The Knights. Eric Jacobsen, conductor; Alex Sapp, flute. December 8, 2024.

Town Hall, New York City.  Orchestra (Seat N117, $15).

This was after Alex Sapp performed Fantasy on a Theme by Joni composed by Allison Loggins-Hull.  Eric Jacobsen, the conductor, looked on.

Program

Flute Quartet in D Major, K. 285 (1777) by Mozart (1756-1791).

Rhapsody on a Theme by Joni by Loggins-Hull (b. 1982).

Sinfonia Concertante in E-Flat Major for Violin and Viola, K. 364 (1779) by Mozart.

This is another PSC concert.  "The Knights" is a group that characterizes itself as "flexible in size and repertory," and "engage ... through vibrant performances that honor the classical tradition ..."  The description in the Program Sheet contains many more adjectives, I quoted those that make some sense to me.  I counted 23 names in the roster, and the cellist Eric Jacobsen also doubled as a conductor for the pieces that required one.  I do wonder why they don't go the entire Orpheus route and do the program without a conductor altogether - admittedly a bit difficult for the Loggins-Hull piece.

Having said all that, this was a delightful concert, bookended by Mozart's flute quartet, and the double concerto for violin and viola.  The flute quartet was especially well done, with a great balance between the flute and the three string instruments.  The strings were acting mostly as accompaniment for the first two movements.  The third movement had a more balanced dialog among the instruments.  The double concerto could use more precision and better balance, but the soloists brought out a compelling interpretation of the piece.

Before her piece was performed, Allison Loggins-Hull had a brief conversation with Eric Jacobsen on the piece.  She remarked she and Alex Sapp have known each other for a while, and that Alex Sapp is an artists of many talents: singing, composition, and flutist.  Since Loggins-Hull is a flutist herself, a lot of virtuoso passages can be found in the piece.  Joni indeed refers to Joni Mitchell, and, according to Loggins-Hull, Sapp's singing has some resemblance to hers. (By the way, Loggins-Hull is also NJ Symphony's Resident Artistic Partner.)

Oftentimes the description of the music (verbal or in print) is more interesting than the music itself.  The first few minutes did capture my attention, but just when I began to think it may be too long, there was a nice change of pace.  Indeed by mixing things up every now and then, the music continued to be interesting.  I don't know what constitutes virtuoso flute playing, but could certainly appreciate that the pace, the interval jumps, the fast runs are difficult.  One thing that was obvious was Sapp breathed noticeably harder than when she played the flute quartet - in that case it didn't even occur to me it would be an issue.  For good measure a cadenza was included.  I couldn't catch the Joni Mitchell theme, though; of course I know only a few songs sung/written by Mitchell.

After performing the Mozart flute quartet.  The cellist is Eric Jacobsen, who would conduct the next two pieces.  The violinist and violists are Colin Jacobsen and Nicolas Cards, if the order in the roster is any indication; they also soloed in the Sinfonia Concertante.

Conversation between Loggins-Hull and Jacobsen on her Fantasy on a Theme by Joni.

At the conclusion of the program.

The program ended at around 3:40 pm, which meant I could catch the 4:07 pm train back to South Amboy.  The musicians seemed to be ready to do an encore, but I decided - given how the main program went - I wasn't going to stay and miss the train.

It was very cold for a few days.  Today was a bit warmer - in the mid 40s.  It was a pleasant afternoon to be out and about.

Boston Symphony Orchestra. Andris Nelsons, conductor; Benjamin Grosvenor, piano. November 30, 2024.

Symphony Hall, Boston.  First Balcony (Seat G24, $63).

Grosvenor and Nelsons at the conclusion of the Grieg piano concerto.

Program

Finlandia, Op. 26 by Sibelius (1865-1957); conducted by Ross Jamie Collins.

Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16 by Grieg (1843-1907).

From Holberg's Time, Suite in olden style, Op. 40 by Grieg; conducted by Na'Zir McFadden.

Symphony No. 7 in C, op. 105, in one movememt by Sibelius. 

This was the second concert we attended for the day.  It was a much better experience compared to the Messiah concert we did earlier.

The singers sounded weak at the Messiah concert, that it was due to bad acoustics at the seat got dispelled tonight.  Our seats were one row behind (Row G), on the left side of the center balcony section.  The music came across loud and clear.  We moved to Row C after Finlandia, and enjoyed the rest of the concert from there.

Grosvenor was a substitute because the pianist originally scheduled had to withdraw.  It was not an issue at all as Grosvenor put in a thoroughly enjoyable performance.  For encore he played Ravel's Jeux D'eau.  (I could tell it was Ravel, but needed Google to identify the piece.)

