Reviewing Adriana Mater, by Kaija Saariaho and Amin Maalouf, Santa Fe Opera, July 26, 2008.
Update: That should be "...in Tempore Belli." Oh, well!
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Monday, July 28, 2008
All Things Must Pass
Every time I've seen the great Frederica von Stade's name on a program in the last few years, I've breathed a sigh of relief and bought myself a ticket. I've been behaving as though each appearance might be her last.
She now has a date, or at least a year, for those last appearances. She will retire in 2010.
I gather that her management company has advised performing arts organizations of this. I hope we'll have a few more chances to see her in the Bay Area over the next couple of seasons.
She now has a date, or at least a year, for those last appearances. She will retire in 2010.
I gather that her management company has advised performing arts organizations of this. I hope we'll have a few more chances to see her in the Bay Area over the next couple of seasons.
Where I've Been
I can't apologize for the long silence. The week of July 13 to 18 was what I usually call "system release hell," though it wasn't exactly a system release. It was hell because I had two solid days of meetings right in the middle. No kidding, and that's what made the release hell, not the release itself.
After that - well, I went to Santa Fe, where I had a very good time and saw Radamisto, Billy Budd, and, most importantly, Kaija Saariaho's newish Adriana Mater.
I haven't got much to say about Radamisto, which I loved: wonderful singing and conducting, a great opera, directing with a few questionable decisions, but not many. If you like Handel, and you're anywhere near Santa Fe, go see it.
I have plenty to say about Billy Budd, which I will leave for its own blog posting. If I were reviewing it, I'm sure I'd be the odd man, er, woman, out.
I had lots to say about Adriana, and in fact my review is up already. Go to the San Francisco Classical Voice home page and look in the sidebar; no direct link because the URL will change tomorrow when the full new issue is published. I mentioned a symposium about Adriana; I have extensive notes and will blog about it too.
After that - well, I went to Santa Fe, where I had a very good time and saw Radamisto, Billy Budd, and, most importantly, Kaija Saariaho's newish Adriana Mater.
I haven't got much to say about Radamisto, which I loved: wonderful singing and conducting, a great opera, directing with a few questionable decisions, but not many. If you like Handel, and you're anywhere near Santa Fe, go see it.
I have plenty to say about Billy Budd, which I will leave for its own blog posting. If I were reviewing it, I'm sure I'd be the odd man, er, woman, out.
I had lots to say about Adriana, and in fact my review is up already. Go to the San Francisco Classical Voice home page and look in the sidebar; no direct link because the URL will change tomorrow when the full new issue is published. I mentioned a symposium about Adriana; I have extensive notes and will blog about it too.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Gypsies, Nobles, and Nuns
Expectations have a lot to do with how I respond to a particular performance, especially when it comes to opera. Only big companies can hire the best singers in the business, who can cost $10,000 and up per performance.
Not that the big companies always hire the best, and not that hiring the best invariably results in a good or great performance. San Francisco Opera's last run of Verdi's Il Trovatore was a thoroughly dispiriting affair, with a dreadful production (a giant horsehead on stage, the first of many), an underpowered Leonora, a dull Manrico, a scattershot di Luna, and a conductor who was asleep the night I attended. Only the Azucena of Dolora Zajick, sung with great spirit and voice to spare, began to meet the requirements of the score.
So it's with quite a bit of pleasure that I can report that Festival Opera's current production of the opera is in many ways more satisfactory than what I saw five years ago in San Francisco. It's by no means perfect, and I have plenty of nits to pick, one of them quite a sizable nit. The four principals sing with energy and enthusiasm; they've all got healthy, young, well-matched voices; the production doesn't have any inexplicable stupidities. The direction is unfussy and unpretentious, if not particularly illuminating or urgent; the unit set does well enough in representing palace, fortress, prison, and monastery. (Okay - the tree in scene two, which looked as though it was going to fall on the singers, is ridiculous and has got to go.) The orchestra plays well, balances between the orchestra and singers were fine (though at times the coordination was not); the conductor moved the music along. The chorus sang accurately and with a nicely-blended sound, though they need more coaching in Italian.
The large theater at the Dean Lesher Center for the Arts is a grand venue, one of my favorites in the area. It seats around 900 or 1000, so you are never very far from the stage. Singers don't have to force or bellow, and their movements and expressions don't have to be exaggerated to make an impact on audience members sitting 250 feet away. The pit is big enough for a full orchestra, but positioned partially under the stage, so that the instrumentalists never overwhelm the singers.
You could do worse than this. A lot worse.
At the same time, there are plenty of problems with the individual singers, each of whom is to some degree unsatisfactory for dramatic or vocal reasons or both. I'm surprised that more of these issues weren't worked out during the rehearsal period; perhaps some of them will be mitigated past the opening performance.
I missed last year's Un ballo in maschera, which starred both soprano Hope Briggs and baritone Scott Bearden. I'd heard Briggs before, in an impressive debut as the Duchess of Parma in Busoni's Doktor Faust at San Francisco Opera. That role suited her well, and she has the right kind of voice for a middle-Verdi heroine: a warm, vibrant, sound without register breaks and with reasonable flexibility. She sang the cabaletta "Di tale amor" with good trills and clean runs, though at a moderate tempo. She sounded lovely for most of the evening, excepting some soft high notes, which seemed thin and artificially produced. She ran into more serious trouble in "Tacea la notte," where she finished her cadenza in the wrong key. And "D'amor sull'ali rosee" lacked repose, at least in part because the soprano overacted and overdramatized the music. Moreover, she didn't have a good feel for how to fit the trills into the rhythmic line, or for the line of the cadenza.
Scott Bearden, who sang di Luna, presents a conundrum: he has won a couple of vocal prizes, and yet what I heard was by no means exemplary. Oddly, my initial reaction was to wonder whether he might be a heldentenor in disguise, considering the bright timbre and size of his baritone. The color is all wrong for a Verdi baritone, and so was the all-too-frequent forcing. He sang coarsely and inexpressively throughout the performance, with blurry Italian pronunciation. "Il balen" sounded as if Bearden was complaining about Leonora rather than meditating on her radiant beauty, and something very bad happened, pitchwise, to the first verse.
