Category: Reviews

József Simándy as Lohengrin

The great Hungarian tenor József Simándy (above) sings Lohengrin’s Grail Narrative in Hungarian from a televised performance, date unknown.

Watch and listen here.

József Simándy was born on September 18, 1916 in a small rural Hungarian town called Kistarcsa. After graduating high school he worked as an auto mechanic until the fall of 1939, when the City Theater hired him as a chorister.

Was was contracted as a soloist with the Szeged National Theater Opera Company in 1945. In the spring of 1947 he was hired by the Hungarian State Opera as a guest artist, and then became member of the company. Among his many roles were Turiddu, Don Jose, Lohengrin, Gabriele Adorno, Vladimir in Prince Igor), Radames, Walther von Stolzing, Manrico, Don Carlo, the Duke of Mantua, Lensky, Riccardo in Ballo in Maschera, Otello, Florestan, Canio, and Mario Cavaradossi. He also made guest appearances at the opera house in Munich,

Simándy retired in November 1973 but continued to perform frequently until an official farewell performance in 1980. He died in Budapest in 1997.

November 21, 2024
Jard van Nes ~ “Erbarme Dich, mein Gott”

Jard van Nes sings “Erbarme Dich, mein Gott” from Bach’s St Matthew Passion at a performance given at the Alpirsbach Monastery Church by the Bach Collegium München, with the Neuburger Chorgemeinschaft, and Tolzer Sängerknaben, under the baton of Enoch zu Guttenberg.

Watch and listen here.

October 31, 2024
Jard van Nes ~ “Erbarme Dich, mein Gott”

Jard van Nes sings “Erbarme Dich, mein Gott” from Bach’s St Matthew Passion at a performance given at the Alpirsbach Monastery Church by the Bach Collegium München, with the Neuburger Chorgemeinschaft, and Tolzer Sängerknaben, under the baton of Enoch zu Guttenberg.

Watch and listen here.

October 30, 2024
American Composers Orchestra @ Zankel Hall

Above: Curtis Stewart & Kebra-Seyoun Charles

~ Author: Shoshana Klein

Wednesday October 30th, 2024 – I’ve had a thing about the concept of borders since the US border patrol incinerated my innocent house plants at the US Canada border in 2022. The name of this concert by the American Composer’s Orchestra was “The New Virtuoso: Borders” and at the beginning, Curtis Stewart framed the concert in a way that sounded really great. He talked about using virtuosity in new ways, rethinking the way the instruments work, and considering the use of borders. This included the concept of good borders (like healthy boundaries) versus harmful borders – like those used to start wars, and those that mark our identities without causing harm. I really wondered if the music would live up to this deep description.

The program:

Michael Abels: Borders

Kebra-Seyoun Charles: New Work (ACO Commission, developed via EarShot CoLABoratory/World Premiere)

Curtis Stewart, Embrace (ACO Commission)

Paul Novak, Forest Migrations (ACO Commission/World Premiere)

Victoria Polevá, The Bell

The first piece was by Michael Abels, who has written the music to a bunch of blockbuster movies. The description of the piece and the inspirations for it that was printed in the program was beautiful – the idea was that in the first movement, the guitar is within the borders of the bar lines and in the second movement it’s not. The second movement also depicts a child running – sometimes in joy and sometimes in fear. It was a little hard to hear all of that in the music but in the second movement the guitar was definitely leading more and there were complicated rhythmic sections where the guitar and orchestra were definitely in different meters, which was a cool effect.

The Paul Novak piece “Forest Migrations” was about trees and ecological borders – he used the orchestra of the metaphor for forest and forest migration caused by climate change. He described how the movement of the piece would be slow – each player playing one at a time, and also mentioned that musicians owe a debt to the trees that their instruments are made of, which I thought was really interesting. I really liked the concept but I was not convinced that the effect was going to be unique. In reality, it was really well done but not what I expected from the description – there was a lot more movement and melody than I was expecting. I like the way the concept of borders were explored and discussed in this new way, but once again, I was not sure I heard it in the music the way it was described.

