Armida (1817)

Great Performances at the MET

Armida (1817)
Music by Gioachino Rossini (1792-1864)
Libretto by Giovanni Schmidt
Production: Mary Zimmerman
Conductor: Ricardo Frizza
Choreographer: Graciela Daniele
Set & costume designer: Richard Hudson
Armida: Renée Fleming
Rinaldo: Lawrence Brownlee
Goffredo: John Osborn
Gernanco: José Manuel Zapata
Carlo: Barry Banks
Ubaldo: Kobie van Rensburg
Telecast on Channel 13 PBS: August 18, 2010

Armida- Renee Fleming and Lawrence Brownlee- Photo: Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera

“Armida” is one of Rossini’s less familiar operas. It requires not only a soprano who combines dramatic power with brilliant coloratura, but includes no fewer than six tenor roles (shared in this production by five singers) demanding a stratospheric range, bel canto lyricism and ringing heroics. No wonder it is so rarely performed. Created for Renée Fleming at her request, this new MET production was a vocal and visual bonanza.

The story takes place during the Crusades, but evokes legends of earlier times. Princess Armida is a beautiful sorceress who lures men to her magic island (think Circe) and holds them captive in her luxurious palace (think Venus’ Mountain), entertaining them with music and dancing. This offers opportunities for spectacular scenery and ballet sequences, first by a group of demons with horns and long tails, then by wave upon wave of gorgeously costumed dancers. Armida finds the crusading knights easy prey, but falls in love with Rinaldo, the army’s general, when he succumbs to her spell. He has to be extricated by fervent appeals to duty and honor – unlike Tannhäuser, who abandons Venus because he has become bored – leaving Armida devastated.

The opera begins with a dark, ominous Overture notable for its colorful woodwind solos, performed most impressively by the principal players. Generally, though, the music is not top-level Rossini in invention or originality; indeed, whenever an arresting passage emerges, it bears a definite resemblance to “The Barber of Seville.” The vocal lines are designed primarily for maximal technical display with brilliant, florid ornamentation, not for melodic beauty or delineation of character. Armida, of course, gets the lion’s (or lioness’) share of pyrotechnics, but the tenors are not far behind: they seem to vie for the top notes and most spectacular coloratura. One might almost call the opera “The Battle of the Tenors,” and in fact one of them soon slays another (over an insult, not the highest note).

The singing in this performance was truly stunning. Renée Fleming, whose physical beauty made her a very convincing seductress, sometimes seemed a bit overwhelmed by the sheer length and intensity of her role, but sang with enormous virtuosity and abandon. The tenors dispatched their vocal fireworks with incredible bravura; Lawrence Brownlee made a real character of Rinaldo, the most demanding role musically and dramatically.

For these telecasts, the MET invites one of its stars to introduce the opera, and also to interview one or more of the principals during intermission. This requires stopping tired cast members on their way to the dressing room and subjecting them to usually inane questions about their feelings for the role they are performing – an imposition on the singers, who clearly yearn to be left alone, rest their voices and concentrate on the next act. Fleming could hardly contain her impatience to get away, though, although in an earlier telecast, she herself had interviewed Simon Keenlyside, a hot and weary “Hamlet,” who was reacting in exactly the same way. Could these interviews not be taped at some time other than during the performance? Though this might cause some loss of immediacy, it would save the singers – and many empathetic viewers – a lot of discomfort.

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by Edith Eisler  for New York Concert Review; New York, NY

Mostly Mozart Festival

Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra
Louis Langrée, conductor, Stephen Hough, piano
Carolyn Sampson, soprano, Sasha Cooke, mezzo-soprano
Steve Davislim, tenor
Concert Chorale of New York, James Bagwell, Director
Avery Fisher Hall, New York, NY
August 20, 2010