Much less problematic were both Noah Stewart's Manrico and Patrice Houston's Azucena. Houston sang with consistent beauty of tone, and she has the range and power for Verdi's mad gypsy; the high notes came easily, though, like Bearden's baritone, her voice seems too brightly colored to pass for the classic dark tone of an Italian dramatic mezzo. And, alas, she has no trill.
Stewart has a beautiful, full-bodied voice, but is he really a spinto? He sounded perfectly lovely in the more lyrical passages (the offstage serenade; "Ah, si, ben mio"); nonetheless, I heard forcing and tightness at the top of his range, a worrisome thing in a young singer. But Festival Opera should find him a new costume: Stewart looked like something out of The Court Jester, and I expected him to ask about the pellet with the poison at any minute.
For all these complaints, in the end the performance was quite a bit greater than the sum of its parts. Hearing Trovatore in a small theater performed by singers with some guts and vocal heft is a treat, so take yourself to Walnut Creek. The remaining performances are on July 15 and 18 at 8 p.m. and on July 20 at 2 p.m.
Not that the big companies always hire the best, and not that hiring the best invariably results in a good or great performance. San Francisco Opera's last run of Verdi's Il Trovatore was a thoroughly dispiriting affair, with a dreadful production (a giant horsehead on stage, the first of many), an underpowered Leonora, a dull Manrico, a scattershot di Luna, and a conductor who was asleep the night I attended. Only the Azucena of Dolora Zajick, sung with great spirit and voice to spare, began to meet the requirements of the score.
So it's with quite a bit of pleasure that I can report that Festival Opera's current production of the opera is in many ways more satisfactory than what I saw five years ago in San Francisco. It's by no means perfect, and I have plenty of nits to pick, one of them quite a sizable nit. The four principals sing with energy and enthusiasm; they've all got healthy, young, well-matched voices; the production doesn't have any inexplicable stupidities. The direction is unfussy and unpretentious, if not particularly illuminating or urgent; the unit set does well enough in representing palace, fortress, prison, and monastery. (Okay - the tree in scene two, which looked as though it was going to fall on the singers, is ridiculous and has got to go.) The orchestra plays well, balances between the orchestra and singers were fine (though at times the coordination was not); the conductor moved the music along. The chorus sang accurately and with a nicely-blended sound, though they need more coaching in Italian.
The large theater at the Dean Lesher Center for the Arts is a grand venue, one of my favorites in the area. It seats around 900 or 1000, so you are never very far from the stage. Singers don't have to force or bellow, and their movements and expressions don't have to be exaggerated to make an impact on audience members sitting 250 feet away. The pit is big enough for a full orchestra, but positioned partially under the stage, so that the instrumentalists never overwhelm the singers.
You could do worse than this. A lot worse.
At the same time, there are plenty of problems with the individual singers, each of whom is to some degree unsatisfactory for dramatic or vocal reasons or both. I'm surprised that more of these issues weren't worked out during the rehearsal period; perhaps some of them will be mitigated past the opening performance.
I missed last year's Un ballo in maschera, which starred both soprano Hope Briggs and baritone Scott Bearden. I'd heard Briggs before, in an impressive debut as the Duchess of Parma in Busoni's Doktor Faust at San Francisco Opera. That role suited her well, and she has the right kind of voice for a middle-Verdi heroine: a warm, vibrant, sound without register breaks and with reasonable flexibility. She sang the cabaletta "Di tale amor" with good trills and clean runs, though at a moderate tempo. She sounded lovely for most of the evening, excepting some soft high notes, which seemed thin and artificially produced. She ran into more serious trouble in "Tacea la notte," where she finished her cadenza in the wrong key. And "D'amor sull'ali rosee" lacked repose, at least in part because the soprano overacted and overdramatized the music. Moreover, she didn't have a good feel for how to fit the trills into the rhythmic line, or for the line of the cadenza.
Scott Bearden, who sang di Luna, presents a conundrum: he has won a couple of vocal prizes, and yet what I heard was by no means exemplary. Oddly, my initial reaction was to wonder whether he might be a heldentenor in disguise, considering the bright timbre and size of his baritone. The color is all wrong for a Verdi baritone, and so was the all-too-frequent forcing. He sang coarsely and inexpressively throughout the performance, with blurry Italian pronunciation. "Il balen" sounded as if Bearden was complaining about Leonora rather than meditating on her radiant beauty, and something very bad happened, pitchwise, to the first verse.
Much less problematic were both Noah Stewart's Manrico and Patrice Houston's Azucena. Houston sang with consistent beauty of tone, and she has the range and power for Verdi's mad gypsy; the high notes came easily, though, like Bearden's baritone, her voice seems too brightly colored to pass for the classic dark tone of an Italian dramatic mezzo. And, alas, she has no trill.
Stewart has a beautiful, full-bodied voice, but is he really a spinto? He sounded perfectly lovely in the more lyrical passages (the offstage serenade; "Ah, si, ben mio"); nonetheless, I heard forcing and tightness at the top of his range, a worrisome thing in a young singer. But Festival Opera should find him a new costume: Stewart looked like something out of The Court Jester, and I expected him to ask about the pellet with the poison at any minute.
For all these complaints, in the end the performance was quite a bit greater than the sum of its parts. Hearing Trovatore in a small theater performed by singers with some guts and vocal heft is a treat, so take yourself to Walnut Creek. The remaining performances are on July 15 and 18 at 8 p.m. and on July 20 at 2 p.m.
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
Levine Endorses Pilates
Okay, the big news of the day is actually that James Levine is having a kidney removed, because of a cyst, and will miss the balance of the Tanglewood season. He sounds especially frustrated by missing the Elliott Carter celebration concerts, and who can blame the maestro for that?