Before the start of Kebra-Seyoun Charles‘ piece, Curtis Stewart asked if they wanted to say anything else about it and they said “have fun.” The piece was all about blending musical styles – so mostly genre borders were those being addressed. There was harpsichord in the orchestration, which was really cool juxtaposed against some of the other musical styles that were played, and in the first movement the piece kept falling into a sort of Bach sound. The idea of the first movement was walking down the street in New York and catching snippets of lots of different things and I think it achieved that relatively well. The whole piece was very virtuosic and seemed really technically difficult for the bass soloist (though it was the composer, so they did a great job and obviously knew what they were getting into!). The second movement started very schmaltzy and almost sounded like a quote from something. Charles seemed to be having fun and they actually got the orchestra to sound kind of raucous in a way that you don’t hear often in a concert hall, which was refreshing.

The Victoria Poleva piece had dark and interesting sound worlds – it definitely explored the concept of a bell and the concept of war, though in reality a lot of the peace was actually really uplifting and bright. Another thing that was bright was the soloists dress which was right yellow and sparkly! This piece felt a lot more cinematic than Michael Abel’s piece, ironically. One movement was almost entirely an ascending major scale with various harmony changes. There were some really cool whistling wind whistling sounds going along with string string sounds that were like ghost noises. It was kind of interesting that this Ukrainian composer who mentioned Ukraine and mentioned the war didn’t really mention borders, though maybe it’s just implicit enough that it wasn’t necessary.

The last piece was by Curtis Stewart (above), who is also the artistic director of the ACO. This was probably the most involved piece of the program. There was a video and there was audio recording and there was audience participation! I’m always impressed when a composer tries to incorporate audience participation. In this context it worked pretty well, we basically sang chords in a progression. I wasn’t that much of a fan of the video but having the audio was nice. It was a compilation of his mother’s voice talking about music, interspersed with the composers from the concert and school kids from the ACO’s young composer program answering the same questions that she had. One of those questions that he mentioned before he started stuck with me was “how does music carry you through the changes in your life.” The piece was less full of electronics than I was expecting given his setup, but I did really like the music.

Conductor Mei-Ann Chen, who I’ve heard great things about, seemed like a dynamic, clear, and energetic leader who would be fun to play under. Overall, I suppose the theme of the concert for me was something along the lines of “great thoughts and concepts that don’t always come through in the music” but in some ways that’s par for the course in new music, and honestly I still prefer it to a lack of contextualization or tying things together – I love a concert that ties ideas together and brings up relevant issues. Many things were tried and many of them were successful.

~ Shoshana Klein

October 30, 2024
The Beethoven Quartets @ CMS

Above: the Calidore String Quartet at Alice Tully Hall; photo by Da Ping Luo

~ Author: Ben Weaver

October 22nd & 27th, 2024 – Throughout the 2024-25 season, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center is hosting a traversal of the complete Beethoven String Quartets at Alice Tully Hall, performed by a single ensemble: New York-based Calidore String Quartet. The ensemble is Jeffrey Meyers and Ryan Meehan on violins, Jeremy Berry on the viola, and Estelle Choi on the cello. The first two evenings of the cycle – October 22nd and 27th – included three quartets on each night.

The 27-year-old Ludwig van Beethoven was commissioned to compose six String Quartets, alongside his former teacher Franz Joseph Haydn, who was considered the father of the string quartet. Haydn was ultimately only able to finish 2 of the 6 quartets he was supposed to compose, but Beethoven dove head-first into his first string quartets which became his Op. 18. By the time Beethoven reached the end of his life, he composed 16 string quartets, which have become the Mount Everest of the genre, arguably only equaled by Dmitri Shostakovich’s 15 String Quartets composed more than a century later.

Commonly the Op. 18 String Quartets are called the Early String Quartets. Even though Beethoven was already exploring his more explosive and adventurous musical nature in other musical genres, most notably his piano sonatas, with these first forays into the string quartet, he harkened back to his predecessor masters of the genre, Haydn and Mozart. The Calidore Quartet are performing the works in the order they were composed, not numbered in the published score. The sequence is Nos. 3, 1, 2, 5, 4 and 6.

