Category: Opera

NYCB Tchaikovsky Festival 2013 #6

Saturday evening January 26, 2013 – This evening’s performance at New York City Ballet was filled with wonderful dancing (and playing from the pit) and went a long way to compensate for the previous evening’s late-seating debacle.

The programme was the same as the night before, but what a difference! Tonight we were able to fullly enjoy the delicate mysteries of BAISER DE LA FEE, led by Andrews Sill. I have a special fondness for this ballet since it was the first work I ever saw at NYCB lo! these many decades ago. My ‘premiere’ cast featured Patricia McBride and Helgi Tomasson and it is pleasing to report that Megan Fairchild and Andrew Veyette made just as fine an effect in the ballet as ther illustrious predecessors. Megan and Andrew caught the quality of rhapsodic youthfulness right from the start, abetted by the very nice dancing of the corps ensemble. Andrew’s solo had a dreamy feeling, but it’s one of those restless dreams (we’ve all had them) where you are seeking something that seems to elude you; his dancing was so expressive, making me want to see him as Jerome Robbins’ Dreamer in OPUS 19. Megan’s solo, set to the birdlike song of the flutes, was fetchingly spun off by the ballerina. The couple then brought a lovely feeling of quiet ecstacy to the magical backing-away which brings this Balanchine jewel to a close. Erica Pereira and Mary Elizabeth Sell led the corps to charming effect.

Tiler Peck and Joaquin de Luz then went to town, pulling out all the stops for an exciting Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux in which Tiler scintillated with her magical pirouettes whilst also capturing the warm lyricism of the adagio. Joaquin fills the stage and the theatre with his generous dancing and genial smile; if there’s a dancer with a bigger heart than Joaquin de Luz I haven’t met him. The two dancers swept thru the bravura fireworks of the coda to the audience’s delight, and if the fish dives took on a risky quality tonight, that’s part of the fun. They swept off as the curtain fell, igniting a full-house ovation which made them smile all the more as they stepped out to take their bows.

Now being in a really good mood, I even decided to give BAL DE COUTURE another try and strangely enough I liked a lot of it tonight, or maybe I should say that I saw where it might – with a few alterations – become something to enjoy. The music’s wonderful for one thing, but my first change would be getting rid of the women’s bizarre, fanciful costumes. And since the costumes are the whole point of the piece my other ‘fixes’ wouldn’t matter. It’s nice to see all that star-power onstage even though – as a friend pointed out – turning principals into a corps tends to make them anonymous. Despite its drawbacks, I found I could sit thru it, and could again – if the need ever arises.

In the concluding DIAMONDS, Maria Kowroski and Tyler Angle were elegant, and they seemed to filter the melodies of the score directly into their dancing. Maria’s magical way of sculpting her long limbs into the regal poses of the adagio was finely echoed in Tyler’s handsome and ardent partnering. There’s a lovely simpatico quality between these two dancers and it was shining brightly tonight. The demi-solistes and corps filled the stage with Mr. B’s grand patterns in the finale; the audience loved it.

Andrews Sill conducted the first two ballets tonight, then passed the baton to Daniel Capps for the rest of the evening. The NYCB musicians played the entire programme very appealingly and they well-deserved the audience’s warm cheers as they took a spot-lit collective bow at the end. The players were recently chided in the press for playing too many wrong notes. Yes, musicians – even the finest ones – do sometimes hit wrong notes, especially the wind players. Anyone who has ever played a musical instrument knows that the best intentions and plenty of rehearsal can still be undone by fatigue or plain old bad luck. It’s nothing to write home about since it tends to happen randomly, even among the excellent players of at the NY Phil or the Metropolitan Opera (where the orchestra is considered one of the best ‘pit bands’ in the world). For myself, having played piano, guitar and French horn, I always have a sympathetic ear and am grateful when things go as well as they do on a given night. The NYCB musicians work hard and it’s nice when the audience acknowledges their nightly contributions to the success of the ballet.

Heading home on the A train, I met the three people who’d been sitting behind
me at the performance. Students at Columbia, they drew out a season brochure and began asking me questions about what they should see next. “Who was that woman with the long legs in the last ballet?” the girl asked. “She was awesome!” I could only agree.

DIVERTIMENTO FROM ‘LE BAISER DE LA FÉE’: M. Fairchild, Veyette, Pereira, Sell

TCHAIKOVSKY PAS DE DEUX: T. Peck, De Luz

BAL DE COUTURE: Lowery, Reichlen, Krohn, Scheller, Hyltin, A. Stafford, T. Peck, M. Fairchild, Bouder, Taylor, J. Angle, la Cour, Danchig-Waring), Veyette, R. Fairchild, Ramasar, Finlay, De Luz, Carmena, Marcovici

DIAMONDS from JEWELS: Kowroski, T. Angle

January 26, 2013
Score Desk for LES TROYENS

Cassandra:

“Malheureux roi! dans l’éternelle nuit,
C’en est donc fait, tu vas descendre!
Tu ne m’écoutes pas,
tu ne veux rien comprendre,
Malheureux peuple,
à l’horreur qui me suit!”

Saturday December 29, 2012 – The dilemma of whether or not to attend a performance of Berlioz’s LES TROYENS at the Met concerned me for a few days. This epic masterwork is one of the greatest operas ever written, unique in its structure (it is actually almost like two distinct operas; each could stand on its own), and it is a veritable goldmine of musical marvels. On a personal note, the opera plays a stellar role in my autobiography, since it was after a magnificent 1973 matinee performance of the Berlioz work that I had my long-awaited first homosexual experience. Normally it would be on my highest-priority list of operas to see in any Met season where it’s presented. But the combination of a production that has never really satisfied me visually, a conductor who has seldom – if ever – moved me, and the disastrous casting of two of the opera’s principal roles, I at first wrote it off completely.

But then the thought that I might never again have an opportunity to hear LES TROYENS in-house decided me in favor of going; not needing to see the production, I bought a score desk and waited for the day with a mixture of excitement and dread. A few days before the performance, one of the singers whose participation was troubling me – Marcelo Giordani – was announced as ‘withdrawing’ from the remainder of the run after a reportedly awful night at the prima folllowed by vocal struggles in the ensuing performances. His announced replacement, Bryan Hymel, has been making a name for himself of late in some of opera’s most demanding roles.

