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Margreta Elkins ~ Elgar’s Sea Pictures

Mezzo soprano Margreta Elkins (above) sings Sir Edward Elgar’s Sea Pictures with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Werner Andreas Albert, recorded in 1983. Listen here.

Ms. Elkins, born in Brisbane, was a favorite colleague of her compatriot Dame Joan Sutherland. They sang together at Covent Garden (where Elkins was for ten years a principal artist) and toured Australia together with the Sutherland-Williamson Opera Company in 1965. A regular member of Australian Opera, Margreta Elkins enjoyed a special success there in 1976 as Sieglinde.

She also appeared at Dublin, the Liceu, Boston, Philadelphia, and New Orleans, and was an admired recitalist, particularly in her native land.

November 24, 2022
Luana DeVol as Elektra

Above: Luana DeVol and Ricarda Merbeth celebrate their deliverance

A concert performance of Richard Strauss’s ELEKTRA with Luana DeVol in the title-role, with the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Peter Schneider.

The event took place at the Passionstheater Oberammergau in 2005. Note that cuts have been made.

Watch and listen here.

November 22, 2022
Leonard Andrzej Mróz ~ Rachmaninoff Songs

Polish basso Leonard Andrzej Mróz sings four songs by Sergei Rachmaninoff, with Jerzy Marchwiński at the piano.

Watch and listen here.

November 21, 2022
Ben Weaver @ The “New” Geffen Hall

~ Author: Ben Weaver

Saturday November 19th, 2022 – It is wonderful to be back at David Geffen Hall to hear the New York Philharmonic. I love the new space, which is far more attractive than the previous relic of 1960s hideousness. Bringing the stage forward to make room for seating behind the orchestra – something practically every European concert hall has been doing for decades – shrinks the auditorium and creates an intimate space. I thought I’d be distracted by the people behind the orchestra, but the design of the stage – with its horizontal lines and wood trims – creates a nice frame for the eye to focus, so my gaze was always on the players, rarely above them. (Except when someone turned on their phone flashlight to find something they dropped…that’s when one wishes one had a cannon to shoot the audience member right into the sun.) But otherwise, the hall is gorgeous.

And the sound is spectacular. For decades NY Philharmonic audiences had to listen to music land with a thud and the glorious sound of this orchestra never bloomed. No more. This was the reason these renovations were essential and long overdue. We can finally hear this great orchestra in all its sonic glory! Tonight’s concert gave us a wide range of musical styles to appreciate the varied nuances of the new acoustic.

The announced program for this concert was supposed to begin with Jean Sibelius’ glorious tone poem Oceanides. Alas, it was replaced with an Igor Stravinsky piece I’ve always found to be rather a waste of time: Symphonies of Wind Instruments. Composed in 1920 and revised in 1945-47, it is a shapeless, senseless series of tedious honking. Occasionally echoes of Le Sacre du printemps do not save it. Its premiere was not a success (“hisses and laughter”) and with good reason. Fortunately it only lasts 10 minutes. One can’t fault the wonderful Philharmonic wind section here because they played wonderfully and it is good to hear them play in isolation. I wish more music was programmed generally to showcase specific sections of the orchestra.

Béla Bartók’s Concerto for Two Pianos, Percussion, and Orchestra, composed in 1937 as a sonata for two pianos and transformed into its current concerto form in 1940, is a virtuosic tour-de-force. One can easily see that the work was conceived as a sonata for two pianos because the orchestral contribution is rather spare throughout. The two pianists dominate, but the percussionists get a fair workout as well. The caustic, rhythmic Bartók is on full display here, the pianists and percussionists taking turns trading blows. The first and second movements are particularly aggressive, though the second movement in a more creepy way. The strings are struck with bows, adding to the percussive nature of the piece. Pianists Daniil Trifonov and his former teacher Sergei Babayan were spectacular. Playing – and occasionally swaying – in perfect sync, their ability to bring beauty and lyricism into Bartók’s most caustic music was magical. The three Philharmonic percussionists – Christopher Lamb, Daniel Druckman and Markus Rhoten – were in perfect sync with the two star pianists. The lighter and almost humorous final movement was a lively conclusion to this difficult work. Conductor Hannu Lintu coordinated everyone spectacularly.