Stephen Hough-Photo Credit: Christian Steiner

The Festival dedicated its final concert to the genius for whom it was named with an all-Mozart program: the Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major, K.467, and the Cantata “Davidde penitente,” K.469, both written in 1785. The Cantata is not performed as often as it deserves. It was written at the request of a Viennese charitable Artists’ Society devoted to looking after the widows and orphans of musicians. Mozart was a member of the organization and had promised to compose a choral piece for a benefit concert, but was too busy to create a major original work, so he took parts of his own unfinished C-minor Mass and just added two new arias. He used an Italian text based on the Psalms of David, said to have been provided by Lorenzo da Ponte, his later librettist. Thus, the music is vintage Mozart, with many grand choruses using complex counterpoint, and extraordinarily difficult arias that would not be out of place in any of his operas. The soprano goes up to high D’s and E’s and engages in spectacular vocal acrobatics; the tenor has a long “scene” with almost equally demanding coloratura passages. The soloists at this concert did nobly, but could not conceal hints of struggle. The chorus was wonderful; Langrée handled his large forces admirably.

Sasha Cook-Photo credit: Christian Steiner

The C-major Piano Concerto became famous because the slow movement was used in a film called “Elvira Madigan;”  many people became familiar with it who would never have heard the concerto. It is one of Mozart’s sunniest, most beautiful works; its tunes are simple but can be endlessly developed; the solo part is brilliant; the scoring includes timpani and a full complement of winds. The lovely slow movement shows Mozart at his most romantic, the Finale at his most playful. Stephen Hough played it with ease, elegance and expressiveness; he used his own stylistic, effective but unostentatious cadenzas. His encore, Schumann’s “Träumerei,” was properly dreamy but a bit too free.

Carolyn Sampson-Photo Credit: Nina Large

The orchestra was in top form all summer, but the balance favored the winds and percussion under every conductor. Under Langrée, the timpanist frequently entered a split second too early, especially at the beginning of a piece; later, he seemed to settle into the beat. The concerts were very well attended, and it was a pleasure to watch the unstinting enthusiasm with which the audiences gave standing ovations to the orchestra and all the conductors, demanding encores of practically every soloist. Another observation was more troubling: the number of wheelchairs, crutches, walkers and canes seems to increase not only every year, but also in the course of a single season. In a way, though, this may be encouraging: it indicates that more and more people with disabilities are determined to participate in New York’s cultural life and enjoy its abundant offerings.

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by Edith Eisler  for New York Concert Review; New York, NY

Mostly Mozart Festival

Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra
Louis Langrée, conductor
Joshua Bell, violin
Jeremy Denk, piano
Pre-Concert Recital: Joshua Bell and Jeremy Denk
Avery Fisher Hall, New York, NY
August 18, 2010

 

Joshua Bell-Photo credit: Bill Phelps

This No-Mozart, all-Romantic program was one of the Festival’s best. It opened with Weber’s Overture to the opera Der Freischütz and closed with Schumann’s Symphony in D minor No. 4, Op. 120, in the revised 1851 version. In between, Joshua Bell, Jeremy Denk and the Orchestra’s string section played Mendelssohn’s Concerto for Violin, Piano and Strings in D minor, the second Festival program featuring two major works in the same tonality. Written when the composer was 14 years old, the Concerto is not top-notch Mendelssohn and is only infrequently performed, but it is full of youthful romanticism, exuberance, and the promise of future greatness. The soloists reveled in the brilliant passage-work, alone and together, tossing off the long runs in parallel thirds with easy virtuosity and perfect coordination; Bell’s pure, expressive tone cast a silvery radiance over the lovely melodies. The Orchestra, under-employed except for the Introduction, offered discreet support, and everybody had a grand time.

The performance of the Weber and Schumann indicated that Langrée harbors a romantic soul under his penchant for cool, speedy, almost vibratoless Mozart. He encouraged the musicians to surrender to the passionate ardor of the music using their warmest, most intense sound, and they responded whole-heartedly. The Overture overflowed with vigorous energy without getting hectic; the strings sang out, the wind solos were wonderful (those Freischütz horns!).

