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.

Metropolitan Opera on Demand. Wagner's Siegfried. Watched July 13, 2024.

Performance Date:  November 5, 2011.

Conductor - Fabio Luisi.  Mime - Gerhard Siegel, Siegfried - Jay Hunter Morris, The Wanderer - Bryn Terfel,  Alberich - Eric Owens, Fafner - Hans-Peter Konig, The Forest Bird - Mojca Erdmann, Erda - Patricia Bardon, Brunnhilde - Deborah Voigt.

Metropolitan Opera on Demand. Wagner's Die Walkure. Watched July 10, 2024.

Performance Date: May 14, 2011.

Conductor - James Levine; Siegmund - Jonas Kaufmann, Sieglinde - Eva-Maria Westbroek, Hunding - Hans-Peter Konig, Wotan - Bryn Terfel, Brunnhilde - Deborah Voigt, Fricka Stephanie Blythe, Gerhilde - Kelly Cae Hogan, Helmwige - Molly Fillmore, Waltraute - Marjorie Elinor Dix, Schwertliete - Mary Phillips, Ortlinde - Wendy Bryn Harmer, Siegrune - Eve Gigliotti, Grimgerde - Mary Ann McCormick, Rossweisse - Lindsay Ammann.

Anne and I watched this over three days.

We saw the same opera on May 5, 2011.  That day James Levine was ill and another conductor was at the podium.  The principal actors were the same (I didn't note the names of the other eight daughters).

Metopera on Demand. Wagner's Das Rheingold. Watched July 6, 2024.

Performance Date: October 9, 2010.

Conductor - James Levine; Woglinde - Lisette Oropesa, Wellgunde - Jennifer Johnson, Flosshilde - Tamara Mumford, Alberich - Eric Owens, Fricka - Stephanie Blythe, Wotan - Bryn Terfel, Freia - Wendy Bryn Harmer, Fasolt - Franz-Josef Selig, Fafner - Hans-Peter Konig, Froh - Adam Diegel, Donner - Dwayne Croft, Loge - Richard Croft, Mime - Gerhard Siegel, Erda - Patricia Bardon.

We have tickets to the Ring cycle at Bayreuth next month.  To prepare for that I would try to watch the cycle beforehand.  To that end I subscribed to Met Opera on Demand - it helped that they were running a special.

The was the first season the 24-plank set was used.