Living at the Opera

By Harvey Steiman

Reprinted with permission from Seen and Heard - Music Web’s Live Opera, Concert and Recital Reviews.

Ireland, Vaughan Williams, Schubert, Fauré, et al: Bryn Terfel, bass baritone; Malcolm Martineau, piano. Presented by Cal Performances at Zellerbach Hall, University of California at Berkeley, 17.4.2008 (HS)

Not many vocal recitalists can hold a capacity crowd of 2,000 in rapt silence with a stage presence so casual as Bryn Terfel did Thursday night in Berkeley. He was so easy-going and friendly he might have been getting up from a dinner party to sing a few tunes to while away the evening. If there is a more relaxed performer in the sometimes stultifying world of classical recitals, it’s hard to think of who it might be.

As an opera singer, Terfel is best known for inhabiting his oversized stage roles, such as Verdi’s Falstaff, Mozart’s Figaro or Stravinsky’s Nick Shadow, thoroughly and naturally. His resonant bass baritone voice seems to pour out of him without artifice or strain, so easily that sometimes it’s dumbfounding to hear. Shouldn’t making sounds like that be more difficult than it looks?

Despite this apparent nonchalance, it was the level of detail that made Terfel’s singing so compelling in this recital. In song after song, he brought out telling nuances in the words or the vocal line. His diction in English, Italian, German—it didn’t seem to matter what language he sang—was impeccable. A hesitation here or a change of tone there, enriching the sound on one phrase and floating velvety soft lines on others, made the songs come to life and feel fresh. Pianist Malcolm Martineau seemed to be breathing with Terfel, not surprising as they have collaborated in recitals for years.

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L to R: Robb Harrison, Nathan Krueger, Kristin Griffeath, Dennis Tamblyn, Adam Shelton, Robyn Rocklein and Meray Boustani. Ingvi Kallen UA School of Music

In an interview in the Tucson Weekly a week before the U of A Opera Theater’s first performance of Dominick Argento’s Postcard from Morocco on April 4th, Charles Roe, the program’s artistic director stated that although music director and conductor Thomas Cockrell was convinced that mounting Argento’s surrealistic work would be a good step for the Opera Theater’s next venture into American Opera, Roe’s “first impression wasn’t as positive.” After all, Roe had directed two popular works in the idiom - Mark Adamo’s Little Women and Kerke Mechem’s Tartuffe - productions that were not only enthusiastically received, but artistically on the money. It’s true Argento’s opera is a favorite among many university opera programs, but the opera is filled with numerous musical tangents and vocal lines that keep the singers running up and down the scale throughout the work. Besides that, the orchestra was placed over on stage left, out of the singer’s view of conductor Cockrell. Even with stage monitors helping the performers follow Cockrell as he led them through Argento’s musical mix of Ragtime melodies, waltz tunes popping up here and there, and pieces of Richard Wagner’s Ring thrown in as a tribute to one of Argento’s favorite composers, there was a good chance this production could prove to be risky business.

Whatever the musical and dramatic complexities of Argento’s ninety minute opera were, Roe and his forces met every challenge head on. In fact, one could say, this production was one of the most well-prepared and imaginative outings mounted by the U of A’s Opera Theater.

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By Bernard Jacobson

Reprinted with permission from Seen and Heard - Music Web’s Live Opera, Concert and Recital Reviews

Seattle Opera Young Artists Program, soloists, members of the Auburn Symphony, cond. Brian Garman, dir. Peter Kazaras; Meydenbauer Center, Bellevue, WA, 6.4.2008 (BJ)

Cast for L’Enfant et les sortilèges - Picture © Rozarii Lynch

I should have had more faith. The prospect of Ravel’s masterpiece of enchanted childhood set, not in a room and garden, but in a subway station was the reverse of alluring. How could it possibly achieve the ravishing effect of the transformation from room to garden, which I shall never forget from the first time I ever saw the piece staged, fully half a century ago, by the Oxford University Opera Society?

Well, Peter Kazaras, artistic director of Seattle Opera’s Young Artists Program, has worked magic before–in last season’s Falstaff, most notably – and he worked it again in this wonderful production. Eschewing the more obvious enchantments of Colette’s libretto, to focus instead on the surreal qualities of the story, he made L’Enfant more universal than ever, liberating it, as it were, from the outward trappings of one particular French-bourgeois context. The customary nursery-age infant was replaced by a rebellious teenager, and the putative animals by humans with mildly animal characteristics. It was the kind of directorial intervention that I usually find counter-productive. But Kazaras, it’s no exaggeration to say, is a genius of a director, and when he does it, it works.

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By Harvey Steiman

Reprinted with permission from Seen and Heard - Music Web’s Live Opera, Concert and Recital Reviews.