Schumann cast his fourth Symphony in his favorite “Fantasy” form, with its four contrasting movements  melting into each other. Originally composed in 1841, it was actually his second symphony, but its negative reception caused him to put it aside. Ten years later, having written two more symphonies, he revised it, refining the transitions between the movements and adding a lot of doubling to the orchestration – a decision that has remained controversial: the texture gains substance but loses transparency. Langrée used the second version; while he could not save the sound from becoming murky at times, its richness made up for the lack of clarity, and he brought out the character and changing moods of the music: the vitality of the fast sections, the poetry and romanticism of the slow ones, the assertive robustness of the Scherzo.

Mozart visited his Festival at the Pre-Concert recital, when Joshua Bell and Jeremy Denk played his “big” B-flat Major Sonata K.454, written in 1784, the first of his last three great violin and piano sonatas. Though Avery Fisher Hall is hardly the best place for intimate chamber music, the performance was admirable. Frequent partners, the two players have achieved an extraordinarily high level of ensemble; they took over each others’ lines, calibrating the sound for relative prominence, built on each others’ dynamics, tonal and expressive intensity, and created a true “conversation between friends.” Their subtle interplay was even more impressive than their dazzling collaborative virtuosity in the Mendelssohn Concerto. 

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by Edith Eisler  for New York Concert Review; New York, NY

Mostly Mozart Festival

Mostly Mozart Festival
Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra
Osmo Vänskä, conductor
Antti Siirala, pianist
Avery Fisher Hall, New York, NY
August 14, 2010

Osmo Vanska-Photo Credit: Greg Helgeson

This concert was not only all-Mozart, but all dramatic, minor mode Mozart. It featured two guests from Finland: conductor Osmo Vänskä, a familiar presence at the Festival, and the young pianist Antti Siirala in his New York orchestral debut.

The program presented two symphonies rarely performed together: the “little” G minor Symphony, No. 25 K.183, written in 1773, and the “big” G minor Symphony, No. 40 K.550, the second of his three great final symphonies, all written in the summer of 1788. Mozart reserved the key of G minor for some of his most dramatic and most moving works, such as the String Quintet K.516. These two Symphonies share both characteristics, but, composed 15 years apart, are also very different.

The disparities are apparent from the beginning. The first movement of No. 25 is all energy and impetuosity, and while the second theme, in major, is playful and gracious, its return in minor is dark and ominous. The first movement of No. 40 has a pensive resignation, occasionally pierced by a surge of defiance or a ray of hope. The slow movements of both symphonies are in major modes. The early one, based on a single theme, is calm and simple; the later one is contrapuntal and complex; its initial repose is disrupted by wrenching dissonances. The Minuet of No. 25 is a rustic dance, that of No. 40 is weighed down with heavy cross-rhythms; both have genial Trios in G major. The Finales are fast, with avalanches of relentlessly rushing passages.

These symphonies were well suited to Vänskä’s active, emphatic conducting style. Visually, he was in perpetual motion, bowing, twisting and turning, stabbing the air with his baton; musically, it was reflected in dramatic overkill, slashing accents and extreme dynamic contrasts, which made the early Symphony seem anything but little. For the late Symphony, all conductors – and Mozart lovers – have their own interpretation. Väskä took a surging approach to the opening theme, with sea-sickness-inducing swells, not indicated in the score, in every pair of bars. His tempi were generally moderate compared to the hectic speeds often favored today; only the Finale of No. 40 was a headlong rush.

Mozart wrote only two piano concertos in minor keys; the program included the first, K.466, written in 1785, in D minor, another tonality associated with high drama (think of Don Giovanni and the Requiem). The Concerto is characterized by strong contrasts of dynamics, mood, texture, and confrontations rather than interplay between soloist and orchestra. The unusually extensive orchestral exposition begins with mysterious, syncopated murmurings in the low strings, terminated by a thunderous eruption by the full orchestra. The pianist enters, like a lone wanderer, with a new, gentle, pleading theme followed by rippling scale-passages, and continues to go his own way. The slow movement begins as a serene song in major, but the peacefulness is shattered by an outburst of running piano triplets in minor, driven by shrilling woodwinds. Calm is restored at the end, but turbulence runs high in the Finale, until the Coda turns to D major for what might seem a happy ending, but in fact feels like an attempt to ward off deep sadness.   