By and large, these early six quartets are light in nature, with the first violin dominating the procedures. Happily, first violin Jeffrey Myers is an exceptional musician, the sweet sound of his instrument effortlessly filling the concert hall. Quartet No. 3 in D major opens with a charming melody, lovingly shaped by the Calidores, the lush and warm sound of their ensemble emphasizing the Classical and early Romantic nature of the works. (By contrast, for example, when the Danish String Quartet performed a full cycle of the Quartets at CMS in 2020, they leaned into their more modern sound, closer to Beethoven’s last quartets.)

Quartet No. 1 in F major also opens with a graceful, contagious melody – an obvious common thread running through all six of these works. Here, but especially in the second movement, cellist Estelle Choi, gets several key moments to stand out with a dark, glowing sound. There’s a depth to this movement that foreshadows Beethoven’s Romantic nature, one he would unleash in later compositions. He said this sorrowful movement was inspired by the ending of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet.”

The Calidores took most of the faster movements at a wonderfully quick pace: delirious, never chaotic. The beautiful coordination between the four partners kept them in perfect sync. This was most evident in the Quartet No. 2 in G major, the most humorous and closest in spirit to Haydn from the bunch.

Quartet No. 5 in A major is thoughtful in its first two movements, with unexpected dramatic outbursts that bring surprising drama. Violist Jeremy Berry’s lovely solos shine in the second movement, as jagged stabs from the violins interrupt him. Second violin Ryan Meehan’s slightly sharper tone (not pitch) being a great contrast to Meyers’ sweeter sound. The third movement is a set of variations, the last of which is a tune that you can’t help but tap your toes to.

Quartets No. 4 in C minor and No. 6 in B-flat major come closest to the Beethoven who would redefine Romanticism. Both of full drama and unexpected turns. No. 4 omits a traditional slow movement altogether, instead containing a Scherzo and Minuet in the middle. The Calidores darkened their sound for the dramatic outbursts, but kept their sense of humor for the quartet’s surprising and unexpected pizzicato close.

Quartet No. 6 in B-flat major, which closes this series of the Early Quartets, gives greater voice to the second violin and cello, with Meehan and Choi balancing Beethoven’s growing darkness, while the first violin soars above them. The final movement is an extraordinary piece by itself, with an extended grave “introduction” Beethoven titled “La Malinconia” (Melancholy.) It’s movement that lets us look into the future of Beethoven’s progress. The Calidores’ performance brought the full house to its feet.It should be noted that, especially on the 27th, the audience was remarkably quiet, hypnotized by these wonderful performances that made us all eagerly await the continuation of the cycle.

The Calidore String Quartet will perform the Middle Quartets at Alice Tully Hall on January 28 and February 4, 2025. The Late Quartets, including the somewhat demented Große Fugue, will be performed on May 9 and 18, 2025. I recommend that anyone who missed these performances make sure to not miss rest of what is already an excellent cycle.

~ Ben Weaver

October 27, 2024
@ My Met Score Desk for TROVATORE

Above: Maestro Daniele Callegari

~ Author: Oberon

Saturday October 26th, 2024 matinee – What made this performance outstanding was the conducting of Daniele Callegari; he made the music come alive with brisk but never rushed tempi, whilst keeping the volume under control, helping the singers to sing without forcing. At a few points, the musicians fell back on the Y N-Z approach: play loud and fast. But mostly, the performance was immeasurably satisfying. It wasn’t until I got home and checked the archives that I realized I’d heard a Callegari TROVATORE in 2013; the awfulness of his cast that night had made me purge the memory from my mind.

This afternoon, TROVATORE started with a bang: Ryan Speedo Green’s Ferrando immediately established the singer’s vocal authority, seizing our interest – and holding it – throughout his monolog, which was expertly supported by the Maestro. Ryan’s diminuendo on “All’inferno!” was chilling. The scene’s finale, and the sounding of the castle’s alarm bells, assured us we were in for some vibrant Verdi.

