Oberon's Glade

Author: Philip Gardner

  • Alfreda Hodgson

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    The English contralto Alfreda Hodgson studied at the Northern School of Music in Manchester. She was mainly known as a concert artist, performing such works as Mahler’s 2nd and 8th symphonies, Lied von der Erde, and Das Knaben Wunderhorn; Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius, The Kingdom, and The Apostles; Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder, the Beethoven 9th, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Mozart’s Requiem, Britten’s Spring Symphony, and works by Monteverdi, Bach, and Handel. Her operatic roles included Ulrica and Orfeo.

    Known for interpretive gifts, Ms. Hodgson worked with such renowned conductors as Klemperer, Giulini, Maazel, Haitink, Ozawa, Rattle, Abbado, Sir Colin Davis, and Zubin Mehta. Her career flourished in Britain, the USA, and Israel.

    Alfreda Hodgson passed away in 1992 at the early age of 52.

    Ms. Hodgson sings Brahms’ Alto Rhapsody, conducted by Bernard Haitink, here.

    From one of the few operatic roles Alfreda Hodgson recorded complete:

    Alfreda Hodgson – Voce di donna ~ GIOCONDA – w Caballe-Baltsa-Pavarotti-Milnes-Ghiaurov

  • PARSIFAL ~ Act II

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    A concert performance of Act II of Wagner’s PARSIFAL given in 2010 by the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Jaap van Zweden (photo). Klaus Florian Vogt is Parsifal, Katarina Dalayman is Kundry, and Krister St.Hill is Klingsor.

    Watch and listen here.

  • Verdi REQUIEM @ Baalbeck International Festival

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    Above: basso John Relyea

    A performance of the Verdi REQUIEM from the 2019 Baalbeck International Festival 2019. given at the Bacchus Temple on July 26th, 2019. The soloists are Maria Agresta, Daniela Barcellona, Giorgio Berrugi, and John Relyea, with the Romanian Radio Chamber Orchestra and the Antonine University Choir conducted by Toufic Maatouk.

    Watch and listen here.

  • Samuel Hasselhorn ~ Erlkönig

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    Samuel Hasselhorn sings Franz Schubert’s Erlkönig with the Orchestre Régional de Normandie, conducted by David Wroe.

    Watch and listen here.

    I’ve had the pleasure of hearing Mr. Hasselhorn in two recitals here in New York City. As a Young Concert Artists winner, he sang at Merkin Hall in 2017, and at The Morgan Library in 2018.

  • Saioa Hernández/Martin Muehle ~ CHENIER Duet

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    Saioa Hernández and Martin Muehle sing the final duet from Umberto Giordano’s ANDREA CHENIER in a performance from Modena, 2019.

    Watch and listen here.

  • Paul Creston’s Sonata for Saxophone & Piano

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    Saxophonist Nathan Nabb and pianist Hyun Ji Oh perform Paul Creston‘s Sonata for Saxophone and Piano in a performance at Stephen F. Austin State University.

    Watch and listen here.

  • Paul Creston’s Sonata for Saxophone & Piano

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    Saxophonist Nathan Nabb and pianist Hyun Ji Oh perform Paul Creston‘s Sonata for Saxophone and Piano in a performance at Stephen F. Austin State University.

    Watch and listen here.

  • Muti Conducts Die Zauberflöte

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    Above: Matthias Hölle as Sarastro

    Riccardo Muti conducts Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte in a performance from La Scala 1995.