Siirala, winner of many European prizes, is an excellent, admirably self-effacing but communicative pianist. Putting his consummate technique entirely at the service of the music, he played with inward expressiveness, refinement and restraint; though careful not to exaggerate, he rose to the dramatic climaxes, including the long, elaborate, stormy cadenzas by Beethoven (who also wrote cadenzas for Mozart’s other dramatic Piano Concerto in C minor). The orchestra provided strong, empathetic support.

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by Edith Eisler  for New York Concert Review; New York, NY

Mostly Mozart Festival

Mostly Mozart Festival
Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra
Lionel Bringuier, conductor
David Fray, piano
Avery Fisher Hall, New York, NY
August 6, 2010

Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra-Lionel Bringuier, conductor-David Fray, piano - Photo Credit Richard Termine

This was one of the Festival’s All-Mozart programs: the Overture to “Cosi fan tutte” K.588, the Piano Concerto in E-flat major, No. 22, K.482, and the “Prague” Symphony, No. 38, K. 504. As it often does, the Festival presented two very young guests, both from France: conductor Lionel Bringuier and pianist David Fray in his Mostly Mozart debut.

The program’s opening and closing works were bright and spirited, though each started with a slow, solemn Introduction. The opera “Cosi fan tutte” is considered a comedy, but its humor is laced with sarcasm and leavened with ambivalence and regret. The Overture heralds these conflicting emotions. The Introduction alternates orchestral chords with an oboe solo so plaintive that the arrival of the Overture’s fast main part almost comes as a surprise. In the Symphony, too, the Introduction, the longest and perhaps most dramatic in all Mozart’s symphonies, generates a sense of such dark foreboding that the sudden shift from D minor to D major is quite disconcerting. The Symphony is unusual in having only three movements: two fast, sprightly ones framing a lovely Andante.

E-flat major seems to have been Mozart’s favorite tonality for his most mellow, lyrical music. Among his Piano Concertos, No. 22 is one of the most heavenly. The scoring for a full complement of winds gives it a rich, warm sound. Its emotional depth is immediately established in the orchestral Introduction; the piano then takes up and embellishes the themes. The second movement, variations in C minor, is a heart-breaking lament, and the final Rondo, like many others in that key, is a merry hunting song. But Mozart has a surprise in store: its central episode is virtually another slow movement, presenting entirely new, ravishingly lovely material in a stately, back-and-forth conversation between the soloist and the woodwind “Harmonie” section, who played absolutely beautifully.

David Fray, though still in his twenties, is the recipient of an extraordinary number of performing and recording awards, and has played in practically every great European concert hall. He made his American debut with the Cleveland Orchestra in 2009, and has also appeared with the orchestras of Boston, San Francisco, New York and Los Angeles. His performance at this concert was most excellent, without fuss, show, or exaggeration; his technique is always at the service of the music and so effortless that one forgets about it; his tone can be both delicate and sonorous; his expressiveness is concentrated and deeply felt.

The Festival Orchestra is in splendid form. The players not only sound good under every conductor, they are undaunted by their maestros’ sometimes exorbitant demands. On this occasion, Lionel Bringuier – who, at the age of 23, seems to have been everywhere and done everything in the conducting world – drove them beyond all reasonable speed-limits. He took the Overture at a tempo that made clear articulation and phrasing impossible; in the Symphony’s corner movements, musical and expressive details were lost in the head-long rush. If this sounds much like the report on the previous concert, that is not surprising: it sometimes seems as if many of today’s young conductors (and young instrumentalists too, for that matter) are determined to outdo one another in setting new speed-records. Surely even in the jet-age there is more to music than playing as fast as possible. 