As Inez, Briana Hunter’s appealing voice and sense of urgency in her exchange with Rachel Willis-Sorenson’s Leonora engaged us in their story right from the start. At first, Ms. Willis-Sorenson’s tone showed a steady beat, and passing hints of sharpness, but the voice would come under control as the opera progressed. Maestro Callegari kept the forward impetus of “Tacea la notte placida” flowing, and the soprano went on to regale us with her deft vocalism in “Di tale amor“, etching in some very fine trills.

Igor Golovatenko gave the Count di Luna’s opening lines a quiet, sustained feeling; then the power of his voice came into play. All afternoon, he would prove himself an excellent Verdi baritone. The harp sounds, and Michael Fabiano’s instinctive phrasing and passionate delivery of the words of his serenade were a joy to experience. Coming forward, Mr. Fabiano’s scornful “Infida!” raised the performance’s temperature to the boiling point. Ms. Willis-Sorenson scorchingly brilliant “M’odi” staved off the duel until the dynamic stretta ended with a joint high D-flat from the soprano and tenor, and the adversaries’ swords clanged as they rushed off.

After a truly rousing Anvil Chorus with the blacksmiths’ thunderous hammerings, Jamie Barton (above in a MET Opera photo) commenced Azucena’s iconic “Stride la vampa” and I was soon thinking this would be Jamie’s best Met role to date. She could be deliciously subtle one moment and richly chesty the next, and her trills and top notes were really impressive. She ended the brief aria with a bang, but there was no applause. Jamie’s very sustained “Mi vendica!” was another perfect touch. Ned Hanlon’s powerful summons from the Old Gypsy made its mark.The gypsies headed off.

Now mother and son are alone, and Jamie commences the old woman’s story: what perfect support the Maestro and his players gave to her great narrative, and how persuasive the mezzo’s story-telling. As Azucena is about to tell her son the ironic truth of those moments at her mother’s execution, Fabiano/Manrico takes a poignant diminuendo of “Tu forse…?” and then the fire music of the high strings gives him an answer even before his mother can say the words. Jamie nailed the top B-flat of the story’s climactic moment, then sang her final lines in a sustained, chilling hush. Back in the day, this kind of singing would have stopped the show, but today there was only a brief round of applause.

A vividly expressive conversation between mother and son brings on Fabiano’s “Mal reggendo” in which his lyricism and sense of ebb and flow captivates, as does his marvelously quiet “Non ferir!” This great scene now races to its end with the striking duet “Perigliarti ancor...” with some plummy chest notes from Jamie, and as well as a colorful, wide-ranging cadenza.

Maestro Callegari gave us a wonderfully stealthy opening to the Convent Scene, and then Mr. Golovatenko’s great voicing of the recit leads to an exchange with Ryan Speedo Green before cresting with Di Luna’s powerfully delivered “Leonora di mia!. The great aria “Il balen...” was taken slightly faster that usual; overall it was beautifully sung though there were traces of sharpness along the way. Mr. Golovatenko was heartily cheered. Another exchange with Mr. Green, with some urgent chorus passages, led to di Luna’s brief cabaletta, which fades away as the nuns are heard approaching.

Above: Michael Fabiano and Igor Golovatenko as Manrico and Count di Luna; a MET Opera photo

There was a lovely exchange of farewells between Mlles. Willis-Sorenson and Hunter before all Hell breaks loose and Manrico returns from the dead. Ms. Willis-Sorenson launches the ensemble in hesitant wonder at her beloved’s re-appearance…radiant top notes, and the poignant “Sei tu dal ciel discendere?” from Leonora, and then a trading of insults between her rival lovers. Suddenly Manrico’s men rush in crying “Urgel viva!” and Manrico greets them with one of my favorite lines in the opera: “Miei prodi guerrieri!” The ensemble rushes to a finish but is halted for Ms. Willis-Sorenson to again beautifully voice her wonderment at her beloved’s resurrection.

After the interval, Ryan Speedo Green is again superb as he urges the Count di Luna’s men to victory in the coming siege. Azucena is apprehended lurking about the camp; Jamie Barton’s “Giorni poveri” is expressively sung, with nice subtleties of phrasing, but after Mr. Green calls the old gypsy out, Jamie turns fiery with “Deh, rallentate…!”

