Concerts: previews / reviews

[JSngry]

Chamber season picks back up on Monday night.

Fauré Quartett

Monday, February 8, 2016, 7:30PM | at Caruth Auditorium

Mahler: Klavierquartettsatz in A minor
Fauré: Piano Quartet in C minor, Op. 15
Brahms: Piano Quartet in G minor, Op. 25

[JSngry]

On 2/7/2016 at 1:58 PM, JSngry said:

Chamber season picks back up on Monday night.

 

Wonderful gig, great group, fascinating repertoire. The intimacy of a chamber group, etcetcetc. But this one...hairpin dynamics, some of the most fluid time I've ever heard, and by god, they swung in that way that classical music can swing when it's really being brought home, in the moment. I love it when a group plays music with which I totally unfamiliar, music with some complexity to it, and delivers it with such clarity, that you can't help but follow the ideas as they come out/go around/etc. Clarity of playing, clarity of vision, clarity but never complacency. It's exhilarating. Brenda was actually moved to tears. I just had a big grin on my face most of the night. Contrary to the crankyass that's on display here sometimes, I actually love laughing and smiling whenever possible. Tonight it was easy, so, good time.

I also think Brahms might have been nuts, in a very quiet way. Yes?

[David Ayers]

What can there be after the Labeques, you were probably wondering....

 

http://www.warnerclassics.com/michelle-and-christina-naughton/news/1466

 

 

[JSngry]

Are they battery-powered windup toys?

[papsrus]

Cosi Fan Tutte

(“Women are Like That”)

Mozart

Sarasota Opera House

 

 

Romantic comedy: Two soldiers are engaged to a pair of sisters and everyone is head over heels. An older guy in the town bets the two young soldiers that their women will be unfaithful when pressed (women are like that). Soldiers eagerly take the bet, confident in the fidelity of their women. Long story short, the women cave in, but all is forgiven in the end. This is Mozart, after all.

Wonderful music infused with all those Mozart melodic lines dancing all over the place. I have a copy of Cosi on hand here at home and am looking forward to giving it a spin later.

I had a great seat in the front row of the balcony that afforded a clear view of both the stage and orchestra pit. And I’ve mentioned this before, but the balcony at the Sarasota Opera House extends quite far forward, so that the stage is pretty much right in front of you from the front row.

The singing was mostly very good, although one of the soldiers’ voices was clearly stronger than the other as far as projection, and one of the women had a little issue with lower-end range in some spots; kind of went from soaring soprano to almost a talking voice in the lower notes. Maybe this isn’t all that uncommon, but the other female lead didn’t seem to have this issue. And with lots of duets flying around, this unevenness in vocals made things a bit tricky for the orchestra, I think. Or rather, a bit tricky for the listener. With the somewhat stronger voices, the orchestra tended to be a bit in the background. With the weaker voices the orchestra tended to be a little more prominent. Not a problem, necessarily. Just kind of hard to miss.

I should add that it was opening night for this production, so I’m sure they were all working through things to some extent. But it was fascinating watching from my bird’s eye perch all the moving parts of the singers and the stage action, the conductor with his view of both the stage and the orchestra pit keeping everything together, and the opera house orchestra sounded great.

It’s funny though, working in the orchestra pit is a whole different thing than an orchestra performing on stage. Given that in opera the orchestra is playing more or less continuously for much longer stretches than a concert orchestra does, but with lots more lulls in the music than you get in orchestral concerts, it’s not uncommon for players to get up in the middle of things, wander off into the back of the pit somewhere (for a ham sandwich, I don’t know), come back, sit down and grab the old violin and start sawing away, then someone else in the wind section gets up and disappears into the back when there's another quiet passage in the music, etc, etc. Lot of moving parts down there that you only get to really see from the forward balcony. 

A good night. Audience behaved, too. But again, I think my choice of seats has a lot to do with my listening enjoyment at these live gigs. Forward balcony = good at the opera house.

