Sunday, February 26, 2017

Bach and Beethoven at the Sacramento Philharmonic and Opera.

The latest concert with the Sacramento Philharmonic and Opera featured guest conductor Andrew Grams with Peter Serkin and Tomoki Park on the two Steinway grand pianos.

The concert opened with the Brahms Academic Festival Overture.  When they reached "Gaudeamus Igitur," my friend and I began to sing along.  I even remember the words from when I played a student in The Student Prince

The second piece was for 2 pianos and orchestra by Toru Takemitsu and was composed in part for Peter Serkin. I found this piece pleasant and enjoyable, but was shocked to find that I did not like at all the Bach Double Keyboard Concerto which was switched to BWV 1061 at the last minute from 1062.  Bach's keyboards would have been harpsichords, but we are all well accustomed to pianos on these pieces.

The concert closed with a lovely rendition of Beethoven's Symphony No. 7.  Beethoven always comes through.  I liked Andrew Grams enthusiasm.

Rusalka in HD


Conductor:  Mark Elder
Production:  Mary Zimmerman

Rusalka:  Kristine Opolais
Prince:  Brandon Jovanovich
Princess:  Katarina Dalayman
Jezibaba:  Jamie Barton
Gnome:  Eric Owens

Dvorák's Rusalka was live from the Metropolitan Opera on Saturday. Many of the people around me had never seen this opera.  This is my fourth time with all the previous times starring Renée Fleming. 

I was completely won over by the water nymphs at the beginning.  First they danced and then suddenly as if by magic they sang.


In case you thought after her appearance in Nabucco that Jamie Barton was boring, her Jezibaba was evil and fun and completely upstaged everyone else.  Except maybe the water nymphs.

Eric Owens owns the Gnome. He pointed out in his interview that this was his actual Fach while L'Amour is more a baritone role.

This is an excellent role for Kristine.  Someone has to step into Fleming's repertoire.  Her acting is far more intense than Fleming which changes the dramatic intensity of the opera.  Her voice is not really heavy enough for most of the roles she sings, but if she keeps this under control, it should be good for her.

I thought the castle sequence in Act II worked better here than other productions I have seen.  Brandon was the picture of prince charming.  I liked it but don't want to go on and on about it.  The Wagner loving conductor thinks it's one of the great post Wagnerian operas, but for me it's just ok. I tend to think of Dvorák as post Brahms rather than post Wagner.  Wagnerians ignore Brahms.

Matthew Polenzani was an excellent host.

Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Il Trovatore from the ROH


Conductor: Richard Farnes
Director: David Bösch

Leonora: Lianna Haroutounian
Manrico, the troubadour: Gregory Kunde
Azucena, his gypsy mother: Anita Rachvelishvili
Count di Luna: Vitaliy Bilyy
Ferrando, his lieutenant:  Alexander Tsymbalyuk

This performance of Verdi's Il Trovatore from the Royal Opera House in London played in my local movie theater.  We were told that when this opera first played in America, it was called The Gypsy's Revenge.

This is my eighth viewing of this opera and my sixth production since I began blogging. Two were Sondra Radvanovsky, two were Anna Netrebko, one was Barbara Frittoli and one was Anja Harteros.  This is what an opera should be.  Here the production focuses on explaining the action.

This is one in a small set of operas I am calling the caravan series:  Il Turco in Italia from Los Angeles, Le Comte Ory from Zurich, Die Meistersinger from Munich and this performance all used a caravan at some point in the action.  In this performance Azucena lives here with her collection of baby dolls.

In this production all of the scenes are staged in the open air instead of the usual giant buildings with no particular identity or purpose.  The count and his army are at war with the gypsies.  He is in love with Leonora who is in love with the troubadour who sings to her from a distance.  If we are in large buildings, we cannot help wondering how a character from one group might casually approach a character from the other group.  If we are in the open air, this is not a problem.

Of this cast Anita Rachvelishvili was the most outstanding.  Her Azucena was intense and a bit mad.  Haroutounian sings beautifully but is not the big voiced singer we find with Radvanovsky, Netrebko or Harteros.  I enjoyed Kunde's singing but find him a bit too old to be Anita's son.


Saturday, February 18, 2017

I Puritani

I have only a short comment after hearing parts of I Puritani on the radio from the Met.  Diana Damrau is exactly this kind of singer.  I doubt that she would want to limit her repertoire to bel canto, but she and Javier Camarena were glorious.  

Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Weekend in Paris


American Bach Soloists presented a program of French Baroque music in Davis with Jeffrey Thomas conducting.  French music is not as known as German or Italian music of the same period, so for me this was a treat.  Only Rameau is familiar to me.  The program points out that the end of Lully's monopoly made this explosion of music possible.

Sunday, February 12, 2017

Classical Grammy Nominations and Winners 2017

Classical Grammy awards have followed their usual pattern.  They prefer more modern, less traditional music.  Mozart no, Corigliano yes.

Best Engineered Album, Classical  (An Engineer's Award. (Artist names appear in parentheses.))

Winner:

  • Corigliano: The Ghosts Of Versailles-- Mark Donahue & Fred Vogler, engineers (James Conlon, Guanqun Yu, Joshua Guerrero, Patricia Racette, Christopher Maltman, Lucy Schaufer, Lucas Meachem, LA Opera Chorus & Orchestra)  [Pentatone Music]

  • Dutilleux: Sur Le Même Accord; Les Citations; Mystère De L'Instant & Timbres, Espace, Mouvement--Alexander Lipay & Dmitriy Lipay, engineers (Ludovic Morlot & Seattle Symphony)  [Seattle Symphony Media]
  • Reflections--Morten Lindberg, engineer (Øyvind Gimse, Geir Inge Lotsberg & Trondheimsolistene)  [2L (Lindberg Lyd)]
  • Shadow Of Sirius--Silas Brown & David Frost, engineers; Silas Brown, mastering engineer (Jerry F. Junkin &; The University Of Texas Wind Ensemble)  [Naxos]
  • Shostakovich: Under Stalin's Shadow - Symphonies Nos. 5, 8 & 9--Shawn Murphy & Nick Squire, engineers; Tim Martyn, mastering engineer (Andris Nelsons & Boston Symphony Orchestra)  [Deutsche Grammophon]

Saturday, February 11, 2017

Flight


Conductor:  Nicole Paiement
Director:  Brian Staufenbiel

Refugee (countertenor).... Tai Oney
Controller (soprano) .........Nikki Einfeld
Bill (tenor) ........................Chaz'men.Williams-Ali
Tina, Bill's wife (soprano). Amina Edris
Stewardess (mezzo-soprano) Maya Yahav Gour
Older Woman (contralto) ...Catherine Cook
Steward (baritone) ............Hadleigh Adams
Minskman (baritone) ...........Eugene Brancoveanu
Minskwoman (mezzo-soprano) ...Renée Rapier
Immigration Officer (bass-baritone) ..Philip Skinner

Friday, February 10, 2017

Leontyne Price



On February 10 Leontyne Price will have her 90th birthday.  This aria from La Forza Del Destino is one she was particularly noted for.


Thursday, February 09, 2017

More Lulu



This is the amazing Barbara Hannigan on her experience with singing Lulu. Lulu may possibly be the most complex role in opera. She grows as ones familiarity with her grows.

Anna Netrebko will become an Austrian Kammersängerin


Wien/Berlin (MH) – Die Sopranistin Anna Netrebko (45) wird zur Österreichischen Kammersängerin ernannt. Wie die Wiener Staatsoper am Mittwoch mitteilte, wird der im russischen Krasnodar geborenen Künstlerin der Titel am 16. Februar verliehen.

This means that the Vienna State Opera has announced that on February 16 Anna Netrebko will become an Austria Kammersängerin or chamber singer.  Some years ago she became an Austrian citizen.

New Webpage

A webpage called Opera Musica has suddenly come into my awareness.  If this is old hat, then please forgive me.  It focuses on singers, something I'm always looking for.  You never have to wonder who is singing.

There is a page of artist profiles with pictures and schedules.

There is a page of operas and concerts, also with pictures and details.  They say you can buy tickets through their page, though I haven't tried it.

There is a page of videos of the artists in performance.

There is a page of artist managers.

I will add this to my lists.

Tuesday, February 07, 2017

Selfie of the Week


I might ask you to guess who this is.  On February 26 she will live stream from Munich, presumably in this outfit.

Sunday, February 05, 2017

Dresden Lohengrin

Conductor: Christian Thielemann
Production:  Christine Mielitz

Lohengrin:  Piotr Beczala 
Elsa von Brabant:  Anna Netrebko 
Heinrich der Vogler, King: Georg Zeppenfeld
Friedrich von Telramund:  Tomasz Konieczny
Ortrud, Friedrich's wife: Evelyn Herlitzius
Der Heerrufer des Königs:  Derek Welton