Oberon's Glade

Tag: St Luke

  • CARMINA BURANA @ Carnegie Hall

    Carl-orff

    Above: composer Carl Orff

    ~ Author: Oberon

    Tuesday February 27th, 2024 – This evening at Carnegie Hall, the Orchestra of St Luke’s presented Carl Orff’s CARMINA BURANA. The performance was conducted by Tito Muñoz, with soloists Ying Fang (soprano) Nicholas Phan (tenor), and Norman Garrett (baritone), and the Westminster Symphonic Choir (James Jordan, Director) and the Young People’s Chorus of New York City (Francisco J. Núñez, Artistic Director).

    What an exhilarating evening! The Carnegie stage was jam-packed with music-makers, and they brought the amazing score vividly to life. There is never a dull moment in CARMINA BURANA; every bar of music engages us. Maestro Muñoz had the massed forces under fingertip control, and by keeping his arms poised in the air between the work’s individual movements, he held applause at bay…until the end, when an ovation of tsunami proportions swept thru the venerable Hall, everyone on their feet and cheering with delight.

    The choral singing was truly impressive, ever-alert to the shifting rhythms and the swirls of words. Their dynamic range is vast, down to near whispers at times, and then going full-tilt in the lusty Tavern Song. Likewise, Orff’s keenly judged orchestration was given in its full glory: rich, sweeping strings, clear and enticing winds (a special cheer for the flutes), and the percussionists, who are busy all evening with an array of instruments that includes chimes and castanets. The sounds of piano and celesta add magic to Orff”s imaginative scoring.

    The work is divided into 25 relatively short sections, many of which are assigned to the chorus. There are three solo vocalists; the first to be heard was baritone Norman Garrett, a tall gentleman with an intriguing timbre. He was especially impressive in the Cour d’amours section, where the vocal line took him from falsetto to bass-like depths, and where a high-lying song displayed his lyrical powers. He looked very dapper in his tux.

    By contrast, tenor Nicholas Phan wore an appropriately white nightclub suit in his role of a Roasted Swan. His treacherous aria, which lingers in a super-high tessitura, was cunningly managed, and his droll facial expressions conveyed the bird’s torment.  

    That ravishing soprano, Ying Fang, was the crowning glory of the evening. Clad in an unusual white frock trimmed in black, the soprano’s crystalline purity of timbre was magically projected into the great Hall. She lingered on uncannily sustained pianissimi that hung on the air like an alluring perfume. And on the sensual heights heights of the Dulcissime, Ying Fang’s voice shimmered with an intoxicating glow.

    ~ Oberon

  • The Search for a Symphony @ Merkin Hall

    Brahms

    Above: Johannes Brahms

    ~ Author: Oberon

    Tuesday June 19th, 2018 – The last concert the St Luke’s Chamber Ensemble‘s series, Facets of Brahms, at Merkin Hall brought us Andy Stein’s octet-arrangement of the Beethoven Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 36, and Alan Boustead’s nonet-reconstruction of Johannes Brahms’s Serenade No. 1 in D Major, Op. 11, which – in its orchestrated form – might have been designated as the composer’s first symphony.

    Brahms seems to have been hesitant to attempt composing a symphony in large part because he could hear “the footsteps of a giant” – Beethoven – walking behind him. Brahms’s anxiety meant that it wasn’t until 1876 that his 1st symphony premiered, some 14 years after he’d made preliminary sketches.

    This evening, the St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble opened with Beethoven 2nd Symphony in an octet realization conceived by Andy Stein. Two violins, one viola, a cello, a bass, and clarinet, bassoon, and horn made up the ensemble. Their full, rich playing did not give a feeling of a ‘reduction’ in any sense of the word. Instead, it was a very pleasing, absorbing experience; and Mr. Klein was called to the stage for a bow, warmly greeted by the crowd.  

    The 2nd opens with a slow introduction which in a flash turns into a lively Allegro; this is ‘glad music’, rich in melodies. In the Larghetto, Beethoven churns out cordial, lyrical themes. The music summons up thoughts of Springtime, flowering meadows, and blue skies. The Scherzo shows the composer’s sense of humour, which to me seems even more evident in the witty opening of the final Allegro molto, which seems to have a touch of sarcasm.

    248630_web_Jon-Manasse

    Above: Jon Manasse

    In tonight’s ensemble, Jon Manasse’s clarinet playing made a superb impression: I have heard him play often in recent seasons and he makes the music so alive, with his fragrant tone and attention to dynamic detail. His subtle playing in the final movement gave me a smile.  Of equal note was the sound of Marc Goldberg’s mellow bassoon. Violinist Krista Bennion Feeney, so fine in last week’s concert, impressed again, as did bassist John Feeney.

    The Brahms 1st Serenade is in six movements. The composer noted it as a ‘Sinfonie-Serenade‘, later enlarging it for full orchestra at the urging of Clara Schumann. Alan Boustead gives the music back to its chamber roots in his excellent rendering.

    Jesse Mills was the principal violinist in this work tonight, with Ms. Bennion Feeney, violist David Cerutti, cellist Daire FitzGerald along with Mr. Feeney’s bass filling out the string contingent. Joseph Anderer provided warm-toned horn-playing, and clarinetist Dean LeBlanc joined Mr. Manasse. Elizabeth Mann’s flute sang forth with serene, appealing tone.

    The first three movements of this Serenade each felt a bit long tonight, as if the composer wanted to keep presenting his admittedly lovely themes to us again and again. By the fourth movement, a double Menuetto featuring the winds, Brahms was showing more economy. Ms. Fitzgerald and Mr. Anderer made the most of the ‘hunting call’ motif of the Scherzo, whilst Ms. Mann’s playing in the Rondo~Allegro was very pretty indeed. And throughout, Mr. Manasse continued to display the artistry that makes him such a valuable player on the Gotham scene. 

    ~ Oberon