Edited February 10, 2016 by papsrus

[A Lark Ascending]

I'm off to see Cosi Fan Tutti in Nottingham (Opera North production) in a few weeks. The high and mighty tend to get very precious about this opera but it's a wonderful piece for the earthbound too (even if the plot is ludicrous even by opera standards ['Ah, but the sublime exploration of the human condition...']).

I strongly recommend this DVD if you want to get to know it better:

Edited February 10, 2016 by A Lark Ascending

[papsrus]

6 hours ago, A Lark Ascending said:

I'm off to see Cosi Fan Tutti in Nottingham (Opera North production) in a few weeks. The high and mighty tend to get very precious about this opera but it's a wonderful piece for the earthbound too (even if the plot is ludicrous even by opera standards ['Ah, but the sublime exploration of the human condition...']).

I strongly recommend this DVD if you want to get to know it better:

I will look for that, thanks Bev.

I was not familiar with Cosi before going, beyond doing a little background reading prior. The music is wonderful. The performance I attended last night was certainly a light-hearted affair, traditionally staged, and the audience had a good time.   

Enjoy your trip to Nottingham. We can compare notes afterward. 

 

[JSngry]

I think I'd like a good Mozart opera, if ever I'm going to connect with Mozart, there will likely be words and staging involved. Opera in general, I'm becoming curious about attending....I know I'd like to see Tosca (and just missed it here last year) some Wagner and other later operas, Wozzeck and/or Lulu, definitely. But opportunities here are neither ready nor affordable. Plus, my wife is pretty, uh, adamant about not going. She's still got my old blanket dislike of the sound of "classical vocal" sound (I'm not fully over it myself), and I know how that's like, so either I go by myself, go to Ashley Madison and look to have an Opera Affair, or else stay home and keep working on the wife. It'll come, eventually?

[papsrus]

I'm relatively new to opera, having started attending just the last few years. It's fascinating to see (and hear) all the pieces of the puzzle come together. How many things have to go right all at once for them to pull the thing off.

The biggest thing for me when I first started attending was adjusting to the time involved. You're there for 3 - 4 hours with one or two intermissions. Basically perhaps double the time and then some of an orchestral concert. So, investing in a good seat is important to me. And wearing something lose-fitting and comfortable. Don't eat a big meal or slam a few beers beforehand (seriously). And I'm not being flip. You sort of have to be mentally and physically prepared to sit for a 3 - 4 hours. If you're enjoying yourself and comfortable, no big deal. 

And while there's an element of theatre involve, it's foremost a musical experience. These are singers, not actors. While the stagings can be fantastical and elaborate, dreamlike and otherworldly, the dramatic gestures of the singers may seem like something out of a silent film, exaggerated or overdone. Or there may be very little "action" going on at all.  More dramatic gestures and such. Course, that's just the way things are staged at my little opera house. You go to the Met and they have something like a dozen hydraulic devices and all kinds of theatrics flying around.

Dallas Opera has a pretty good reputation, I think. Recall reading something about their artistic director a while back that was quite glowing. 

[Larry Kart]

3 hours ago, JSngry said:

I think I'd like a good Mozart opera, if ever I'm going to connect with Mozart, there will likely be words and staging involved. Opera in general, I'm becoming curious about attending....I know I'd like to see Tosca (and just missed it here last year) some Wagner and other later operas, Wozzeck and/or Lulu, definitely. But opportunities here are neither ready nor affordable. Plus, my wife is pretty, uh, adamant about not going. She's still got my old blanket dislike of the sound of "classical vocal" sound (I'm not fully over it myself), and I know how that's like, so either I go by myself, go to Ashley Madison and look to have an Opera Affair, or else stay home and keep working on the wife. It'll come, eventually?