Geoff Edgers' report includes this bit:
I hope his back, which has long been troubled by sciatica, is being helped by the Pilates, and I wish him a swift recovery from the upcoming surgery.
Geoff Edgers' report includes this bit:
He returned that summer to Tanglewood after losing 35 pounds thanks to what he said was a changed diet and exercise on a recumbent bicycle and through Pilates.After doing Pilates for nearly a year, I can report that my back is quite stable and almost completely pain-free. Has there been any weight loss from the Pilates? Noooo. Maestro Levine's weight loss is more likely to have resulted from the exercise and changed diet.
I hope his back, which has long been troubled by sciatica, is being helped by the Pilates, and I wish him a swift recovery from the upcoming surgery.
Monday, July 07, 2008
Compare and Contrast 10
The reviews are piling up for Die Soldaten:
- Anthony Tommasini likes it ("a miraculous realization of an opera once deemed unperformable").
- Martin Bernheimer likes it. ("It is good. Very, very good.")
- Anne Midgette is unimpressed. (Detailed arguments too complex and interesting to be summed up or excerpted.)
- Greg Sandow calls it "laughably bad."
- Alex Ross is impressed and overwhelmed.
- John Simon hated it.
- Everyone in the comments section here loved it.
Sunday, July 06, 2008
What Terry Said
Go, run, see the gigantic J.M.W. Turner retrospective at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
I caught this show at the National Gallery in Washington, DC, in November, 2007. It is overwhelming; the cumulative impact of 150 Turners in one place can't be overstated. You might want to go twice and take in half the show each time.
The retrospective is at the Met through September 21, 2008. It's the first Turner retrospective in the United States - this I find amazing - and many of the works are on loan from British museums and private collections. I don't expect to have another opportunity to see them all in one place again.
I caught this show at the National Gallery in Washington, DC, in November, 2007. It is overwhelming; the cumulative impact of 150 Turners in one place can't be overstated. You might want to go twice and take in half the show each time.
The retrospective is at the Met through September 21, 2008. It's the first Turner retrospective in the United States - this I find amazing - and many of the works are on loan from British museums and private collections. I don't expect to have another opportunity to see them all in one place again.
Friday, July 04, 2008
Critics, Journalism, and the Internet
It's been a bad year for music journalists, with critics losing their jobs left and right, through buyouts, layoffs, and resignations. Some have been replaced; Tim Page by Anne Midgette, Peter Davis by Justin Davidson. Most have not: Bernard Holland, Melinda Bargreen, Alan Rich, and others. Davidson's spot at Newsday was not filled.
Martin Bernheimer has an article in the Financial Times, dated tomorrow, that discusses the role of critics as arbiters of excellence and maintainers of standards, and the trend away from respect for expertise toward the view that everyone is a reasonable critic. Along the way, he mentions the Internet as one reason for the decline of journalism and professional critics.
I think a number of the points he makes are on target, but others are truly arguable. The consolidation of the news media has been going on for decades, since the relaxation of rules on how many types of media a particular company could own in a particular market. Some newspapers are losing money - for reasons including their own failure to move their advertising onto the Web, pronto - but many others are profitable. They're just not making high enough profits for their corporate masters and Wall Street; therefore, their staffs get cut. (Justin Davidson provides some context in a Musical America article. Justin, about that last point you make: San Francisco Classical Voice is independent of both arts organizations and print journalism.)
I have to especially argue with this point in Martin Bernheimer's article:
Just how familiar is Mr. Bernheimer with the classical music blogosphere? The bloggers I read can be loosely classified as follows (and apologies to those of you I've omitted from this incomplete list):
He's not the only critic who has gone astray writing about classical music on the Internet recently. The anonymous bloggers at The Detritus Review had a fine time taking apart an article by Mark Swed. And Out West Arts reports that newly-minted blogger Alan Rich said recently that there are "no important music blogs on the West Coast at this time." Welcome to the blogosphere, Mr. Rich, and check out those of us who've been here a while.
Update, July 5: A.C. Douglas has a few words on the same subject.
Martin Bernheimer has an article in the Financial Times, dated tomorrow, that discusses the role of critics as arbiters of excellence and maintainers of standards, and the trend away from respect for expertise toward the view that everyone is a reasonable critic. Along the way, he mentions the Internet as one reason for the decline of journalism and professional critics.
I think a number of the points he makes are on target, but others are truly arguable. The consolidation of the news media has been going on for decades, since the relaxation of rules on how many types of media a particular company could own in a particular market. Some newspapers are losing money - for reasons including their own failure to move their advertising onto the Web, pronto - but many others are profitable. They're just not making high enough profits for their corporate masters and Wall Street; therefore, their staffs get cut. (Justin Davidson provides some context in a Musical America article. Justin, about that last point you make: San Francisco Classical Voice is independent of both arts organizations and print journalism.)
I have to especially argue with this point in Martin Bernheimer's article:
A primary cause of our imminent extinction must be the internet. An impatient generation is succumbing to the free and easy lure of computer-enlightenment. Not all those who cover the arts in old-fashioned print are paragons, badness knows. Still, most have sufficient education and/or experience to justify their views. On the web anyone can impersonate an expert. Anyone can blog. Credentials don’t count. All views are equal. Some sort of criticism may indeed survive the American media revolution, but professional criticism may not.
Just how familiar is Mr. Bernheimer with the classical music blogosphere? The bloggers I read can be loosely classified as follows (and apologies to those of you I've omitted from this incomplete list):
- Professional critics such as Alex Ross, Joshua Kosman, Jessica Duchen, Steve Smith, and Tim Mangan
- Composers and composer/critics such as Elaine Fine, Kyle Gann, Steve Hicken, Matthew Guerrierri, and the whole gang at Sequenza 21
- Performers such as singer/arts administrator Sidney Chen, pianist Jeremy Denk, conductor Kenneth Woods, and singer Anne-Carolyn Bird
- Consultants such as Drew McManus and Greg Sandow. Oh, did I mention that Drew has a past as a performing musician and Greg is a composer and critic?