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by Edith Eisler  for New York Concert Review; New York, NY

Mostly Mozart Festival

Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra
Pablo Heras-Casado, conductor
Gil Shaham, violin
Avery Fisher Hall, New York, NY
August 4, 2010

PABLO HERAS-CASADO, conductor; GIL SHAHAM, violin with the MOSTLY MOZART FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA – PHOTO CREDIT – Richard Termine

This was one of the Festival’s “Some Mozart” programs; one third Mozart, to be exact. Mozart’s contribution was the Violin Concerto No. 5 in A major, K.219, the last, and probably the greatest, of his authentic works in that genre. It was performed by Gil Shaham, winner of the 1990 Avery Fisher Career Grant and the 2008 Avery Fisher Award, and one of the most appealing, versatile virtuosos before the public. Among his most captivating qualities are his charm and spontaneity, and, along with his brilliant technique and luxurious tone, they were on full display at this concert. Indeed, it may be his boundless facility that tempts him to succumb to today’s rampant infatuation with excessive speed. The Concerto’s slow movement was lovely, but the first, though clear, was rather hectic and over-accented; the Rondo lost much of its gracious courtliness, and the “Turkish” interlude raced past like a furious sandstorm. In the Joachim cadenzas, the runs were too fast for human ears. However, the fireworks brought the audience to its feet, eliciting an encore that turned out to be a piece related to the Mozart concerto by its Turkish roots, which Shaham recently heard in Istanbul. A relentless, super-fast marathon run-around, it sounded, to the uninitiated listener, like a Klezmer dance on speed.

The program began with Stravinsky’s “Dumbarton Oaks” Concerto, written in 1937 to celebrate the 30th wedding anniversary of the owners of that grand estate, where the United Nations were founded seven years later. Supposedly modeled on Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos, the Dumbarton Oaks Concerto is in three movements, all full of Stravinsky’s characteristic quirky, irregular rhythms and spicy harmonies. The first and third movements are bustling and dissonant; the second is a charming, leisurely, dance-like Allegretto. The 15 orchestral soloists played splendidly—singly and together.

Mostly Mozart has established an admirable policy of inviting rising young conductors, and this concert introduced the Spanish-born Pablo Heras-Casado in his Festival debut. Though only 32-years-old, he has conducted music from the 17th century to the immediate present in opera houses and concert halls all over the world; his American debut took place in 2008 at Carnegie Hall with the ACJW Ensemble (The Academy of Carnegie Hall, the Juilliard School and the Weill Music Institute). All this experience has given him a style that is confident but not showy, authoritative but not authoritarian. He handled the changing rhythms and textures of the Stravinsky expertly, with sparing, efficient gestures; unfortunately, in the concerto,  he frequently allowed the orchestra—especially the winds—to cover the soloist.

Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2, Op. 36, which closed the program, was also efficient, but—again in conformity with current trends—very fast, with excessive dynamic contrasts and sharp, aggressive accents, giving the music no chance to breathe or speak for itself. However, the brilliant Finale elicited a prolonged, vociferous ovation. 

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by Edith Eisler  for New York Concert Review; New York, NY

“Der Rosenkavalier” and “Turandot” Great Performances at the MET

“Der Rosenkavalier” and “Turandot”
Great Performances at the MET
Lincoln Center/PBS Telecasts, New York, NY

Lincoln Center and PBS are repeating some of their popular telecasts from the MET, giving audiences a chance to retrieve what they missed or to revisit what they enjoyed. On July 29, the opera was “Der Rosenkavalier” by Richard Strauss and his renowned librettist, Hugo von Hoffmansthal, taped at the January 9, 2010 performance. Through its earthy humor and touching love story, this beloved masterpiece never fails to elicit laughter and tears, and with a stellar cast and Edo de Waart replacing James Levine in the pit, it exerted its usual irresistible magic spell. 

“Der Rosenkavalier” is too well known to require any introduction or explanation, so let us focus on the performance. The orchestra, an essential, integral element in all Strauss operas, sounded absolutely wonderful, both in the many solo passages and as a whole: rich yet transparent, ironically pompous, yet with a graceful Viennese lilt. The singing, too, was beyond praise: Renée Fleming and Susan Graham returned to their signature roles as the Marschallin and Octavian; Christine Schäfer soared easily into Sophie’s ecstatic heights, her voice as silvery as her Rose; Kristinn Sigmundsson displayed a booming, sonorous bass, and an almost authentic Viennese accent. Thomas Allen was a solid Faninal, Eric Cutler, in his all-too-brief appearance, sounded radiant as the Italian tenor.

