canadian Opera Company free noon hour concert series presents The Composer and His Music, on Thursday March 11, at the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre, with student soloists from the University of Toronto Opera Division under the music directorship of Sandra Horst. It is an eclectic - and highly interesting - program with arias and ensembles from Nixon in China, Hamlet, Leoncavallo's Boheme, Rigoletto, Gloriana, Ghosts of Versailles, Don Pasquale, Madama Butterfly, and Candide. Remember to show up a good 45 minutes early to ensure a seat. On Tuesday, March 9 is another noon hour concert - 18 year old pianist Suren Barry plays music by Bach, Beethoven, and Debussy.

The Toronto Symphony Orchestra presents Enigma Variations on March 11 at 3 pm and March 13 at 8 pm, with soloist Lars Vogt playing the Grieg Piano Concerto in A minor. Also on the program are Elgar's Enigma Variations, Sibelius Suite from King Kristian II and Magnus Lindberg's Chorale. Robin Ticciati conducts.

Tafelmusik, Canada's premiere baroque orchestra, presents Bach in Leipzig, with Jeanne Lamon directing the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Chorus in a program of Bach and Telemann. Performances on March 10, 7:30 pm, March 11, 12, and 13 at 8 pm, at the Trinity-St. Paul's Centre.

Finally, a bit of very sad news. The great British tenor Philip Langridge passed away from cancer this week at the age of 70. He carried on the tradition of English tenors in the mode of Peter Pears, championing the music of Benjamin Britten - he was a supremely moving Peter Grimes - as well as a wide ranging repertoire from Mozart to Janacek to Stravinsky. When I first heard the news two days ago, it just didn't seem possible - after all, he was singing as recently as December and January as the Witch in the Met's revival of Hansel und Gretel! He is survived by his widow, mezzo-soprano Ann Murray and four children. As a remembrance, here is a link to his most moving rendition of Comfort Ye from Handel's Messiah on Youtube -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7wGlv50RRU

Two Different Productions of Elektra Enthuse Italian Provincial Opera Houses

noreply@blogger.com (Wah Keung Chan) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 00:15:00 +0000

by Giuseppe Pennisi

Generally, Strauss-Hofmannsthal’s “tragedy for music” Elektra is normally performed in comparatively small opera houses in Germany and in a few Central European countries. Most administrators and musical directors are scared by the thought of assembling a 115-piece orchestra, five Wagnerian singers, a large number of soloists in smaller roles and keeping the audience enthralled in their seats for nearly two hours of extreme tension and emotion.

Well, this season two different productions of Elektra can be seen in Italian Provincial theatres. They are quite successful and surprisingly attract also a new and younger audience, and they are likely to be revived next season.

Italy has many beautiful theatres, smaller than the main Opera Houses (at 500-900 seats) but very elegant and with a perfect acoustics. They are one of the outcomes of the complicated Italian historical development: until less than 150 years ago, the country was fragmented in a variety of small Kingdoms, Gran-Duchies, Counties and other small independent States; like in Germany, each was proud to have its own princely theatre. In addition, in the Italian unification movement and in the romanticism period, Italy opera had the function otherwise played by literature. On the top of the royal or princely theatres, a number of Opera Houses were built, and owned, by the palchettisti, the rich bourgeoisie that had individual boxes; comparatively small towns like Spoleto and Piacenza have two very separate theatres: one (generally smaller) for the aristocrats and other (somewhat larger) for the bourgeoisie. Many of these theatres are labeled, in the legislation, teatri di tradizione; they receive only limited financing by the central Government – most of the funds are channeled to the 13 national fondazioni liriche in major towns – and are supported by local authorities and private sponsors. Co-productions are necessarily quite frequent.

Of the two Elektras, one is a co-production of the theatres of Bolzano, Ferrara, Modena and Piacenza but Reggio Emilia and Ravenna may join in. The other is a production of Catania’s Massimo Bellini – the Italian theatre known for the best acoustics in Europe – but there are rumors that it may travel in Sicily and elsewhere in Italy next season. From these productions there are lessons to be drawn also for smaller Houses in North America – those that normally shy away from Elektra.

From the musical standpoint both productions are presented unabridged – a real rarity. In 1909, at its première in Dresden, a few verses of the text (and the relevant music) were cut because their explicit sexual references were considered unbecoming. Indeed as late as 1968, in the Golden Encyclopedia of Music, Normal Lloyd calls even the 'abridged' text “too lurid.” Although the sense of what is or is not prude has changed over the decades, it was only two years ago in a small Austrian festival that Elektra was performed unabridged for the first time. Although the unabridged is far from lurid, its sexually explicit text is essential to fully understand the Freudian overtones of the tragedy and the dazzling excitement of musical forces that goes beyond Wagnerian lines.

Situating an orchestra much larger than the theatre’s pit was solved in imaginative manner in both cases. In the Bolzano-Ferrara-Modena-Piacenza production, under Gustav Kuhn's baton, two highly professional orchestras were amalgamated: the Haydn Orchestra of Trento and Bolzano and the Orchestra of Emilia-Romagna. With a strength of 115, the orchestra was not in the pit but on the stage, on the steps of a semi-circular auditorium (looking like a Greek theatre) with each element or group of elements visible to the audience; tragedy was staged right at the front of the stage on two levels: Elektra's claustrophobic room at the lower level and the empty Royal Palace at the upper level.

In the Catania production, under the baton of Will Humburg, the orchestra is also on the stage (the “Massimo Bellini” regular orchestra is strengthened by musicians on contract for this very opera in order to reach 114), but it is also in some of the boxes. The action is in the front stage, the orchestra pit and other boxes. In both productions, the audience has the feeling of being part of the plot.

Maestros Kuhn and Humburg have different temperaments – the former more passionate and the latter, tragically dryer. The cast of both productions is mostly German and young. Interestingly, in the Bolzano-Ferrara-Modena-Piacenza production, the role of Kytamnestra is sung, for the first time in history, by an Italia (Anna Maria Chiuri) and in Catania by Gabriele Schnaut who for several years had sang Elektra.

The Playbill

Elektra in Bolzano, Ferrara Modena, Piacenza

Elektra Anna Katharina Behnke, Elena Popovskaya
Klytamnestra Mihaela Binder Ungureanu, Anna Maria Chiuri
Chrysothemis Maida Hundeling, Michela Sburlati
Aegisth Richard Decker
Orest Thomas Gazheli, Wieland Satter
Der Pfleger des Orest, L`aio di Oreste Igor Bakan
Die Vertaute Elisa Maffi
Die Schlepptragerin L`ancella dello strascico Charlotte Soumiere
Ein Junger Diener Un giovane servo Arnold Bezuyen
Ein Alter Diener Vito Maria Brunetti
Die Auseherin La sorvegliante Martina Bortolotti
Magden: Jolena Bodrazic, Monika Wackerle , Anita Ahsef, Jae Hee Kim, Lara Martins
GUSTAV KHUN Conductor

Stage direction Manfred Schweigkofler
Costumes Hans-Martin Scholder
Sets Michele Olcese
Lighting Andrej Hajdinjak
Chorus Master Corrado Casati
Orchestra Haydn of Bolzano and Trento
Orchestra of Emilia Romagna

ELEKTRA in Catania

Conductor WILL HUMBURG Stage Direction GABRIELE RECH
Sets and lighting Giuseppe Di Iorio
Costumes Sandra Meurer
Chorus Master Tiziana Carlini

KLYTÄEMNESTRA Gabriele Schnaut, Renèe Morloc

ELEKTRA Janice Baird, Jayne Casselman

CHRYSOTHEMIS Elena Nebera, Elizabeth Hagedorn

AEGISTH Roman Sadnik

OREST Stefan Adam

DER PFLEGER DES OREST Salvo Todaro

DIE VERTRAUTE Graziella Alessi
EIN JUNGER DIENER Mariano Brischetto
EIN ALTER DIENER Giuseppe Esposito
DIE SCHLEPPTRAGERIN Francesca Aparo
DIE AUFSEHERIN Piera Bivona
I MAGD Marlene Lichtenberg
II MAGD Monica Minarelli
III MAGD Antonella Fioretti
IV MAGD Vitalija Blinstrubyte
V MAGD Manuela Cucuccio
ORCHESTRA, CHORUS AND TECHNICAL STAFF OF THE TEATRO MASSIMO BELLINI

Pianist Avan Yu at The New Classical 96.3 FM

noreply@blogger.com (Joseph So) — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 13:06:00 +0000

Pianist Avan Yu gives a noon hour concert at The New Classical 96.3 FM on March 1, the 200th anniversary of Frederic Chopin's birthday.

Photo: Soula Zizidis

On Monday March 1st, the world celebrated the 200th anniversary of the birth of the great Polish composer Frederic Chopin. Toronto's classical radio station, The New Classical 96.3 FM, opened its doors by inviting music lovers for a free noon hour concert starring Chinese Canadian pianist Avan Yu, winner of the 2004 Canadian Chopin Competition. It was followed by a lunch reception, complete with birthday cake! Broadcast live over the airwaves as well as webcast from www.classical963fm.com, it was a scintillating recital. Avan Yu played with bravura technique and beauty of tone, but particularity with a maturity that belies his tender years of 22. No wonder - he has already had a wealth of experience, captivating audiences worldwide. Since winning the Canadian Chopin Competition at the age of 17, he made his Carnegie Hal's Weill Recital Hall debut in fall 2008, and recently made his debut as soloist with the NAC Orchestra under the baton of Pinchas Zukerman, performing Chopin's Polonaise brilliante with cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Born in Hong Kong and raised in Vancouver, Avan Yu has been living for close to three years in Berlin, where he is studying with the great pianist/pedagogue Professor Klaus Hellwig.

