New York Philharmonic. Susanna Malkki, conductor; Leila Josefowicz, violin. November 1, 2024.

David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center.  Orchestra (Seat Y103, $75).

Malkki, Francesconi, and Josefowicz after the New York premiere of Duende.

Program

Duende: The Dark Notes for violin and orchestra (2013) by Luca Francesconi (b. 1956).

Metamorphosen, A Study for 23 Solo Strings (1945) by R. Strauss (1864-1949).

La Valse (1919-20) by Ravel (1875-1937).

This is another of those eclectic programs that leave me scratching my head afterwards.  Today I encountered a new composer, new music, and a soloist I first (and last) saw over 10 years ago.  So something could be said about all that, but, alas, not much more.

The composer states that the Duende is historically the demon of flamenco, so one can reasonably expect a composition so titled would be dark, with references to the flamenco.  While references to the flamenco could be clear (to people familiar with it), I assume the demon can be described in various ways.  In this case, the best description of the piece would be "it's quite a demon to play."  At 26 minutes, it's a long stretch of technical challenges for the violinist.  The work consists of five movements played without pause.  Tempo markings are provided for each movement, not that one can tell the different between 89 and 88 quarter notes to the minute.

I came away thinking the composer knows only a limited range of violin techniques, although he made best use of that knowledge in his composition.  Quoting from the Program Notes: "The soloist oscillates between prolonged flights in the extreme high register, in complex rhythmic patterns, and the instrument's chthonic nether regions, ... At the center, in a movement dedicated to Nicolae Neacsu ..., is a tribute to the Roma origins of flamenco ..." Words and facts to impress: the word "chthonic" means "of the underworld," and I had always thought the flamenco originated in Southern Spain.  Indeed the music started with the soloist playing at the top (high end) of the fingerboard, and there were passages in the lower registers.  I couldn't tell where the rhythmic challenges were, nor where flamenco references were brought in.

Josefowicz met the challenges brilliantly, and she looked intense all the way.  The composition was dedicated to her and Malkki, and they performed it first 10 years ago, but Josefowicz had the music in front of her, and there were many frequent page turns involved.  I felt great relief that no strings were broken, and the music didn't fall off the stand.  I noticed the concertmaster also had some challenging passages, although not relentlessly as the soloist had to get through.  Perhaps other principals had similar difficult passages as well, I didn't notice.

Her violin was surprising weak against the full orchestra, I often had to strain to pick out the solo line.  To be fair, the composer threw in many instruments, including the accordion, which I couldn't pick out.

This was our second encounter with Josefowicz; she performed with Salonen his violin concerto last time.  One of those days I can perhaps enjoy a more standard violin repertoire piece from her.  Looking at the concert listing at her website, Stravinsky and Schoenberg are as traditional as she gets.

The soloist worked with (against?) a large orchestra.

The Program Notes describes Metamorphosen as "an agonized cry from the heart, a dark report from a dark time."  I read the Notes before the concert, and didn't get that at all.  Indeed the body of the article doesn't support this thesis.  Words and phrases such as "upward-thrusting," "richly harmonized," and "eloquent melody" are not usually associated with darkness or pain, and I certainly didn't feel that from the performance.  It felt more like an exercise in complexity; indeed I was trying to decipher how complex the composition was, not that I can make out 23 lines at the same time.  (Well, we saw a Wagner score with 29 lines.)

The 23 strings are 10 violins, 5 violas, 5 cellos, and 3 basses.

On the several occasions I heard Ravel's La Valse I was told it was supposed to describe a dystopian world by having a waltz discombobulate into despair.  (One exception was a Philadelphia Orchestra performance.)  The music does devolve, but chaos doesn't necessarily translate to despair, and this piece has never done it for me.

The Program Notes contains the same blurb I read in 2016 about Mi-Si-La as possibly representing Misia Sert, and the vowels A and E are Ravel's signature.  Therefore there was a romantic link between the two.  I still couldn't hear it, and remark that Shostakovich's DSCH is a lot clearer.  When I referenced this in 2016, I wondered how many more papers would come out of such discoveries.  Not much progress has been made, if today's notes are any indication.

Malkki and Huang shaking hands at the conclusion of Ravel's La Valse.

All three pieces on this afternoon's program (started at 2 pm) were supposed to be dark, as befits a Finnish conductor.  I certainly didn't walk away feeling depressed, not that it is necessarily a good thing.  It is entirely possible, of course, that a better understanding of the music would result in a better appreciation of what the composers are trying to say (isn't that always true?).  I suppose a few listeners would grasp the "darkness" of Duende on first hearing.

The last NY Phil concert was quite long; today's was one of the shortest.  The pieces are 26, 26, and 14 minutes.

We were to stay in Hoboken for a few days to look after the grandchildren, so we drove up to Hoboken in the morning, took the bus to Port Authority, and returned to Hoboken.

Paul Lewis, piano. October 27, 2024.

Town Hall Auditorium, NYC.  Orchestra (Seat N117, $15)

Program - Schubert Piano Sonata Cycle III.

Piano Sonata No. 4 in A minor, D. 537 (1817) by Schubert (1797-1828).

Sonata No. 9 in B major, D. 575 (1817).

Sonata No. 18 in G major, D. 894 (1826).

Paul Lewis will be performing the entire cycle of Schubert piano sonatas at Town Hall.  For the third concert in the cycle, two earlier and one very late sonatas were programmed.  No. 18 at nearly 40 minutes long is one of the longer sonatas.

As encore the audience was treated to a familiar Schubert movement.  Google identifies it as the second movement of his D.664 A major sonata.

The next concert, the last in this Schubert series, is on 11/18.  I will be out of town so won't be able to make it.

As in last season, I sat a few rows back from my assigned seat so I could make a fast exit afterwards.  (Today that wasn't necessary as I was taking the bus to Hoboken from Port Authority; buses run regularly.)  I asked the usher how crowded the auditorium would be, and was told about 700 people in an auditorium that seats 1500.  It felt more crowded than that.