The sets and costumes had the beauty and elegance of a period painting; the final scene was the usual chaos, saved by the Waltzes in the orchestra. The least satisfying aspect of the production was the acting, with exaggeration rampant everywhere, even in the small roles (Sophie’s Duenna ran around the stage frantically flapping her arms). Fleming, though essentially warm and dignified, perhaps overshot in trying to bring out the Marschallin’s swiftly-changing moods by going from girlish flirtatiousness with the Baron to inexplicable anger when dismissing Octavian. The “trouser” role of Octavian poses a double challenge: a woman pretending to be a boy pretending to be a girl. Graham had fun, but would have been more persuasive without the overacting. (Television’s facial close-ups are cruel: even she could not successfully pretend to be 17- years-old.) The temptation to exaggerate is greatest for the Baron, but Sigmundsson, a huge man who towered over everybody, turned him into an insufferable, overbearing lecher.

Schäfer seemed the only one who acted with unaffected dignity, true to her character’s artlessness and naïveté. Just how effective natural simplicity can be was illustrated in the first encounter between Octavian and Sophie. Standing perfectly still, they expressed their wonder at the magical experience of first love only through their voices. The scene was an unspoiled oasis of subtle interaction, genuine inwardness and calm.

On June 24th, PBS repeated its telecast of Puccini’s “Turandot,” taped at the November 7, 2009, performance conducted by Andris Nelsons. This was a surprising choice for a replay: the opera is hardly among the public’s favorites, nor among Puccini’s best works. He left it unfinished, but that is not its only, or even its primary, weakness. The music is repetitious and uninspired, and its pseudo-Chinese idiom sounds inauthentic and artificial; moreover, the leading soprano and tenor parts are virtually unsingable: Turandot makes her entrance with a very long, excruciatingly difficult, stratospheric scene; Calaf sings two of the most brutally demanding arias in the repertoire. Very few singers are equal to these roles, and in this performance, too, there were unmistakable signs of struggle. Maria Guleghina’s voice had a very wide wobble, and both she and Marcello Giordani had only one dynamic: fortissimo. The real stars were Marina Poplavskaya as a sweet-voiced, touching Liu, and Samuel Ramey as a dignified, pitiable Timur. The famously spectacular Franco Zefferelli production still upstages the music with its massive scenery, gorgeous costumes and surging crowd-scenes. Sometimes it seemed as if the entire population of the Forbidden City of Beijing had gathered on the stage.

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by Edith Eisler  for New York Concert Review; New York, NY

Mostly Mozart Festival

Mostly Mozart Festival
Opening Night Gala Program
Avery Fisher Hall, New York, NY
July 28, 2010

Stephanie Blythe, mezzo-soprano with Louis Langrée - Photo Credit Richard Termine

This is the Mostly Mozart Festival’s 44th season – an impressive display of longevity and resilience. It has weathered many internal and external changes that affected its programming strategy, and this year’s programs reflect some of them: they range from All-Mozart to Mostly Mozart, Some Mozart, A Little Mozart, and No Mozart At All.

Mozart is featured in its opening and closing concerts: the latter will be All-Mozart and the former began and ended with Mozart, the Overture to La Clemenza di Tito and the “Haffner” Symphony, K.385. In between came Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor Op. 21, played by Emanuel Ax, and arias from Handel’s Giulio Cesare and Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice, sung by mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe. Louis Langrée, the Festival’s Music Director, conducted the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra. 

Most of the Orchestra’s musicians have been with the Festival for many seasons, but do not play together regularly all year; they must recapture and refine their ensemble every summer. Also, this is a chamber group rather than a symphony orchestra, so it lacks the power needed for some of the symphonic literature. For this program, however, it was just right, and it was immediately clear that it is in fine shape, able and eager to carry out its Maestro’s wishes. Langrée is an elegant conductor, though his arm-gestures make him look as if he were going to fly off at any moment, an impression accentuated by the full-sleeved shirts he wears. His style tends toward extremes of dynamics and tempo: the pianos are almost inaudible, the fortes are eruptions that shake the rafters. He likes to hear lots of winds and percussion, putting the strings at a serious disadvantage. The opening of the Overture, for example, was explosive rather than majestic. In the Symphony, the tempi were so fast that the music lost all charm and expressiveness; even the slow movement was very brisk, and the Finale raced past in a blur. 