After the concert, I managed to have a quiet conversation with Avan Yu. He is an affable young man, smart, polite, mature, and thoughtful in his answers. Below is a brief synopsis of our conversation:

JS: Is Chopin your favourite composer?

AY: At the moment, yes. Really it is whoever I am playing at the time. I also love Bach, Beethoven, Ravel....and I love Schumann!

JS: How did you happen to be studying with Professor Klaus Hellwig in Berlin?

AY: It was because of the Chopin Competition in Warsaw. I was 18 at the time. After it was over, I asked a jury member if he could recommend a teacher, and he suggested Prof. Hellwig. Next summer, I auditioned for him and was accepted.

JS: How long have you been in Berlin?

AY: Almost three years . I can carry on a conversation in German now!

JS: A mundane question - how many hours do you practice a day?

AY: About 5 to 6 hours a day....it depends. Today, I just warmed up a little bit.

JS: How many performances do you give a year?

AY: Last year it was 36 - it worked out to about one every 10 days. I played all the Chopin pieces, including his piano concertos.

JS: Do you come from a musical family?

AY: Yes, my father plays the sheng, a Chinese woodwind instrument. He plays in the BC Chinese orchestra. My mother used to play the pipa.

JS: When did you start studying the piano? Who was your teacher? Do you have siblings? Do they study musical instruments?

AY: It was in Hong Kong, I was five. My first teacher was Miss Lee. I have one younger sister and she used to study the piano. She is now studying human ecology at Cornell University.

JS: If you could look into the future - how do you see yourself in 10 years time?

AY: I hope to be playing concerts and making music. I enjoy travelling and seeing the world, expanding my musical horizon.

JS: Will you still be studying?

AY: Yes, always learning! I work hard and practice up to 7 hours a day, but the average is 5 hours. I listen to recordings, but I don't consider that work!

JS: What do you do in your spare time?

AY: I enjoy browsing the web...I love to read news articles on line, chatting with friends.

JS: Do you enjoy attending concerts?

AY: Yes! In Berlin, I get to hear Martha Argerich and Charles Dutoit conducting the Deutsches Symphony Orchestra; also Pollini, Perahia...

JS: Where do you go after Toronto?

AY: I go back to Vancouver, where I have three concerts with three different organizations in BC, and then I go back to Berlin.

You can find out more about Avan Yu, including sound clips of his performances at his website:

http://www.avanyu.net/index.php

Giuseppe Martucci's Full Orchestral Works

noreply@blogger.com (Wah Keung Chan) — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 08:12:00 +0000

by Giuseppe Pennisi

In 2009, the death of Giuseppe Martucci was an important centenary that received scant notice, even in Italy. The main event was a series of concerts by Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma (OSR; see La Scena's blog on December 18^th) in the gardens of the Caserta’s Royal Palace. Caserta is near Capua, where Martucci was born in 1856. Its Royal Palace is the Southern Italian equivalent of Versailles. Naxos and the OSR have taken a major step to preserve the memory of Martucci with the release of an elegant blue and gold box set of four CDs containing Martucci’s complete orchestral works. In Europe, it reached the record stores just in time to be a nice Christmas present for music lovers.

Who was Giuseppe Martucci? Why is his name nearly forgotten in his home country? Why do his symphonies and concertos still deserve attention today? Reportedly, Martucci was a superb conductor: Richard Strauss considered him very highly after listening to a Tristan und Isolde he conducted in Bologna. Arturo Toscanini also had great consideration for him – in 1932, Toscanini’s last two concerts in Italy (before leaving for the US) only included symphonic works by Martucci.   Martucci absorbed German symphonies and tone poems and became the Italian apostle of Beethoven, Schuman, Brahms, Franck as well as, of course, Wagner and many other German, French and mittle-European composers. Musical theatre – especially various forms and types of melodrama but also operettas and comic operas – domineered the Italian musical scene in the second part of the 19^th century and in the first decade of the 20^th century, the period when Martucci was at work as a conductor, teacher, director of Licei Musicali and Conservatori (music schools) and private musical organizations (in Milan, Bologna and Naples) as well as a composer. Martucci was one of the few composers to give his talent and efforts entirely to pure music (without a plot, a libretto, a stage set and all the operatic paraphernalia). In addition to its intrinsic values, his music has an important historical meaning: it was a seed that a few pioneers planted in the latter part of the 19^th century (e.g. Sgambati, Busoni, Bazzini, in addition to Martucci himself) to prepare the Italian symphonic development (Malipiero, Casella, Respighi, Petrassi, Pizzetti) of the 20^th century. This was quite an original development; it molded German romantic and late Romantic influence with innovative elements rooted in the ancient Italian musical tradition. Are Martucci’s orchestral work still relevant today? In February 2009, the performance of some of his tone poems by the ORS (after decades of neglect) was received with standing ovations at the Berlin and Krakow Philharmonic and at the Ludwigshaven Concert Hall.

The main item on the first record is Martucci’s First Symphony, a large-scale work which displays a strong lyric impulse, experienced craftsmanship, and an exquisite sense of fancy. One can hear quotations from Schumann and Brahms. The Scherzo-Allegretto is a sly contrast to the solemn and warm Andante that precedes it. The real impressive movement is the soaring, intensely dramatic finale, a 15-minute Allegro-Resoluto that builds skillfully to a powerful, surging climax. The listener can feel Martucci’s Neapolitan soul, while there is the anticipation of Resphighi’s major works.

The record includes four short pieces, mostly orchestral transcriptions of piano works for recital tours. None quite attains the eloquence of the symphony’s best pages, but none is without its charms either. Especially enjoyable is the Andante No. 2, which turns into a fairly effective miniature cello concerto.

The Second Symphony is the centre-piece of the second record. It combines Sibelius’s majestic symphonic sweep with Italian lyricism in a wonderfully stirring first movement. Later movements sometimes sound like Elgar, with his sweetness and nobility of expression. It shows how Martucci brought these influences to Italy as early as 1904, and it is no wonder that Toscanini championed this piece. The first movement Allegro Moderatom seems to anticipate Sibelius: while the horns and strings enjoy much of that rich German Romantic texture, there are some little woodwind figures which seem to leap straight out of something altogether more Czechoslovakian. The second movement, Scherzo, deserves full special attention with its quirky running string figures and lively commentary from the winds. The Adagio, ma non troppo is a 13-minute musical landscape where Martucci walks from a low string sequence (with a similar mood to Richard Strauss’s Metamorphosen) to an extended build-up and massive climax with strings and blazing brass to a soft and restrained final section and coda. The final Allegro is full of bristling mustaches and jaunty top hats.
The most substantial of the three pieces on the rest of the record is the 14.5-minute Theme and Variations. Besides his two concertos, this is Martucci’s only work for piano and orchestra. It was originally written for solo piano in 1882. The Gavotta No. 2 is brighter, the strutting outer parts framing a pastoral scene. The concluding Tarantella No. 6 is a noisy, colorful, hedonistic dance.   The other two records have as the key compositions two piano concertos. Particularly impressive is the First Piano Concerto. A horn call sets the first movement in motion, with the initial orchestral theme building to a climax which is followed by more reflective music then a poetic theme on strings. The mood again darkens, then after a brief passage for strings the soloist enters with a stormy rendering of the opening theme. Piano and orchestra expand on this, before the former takes up the strings’ theme and develops its expressive qualities accordingly. This grows in ardor, leading to a lengthy transition to the intensified return of the opening. The central section commences with some impetuous piano writing, though woodwind allusions bring back to the initial theme a brief climax that is cut short. Anticipatory gestures on woodwind and strings build to a crescendo to the finale, where the main theme provokes alternately stormy and poetic exchanges.

The Second Piano Concerto is embodied in pyrotechnic virtuosi from the very first movement: a long (21 minutes) Allegro Giusto where, after a terse orchestral gesture, the soloist takes up virtuosic passages. The central section is a Larghetto that revolves around a sustained theme for lower strings which builds in intensity to a confrontation between the pianist and the orchestra and ends with the initial melody on woodwind decorated by a piano arabesque. The final movement, a compact (9 minutes) Allegro con Spirito, ends with scintillating piano which leads into a breathless close.
The third record offers the song cycle La canzone dei ricordi (The Song of Remembrance). Setting poems by Rocco Emanuele Pagliara, the piece is significant in that orchestral song cycles were then all but unknown in Italy, although Martucci probably knew Berlioz’s Les nuits d’été. The first song sets the tone of the overall work with its recollection of a past happiness such as can never be recaptured. The second song then intensifies this in its evocation of spring as a time for hope and anticipation, with the shimmering accompaniment evoking ‘forest murmurs’ of a decidedly Italianate sensuousness. The third song alternates deftly between past and present as the words of an old serenade are recalled with a wistful regret, intensifying markedly towards the close. The fourth song is the shortest and the simplest, its description of a boat at sea conjuring forth images of joy and freedom that are both mirrored in the liveliness of the orchestration. The fifth song is the most intense: the revisiting of a place where love once blossomed has become a source of lament now that it can offer no comfort. The sixth song is the climax of the cycle and also unusual in that its  opening section is merely an introduction to the fonder recollections of time and place that follow, with the initial music returning in an orchestral postlude. The seventh song functions as an epilogue to the cycle as a whole: extracts from the first song return in a setting where the voice is made secondary to the orchestra’s allusions to earlier themes, as the work draws slowly to its close in a mood of rapt serenity.

Of the three composition which follow the Second Piano Concerto on the fourth record, especially interesting is Colore Orientale, a pièce d’ambiance to create an atmosphere.