- Well-informed and educated listeners such as A.C. Douglas, Patrick Vaz, and sfMike.
He's not the only critic who has gone astray writing about classical music on the Internet recently. The anonymous bloggers at The Detritus Review had a fine time taking apart an article by Mark Swed. And Out West Arts reports that newly-minted blogger Alan Rich said recently that there are "no important music blogs on the West Coast at this time." Welcome to the blogosphere, Mr. Rich, and check out those of us who've been here a while.
Update, July 5: A.C. Douglas has a few words on the same subject.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Rare Debussy
A friend writes:
I've just been listening to the recording of Debussy's Le Martyre de St.-Sébastien by MTT and the London Symphony, with Sylvia McNair and others, and narration by Leslie Caron. It's a hard CD to find--the pared-down orchestral version is easier, though not exactly a warhorse--but it's a gorgeous piece and really ought to be revived, with maximum spectacle as (I gather) the librettist, Gabriele d'Annunzio, had in mind.Sounds good to me - I'm shallow, so the phrase "maximum spectacle" automatically makes a piece attractive to me. (That's why I have a copy of Granville Bantock's Omar Khhayam at home now.)
Has anyone ever heard Le Martyre live?
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Thank Goodness for Small Favors
David Brooks, in conversation with Gail Collins:
First, I can never imagine believing that I am qualified to be president of the United States.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Rising Sun
Reviewing the San Francisco Symphony. Lindberg, Seht die Sonne; Debussy songs; Beethoven, Seventh Symphony.
Some thoughts that didn't make it into the review:
- I wish they'd programmed Lindberg's Clarinet Concerto to close, not the Beethoven. It would be fun to see Carey Bell break a sweat - and Oramo would have conducted it better.
- Right, I hated the Beethoven. And it wasn't just the speed: it was the rigidity and lack of give between and within measures and phrases.
- Anu Komsi really does have a lovely voice. She also has a habit of singing soft high notes with the tiniest thread of sound possible. I was very impressed the first couple of times she did this. Around the fourth or fifth time, realized that it's a trick, like those floated pianissimos Caballe could pull out of her hat. Notes sung in that fashion become disconnected from the line of the music.
- Jeff Dunn points out that Einojuhanni Rautavaara has sold more records than the composers I listed put together. I didn't list Rautavaara because I've heard only two works by him, one a part song that I liked very much - Volti sang it on one of their concerts - the other the dreadful Manhattan Trilogy the Symphony played with Ashkenazy conducting.
- The orchestra looked somewhere from studiously neutral to grim during the concert. My companion thought the Lindberg sounded underrehearsed, which could have caused the orchestra to look displeased.
Monday, June 23, 2008
San Francisco Opera on the Radio
Here's the schedule for the next batch of San Francisco Opera broadcasts on KDFC:
Sunday, July 6 at 8pm – Stravinky’s The Rake’s Progress [Fall 2007]
Tenor William Burden (Tom Rakewell) stars in Stravinsky’s tale of a self-destructive young man who makes a deal with the devil. Also featured in this production are soprano Laura Aikin (Anne Trulove), mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves (Baba the Turk) and bass-baritone James Morris (Nick Shadow). Donald Runnicles, conductor; Robert Lepage, director.
Sunday, August 3 at 8pm – Puccini’s Madama Butterfly [Fall 2007]
Puccini’s tragic love story features soprano Patricia Racette (Cio-Cio-San) and mezzo-soprano Zheng Cao (Suzuki) with tenor Brandon Jovanovich (Pinkerton) and baritone Steven Powell (Sharpless). Donald Runnicles, conductor; Kathleen Belcher, director.
Sunday, September 7 at 8pm – Wagner’s Das Rheingold [Summer 2008]
The first installment in acclaimed stage director Francesca Zambello’s complete “American” Ring cycle, Das Rheingold features role debuts by baritone Mark Delavan (Wotan), mezzo-soprano Jennifer Larmore (Fricka) and tenor Stefan Margita (Loge), as well as Richard Paul Fink (Alberich) and mezzo-soprano Jill Grove (Erda). Donald Runnicles, conductor; Francesca Zambello, director.
Sunday, October 5 at 8pm - San Francisco Chronicle Presents Opera in the Park
This special broadcast of the beloved San Francisco tradition, San Francisco Chronicle Presents Opera in the Park, features artists from the Company’s 2008–09 Season in concert with members of the San Francisco Opera Orchestra. Donald Runnicles, conductor.
Sunday, November 2 at 8pm – Handel’s Ariodante [Summer 2008]
Mezzo-soprano Susan Graham (Ariodante) stars in Handel’s rediscovered tale of jealousy, betrayal and ultimate triumph, also featuring soprano Ruth Ann Swenson (Ginevra), soprano Veronica Cangemi (Dalinda), contralto Sonia Prina (Polinesso) in her U.S. debut, tenor Richard Croft (Lurcanio) and bass-baritone Eric Owens (King of Scotland). Patrick Summers, conductor; John Copley, director.
Sunday December 7 at 8pm – Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor [Summer 2008]
French coloratura soprano Natalie Dessay (Lucia) stars in Donizetti’s famed saga of a woman driven mad by her arranged marriage. The production also features tenor Giuseppe Filianoti (Edgardo), baritone Gabriele Viviani (Enrico) and bass Oren Gradus (Raimondo). Jean-Yves Ossonce, conductor; Graham Vick, director.
Pamela Z at the Royce Gallery, June 27-29
THE PENDULUM
A new solo multi-media performance work by Pamela Z
Friday- Sunday June 27, 28, and 29, 2008, 8pm
Royce Gallery, 2901 Mariposa Street (between Harrison & Alabama), San Francisco.