 

Pianist Emanuel Ax with the conductor Louis Langrée - Photo Credit Richard Termine

In the Concerto, Langrée succeeded so well in keeping the orchestra from covering the soloist that, at times, the piano part seemed to float in mid-air without harmonic or rhythmic support. Ax’s playing, however, was superb. His tone was invariably beautiful, the legato sang, the chords were powerful but mellow; the runs were as clear and even as chains of pearls. His liberties—spontaneous and perfectly balanced—made the music flow as naturally as words spoken in a native idiom. The tumultuous ovation was rewarded with a brief Chopin encore. 

Stephanie Blythe’s voice is formidable: it can cut through and float above an orchestra, reaching the farthest corners of an auditorium. Its quality is unique, resembling dark amber in the low register, bright amber up high; by varying her vibrato, she commands an amazing range of intensity, color and nuance. The arias she sang were taken from two of her signature roles. Cesar’s prayer was devoutly thankful and supplicating; Orpheus’ lament was perhaps not heart-broken enough, but spun out a seamless melody. The famous opening aria from Handel’s Serse (better known as Handel’s “Largo”) as an encore was beautiful. 

This was a most promising start to New York’s favorite summer festival.  Welcome back, Mostly Mozart!

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by Edith Eisler  for New York Concert Review; New York, NY

“Hamlet” by Ambroise Thomas-Metropolitan Opera

“Hamlet” by Ambroise Thomas
Metropolitan Opera
Lincoln Center, New York City

Hamlet- Marlis Petersen and Simon Keenlyside- Photo Credit Brent Ness

If an opera has lain dormant for 100 years, only a great performance can awaken it. Ambroise Thomas’ “Hamlet,” premiered in Paris in 1868, was last performed at the MET in 1897; it was revived this season in a new production by Patrice Caurier and Moshe Leiser, created for the superb English baritone Simon Keenlyside in the title role. Taped at the March 27 performance, it was telecast on July 15 as one of Lincoln Center’s truly “Great Performances at the MET.”

Though rarely remembered today, Thomas (1811-1896) was a prolific composer so highly esteemed during his lifetime that he was made Chevalier of the Legion of Honor, and Director of the Paris Conservatoire. Of his 13 operas, “Mignon”(1866), based on Goethe’s novel “Wilhelm Meister,” and “Hamlet,” both with librettos by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, were most successful; to celebrate Mignon’s 100th performance, Thomas received the Grand Cross.

Choosing librettos from the world’s greatest literature is risky: the words tend to eclipse the music, and the originals have to be “adapted” out of recognition. In the case of “Hamlet,” first of all, forget Shakespeare – not an easy task. The story is drastically truncated; the situations are simplified and perverted, the characters’ actions and interactions largely changed. Polonius reveals his complicity in the dead King’s murder; Hamlet and Ophelia are engaged; the opera ends with Hamlet and Laertes fighting at Ophelia’s grave; both die after Hamlet stabs the King.

The production is an amalgam of starkness and overkill. The stage is bare, with moveable walls at irregular angles; at first, there isn’t a chair in sight, so the singers have to stand, or sit, crouch, and lie on the floor. The acting, initially fairly dignified, grows increasingly excessive. Gertrude, crazed by guilt and terror, behaves more like Lady Macbeth than Denmark’s Queen. An inordinate amount of red liquids are spilled on stage: Ophelia gets covered in blood as she kills herself by stabbing her breast and slitting her arms; Hamlet jumps on a table, pours jugs of red wine all over himself, then rolls to the floor with a frightening thud. One hopes the intermission will be long enough for him to take a shower and change his clothes. He not only “chews the scenery,” but actually digs holes in it with his dagger.