Inside his besieged castle, Manrico tries to calm Leonora though his fate seems predestined. Mr. Fabiano’s recit and his gorgeously phrased “Ah, si, ben mio” won him vociferous applause, though I was sensing a bit of tension in the highest notes. After a tenderly harmonized duet passage with his beloved, Ruiz (played by Daniel O’Hearn) rushed in to tell of Azucena’s impending execution. Manrco’s “Di quella pira” was taken at breakneck speed…very exciting…though again, Mr. Fabiano’s highest notes were not thoroughly comfortable.

After the applause had died down, there was a very odd sound of someone screaming from the stage-left wing; this was followed by a moan, and the sound of someone talking on a cellphone. No idea what the problem was.

(Update: on Sunday evening at the Tucker Gala, I found out the reason for the offstage commotion. After singing the “Di quella pira“, Michael Fabiano walked into the wings and tripped over something. He let out a scream and then a moan, and you could hear a walkie-talkie call summoning medics. He finished the opera, but last night at Carnegie Hall, he had to be walked unto the stage by the pianist, moving stiffly and very slowly. Kudos to Michael for keeping his commitment to the Tucker event.)

Now Ms. Willis-Sorenson regaled us with her spectacular singing in the great scene where Leonora comes to the tower where her lover is awaiting execution; she seeks to bargain with di Luna and save Manrico’s life. As Ruiz, Mr. O’Hearn brings her to this dark place; his voicing of his despair over Manrico’s imminent death was infinitely touching when a trace of a gentle sob spoke volumes of his devotion.

The the Met stage was now Ms. Willis-Sorenson’s to own, and own she did. Absolutely phenomenal singing here! Her recit was finely phrased, then came the beloved aria “D’amor sull’ali rosee” in which the soprano held her own against memories of great Leonoras from the past. Her line was beautifully sustained, the trills lovingly defined, her tone richly lyrical. In the cresting lines “Ma deh! non dirgli, improvvido, le pene del mio cor!” did not spin the piano/pianissimo effects that many sopranos favor, but instead sounded more resolute. Her cadenza featured a lovely piano top note, on which she did a thrilling crescendo. She finished the aria with the lower ending.

In the Miserere that follows, a vivid sense of fate developed at the soprano’s “Quel suon, quelle prece”, and her anguish at hearing Manrico’s voice singing an ardent farewell to her was palpable. Ms. Willis-Sorenson then sailed thru her cabaletta, dispensing the coloratura with aplomb and capping the scena with a house-filling high-C.

Both the diva and Mr. Golovatenko were cooking in their great duet, sung with great abandon and dramatic pointing of the text. Some people will doubtless say that the soprano left out the high-C at the end, but…it’s not in the score.

In prison, awaiting execution, Manrico tries to calm his anxious mother; Mr. Fabiano sang with consoling beauty of tone whilst Ms. Barton delivered a fearsome “Parola orrendo!“. Jamie’s superb control made “Si, la stanchezza” so moving, and then the two singers found a lovely blend in “Ai nostri monti“, with a perfect fadeway at the end. Mr. Fabiano’s anger at Leonora makes sparks fly, but Jamie interrupts them with a dreamy reprise of “Ai nostri monti“.

Above: Michael Fabiano and Rachel Willis-Sorenson in the opera’s final scene; a MET Opera photo

Leonora reveals that her death is at hand: she has taken poison. Ms. Willis-Sorenson’s “Pria che d’altri vivere” was so poignant. Her death releases di Luna from his promise, and Manrico is swiftly executed. Jamie Barton then gave the opera a flaming finish with her powerful “Sei vendicata, o madre!”

Bravi, tutti!

I went to the stage door after the performance where I met Maestro Callegari; he very kindly signed my program (above).

~ Oberon

October 26, 2024
Rectangles and Circumstance @ 92nd Street Y

Above: Caroline Shaw; performance photo by Joseph Sinnott

~ Author: Lili Tobias

Wednesday October 23rd, 2024 – As part of a tour of the new album Rectangles and Circumstance, Caroline Shaw and Sō Percussion performed a concert at the 92nd Street Y’s Kaufmann Concert Hall this past Wednesday. The concert was split into two halves—the two sides of the record—plus a performance in between of Shaw’s 2017 piece for Sō Percussion, Narrow Sea.