Admission is $10
Tickets at the door or through PayPal (http://www.pamelaz.com/pendulum.html)
On Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, June 27th through 29th, 2008, at 8pm Pamela Z Productions presents Pamela Z in the San Francisco premiere of The Pendulum, a solo multi-media performance work exploring binaries of “Yes and No” through voice, electronics, projected video and manipulation of objects. Using a minimal set including dangling objects, and two channels of projected video, Ms. Z will perform a series of art songs and text-sound pieces with live voice, real-time processing, sampled voices and sounds and custom MIDI controllers, in the intimate performance space of the Royce Gallery.
About the inspiration for the work, the artist says:
“When I was growing up, my mother often wrote long lists of questions about things that concerned her. She would then dangle a small object -such as a needle, key, or trinket- on a thread and divine yes or no answers from the direction of its swinging - systematically writing the answers next to each question. Now in her advanced years, I have found that she amassed a great deal of documentation of her consultations with the pendulum for answers to questions both monumental and insignificant. A few years ago, while helping her to move, I discovered veritable reams of such pages- hand-written and typed. These papers chronicle a portion family history - albeit through my mother's rather distressed and confused filter.”
Some of the language from these pages finds its way into The Pendulum as a mesh of vocal texture throughout its visually rich and sonically layered segments.
A new solo multi-media performance work by Pamela Z
Friday- Sunday June 27, 28, and 29, 2008, 8pm
Royce Gallery, 2901 Mariposa Street (between Harrison & Alabama), San Francisco.
Admission is $10
Tickets at the door or through PayPal (http://www.pamelaz.com/pendulum.html)
On Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, June 27th through 29th, 2008, at 8pm Pamela Z Productions presents Pamela Z in the San Francisco premiere of The Pendulum, a solo multi-media performance work exploring binaries of “Yes and No” through voice, electronics, projected video and manipulation of objects. Using a minimal set including dangling objects, and two channels of projected video, Ms. Z will perform a series of art songs and text-sound pieces with live voice, real-time processing, sampled voices and sounds and custom MIDI controllers, in the intimate performance space of the Royce Gallery.
About the inspiration for the work, the artist says:
“When I was growing up, my mother often wrote long lists of questions about things that concerned her. She would then dangle a small object -such as a needle, key, or trinket- on a thread and divine yes or no answers from the direction of its swinging - systematically writing the answers next to each question. Now in her advanced years, I have found that she amassed a great deal of documentation of her consultations with the pendulum for answers to questions both monumental and insignificant. A few years ago, while helping her to move, I discovered veritable reams of such pages- hand-written and typed. These papers chronicle a portion family history - albeit through my mother's rather distressed and confused filter.”
Some of the language from these pages finds its way into The Pendulum as a mesh of vocal texture throughout its visually rich and sonically layered segments.
Friday, June 20, 2008
Medici TV at Aspen, and Elsewhere
Medici TV will have webcasts from Aspen this year, as well as Verbier and other festivals!
Lucia Tonight: Free, with Garlic Fries!
San Francisco Opera's ballpark simulcast of Lucia di Lammermoor is tonight. The production, and especially the singing, and especially Natalie Dessay, got great reviews. There's Joshua Kosman in the Chron, and, unusually, columnist Jon Carroll, with a particularly funny take on the piece.
Tickets are still available: you register and print out your tickets at the Opera web site.
I won't be there. I was supposed to see the Symphony, which is performing the Magnus Lindberg commission, Seht die Sonne, yesterday. I should have checked the schedule, because the performance was a rare Thursday matinee, which I discovered around 5 p.m., long after the concert was over. I'll be at the Symphony tonight, and will catch Lucia another time, or not at all.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Arrangements
On the Concord Ensemble's Berkeley Festival program last week was a number familiar to me, Juan Arañés’s Chacona, "A la vida, vidita bona." You might know this piece too, if you're a Hesperion XXI fan (and who isn't?), because it's the first track on the wonderful Villancicos y danzas criollas, which Alex Ross once called "Alia Vox's unofficial dance-party CD."
The Concord Ensemble and Hesperion both perform this piece, the catchiest music ever written, with similar verve and joy. But what a difference in arrangements: the Concord Ensemble performed it a capella. On the Hesperion CD, there's a veritable orchestra, including percussion, viols, a plucked instrument (Baroque guitar?), and sackbutts.
I've certained wondered about the historical information supporting Hesperion's instrumental forces, but the CD's liner notes are useless on this count. Davitt Maroney's program notes for the amazing Striggio mass performed at the Berkeley Festival indicate that in its time, lavish forces would have backed the singers, rendering his choice of sackbutts, cornetts, and pairs of portative organs and harpsichords conservative. But does the same apply to a secular number in a New World style?
Sunday, June 08, 2008
Things I Learned This Week
- Going to five performances in six days is a mistake, at least if you also have to go to work. That would be Das Rheingold, the SF Symphony program, and three concerts at the Berkeley early music fest ("Berkeley Festival and Exhibition" - why tell you the subject of the festival, after all?).
- Nonetheless, I'm sorry I couldn't have attended all of the festival concerts, and I'm especially sorry to have missed the Concord Ensemble/Piffaro concert, though I did catch the Concord Ensemble's fabulous program of Spanish music.
- It's a good idea to figure out the questions you need answered to finish your review on a day you can expect Cal Performances' press office to be open.
Friday, May 30, 2008
San Francisco Performances/Advice Sought
I saw the San Francisco Performance press release for next season a couple of months ago, and didn't comment at the time. Now the brochure has dropped into my mailbox, and YUM.
At the top of the must-see list, of course, is the Carter Centenary Celebration, starring the Pacific Quartet, which plays all five of the string quartets, and Ursula Oppens, who plays all of the piano music. The weekend also includes a long talk by Robert Greenberg, a film, and a reception. Okay, well worth missing jujitsu camp for.
But that's not all. A recital by Leif Ove Andsnes and Christian Tetzlaff, a joint recital by the retiring Guarneri Quartet and the Johannes Quartet, sundry other chamber groups and soloists, and an evening I need advice on: a traversal of Philip Glass's Music in Twelve Parts. Should I go? Will it drive me crazy?