About the artists
Under the baton of Maestro Francesco La Vecchia, the OSR, although comparatively young, has reached full maturity and compares well with the major European symphony orchestras. The OSR policy is to encourage and promote young artists. Gesualdo Coggi interacts with the OSR in a fascinating dialogue in the two piano concertos and Lya De Barberis confronts the OSR in Theme and Variations. Silvia Pasini is a skilled mezzo in La canzone dei ricordi. Andrea Nocerini is the skillful cellist in Andante No 2. They all deserve full marks.

Donizetti's Don Pasquale Delicious in Dallas' New Winspear Opera House

noreply@blogger.com (Paul E. Robinson) — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 03:55:00 +0000

by Paul E. Robinson

The Dallas Opera has a long and illustrious history. It was founded in 1957 and its first presentations featured the legendary Maria Callas in a Zeffirelli production of La Traviata, as well as in Medea, and Lucia di Lammermoor. Other big stars followed, including Montserrat Caballé, Placido Domingo, Joan Sutherland and Jon Vickers.

Those were Dallas Opera’s Golden Years; unfortunately, the money just wasn’t there to sustain the company at this level, especially when performances had to be given in the enormous and inhospitable Music Hall at Fair Park.

Today, over 50 years after its inception, with the opening of the Margo and Bill Winspear Opera House, a new day may be dawning for the Dallas Opera. I made my first visit to its new home this past weekend for a production of Donizetti’s Don Pasquale.

The star of any production of Don Pasquale has to be Don Pasquale himself. The veteran Italian bass Donato Distefano played the mean old bachelor for every possible laugh and sang his music with great verve. Slovakian soprano Adriana Kucerova (photo: right), making her American stage debut, proved to be not only a fine singer but also a talented comedienne. No wonder she is in great demand all over the world! Tenor Norman Shankle, as Ernesto, exhibited a pleasing lyric voice but didn’t seem to have enough volume for the climactic moments. Baritone Nathan Gunn as Dr. Malatesta cut his usual handsome figure and showed considerable comic flair.

Generally speaking, the production was excellent: the cast was first-rate; the sets and costumes by the late Jean-Pierre Ponnelle were just right; the stage direction by Candace Evans was full of fun; and conductor Stefano Ranzani did his work with efficiency and charm.

Constant Stream of Funny Business Keeps Audience in Stitches!

I assume that the inspired, very effective mime episodes played in front of the curtain during the scene changes were the inspiration of director Candace Evans. These and the accompanying wry, humorous supertitles added significantly to the overall comedic effect.

Unfortunately, I can’t say as much for the upstaging that went on during some of the arias, nor could I make much of the silly painting Ernesto worked away on at various points in the opera. It was in a colorful style quite at odds with Ponnelle’s subdued grays and browns. Why was it there? What did it represent? I didn’t get the point, if there was one.

Overall, Evans showed a remarkable talent for inventing genuinely funny bits of business. Some of the bits misfired, but the only real test is audience reaction, and there was plenty of laughter at the performance I attended.

Don Pasquale is currently running in rep with Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte at the Dallas Opera. These are both intimate, small-scale operas, productions of which, in my estimation, would have been ludicrous at the old Fair Park facility. Dallas Opera archives show they were done there anyway!

But all that is past history! In the Margo and Bill Winspear Opera House opera house, the dozens of intimate small-scale operas in the repertoire can be seen and heard as they were intended to be seen and heard. Even operas such as Verdi’s Falstaff or Britten’s Death in Venice, neither of which the Dallas Opera has ever done, will benefit enormously from being presented in the Winspear Opera House.

Although the orchestra required for Don Pasquale is small, the pit in the new house is large enough to accommodate the sizeable orchestras required for operas by Wagner and Strauss.

Yet to come this season are Puccini’s Madama Butterfly and Jake Heggie’s new opera Moby Dick starring Ben Heppner. I can’t wait.

First Impressions of Dallas Opera’s New Home

The Margo and Bill Winspear Opera House is the latest addition to the rapidly evolving Dallas Arts District. When finished, this area will undoubtedly be a source of tremendous civic pride for generations to come. Already, within walking distance of each other, are the Dallas Museum of Art, the Nasher Sculpture Garden, and the Trammel Crowe Asian Art Museum. From these one can stroll to the Myerson Symphony Center, home of the Dallas Symphony, and the new opera house, right next door.

In discussions about arts facilities, the argument is usually made that the most important thing is the performing space, and indeed it is; however, at a time when the audience for classical music is declining, it may be extremely shortsighted to make the public spaces any less than comfortable and welcoming.

I must confess to being somewhat underwhelmed by the exterior of the Winspear Opera House. At night it glows red and magical, but in the light of a gray winter’s day, it projects no particular aura at all. The entrance is functional rather than imaginative, and the lobby area is gray and unappealing. I had the impression I was walking into a government cafeteria.

The Myerson Symphony Center next door greets the patrons with far more flair and style. I would guess that the architect probably had interesting ideas for the entrance and public areas of the Winspear Opera House, which the budget-cutters ultimately whittled away.

It may well have been the same story for three other recently opened arts facilities. Both the Long Center in Austin (Texas) and the Four Seasons Opera House in Toronto (Ontario, Canada) were forced to cut their lobby areas down to almost nothing. The Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles also has bare bones, depressing public spaces.

Once inside the house, I began to feel a whole lot better about the place. Most importantly, it is the right size for its primary purpose. Seating 2,200, it is about the same size as the best European opera houses and a far cry from the old Music Hall (3,400) at Fair Park and the gigantic Metropolitan Opera House (3,800). Sitting almost anywhere in the Met in New York for a live performance, one gets little or no idea what the performers even look like (Thank goodness for ‘Live at the Met in HD!')

Inside the hall, the Winspear Opera House actually ‘feels’ intimate and this perception was later reinforced by the performance itself. The seats are comfortable – not always the case in new halls – and there is wood everywhere, on the floors, walls and behind the whitish gold face pieces on each of the balconies.

And the sound? Well, it is rash to generalize after hearing only a single performance, but I would make a number of preliminary observations. I was sitting in what must surely be one of the best seats in the house, in Orchestra Center in row M. From that vantage point most of the singers seemed to project just fine and the orchestra – albeit a medium-sized one of about 55 players for Don Pasquale - seemed to have lots of bass and lots of presence.

On the debit side, I detected an unpleasant muddiness in the lower depths of the orchestra - a persistent lack of clarity and definition. In addition, coordination between singers and orchestra was often ‘hit and miss’ in the quick ensembles.

These may be problems that can be overcome with minor adjustments – moving the instruments to different positions in the pit, asking the timpanist to use harder sticks, etc. As the performers become more familiar with the characteristics of the house, these initial difficulties may well be resolved.

For Those Wanting More…

The Dallas Opera has one of the most useful and exciting websites in the business. It has all the usual information about the current season and how to order tickets, as well as a fantastic education section. There is basic information relating to the history of opera, vocal styles and technical terms, as well as interactive material and toolkits for teachers. For anyone interested in learning more about opera, this is a rewarding website to visit.

One of best items on the website is the blog produced by PR director Suzanne Calvin. It includes video clips from current productions and lectures, news and gossip from the international world of opera, and a dizzying array of local events for opera lovers. Suzanne seems to be everywhere at once leading gallery walks, arranging film nights and wine tastings, and presenting lectures (Barnes & Noble) on lively subjects, such as “Literary Cafes of Paris”. It all makes me wish I lived in Dallas.

The Dallas Opera recently announced its 2010-2011 season, which will open with Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Donizetti’s Anna Bolena in October, then continue with Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov, Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, and Verdi’s Rigoletto.

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 Amazon.com.
Photos: Karen Almond, the Dallas Opera

Lipsynch in Montreal - the revival of theatrical magic

noreply@blogger.com (Crystal Chan) — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 20:18:00 +0000

Robert Lepage's acclaimed Ex Machina production runs until March 14

By Crystal Chan

Lipsynch is to theatre what Avatar is to cinema. It's a shocking parallel, but here's the reason: Avatar has reinvigorated the magic of the epic movie event; this is what viewers felt like when Star Wars or The Wizard of Oz were first released, the critics keep saying. Lipsynch is an 8 1/2 hour play filled with magic: it innovates within the theatrical medium like those films did within the blockbuster movie genre.

This is the power of theatre people felt watching the first Hamlet, I thought: to sit still in one's seat and learn, overhear, and travel, all the while dazzled by an artistry of sight, sound and spectacle you had never experienced before. Watching Lipsynch felt like a new theatrical experience offstage, too; it was a theatre event. With four 20-minute intermissions and one 45-minute meal break (there is also an option of watching the play in three hour blocks over three evenings), there were avid discussions on the staging and the production.

Lipsynch spans three continents and seven decades. It features four languages (with French subtitles when necessary), exploring the theme of the human voice through nine main characters whose lives connect like a game of dominoes. These include an opera singer, prostitute-turned-housecleaner, filmmaker, neurosurgeon, and Scotland Yard detective. Nine actors put on a bravado performance as the nine characters as well as a host of others that appear in the other's worlds. Although some characters' 'chapters' are more tangentially connected to the central story, the nine hours do not lag often (I've watched films that seemed longer) as they have been nicely rearranged since the show's 2008 premiere in London, when such problems were noted. A central mystery also keeps the momentum going. In true Lepage style it involves a case of unknown parenthood - the play begins with an unknown teenager who dies with her baby in her arms on a transcontinental flight. The baby is adopted by another central character and the parentage and background of the child is slowly revealed throughout the production. Humour also keeps the play from dragging; humour is even built into the constant but fairly fluid costume and scene changes. There is even bawdy humour, something unexpected from such a production; then there is humour such as the Hamlet soliloquy presented with a bagel instead of a skull.