Adding real-life drama, soprano Natalie Dessay withdrew from the production for health reasons at the last minute. She was replaced by Marlis Petersen, who, though scheduled to sing Ophelia later, flew in from Europe the day before the premiere and gave a sensational performance on a single rehearsal. The singing was altogether spectacular. David Pittsinger was a sonorous Ghost (he reappeared several times); James Morris, after a wobbly vocal start, projected Claudius’ guilt- and fear-ridden bravado with grim authority. Jennifer Lamore made Gertrude hysterical but sang with purity and passionate intensity; in his debut, Toby Spence was a youthfully fiery, bright-voiced Laertes. Petersen brought the house down in what must be opera’s ultimate mad- and-death-scene, tossing off stratospheric coloratura acrobatics while staggering around the stage. But the evening was really Keenlyside’s triumph. In a vocally and visually riveting performance, he used every nuance of his dark, ravishingly beautiful voice, every shading of his somberly handsome, expressive face, and every gesture of his lithe, tightly wound body to bring the enigmatic, brooding hero’s ever-changing moods, feelings and states of mind to vibrant life, giving him more range and depth than either the libretto or the music.

Ah yes, the music. The beginning is very promising: a somber Prelude heralds the gloomy events on stage, using mostly low instruments, and featuring a long, arresting horn solo. Later, equally dark orchestral interludes put the spotlight on the trombones. What the music lacks is a melodic and harmonic profile. There are numerous arias, even one beginning with “To be or not to be,” but they do not define the characters or remain in the memory.

Major credit for giving shape to the individual scenes and the whole work must go to the conductor, Louis Langrée, known to New York audiences mostly as the maestro of the Mostly Mozart Festival. Equally at home in this totally different musical world, his mastery of the score and consummate baton-technique inspired confidence and security in the singers and orchestra, and his sensitive support and firm leadership contributed greatly to making this once famous opera seem worthy of being rescued from obscurity.

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by Edith Eisler  for New York Concert Review; New York, NY

Songs by Les Six

Songs by Les Six
Helen Gabrielsen, soprano; Marcia Eckert, piano 
Lang Recital Hall, New York, NY
July 18, 2010

Marcia Eckert

After World War I, an informal group of young French composers banded together to write a new kind of music that would be leaner, more astringent and less sensuous than what was being composed at the time. Several were good friends, having been students at the Paris Conservatoire; six of them shared a concert in 1920 and eventually became famous as les six.

Some of les six’s songs were performed by soprano Helen Gabrielsen and pianist Marcia Eckert at Hunter College’s intimate Lang Recital Hall. Long-time friends and collaborators, their mutual musical interests include a special affinity for French music of the 20th and 21st centuries. The program offered a heady mix of musical and literary styles, from descriptive, nostalgic and passionate to sardonic and humorous. The songs required the singer to act as both narrator and participant, while the piano evoked the pictorial and emotional background with effects ranging from delicate tinkling to crashing chords.

Helen Gabrielsen

The titles of Francis Poulenc’s “Airs” – Romantic, Pastoral, Serious and Lively – (texts by Jean Moréas) spoke for themselves. Two songs by Arthur Honegger (texts by Apollinaire and Claudel) celebrated nature and love. Six songs by Germaine Tallieferre (texts, some anonymous, from the 15th to 18th centuries), were the most substantial and immediately affecting. Humor, both ingenuous and ironic, was provided by Darius Milhaud (texts by Jean Cocteau); Georges Auric’s “Alphabet,” (texts by Raymond Radiguet), and Louis Durey’s “Le Bestiaire” (poet not named).

The performance was excellent. Helen Gabrielsen’s voice was well-suited to this repertoire: light and clear, even throughout the range with an effortless top; her intonation was impeccable. Marcia Eckert displayed a large palette of dynamics, colors and nuances; she established and underlined mood and atmosphere, and offered both firm leadership and sensitive support.

Both performers are active soloists and chamber musicians, and have appeared with various groups and partners in New York and around the country. They also teach and coach at several music schools; the presence of numerous, very attentive children—some bearing floral tributes—testified to their students’ affection.

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by Edith Eisler  for New York Concert Review; New York, NY