At the top of the must-see list, of course, is the Carter Centenary Celebration, starring the Pacific Quartet, which plays all five of the string quartets, and Ursula Oppens, who plays all of the piano music. The weekend also includes a long talk by Robert Greenberg, a film, and a reception. Okay, well worth missing jujitsu camp for.
But that's not all. A recital by Leif Ove Andsnes and Christian Tetzlaff, a joint recital by the retiring Guarneri Quartet and the Johannes Quartet, sundry other chamber groups and soloists, and an evening I need advice on: a traversal of Philip Glass's Music in Twelve Parts. Should I go? Will it drive me crazy?
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Things Do Change
The Boosey & Hawkes email newsletter brings word of a new program, the Boosey & Hawkes Emerging Composers, a new sponsorship program. Here's what they say about the program:
In order to foster and develop the next generation of innovative composers, B&H is providing publishing, promotion, and career support to a select group of emerging composers for a specified cycle. B&H inaugurates the program with artists Oscar Bettison, Anna Clyne, and Du Yun, with future signings to be announced.Two of the three of the inaugural composers are women.
Pops?
I've got the 2008-09 season press release from New Century Chamber Orchestra, that gem of an ensemble. The upcoming season will be NCCO's first under its new music director, the virtuoso Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg.
Some interesting works appear on the program, but then there's the Christmas concert, with a couple of Brandenburg concertos - could anything be more predictable? Okay, Messiah - and carols and Channukah songs sung by the wonderful Melody Moore. Her last appearance with NCCO was singing Les Illuminations.
There are a couple of interesting-looking commissions from Claudia Assad, but this description gave me pause:
The whole season seems top-40-ish:
Nadja Plays Piazzolla: The Sounds of Brazil & Argentina
Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, violin
Thursday, Sept. 11 at 8pm, First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way, Berkeley
Saturday, Sept. 13 at 8pm, Herbst Theatre, 401 Van Ness Ave., San Francisco
Sunday, Sept. 14 at 5pm, Osher Marin Jewish Community Center, 200 N. San Pedro Road, San Rafael
Tuesday, Sept. 16 at 8pm, First United Methodist Church, 625 Hamilton Ave., Palo Alto
Clarice Assad: Impressions, Suite for Chamber Orchestra (NCCO Commission, World Premiere)
Alberto Ginastera: Glosses on Themes by Pablo Casals
Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, violin
Piazzolla (arr. Leonid Desyatnikov): Four Seasons of Buenos Aires
Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, violin
Heitor Villa-Lobos (arr. Clarice Assad): Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5
Celebrate the Holidays
Melody Moore, soprano
Schola Cantorum San Francisco
Thursday, Dec. 11 at 8pm, St. John's Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave., Berkeley
Friday, Dec. 12 at 8pm, First United Methodist Church, 625 Hamilton Ave., Palo Alto
Saturday, Dec. 13 at 8pm, Herbst Theatre, 401 Van Ness Ave., San Francisco
Sunday, Dec. 14 at 5 pm, Osher Marin Jewish Community Center, 200 N. San Pedro Road, San Rafael
Handel: Solomon, Overture and Entrance of the Queen of Sheba
Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F major, BWV 1047
Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D major, BWV 1050
Holiday Songs and Carols (arr. Clarice Assad)
Melody Moore, soprano
Schola Cantorum San Francisco
The Glory of Russia
Anne-Marie McDermott, piano
Thursday, March 5, 2009 at 8pm, Herbst Theatre, 401 Van Ness Ave., San Francisco
Friday, March 6, 2009 at 8pm, First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way, Berkeley
Saturday, March 7, 2009 at 8 pm, First United Methodist Church, 625 Hamilton Ave., Palo Alto
Sunday, March 8, 2009 at 5 pm, Osher Marin Jewish Community Center, 200 North San Pedro Road, San Rafael
Prokofiev (arr. Rudolf Barshai): Visions Fugitives, Op. 22
Anne-Marie McDermott, piano
Shostakovich: Piano Concerto No. 1 in C minor, Op. 35
Anne-Marie McDermott, piano
Tchaikovsky: Souvenir de Florence
Shadows and Light
Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, violin
Thursday, May 14, 2009 at 8pm, First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way, Berkeley
Friday, May 15, 2009, at 8pm, First United Methodist Church, 625 Hamilton Ave., Palo Alto
Sunday, May 17, 2009 at 5pm, Osher Marin Jewish Community Center, 200 North San Pedro Road, San Rafael
Tuesday, May 19, 2009 at 8 pm, Herbst Theatre, 401 Van Ness Ave., San Francisco
Mozart: Eine Kleine Nachtmusik
Bernard Herrmann: Psycho Suite
Borodin: Nocturne
Clarice Assad: Dreamscape (NCCO Commission, World Premiere)
Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, violin
Strauss (arr. Mats Lidstrom): Die Fledermaus Suite
I'm interested in only two of the four programs; the last and the Christmas, excuse me, holiday concert lack meat (except for the commission). Compare and contrast with 2007-08:
September 2007, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, guest concertmaster
Kreisler (arr. Assad): Praeludium and Allegro
Bach: Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor, BWV 1041
Nadja-Salerno Sonnenberg, violin
Mendelssohn: String Symphony No. 10 in B minor
Tchaikovsky: Serenade for Strings, Op. 48
November 2007, Margaret Batjer, guest concertmaster
Francesco Geminiani: Concerto Grosso No. 1 in D major
Handel: Concerto Grosso in A major, Op. 6, No. 11
J. S. Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 in G major, BWV 1049
C. P. E. Bach: String Symphonie in E major Wq 182/6
Haydn: Symphony No. 8 in G major, Le Soir
January 19, 2008, REWIND
Paul Haas, conductor
Anne Akiko Meyers, violin
Raushan Akhmedyarova, violin
Mason Bates, DJ
Schnittke: Concerto Grosso for 2 Violins, Harpsichord, and Strings
Soloists include Anne Akiko Meyers, violin
Raskatov: 5 Minuten aus dem Leben WAM
Anne Akiko Meyers, violin
James MacMillan: As Others See Us (T. S. Eliot)
Stravinsky: Suite from Pulcinella
Villa-Lobos: Bachianas brasileiras No. 4
Stravinsky: Suite for Small Orchestra No. 2
Schoenberg: Verklärte Nacht
Mozart: Divertimento K. 136
Corelli (arr Greenstein): Concerto Grosso in C minor, Op. 6, No. 3
Soloists include Anne Akiko Meyers, violin
Biagio Marini: Passacaglio
Purcell: A Bird’s Prelude from A Faerie Queen
April 2008, Stuart Canin, NCCO Founding Music Director, guest concertmaster
Mozart: Violin Concerto No. 5 in A Major, K. 219
Stuart Canin, violin
Shostakovich: Chamber Symphony for Strings, Op. 110a
Mendelssohn: Octet for Strings, Op. 20
June 2008, Rachel Barton Pine, guest concertmaster
Saint-Georges: Violin Concerto in A Major
George Walker: Lyric for Strings
Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson: Sinfonietta No. 2, Generations
Brahms: Sextet in B-flat Major, Op. 18
Some interesting works appear on the program, but then there's the Christmas concert, with a couple of Brandenburg concertos - could anything be more predictable? Okay, Messiah - and carols and Channukah songs sung by the wonderful Melody Moore. Her last appearance with NCCO was singing Les Illuminations.