Melody Moore, soprano; Fredericka von Stade, mezzo soprano; Vladimir Chernov, baritone; Peter Grunberg, piano; Marilyn Horne, host and narrator; a salon presented by San Francisco Performances at Herbst Hall, San Francisco, 22.3.2008 (HS)

Though discerning vocal recitalists occasionally slip one or two of her songs into their programs, it’s safe to say that Pauline Viardot and her music were new to most of the audience for “Pauline Viardot and Friends.” After the 2 1/2-hour “salon,” which made as much of the 19th century singer and composer’s relationships with famous figures of her day as it did of her beautifully crafted music, they may well have fallen in love with her.

The Romantic Russian writer Ivan Turgenev certainly tumbled for her, and spent much of his life as the “trois” in a sort of ménage-a-trois that included her much older husband. As described in the script, written by Georgia Smith, this was perfectly understandable. Pauline was quite a gal. She was fluent in four languages by the time she was 4, she dazzled Liszt with her piano virtuosity at 10 (he taught her for a while), became a singer at 16 and the toast of Europe by 22.

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By Harvey Steiman

Reprinted with permission from Seen and Heard - Music Web’s Live Opera, Concert and Recital Reviews

Hartke, Crumb, Golijov: Members of eighth blackbird; Orquestra Los Pelegrinos; Dawn Upshaw, soprano. Presented by Cal Performances, Zellberbach Hall, Berkeley, California, 1.3.2008 (HS)

American soprano Dawn Upshaw’s fierce intelligence and supple voice bring extra layers of depth and excitement to contemporary music. That was in abundant evidence Saturday night as she energized Ayre, a song cycle by the Argentinian composer Osvaldo Golijov, into exuberant existence. With help from the eclectic Orquestra Los Pelegrinos, the 40-minute performance capped off a program of highly listenable, ear-bending contemporary music that included a new piece by Stephen Hartke and George Crumb’s still-haunting 27-year-old evocation of whale song.

Ayre, which premiered in 2004, somehow melds the folk music of Jews, Christians and Arabs of late 15th-century southern Spain into contemporary orchestrations without losing their sense of authenticity. If anything, Golijov’s touch adds extra depth to their power, using electronics to bend the sound without breaking it.

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Giuseppe Verdi, October 9/10, 1813 - January 27, 1901

Renata Tebaldi can be found on a number of recordings of La Forza, all of them live except one studio version on London/Decca. The soprano always had a great success with the role of Leonora both in Italy and at the Met and seemed to enjoy taking on one of Verdi’s most tormented heroines. Most times Tebaldi had no problems with any of the vocal and dramatic hurdles in her portrayal. Possibly the Italian Diva’s best rendition can be found on a performance from the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, taped on June 14, 1953 under the baton of Dimitri Mitropoulos. His conducting is both poignant and dramatically propulsive; the famous overture is quite a vivid and full-scale interpretation.

All the performances have an inspired feeling about them due mostly to their outstanding vocal and dramatic output that on this day showed why Forza aways needs great singers to be fully appreciated.

Mario Del Monico’s Alvaro shows the vocal prowess coupled with a warm execution which his fans knew he had and can stand up to any scrutiny his detractors put forth. Cesare Siepi’s Padre Guardiano is vocally sturdy in expressing one of Verdi’s most compassionate paternal figures making the convent duet with Tebaldi an opulent experience. Both Fedora Barbieri’s cushiony lilt in her Preziosilla and Renato Capecchi’s insightful vocal acting as the cynical Fra Melitone show the overall strength of this cast. If Aldo Protti’s Don Carlo did not always express the sonority we like to hear in this role, he still made a solid contribution when needed. In 1953, Tebaldi had all the vocal and dramatic resources Leonora required, allowing her beautiful sound to ring out and completely capture all the vocal drama she loved to invest into this role.

This performance can be found on the Archipel label-ARPCD 0126 which, unfortunately, may be out of print.

By 
James L. Zychowicz

Reprinted with permission from Seen and Heard - Music Web’s Live Opera, Concert and Recital Reviews

Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of Lyric Opera of Chicago, Donato Renzetti(conductor) Lyric Opera Center, Chicago 16.2.2008 (JLZ)

Production:
Director: John Copley
Set Design: John Conklin
Costumes: Michael Stennett
Lighting: Duane Schuler
Chorus Master: Donald Nally

Cast:
Figaro: Nathan Gunn
Rosina: Joyce DiDonato
Count Almaviva: John Osborn
Dr. Bartolo: Philip Kraus
Don Basilio: Wayne Tigges
Berta: Lauren Curnow
Fiorello: Daniel Billings 
Sergeant: David Portillo
Ambrogio: David Zarbock

When art inspires music, the results can be intriguing. From Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition through to Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park with George, a number of memorable works have emerged over the years. In fact the 2006-7 season of Lyric Opera of Chicago included a production of Verdi’s Il trovatore that took some paintings by Goya as the points of departure for a riveting presentation. With the revival of Lyric’s latest production of Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia, the set designer John Conklin was commissioned by the late Ardis Kranik and Bill Mason for a new staging of that venerable comedy. According to the programme notes, he found Rossini’s Il barbiere to involve “an amazing mixture of commedia dell’arte and surreal happenings” which turned his attention to the art of René Magritte. Magritte’s influence makes this production weigh cleverness and artifice against the musical elements in a staging that sometimes challenges the usual conventions associated with the work.