Grieg's Holberg Suite is not nearly as well-known as his Peer Gynt Suite.  For one it doesn't have as many hummable or "exciting" melodies.  While Peer Gynt was based on an Ibsen drama, Holberg was written as a tribute to the Norwegian Ludwig Holberg (1684-1754), considered by many the founding father of Norwegian letters.  Grieg specifically harkened back to the music of Holberg's time - think Bach and Handel - and indeed the piece has a strong baroque feel to it.  It was first composed for a solo piano, which Grieg adapted for a string orchestra.  The movements indeed reminds one of the markings of baroque music: (I) Praeludium.  Allegro vivace; (II) Sarabande.  Andante - Un poco mosso - Tempo primo; (III) Gavotte.  Allegretto - Musette.  Poco piu mosso - Da capo.  (IV) Air.  Andante religioso; and (V) Reigaudon.  Allegro con brio - Poco meno mosso - Da capo.  I do wonder if the piece was performed with period instruments during Grieg's time.

Tonight's program concluded with Sibelius's Seventh Symphony.  It was a 22-minute single movement work, with tempo markings Adagio-Vivacissimo-Adagio-Allegro molto moderato-Allegro moderato-Vivace-Presto-Adagio-Largamente molto-Affectuaoso-Tempo I (I hope I didn't miss anything in the transcription).  The Program Notes advises against listening for all the tempo changes, but instead describes an overarching three-movement design: Adagio, Vivacissimo, and Allegro Molto, with Presto as a coda.

Sibelius's Finlandia was conducted by Ross Jamie Collins.

Grieg's Holberg Suite was conducted by Na'Zir McFadden.

Conclusion of the concert.  Time stamp: 10:14 pm.

What is particularly interesting - for me anyway - is the choice of pieces for the program.  My first reaction after seeing Grieg's and Sibelius's names was that it would be a depressing program.  Turns out it was mostly composer writing "patriotic" music under somewhat unpleasant circumstances (Grieg's Norway against Sweden, and Sibelius's Finland against Russia).

A couple of additional remarks.  Two of the pieces were conducted by BSO Fellows.  For the young composer it's rare to have opportunities to work with a world-renowned orchestra, and the two gentlemen made good use of the short time they had in the lime light.  I have seen Nelsons conduct several times before, this was the first time he spoke to the audience expressing his appreciation of being where he was.  He mentioned that he was a "middle-aged man," and I found out he just turned 46, which meant he was named the BSO music director at 36.

With the piano encore and Nelson's speech, the concert didn't end until around 10:15 pm.  We were in the Symphony Hall vicinity from 2:30 pm to 10:30 pm, it didn't feel long.

Handel and Haydn Society. Jonathan Cohen, conductor. November 30, 2024.

Symphony Hall, Boston.  First Balcony (Seat F15, $69).

Program

Handel's Messiah.

Artists

Jeanine De Bique, soprano; Reginald Mobley, countertenor; Nicholas Phan, tenor; Sumner Thompson, baritone.

H+H Society Orchestra and Chorus

H+H Society Youth Choruses Chamber Choir

H+H Society CitySing Participants

Anne and I found ourselves in the Boston area, with some time on our hands, so we decided to get tickets to this concert (starting at 3 pm), and for a BSO concert that would start at 8 pm the same evening.

We attended an H+H Messiah at Symphony Hall for the first time last year, and frankly wasn't particularly impressed.  So I wasn't sure I would do it this year, but eventually decided to give it another shot.

We walked away again somewhat disappointed.  The major issue this time was sometimes we had to strain to hear the soloists.  Our knowledge of the lyrics helped - but one shouldn't have to depend on that.  The chorus did a lot better, though.  H+H evidently spawned several choruses, and the addition of Youth and CitySing about tripled the number of chorus members.  The "guest artists" didn't do all the choruses, but they did add a lot of grandeur to the more majestic passages.

From left: Mobley, De Bique, Cohen, Phan, and Thompson.  On the left are the CitySing participants, on the right the Youth Chorus.

The directors (maybe?) of the different choruses at curtain call.

For a while I thought the cheap tickets I got had bad acoustics.  Tier 2 overhangs the seats, so there may be some truth to that.  However, I realized we had seats in the same row last year, and I didn't say anything about weak acoustics in my writeup.  Further, we had seats one row behind for the evening BSO concert, and certainly had no problems then.  (Caveat: we moved to closer empty seats after the first piece).