Lepage's forays into cinema and opera have clearly affected the text, which was co-written by Lepage and all the actors. The mise-en-scène is very cinematic, constantly framed through boxes and screens and mediated through sound and video recordings. One such use of a camera onstage even makes something otherwise impossible in theatre possible: the 'shot - counter shot' in cinema which enables two characters to face each other completely while the audience can still see the face of each straight on. Opera has influenced both the music and construction of the play, which works on a leitmotif-laden, mythic structure akin to a Wagner opera.

While exploring voice through singing, accents and languages, psychological disorders, sound recording, film dubbing, and much more, Lepage and Ex Machina has stayed true to the metaphorical voice which one character in the play, a documentary filmmaker, espouses: "the job of the artist," she says, "is to give a voice to others." Lipsynch gives voices to a host of characters and conditions, crossing classes and countries with ease.

***

To read La SCENA's September 2009 interview with Robert Lepage and short review of Lipsynch's Toronto production, visit www.scena.org/pdf-files/sm15-1.pdf

Catch PSY before it's sold out!

noreply@blogger.com (Crystal Chan) — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 21:26:00 +0000

Shows added through to March 13

By Crystal Chan

PSY is an on-stage meditation on psychiatric disorders. And it's the funnest time many will ever have in a theatre.

Les 7 doigts de la main premiered their newest production in Montreal at TOHU (Les 7 doigts de la main inaugurated the circus space in 2004), fresh from touring a non-finished version to great acclaim in Sweden.

The show features 11 high-energy, multi-talented performers. Each portrays a particular mental malady: insomnia, amnesia, paranoia, hypochondria. Through their acts, which include a remarkable Chinese pole number, German wheel, juggling, trapeze, and much more, each psychological disorder is explored. At times funnny, scary, or melancholy, these scenes are astonishing in an 'impossible'-seeming way while also ironically able to evoke something for everyone to relate to and ponder. Audiences can also relate to the use of street clothes garb, one way the production distances itself from traditional and mega-budget circus. And after all, circus at its roots is entertainment for the everyman.

Circus was for the everyman what opera was for the elite: the ultimate multidisciplinary art. And the command over all arts - not just the acrobatic - is the forte of PSY. PSY combines technique and artistry from theatre and dance set perfectly to music. The result offers all the dazzling daredevilry one expects from circus while holding together as a cohesive stage show that is much more than the sum of its parts. Each multitalented performer is first and foremost a member of the troupe, appearing in the majority of each of the scenes. This is no vaudevillian act-to-act sideshow: the subtlety and emotion evoked is closer to what one usually sees in modern dance and theatre. Of course, the strong incorporation of story to every act makes for sometimes brilliant, but sometimes bizarre scenes - including a boxing ring match scene underlining the anger issues of a character wherin the ropes of the ring then become used for aerial rope. This seemed forced in execution.

On the whole, however, the emphasis on the theatre and dance aspect of circus here is to be much lauded. Mention must also be made of the wizardry of the PSY mise-en-scène, which featured a constantly collapsing and evolving set.

***

INFO: The show has already been booked solid in 2010 for a North American and European tour, and your last chance to see in Montreal is now until March 13. There are only four shows left that have not been sold out. See it at TOHU, Circus Arts City is at 2345 Jarry St. E. (corner Iberville). For information contact (514) 376-8648 or (888) 376-8648 or visit www.tohu.com.

"PSY; un mariage acrobatique du corps, de l'esprit et de l'âme."

Watch this clip for exclusive interviews with the artists:

This Week in Toronto (March 1- 7)

noreply@blogger.com (Joseph So) — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 13:39:00 +0000

Painting of Frederic Chopin by Eugene Delacroix, 1838.

On Monday (March 1) two hundred years ago, the great Frederic Chopin was born. Although he died in 1849 in Paris, at the young age of 39, his impact on the piano world was indelible. This week, there will be numerous events around the world celebrating his 200th anniversary. (In fact, the celebration has already begun on Feb. 22, the date of his actual birthday based on church records) Famous pianists and Chopin interpreters the likes of Martha Argerich, Daniel Barenboim and Yundi Li, to name a few, are giving concerts to commemorate the milestone. Here in the GTA, we have the Canadian Chopin Festival's Third Canadian Chopin Competition: Senior Division. It takes place at the John Paul II Cultural Centre at 4300 Cawthra Road in Mississauga. The Preliminary Round is at 10 am on March 1 and 2. Attendance is free. Semi-finals take place on March 3 and 4, also at 10 am. Finals take place on Saturday March 6 10 am, with the Winners Concert on Sunday March 7 at 2 pm at Royal Conservatory of Music's Koerner Hall ($20 - 50). For more information, call (289) 937-6545, or visit the website at http://www.chopinfestival2010.com/

Other Chopin festivities include a noon hour concert at the Canadian Opera Company's free concert series - Homage a Chopin: a celebration of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Frederic Chopin. Pianist is Lucas Porter, on Tuesday March 2, at the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre, Four Seasons Centre. Admission is free, but remember to show up at least 45 minutes to line up. On the same day at 7 pm, as part of the Canadian Chopin Festival, well known pianist William Aide will give a lecture-recital, at the John Paul II Cultural Centre in Mississauga. On Thursday, March 4 at 7 pm, Liszt scholar Alan Walker will give a lecture on Chopin, the Poet of the Piano. Admission to these events is $10 each. On Friday March 5 7:30 pm, there is a show called Chopin and Friends: A Parisian Salon Recital at the same venue. There is no details as to performers or program, but go to http://www.chopinfestival2010.com/ for any additional information.

The Toronto Symphony Orchestra presents Le Plus Forte, its last concert of the New Creations Festival on Wednesday, March 3, at 8 pm in Roy Thomson Hall. On the program is Osvaldo Golijov's The Last Round and Jacques Hetu's Symphony No. 5 (world premiere). Soloist is soprano Barbara Hannigan, whose repertoire is predominantly contemporary music. There will be a post-concert live event in the lobby called Spotlight on Piazzolla - not to be missed by Astor Piazzolla fans! On Saturday March 6 7:30 pm Sunday 3 pm March 7, the TSO presents Best of British, a mixed program of British music, including works by Walton, Vaughan Williams, Elgar, Holst, and Bruch. Christopher Bell conducts and soloist is violinist Nicola Benedetti.

Opera York, a young professional opera company in York Region, continues its presentation of Verdi's Rigoletto, at the new Richmond Hill Performing Arts Centre. Soprano Charlotte Corwin is Gilda, tenor Romulo Delgado is the Duke and Nicolae Raiciu is Rigoletto. Sabatino Vacca conducts. It opened on Sunday, Feb. 28 and continues with two more shows on March 4 and 6 at 8 pm.

On Sunday March 7, Off Centre Music Salon presents its Russian Italian Salon: Multiple Choice. Singers are sopranos Lucia Cesaroni and Ilana Zarankin, who happens to be the daughter of Inna and Boris Zarankin, co-artistic director of Off Centre. Also on the program is mezzo Emilia Boteva, cellist Winona Zelenka and violinist Marie Berard. It takes place at 2 pm at the Glenn Gould Studio.

Chang and von Oeyen: A Musical Union

noreply@blogger.com (Crystal Chan) — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 22:59:00 +0000

By L.H. Tiffany Hsieh

It was hot at Markham Theatre on Wednesday night, when violinist Sarah Chang and pianist Andrew von Oeyen fed a full house of hungry audience with something temperamental, something serene, and something romantic.

The instrumental duo’s evident chemistry was a powerhouse in Brahms’s Sonatensatz and Sonata No. 3 in D minor. Chang, at times aggressive but never forceful, was sensitive to the expressive details. Along with von Oeyen’s vibrant and solid playing, the pair produced urgency and drama through the stormy passages.

Opening the second half of the program was American composer Christopher Theofanidis’ Fantasy for violin and piano. The Fantasy is a transcription of the second movement of his Violin Concerto, written for Chang and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in 2008. It is a gentle, lullaby-like piece with clear lines and a melody that is almost too simple. Chang and von Oeyen sounded pure and effortless here. The audience held their breath from the first note to the last.

The finale piece on the program is Franck’s Sonata for Violin and Piano. In this truly collaborative piece, which neither the violin nor the piano dominates, Chang and von Oeyen were a musical union through hushed moments, sweet canons, or sparkling climaxes. Even though the acoustics was a bit stifled at Markham Theatre for this chamber recital, Chang delivered her signature big, luscious sound, and it was matched perfectly by von Oeyen’s deep and full-range tone on the piano.

Chang and von Oeyen gave one encore, playing Edward Elgar’s Salut d’amour. I would’ve liked a more adventurous mix of the program, but this partnership is worth listening to no matter the music.

The Odd Couple: Britten and Shostakovitch Superb Match Under DSO & van Zweden

noreply@blogger.com (Paul E. Robinson) — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 14:34:00 +0000

by Paul E. Robinson

There are plenty of recordings of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 7 Op. 60 (Leningrad), but one rarely gets a chance to hear it in concert. The same could be said, only more so, for Benjamin Britten’s Violin Concerto Op. 15. To have them both offered on the same program is a special treat; thus, Jaap van Zweden and the Dallas Symphony (DSO) had me excited even before they played the first note of this concert at Morton Myerson Symphony Center in Dallas, Texas.

As it happens, these two works were composed within a few years of each other: the Britten in 1939 and the Shostakovich in 1941. Although the two composers didn’t meet until 1960, they were mutual admirers and each dedicated major works to the other.

The Britten Violin Concerto was first on the program and it brought back to Dallas the extraordinary Dutch violinist, Simone Lamsma, whose performance of the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto last season had made such a strong impression.

Consummate Performance of Neglected Masterpiece!