As I walked into the concert hall, my eyes were immediately drawn to the immense set-up of musical instruments. There were truly so much stuff on stage that was hard to pinpoint exactly what was making what noise most of the time, leaving the origin of many of the sounds a mystery to me. Regardless of the specifics, I thought that Shaw and Sō Percussion were able to craft incredibly effective transitions from phases of primarily vocals (sung by Shaw herself) to mostly instrumentals to a balance of both. I’m curious how this performance might feel in a smaller venue though, so that the audience could get a better view of the instruments.

Singer Alicia Olatuja joined Sō Percussion (above, photo by Joseph Sinnott) for the performance of Narrow Sea. Her voice was quite different from Shaw’s, and it was cool to hear the contrast in how it blended with the percussion. Water also played a large part in both Narrow Sea and Rectangles and Circumstance. The final song on the first half of Rectangles and Circumstance was “The Parting Glass,” which is a Scottish/Irish folk song. During the performance of this song, a pitcher water was poured into a bowl, which one of the percussionists then dipped a set of crotales (I think) into. This had the effect of bending the pitch downwards and dampening the sound—very cool! In Narrow Sea, Olatuja multi-tasked by pouring water into bowls, all while still singing. The percussionists then hit the bowls with mallets as the water filled them up.

Shaw is definitely no stranger to setting interesting lyrics, and the lyrics on Rectangles and Circumstance were especially intriguing. They were largely inspired by nineteenth-century poems, taken in new directions by Shaw and the members of the quartet. In many of the songs, the repetition and extra-grammatical usage of the words felt mesmerizingly surreal. Shaw often sang into some kind of vocoder that added harmonies or looped her singing. She was also joined by another singer (whose name unfortunately doesn’t appear in the program!) on a few of the songs, and the two of their voices were balanced so well that it almost sounded like the vocoder, but more natural.

Performance photo by Joseph Sinnott

I was blown away by the cover of Schubert’s “An die Musik,” which ended the concert (and the album). The ensemble seamlessly transitioned into this final song through a long sustained rumbling sound that I could literally feel echoing through my body as it radiated through the hall. Going with a water metaphor (since that seemed to be a theme in this performance) I felt like I was submerged in water but the water was music, fragments of melody floating by on the waves of sound. As the song came to its end, Shaw introduced some distorting effects on her vocals. It was almost as if I was drifting off to sleep while listening to the song playing on an old record player in another room. The perfect end to the evening!

While I had only heard Shaw’s more “classical” music in the past, I felt so much resemblance in her compositional language to the music tonight as well. In particular, I’ve always admired how Shaw handles very simple sounds in her music. She’s able to tread the line between simple and complex sounds exceedingly well, never over-complicating anything that doesn’t need to be. I also find that she is able to create very effective transitions between contrasting parts of her music, bringing the listener to the new sonic environment in a completely instinctive way. She and the members of Sō Percussion seemed to gel really well on stage, and that strong partnership was apparent in the music itself too. It was wonderful to hear a different side of Shaw’s music, and side full of collaboration, that felt both new and also familiar at the same time!

~ Lili Tobias

October 25, 2024
Paola Prestini’s SILENT NIGHT @ National Sawdust

Above: composer Paola Prestini; photo by Caroline Tompkins

~ Author: Lili Tobias

Saturday October 28th, 2024 – I was lucky enough to have a front row seat to the world premiere of composer Paola Prestini’s new opera, Silent Light. I walked into National Sawdust on Saturday night to ambient insect noises mingling with the chatter of the audience finding their seats. As I looked out over the set of unfinished wood, I could smell the faint hint of bacon, eggs, and pancakes. And these things were just the beginning of how this production expanded not only my ears, but all of my senses!