Finland – home of Maestro Lintu (above) – dominated the second half of the program. Kaija Saariaho’s Ciel d’hiver – lifted from her larger 2003 composition Orion – was a gorgeous sensory experience. Saariaho has a highly unique sound palette, her ability to create otherworldly sounds are extraordinary. There’s a timelessness and weightlessness to her music; it’s as if it has always been there, like primordial space – it is all around us. The transparency of the sound can now be appreciated in the new acoustics.

Jean Sibelius’ Symphony No. 7 – composed in 1924 – finally allowed us to hear the Philharmonic in its combined glory, and to appreciate the acoustics of the new Hall. If Saariajo’s music is like a frozen lake, Sibelius is a surging river and ocean of sound. His ability to make you feel the cold wind of a Finnish winter has always been a distinct feature of his extraordinary music. A relatively brief single-movement work, the Seventh realized Sibelius’ desire to pare down his music to the barest essentials. (Sadly he seems to have pared himself down to nothing just two years later. Only two major works followed the Seventh, and then Sibelius stopped composing – though he lived another 30 years!)

The symphony is made of 11 interconnected sections, some highly lyrical (recalling the more Romantic Sibelius of yore), and some far more abstract. The symphony’s final note, held by the strings, raising in volume and intensity – by turns sinister and unfinished – always reminds me of the harrowing Interlude in Berg’s Wozzeck, after Wozzeck has murdered Marie. A sustained note full of terror and hysteria. How can a single note contain so much emotion? And yet it can. Here Sibelius, like Berg before – although more subtle than Berg – shows us how.

Hannu Lintu has this music in his bones and brought out the most extraordinary performance from the Philharmonic. The climaxes were shattering, and because of the clear acoustic in the new Hall, they were shattering in volume and clarity, as well as emotion. The music simply glowed.

~ Ben Weaver

November 19, 2022
Orchestra of St. Luke’s: All-Mendelssohn Program

Above: pianist Benjamin Grosvenor

Author: Ben Weaver

Thursday November 17th, 2022 – The Orchestra of St. Luke’s and conductor Harry Bicket continued their multi-season traversal of the works of Felix Mendelssohn on Thursday evening at Carnegie Hall.

British pianist Benjamin Grosvenor was the soloist in Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in G-minor, Op. 25, composed in 1831. The 22-year-old composer’s Piano Concerto is not a standard piece in the concerto repertoire and that’s rather inexplicable. It’s a well-crafted work, with wonderful melodies, wide range of moods, and plenty for a soloist to dig into. A stormy opening from the orchestra and a quick, dramatic entry for the soloist set the tone for a wild ride. Grosvenor is an accomplished pianist and his dazzling playing was never lacking in beauty and excitement. The concerto is written without a pause between movements, effortlessly flowing from the tumultuous first to the lyrical second movement. One thing that stands out is the lack of sentimentality from Mendelssohn: he is earnest without cheap effects, and Grosvenor reflected that wonderfully. An especially lovely passage in the Andante movement passes the melody from the piano to lower strings, and here Grosvenor and the string players of the orchestra were spellbinding. A seamless transition into a quirky final movement was nicely handled, and Grosvenor continued his dazzling playing. Perhaps only a bit of humor was lacking in the whole proceeding, but I’ll place the blame for his on Maestro Bicket because this also marred an otherwise wonderful performance of Mendelssohn’s most famous work, incidental music to A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Mendelssohn composed the famous Concert Overture when he was 18 years old and it became a staple of the concert repertoire quickly: a magnificent work filled with whimsy, drama, and endlessly hummable tunes, it conquered the world. 15 years later Mendelssohn was commissioned to write additional music for Shakespeare’s play and – remarkably – the now mature composer managed to time-travel to his youth and compose a score as magical as the Overture had been. After a shimmering playing of the Overture, Bicket and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s launched into the Scherzo – a lively wind section driven ode to fairies (excellent playing by the flutes especially).

Hiding among the players all along was actor David Hyde Pierce, appearing seemingly from nowhere as Puck: which is, obviously, the best way for Puck to appear. Hyde Pierce’s performance of selected sections of the text were delightful: by turns dramatic (Titania shocked to discover her husband’s tricks), a wryly delightful Puck, and gravely pompous Oberon, the real ass of the play. The veteran actor and comedian of TV, film, and stage, moved effortlessly from one mood to the next, sometimes without taking a breath. A marvelous performance! I have always enjoyed Mendelssohn’s music for these melodramas in the work, and so many recordings omit them, alas. So it was a pleasure to hear this music, especially as sensitively played as it was.

Soprano Elena Villalón and mezzo-soprano Cecelia Hall were most excellent Fairies, one wishes Mendelssohn had written more music for the singers. Members of the The Choir of the Trinity Wall Street were also excellent in their music; I especially appreciated their very clear diction.

The Orchestra of St. Luke’s played extremely well all night. The only difficulties came in the beautiful Notturno. Featuring extensive writing for the horns, perhaps the players got tired. The only thing missing in the whole – as I mentioned above – was a sense of humor in the proceedings. The dramatic and lyrical passages were magnificent, but a somewhat lighter touch would have been welcome. Since this afflicted both the Piano Concerto and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, I’ll place this squarely on the shoulders of Maestro Bicket. Maybe he was just having one of those days; let’s blame it on a spell.

~ Ben Weaver

November 19, 2022
Orchestra of St. Luke’s: All-Mendelssohn Program

Above: pianist Benjamin Grosvenor

Author: Ben Weaver

Thursday November 17th, 2022 – The Orchestra of St. Luke’s and conductor Harry Bicket continued their multi-season traversal of the works of Felix Mendelssohn on Thursday evening at Carnegie Hall.

British pianist Benjamin Grosvenor was the soloist in Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in G-minor, Op. 25, composed in 1831. The 22-year-old composer’s Piano Concerto is not a standard piece in the concerto repertoire and that’s rather inexplicable. It’s a well-crafted work, with wonderful melodies, wide range of moods, and plenty for a soloist to dig into. A stormy opening from the orchestra and a quick, dramatic entry for the soloist set the tone for a wild ride. Grosvenor is an accomplished pianist and his dazzling playing was never lacking in beauty and excitement. The concerto is written without a pause between movements, effortlessly flowing from the tumultuous first to the lyrical second movement. One thing that stands out is the lack of sentimentality from Mendelssohn: he is earnest without cheap effects, and Grosvenor reflected that wonderfully. An especially lovely passage in the Andante movement passes the melody from the piano to lower strings, and here Grosvenor and the string players of the orchestra were spellbinding. A seamless transition into a quirky final movement was nicely handled, and Grosvenor continued his dazzling playing. Perhaps only a bit of humor was lacking in the whole proceeding, but I’ll place the blame for his on Maestro Bicket because this also marred an otherwise wonderful performance of Mendelssohn’s most famous work, incidental music to A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Mendelssohn composed the famous Concert Overture when he was 18 years old and it became a staple of the concert repertoire quickly: a magnificent work filled with whimsy, drama, and endlessly hummable tunes, it conquered the world. 15 years later Mendelssohn was commissioned to write additional music for Shakespeare’s play and – remarkably – the now mature composer managed to time-travel to his youth and compose a score as magical as the Overture had been. After a shimmering playing of the Overture, Bicket and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s launched into the Scherzo – a lively wind section driven ode to fairies (excellent playing by the flutes especially).

Hiding among the players all along was actor David Hyde Pierce, appearing seemingly from nowhere as Puck: which is, obviously, the best way for Puck to appear. Hyde Pierce’s performance of selected sections of the text were delightful: by turns dramatic (Titania shocked to discover her husband’s tricks), a wryly delightful Puck, and gravely pompous Oberon, the real ass of the play. The veteran actor and comedian of TV, film, and stage, moved effortlessly from one mood to the next, sometimes without taking a breath. A marvelous performance! I have always enjoyed Mendelssohn’s music for these melodramas in the work, and so many recordings omit them, alas. So it was a pleasure to hear this music, especially as sensitively played as it was.

Soprano Elena Villalón and mezzo-soprano Cecelia Hall were most excellent Fairies, one wishes Mendelssohn had written more music for the singers. Members of the The Choir of the Trinity Wall Street were also excellent in their music; I especially appreciated their very clear diction.

The Orchestra of St. Luke’s played extremely well all night. The only difficulties came in the beautiful Notturno. Featuring extensive writing for the horns, perhaps the players got tired. The only thing missing in the whole – as I mentioned above – was a sense of humor in the proceedings. The dramatic and lyrical passages were magnificent, but a somewhat lighter touch would have been welcome. Since this afflicted both the Piano Concerto and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, I’ll place this squarely on the shoulders of Maestro Bicket. Maybe he was just having one of those days; let’s blame it on a spell.

~ Ben Weaver

November 18, 2022
On the Banks of the Nile

Leontyne Price sings Aida’s “O patria mia“, her signature aria. This comes from her remarkable “Blue Album”: some of her finest singing ever, and still available.

Leontyne Price – AIDA ~ Qui Radamès verrà!….O patria mia

November 17, 2022
@ My Met Score Desk for PETER GRIMES

Above: Allan Clayton as Peter Grimes; a Met Opera photo

NOTE: This article was delayed due to problems with Typepad. Photos may be slow to load, and the musical excerpt may not play.

Saturday October 28th, 2022 matinee – I didn’t like the Met’s current PETER GRIMES production, which premiered in 2008, when I saw it in the House, but later I watched it on DVD and found it thrilling. For this revival, I pondered getting a seat with a view, but then opted for practicality and took a score desk.

I first saw GRIMES in 1983; it was a day I shall never forget. We’d been to SIMON BOCCANEGRA in the afternoon, and I was exhausted; sitting there waiting for GRIMES to begin, I thought “I’ll never make it to to end.” But moments after the curtain rose, Jon Vickers delivered his blazing first line, “I swear by almighty God…”, stepping on Swallow’s line in his impatience, and from that moment on, I was riveted. Vickers, his colleagues Elisabeth Söderström and Thomas Stewart, and a stellar lineup of singing actors (Jean Kraft, Lili Chookasian, Jerome Hines, Dale Duesing, Ezio Flagello, and Robert Nagy) gave me a thrilling first GRIMES, under the baton of the great Sir John Pritchard.

In the ensuing years, I experienced two magnificent portrayals of Grimes at The Met: Philip Langridge and Anthony Dean Griffey each made an overwhelming impression. This afternoon, the British tenor Allan Clayton staked out his own claim to the role with a stunningly sung performance. I first heard the voice of Allan Clayton on the excellent Decca DVD entitled Britten’s Endgame.

The Met Orchestra were on top form this afternoon, and the opera’s interludes – well-beloved as a concert ‘suite’ – were by turns painfully beautiful and searingly violent. The conductor, Nicholas Carter, was at his finest in these glorious passages. But he was less successful when solo voices were singing, sometimes giving too much volume and either covering the singers or leaving them to struggle for a heftier sound. The Met Chorus, with so much to do in this opera, were simply grand: “O tide that waits for no man…spare our coasts!“

Allan Clayton’s Grimes was more lyrical in sound than the other tenors I have heard live in the role, though he has good cutting power when he needs it. It was in the poetic passages of the music that the tenor made our hearts ache for this hapless, misunderstood man. From the start, his wonderfully clear diction made every word count. In the opening scene in the court, telling of the death of the first apprentice, Mr. Clayton drew us in.

As the opera unfolds, the character’s hopes for a new life are raised, only to be dashed. Mr. Clayton’s extraordinarily expressive singing caught every nuance of these shifts in Grimes’s mental state. His poignant “Great Bear and Pleiades“, where he sings of the “…clouds of human grief…” along with “What harbour shelters peace?, and “In dreams I’ve built myself some kindlier home” were hauntingly sung, in contrast to the deranged scene in which he torments the apprentice and eventually sends the boy down the sea cliff to his doom. My feeling is that Mr. Clayton’s Grimes may be the closest to Peter Pears’ in vocally capturing the personality of the doomed fisherman. Mr. Clayton’s performance deservedly won the audience’s vociferous approval.

Soprano Laura Wilde made an unexpected Met debut this afternoon as Ellen Orford. Her voice, with a somewhat girlish timbre, was appealing in her Act II scene with the apprentice, John, and especially so in her third act Embroidery aria. In more dramatic passages, the conductor sometimes failed to do the right thing, leaving Ms. Wilde to push the tone. The soprano and Mr. Clayton were well-matched in general, She was warmly received by the audience.

Balstrode fills an odd place in the opera: as one of the few true friends and defenders of Grimes, the character is key; but Britten does not give him all that much to sing. Adam Plachetka was fine in the role today.

The librettist and composer create expert character studies amongst the townsfolk of The Borough, affording wonderful opportunities for today’s cast. Prime among these is Swallow, splendidly voiced this afternoon by the excellent Patrick Carfizzi.

Two mezzo roles offered Denyce Graves and Michaela Martens many choice phrases as Auntie and Mrs. Sedley respectively. After a few warm-up notes, Ms. Graves sounded very well; “A joke’s a joke, and fun is fun!” she jibed sarcastically. Ms. Martens, with the meatier role of one of the opera’s most despicable characters (a busybody and gossip with a drug addiction,) got a round of laughs from the crowd with “I’ve never been in a pub in my life!” and pulled out some darkish chest tones at “Murder most foul it is!” and “Crime, which my hobby is...”

Harold Wilson as Hobson kicked the opera off with his strong-voiced summons of Grimes to take the oath; later, Hobson tries to evade Ellen’s offer to accompany him to pick up Grimes’s next apprentice. Chad Shelton (Bob Boles) and Justin Austin (Ned Keene) each made their mark, and the always-effective Tony Stevenson excelled as the Reverend Horace Adams. As Auntie’s two nieces, Brandie Sutton and Maureen McKay sang prettily; they were joined by Mlles. Wilde and Graves in the opera’s pensive quartet, one of the score’s unique highlights.

With this performance, PETER GRIMES seemed to edge out BILLY BUDD as my favorite Britten opera; however, that pendulum might swing back if I ever get to see BILLY BUDD again, just as the very top spot on my list of favorite operas has shifted between ARIADNE AUF NAXOS and ELEKTRA for years.

PETER GRIMES is a cruel opera; the characters (well, except for Ellen) each have a mean streak, and zero tolerance for anyone who is ‘different’. Growing up in a similar small town, where everyone knows (and minds) everyone else’s business, I learned to keep mostly to myself, leaving the world behind to live in my own dream-space filled with opera, and with longings I didn’t understand. Like Peter, I had an understanding girlfriend who protected me in a way, and soothed my sadness. My classmates were cruel, but things never turned brutal, as they do in The Borough: “Bring the branding iron and knife…what’s done now is done for life!” I sometimes wonder how I endured those long, worrisome days.

Metropolitan Opera House October 28th, 2022 matinee
PETER GRIMES Britten Peter Grimes............Allan Clayton Ellen Orford............Laura Wilde (debut) Captain Balstrode.......Adam Plachetka Mrs. Sedley.............Michaela Martens Auntie..................Denyce Graves Niece...................Brandie Sutton Niece...................Maureen McKay Hobson..................Harold Wilson Swallow.................Patrick Carfizzi Bob Boles...............Chad Shelton Rev. Horace Adams.......Tony Stevenson Ned Keene...............Justin Austin John....................Brandon Chosed Villagers: Helena Brown, Ross Benoliel, Scott Dispensa, Ned Hanlon, Jeremy Little, Patrick Miller, Steven Myles, Earle Patriarco, Jonathan Scott, Meredith Woodend, Yohan Yi
Conductor...............Nicholas Carter

Settling in at my desk well before curtain time. I opened the old, heavy score I had taken from the library, and found the incredible inscription shown below. It means that Benjamin Britten actually held this score in his hands.

~ Oberon

October 30, 2022
Danish String Quartet @ Chamber Music Society

Above: the Danish String Quartet, photographed by Caroline Bittencourt. From left: Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen (violin); Fredrik Schøyen Sjölin (cello); Frederik Øland (violin); Asbjørn Nørgaard (viola)

NOTE: I again apologize for the “look” of this post. Due to a prolonged downtime at Typepad, the photo may not appear.

Sunday October 30th, 2022 – How wonderful to hear the Danish String Quartet live again! Their iconic sound is really quite unlike that of any other string quartet, though how to describe what actually sets them apart is nearly impossible. You simply have to be there.

This evening they brought us music of Mozart, Britten, and Schumann, all of it played with silken smoothness of tone and technique. One nice thing about the Danish: the two violinists switched seats in the course of the program, so that today we got to experience Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen taking the lead for the two Mozart works, and Frederik Øland in the Britten and Schumann.

A large audience greeted the Danes with warm applause; the players sat down, and immediately set the evening sailing with Mozart’s Divertimento #15, K. 138. Expert timing marked their playing of the uplifting opening Allegro; world weariness was quickly banished as polished phrase after phrase drew us in. What sounds! The sustained line of the Andante allowed us to savour the textures of Mozart’s harmonies, which become quite delicate for a while. Mr. Tonsgaard Sørensen’s sublime phrasing, and the velvety warmth provided (all evening) by cellist Fredrik Schoyen Sjölin were most welcome. From its lively start, the concluding Presto swept us along, its charming and witty mid-section an added attraction. This short and sweet Divertimento was a perfect concert opener.

How wonderful to hear Benjamin Britten’s Three Divertimenti the day after experiencing the composer’s masterwork PETER GRIMES at The Met. These brilliant miniatures make a nicely-contrasted concert set, and The Danes played them to perfection. The amusingly off-kilter March highlights the quartet’s outstanding violist Asbjørn Nørgaard. The music steps along, with a brief detour for some Mendelssohnian lightness, before gaining speed to a sudden finish. The second divertimento, Waltz, features gently plucking rhythms, the violin and viola topping things off. We dance blithely along, faster and faster, to a cute conclusion. The agitato start of Burlesque soon has the players strumming, plucking, and tapping their instruments. The music accelerates to a brisk conclusion.

Now for another Mozart treat: the Quartet in E-flat major, K. 428. The opening Allegro non troppo commences with the players in unison, Mr. Tonsgaard Sørensen leading the way. Such gracious music: the violist much (and marvelously) occupied, the cellist the beating heart, the violin’s upward runs providing a gentle lift to the spirit. It’s magical music, and magically played. The Andante con moto has a lovely start, with bending harmonies sweetly blended. The intrinsic beauty of Mozart’s melodies creates a timeless feeling, with Mr. Tonsgaard Sørensen‘s silken tone giving us the blessing of calm. I wanted it to go on and on.

But, instead, a Minuet must be danced: such elegance! A minor-key interlude provides contrast, and Mr. Tonsgaard Sørensen‘s demonstrates perfect control before passing a theme off to Mr. Øland. We now arrive at the final Allegro vivace, bustling and blithe, with coy hesitations. The abounding charm of the music gives the feeling that all’s right with the world….an illusion, I know, but…illusions are, by their nature, sweet.

Following the interval, Robert Schumann’s Quartet in A-major, Op.41, No, 3, made for a spectacular finish to the program. A feeling of sweet sadness permeates the opening movement, in which the intertwining voices mingle expressively. An agitato figuration for the cello draws a response from the other three voices. There is an underlying anxiousness at the start of the second movement which creates a restless feeling, and the cello takes the lead with a tender theme; the music – rich and dense – becomes a slow dance. Again, the blend the players achieve is simply miraculous.

Now comes the crowing glory of the evening: the Adagio molto. Following a poignant start, the viola draws us in with a searching feeling. The violin and viola play a rising phrase that seems to draw us heavenward, whilst a captivating density of tone from the lower voices carries us deeper and deeper into the music; the sounds of the violins seem to hypnotize us. The end of the movement is so profoundly gorgeous that all else is forgotten.

But Schumann has an Allegro molto vivace up his sleeve to delight us: from an agitato start, scurrying motifs pop up. Then a trudging beat commences, dancing us on the the finish.

Reveling in a full-house standing ovation, the Danish String Quartet offered an encore from Papa Haydn’s very first work for string quartet, giving us yet another sublime musical experience.

~ Oberon

October 30, 2022
Benjamin Britten ~ Rosa Mystica

The National Youth Choir of Australia, conducted by Noel Ancell, sing Benjamin Britten’s Rosa Mystica at the Sacred Heart Church, Carlton, Melbourne, on July 9, 2018.

Watch and listen here.

October 28, 2022