Lamsa’s rendering of the Britten concerto was beyond impressive. Her technical and intellectual control of the piece convinced me that Opus. 15 is a neglected masterpiece. She soared into the top register of her instrument with total assurance and tossed off the difficult left-hand pizzicati with perfect panache. Such rock-solid playing enabled one to savor the musical argument, and it was profoundly satisfying.

The final movement of this volin concerto is a Passacaglia – a set of variations on a bass line - and surely one of the most imaginative examples of the form by this composer or any other. It starts with a doleful theme in the trombones - performed with perfect intonation by the DSO brass - and goes on from there. It was mesmerizing to hear Ms. Lamsma ring changes on the theme while behind her various sections of the orchestra were going through a series of inventive and complementary permutations on their own. The movement ends quietly and sadly, not unlike the ending of the Berg Violin Concerto.

Lamsma played magnificently, with van Zweden and the DSO providing impeccable accompaniment.

Instrumental Britten Revived and Re-instated

Over the course of his lifetime, Britten was frequently criticized for being, in effect, "too clever." Critics claimed that his music was superficial, that it had no depth.

With the passing of time, however, many have come to appreciate the extent of Benjamin Britten’s originality. For some, myself included, he is the greatest composer of opera and song that England has ever produced, and I believe his instrumental music will continue to grow in stature.

The Violin Concerto Opus 15 is often written off as “an early work,” but as is the case with Mozart and Mendelssohn, many of Britten’s early works are among his finest. Let me give you just one example of what might be mistaken simply for ‘cleverness’ in this concerto. It’s an extraordinary passage in the Scherzo movement for piccolos and tuba. A ‘clever’ and unusual combination? Perhaps! But exciting as well, when one realizes that, in combination, Britten has given these often stereotyped instruments striking new dimensions of expression.

I have always considered Benjamin Britten to be one of the great masters, but before this concert I had never fully appreciated his Violin Concerto. I am deeply grateful that Lamsma and van Zweden provided the key to such a work. Incidentally, the Violin Concerto has a Canadian connection; Britten completed its composition in St. Jovite, Québec.

Making a Case for “Leningrad”

After intermission came the much longer Symphony No. 7 (Leningrad) by Shostakovich, perhaps best known for its Bolero-like first movement (Allegretto) which builds from a soft, repeated snare drum figure to a monumental climax.

Unfortunately, Shostakovich’s theme for this episode is every bit as trite as Ravel’s Bolero and, like its counterpart, it does not improve with repetition. No wonder Bartok made fun of the Shostakovich tune in his Concerto for Orchestra!

That said, Maestro van Zweden made the best possible case for the 7^th’s opening theme. He started the section with a virtually inaudible snare drum establishing the rhythm – marked ppp in the score – and built the volume with meticulous care. When the climax came, it was certainly impressive – and earsplitting – as the extra brass (called for in the score) were added to the already large and powerful orchestra. As usual, the magnificent McDermott Concert Hall of the Morton Myerson Symphony Center handled the huge volume of sound with ease.

For me, however, the best parts of the Leningrad are not the towering climaxes in the first and last movements but the second movement (Moderato) and the third movement (Adagio).

The second movement (Moderato) is hauntingly beautiful, beginning with the loveliest oboe solo Shostakovich ever wrote, beautifully played by Erin Hannigan. Then come several sections recalling Mahler, especially in his use of woodwinds in various combinations. Then an entirely original touch - at least in my experience - as the bass clarinet (Christopher Runk) plays an eloquent, extended solo accompanied by the harp, two flutes in their lowest register and an alto flute. This combination makes for an uncommon, uncanny sound. Once again, van Zweden and the DSO played to perfection: tempo just right; rhythms crisp; tonal quality exquisite.

The Adagio movement opens with extremely disturbing block chords that move into music expressing all kinds of lamentation. This is followed by the moderato risoluto section, a kind of 'danse macabre.' Van Zweden brought out the syncopation driving the music forward and made sure we also heard the rich sonorities of the Dallas strings, especially the double basses.

First Violins of DSO Savor Challenge!

This is music of endless soul-searching, probing the best and the worst of the Russian spirit during one of the worst periods in the country’s long and troubled history - the siege of Leningrad by the Nazi forces in an unimaginable campaign lasting two and a half years.

If music can adequately express such horrors, the Shostakovich Seventh Symphony is where you will find it. It is not easy listening, but like all great art, it penetrates and articulates the human condition in a universal language.

In closing, I must applaud the members of the first violin section of the Dallas Symphony led by Emanuel Borok and Gary Levinson. In this symphony, there is one passage after another where they must perform death-defying high wire acts in their instrument’s highest register. This is cruelly exposed music. Not only did they play these passages with unfailing accuracy; they also gave them superlative shape and character. This was first-class playing by any standard and Dallas is fortunate to have such gifted and dedicated musicians.

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 Amazon.com.

Photo by Marita: Maestro van Zweden and DSO in rehearsal

This Week in Toronto (Feb. 22 - 28)

noreply@blogger.com (Joseph So) — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 00:51:00 +0000

Quebec conductor Yannick Nezet-Seguin leads the Rotterdam Philharmonic at Roy Thomson Hall

Photo: Marco Borggreve

Toronto classical music lovers rejoice - your cups truly runneth over this week! The opera and the symphony are both in full swing, plus there are a number of special events, including several eminent international artists in town for recitals and workshops. For me, the highest profile visitor this week is Quebec wunderkind Yannick Nezet-Seguin who is making a stop at Roy Thomson Hall, this time with his own band, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, as part of their North American Tour. The single performance takes place on Wednesday Feb. 24 8 pm. The soloist is the ever-colorful pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet playing Ravel's Piano Concerto for the Left Hand. The concert opens with Messaien's Les offrandes oubliees, and ends with Richard Strauss' magnificent tone poem Ein Heldenleben. This event is not to be missed!

The Toronto Symphony Orchestra presents two interesting program in its New Creations Festival showcasing the works of Argentinean composer Osvaldo Golijov, who will be in town for a number of appearances. On Thursday Feb. 25 8 pm, Peruvian-born American conductor Miguel Harth-Bedoya who last conducted Barber of Seville at the Canadian Opera Company in 2008 returns to Toronto to lead Azul, a program showcasing works by Golijov and others. American soprano Dawn Upshaw, long a champion of Golijov, sings the Canadian premiere of Three Songs by the composer. Also on the program is Azul for Cello and Orchestra, which is also receiving its Canadian premiere. On Saturday Feb. 27 7:30 pm, the concert is named La Pasion, featuring works by Golijov, Andrew Paul MacDonald, and Peter Lieberson, the husband of the late, great Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, conducted by both Peter Oundjian and Miguel Harth-Bedoya. The Labeque sisters, Katia and Marielle, are also featured.

During this Osvaldo Golijov Week, in addition to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the composer will also appear in events with Soundstreams and the Faculty of Music, University of Toronto. On Monday, Feb. 22, 7 pm at the Gardiner Museum, Soundstreams is hosting The Diverse World of Osvaldo Golijov. Attendance is free but you need to register to ensure a spot. Go to http://www.soundstreams.ca/our_events/index.php for details. On Wednesday, Feb. 24 8 pm at the Jane Mallett Theatre, Soundstreams presents Ashes in the Wind, featuring music of Golijov and Jose Evangelista. Soloists include mezzo Wallis Giunta and pianist Serouj Kradjian. Also appearing is American soprano Dawn Upshaw singing three Schubert lieder that have inspired Golijov. For additional information and tickets, go to http://www.soundstreams.ca/our_events/detail.php?id=72 On Friday, Feb. 26 7 - 9 pm at Walter Hall, Edward Johnson Building at the University of Toronto, the Faculty of Music presents Golijov at its Composer's Forum, an excellent opportunity to hear Golijov talk about his creative world.

The Canadian Opera Company's two winter productions, Carmen and Otello, are in their final week of performances. Opera being opera, there is no shortage of drama on stage and off. As reported before, the Carmen run has not one but two replacement mezzos in the title role. As reported in this space last week, the final four performances will be sung by mezzo Anita Rachvelishvili. Also of interest is the appearance of American tenor Garrett Sorenson as Don Jose this week. Another cast change is COC Ensemble soprano Simone Osborne taking over the role of Frasquita. The two final performances are on Feb. 23 and 27. Meanwhile, Otello is having its own unintended drama. Tenor Clifton Forbis became indisposed during the show last Friday but finished the performance. I understand that the COC has since flown in American tenor Frank Porretta over the weekend, but so far there is no official announcement from the COC as to who will sing the performance on Monday Feb. 22 7:30 pm at the Four Seasons Centre. Frank Porretta comes from an eminent musical family. In fact his full name is Frank Porretta III, as his father, Frank Porretta II, was a well known tenor at the New York City Opera, on Broadway, movies and television in the 50's and 60's. The younger Porretta has a dramatic tenor with a baritonal timbre and a ringing top, ideal as Otello, a role he has sung previously. His repertoire also includes Calaf (with which he recently made his debut at the Met), Samson, Don Jose, Canio, and Cavaradossi. The last two performances of Otello are on Feb. 25 and 28.

UPDATE: I just got news at 12:15 pm that Frank Porretta will indeed be singing the title role in this evening's Otello!

The eminent pianist Andras Schiff returns to Toronto for a recital, this time at Royal Conservatory of Music's new Koerner Hall on Tuesday Feb. 23 8 pm. On the program are works by Mendelssohn and Schumann. Canadian soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian and pianist Serouj Kradjian give a recital under the auspices of the Women's Musical Club of Toronto on Thursday Feb. 25 1:30 pm at Koerner Hall. On the program are songs by Heggie, Berlioz, Poulenc, Bellini, Gomidas, Ravel and Obradors.