    Watch and iisten here,

    CAST

    Tamino – Paul Groves; Pamina – Andrea Rost; The Queen of the Night – Victoria Loukianetz; Sarastro – Matthias Hölle; Papageno – Simon Keenlyside; An Old Woman/Papagena – Lisa Larsson; First Lady – Adina Nitescu; Second Lady – Petra Lang; Third Lady – Lioba Braun; Monostatos – Sergio Bertocchi; The Three Spirits – Matthias Ritter, Johannes Pohl and Michael Sapara (soloist of the Tölzer Knabenchor); The Speaker and First Priest – Anthony Michaels-Moore; Second Priest – Christian Baumgärtel; First Man in Armor – Carlo Allemano; Second Man in Armor – Marek Gasztecki; First Slave and Priest – Michael Thomas; Second Slave – Georges Kern; Third Slave and Priest – Roman Kollmer

    Conductor – Riccardo Muti

  • Teresa Zylis-Gara Has Passed Away

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    Teresa Zylis-Gara, the Polish soprano who possessed one of the most beautiful voices of my experience, has passed away at the age of 91. From 1968 to 1984, she sang nearly 250 performances with the Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center and on tour; I had the good fortune to see her in several roles, and to hear her on a number of live radio broadcasts.

    Ms. Zylis-Gara studied at Łódź, and in 1954 won first prize in the Polish Young Vocalists Contest at Warsaw. This led to her operatic debut in 1956. From 1960-1970, the soprano was based in Germany where she sang at Oberhauser, Dortmund, Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Cologne, Munich, and Berlin. She also appeared at Vienna, Glyndebourne, Paris, London, Salzburg, and San Francisco.

    ln 1968, Ms. Zylis-Gara made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Donna Elvira; she sang there frequently over the next several seasons. I first saw her as Violetta in TRAVIATA where she made a lovely impression, though hindered by inferior cast-mates and lacklustre conducting. Thereafter, I saw her as Donna Elvira, Elisabeth in TANNHAUSER, Amelia in BALLO IN MASCHERA, Manon Lescaut, Leonora in TROVATORE, Cio-Cio-San, and as Adriana Lecouvreur. In each of these roles, her creamy voice and ultra-feminine persona made  a memorable impression.

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    Above: Teresa Zylis-Gara as Desdemona; photo by Louis Mélançon

    Among the roles in which I missed seeing her onstage but greatly enjoyed her singing of on broadcasts included Desdemona (in a new production with James McCracken in the title-role, conducted by Karl Böhm), Mozart’s Pamina and Contessa Almaviva, Marguerite in FAUST, Puccini’s Suor Angelca, Mimi, and Liu, Elsa in LOHENGRIN and – most movingly – as Tatyana in ONEGIN and as the Marschallin.

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    While I was living in Hartford, Ms. Zylis-Gara came up from New York City to the Bushnell to sing Tosca. Inferior conducting almost ruined the performance, but her singing was luminous.

    Leaving The Met in 1984, the soprano settled in Monte Carlo and continued to sing on the Continent, where she took on roles like Maddalena in CHENIER, Ariadne, Sieglinde, and Chrysothemis which had not been offered to her at The Met.

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    Above: getting ready…I love this photo!

    I remember listening to Zylis-Gara’s Four Last Songs for the first time, and thinking: this is perfection. And when the music ended, there was applause; this was recorded live. For me, no other version of these beloved songs compares.

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    I’ve reached that inevitable point in my life when the great singers who fanned the flames of my passion for opera are passing away, one by one. Thinking of Teresa Zylis Gara, I recall with special affection seeing her in the title-role of Cilea’s ADRIANA LECOUVREUR at a matinee performance given on the Met’s 1983 tour in Boston. It was to be the last time I saw her onstage. And it was a marvelous afternoon, with the soprano and her colleagues all singing divinely: Neil Shicoff as Maurizio, Bianca Berini as the Princesse de Bouillon, and Sesto Bruscantini as Michonnet. For all the glorious sounds that filled the hall that day, nothing sent such a thrill thru me as Zylis-Gara’s gossamer pianissimo on the phrase: “La promessa terrò …”  when Adriana vows to save her rival from humiliation in the opera’s second act. It’s of such moments that the fabric of dreams are woven.

    ~ Oberon

  • Angela Gheorghiu – Pleurez, pleurez mes yeux

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    Romanian soprano Angela Gheorghiu sings Chimène’s great aria ‘Pleurez, pleurez mes yeux’ from Massenet’s LE CID at a concert given in Amsterdam, 2005.

    Watch and listen here.