I arrived at the theatre to find another last-minute cast change: Elizabeth Bishop (above) was to sing Dido instead of Susan Graham. This was my second experience of hearing Ms. Bishop in a performance originally scheduled for Graham, and though I’d been looking forward to Graham’s Dido, Bishop was perfectly fine. So I settled in with my lovely old scores (one for each ”opera’), wishing for a different maestro and different Cassandra, but very much anticipating both the music and the singing of the other cast members.

The opera opened impressively with the lively chorus depicting the joy of the Trojan people who have discovered that the Greeks, who have besieged their city for a decade, have suddenly and inexplicably departed. Sadly, the afternoon then took a real slump as Deborah Voigt began Cassandra’s great opening monolog. Voigt’s voice has declined even further than from my last encounter with her in the theatre, and her singing of this iconic role was pallid; the voice is almost unrecognizable as the soprano who once thrilled me with her Ariadne and Elsa. Unsteady and small of scale, her singing seemed apologetic for the most part, with only very few notes that bore any relation to what she once sounded like. Her final high-B in the duet with Chorebus was desperate and unpleasant, and she simply lacked the expressive dramatic thrust for the great scene in which Cassandra tries to prevent the populace from bringing the giant horse within the city walls. And she was ineffectual in the opera’s great final scene. The role calls for forceful declamation and sweeping emotional conviction: a larger-than-life feel. That Voigt could not come within hailing distance of such great interpreters of the role as Shirley Verrett and Jessye Norman was indeed sad. Her shortcomings prevented the first half of the afternoon from making its usual vivid impression.

In 1994 Dwayne Croft replaced Thomas Hampson as Chorebus on a Saturday matinee broadcast of TROYENS; he sang superby that day and seemed in fine voice this afternoon until suddenly, near the end of the big duet with Cassandra, his voice seemed to go hoarse. Bryan Hymel made an impressive entry as Aeneas, his singing both beautiful and urgent. In the great scene where Aeneas is warned by the Ghost of Hector of Troy’s impending doom, Hymel and David Crawford were both excellent.

In the haunting scene where the widowed Andromache brings her young son before the court, her injection of a stifled shriek was perhaps unnecessary in what is written as a silent role. But here Ms. Voigt as Cassandra did have one of her fine moments as she quietly intoned her warning to Andromache: “Save your tears, widow of Hector! Disasters yet to come will make you weep long and bitterly”.

Though lacking a commanding Cassandra to lead them, the scene of the mass suicide of the Trojan women managed to make a very strong impression. Thus far, as the first part of TROYENS came to a close, Fabio Luisi’s conducting had been ‘factual’, each musical “i” dotted and “t” crossed (as per the score) but lacking in mystery and mythic grandeur. His pacing was on the quick side, which is fine.

Moving to Carthage, Luisi and his players seemed to find a more congenial glow in the music. I must commend the conductor for making the ballet music (which could just as well have been cut) fully palatable; and from Iopas’ serenade thru the grand septet and on to the end of the sublime love duet, Luisi gave what was for me his finest music-making to date at the Met.

Elizabeth Bishop’s voice is not creamy and opulent but she’s a fine singer and not only did she save the day, she did so with distinction. Establishing herself in the opening public scene, it was in the more intimate settings that follow where Bishop made her finest mark: the ravishing duet with her sister Anna and then – impressing in both tonal allure and poetic nuances – from “Tout conspire a vaincre mes remords” straight thru to end end of the “Nuit d’ivresse”. In the anger of the fiery quayside duet, and in her later expressions of regret, and of futile fury, Bishop brought some touches of verismo passion which worked well for her. In the stately, resigned “Adieu fiere cite” she was at her most poignant, then rousing herself yet again vocally to bring the opera to a close with her visionary “Rome!…Rome!…immortelle!” As the afternoon progressed, Bishop dispelled the disappointment of not hearing Ms. Graham, and the audience greeted her affectionately at her curtain calls.

Above: Bryan Hymel. Mr. Hymel’s Aeneas was marvelous and his type of voice – a liquid and juicy ‘big-lyric’ with a blooming top – is very well-suited to the music. Wagnerian tenors like Jon Vickers, Gary Lakes and Ben Heppner have often been heard in this role (Vickers managed to make it very much his own), and Placido Domingo handled it impressively despite its being too high for him. But for me the best rendering of this arduous music in living memory has come from Nicolai Gedda on an abridged RAI concert recording. In vocal size and stylistic grace, Hymel comes close to the Gedda ideal. A trace of sharpness crept in here and there, but from his tender farewell to his son Ascagne right thru to his final “Italie!” as Aeneas’ ships cast off for to their destiny, Hymel sang beautifully and had the audience in the palm of his hand.

He and Ms. Bishop found the magical blend that makes the love duet one of opera’s most memorable, and in his great scena “Inutile regrets” with its remorseful “Quand viendra l’istante” and the high-lying concluding ‘cabaletta’, Hymel was glorious. His singing was full-toned and expressive, encompassing some lovely piano effects, and so moving with his heartfelt “A toi mon ame!”; the audience reacted with excited cheers as the tenor swept to the sensational climax of this great scene, then drew our further admiration as he led his soldiers aboard ship to take leave of Carthage.

There are two more tenor roles in LES TROYENS A CARTHAGE and both were ideally sung today. In Iopas’ wondrously evocative (and very exposed) “O blonde Ceres” Eric Cutler (above) gave the afternoon’s most fascinating vocalism, with lovely line and ravishingly heady piano effects, and a spine-tingling ascent to a gloriously lyrical high-C. Bravo!!!

Above: Paul Appleby. In the homesick song of the young sailor Hylas, Mr. Appleby’s beautifully plaintive timbre and the haunting colours he wove into the words made this another high point of the day.

Above: Karen Cargill. I had very much enjoyed Ms. Cargill’s Waltraute last season and was glad of a chance to hear her again as Anna. There’s a touch of Marilyn Horne in Cargill’s voice and she sang her two big duets (one with Dido, the second with Narbal) most appealingly.

Kwangchul Youn’s voice is warm and sizeable; his tone seems to have taken on a steady beat now though he handled it quite well. His Narbal was pleasing, and he was also cast as Mercury, his voice bringing an ominous feel as he intones “Italie! Italie!” after the great love duet, reminding Aeneas of his duty and sealing Dido’s fate.