As if the concert schedule on Feb. 24 isn't crowded enough, the glamorous violinist Sarah Chang is giving a recital with pianist Andrew von Oeyen at the Markham Theatre north of Toronto. It is a shame that the concert, at 8 pm, conflicts directly with Nezet-Seguin and the Rotterdam Philharmonic. I have not been able to find out anything about the program - there is no mention of it at the Markham Theatre website, nor Chang's own website. On Thursday at the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre of the Four Seasons Centre, soprano Jessica Muirhead and mezzo Lauren Segal will be giving a joint concert of arias and duets. Muirhead is currently singing Micaela and Segal is Mercedes at the current run of Carmen. This is bound to be popular so be sure to show up at least 45 minutes early to secure a seat.

Last but not least, Opera York stages Verdi's Rigoletto at the Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts on Sunday Feb. 28 2 pm. It stars soprano Charlotte Corwin as Gilda, Romulo Delgado as the Duke, and baritone Nicolae Raiciu in the title role. Sabatino Vacca conducts. For more information, go to http://www.operayork.com/

Fresh Spin on Bach Has it All

noreply@blogger.com (Wah Keung Chan) — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 15:59:00 +0000

By L.H. Tiffany Hsieh

It was big-band swinging and hip-hop belly-dancing Bach, the very J.S. like you’ve never heard.

In a program titled Bach Re-Invented, the New York-based Absolute Ensemble made its Canadian debut at Toronto’s Koerner Hall Thursday night. Led by conductor Kristjan Järvi, the 18-piece electro-acoustic ensemble gave Bach’s keyboard inventions a contemporary makeover that is anything and everything goes. Jazz, funk, classical, rock, hip-hop, Latin, Middle Eastern, and whatever else you can identify, it was all there, with funky stage lighting to boot.

Son of conductor Neeme Järvi and brother to Paavo Järvi, Kristjan, who was married to Canadian violinist Leila Josefowicz, co-founded Absolute with composer Charles Coleman in 1993. The group, comprised entirely of multitalented virtuosic players, has established itself as one of the most fascinating new music groups to watch.

Aside from Coleman’s Innovation J.S., loosely based on Bach’s Two-Part Inventions No. 5and No. 8, all of the works in this program were composed by current ensemble members.

Guitarist/rapper Gene Pritsker’s piano concerto Reinventions, featuring pianist Simone Dinnerstein, was a standout. Despite being a bit fragmented as a whole, the contrapuntal composition was Bach-laden and Pritsker’s turntable scratching on a Mac Book and hip-hop dancing were something Bach the inventor would have found interesting.

Pianist Matt Herskowitz’s piano concerto Undertow featured the composer himself on piano. Based on Bach’s Three-Part Invention No. 9 in F Minor, the piece built up a wave of energy that is both lyrical and neurotic.

Cellist Mike Block’s beautiful Raga on a Theme by Bach was a relatively laid-back excursion in comparison. It was followed by saxophonist Daniel Schnyder’s wailing and choppy concerto grosso, toopART Reinventions, which saw Dinnerstein return to the piano bench.

Overall, there were some dazzling and robust solo playing, especially from clarinetist Michiyo Suzuki, violinist Adam Taubic, trumpeter Wayne du Maine, trombonist Mike Seltzer, bassist Mat Fieldes, and drummer/percussionist Damien Bassman.

Dinnerstein, also making her Canadian debut, has been an unstoppable rising star ever since her debut recital at Carnegie Hall and recording of the Goldberg Variations. She displayed flawless techniques throughout and produced an unusually crisp sound from the keyboard. Her phrasings were concise, imaginative, and boundless.

Mervon Mehta, executive director of the Royal Conservatory of Music, announced before the concert that he is in talks with Dinnerstein to have her back for a Goldberg recital.

That day can’t come soon enough.

Cette semaine à Montréal (15 à 21 fév) / This Week in Montreal (Feb. 15 - 21)

noreply@blogger.com (Crystal Chan) — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 22:40:00 +0000

Musique, théâtre, et danse à Montréal cette semaine
Music, theatre, and dance in Montreal this week

Orchestral Music: Kent Nagano leads the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal in a varied programme on February 15 and 16 at Place des Arts. Austrian pianist Till Fellner (pictured here), a protégé of Alfred Brendel, will perform Beethoven’s Piano Concerto #1. Fellner is currently recording all five Beethoven Piano Concertos with Nagano and the OSM. Also on the programme is the world premiere of Gilles Tremblay’s L’Origine, featuring mezzo-soprano Michèle Losier. 514-842-2112, www.osm.ca - Hannah Rahimi

Théâtre : En février, le Théâtre du Rideau vert met à l’affiche Une musique inquiétante, de l’auteur américain Jon Marans, pièce finaliste en 1996 du Prix Pulitzer et lauréate du L.A. Drama Logue Award, reprise dans une douzaine de pays depuis sa création. Le jeune pianiste prodige Stephen Hoffman (Émile Proulx-Cloutier) débarque à Vienne en 1986 pour étudier avec le grand Schiller, mais il se retrouve plutôt dans la classe du déclinant Mashkan, professeur de chant sentimental (Jean Marchand). Il lui donne à travailler les Dichterliebe de Schumann, ce qui révolte d’abord le jeune pianiste. Ces deux hommes que tout semble opposer (âge, race, culture, façon d’aborder la vie) finiront pourtant par aller à la rencontre l’un de l’autre, non pas tant à travers leur dialogue qu’à travers la musique. Les 16-21 fév. www.rideauvert.qc.ca. - Lucie Renaud

Musique de chambre : Le mercredi 17 février à 20 h, on entendra la soprano Maryse Innis, accompagnée de sa fidèle collaboratrice, la pianiste suisse Catherine Courvoisier, dans un répertoire de musique française et espagnole du XXe siècle. Au programme, des œuvres de Fauré, de Falla, Poulenc, Debussy et Granados. Native de Montréal, la soprano Maryse Innis s’est forgé une solide réputation en France et en Suisse, où elle réside maintenant. Chapelle Historique du Bon-Pasteur. 514-872-5338. - Renée Banville

Musique de chambre : Dans la série Musique sur un plateau, les JMC présentent le mercredi 17 le Cecilia String Quartet, considéré comme l’une des meilleures jeunes formations de chambre en Amérique du Nord. L’altiste Jean-Philippe Tremblay se joindra au quatuor pour interpréter un programme Bruckner. On y entendra l’Intermezzo en ré mineur pour quintette à cordes et le Quintette à cordes en fa majeur. Un grand moment de musique pour réchauffer l’air froid de février. Les concerts de cette série, d’une durée d’environ une heure, sont précédés d’un apéritif dès 17 h. Maison JMC, 305, avenue du Mont-Royal Est, 514-845-4108, info@jeunessesmusicales.ca. - Renée Banville

Danse : Séverine Lombardo et Anne Thériaultsont à Tangente du 18 au 21. Pour les amateurs de classique, le Ballet de Guangzou danse La Sylphide du 18 au 20 à la salle Wilfrid-Pelletier.

Early Music: The Montréal en Lumière Festival presents Emma Kirkby and Daniel Taylor with the Theatre of Early Music in two concerts at the Chapelle Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours. On February 19, they perform Bach’s setting of Pergolesi’s exquisite Stabat Mater, as well as Bach’s Psaume 51 "Tilge, Höchster, Meine Sünden”. On February 20, Taylor leads the ensemble back to the 16th century, exploring the sacred and beautiful music of Palestrina, Tallis, and Hildegard von Bingen. 514-982-2535, www.theatreofearlymusic.com. - Hannah Rahimi

This Week in Toronto (Feb. 15 - 21)

noreply@blogger.com (Joseph So) — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 18:25:00 +0000

Georgian mezzo Anita Rachvelishvili as Carmen

Photo: Teatro della Scala, Milano

The big news for Toronto opera fans this week is the arrival of Georgian mezzo Anita Rachvelishvili to sing the last four performances of Carmen at the Canadian Opera Company (Feb. 17, 20, 23, 27). Only 25 years old, Rachvelishvili was plucked out of the La Scala young artists program by conductor Daniel Barenboim to sing the title role of Carmen that opened the La Scala season last December 7. Despite the incredible pressure, Rachvelishvili received favourable notices and a well deserved ovation from a highly critical opening night audience. While the loggionisti heckled stage director Emma Dante, they only had cheers for Rachvelishvili. In addition to this important cast change, American tenor Garrett Sorenson takes over the last two performances as Don Jose (Feb. 23, 27) The COC run of Otello continues, with performances on Tuesday Feb. 16 7:30 pm and Friday Feb. 19 7:30 pm.

Another piece of big news this week is the Verdi Requiem at Roy Thomson Hall, starring Michele Crider, Daniela Barcellona, Maxim Aksenov and Roberto Scandiuzzi as the quartet of soloists, together with the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir under the direction of conductor Gianandrea Noseda. This is part of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra season, with a big name international cast. Michele Crider's big dramatic soprano is ideal in "Libera me" - the last time I heard her several years ago, her high pianissimo B flat was exquisite. Any performance of the magnificent Verdi Requiem is an occasion, but with a stellar cast like this, the event is not to be missed - Feb. 18 and 20, 8 pm at Roy Thomson Hall.

Tafelmusik offers Mostly Mozart with conductor Bruno Weil at their usual venue of Trinity-St. Paul's Centre on Wednesday Feb. 17, 7 pm. On the program are Serenade K 525 "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik", Piano concerto. No. 20 K466, and Haydn Symphony No. 97. The program is repeated on Feb. 18, 19, 20, and 21.