I didn't realize today was Trump's Madison Square Garden rally.  Access to the area was severely controlled, it took me a while to get out of the place as all exits but one was blocked.  Outside one could buy pro- and anti-Trump merchandise.  All very civilized.  I stopped by Hoboken to watch Reid play in a soccer match.

New York Philharmonic. Matthias Pintscher, conductor; Gil Shaham, violin. October 10, 2024.

David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center.  Orchestra (Seat U103, $109).

Pintscher and Shaham after the Mendelssohn violin concerto.

Program

neharot (2020) by Matthias Pintscher (b. 1971).

Concerto in E minor for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 64 (1844) by Fe. Mendelssohn (1809-47).

Pelleas und Melisande (After the Drama by Maurice Maeterlinck): Symphonic Poem for Orchestra, Op. 5 (1902-03) by Schoenberg (1874-1951).

The pieces are 25, 29, and 43 minutes in length, per the Program Notes.  A lot of music for a concert.

There are so many well-known composers and conductors that I have never encountered before, still, Pintscher appearing as both a conductor and a composer is a relatively rare event.

Let's dispense first with the familiar piece for most people, at least for me.  Mendelssohn's violin concerto is a standard piece in the violin repertoire, and is still programmed quite regularly.  I heard it last in November, 2023, performed by Joshua Bell.

I have stated on many prior occasions that my problem with familiar pieces is I have strong feelings about how those pieces should sound.  Indeed that's a regular remark I made in prior entries.  That's my first reaction when Shaham started to "deviate" from that canonical (in my mind) performance.  Then I caught myself.  And I ended up enjoying the piece.  Sometimes "standards" should be abandoned, it would appear.  So with a change in my vocabulary, I note that Shaham played the piece in an unusually fast pace.

Shaham sometimes gives off an "another day at the office" kind of vibe, and today was one of those days.  Nothing wrong with that.  While the Mendelssohn piece is not considered the most challenging of violin virtuoso pieces nowadays, it was still amazing how he tacked the arpeggios and double stops with ease.  In the past I have commented on how much he moved around on stage, often "invading" the spaces normally associated with the concertmaster and the conductor; today he was a lot more subdued.

For encore he played a Bach piece.

For encore Shaham performed a Bach piece.  He has 2 Stradivariuses at his disposal.

Pintscher was born in Germany and now lives in New York City.  He started this season as the music director of the Kansas City Symphony.  The piece neharot was composed in 2020 on commission from LA Philharmonic.  The Hebrew word means rivers and tears, and the composition is meant to be "a clear echo of the devastation and fear, but also of the hope for light, that so emotionally characterized this time of our lives."  He is referring to the COVID pandemic.  If that's not enough, inspiration also came from "the mysteries of Chartres Cathedral, where several rivers cross exactly under the place where Chatres was built."  The Program Notes also provided a description of two of the solo lines found in the piece (by a trumpet and oboe).

Despite the aid provided in the Program Notes, I was quite lost about the message the piece was trying to bring forth.  I did get the two melodies - such as they were - but not much else.  I did jot down some remarks after the performance: going nowhere slow, the description was more interesting than the actual piece, some interesting sounds from percussion, and (most interestingly) one percussionist had to rush from one instrument to the other.

After the play Pelleas et Melisande premiered in 1893, Debussy turned it into an opera in 1902, Faure and Sibelius wrote music for the play in 1898 and 1905.  Per the Program Notes, Richard Strauss introduced Schoenberg to the play, suggesting he compose an opera based on the play.  The result was a symphonic poem.  The question asked by the Program Annotator was why Strauss, a master at the opera and tone poems, didn't do it himself.  I add the question of whether there are differences between a tone poem and a symphonic poem (cursory internet search says they are the same thing).

I have seen the Debussy opera at the Met, and heard the Schoenberg symphonic poem at New York Phil.  My entry for the concert noted Alan Gilbert first asked the orchestra to run through a few of the leitmotifs.  Alas, no help was provided in this area.  I was lost in the 2009 performance, 15 years later, I was even more lost.  Tone poems supposedly tell a story, for most people some help in that area would be most appreciated.

Pintscher after conducting his own composition neharot.  The piece was completed in 2020, but today was its U.S. Premiere.

The Schoenberg piece also called for a large orchestra.  Not as many percussionists, though.

The orchestra platform is very deep.

This is an interesting program.  The obvious question is how a classic(al) violin concerto meshes with two modern pieces.  One hint was the series consisted of a Thursday and Sunday performance, and in between we have Yom Kippur.  All the compositions have a Jewish element to it.  Both Mendelssohn and Schoenberg were Jewish.  By using a Hebrew term and comparing the piece to a Kaddish, Pintscher at least claims some level of Jewish culture (and possibly heritage).  Shaham's parents were from Israel.  Too much coincidence not to be a conscious programming decision.

I got tickets to this concert because of a conflict for the last concert (see previous entry).  Anne couldn't make this one, so I went by myself.

New York Philharmonic. Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor; Emanuel Ax, piano. September 15, 2024.

David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center.  Third Tier (Seat AA133, $130).

Tilson Thomas and Ax after the Mozart Piano Concerto.

Program

Piano Concerto No. 14 in E-flat major, K. 449 by Mozart (1782-84).

Symphony No. 5 (1901-02) by Mahler (1860-1911).

This was a great concert on many levels.  Most importantly, the music was beautifully done.

The Mozart concerto was a delightful conversation between two long-time friends, or old friends even (Ax is 75, MTT 79).  Reminiscing about their youth, thinking about the future, enjoying the present moment.  It helped that the concerto had a light and ephemeral quality to it.

I have said many times that Mahler's Fifth was the first symphony of his that I was familiar with.  The last time I heard it live was in 2020, although it is one of my "go to" pieces when I listen to my iPod and don't have any specific composition in mind.  Over the years my appreciation of the piece has grown, and today's performance delivered on most, if not all, my expectations.  There were no breaks between and first & second, and fourth & fifth movements; essentially making this a 3-Part symphony.

In some ways this also felt like a strong and defiant statement by MTT.  When we attended his March, 2023 concert, we thought that would be the last time we would see him.  Cheating death, at least for now, his quiet resilience speaks volumes about his determination, and is an inspiration.

All the orchestra members were clearly visible from my seat in the Third Tier, and I had a new appreciation for what they had to do.  There was this passage where the timpanist had to go on for a long time hitting two drums, and there were many instances a "tune" was hammered out.  The harpist sat there for over an hour so she could participate in the 10-minute Adagietto.  I wish she would play at a higher volume.  And there were seven horns, the "guest" principal probably was auditioning for the job - hire him, I say.  I counted 16 first violins, 14 second violins, and 95 musicians altogether; a huge ensemble by any definition.  Thinking back on my college days, I am embarrassed at my lack of sense of proportion; just making sure I got my part right consumed all my energy.

This is the first time I sat in Tier 3 since the auditorium was renovated.  The sound came across quite well, although there is a "distant" quality to it.  To be expected, I guess.  I do note I described the Elbphilharmonie's acoustics as "intimate and immediate," definitely not adjectives I would use here.

The audience showed their appreciation at the end of the concert.

Quite a few empty seats, even though the concert was supposedly sold out a couple of weeks ago when I first looked.  When I booked the tickets the day prior, there were only about 15 empty seats.  Somewhere I read about 10% of subscriptions don't show up for any given concert.  They could have made the tickets available to others by donating them to NY Phil.

There was a circuitous path to the ticket to this concert (Anne didn't go).  When I subscribed to this season's programs, I included the Friday afternoon concert.  Then a scheduled medical procedure made it necessary to cancel that concert, and today's concert was sold out when I looked to switch.  So we exchanged those tickets for another concert altogether.  My procedure was postponed, and on Friday Anne and I decided to try the ferry from South Amboy to New York.  Checking the NY Phil website, tickets were available, but it was too hurried for us, so we skipped it.  On Saturday the website said a few tickets were still available, so I got one, and enjoyed a 10% discount for subscribers.  My original seat, in the orchestra section, cost only $95 - so there is a huge price advantage to buy tickets as part of a subscription.  (None of this has anything to do with the music, but this is my blog.)

One other factor that I decided to go for the concert was a positive review I read.  I usually don't read reviews of concerts I plan to attend before hand, but this was when I thought I wasn't going.  After the concert, I also read the review in Financial Times.  The reviewer's one beef (I think) was the program was too "standard."

The concert ended at around 4:10 pm, so I took the 5:07 pm train home.  I am glad I went.

Bayreuth Festival. Wagner's Gotterdammerung. August 25, 2024.

Conductor - Simone Young.  Siegfried - Klaus Florian Vogt, Gunther - Michael Kupfer-Radecky, Alberich - Olafur Sigurdarson, Hagen - Mika Kares, Brunnhilde - Catherine Foster, Gutrune - Gabriela Scherer, Waltraute - Christa Mayer; Norns - Noa Beinart, Alexandra Ionis, Christina Nilsson; Woglinde - Evelin Novak, Wellgunde - Natalia Skyrcka, Flosshilde - Marie Henriette Reinhold, Grane - Igor Schwab.

Inside the theater for Gotterdammerung.  Many people took their jackets off.

The "shrine" to Wagner has his statue looking over displays of victims of anti-semitism.

For people who know the old story, and have sit through the last three operas, the primary question is how the new story will end, instead of how the music will come across.  That's one effect (probably unintended) the new production has on people's expectations.  The simple-minded (or old-fashioned) person thinks of a love potion, a blood oath, a hunt, a murder, a raised arm, a pile of wood by the Rhine, and an immolation scene.  What did we get?

Up till today we hadn't seen much of the German edginess.  (One could argue the possible sexual assault by Wotan on Sieglinde qualifies.)  Today made up for it somewhat.  First, the blood oath between Siegfried and Gunther: the blood isn't drawn from the two men, but from the killing of Grane (Brunnhilde's aide), and we see a full glass of it.  Grane's bloodied body is brought onto the stage.  The Ring started with a swimming pool, and ends with a water puddle, where Siegfried and his son go fishing instead of a hunting party.  Siegfried is killed by Hagen hitting him multiple times in the back with this brass knuckles with glitter.  Since there is no ring to get from the dead Siegfried, there is no raised arm.  Siegfried's body isn't cremated, it just lies there (for quite a long time, poor guy).  Brunnhilde does pour gasoline (water, more likely) on herself, grabs Grane's severed head (when did that happen?), and the often-present pyramid catches fire.  In the final scene where Valhalla is supposedly destroyed, we have Wotan hanging from the rafters, water dripping down his body.  Since the preceding three operas have been relatively tame, one wonders why all this is necessary.

Siegfried is given a potion so he would forget Brunnhilde and instead fall in love with Gutrune.  In this telling he simply dumps the potion (a green liquid) on Grane's head.  The couple had drifted apart, so he doesn't need any magic potion to fall in love with Gutrune.  That also makes his reminiscing about his life history pretty meaningless.

Here are the titles of the Acts as provided in Program Book.  Prelude: the last night - "A painful farewell;" Act I: a new set of circumstances - "Malevolence;" Act II: the following morning - "Warfare and wedding;" Act III: the final day - "Double bars and fading tones."

In the Program Book there are two articles, evidently written by respected Wagner scholars.  I will comment briefly on the one on leitmotifs.

The author basically posits that the leitmotifs should have a fixed meaning, and since they don't, one can completely ignore them.  A strawman argument used to excuse why some leitmotifs no longer carry any meaning or association.  I mentioned in a prior blog that there is no Notung to associate with that leitmotif.  As Valhalla is now simply a house extension Wotan had built, those themes no longer hold any elevated images.  And should the Ride of the Valkyries now evoke plastic surgery?  I will let others decide if this article is submitted for a high school assignment, or a treatise worthy of the Wagnerian Society.

After Act I.  Grane, the three Norns, Hagen, Waltraute, Brunnhilde, her daughter (?), Siegfried, Gutrune, and Gunther.

Announcing the start of the next act.

The chorus and the choral director.  This is the largest ensemble I have seen for this opera.  The choral director resigned, and the chorus members are to re-audition next year.  Power play at work.

After Act II.  Choral director, Alberich, Gutrune, Siegfried, Hagen, Brunnhilde, and Gunther.

The orchestra members came out at the end of the opera.  Note the lack of dress code.  In front are Siegfried, Brunnhilde, their daughter, Simone Young, Hagen, Gutrune, Gunther, and the three Rheinmaidens.

Simone Young will be back next year.  Who is Philip Jordan?

For someone who is encountering the cycle the first time, I can't imagine how it makes sense.  Many of the scenes appear important (examples are forging of the sword; Siegfried and Brunnhilde swearing on Hagen's staff), but the story line has no place for them.  Worse if the listener can understand German.  For one steeped in knowledge of the operas, they only make sense if the new story is ignored.  Here I cite the example of the dialog between Brunnhilde and Siegmund.  So the new production is effective to the extent people can ignore it.

One of the more pronounced story modifications to an opera I have encountered, was an Opera Australia production of The Pearl Fishers many years ago.  There it is implied the two male principals were homosexual lovers.  In a later production (which I also saw) that element was eliminated - that was made clear in the pre-performance talk, and a good decision in my view.

I just don't know if one is watching the same opera in the current production.  Music?  That has remained the same, and done splendidly.  Although by now I was quite exhausted, and perhaps some of the artists were also.  The sound was not as good as it appeared to be in earlier days.  It was uniformly clear earlier on, now it was a bit muddled at times.

There is no doubt that this was a triumphal Bayreuth debut for Simone Young.  While her reputation was already well-established before this, I am sure she can hang her hat on these two Ring cycles.  I have remarked before, the toughest part is that of the conductor who has to remain alert all the time.

If people familiar with and interested in Wagner ask me if they should come see the Ring at Bayreuth, a proposition that's time consuming, logistically challenging, and expensive, I would say by all means do it.  Coming to the festival is a ritual worth observing, at least once, to a Wagner fan.  And where can you go nowadays where formal attire is the norm?  That enthusiasm obtains even with this specific Ring, despite the production that detracts from an experience as Wagner intended it.

Reviews of prior seasons (with same production) mentioned loud boos from the audience.  I am sure there were scattered complaints at all four performances, I heard it only clearly after Die Walkure - and most probably directed at the non-event of Brunnhilde walking off the set.

Summer in Bayreuth can be warm.  When we visited a couple of years ago it was very warm - that was in late May.  For this week we were blessed with good weather, only one day got to the high 80s, and we were drizzled on once.  But being in a closed theater with 2000 other people can be stifling.  Most of the people were dressed formally - so men wore suits.  Even if they took them off during the performance, long sleeve and buttoned up shirts had to be uncomfortable.  I did bring a couple of shirts on this trip, so only felt a little out of place.

The program for 2025 came out soon after this festival concluded.  We are entertaining the idea of going again - if we can get the tickets; well, at least I am.  This time perhaps coupled with a visit to BBC Proms.  It won't be to see the Ring, though.  Simone Young will be back conducting those four operas.  In comparing what we saw with how performances in prior years were described, there were some minor tweaks in the production this year, so one can expect something similar for next year; not enough to make any difference in how bad the story is, though.

Bayreuth Festival. Wagner's Siegried. August 23, 2024.

Many small statues of Wagner placed on front lawn.

Conductor - Simone Young.  Siegfried - Klaus Florian Vogt, Mime - Ya-Chung Huang, Der Wanderer - Tomasz Konieczny, Alberich - Olafur Sigurdarson, Fafner - Tobias Kehrer, Erda - Okka von der Damerau, Brunnhilde - Catherine Foster, Waldvogel - Alexandra Steiner, Der junge Hagen - Branko Buchberger, Grane - Igor Schwab.

Here are the titles of the Acts as provided by the Program Book.  Act I: decades later - "The joys of education;" Act II: Fafner's home - "Twilight of the Patriarchs;" Act III: after Fafner's death - "A new generation."

The worlds of the Ring begin to spiral out of control when we get to Siegfried; the new world as envisioned by Valentin Schwarz simply spirals.  The main complaint again is how many loose ends are in the new story line, and how many heretofore great music episodes are now devoid of any meaning.

The music continues to inspire, although there are weak spots here or there.  Some of that can be attributed to singers not in front of solid objects, thus not benefitting from reflections from them.

One of the highlights of the old story is how Notung is forged by Siegfried as he sings one of the more hummable tunes.  Here he says "Notung" many times, but we are not sure what he is trying to make.  There is this sword hidden in the crutch left by Wotan, but the sword is used only to knock the pistol off Wotan's hand, and not used to kill Fafner, who simply dies of either old age, sickness, or possibly boredom.  The old story does not have Wotan handing over any weapons, which is used to kill Mime instead of Fafner.   As an older Hagen now appears next to Fafner, one wonders what his role would be when Brunnhilde sees the ring on Siegfried's finger in Gotterdammerung.  His character development is such that he can't possibly be whom people desire anymore.  This reinforces my point that the new story removes much of the drama and replaces it with a milquetoast of a plot.

The Waldvogel starts as Fafner's nurse, which is another of the so-called clever actor placements.  She seems a bit rushed in her singing, but the tunes are pleasant enough.  Is there flirting between her and Siegfried?  One can argue having the forest bird on stage is an improvement over the projection of a bird on the background.  The orchestra did a great job here describing how Siegfried and Waldvogel establish their communication.  What is missing, naturally, is how Siegfried acquires the ability to understand the bird after touching Fafner's blood.

A reviewer claims such techniques generate some sort of economy; frankly I don't know what he means.  As the music remains the same, the scenes take equally to morph from one to the other, whether it is Erda emerging from the deep earth, or the Waldvogel begins talking to Siegfried.  Clever, may be; but the technique adds nothing to either the drama or the flow of the opera.

In the new story there are no heroics involved with the re-awakening of Brunnhilde: she simply walks back on the stage.  The way she greets the sun and light when she emerges from her bandages (so she also underwent plastic surgery?) was still one of the great moments in the opera.

After Act I: Mime, The Wanderer, and Siegfried.

After Act II: Fafner, Waldvogel, Mime, Alberich, The Wanderer, Hagen, and Siegfried.  Why is Siegfried wearing a vest?

After Act III: Grune (noticeably older), Erda, Siegfried, Brunnhilde, The Wanderer, and Hagen.  Many non-singing extras were used in this production.

With Simone Young.

Let me quote the last sentence in the Program Book on this opera: Between longing for love and the urge to die, the militant duo celebrate a future that is to be their alone.  Make it make sense for me.  (I know I said earlier I didn't want to add legitimacy to the Program Book by quoting from it.)

The effort to remove the high points of the operas may be deliberate, and I don't know how a person in charge of keeping Wagner's spirit alive can stand for it.  Wagner's idea is to offer a "gesamtkunstwerk," which definitely would include the story, and replacing it with a different story line (one that doesn't work, at that) would be an insult to that idea, no?  On top of that, the audience finds emotional resonance only when they refer back to the original story.  So my attitude on the new production now shifts more towards the disdain end of the spectrum.

The opera ended a little after 10 pm.

Bayreuth Festival. Wagner's Die Walkure. August 21, 2024.

There is this installation of small Wagner statues in the front lawn.  A favorite spot for photos.

Conductor - Simone Young.  Siegmund - Michael Spyres, Hunding - Georg Zeppenfeld, Wotan - Tomasz Konieczny, Sieglinde - Vida Mikneviciute, Brunnhilde - Catherine Foster, Fricka - Christa Mayer, Gerhilde - Catharine Woodwoard, Orlinde - Brit-Tone Mullertz, Waltraute - Claire Barnett-Jones, Schwertleite - Christa Mayer, Helmwige - Dorothea Herbert, Siegrune - Alexandra Ionis, Grimgerde - Marie Henriette Reinhold, Rossweisse - Noa Beinart, Grane - Igor Schwab.

At the beginning of the opera, and at end of each intermission, a brass ensemble would come out to make an announcement.  Many people seem to enjoy this ritual.

While my appreciation for the music grew, my reaction to the revised story line is now somewhere between indifference and disdain.  The increased "incoherence" made it necessary to spend more of my (limited) mental bandwidth to try to map different things together.

The Synopsis from the Program Book has the following description of the Acts.  Act I: the night following the events in Rheingold - "Hounds and wolves;" Act II: the next morning - "Our father's will;" Act III: an elegant waiting room - "Successions and resignations."  Again, much of the new scenario does not match what the lyrics tell us. One can almost say not understanding German, and not having surtitles, are blessings in disguise as the words could be so incongruent with what we were to think was happening.

Sieglinde appears pregnant in Act I, which gets us out of the incest problem.  However, the Program tells us it's not clear who the actual father is; that is again not supported by the lyrics.  One can attribute Hunding's jealousy to his suspicions.  This makes Siegmund - who is ready to accept the child as his own - a generous person, and Sieglinde a less sympathetic figure - perhaps Siegmund is just her latest fad.  (To make up the ugliness in some way, in this production there is a scene that can be construed as Wotan attempting to violate a sleeping Sieglinde.)  For the scene where the two recognize they are twins, two children are brought in; one could call that clever, or superfluous.  I say too cute by half.

One of the moving episodes in this opera is the dialog between Brunnhilde and Siegmund.  It begins with Brunnhilde telling Siegmund he is to be taken to Valhalla, and ends with Brunnhilde deciding to help Siegmund.  In the new story line this encounter does not happen, nor is it written up in the Program Book.  However, it is not easy not to invoke the scene in one's mind as the music unfolds.  I suspect many in the audience appreciated the dialog, but that is despite the disconnect in the new story line.

During Act II, which shows the "atrium" of Wotan's house, there was this door to a greenhouse that showed the reflection of the conductor at her podium; she certainly was very intense in her movements.  For Act III we have (I think) a beauty salon with a mirrored wall.  At first I was worried if a cover conductor was at work (with a beard there is no mistaking him for Young).  Then I realized the image I saw was the prompter's.  He also worked very hard.  As with my observation of Maazel conducting Walkure many years ago, the gestures were surprisingly detailed.  Most players acknowledged him at curtain call, as did Young.  I couldn't find the name(s) of the prompter(s) in the Program Book; an unsung hero.

Another climax in the original story is when Siegmund retrieves Notung from the ash tree.  Indeed the Notung leitmotif is played many times in anticipation before that happens.  It is not clear what Notung is, or if it's even a thing.  These leitmotifs help a lot in figuring out what is happening, without a clear reference to an object, it simply becomes a theme that gets worked multiple times.  Nothing wrong with that, but leitmotifs are a big part of Wagner's story-telling.  So far (up through Siegfried) the Notung may be a pen knife, a pistol, or a sword hidden inside a crutch.  And what's up with all these pistols being waved around?

In the new story there is a lighted pyramid that comes out every now and then, carried by one of the actors (Wotan being the first one).  A reviewer mentions the power of such a device and expresses wonderment at its ability to capture the audience's attention.  Let me say one can achieve the same effect with, say, a scarecrow.  Bring out something incongruous, or nonsensical, of course people would remember.

Another effect, probably for its shock value, is Freia's coffin being shown at the beginning of Act II.  She is the goddess of youth and gardening, and eating the apples she grows keeps the gods young.  If she dies, there is no more eternal life, which opens a whole can of worms. (E.g., why Brunnhilde remains the same after decades of sleep.)

The eight Valkyries are first introduced as sisters who just had plastic surgery - yes, all eight of them.  The arias talk of collecting heroes for Valhalla, and talks of Brunnhilde and Grane coming to meet them.  Here they simply barge in on them.

One of the scenes audiences look forward to is how Brunnhilde is put to sleep and surrounded by fire.  It was a real bummer that she just walks off the stage.  (She would come back out in Siegfried.)

There is one technique that I appreciate, although one can't tell that from the acting.  At the end of the opera, Wotan leaves Fricka (about time, many would say), puts on a hat, and becomes the wanderer we see in Siegfried.  Of course the new story has to stretch to make sense of his departure from Valhalla.  This will be "explained" in Gotterdammerung, not in a satisfactory way, that's my impression for now.

As Sieglinde was already pregnant, she gives birth to Siegfried during this opera.  That brings the Siegfried leitmotif to reality, it also means Brunnhilde gets to see Siegfried before she is banished. 

End of Act 1.  Hunding (he wears a name tag for some reason), Sieglinde, and Siegmund.  The two children are the twins when they were small.

End of Act 2.  Hunding, Fricka, Wotan, Brunnhilde, Sieglinde, and Siegmund.

End of opera.  Seven Valkyries, Wotan, Brunnhilde, Sieglinde, Fricka, and Grune (not a horse, but a personal assistant).  The eighth Valkyrie was sung by Christa Mayer, who sang Fricka in the earlier parts of the story.

This time with Simone Young.  But Fricka/Schwertleite is missing.

I think I will repeat this sentiment many times: I have always found holes in the story as Wagner tells it; replacing it with one with even more holes is not an improvement.

Both Anne and I feel "so far so good" after this second installment of the Ring Cycle.  The music continued to sound great.  All the principals sang well.  I know little German, but it's quite clear Sieglinde has problems with her pronunciations, so I assume the Germans in the audience have trouble hearing the words also.  Good thing we are all experts in Wagner operas, so a missed word here or there isn't a problem.  (A joke, just in case there is any misunderstanding.)

Intermissions between the Acts are about one hour each, the performance started at 4 pm, so it was close to 10 pm when we left the theater.

Bayreuth Festival. Wagner's Das Rheingold. August 20, 2024.

Bayreuth Festival Theater.  Left Parkette.  (Seat 15-8, 301 euros.)

Selfie inside the Theater.

Conductor - Simone Young.  Wotan - Tomasz Konieczny, Donner - Nicholas Brownlee, Froh - Mirko Roschkowski, Loge - John Daszak, Fricka - Christa Mayer, Freia - Christine Nilsson, Erda - Okka von der Damerau, Alberich - Olafur Sigurdarson, Mime - Ya-Chung Huang, Fasolt - Jens-Erik Aasba, Fafner - Tobias Kehrer, Woglinde - Evelin Novak, Wellgunde - Natalia Skrycka, Flosshilde - Marie Henriette Reinhold.

I don't remember how long I have known about this summer festival at Bayreuth dedicated to Wagner's operas.  It was never on my radar screen as there was this waiting list that one had to get on for up to 10 years before one could buy tickets.  During our 2022 visit to this area of Germany, we did take the train in from Nuremberg and visited the Theater - theater grounds, actually.

The COVID pandemic changed many things.  Last year there was this article about how many (classical) music festivals were suffering, including Bayreuth which would offer tickets to those not on the waiting list.  The process - which I never noted down and is thus reconstructed from memory - was there was a day after which people could apply for the tickets by filling an application form, those not successful could try in real-time on a later date.  My first application wasn't successful, and on the real-time sale date I was first put in a "waiting room" after I logged in, and after 30 minutes or so let into the digital box office.

We had decided earlier on that the only tickets we would want would be for one of two Ring cycles on offer this year.  Long story short, I succeeded in snagging two seats for Ring II, at 295 euros per ticket, plus a processing fee of 6 euros each.  The seats are quite good from looking at the seating plan.  (Having sit in the actual seats, I must say some small part of the stage is blocked.  So far - after seeing three performances - not a lot happen in that space.)

Then I read the reviews of prior years' ring cycles with the same production.  From what I can tell the storyline was completely different, and the reviewers reported considerable booing afterwards, with most of the displeasure directed at Valentin Schwarz, the new director.  Also, the Festival is for Wagner traditionalists who are supposed to know the music so well that no surtitles are necessary - not even in German.

In earlier posting I had recorded getting a Metopera subscription, and sitting through the two Ring cycles at that website.  That may help with following the overall plot as the operas progress, but not much can be done about the new storyline.  As there would not be any changes to the music, one wonders how that would work.  Instead of Valkyries gathering up dead heroes, we have women comparing notes after plastic surgeries with gestures but singing about fallen heroes.  How well would that work?

I am finalizing this review after having seen three of the operas already, so some of the observations in this blog were made afterwards, and probably will put in more changes as the cycle progresses.  Perhaps one could write an overall blog entry after the Ring completion; but that's highly unlikely.

First, a bit about the story.  What I knew from reading the reporting and reviews on this production is that it's about a dysfunctional family, and instead of gold we have a baby (that's how I remembered it).  With that in mind, I could follow most of the opera.  It would be difficult not to bring back the scenes as Wagner envisioned them, though.  (Also true during subsequent operas.)

During the orchestral introduction, twin fetuses were projected on the screen, with one attacking the other.  I assume the victim died as blood came out of the umbilical cord, and attributed this to German productions' tendency to program unnecessarily hard-edged elements into their productions.  The Program Book (which I bought at Bayreuth and didn't open until after the first opera) describes Wotan and Alberich as twins that fought before they were born, and that sibling jealousy would fuel much of the animosity in the series.  No more gods and Nibelungs.  Not to mention how this would mess up many other relationships, which are improbable to start with.

The scenes in the opera are described as Scene 1: Dawn - "Revenge of the Second One;" Scene 2: Early morning - "Quid Pro Quo;" Scene 3: Lunchtime in the nursery - "Illusions;" Scene 4: Back in the atrium - "To Protect Property or Propriety."  Perhaps out of principle I am not going to give the new story more space than necessary, but I do want to mention that the gold is replaced by a boy (not baby) in this version (and he may well be Hagen in Gotterdammerung, we shall see).

I have a few major problems with this sort of retelling.  Most fundamental one is the music and lyrics remain the same.  So the word "Rheingold" was used often, and we didn't see any gold!  Why would the architects Fafner and Fasolt ever take a boy as payment instead of the Freia?  (One could think very dark thoughts with this.)  The Program explains the boy as a possible successor of the architects.  Not only is that incredible, it is not even supported by the words being sung.  I wonder how easy it is to say something while doing something else: a question that is always in the back of my mind.

Another problems is the highlights and climaxes we look forward to disappear, and more often than not are not replaced by new ones in the new story.  The tarhelm/snake/toad scene always brings a chuckle to the audience, here Wotan and Loge simply trick Alberich to let go of his machine gun.  The piling of the gold to cover Freia is suspenseful, here the giants simply noticed the fake boy (it should have been obvious as it was a girl as the fake).  Perhaps okay if we are trading up in story line, but hard to justify as the new story is even less compelling, with a plot full of gaps.  The Ring comes full circle in the original story, I wonder how that would work here.

Some reviewers praise the technique of having characters already embedded in the story before they reveal themselves.  Erda worked as a maid in the Wotan household - head maid, perhaps, as her uniform is different.  She reveals herself by dropping a tray of glasses.  Certainly as dramatic as some ghost rising from the earth.  I say it also explains why she gives birth to these nine valkyries, with Wotan the father.  A master having an affair with the help is quite believable.

I have said before great operas begin with great music.  That's what saved the day.  From the very beginning I sensed something magical would happen in that area, and I was correct.  I don't know if that's the acoustics, or the musicians.  In this case I will embrace the power of "and."  One can find references in the web on how Wagner designed the theater in such a way that the orchestra's location pushes the sound of the voices forward, and that the orchestra pit is so deep that it is out of sight completely.  Orchestra musicians are from the best German orchestras (and there are many).  The original scheduled conductor was Philip Jordan; we had seen one Metopera Ring he conducted.  He withdrew, and Simone Young was appointed.  Today's performance certainly sounded better than all my prior live Das Rheingold experiences (it would hold true for Die Walkure as well).  As far as I know, there is no voice enhancement system in use.  How do all the voices sound so clear?  Wotan was particularly impressive; all the other characters did well too.

As to the opera house acoustics: if that was possible with a design over 100 years ago, why aren't more opera venues designed with the same philosophy?

I could get a photo of the set when the curtain reopened after the performance was over.  In the front are (from the left) Rheinmaidens, Mime, Loge, Alberich, Fricka, Fasolt, Fafner, Erda, Freia, Donner, and Froh.

Simone Young joined in the curtain call.

I had worried that I would find the series difficult to sit through, but was still looking forward to the "suffering" for the experience.  That worry is now gone (confirmed by having also seen Die Walkure and Siegried).  I had no trouble keeping awake, even after a rather eventful journey from NJ, and the time zone difference.

The performance started (promptly) at 6 pm, and lasted till around 8:30 pm.  We had eaten some sushi bought from ALDI at around 2 pm, and made some wraps to eat after we got back to the hotel.

Metropolitan Opera on Demand. Wagner's Gotterdammerung. Watched August 14, 2024.

Performance Date: May 5, 1990.

Conductor - James Levine.  Brunnhilde - Hildegard Behrens, Siegfried - Siegfried Jerusalem, Hagen - Matti Salminen, Waltraute - Christa Ludwig, Gutrune - Hanna Lisowska, Gunther - Anthony Raffell, Alberich - Ekkehard Vlaschiha, First Norn - Gweneth Bean, Second Norn - Joyce Castle, Third Norn - Andrea Gruber; Woglinde - Kaaren Erickson, Wellgunde - Diana Kesling, Flosshilde - Meredith Parsons.

Having watched these two Ring cycles, I am quite worried about how much I would get out of the Bayreuth experience.  Two major reasons.  One is the lack of subtitles.  Although the overall plot is easy enough to understand, it would be difficult to correlate what I see on the stage with where exactly the story is at.  Two is that the reviews on this Bayreuth Ring indicate the story is centered around a dysfunctional family (with one could argue is the case with the original story), that the ring is represented by a baby, and that the Valkyries scene is one where people compare the results of their plastic surgeries - instead of collecting heroes to bring to Valhalla.  Will I be able to correlate these new interpretations with the original story (which I grasp at only a high level anyway)?  We shall see soon enough.

I also discovered these Metopera videos were taken from different Ring cycles, or possibly some stand-alone performances of individual operas.  Take the older ring.  It would appear Rheingold and Siegfried are from the same cycle, Walkure is from an earlier one, while Gotterdammerung is from a later one.  The later Ring comprises of operas performed over two seasons.  The first two were conducted by Levine, the second two by Luisi.

With the completion of this video, I have watched 3 cycles via Met on Demand, the prior time, in 2020, being the videos Metopera made available for free during the COVID pandemic.  For in-person rings the number is 4: 2009 in Seattle; 2013 and 2019 at the Met; and once over two seasons (2011 and 2012), and not in order.  In addition, Die Walkure was my first encounter with any Ring operas - at the Met in 2008, conducted by Lorin Maazel; and Alan Gilbert did Das Rheingold in concert with the New York Philharmonic in 2017.

After all those encounters, I am still lost very often.

Metropolitan Opera on Demand. Wagner's Siegfried. Watched August 11, 2024.

Performance Date: April 26, 1990.

Conductor - James Levine.  Siegfried - Siegfried Jerusalem, Brunnhilde - Hildegard Behrens, The Wanderer - James Morris, Mime - Heinz Zednik, Forest Bird - Dawn Upshaw, Erda - Birgitta Svenden, Alberich - Ekkehard Wlaschiha, Fafner - Matti Salminen.

Metropolitan Opera on Demand. Wagner's Die Walkure. Watched July 23, 2024.

Performance Date: April 8, 1989.

Conductor - James Levine.  Brunnhilde - Hildegard Behrens, Sieglinde - Jessye Norman, Fricka - Christa Ludwig, Siegmund - Gary Lakes, Wotan - James Morris, Hunding - Kurt Moll; Helmwige - Katarina Ikonomu, Ortlinde - Martha Thigpen, Gerhilde - Pyramid Sellers, Waltraute - Joyce Castle, Siegrune - Diane Kesling, Rossweisse - Jacalyn Bower, Grimgerde - Wendy Hillhouse, Schwertleite - Sondra Kelly.

Metropolitan Opera on Demand. Wagner's Das Rheingold. Watched July 19, 2024.

Performance Date: April 23, 1990.

Conductor - James Levine.   Wotan - James Morris; Loge - Siegfried Jerusalem; Alberich - Ekkehard Wlaschiha; Fricka - Christa Ludwig; Freia - Mari-Anne Haggander; Froh - Mark Baker; Donner - Alan Held; Fasolt - Dan-Hendrik Rootering; Fafner - Matti Salminen; Rheinmaidens - Diane Kesling, Meredith Parsons, Kaaren Erickson; Mime - Heinz Zednik; Erda - Birgitta Svenden.

An Otto Schenk production.

Metropolitan Opera on Demand. Wagner's Gotterdammerung. Watched July 17, 2024.

Performance Date: February 11, 2012.

Conductor - Fabio Luisi.  Norns - Maria Radner, Elizabeth Bishop, Heidi Melton; Brunnhilde - Deborah Voigt; Siegfried - Jay Hunter Morris; Gunther - Iain Paterson; Hagen - Hans-Peter Konig; Gutrune - Wendy Bryn Harmer; Waltraute - Waltraud Meier; Alberich - Eric Owens; Woglinde - Erin Morley; Wellgunde - Jennifer Johnson Cano; Flosshilde - Tamara Mumford.

Balourdet Quartet. July 15, 2024.

Richardson Auditorium at Princeton University.  Orchestra Level (Seat L17, free).

Program

String Quartet No. 23 in F Major, K. 590 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791).

String Quartet No. 4 "Strange Machines" by Karim Al-Zand (b. 1970).

String Quartet No. 16 in F Major, Op. 135 by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827).

Artists

Angela Bae, Justin DeFilippis, violins; Benjamin Zannoni, viola; Russell Houston, cello.

This was the last of four concerts for the Princeton University Summer Chamber Concerts this year; and was the second one we attended.

Both the Mozart and the Beethoven quartets were the last quartets written by the composers, in June 1790 and October 1826 respectively.  The four movements of the Mozart quartet are Allegro moderato; Andante; Menuetto: Allegretto; and Allegro.  For Beethoven they are: Allegretto; Vivace; Lento assai, cantante e tranquillo; and "Der schwer gafasste Entschluss" Grave, ma no troppo tratto - Allegro.

Al-Zand is a well-known composer (at least from what was announced from the stage) who now teaches at Rice University.  The three movements that comprise his quartet are Alberti Machine; Goldberg Machine; and Mannheim Machine.

The quartet members all look quite young.  The quartet itself was formed in 2018 (or soon after), and is named after Antoine Balourdet, a chef at the Taos School of Music.  (That's a new one, I guess with so many quartets being formed, it's difficult to find a name that stands out.)  They all looked like they enjoyed making music together, with no one dominating the performance.  The two violinists took turns being the lead, DeFilippis led the Mozart and Al-Zand pieces, while Bae led the Beethoven.  Every now and then there were intonation problems, perhaps unavoidable in a close-up chamber performance.

Ruth Ochs provided some commentary before the Mozart and Beethoven pieces.  She pointed out both were the last quartets the composers wrote (but didn't mention when they were written), and that F Major has a pastoral feel to it.  For the Beethoven quartet she linked the "Must it be? It Must be." notation in the manuscript to an artists being paid, which I thought trivialized what Beethoven intended to say, whatever that might be.  She also mentioned the key of the third movement (D-flat Major) could present intonation problems to the performers.  That may be true.  I was also under the impression that since composers often choose this key as there are no "open string" notes, thus giving the music a special (melancholy, perhaps) characteristic as the natural resonances are suppressed.

It was quite imaginative for Al-Zand to conceive what the movements of his quartet should be.  The "Alberti bass" is a common way to write accompaniment for instrument music (I am familiar with the sound, not not the term), it was used as the basis for the first movement.  The name Goldberg brings to mind the Goldberg variations in the music world, and Rube Goldberg inventions in others.  The second movement basically is Rube Goldberg ending as the Goldberg theme.  The Mannheim movement describes how the sound and fury of a rocket launch end up fizzling out.  That is the gist of the description given by DeFilippis (who delivered it in an engaging manner).  One could find Al-Zand's description of this work on his website.  The break between the second and third movements was difficult to discern.

For encore, the quartet play Haydn's Op. 33, Movement 3, "The Bird."

Today was very warm (mid 90s during the day), so we were thankful the AC in the auditorium was working.