Richard Benstein was a strong-toned and authoritative Panthus and I very much liked hearing old-stagers Julien Robbins (Priam) and James Courtney (2nd Soldier) again. Julie Boulianne was a fine Ascagne, Theodora Hanslowe was Hecuba, and Paul Corona shared the soldiers’ scene with Mr. Courtney.

I so enjoyed experiencing this masterwork in-house again; it may not have been a perfect performance, but it certainly made for a very satisfying afternoon. So nice to see my friend Susan there, and – being n a good mood – I even chatted with some people around me: totally out of character. Very much looking forward to my next ‘score desk’ operas: DON CARLO and TRAVIATA (who needs to look at a clock and a sofa?), and then all the RING operas in the Spring. It’s the place to be!

Metropolitan Opera House December 29, 2012 Matinee
LES TROYENS Berlioz Part I: La prise de Troie Cassandra...............Deborah Voigt Coroebus................Dwayne Croft Aeneas..................Bryan Hymel Ascanius................Julie Boulianne Priam...................Julien Robbins Hecuba..................Theodora Hanslowe Helenus.................Eduardo Valdes Andromache..............Jacqueline Antaramian Astyanax................Connell C. Rapavy Panthus.................Richard Bernstein Hector's Ghost..........David Crawford Part II: Les Troyens à Carthage Dido....................Elizabeth Bishop Anna....................Karen Cargill Narbal..................Kwangchul Youn Iopas...................Eric Cutler Ascanius................Julie Boulianne Panthus.................Richard Bernstein Aeneas..................Bryan Hymel Mercury.................Kwangchul Youn Hylas...................Paul Appleby Trojan Soldier..........Paul Corona Trojan Soldier..........James Courtney Priam's Ghost...........Julien Robbins Coroebus's Ghost........Dwayne Croft Cassandra's Ghost.......Deborah Voigt Hector's Ghost..........David Crawford
Laocoön.................Alex Springer Royal Hunt Couple.......Julia Burrer, Andrew Robinson Dido's Court Duet.......Christine McMillan, Eric Otto

Conductor: Fabio Luisi

December 29, 2012
At Home With Wagner

Thanks to my friend Dmitry, I’ve added some exciting Wagner performances to my CD collection over the past few weeks: parts of two historic RING Cycles, a 1976 Met broadcast of LOHENGRIN conducted by James Levine (I was there!), and a surprisingly thrilling Act I of WALKURE from Hamburg 2008, conducted by Simone Young.

Chronologically the earliest of these acquisitions – the WALKURE, third Act of SIEGFRIED, and GOTTERDAMMERUNG – come (in surprisingly good sound) from the 1953 Bayreuth Festival. These are conducted by Josef Keilberth (above) who shared the RING podium duties with Clemens Krauss at the ’53 festival. The Krauss Cycle has been isssued commercially and is considered legendary; Keilberth’s 1955 Cycle is also available (from Testament) but this ’53 Keilberth seems a real rarity, at least here in the USA (I’ve seen import copies selling for $300+, while Dmitry and I found it at Opera Depot for considerably less).

Dmitry gave me the GOTTERDAMMERUNG first and it’s a tremendous performance; this prompted me to ask for more and I’m really pleased with what I’m hearing. Keilberth is grand but never ponderous; his Twilight of the Gods unfurls like a magnificent sonic banner. The maestro has a powerhouse cast to work with.

I’ve never ‘gotten’ Martha Modl (above) until very recently, but she’s teriffic here as Brunnhilde. Her voice production reminds me somewhat of Irene Dalis’s. Modl’s flaming intensity and the colour and vitality of her singing are something to hear. Wolfgang Windgassen meets the huge demands of Siegfried with tireless power and is a good match for the soprano in terms of vocal generosity. A splendid Hagen from the Josef Greindl bristles with black-hearted malevolence, and in the most thrilling rendering of the role of Gunther that I’ve ever experienced, Hermann Uhde is overwhelming. With her rather odd tmbre, Natalie Hinsch-Grondahl nevertheless makes a mark as Gutrune. Ira Malaniuk’s superb singing as Waltraute makes me wish her long scene was even longer, and the mezzo is also a distinguished Second Norn in the prologue where she is joined by Maria von Ilosvay and then-soprano Regina Resnik.

Back-tracking, I then took up the WALKURE from the same 1953 Keilberth RING and was again impressed by the immediacy of the sound. Herr Greindl (above) is again in cavernous voice, this time as Hunding. Regina Resnik and Ramon Vinay are the strong-voiced Walsung twins, though neither attain the heights that others have in this passionate music. The tenor’s baritonal sound is sturdy but not particularly poetic and at one point the prompter gets involved, feeding him lines word for word. Miss Resnik gets lost at one point and her highest notes show a very slight sense of discomfort; her decision to switch to mezzo was a brilliant move and sustained her career for many years. In spite of these minor misgivings, Resnik and Vinay keep the temperature of the drama high, and Keilberth steers us thru the first act with true surety of hand.

Hans Hotter (above) opens the second act grandly, and this performance shows why his Wotan was considered a revelation. Both in terms of godlike vocal heft and wonderfully nuanced shaping of the text, Hotter’s monolog is a masterpiece. Martha Modl flashes thru a spirited Ho-Jo-To-Ho though surprisingly later in the act, after the annunciation of death, she seems to tire a bit as she assures Siegmund she’ll protect him in the coming battle. Ira Malaniuk is a particularly fine Fricka; she doesn’t wheedle or whine but deals from the strength of her rightness. She is vocally so pleasing to experience, the registers even and the timbre filled with feminine dignity. Resnik and Vinay are effective here as the desperate lovers, seeking escape…waching over his sleeping sister-bride, Vinay finds the tenderness of the character. Resnik lets out a blood-curdling scream when Hunding strikes Siegmund dead. Hotter’s contemptuously whispered dismissal of Hunding followed by his towering rage as he sets out to punish Brunnhilde end the act with a veritable bang.

In the Ride of the Valkyries, the sopranos swoop upward at will, not always in unison. Resnik handles the great scene of Sieglinde’s blessing of Brunnhilde quite exctingly; Hotter storms in and rages at his daughters who finally flee in terror. And then, starting with Brunnhilde’s ‘War es so schmalich’ the performance becomes something else altogether.