Toronto Operetta Theatre under the direction of Guillermo Silva Marin presents Leo The Royal Cabet by Oscar Telgmann on Feb. 17 (preview), `9 (opening), 20 and 21m, at the St. Lawrence Centre. Among the soloists are husband-wife team of Gabriella Prata and Robert Longo. For details and ticket information, call (416) 366-7723 or 1-800-708-6754. The Toronto Opera Repertoire, which I reported on last week, continues with Nozze di Figaro (Feb. 19 and 21) and Cavalleria Rusticana/Pagliacci (Feb. 17)

Pianist Anton Kuerti's Beethoven Mesmerizes UT Austin Audience

noreply@blogger.com (Paul E. Robinson) — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 23:50:00 +0000

by Paul E. Robinson

Anton Kuerti arrived in Canada in 1965, and Toronto has been his home base ever since. In that span of 45 years, this extraordinary artist has demonstrated time and again that he has no peer in the performance of the piano music of Beethoven, Schubert and Schumann.

In Canada, Kuerti is a national treasure; in the United States, he has had an illustrious career, stemming from his student days in Cleveland and Philadelphia, to his now regular concertizing in America's major cities. Those fortunate enough to be in McCullough Hall at the University of Texas (Austin) last week, had the rare pleasure of hearing Kuerti in an all-Beethoven recital presented by Texas Performing Arts.

Masterful: Insight, Technique and Temperament

Kuerti’s Austin engagement included an inspiring master class with students from UT's Butler School of Music. In works by Mozart, Clementi and Brahms, he encouraged those who performed for him to dig deeper, especially in matters of research and phrasing. He suggested various ways in which the meaning of the music can be realized through careful attention to accents and the placement of chords. On the question of how to play trills and other ornaments in early music, he made it clear that while extensive study of all the appropriate sources is absolutely essential, in the end the artist must use his intuition to solve these kinds of challenges.

His reputation having obviously preceded him, McCullough Hall was packed for Kuerti’s recital. He opened with the Sonata No. 26 in E flat major Op. 81a Les Adieux. The program notes - penned by Kuerti himself - suggested that we should not press the extra-musical allusions in this piece too hard: “…what really matters are not the events, but the universal emotions associated with them.”

Briefly, the sonata deals with the departure of Beethoven’s friend and benefactor (the Archduke Rudolph), on a long trip. The first movement depicts the farewell; the second the loneliness Beethoven felt during his friend's absence; and the last, the Archduke's joyous return.

From the opening bars, Kuerti captured the tenderness of the piece, as well as Beethoven’s obvious sincerity. Too often, in performances of Les Adieux, the slow music is too loud and lacking in repose and the fast music is trivialized. Not so on this occasion. In Kuerti’s hands, each note was imbued with feeling and nobility.

Incomparable Appassionata Brings Audience to its Feet!

For many listeners, the Sonata No. 23 in F minor Op. 57 Appassionat a, is the greatest of all Beethoven’s works for piano. It has beauty, excitement and grandeur, and most of all, perhaps, the power that we associate with the mature Beethoven. It was all there, in Kuerti’s performance.

There is nothing quite like the opening bars of the Appassionata. The music starts pianissimo and continues at this volume for almost fourteen bars. Like most pianists, Kuerti ignored the allegro assai tempo marking in order to accentuate the mystery of this remarkable introduction. Then come the true Beethovenian outbursts, first in forte and then in a shattering fortissimo. Before long we arrive at the noble theme in A flat major, which is really a transformation of the mysterious passage in F minor which had opened the movement. Kuerti fully realized the intensity of the piece without sacrificing its architecture. A great performance!

Kuerti received a standing ovation for his performance of the Appassionata, but after several returns to the stage he cut off the applause with a wave of his hand. He suggested to audience members that before they left for intermission, they might like some helpful comments about the Diabelli Variations, the next work on the programme. Having said this, he launched into a brilliant twenty-minute analysis of this long and difficult work, illustrating - among other things - which elements of Diabelli’s waltz tune were used in which variation.Taking their seats after intermission, the capacity audience was primed and ready for the Diabelli.

Exposing Diabelli Variations as Indisputable Masterpiece

Kuerti’s tempo for the waltz theme was very moderate indeed. Compare, for example, another celebrated interpreter of this great work, Alfred Brendel. Brendel comes out of the gate at about double Kuerti’s tempo. Beethoven’s marking was simply vivace with no metronome marking, and that is vague enough to allow for almost any tempo. In my opinion, Kuerti’s approach makes more sense than Brendel's, both as an interpretation of the waltz tune and as a lead-in to the 'Variation 1' 'march,' which follows.

In any case, Kuerti brought out of the distinct character of each of the thirty-three variations without rushing, and without getting bogged down in over-interpretation. I was particularly struck by what he did with 'Variation 20,' with its long notes in the manner of a chorale played by trombones. There are very few dynamic markings in this variation and it can easily sound ponderous and boring. Kuerti’s piano was so well-regulated – by Kuerti himself - that we could hear and be moved by the strange harmonies of this music, as if for the first time. Who but Beethoven could have found foreshadowings of Wagner’s Parsifal and Mussorgsky’s Catacombs in Diabelli’s little waltz?

As impossible as it may seem, Kuerti’s playing appears to get even better with the passing of time. Of course, one expects serious artists to deepen their interpretations as they get older, but in Kuerti’s case technique continues on the upswing as well. The Diabelli Variations is a formidable technical challenge for any pianist particularly in the fugue of 'Variation 32.' Kuerti played it up to speed (allegro) and with the most incredible clarity.

Some listeners have found the concluding minuet of the piece to be anti-climactic after the fugue, but again Kuerti found just the right tempo and held down the dynamics exactly as Beethoven had indicated. The result was surely what the composer intended - a reminiscence of the waltz theme incorporating elements of almost everything that had happened in the previous variations, a sort of affectionate farewell to the theme after so many adventures.

As if that Weren't Enough!

After such a formidable and thoughtful performance, an encore was neither expected nor offered; instead, there was a relaxing, forthright ‘Talkback’ session for those who chose to stay. Anton Nel, the chairman of the piano department at the Butler School of Music acted as moderator for audience questions and jumped in with a few of his own.

Anton Kuerti is known to be a plain-spoken man, to say the least, and he was not shy about expressing his opinions. With reference to his teachers, he was effusive in his praise of Arthur Loesser (“the most widely cultured man I ever met”), but very critical of the methods of Rudolf Serkin (“I don’t think scolding has a big role in education."). He spoke at length about teaching children to love music. He thinks there is too much emphasis put on mechanics. He referred to his own childhood and the moment that changed everything for him: “I remember the day I discovered that I could shape the music.” In other words, the teacher’s goal should be to encourage children to express themselves through music, not simply hound them into learning pieces by rote.

"And what is the most important thing to be learned from Beethoven?" “Beethoven," said Kuerti, "shows that by persevering you can achieve great things. If we look at his manuscripts, we see that he often crossed things out and he often revised what he had done before. Composing, for Beethoven, was torture. But as with so many things in life, hard work and commitment pay off. Don’t give up.”

For those wanting more…

Anton Kuerti has recorded all 32 Beethoven Sonatas, the Diabelli Variations and the Piano Concertos. You can find them here. Kuerti’s study of Beethoven is a life-long process. Recently, he spent some time with a piano concerto Beethoven wrote when he was thirteen years old. Kuerti calls it Piano Concerto No. 0. Unfortunately, only the piano part survives. Kuerti, a composer as well as a pianist and a scholar, wrote an orchestration for the piece and played it for the first time at a recent concert in Vancouver; he hopes to release that performance on a CD in the near future.

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 Amazon.com.

Interview: Brooks Riley and Rainer Mockert on Filming Opera

noreply@blogger.com (Joseph So) — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 16:45:00 +0000

Photos (t.) Rainer Mockert

(b.) Brooks Riley

It may come as a surprise to many that the august art form of grand opera is a "growth industry" these days. In Toronto for example, the Canadian Opera Company reports that attendance last season was an extremely impressive 99.4% capacity. There is also a concomitant increase of operas captured live for showing in movie houses or at home on DVD. The Met in HD showing of Carmen in January set an attendance record worldwide. While classical music sales constitute an ever-shrinking segment of overall record sales, and studio recordings of operas have all but disappeared, there is one bright spot - record companies have moved to capturing live performances to issue as CDs and DVDs. Certainly it is less expensive than taking a cast of opera stars and a 100 piece orchestra into the recording studio, plus a live performance has a sense of occasion that a studio recording cannot duplicate.

Last summer when I was in Munich for the Opera Festival, I had the great good fortune of meeting Brooks Riley and Rainer Mockert. A team in life and in art, Mockert and Riley are involved in videotaping live performances, almost exclusively operas, for commercial release on the Arthaus Musik label, and now on their own company label, VCL Klassik, part of Zoom Productions. Mockert worked for 8 years for UNITEL as line producer, then executive producer of many of its opera productions and feature films. He also produced Peter Sellar's ground-breaking Mozart-Da Ponte Trilogy that wowed audiences in the late 1980s. Also noteworthy is a documentary on Sellar's staging of Messiaen's St. Francois d'Assisse in Salzburg.

Brooks Riley is a director, producer, film critic, screenwriter and a former Senior Editor of FILM COMMENT magazine. She has written for the New York Times, Opera News, and the Washington Post. Her first four opera productions, Ice and Steel, Werther, Hansel und Gretel and Tristan und Isolde were released in 2008. I enjoyed the Tristan DVD from Dessau very much. I visited them at their spacious home in Munich, where we had a long, wide-ranging conversation on their thoughts on producing opera videos. Rather than writing about our conversation in prose, I think it is best to reproduce their answers to my many queries verbatim. Here is a transcript of our interview -

J.S. There seems to be more and more operas presented on DVD nowadays. What do you think account for its rise in popularity?

B.R.: It has in part to do with advances in technology. Operas are now filmed in sharp High Definition Video, and more people have big flat-screen televisions which makes the viewing in 16:9 format far more pleasurable, and intense too.