For the close-to-full experience, if Mozart opera is going to work at all for you, and given the likelihood that a really good production isn't going to be mounted in your area for quite a while if ever, I'd recommend a DVD or two. (If you don't have a DVD player -- some people don't anymore or never did -- much that's on DVD might also be available via computer.)  Three I can recommend: "Cosi Fan Tutte" -- Harnoncourt (Arthaus) or Barenboim (Euroarts), the latter in an arguably effective "Euro-modern" production; "La Nozze di Figaro" -- Olmi (Kultur). Wish I had a battle-tested "Don Giovanni" DVD at my fingertips, but I don't, though I'm sure good ones are out there; I've seen a couple in the flesh and my gosh. I just wanted to stick here with DVDs that worked for me. You might want to try your library system before buying. 

[JSngry]

Dallas Opera has an upcoming presentation of Show Boat...is that opera now, or has it been adapted from one stage for use on another? I'm kinda curious, but not really inclined at the moment.

[Larry Kart]

Some interesting thoughts about "Cosi" (which can be extended to many other operas) from Kenneth J. Furie in "The Metropolitan Opera Guide to Recorded Opera":

 

"An 'ensemble opera': that's what we're always told 'Cosi' is: no other repertory opera has so symmetrically balanced a set of characters ... and a major portion of the action takes the form of musical ensembles.... There is something different about 'Cosi,' though: some way in which the individual characters' identities are concealed within group identities.... What's difficult is really searching out those individual identities wwithin the outwardly symmetrical framework. To the extent that performers think of the endemble piece as one in which the group matters, rather than one in which each individual is defined largely through interaction with the others, 'Cosi' the 'ensemble opera' is at best half-alive.

Later on, he writes in the above vein about the Eugen Jochum recording on DGG:

"The cast performs almost entirely from its strengths.... Irmgard Seefried is clearly underequipped for Fiordiligi ... and Seefried, Prey, and Fischer-Dieskau have all been known to 'personalize' by displaying attitude rather than finding the content of the music. Yet somehow the performance manages to align these habits with the areas of their lives about which the characters themselves are ignorant, and which become the subject of their Act II voyage of discovery." {My emphases}

 

 

[A Lark Ascending]

3 hours ago, papsrus said:

The biggest thing for me when I first started attending was adjusting to the time involved. You're there for 3 - 4 hours with one or two intermissions.

One of the advantages of watching on DVD. You can take breaks as long as you like between acts, go and do something else, eat crisps etc. I'll often watch a longer opera over a couple of days. 1 Act in the afternoon, Act II in the evening and Act III the following evening. 90 minuters like the Janaceks or Puccinis make perfect one bite operas.   

Of course going to a live performance is a different and equally enjoyable experience.

I'm booked in for the mother of all endurance tests in June - Opera North's semi-staged complete Ring over four nights (Mon, Tue, Thu, Sat) in Nottingham (although I have a feeling Stockhausen did something bigger). Saw 'Gotterdammerung' a couple of years back in Leeds and it was stunning. So I'm really looking forward to the full monte (I know it reasonably well so know what I'm letting myself in for).  

Edited February 10, 2016 by A Lark Ascending

[papsrus]

19 minutes ago, A Lark Ascending said:

One of the advantages of watching on DVD. You can take breaks as long as you like between acts, go and do something else, eat crisps etc. I'll often watch a longer opera over a couple of days. 1 Act in the afternoon, Act II in the evening and Act III the following evening. 90 minuters like the Janaceks or Puccinis make perfect one bite operas.   

Of course going to a live performance is a different and equally enjoyable experience.

I'm booked in for the mother of all endurance tests in June - Opera North's semi-staged complete Ring over four nights (Mon, Tue, Thu, Sat) in Nottingham (although I have a feeling Stockhausen did something bigger). Saw 'Gotterdammerung' a couple of years back in Leeds and it was stunning. So I'm really looking forward to the full monte (I know it reasonably well so know what I'm letting myself in for).  