Modl finds the magic that made her GOTTERDAMMERUNG so spell-binding, and Hotter is simply magnificent. The sound quality is pretty remarkable and the two singers give a performance that ranks wth my greatest experiences in 50+ years of listening to opera. Modl begins Brunnhilde’s self-defense with colours of deep despair, slowly gaining self-confidence. When she courageously tells her father that Sieglinde now keeps the sword Nothung, Hotter thunderoulsy reminds her “The sword that I shattered!!” Hotter outlines the punishment Brunnhilde will face; her pleading with him not to humiliate her is in vain. But Modl’s last desperate and gloriously sung passage finally wins the day; Hotter opens the floodgates and hs entire final scene is both vocally thrilling and wrenchingly expressive of a father’s longing and grief. Adjectives become superfluous on hearing this kind of vocalism.

The third act of SIEGFRIED from this cycle is very exciting, commencing with Hotter’s majestic summons of Erda. As the act proceeds, it seems the great bass-baritone’s voice was recorded in a rather odd, somewhat echo-chamber acoustic. It doesn’t deter from his performance in the least, but it’s not quite as pleasing to listen to as the WALKURE. Maria von Ilosvay is a firm-toned and not overly weighty Erda; like her colleague Ira Malaniuk, Ilosvay seems largely to have been forgotten these days, which is a shame, It’s a wonderful voice. Windgassen arrives for his confrontation with his grandfather in fine vocal fettle; the two long-standing colleagues play up the dark humour of their banter at first, but after Siegfried puts Wotan in his place by breaking the spear, the once-powerful god slinks away in shame. Windgassen manages to hold his own against the fresh-voiced Modl, awakening as Brunnhilde and singing with remarkable intensity: despite her successful but less-than-blooming forays to the high-Cs, Modl’s voice is both maternal and seductive, with an unsettlling sexual sorcery in her timbre that makes it utterly distinctive.

Overall this Keilberth cycle is fascinating in so many ways and seems to have caught the singers mostly at their peaks. I suppose I’ll want to eventually have the RHEINGOLD also.

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From London’s Royal Opera House comes a RING Cycle conducted by Sir Georg Solti (above), from which the WALKURE (in very good sound) makes a strong impression, notably in the radiant singing of Dame Gwyneth Jones as Sieglinde. Apart from Ernst Kozub as Siegmund, the principals are all from the Royal Opera “home team”. Mr. Kozub is bright-voiced and steady, and Dame Gwyneth – just coming into fame – is already showing signs of the great Wagnerienne she was to become. Michael Langdon’s powerful Hunding anchors the first act, excitingly led by Solti.

Amy Shuard is a bit uneven as Brunnhilde though overall she makes a positive impression; a bit of flatness here and there – most notable in the early pages of the Todesverkundigung – is offset by her bright Battle Cry and her moving singing of the opera’s final scene. Josephine Veasey starts off as a rather ladylike Fricka, but she soon works herself into a fine fettle of self-righteous indignation and casts off vivid dramatic sparks, her vocalism fervent and secure.

It is especially gratifying to hear David Ward (above) as Wotan. I still vividly recall hearing him as The Dutchman on a Met broadcast in 1965 opposite Leonie Rysanek. I love his Wotan here for its humanity. Ward is more a lyrical than a thunderous singer, and his bass-oriented sound give him a solid springboard thru the music. His monolog is intense and personal, with a miraculous reflective piano on “Das ende!” while his choked whisper of “Geh!” as he dispenses with Hunding at the close of Act II is breath-taking. Ms. Shuard is at her best as she joins Mr. Ward for the opera’s final scene: their exchanges have an intimate feel, dynamically subtle and with deep undercurrents of heartache. Pleading to be spared dishonor, Ms. Shuard’s feminine urgency spurs the bass-baritone on to a wonderful outpouring in “Leb wohl, du kunhes, herrliches Kind!”. Later, Mr. Ward’s great tenderness as he quietly kisses Brunnhilde’s godhood away is so moving. Sir Georg, on the podium, cuts a majestic path thru this glorious score.

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The 1976 series of LOHENGRINs at The Met marked Maestro Levine’s first experiences of conducting this opera in the House; he moulds the great arcs of music, from the ethereal to the thunderous, with grandeur; and his violins underline the great confrontation between Elsa and Ortrud with furiously driven playing.

Pilar Lorengar (above) was a rapt, visionary Elsa, and her silvery and utterly feminine sound projected clearly into the great hall, cresting the ensembles radiantly. Rene Kollo in his debut role as Lohengrin (he sang only one other role at The Met: Bacchus in ARIADNE AUF NAXOS) sounded splendid in the House (yes, I was there!) though the recording shows some chinks in the vocal armor which the unforgiving mikes pick up. Still, it’s an impressive rendering of the music, especially his poetic ‘In fernam land’. Mignon Dunn sings with thrilling passion as Ortrud, meeting all the demands of what is essentially a dramatc soprano role. In the house, Mignon was made a tremendous impact with her acting, especially her raging discomfort at having to carry Elsa’s train during the bridal procession. Unable to contain her bitter fury, she breaks free and lashes out at her virginal rival in a confrontation that brought the performance to the boiling point. Donald McIntyre’s powerful Telramund and Allan Monk’s sturdy Herald make strong impressions, and Bonaldo Giaiotti (a great favorite of mine, presently celebrating his 80th birthday) is a splendid-sounding King Henry.

Metropolitan Opera House December 4, 1976 Matinee Broadcast
LOHENGRIN Wagner

Lohengrin...............Rene Kollo Elsa....................Pilar Lorengar Ortrud..................Mignon Dunn Telramund...............Donald McIntyre King Heinrich...........Bonaldo Giaiotti Herald..................Allan Monk Gottfried...............Rex James Noble...................Robert Goodloe Noble...................Andrea Velis Noble...................Philip Booth Noble...................Charles Anthony
Conductor...............James Levine

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The single act of the Hamburg WALKURE literally knocked me for a loop on first hearing; I’d never given Simone Young (above) much thought as a conductor, but from now on I’ll need to. She makes this thrice-familiar music sound incredibly fresh and alive. Her trio of singers, while perhaps unlikely to go into the history books alongside such names as Lehmann, Melchior, Rysanek or Vickers, are superbly tuned into both the music and the words. Following Young’s lead, they seem to give a feeling of music that is newly-discovered. Yvonne Naef’s Fricka and Waltraute at The Met in 2009 RING Cycles (the last performances of he “Levine” RING) were especially memorable in my view. There was some talk of her possibly taking on the Brunnhildes at one point, but she was probably wise to resist (exciting as the prospect would have been). Here she is a vivid Sieglinde, her middle voice and parlando so persuasive – the role lies right in her comfort range – and her top rings out excitingly. The sound of Stuart Skelton’s voice may not be intrinsically beautiful, but he is a strong and verbally alert singer, bringing some imaginative colours to his music. His cries of “Walse! Walse!” are steady and sustained, and he shows a sense ofSiegmund’s poetic side, long-buried in the hardships the Volsung has faced in his life. Mikhail Petrenko is a more lyrical Hunding than we usually hear; he sings well and fits finely into Young’s vision of the act. There are many felicitous passages in the conductor’s scheme of things, with a particular ‘lift’ of the tempo after Sieglinde concludes “Der manner sippe” that really took my breath away.

After a lapse of ten days, I played this WALKURE Act I again just to be sure it was as good as I thought it was. It’s even better on second hearing, with some really fine playing from the individual instrumentalists. The singers and conductor make this very familiar music feel startlingly vivid. What more could we ask?

December 27, 2012
Ira Malaniuk

The contralto Ira Malaniuk (above) was an Austrian singer of Ukranian descent who had a major career in Europe from 1939 to 1976 yet is rarely mentioned today in discussions of great voices from the past. Yet surely she is one of their number.

Malaniuk appears on several commercial recordings, some of which I have heard, yet it is a 1953 live recording of GOTTERDAMMERUNG from the 1953 Bayreuth Festival in which she sings Waltraute that made me sit up and take notice of this wonderful singer.

Malaniuk came to international attention at the 1951 Bayreuth Festival when she stepped in at the last minute for an ailing colleague; here is the story:

“It was 1951. The Wagnerian Festival at Bayreuth, Germany was taking place for the first time since the end of World War II.

Herbert von Karajan was the conductor. The opera was Das Rheingold (The Rhine Gold), the first of the four operas that comprise Wagner’s Der Ring Des Nibelungen. A complete Ring Cycle peformance was planned for this innaugural post-war season.

Elisabeth Höngen, a mezzo-soprano, was scheduled to sing. She had
performed only a few days earlier. Suddenly on August 11, 1951, Höngen
came down with an acute case of appendicitis and was hospitalized.

That fateful day, Ira Malaniuk, a young mezzo-soprano, came into the
theatre not suspecting that she would be required to sing the part of
Fricka that night. According to her own autobiography, not only had
Malaniuk never sung the part, she hadn’t even heard it before.

And yet, with the assistance of the Bayreuth Festival staff,
colleagues, prompters and conductor Karajan, Ira Malaniuk went on stage
that night and sang. The critics raved. Bavarian Radio broadcast the
production.

And, Ira Malaniuk went on to become a famous opera singer – a Kammersängerin – in both Germany and Austria.”

Malaniuk had studied with the great basso Adamo Didur, and opera was always in her heart, as she relates in this charming story:

“I cannot say, where the beginnings of my love of opera were. Already in
childhood, they shone for me like a guiding star. Although, in all
truth, there was a female opera singer in our family, that reached world
wide fame – Salomea Kruszelnicka. She was the daughter of my paternal
grandmother’s brother, in short my father’s cousin. Our paths never
crossed – I never met Kruszelnicka, never saw her peform on stage, but
perhaps some drop of her artistic blood courses through my veins.”

Above, Ira Malaniuk with her soprano colleague, the radiant Lisa Della Casa.

Listen to Ira Malaniuk singing the Second Norn in this document from the Bayreuth Festival’s 1953 GOTTERDAMMERUNG. Her sister-Norns are Maria von Ilosvay and Regina Resnik (in her soprano days); Clemens Krauss conducts.

November 25, 2012
CLEMENZA DI TITO @ The Met

Tuesday November 20, 2012 – The Metropolitan Opera’s current revival of their classic Jean-Pierre Ponnelle production of Mozart’s LA CLEMENZA DI TITO is a joy both to the ear and the eye. Marty Sohl’s production photo (above) illustrates the fantasy mixture of ancient Roman and baroque stylistic elements that give the sets and costumes their timeless visual appeal.

Tonight, Harry Bicket led a sterling performance, with excellent continuo playing from Bradley Brookshire (harpsichord) and David Heiss (cello) as well as spectacular woodwind solos in two of the opera’s iconic arias: Andrew McGill (clarinet, in “Parto, parto”) and James Ognibene (basset horn, in “Non piu di fiori”). Mr. Bicket’s vivid pacing and his sense of the music’s flow put the singers in high relief; there were three outstanding vocal performances and overall it was one of the most satisfying evenings at The Met in recent seasons.

To think that I almost skipped this revival! But a chance to hear Kate Lindsey as Annio was not to be missed, and the beauteous young mezzo (above) gave an immaculate performance, her lithe figure and ease of movement onstage enhancing her interpretation at every turn. Like many of her predecessors in this fach, Kate spends a lot of her onstage time in trousers (she’ll debut at Glyndebourne as the Composer in ARIADNE AUF NAXOS in the coming year). Her singing tonight was pristine, with a particularly ravishing piano passage in “Tu fosti tradito” that would melt the coldest heart.

With his noble and expressive face, Giuseppe Filianoti (above) made a splendid impression as Tito. His singing was clear and mellifluous, the words poetically delivered. The tenor finely delineated the emperor’s dilemma in dealing with his betrayal by his friend Sesto: should friendship trump justice? When I last heard Mr. Filianoti in the house, he was dealing with health issues, so it was really very pleasing to hear him on such beautiful vocal form tonight.