There’s another important reason: opera singers these days are encouraged to give acting performances on stage. Gone are the days when the tenor planted himself downstage and spread his arms out wide to sing an aria. Modern directors expect acting from their singers. This makes an opera on DVD a dramatic experience. There’s actually more to see than an open mouth and pretty costumes.

A third reason which will no doubt raise a few hackles: Regietheater is producing many interesting stagings. It is in part thanks to the serious re-interpretations of great operas, that opera is more popular today. Opera-going used to be a cultural duty for many of those who could afford it. They knew what to expect. Now, with so much directorial talent available, every new production is awaited with anticipation and curiosity. Opera is no longer a museum event, it is a thriving art form, even if many of the operas were written a long time ago. Today’s productions are more challenging for the video director, but when they’re done well, the result can be great to watch.

J.S. How would you compare the experience of watching an opera at home on DVD, versus seeing it in the theater?

B.R.: Of course, there is nothing quite like seeing an opera in the theatre. But there are disadvantages too, the most obvious being that you’re always seeing the long shot. And depending on where you’re sitting, you may miss a lot of directorial nuances which give a production its effect. At home, you’re seeing a range of different shots, from close ups to medium shots and long shots, or the establishing shot. The job of the video director is to enter the production, so that the viewer has a dramatic perspective he may not get in the theatre, without losing the value of the whole. Of course I determine what the viewer will see, but I always try to remain true to the production. Because my background is the cinema, I try to direct opera productions with the cinematic experience in mind. For instance, I am just as interested in reaction shots as I am in the shot of the person singing. When I edit, I edit the material like a film. I also try to make the shots themselves interesting. There’s more going on in directing a production than coverage and reportage.

J.S. I noticed a huge difference in older opera videos compared to the videos today, which have many more closeup shots than the past. How do you balance closeups versus the "big picture" ? I noticed that with some of the more recent opera videos, one doesn't always get a sense of the scale of the production.... everything is closeup... what is your view on this? What do you think of the use of split screens like the Met Tristan telecast last March?

B.R.: Balance is the key word. You try to establish the mise-en-scene and then you go closer. I am not a big fan of extreme close-ups, or what I call the ‘singing head’ shot. For one thing, there are issues, such as make-up, sweat, gold-capped molars. But more than that, an extreme close-up has the effect of removing the singer from his context, which is the stage. Operas are not talk shows or news broadcasts: They occur on a stage, where things are happening. The singer may be doing something interesting with his hands, or with his body, so I like to show that as well. I prefer the medium close shot, which gives you more of the singer’s body than his open mouth. I do use extreme close-ups occasionally but there has to be a good reason for it. Close-ups can be interesting if it’s a particularly momentous part of the libretto. But even then, I prefer to move in to a close-up rather than abruptly cut to one.

One always has to occasionally return to the master shot, so that that viewer doesn’t lose his or her orientation. But I also use what I call mini-masters, which show an area of the stage where things are happening. Context is everything when choosing a shot.

As for split screens: I didn’t see the Met broadcast, but my feeling is the same as it is for split screens in the cinema—a way to compensate for lack of preparation. In an opera, the split screen immediately removes the viewer from the cinematic experience. It’s a device that doesn’t belong: It calls attention to itself. The only use of it that I condone is in a concert broadcast. I recently saw a concert with Cecilia Bartoli which made clever use of split screens. In this case, it was a welcome addition to customary concert broadcasts, which can be very predictable and rather boring. And a concert is not a narrative entity like an opera—you have more freedom to experiment.

J.S. As a video director, do you try to present the production "faithfully" , or do you have a special "take" or "concept" in how a particular production should look on the home screen?

B.R.: I try to make the best film possible of the production, one which succeeds on its own terms but which remains faithful to the production.

J.S. Obviously some productions are going to be more "video-genic" than others. How do you deal with that? Do you see your job as trying to make a production look as good as possible? Do you think the videographer can (or should) improve on the original?

B.R.: Sometimes. But it isn’t necessarily because the production isn’t ‘video-genic’ as you call it. An interesting case in point: the revolving stage in the Dessau Tristan and Isolde was certainly effective in the theatre. But on video it becomes vividly cinematic, in a way that could not be experienced in the theatre. Especially the finale of Act I and the beginning of Act 2 create the effect of travelling shots, giving the production added kinetic intensity.

Another case in point: Vladimir Deshevov’s ICE AND STEEL has a huge cast, may of whom have solo parts. There is so much going on onstage that an audience might only get some of what’s going on. I was able to make far more of it available through judicious choices of shots. I certainly didn’t improve on the original, which was magnificent. But I made more of it available.

Every new production has its own set of challenges for the video director. You have to be flexible and daring at the same time.

J.S. Do you have complete artistic freedom in capturing the performance? Or do you believe the stage director's ideas come first?

B.R.: I have complete artistic freedom, but I always try to be at the service of the stage director’s work. When I am finished with editing the material, I invite the stage director to look at it. So far, all of the directors whose work I have filmed have been pleased with the result. I am always open to suggestions, but they are rare—and often good.

J.S. What is your views on the current Regietheater aesthetic? Do you think all operas can be (or should be) "updated"? I am thinking of the Bregenz Aida that I just saw on TV, or the Munich Lucrezia you saw, or the Konwitschny Don Carlos from Vienna and Barcelona. What do you think of these updating?

B.R.: There is a misconception about Regietheater that it’s all about blood and guts, trenchcoats and black leather jackets. Regietheater is not about making motorcycle molls out of the Valkyries, although that is precisely what Götz Friedrich did nearly 30 years ago. Regietheater is about a serious appraisal of the dramatic elements of an opera.

I am a big fan of Regietheater as long as it’s good--and a lot of it is great. And I think that opera has gained a wider audience because of it. There’s a tendency in America to bash Regietheater as ‘Eurotrash’. To prove their points, critics always point to the most egregious examples, as Heather MacDonald did a few years ago in City magazine; and more recently, the novelist Daniel Kehlman, bashed Regietheater in a speech at the opening of this year’s Salzburg Festival. But operas staged the original way seem quaint, possibly enjoyable as déjà vu, but irrelevant and often boring. Updating them can certainly do operas no harm, and if successful, can actually make a work written one or two centuries ago, seem astonishingly of the moment.

Regietheater has less to do with updating than it does with intensifying the dramaturgy of an opera, and going deeper into the work. There are examples of Regietheater which do not update, but which apply 21^st century aesthetics to achieve the mise-en-scene.

Wouldn’t life be boring if every production of Wagner’s RING OF THE NIBELUNG took place on a Styrofoam rock? There are far deeper investigations of that great work being produced all over the world, without a rock in sight. And the work is resilient enough to accommodate many more interpretations.

J.S. Of your many past projects, which one(s) are you most proud of?

B.R.: This is a difficult question to answer. I love all my children (nine, so far), but for different reasons. I am proudest of the Weimar RING OF THE NIBELUNG because it was such a fantastic complex staging enriched by magnificent acting. I am also proud of ICE AND STEEL because I only had one go at it, the last performance, and was able to capture everything I wanted in spite of the huge cast and complicated staging. And for sheer beauty, I am proud of AGRIPPINA, which will be released later this year. It was a gorgeous, funny and profoundly moving stage production and I dare to say that about the video as well.

J.S. I personally find including interviews of performers, conductor and particularly the director very important in a DVD release. I want to hear what they have to say. (I missed that in the Dessau Tristan and the Weimar Rheingold) Failing that, perhaps an essay by the director, or some sort of a Q & A, in the program booklet would be very helpful. Would you consider adding these in future projects?

R.M.: I agree and we hope we can add material like this in the future. It is not easy to do this in each case, because we tape performances at a time when the stage director has already left. We see him or her only during the final editing period. Next season we will be more around during the opening nights and final rehearsals, so that we will definitely shoot additional material. We also hope to add portraits of the cities where the opera houses are located..

J.S. What new projects are you working on?

R.M.: Later this year a new classical DVD label will be launched by a well- established feature film DVD company, VCL. The new label, VCL KLASSIK, will be distributed worldwide. VCL has broadened its scope in the last few years, producing more special interest DVDs in the area of Art, Health, Sport, Architecture, Nature, Animals and Travelling guides. With VCL Klassik, VCL hopes to make new as well as hitherto unreleased concerts and operas available to a worldwide audience.

The program will be a good mixture of well known titles and titles which are not on DVD, or only as old productions. The new productions will be chosen from the best produced in Europe in a given season.

We are preparing five new productions for this year and are in the closing stage with the theatres. With each new production that is released, an archive title acquired from existing license stocks will be released for the first time on DVD. VCL Klassik plans to release at least 12 new productions and 12 archive titles every year.

In Germany, Austria and Switzerland we are lucky to have over 250 opera houses, and therefore a lot of possibilities. The opera houses also benefit from the DVD. And the exposure is extremely helpful in finding new sponsors in addition to public funding and ticket sales.

Composer Jacques Hétu passes away at 71

noreply@blogger.com (Crystal Chan) — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 17:46:00 +0000

By Crystal Chan

The prolific Canadian composer Jacques Hétu passed away yesterday from cancer. He was 71. Just several days ago on January 31, Hétu received the Opus lifetime achievement award from the Conseil québécois de la musique. Hétu has also been named an Officer of the Order of Canada and of the Order of Quebec as well as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

The composer took a brave path in his time, melding the Romantic and the Contemporary and first and foremost creating accessible works. His over 80 works have brought New Music far beyond the isolation of the avant-garde community. His works have ranged from symphonies to film music and have been played by such ensembles as the New York Philharmonic and such soloists as Glenn Gould.

Read our 2008 featured cover article in conversation with the composer at: