Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra – Andrew Manze, conductor; Pekka Kuusisto, violin, Knut Erik Sundquist, bass. July 26, 2019.

David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center.  Orchestra (Seat N12, $50).

Pre-Concert Recital

Four Seasons of Buenos Aires (1965-70) by Piazzolla (1921-1992, arr. Bragato).

Neave Trio: Anna Williams, violin; Mikhail Veselov, cello; Eri Nakamura, piano.

Program

Romanian Folk Dances for string orchestra (1915-17) by Bartok (1881-1945, arr. Willner).

Le quattro Stagioni (“The Four Seasons”) by Vivaldi (1678-1741).

The program certainly looked promising: a pairing of the Four Seasons by Vivaldi and Piazzolla.  We last heard this combination in 2016 with the New York Philharmonic; on that occasion two of the seasons were performed by Frank Huang, who also did the entire Vivaldi composition.

Piazzolla’s Cuattro Estaciones Portenas started off as tangos, and have been arranged by various musicians for different combinations of instruments.  Today’s arrangement was made by Jose Bragato – who was a member of the Piazzolla quintet - for a trio of violin, cello, and piano.  For the record, in Spanish the seasons are Verano (summer), Otono, Invierno, and Primavera – notice the work starts with summer.

I vaguely recall reading in some Program Note or web entry that there are a few references to Vivaldi in the Piazzolla piece, but I didn’t hear any.  This arrangement gave equal prominence to the three instruments, asking quite a bit from the players.  Vivaldi provided a text to go along with his Four Seasons (more on that later), Piazzolla did not.  The annotator David Wright writes one could hear crickets in the summer and fall, produced by the violin’s being played behind-the-bridge.  Otherwise one has to use one’s imagination to hear what Piazzolla’s describing.  Fair enough, and I am sure different people will conjure up different images.

The trio, evidently all graduates of Bard College, put in an impressive performance.

The Neave Trio.

When Manze first came on stage, he remarked to the audience that conductors usually know what would happen during the concert, but that for tonight that wouldn’t be the case as the two soloists would be adding various passages, some “improvised,” during the program.  The Program Notes describes the Finnish violinist Kuusisto as being “renowned for his fresh approach … a gifted improvisor.”  Sundquist is a Norwegian bassist who now teaches at University of Tromso (and we have been there!).  Let me first say there is no doubt that Kuusisto is a great violinist; the solo bass had mostly an accompanist’s role, and my view of Sundquist was blocked by Manze.

He also invited the audience to clap when they felt like it, and it would be okay if the cell phones rang – as long as they were in the right key.  He also jokingly pointed to the exit doors in the back if people wanted to leave early (I saw only one person doing that).  It was going to be that kind of an evening, although by all measures this was still a reserved audience – the only thing usual was the clapping that occurred now and then.

Bartok is generally regarded as one of the earliest ethnomusicologists, although composers like Janacek, Sibelius, and Dvorak also incorporated folk tunes in many of their works.  There were six dances listed in the Program, and they lasted – together with some improvisation – less than 15 minutes.  The titles are (i) Joc cu bata (Stick Dance); (ii) Braul (Sash Dance); (iii) Pe loc (Stamping Dance); (iv) Buciumeana (Dance of Buchum); (v) Poarga Romaneasca (Romanian Polka); and (vi) Maruntel (Fast Dance): L’istesso tempo – Allegro vivace.

The dances sounded folk enough.  Not being familiar with them, I couldn’t tell where Bartok ended and the improvisation began.  Pleasant enough, and a musicologist probably can get a lot more out of it than I did.

My disappointment lies with the Four Seasons, and some of that could be attributed to my wrong expectations.  It would be natural to assume an evening with Vivaldi’s and Piazzolla’s “versions” of the Four Seasons presents an opportunity to compare and contrast the two.  Instead we were asked to enjoy a performance with various improvisations – which may or may not be Vivaldi-like – thrown in.  A little of that could be interesting, but the copious amount we got detracted from the whole experience.  Perhaps one could make the case that the additions were cadenzas (or recaps) for the various movements, but I couldn’t find any rhyme or theme in the additions, some were simply too long, and monotonous to boot – well, one could have extended heat waves and cold fronts, I guess.

There is an English translation of Vivaldi’s poems accompanying the music (I don’t recall ever having seen it), and the music supposedly traces the program quite well.  The added music was more like a distraction in this exercise.  Each poem consists of four stanzas, but each concerto has only three movements.  I would like to understand that mystery.

Only the string sections were used tonight, so all others got the weekend off.  We also have yet to encounter Mozart in this Mostly Mozart Festival, which is okay (and Mozart will be on the program we attend next Tuesday).

Kuusisto and Manze at the end of the concert.  Was it Sundquist on the bass in the back?

At 4 pm Google Maps already showed a delay of over 30 minutes to Lincoln Center, so we decided to take the train in.  I brought along some food, Anne bought a snack at a kiosk in David Geffen Hall.  We had sometime before the 9:37 pm train, so we got something to eat at Wasabi at Penn Station.

Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra – Andrew Manze, conductor; Vilde Frang, violin. July 23, 2019.

David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center.  Orchestra (Seat R15, $50).

Pre-Concert Recital

Fantasy in C major, D. 760 (“Wanderefantasie”) (1822) by Schubert (1797-1828).

Drew Petersen, piano.

Program: All-Beethoven

Violin Concerto in D major (1806).

Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major (“Eroica”) (1803).

It had been a while since we last attended a concert, so I was somewhat looking forward to this event.  I was pleased to have gone.  We had a busy summer so far, with our daughter and our son’s families staying with us on and off since mid-June, and we also spent a week in Hawaii with our son’s family.  By no means a complaint, but the quiet was nonetheless refreshing after our son’s family left this (Tuesday) morning.  [Turns out we ran into a bit of a problem with our boat right after that, and had to get the problem resolved.  Again, not complaining.]

This was our first encounter with the young Norwegian violinist Vilde Frang (born 1986), so I didn’t know what to expect.

Both my and Anne’s first remarks after the concert were that she came away way too soft; indeed Anne cupped her ears quite a bit during her performance to hear better.  From what I could hear, however, it could have been a great performance – the enthusiastic applause of the audience was also an indication of that.  There were slight intonation problems here and there, which was to be expected for a live performance.  It is interesting to see what the soloists do during the many long orchestral passages in this concerto, especially during the first movement.  In Frang’s case it was staring into empty space most of the time.

Frang and Manze after the Beethoven Violin Concerto.

The Eroica symphony was written a few years before the violin concerto, during Beethoven’s so-called “heroic” period.  At 47 minutes it is considered a long symphony, but is only 5 minutes longer than the violin concerto.  It also has one additional movement (Allegro con brio; Marcia funebre: Adagio assai; Scherzo: Allegro vivace; Finale: Allegro molto).

This is one of the first works I “studied” in music class while in college, especially how the opening theme was used in the first movement.  Memory is an interesting thing, as the first movement the second movement came back to me, and the third came towards the end of the second. On the other hand, the fourth movement always eludes me (I can’t remember it this very moment).

A testament to the quality of the orchestra is that I now have high expectations for them.  By and large they did well, although there were times they wandered a bit.  And they did manage to sound like a much larger orchestra.  It was interesting to see how the different section principals tackled their solo passages: how the flutist’s fingers fly all over her instrument, and how long the oboist could hold her breath.  And the second violin section is all women.

After performing Beethoven's Eroica Sympohony.

Andrew Manze directed with a lot of movement.  He will be on again later this week.

Schubert’s Fantasy in C major grew out of a song he composed in 1816 called “Der Wanderer.”  Some of the words are “Here the sun seems so cold/the blossom faded, life old/and men’s words mere empty noise/I am a stranger everywhere.”  This became the Adagio section of this one-movement work. (This from the Program Notes.) All I could tell was there was a recurring theme (actually a couple of them) in this virtuosic piece of piano music, which Drew Petersen dispensed with methodically in the pre-recital in a most enjoyable manner.

The lighting during the pre-recital made iPhone photos difficult to shoot.  But this is Petersen after doing a fantastic job with Schubert's Fantasy.

We decided to drive in, and didn’t encounter too much traffic.  We had not eaten street food for a while, and discovered the menu had changed somewhat, but prices have gone up quite a bit!  We got a snack at Wok City after the concert.

NY Brass Arts Trio. July 2, 2019.

Richardson Auditorium, Princeton, NJ.  Balcony (Front Center, free).

Program

Three Sinfonias by Bach (1685-1750) (arr. Jolley).

Trio in C Major, Op. 87 by Beethoven (1770-1827) (arr. Avitsur).

Till Eulenspiegel by Strauss (1864-1949) (arr. Jolley).

Selections from Pulcinella Suite by Stravinsky (1882-1971) (arr. Jolley).

Three Children’s Songs by Chick Corea (b. 1941) (arr. Burgstaller).

Selections from Porgy and Bess by Gershwin (1898-1937).

Libertango by Piazzolla (1921-1992) (arr. Burgstaller).

Artists

Joe Burgstaller, trumpet; David Jolley, French horn; Haim Avitsur, trombone.

The Princeton University Summer Chamber Concerts puts out four events in early summer, our schedule this year allowed us to attend only this concert.

Evidently the three gentlemen are world-class artists in their respective instruments, and all teach at various schools at at least the “associate professor” level (Peabody, Mannes School of music, University of Hartford, and others).  They also said a few words about each of the pieces, and threw in some humor that might or might not work.

The unfortunate fact is the repertoire for this combination of instruments is very limited.  As jotted down in the “Program” section of this entry, many of the pieces performed tonight were arranged by the Trio members themselves.  The majority of them didn’t quite work musically, at least in my way of understanding music.

The program started with three sinfonias by Bach (Allegro, Andante molto expressivo, and Allegro).  When I listen to Bach I go for his counterpoints and architectural constructions.  His sinfonias are 3-part contrapuntal pieces, so one would think the effect could be simulated with three brass instruments.  Alas, I heard little counterpoint in the three selections played this evening.

Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto is listed as Op. 73 and was composed in 1809.  His trio for two oboes and English horn, Op. 87, was written in 1795 – go figure.  I don’t know how each of the original instruments map into tonight’s arrangement, but things again didn’t sound as harmonious as I would expect, especially from an early Beethoven work. The movements are Allegro, Adagio, Menuetto, and Finale.

The fully fledged Till Eulenspiegel is performed by a large symphonic orchestra.  My blog entry indicates that I enjoyed it in 2015, even though I have little recollection of it.  If I remember correctly, Strauss had extracted a shorter version of the composition, and that was adapted for tonight.  It should be relatively easy for three brass instruments to mimic the pranks and chaos the music describes, and they did fine.  I do appreciate (was it) Jolley pointing out the Till theme.

In between his early sensations such as The Firebird and his adoption of the 12-tone scale starting in the 1950s, Stravinsky underwent a neo-classical period.  The selections from the Pulcinella Suite were easy enough to grasp and reminded me of what a brass ensemble should sound like.

A couple of the musicians turned into piano accompanists for Corea’s “Three Children Songs.”

Despite the entry in the program, there was one selection from Porgy and Bess: Summertime.  We heard this played by the NJSO in their outdoor concert a few days ago, and the NJSO put in a more enjoyable performance, bad sound system notwithstanding.

The program concluded with Piazzolla’s Libertango.  Wikipedia describes this work as marking Piazzolla’s break from classical tango.  If I recall correctly, the piece we heard from the NJSO was also in this Nuevo genre – or it was the same piece.  In any case, as David remarked to me, Piazzolla certainly seemed to be in vogue these days.  Or there is a herd mentality at work.

Curtain Call.  There were altogether three trumpets used for this concert.

I am amazed at how long this write-up is, and it is a tribute to the interesting remarks by the musicians.  That my enjoyment of the actual concert wasn’t at the same level, is perhaps a tribute to their skill as teachers.  That’s a charitable way of putting it.  The standard remark is … those who can’t, teach.

Our friends David and Vivien came back from Leipzig a few days ago, after attending the Bach Festival in that city.  We spent time at Panera Bread before the concert, although Vivien went to Richardson Auditorium to make sure we have good seats.  It was good to be able to catch up.

New Jersey Symphony Orchestra - Jose Luis Dominguez, conductor. June 30, 2019.

Marine Park, Red Bank.  Outdoors Concert (Free).

Program (as announced from the stage)

National Anthem

Overture to West Side Story by Bernstein

Dance Song No. 2 by Arturo Marquez

Variations on a Shaker Melody by Copland

Ragtime Jazz by Florence Price

Huapanga by Jose Pablo Moncayo

Rodeo by Copland

Conga del Fuego Nuevo by Marquez

Medley by Duke Ellington

Tango/Jazz by Astor Piazzolla

Summertime from Porgy and Bess by Gershwin

American Salute by Morton Gould

Armed Services Salute

At the end of each season NJSO puts out several outdoor free concerts, the one in Red Bank is most convenient for us.

The conductor Dominguez for this series of outdoor concerts did the same chores last year (I wasn’t sure who it was when I wrote the blog then.)  He explained (in somewhat accented English) that the concert would comprise of pieces from the Americas, and announced the pieces before they were performed.  I didn’t capture all the details, but the list above was quite accurate.  The nature of the program was generally jazzier than what we heard last year.

For tonight the sound system was particularly tinny, but we were not here for high fidelity music, so it was okay.

The crowd was pretty good-sized, comparable to last year’s.

The temperature was in the 70s, and there was a light breeze, making for a pleasant evening.

At intermission some friends came onto our boat.  Anne stayed on the boat afterwards, so she missed the second half.

A nice occasion, even though we were a bit rushed after the Princeton opera.  And the temperature was moderate, not nearly as hot as last year.  There were no mockingbirds to mimic the melodies though.

Princeton Festival 2019 – Adams’s Nixon in China. June 30, 2019.

Matthews Theatre, Princeton, NJ.  Balcony (Seat CC3, $75).

Story.  President Nixon and Pat Nixon flies to Peking on Monday February 21, 1972 and is met by Premier Chou En-Lai.  They then go and meet Chairman Mao and have a discussion.  This is followed by a banquet.  The next day, Mrs. Nixon is presented with a glass elephant before she visits the Ming tombs.  The evening is spent attending a performance of a revolutionary ballet devised by Mao’s wife Chiang Ch’ing.  The last Act, described as “The last evening in Peking” by the librettist Alice Goodman finds Mao and Nixon reminiscing on their respective pasts.

Conductor – Richard Tang Yuk; Richard Nixon – Sean Anderson, Pat Nixon – Rainelle Krause, Chairman Mao – Cameron Schutza, Madame Mao – Teresa Castillo, Henry Kissinger – Joseph Barron, Premier Chou – John Viscardi.

The performers were miked up per the composer's instructions.

In the past couple of years we attended several Princeton Festival events, this opera was the only event which we managed to go to this season.  I first purchased tickets for the 6/23 performance but then there was a schedule conflict, it was good that I could exchange the tickets, for free.

Overall the three-hour opera (including a 20-minute intermission) was a disappointment.  I still remember this as being a momentous occasion in Sino American relationship, and it was dubbed “Ping Pong diplomacy” at that point.

The opera told the opera in a straightforward sort of way.  First it was Nixon singing a long “aria,” followed by Chou, then it was Mao’s turn.  While there had to be dialogs in between, I don’t remember much (or any) of it.  And the content of the monologs was not particularly memorable, either.  Act 3 was the most puzzling.  Reading of the synopsis would lead one to think it would be over quickly (that idea/wish was reinforced by the note that the program ends at about 5:45 pm), instead it took about 30 minutes.  I called it streams of consciousness bothering on the surreal, Anne’s thought it was the two disparate leaders sharing a common war experience.  Both of us wanted it to end.  Indeed this was one of the few music events that I thought about leaving early.

The set was understandably simple.  The main stage had a few risers populated with chairs where the masses sat.  They could be at a banquet, or they could be the audience of the ballet, depending on when they were in the program.  In the back were some screens on which images would be projected: such the Spirit of America (Air Force One) or war scenes.  The snow fall was pathetically done with falling confetti.

That made the singing that much more critical to the success of the opera.  I discussed how I felt about the libretto already; the music wasn’t that much better.  If this opera is any indication, Adams is a minimalist aspirant who fails to make his music interesting.  Most of the music is of limited range, with large intervals thrown in every now and then, but they just manage to add some grittiness to the music.  Going over my blog, I realized I have seen quite a few of Adams’s works, including the Chairman’s Dances based on this opera, and the opera The Death of Klinghoffer.  The most common adjectives I used are “monotonous” and “forgettable.”

A few interesting points.  the opera began and ended with Mao’s body in center stage (Mao’s body actually is on display in Tian An Men Square) with Chou looking on; there were these three ladies that echo what Chiang was singing, sometimes to good effect, I must say; and the composer specifically requests that the principal singers get miked up.

From left: Kissinger, Mao, Pat Nixon, Richard Nixon, Chou, Chiang, and the three secretaries.

Attendance was okay – not great – if the empty seats in the balcony was any indication.  Perhaps the Festival organizers overestimated the level of sophistication of the attendees?

There are very few classical concerts wherein I would say the following at its conclusion: those were three hours I would never get back.  Unfortunately that’s how I felt right afterwards, although with the passage of a few days (the opera was Sunday, today is Thursday) I am a bit more charitable, but not enough to say “I am glad we went.”

We grabbed something to eat at the Princeton Station WaWa and then drove to Marine Park in Red Bank for a New Jersey Symphony outdoors concert.