 

You're a brave man. That should be something indeed. Least they give you Wednesday and Friday off to gather yourself a bit.

Looking back at past seasons in Dallas for Mozart, they put on Marriage of Figaro last season, Magic Flute in 11-12, Don Giovanni in 10-11, Cosi fan Tutte in 09-10. ... They seem to stage a lot of Verdi, too, which is certainly not unusual but interesting to me as Sarasota is winding up a complete Verdi cycle this season, begun in 1989. Maybe next season Dallas will give another opportunity for Mozart.

 

[A Lark Ascending]

Not that brave - 25 years ago I did a 10 week evening course on The Ring when I knew little more than the famous 'bleeding chunks'. The course was brilliant, possibly the last time my brain was thoroughly challenged (the philosophy rather than the music). By the third week I had the records out of the library and was listening well ahead. I'd wake up in the night with Wagner tubas and 'Annunciation of Death' motifs ringing in my head. I find Wagner to be narcotic (probably why many treated him with such suspicion in the mid-20thC). 

I've never 'got' Verdi (I say that once every 3 months). Don't know why. Very nearly went to see a cinema screening of La Traviata last Sunday but chickened out. One day. 

The only Mozart I've seen on stage is The Marriage of Figaro (wonderful!). Must do Don Giovanni sometime soon. 

My preference is for 20th C operas; though I got a thing for Rameau a couple of years back. I strongly recommend the Glyndebourne production of Purcell's 'The Fairy Queen' on video - a really humorous performance. Worth it for the bonking bunny scene (you can find the clip on YouTube).  

Edited February 10, 2016 by A Lark Ascending

[papsrus]

Speaking of Glyndebourne, dad tells me they've started to stream things, ala Berlin's Digital Concert Hall, not live but "produced." Archived stuff to come. I sense Rattle's hand in this, as he's something of a mentor to the current music director, Ticciati. 

[JSngry]

"Vintage airshots of Wagner & contmporary DVDs of Janacek & Berg operas are what really stoked my curiosity about going live...Bev, I would love to have the opportunity to hear a complete Ring like that.

[A Lark Ascending]

2 hours ago, JSngry said:

Dallas Opera has an upcoming presentation of Show Boat...is that opera now, or has it been adapted from one stage for use on another? I'm kinda curious, but not really inclined at the moment.

I saw Showboat in Sheffield in December. Really enjoyed it - more 'musical' or maybe 'operetta' than 'opera' but what's in a genre? Not dissimilar to Porgy and Bess. One where you could bring the family - loads of well know tunes (as I'm sure you know). 'Old Man River' is guaranteed to get the hairs on the back of your neck standing. 

I share your problem with classical singing. Even after 40 years I still find it artificial and have to suspend disbelief. Especially in English where it just fires my class chipiness...why do they have to sound so posh? But after a time I get used to it and let the beauty of the music take over. The only reason I started to listen to opera was because some of my favourite composers -  Strauss, Janacek, Britten - did so much in that area.

There's a great DVD of 'Lulu':

I'm waiting on a reasonably modern Wozzeck. 

55 minutes ago, JSngry said:

"Vintage airshots of Wagner & contmporary DVDs of Janacek & Berg operas are what really stoked my curiosity about going live...Bev, I would love to have the opportunity to hear a complete Ring like that.

Would have been an impossibility before I retired. 

56 minutes ago, papsrus said:

Speaking of Glyndebourne, dad tells me they've started to stream things, ala Berlin's Digital Concert Hall, not live but "produced." Archived stuff to come. I sense Rattle's hand in this, as he's something of a mentor to the current music director, Ticciati. 

Don't really know about that. I've yet to find a way to get my computer to project to the TV. It takes in standard online links like BBC iPlayer but I wouldn't know how to get something like those streaming sites. Can't sit at the computer watching for long. Would be nice to access them. I either purchase DVDs when on sale or hire them via something called Lovefilm here (I know, sounds really dodgy) where I get most of my access to films.     