Somehow I’ve managed not to encounter a live performance by the Latvian mezzo-soprano Elina Garanca (bove) up til now. I first heard her voice on a recording my friend Mollie sent me from the 2001 Cardiff Competition. Garanca has since developed into a world-class artist and after hearing her as Sesto tonight, she’s on my A-list of singers. Both in terms of vocal appeal and technical accomplishment, this was a stunning performance: Garanca’s voice is all of a piece, and she moves it thru the registers seamlessly. After a profoundly expressive rendering of the openng passages of the great aria “Parto, parto” Ms. Garanca sailed through the whirlwind coloratura flourishes of the aria’s later pages with nimble assurance. Later, as she knelt to invoke the strength to carry out her assassination of Tito, she summoned an amazing degree of projection, the voice sailing into the hall with startling force. In her second spectacular aria “Deh per questo istante solo”, the mezzo soprano coloured the voice movingly, reflecting the character’s anguish and also his stalwart refusal to implicate Vitellia in the crime. Ms. Garanca’s entire performance was a revelation.

Barbara Frittoli, an unforgettable Desdemona at the Met in 1999, has more recently found considerable success in singing Mozart since she did her voice some damage during the first decade of the 21st century by singing music that was too heavy for her. Her canny manipulation of dynamics usually prevents her widening vibrato from becoming too prevelant. But for all her attractive qualities, Vitellia’s great aria “Non piu di fiori” simply lies too low for Ms. Frittoli to make her finest effect in the music. Vitellia in fact can be sung by a mezzo, except for that thorny top-D that Mozart threw into the act I trio, a note that eluded Ms. Frittoli tonight. Nevertheless, the soprano kept up her side of things all evening and the audience enjoyed her sometimes over-the-top dramatic portrayal.

Lucy Crowe as Servilia is a pretty girl with luminous eyes and a pleasing lyric timbre. In his search for a wife, Tito’s first choice – Servilia – might have made him quite happy, especially with Ms. Crowe’s buxom grace and girlish smile.

A wonderful Met evening, then, and there was every reason to stay to the end and shout’ bravi’ as the singers took their bows to sustained applause.

Metropolitan Opera House November 20, 2012 LA CLEMENZA DI TITO Mozart
Tito.......................Giuseppe Filianoti Vitellia...................Barbara Frittoli Sesto......................Elina Garanca Servilia...................Lucy Crowe Annio......................Kate Lindsey Publio.....................Oren Gradus Berenice...................Toni Rubio Bradley Brookshire, Harpsichord Continuo Anthony McGill, Clarinet Soloist James Ognibene, Basset Horn Soloist David Heiss, Cello Continuo
Conductor..................Harry Bicket

November 20, 2012
Salonen Conducts WOZZECK

Monday November 19, 2012 – The Philharmonia Orchestra under the baton of Esa-Pekka Salonen (above) offered a concert performance of Alban Beg’s WOZZECK at Avery Fisher Hall. Incredibly, it was the first time I have experienced this opera in a live performance that was conducted by someone other than James Levine.

The particpating artists:

Philharmonia Orchestra
Westminster Choir  - Joe Miller, director
The American Boychoir – Fernando Malvar-Ruiz, music director

Conductor: Esa-Pekka Salonen

Simon Keenlyside Wozzeck
Angela Denoke Marie
Hubert Francis Drum Major
Joshua Ellicott Andres
Peter Hoare Captain
Tijl Faveyts Doctor
Henry Waddington First Apprentice
Eddie Wade: Second Apprentice
Harry Nicoll Idiot
Anna Burford Margret

The performance was compelling both in the awe-inspiring magnificence of the orchestral playing and in the powerful simplicity of the semi-staging: the singers, clad in contemporary everyday chic, moved thru the drama in a narrow space at the lip of the stage. Direct and uncomplicated in its presentation. the drama was expressed with stripped-down clarity. Thanks to a cast of singing-actors each vividly inhabiting his or her character, this tale of madness, despair, bullying and betrayal cast its extraordinary spell.

The score unfolded under Maestro Salonen’s baton like a vast dark tapestry; individual orchestral voices shoot thru the fabric of sound like shimmering threads. As in SALOME, the musical imagery often evokes moonlight seen thru sooty, scudding clouds…but here the moon is blood-red. The conductor struck an ideal balance of unleashing the insane power of the orchestra yet never overwhelming his singers. The cumulative effect was electrifying..

In the early scenes of the opera, dark comedy runs rampant: the Captain and the Doctor who hold Wozzeck their mental hostage are so deranged and their words so far-fetched as to evoke laughter. Brilliant characterzations from Peter Hoare and Tijl Faveyts respectively set their vignettes in high relief. Hubert Francis was the swaggering bully of a Drum Major and Joshua Ellicott as Andres – one of Wozzeck’s few links to normalcy – sang with clarity. Anna Burford as Margret delivered her Swabia-lied with drunken blowsiness; Harry Nicoll was an eerily happy Idiot. I took special pleasure in the robustly earthy singing of Henry Waddlington and Eddie Ware as the two apprentices. Their scene simply crackled with verbal and vocal power and they steered clear of the comic cliches of acting out drunkiness, making their performances all the more impressive.

Angela Denoke, a soprano still talked-about in Gotham for her only Met performances (a series of Marschallins in 2005) was a wonderfully feminine and vunerable Marie. For all her toughness (“better a knife in my heart than lay a hand on me”), Marie is a marvelously human woman torn between desire and guilt, and Ms. Denoke’s portrayal struck an ideal balance while providing vocalism of gleaming lyricism and intriguing colours. She now proudly joins my gallery of memorable portrayals of this character over the years: Janis Martin, Anja Silja, Hildegard Behrens, Katarina Dalayman and Waltraud Meier.

As Wozzeck, Simon Keenlyside enjoyed a great personal triumph. Hurling himself into the drama with a dazzling affiinity for the expressive physical manifestations of madness and with tortured facial responses to Wozzeck’s downward spiral, the baritone sang with unfettered power and a full palette of vocal colours which he drew upon to project the character’s ravaged humanity. Keenlyside’s performance was nothing short of perfection.

And so, one of the most thrilling nights of opera in recent seasons…and the proof of it was in the utter silence of the audience in those unexpected stillnesses that Berg applies from time to time. They are as key to the dark glory of WOZZECK as the shocking power of the great post-murder crescendos. Salonen and his mighty forces gave us an exciting evening, reaffirming the still-powerful desire of the New York public for meaningful operatic experiences.

November 19, 2012
Atlanta Symphony @ Carnegie Hall
Above: baritone Brett Polegato, one of tonight’s soloists at Carnegie Hall

Saturday October 27th, 2012 -The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra brought three 20th century works to Carnegie Hall in a wonderfully crafted evening under the baton of Robert Spano. My front row seat put me right at the heart of things, beneath a row of lovely cellists that I could have reached out and touched. This was my third evening at Carnegie in a week’s time, and I felt so at home there.

I chose this programme because I wanted to hear the Canadian baritone Brett Polegato; his voice intrigued me when I first heard him singing on a tape of the 1995 Cardiff Competition which my friend Mollie had so kindly sent me. It’s taken me all this time to hear him ‘in person’ and it was well worth the wait; my impressions of him from that tape proved totally valid: he’s a first-rate singer.

But to start at the beginning, Mr. Spano opened the programme with Copland’s APPALACHIAN SPRING, by far the best-known of the evening’s three weeks. In classical music, familiarity can breed not so much contempt as a taking for granted of certain works. If you say ‘NUTCRACKER‘ or “Eine kleine nachtmusik‘, people will shrug and smirk and say “Again?” But these pieces are popular for a reason.

Listening to the Atlanta players in the Copland, I realized again how really original and purely enjoyable this score is. And it put me so much in mind of my recent links with the Martha Graham Dance Comany and with the Japanese artist Isamu Noguchi who designed the sets for Graham’s iconic ballet. Tonight APPALACHIAN SPRING felt like the masterpiece that it is, so lovingly played.

CHICHESTER PSALMS is one of the few Leonard Bernstein works that I admire, and possibly the only one that truly enjoy. I actually came to know this music thru Peter Martins’ ritualistc setting at New York City Ballet. Its rhythmic freshness and its heartfelt melodic strands make it so appealing, and tonight we had an adult male soprano rather than a boy treble; John Holiday’s gorgeous tone stole gleamingly into the huge Hall. His voice gave the music an erotic/exotic throb that a boy singer could never produce. The audience gave Mr. Holiday a rousing cheer as he bowed, and he very much deserved it.

William Walton’s BELSHAZZAR’S FEAST was an early success for the composer and it sounded magnificent last night as played and sung by the musicians and chorus of the Atlanta Symphony. The work tells the story of the proverbial writing on the wall, and of Belshazzar’s demise and the triumph of godliness. It plays out strikingly, though it does seem to me that Walton became just a shade long-winded in the final pages of the score: he doesn’t seem to know when to stop. Be that as it may, it was an inspired performance all round.

Brett Polegato’s noble tone sailed out into the Hall with warmth, focus and power, his exemplary clarity of diction making reference to the printed texts unnecessary. In the unaccompanied passage ‘Babylon was a great city…’ the singer forged a direct link with the audience, his voice speaking to us with remarkable directness and emotional force.

The evening posed the question, why isn’t Brett Polegato at The Met? And why, for that matter, isn’t Mr. Spano there as well? They are both masters of their respective crafts.

You can experience their work on the Grammy Award-winning recording of Vaughan-Williams SEA SYMPHONY.

Tonight’s concert:

Performers
- Atlanta Symphony Orchestra
  Robert Spano, Music Director and Conductor
- John Holiday, Countertenor
- Brett Polegato, Baritone
- Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus
  Norman Mackenzie, Director of Choruses
Program
- COPLAND
  Appalachian Spring
- BERNSTEIN
  Chichester Psalms
- WALTON
  Belshazzar’s Feast
October 27, 2012
Ives 4th + Mahler 8th @ Carnegie Hall
Above: Gustav Mahler

Friday October 26, 2012 – The Collegiate Chorale and the American Symphony Orchestra teamed up at Carnegie Hall tonight for a symphonic double-bill, with a delightful ‘prelude’ in the form of Leopold Stokowski’s arrangement of The Star-Spangled Banner. I rarely have the opportunity to work symphonic concerts into my calendar of dance and operatic events (and I continue to suffer from a lack of chamber music in my diet). So I am grateful to the Collegiate Chorale and publicist Michelle Brandon Tabnick for this evening’s invitation.

The evening marked the 50th anniversary of the American Symphony Orchestra and in celebration, tickets were sold at 1962 prices, with a $7.00 top. There was a nice atmosphere in the house and a warm reception for all the musicians involved.

Maestro Leon Botstein swept his forces thru the ‘Stokowski’ Star-Spangled Banner with its wonderful deeper sonorities near the end. Players and audience alike stood for the anthem, and I personally felt a pang of sadness at the state of our country today. But we won’t go into that here.

The players then settled in and the Ives began. This is a fabulous score and I found myself smiling and even chuckling softly to myself as the work progressed: it takes itself so seriously, yet to me it abounds with wit and irony. It seemed clear that some in the audience had not previously encountered Ives’ work: they didn’t know what to make of it. But for me, this was 30-minutes of pure sonic pleasure.

Above: Charles Ives

The wondrous layering of sound, the floating cacophonies wafting over the dense militaristic undercurrents, the dazzling individual instrumental voices shining forth: the ear is constantly titillated. In a stunning volte face, Ives gives us straightforward melody in the 3rd movement which must have felt like a sonic oasis to the uninitiated. Throughout, the piano (expert playing from Blair McMillen) gives the symphony the unexpected feel of a concerto trying to make itself heard thru the waves of sound. A terrific performances, and the players have my admiration for what must be a nightmare of counting.

After intermission, the vast tapestry of the Mahler 8th unfurled itself in the venerable hall. Relentless in its cresting waves of vocal sound flooding over the massive orchestral forces, this is a work like no other. The two choruses simply pour it on all evening, whilst an octet of principal voices – the sopranos often kept in the upper reaches of their range – trade off solo passages of melodic intensity.

Of the vocal soloists, three stood out: baritone Tyler Duncan (above, in a Colin Mills portrait) brought a welcome sense of lyric beauty to his solo. Basso Denis Sedov was equally fine, using his expressive hands to shape the music. In the taxing top soprano line, Rebecca Daviss’ voice gleamed beautifully all evening.

Maestro Botstein was a few minutes into the symphony’s second half when he suddenly stopped; I could not hear his over-the-shoulder remark, but with a tap of the baton he started over. The performance then surged onward, and the audience stayed on at the end to cheer.
- Blair McMillen, piano
- Rebecca Davis, soprano
- Abbie Furmansky, soprano
- Katherine Whyte, soprano
- Fredrika Brillembourg, mezzo-soprano
- Susan Platts, mezzo-soprano
- Clay Hilley, tenor
- Tyler Duncan, baritone
- Denis Sedov, bass
- Brooklyn Youth Chorus
- The Collegiate Chorale
October 26, 2012
Verdi REQUIEM @ Carnegie Hall
Tuesday October 23, 2012 – I’d been looking forward to this performance for weeks; the Verdi MESSA DA REQUIEM is one of my favorite pieces of music, glorious from first note to last. I have experienced some thrilling live performances over the years, including three superb evenings at Tanglewood. Great conductors, great soloists and top-notch choral groups have placed their stamp on this grandiose and poignant score.

Tonight’s performance will not fall in the memorable category, although the playing of the Philadelphia Orchestra was thrilling, and the singers of the Westminster Symphonic Choir gave their hearts and souls to the work’s resplendent choral passages.

Opening the work with an achingly slow and very inspiring rendering of the score’s first pages, conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin went on to a very impressive performance of the entire work. He moulded the great arcs of music with a fine sense of grandeur and he and his players shone in the more introspective moments. Only his rather pretentious holding of the applause by not lowering his baton after a reasonable pause at the end seemed off-kilter; it wasn’t that profound of a performance.

The REQUIEM is sometimes referred to as a ‘sacred opera’; it is so very operatic by nature that, as with all operas, performances of it tend to stand or fall by its principal vocalists. Tonight we had an even split of a surprisingly excellent mezzo-soprano and a very fine basso, aligned with a soprano who seemed sometimes on the verge of distress and a tenor who labored valiantly to make his once-generous voice flesh out Verdi’s magnificent melodies.

Christine Rice (above), a singer totally new to me, gave a very pleasing performance in every respect, Her timbre has a soprano feel to it, but she used a comfortably plush and resonant chest voice to make the most of her every phrase. In an evening of often wayward vocalism, I found myself sighing with relief whenever Ms. Rice stood up to sing. Basso Mikhail Petrenko might not have the sheer vocal heft of some of the singers who have preceded him in this music, but his sound is steady and warm and his vocalism is expressive. The opening pages of the Lacrymosa, where Ms. Rice and Mr. Petrenko joined forces, was the evening’s purest sonic pleasure.

Marina Poplavskaya’s opening phrase was painful to the ear; her voice sounded unsteady and ill-sorted. As the evening progressed, a feeling of lack of vocal support grew. Her voice often sounded pallid and tentative, and she used a piano approach to high notes to cover a spreading quality that emerged when she sang full-out. Shortness of breath was worrisome, as were vagaries of pitch here and there; her lower-middle register did not always speak. And some of the most thrilling moments of the REQUIEM, when the soprano voice should sail out over the massed choral and orchestral forces, went for naught tonight as Ms. Poplevskaya’s sound was erased by the sopranos of the chorus.

Opera lovers can’t help but be aware of Rolando Villazon’s vocal struggles in recent seasons. This very likeable singer tried to sing with his usual generosity and passion, but the sound now is smallish and grey. The top does not bloom, but narrows instead. And he has a very strange method of attacking notes with a biting huskiness. Attempting to make the music interesting, he drew down the tone to a thread at times but it did not sound well-supported; and a patch of off-pitch singing in the Hostias was disconcerting.

It was a sad night for the soprano and tenor though the audience, typically, did not seem to notice anything was amiss. I wonder how much more impressive the evening would have been if different vocalists had taken on these roles. It was a squandered opportunity, in my view.
- The Philadelphia Orchestra
  Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Music Director
- Marina Poplavskaya, Soprano
- Christine Rice, Mezzo-Soprano
- Rolando Villazón, Tenor
- Mikhail Petrenko, Bass
- Westminster Symphonic Choir
  Joe Miller, Conductor
October 23, 2012
Baroque Collaboration @ The Players Club

Above: Jared Angle, in a Henry Leutwyler portrait.

Friday September 28, 2012 – In a unique mingling of dance and song, New York City Ballet principal dancer Jared Angle and countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo met up in the salon at the Players Club for a Baroque feast. Jared’s NYCB colleague Troy Schumacher (who is also the founder of Satellite Ballet) choreographed the Vivaldi piece in which Jared danced. At the harpsichord, the remarkable Bradley Brookshire made marvelous music all evening. The programme was presented as part of the Salon/Sanctuary Concerts series.

Above: Anthony Roth Costanzo, whose singing of Handel, Purcell and Vivaldi showed a delicious timbre, breath control of enviable security, and coloratura that left the listener astounded. For all the magic of his virtuoso vocalism, it was in the sustained poetry of the slow passages that the slender and agile young singer was at his most ingratiating. Tapering the phrases with staggering dynamic command, the voice spoke to us of a time when the great castrati brought audiences to the point of madness. If one or two highest notes seemed slightly strained, it hardly mattered. This was fabulous vocalism, and all the more fascinating for the engaging use of eyes and hands with which Anthony mesmerized his listeners.

Bradley Brookshire (above) played solo works by Bach and Scarlatti, his scale passages rippling off the keyboard with fantastical velocity and precision. A master of timing and of coaxing colours out of his instrument, Bradley even made the silences speak. His musical rapport with the countertenor was a complete delight to experience.

It was in the Vivaldi cantata Qual per ignoto calle that the artistry of the evening’s three participants converged. Clad in black tights and a simple grey shirt, Jared Angle stepped into the space where he encountered the bare-footed counter-tenor. Troy Schumacher’s choreography drew the singer into the dance, his lithe frame very much at ease with the movement. Jared circled Anthony like an unseen spirit, a guardian angel. Using his wonderfully expressive hands to poetic effect, Jared moved with consummate grace, sometimes lifting the singer and cradling him with consoling tenderness. There were passages where Jared displayed hs vituosity in leaps and turns, but he always returned to keeping watch over his charge. Bathed in the golden light of this antique salon, Jared’s face took on an other-worldly beauty. The duet hovered on the brink of unspoken romance – inevitable when two handsome men meet in an intimate setting – but the purity of the spell was never broken.

September 28, 2012