There are a couple of interesting-looking commissions from Claudia Assad, but this description gave me pause:
Describe a woman in terms of her father, thank you; is he really one of the world's preeminent composers?
Clarice Assad is the daughter of Sergio Assad, one of the world's preeminent guitarists and composers, and has performed professionally since the age of seven.
The whole season seems top-40-ish:
Nadja Plays Piazzolla: The Sounds of Brazil & Argentina
Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, violin
Thursday, Sept. 11 at 8pm, First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way, Berkeley
Saturday, Sept. 13 at 8pm, Herbst Theatre, 401 Van Ness Ave., San Francisco
Sunday, Sept. 14 at 5pm, Osher Marin Jewish Community Center, 200 N. San Pedro Road, San Rafael
Tuesday, Sept. 16 at 8pm, First United Methodist Church, 625 Hamilton Ave., Palo Alto
Clarice Assad: Impressions, Suite for Chamber Orchestra (NCCO Commission, World Premiere)
Alberto Ginastera: Glosses on Themes by Pablo Casals
Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, violin
Piazzolla (arr. Leonid Desyatnikov): Four Seasons of Buenos Aires
Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, violin
Heitor Villa-Lobos (arr. Clarice Assad): Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5
Celebrate the Holidays
Melody Moore, soprano
Schola Cantorum San Francisco
Thursday, Dec. 11 at 8pm, St. John's Presbyterian Church, 2727 College Ave., Berkeley
Friday, Dec. 12 at 8pm, First United Methodist Church, 625 Hamilton Ave., Palo Alto
Saturday, Dec. 13 at 8pm, Herbst Theatre, 401 Van Ness Ave., San Francisco
Sunday, Dec. 14 at 5 pm, Osher Marin Jewish Community Center, 200 N. San Pedro Road, San Rafael
Handel: Solomon, Overture and Entrance of the Queen of Sheba
Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F major, BWV 1047
Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 in D major, BWV 1050
Holiday Songs and Carols (arr. Clarice Assad)
Melody Moore, soprano
Schola Cantorum San Francisco
The Glory of Russia
Anne-Marie McDermott, piano
Thursday, March 5, 2009 at 8pm, Herbst Theatre, 401 Van Ness Ave., San Francisco
Friday, March 6, 2009 at 8pm, First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way, Berkeley
Saturday, March 7, 2009 at 8 pm, First United Methodist Church, 625 Hamilton Ave., Palo Alto
Sunday, March 8, 2009 at 5 pm, Osher Marin Jewish Community Center, 200 North San Pedro Road, San Rafael
Prokofiev (arr. Rudolf Barshai): Visions Fugitives, Op. 22
Anne-Marie McDermott, piano
Shostakovich: Piano Concerto No. 1 in C minor, Op. 35
Anne-Marie McDermott, piano
Tchaikovsky: Souvenir de Florence
Shadows and Light
Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, violin
Thursday, May 14, 2009 at 8pm, First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way, Berkeley
Friday, May 15, 2009, at 8pm, First United Methodist Church, 625 Hamilton Ave., Palo Alto
Sunday, May 17, 2009 at 5pm, Osher Marin Jewish Community Center, 200 North San Pedro Road, San Rafael
Tuesday, May 19, 2009 at 8 pm, Herbst Theatre, 401 Van Ness Ave., San Francisco
Mozart: Eine Kleine Nachtmusik
Bernard Herrmann: Psycho Suite
Borodin: Nocturne
Clarice Assad: Dreamscape (NCCO Commission, World Premiere)
Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, violin
Strauss (arr. Mats Lidstrom): Die Fledermaus Suite
I'm interested in only two of the four programs; the last and the Christmas, excuse me, holiday concert lack meat (except for the commission). Compare and contrast with 2007-08:
September 2007, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, guest concertmaster
Kreisler (arr. Assad): Praeludium and Allegro
Bach: Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor, BWV 1041
Nadja-Salerno Sonnenberg, violin
Mendelssohn: String Symphony No. 10 in B minor
Tchaikovsky: Serenade for Strings, Op. 48
November 2007, Margaret Batjer, guest concertmaster
Francesco Geminiani: Concerto Grosso No. 1 in D major
Handel: Concerto Grosso in A major, Op. 6, No. 11
J. S. Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 in G major, BWV 1049
C. P. E. Bach: String Symphonie in E major Wq 182/6
Haydn: Symphony No. 8 in G major, Le Soir
January 19, 2008, REWIND
Paul Haas, conductor
Anne Akiko Meyers, violin
Raushan Akhmedyarova, violin
Mason Bates, DJ
Schnittke: Concerto Grosso for 2 Violins, Harpsichord, and Strings
Soloists include Anne Akiko Meyers, violin
Raskatov: 5 Minuten aus dem Leben WAM
Anne Akiko Meyers, violin
James MacMillan: As Others See Us (T. S. Eliot)
Stravinsky: Suite from Pulcinella
Villa-Lobos: Bachianas brasileiras No. 4
Stravinsky: Suite for Small Orchestra No. 2
Schoenberg: Verklärte Nacht
Mozart: Divertimento K. 136
Corelli (arr Greenstein): Concerto Grosso in C minor, Op. 6, No. 3
Soloists include Anne Akiko Meyers, violin
Biagio Marini: Passacaglio
Purcell: A Bird’s Prelude from A Faerie Queen
April 2008, Stuart Canin, NCCO Founding Music Director, guest concertmaster