The innovative ways Prestini played with the sounds, visuals, and physical objects on stage really made Silent Light stand out, though the plot stuck close to standard operatic tropes—love, infidelity, etc. One of the first aspects of this that caught my attention was how she used mundane sounds either by themselves or incorporated into the musical sounds. The opera gets underway with the loud tick-tock of a grandfather clock (seen in the back left corner of the stage) oscillating in volume. The louder it gets, the more surreal the set feels. As that first scene progresses, the women and children of the family come onstage to set the table for breakfast (cooked onstage!) and all begin eating. The natural clatter of plates and utensils mingling with the warm low brass and string instruments created a very fun and realistic soundscape. It truly felt like the audience members were invisible observers within the room with the characters.

Above: the ensemble, photo by Jill Steinberg

I was especially impressed with the transitions between scenes, both in terms of the music and the staging. As breakfast wraps up, a wave of construction sounds rise up from the left side of the stage as the chorus becomes a team of workers. There’s a large waft of dust, which visually separates the two halves of the stage between the men at work outside and the women at work in the house. There were also two wonderful moments of transition between diagetic and non-diagetic music. One occurred during this scene as the chamber ensemble begins playing what seemed to me a lively popular song and the chorus sings along, simultaneously moving the chairs and table to prepare for the next scene. And later on, a French ballad begins playing on a television in the kitchen, then becoming the background for the characters Johan and Marianne to meet up in a hotel room. Both transitions were executed so seamlessly and really helped push the the flow of action forward.

Above: Brittany Renee; photo by Jill Steinberg

Another remarkable aspect of this opera were the juxtapositions between silence or quiet sounds and loud, nearly overbearing sounds. Overall, I felt like there was minimal actual singing in this opera, but not in a bad way at all! As a listener, I tend to get fatigued when operas have extra long passages of continuous singing, so I really appreciated the many moments of silence or instrumental music—or even just foley sounds—that provided contrast (and rest for the singers’ voices too). There were also many moments of abrupt shift from sound to silence. One especially striking moment takes place when Johan and his wife Esther are driving in a truck, Esther knowing that Johan has just slept with Marianne. The music, accompanied by the sound of heavy rain, creates a steady and unceasing anxiety as Esther finally comes to terms with her own feelings about her husband’s affair. Then it suddenly stops as she rushes out of the truck, leaving behind just the sound of the rain (and the literal water which has started pouring down onto the stage!).

Above: Anthony Dean Griffey and Margaret Lattimore; photo courtesy of Mr. Griffey

I also want to add that the novelties of this opera did not go unsupported by amazing musicianship. All the singers were incredibly strong both vocally and as actors, and the lyricism of Prestini’s music really helped them sound even more amazing! I also enjoyed Prestini’s writing for brass. Because of the small size of the instrumental ensemble, the proportion of brass instruments to other types felt very high relative to, for example, an orchestra. I liked how predominant a role the trumpet and trombone played in the music, and they really added a unique depth to the sound that was especially resonant in the small performance space.

Above: Daniel Okulitch and Julia Mintzer, photo by Jill Steinberg

This opera contained so many interesting things that it’s honestly been difficult to write about everything that caught my attention! I thought it was a huge success at National Sawdust, and I hope it gets many more performances. It will be super interesting to see how the staging evolves in different spaces and with different cast members. Silent Light was an incredibly immersive experience, and there was always something of interest to listen to, look at, and even smell!

~ Lili Tobias

September 29, 2024
Rival Princesses: Cruz-Romo/Bumbry

A brief and rather bizarre black & white film of excerpts from AIDA from a performance given at Orange on a windy evening in 1977. Gilda Cruz-Romo is Aida and Grace Bumbry is Amneris, with Luigi Roni as the King of Egypt and Peter Gougalov as Radames. Thomas Schippers conducts.

Watch and listen here.

September 24, 2024
Jaap van Zweden ~ PARSIFAL Act III

Jaap van Zweden conducts the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus in a concert performance of Act III of Wagner’s PARSIFAL given at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, in 2010. Klaus Florian Vogt is Parsifal, Falk Struckmann is Amfortas, Robert Holl is Gurnemanz, and Katarina Dalayman is Kundry.

Watch and listen here.

September 17, 2024