[JSngry]

Yeah, that Lulu with Petibon is one of the more amazing performances in any genre I've seen. I've played it for people who have no inclination to Berg or opera or anything like that, and they all either recoil in horror in the first 60 seconds or else get transfixed for the duration. Subtitles help so much, although the acting is so strong here I don't think it would be an absolute deal-breaker if absent. It's a dark, dirty, sordid story, and they do nothing to disguise that. Yet, very nice to have the specifics. Bottom line, the once "unsingable" opera proves to not only be singable, but goosebumpily singable, and actable. Just goes to show you what people can do when they accept a challenge on its own terms.

I think I've learned to begin to hear the difference in voices that sound "forced" and those that sound more "unforced". It's still often pretty weird though, especially when English comes out sounding like Italian or some such...but a voice whose character sounds more like a stringed instrument being played with total relaxed control is one I can really lean into these days. So...progress. Or, at least, evolution.

[A Lark Ascending]

With contemporary music (I know Berg is hardly contemporary) opera can be a way of getting a handle. You're not dealing with pure abstraction so there are visuals there to keep your attention even where the music might lose you. It's why I moved away from buying operas on CD to DVD. 

I appreciate the skill and craft that goes into making a high level classical singer but I can't say I spend much time comparing them. Though every now and then there's a voice that just appeals in the same way a jazz or folk singer might.

We've discussed this before but the whole performance side of classical music - interpretations, different singers, conductors etc - has never engaged me. My interest is always in what is going on in the music written by the composer. Not being musically trained I probably miss things that a musician would hear instantly. So most of my attention goes into following the structure and trying to work out with music that has a huge reputation exactly why it has that reputation. I don't have a great aural memory - for example I was listening to Beethoven's Op. 131 String Quartet a couple of days back with the help of a guide book and in the last movement it commented how the second subject was closely related to the opening fugal theme of the first. When I got there I had no aural memory of the opening fugue. That sort of thing to me seems of most interest as there are clear reasons why the composer did it and the interrelation or development of themes are clearly central to why the music has its reputation. You don't need to hear them to enjoy the music...but you do to understand the music's reputation. Obviously repeated listening will change that. But it leaves me little brain space to think about different versions. Again, I appreciate those who've been listening for ages will have a good grip on what is happening in the music so the whole interpretation side of thing will add extra layers of interest. 

'Lulu' is quite interesting in that respect in that I understand that at least parts of it are formally very precise, using traditional structural devices, palindromes etc. I've never heard it at that level but would like to think I could at least get a ghost of it at some point.  

[A Lark Ascending]

Halle Orchestra in Manchester

Rachmaninov - Isle of the Dead

Mahler - Kindentotenlieder

Shostakovich - Symphony 15

My, they got this concert so right. All things you won't hear often outside London. I don't know Isle of the Dead well but the programme notes and pre-talk really helped to indicate listening markers. Kindentotenlieder is about as crushing a piece as you'll ever hear - the final song where the music shifts from wild storm music to an ethereal depiction of the children entering paradise had me blubbing.

Shostakovich 15 has long been a favourite but I don't think I've ever listened to it so closely before - again the oral/written guides helped as well as being able to zero in on things like the cello feature in the second movement because you see it happening.

Excellent pre-talk from one of the horn players - very funny and unstuffy but well informed and giving you lots to listen out for.

Best of all, Mark Elder came on at the start of the second half, turned to the audience and spent three minutes passionately explaining why  15 mattered to him. I was already excited to hear the piece but he fired me up even further. I hate the dumb show at classical concerts - it's rare that I've seen a conductor do this. I wish it was more common.

The thing that struck me about 15 today was how restrained it is for most of its length - so the impact on those few occasions when the entire orchestra blazes out is overwhelming. I passed a few shell-shocks people saying how they'd never heard this piece before and were stunned by it.