Mozart: Violin Concerto No. 5 in A Major, K. 219
Stuart Canin, violin
Shostakovich: Chamber Symphony for Strings, Op. 110a
Mendelssohn: Octet for Strings, Op. 20
June 2008, Rachel Barton Pine, guest concertmaster
Saint-Georges: Violin Concerto in A Major
George Walker: Lyric for Strings
Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson: Sinfonietta No. 2, Generations
Brahms: Sextet in B-flat Major, Op. 18
Sunday, May 25, 2008
A Different Kind of Summer Sing
Mostly Motets is having a combination concert and sing-along, featuring works by Dufay, Desprez, Tallis, Palestrina, Byrd, Victoria, and others, and does it ever sound like fun.
Here's how it works, from the email I received:
Sunday, June 8, 2008 at 1:30 p.m.
First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way, Berkeley (Channing & Durant; Dana & Durant)
Tickets are $10 in advance, $15 at the door. Call (800) 838-3006 or visit the Mostly Motets web site to buy tickets.
The email also says this:
Here's how it works, from the email I received:
Mostly Motets will first perform each piece with the audience listening. Immediately after that, members of the audience who wish to will be welcome to sing the same piece together with the ensemble. Music selections will range from relatively familiar and easy to more unusual and challenging.Details:
Sunday, June 8, 2008 at 1:30 p.m.
First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way, Berkeley (Channing & Durant; Dana & Durant)
Tickets are $10 in advance, $15 at the door. Call (800) 838-3006 or visit the Mostly Motets web site to buy tickets.
The email also says this:
Auditions for the 2008-2009 season will begin the week after this performance. If you are interested, please visit the Membership part of our web site and contact Steve Moore at smoore@vistaconsulting.com, at (707) 575-7400, or after the concert.
American Music Festival 2
In my previous posting, I called attention to the absence of women from the press release for the 68th Annual American Music Festival. David Bukszpan wrote back with more information, and to say he could see why I was concerned about the press release: the Festival will include music by Mahaia Jackson, Bessie Smith, Billy Holiday, Amy Beach, Margaret Bond, Mary Lou, Barbara Hendricks, Kathleen Battle, Marian Anderson, Gospel Harmonettes, Bernice J. Reagon and Sweet Honey in the Rock.
Update, May 29: Yes, that's Mary Lou Williams. And the playlists for this festival were drawn up late, and the press release thus didn't include everyone.
Update, May 29: Yes, that's Mary Lou Williams. And the playlists for this festival were drawn up late, and the press release thus didn't include everyone.
Friday, May 23, 2008
68th Annual American Music Festival
I've received a press release about the 68th Annual American Music Festival, presented by WNYC. The blurbage starts this way:
Charles Mingus, Paul Robeson, John Fahey, Frank Sinatra, William Bolton, Terrance McKnight, David Garland, William Bolcom, Jason Moran, Gunther Schuller, John Zorn, Grey Reverend (LD Brown), J. J. Johnson, Charles Mingus, George Handy, Duke Ellington, Bill Smith, Joe Venuti, Earl Hines, John Fahey, Glenn Jones, Duke Ellington, Paul Robeson, John Rockwell, Charles Ives, Les Baxter, Lennie Tristano, The Beach Boys, Ornette Coleman, Jerry Goldsmith, The Velvet Underground, John Coltrane, Frank Sinatra, Captain Beefheart, Jimmy Durante "and others."
Guests for one program are TBD.
I sent email in response:
The 2008 American Music Festival will explore “America’s Classical Music” by examining it in contrast to the established forms of Western European traditions. Recordings, interviews, and critical commentary will coalesce into an examination of the processes, styles, ensembles, and folk traditions that are uniquely and arguably authentically American. Oratorio will give way to spiritual, Pavarotti to Paul Robeson, string quartet to jazz combo, Beethoven to Ellington, waltz to rag, and bel canto to the blues.All well and good, but here are all the names mentioned in the press release as participants or composers/performers to be discussed:
Charles Mingus, Paul Robeson, John Fahey, Frank Sinatra, William Bolton, Terrance McKnight, David Garland, William Bolcom, Jason Moran, Gunther Schuller, John Zorn, Grey Reverend (LD Brown), J. J. Johnson, Charles Mingus, George Handy, Duke Ellington, Bill Smith, Joe Venuti, Earl Hines, John Fahey, Glenn Jones, Duke Ellington, Paul Robeson, John Rockwell, Charles Ives, Les Baxter, Lennie Tristano, The Beach Boys, Ornette Coleman, Jerry Goldsmith, The Velvet Underground, John Coltrane, Frank Sinatra, Captain Beefheart, Jimmy Durante "and others."
Guests for one program are TBD.
I sent email in response:
Serious question - does "America's Classical Music" include women in any capacity? If not, why not? If so, why isn't there a single female name in this press release? Will music by American women composers even be mentioned in this festival?
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