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Now that the Rossini revival has passed the quarter century mark, it seems fitting for the opera world to take a look at performances before the advent of critical perusal of Rossini’s operas. One such look leads us to his Mosè recorded for RAI in Rome on June 27th, 1956. This is the Italian version of the French work, Moise et Pharaon listed in the notes as a Melodramma sacro in quattro atti.

The committed cast offers some exciting singing at times that could meet today’s vocal scrutiny. Bass, Nicola Rossi-Lemeni’s sound is a little woolly but he makes an imposing biblical leader. Tenor, Agostino Lazzari gives a good account of Elisero but is unschooled in Rossinian technique. The compramari raise the vocal level with soprano,Rosanna Cartieri as Sinaide, bass, Plinio Clabassi as Osiride and Anna Maria Rota as Maria.The two artists that stand out are soprano, Anita Cerquetti  as Anaide and  baritone, Giuseppe Taddei  as Faraone whose impressive vocals compliment Rossini’s multifaceted scoring and would be welcome on today’s stages. Tulio Serafin conducts the Orchestra and Chorus of the RAI with a sure hand, giving Rossini’s music a bit of Verdian energy especially in the closing music expressing the parting of the Red Sea.

1995 Eklipse Records Ltd. EKR P-10

Gioachino ROSSINI (1792-1868) Mose in Egitto - azione tragico-sacra in three acts (1819 version) Mose - Lorenzo Regazzo (bass) Elcia - Akie Amou (soprano) Faraone - Wojtek Gierlach (bass) Osiride - Filippo Adami (tenor) Amaltea - Rossella Bevacqua (soprano) Aronne - Giorgio Trucco (tenor) Amenofi Karen Bandelow (mezzo-soprano) Mambre - Giuseppe Fedeli (tenor)

Württemberg Philharmonic Orchestra Conductor: Antonio Fogliani San Pietro a Majella Chorus, Naples ( Elsa Evangelista, Chorus-master) Wildbad Wind Band (Martin Koch, Band-leader)

Recorded live on 1st,7th and 12th July, 2006, in the Kursaal, Bad Wildbad, Germany during the ROSSINI IN WILDBAD festival (Artistic director: Jochen Schönleber) A co-production with SWR Producer: Siegbert Ernst Editor: Dr Anette Sidhu - Ingenhoff Engineers:Wolfgang Rein and Siggi Mehne Booklet Notes Reto Müller and Keith Anderson

Cover: Stage design by Auguste Caron for the second act of the French version of Moise et Pharaon (4 acts) by Rossini, Paris ,1827

CD 1 75:44 Act 1 57:21 Act 2 18:23 CD 2 60:54 Act ll (contd.) 47:01 Act lll 13:53

When Gioachino Rossini sat down to compose Mose in Egitto in 1818, he was in the midst of his most prolific musical period as an opera composer. On the one side of his musical journey, Rossini had already mounted the dramme giocosi, L’Italiana in Algeri and La Cenerentola, the dramma, Elizabetta, regina d’Inghilterra, his first Neapolitan work and his most popular comedy, Il Barbiere di Siviglia. And as for the years after 1818, the opera world would soon get to hear such rich musical works as the azione tragica, Ermione, the melodramma, La Donna del lago and what Phillip Gossett calls in his book, Divas and Scholars, Rossini’s most innovative Italian serious opera, Maometto ll, the last three composed for the Teatro San Carlo in Naples under the watchful eye of the impresario, Domenico Barbaja.

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By James L Zychowicz

Reprinted with permission from Seen and Heard - Music Web’s Live Opera, Concert and Recital Reviews

Sir Andrew Davis (conductor), Lyric Opera of Chicago, Chicago 1.2.2008 (JLZ)

Production:
Stage Director: Olivier Tambosi
Set and Costume Designer: Frank Philipp Schlössmann
Lighting Designer: Christine Binder
Stage Band Conductor: Craig Terry
Chorus Master: Donald Nally
Stage Manager: John W. Coleman

Cast :
Dr. Caius: David Cangelosi
Sir John Falstaff: Andrew Shore
Bardolfo: Rodell Rosel
Pistola: Andrew Funk
Meg Page: Elizabeth de Shong
Alice Ford: Veronica Villarrroel
Mistress Quickly: Meredith Awardy
Nannetta: Stacey Tappan
Ford: Boaz Daniel
Fenton: Bryan Griffin

If the focus of Falstaff is on the ensemble of characters that comprise the opera, the current production by Lyric Opera of Chicago brings a new standard to the execution of the work. Just as the opera is the result of the interaction of individual roles, the entire cast worked well together in arriving at a production that was seamless and natural. Yet in bringing to life the title character Falstaff, the English baritone Andrew Shore shared the stage well with his colleagues. Such a shared presence was part of the entire production, as the individual scenes allowed the story to unfold and, more importantly, made the Finale particularly memorable, when all the characters are on stage in a number that celebrates the human condition (”Tutto nel mondo é burla”).

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