One of the best classical concerts I've been to. And a lot of that was down to the determination of the organisers to do more than just play the music.

 

 

[papsrus]

17 hours ago, A Lark Ascending said:

Halle Orchestra in Manchester

Rachmaninov - Isle of the Dead

Mahler - Kindentotenlieder

Shostakovich - Symphony 15

My, they got this concert so right. All things you won't hear often outside London. I don't know Isle of the Dead well but the programme notes and pre-talk really helped to indicate listening markers. Kindentotenlieder is about as crushing a piece as you'll ever hear - the final song where the music shifts from wild storm music to an ethereal depiction of the children entering paradise had me blubbing.

Shostakovich 15 has long been a favourite but I don't think I've ever listened to it so closely before - again the oral/written guides helped as well as being able to zero in on things like the cello feature in the second movement because you see it happening.

Excellent pre-talk from one of the horn players - very funny and unstuffy but well informed and giving you lots to listen out for.

Best of all, Mark Elder came on at the start of the second half, turned to the audience and spent three minutes passionately explaining why  15 mattered to him. I was already excited to hear the piece but he fired me up even further. I hate the dumb show at classical concerts - it's rare that I've seen a conductor do this. I wish it was more common.

The thing that struck me about 15 today was how restrained it is for most of its length - so the impact on those few occasions when the entire orchestra blazes out is overwhelming. I passed a few shell-shocks people saying how they'd never heard this piece before and were stunned by it.

One of the best classical concerts I've been to. And a lot of that was down to the determination of the organisers to do more than just play the music.

 

 

Someone over at Talk Classical attended the same concert and had a very similar reaction to yours, Bev. Thought you might be interested.

 

[A Lark Ascending]

6 hours ago, papsrus said:

Someone over at Talk Classical attended the same concert and had a very similar reaction to yours, Bev. Thought you might be interested.

 

Thanks very much, papsrus. Fascinated to see such a similar reaction - especially to Kindertotenlieder. 

I don't know that site - will have a look when I'm back home. 

 

 

 

[A Lark Ascending]

BBC Phil in Manchester

Bartok - Piano Concerto 3

Shostakovich - Symphony 7 'Leningrad '

Another thriller, this time of more familiar pieces. The Leningrad seems to be everywhere at present - I saw Jim mention it a few days back, it's been on TV as a documentary, had a whole book about it a while back and Shosty is the subject of the new Julian Barnes novel. Audience went bananas at the end - no-one shouted 'bravo' although there was a chap in a cloth cap with a whippet who shouted 'champion' in a restrained way. 

Again, another interesting pre-talk between four musicians exploring how far the back stories of both pieces were necessary to enjoy the music. All four clear, articulate and totally unstuffy.

As far as Shostakovich is concerned I very much want to hear 4, 8, 13 and 14 in the flesh. Almost certainly need to keep an eye on London.

That's my live longhair quota for a few weeks. Next stop Birmingham for a Handel opera.

[JSngry]

Back out of the house tomorrow night for this: http://www.nashersculpturecenter.org/engage/event?id=267&nomo=1&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=event&utm_source=constantcontact&utm_content=soundings-piccinini-haefliger&utm_term=soundings-piccinini-haefliger-banner

Never have fully trusted husband/wife teams in anything except comedy, but the program looks too damn good to not give it a go.

Soundings: New Music at the Nasher

Flutist Marina Piccinini and Pianist Andreas Haefliger in Duo Recital

Piccinini and Haefliger bring to life fascinatingly different compositional perspectives in a recital that will explore: classical form in Boulez’ Sonatine (1946) and Prokofiev’s Sonata Opus 94 (1943); homage works by Carter in Scrivo in vento (1991) and Adès’ in Darkness Visible (1992); and music written in celebration with Franck’s A Major Sonata (written as a wedding present for the violinist Eugène Ysaÿe) and Dalbavie’s Nocturne (composed an anniversary gift for this evening’s artists).