We had no problems sitting through the entire performance, and enjoyed the afternoon's music.  This concert would be the first of three we will attend this year:  NY Phil on 12/11, and NJ Symphony on 12/22.  If things work out as planned, this would be the first seasonal triple header for us.

Joe dropped us off, and picked us up after the BSO concert.  We ate at a nearby Japanese restaurant between the two concerts. Traffic was light in both directions.

Count Basie Theater Gospel Choir. Gwen Moten, conductor. November 25, 2024.

The Vogel at Count Basie Theater, Red Bank, NJ.  Floor (Seat E-13, $18).

Program - Giving Thanks

Selection of Songs

Jennifer now sings in this chorus.  Tonight they celebrated Thanksgiving with a selection of songs, some familiar, some new to m.

The choir consisted of about 30 members, the conductor, and a band of about five musicians.

I jotted down the titles (or first lines) of the songs they sang, probably missing/mislabeling a few in the process.  One song was led by a choir member.

As we sometimes did in the past, we had dinner at Juanito's afterwards.

Dinner at Juanito's.

Hong Kong Philharmonic. Elim Chan, conductor; James Ehnes, violin. November 23, 2024.

Hong Kong Cultural Center Concert Hall.  Stalls 2 (Seat EE-66, HK$269).

As encore Ehnes performed Ysaye's Sonata No. 3, Op. 27

Program

... aux cendres (2024) by Angus Lee (b. 1992).

Violin Concerto in D, op. 35 by Tchaikovsky (1840-1893).

Symphony No. 5 in B-flat major, op. 100 by Prokofiev (1891-1953).

I was visiting Hong Kong for the week and found out about this concert.  With the Tchaikovsky violin concerto and Prokofiev's fifth symphony on the program, attending the concert was an easy decision.  Angus Lee is a young composer based in Hong Kong, so I am somewhat curious how his music would come across.  As if the deal needed to be sealed, Elim Chan has been mentioned a lot in the US press recently, and this would be my first encounter with her conducting.  To set the expectations high, this is a concert in the "Swire Maestro" series (maestra?), implying Chan to be in that league.  Other conductors in this series are van Zweden, Petrenko, and Paavo Jarvi.  So Chan is in good company.

One major caveat.  Today is December 7, a full two weeks after the event.  For someone who has trouble remembering what happened the day before, this concert is a distant memory.  I do think my general impression remains valid, but specifics may be incorrect.  And, this is one of four concerts I attended in the past two weeks, so the writeup will also be brief.

Overall, this was a good concert, but in my opinion didn't live up to the hype (admittedly a lot of that was my own).  Daniel, who attended the event as well, said afterwards it was rare to see concerts with musicians performing at such a high level.  Having been to many concerts (and I am restricting my reference points to HK Phil concerts), I wouldn't have characterized tonight's as such.

Now some specific take-aways.

I attended the pre-concert talk by Joanna Lee, who explained what to listen for in music.  For the Angus Lee piece, she emphasized rhythm and timbre.  Good selection, as looking for melody and harmony is likely a futile exercise.  I am surprised she didn't mention instrumentation/orchestration, though; the piece used quite a few percussion instruments (too bad the Program only lists "percussion"), a piano, and a harp.  This piece was dedicated to Elim Chan, and was written a companion piece to one premiered in June, serving as an attempt to overcome a repressed, traumatic memory to that imaginary event.  Deep thoughts that would require a lot more analysis and explanation for me to grasp, if at all.  The composer went on to describe his work in the most inscrutable way, concluding that the "diptych" pays homage to the one by Kaija Saariaho, who passed away last year.

One would think this chart applies to more than just "new" music.

Yes, people can misjudge how great a piece may end up being.  The implication that same situation applies to the Angus Lee piece is a bit on the "are you kidding me" side.

Why was it necessary to title the piece the way he did?  Nothing wrong with "to the ashes," and I won't even object to no upper case for "to."

I have no recollection at all of what I heard.  And it is likely that if I listen to it again it would sound all new.  The best I can say about it is "I don't mind listening to it again."

The composer acknowledging the audience.

Ehnes is certainly a virtuoso violinist who gives a strong vibe of "nothing fazes me, it's just another day at the office."  That posture worked very well when he played Beethoven, and if one had one's eyes closed  listening to tonight's Tchaikovsky.  I wasn't looking for a violinist moving all over the podium, but a live performance is more than a purely "aural" experience.  There is no doubt that the piece was well-performed, but I somehow felt something missing.  It didn't help the violin - a Strad - sounded weak, even in the intimate setting of the Concert Hall.  (I have made similar remarks about the sound of this violin before.)  For encore Ehnes played Ysaye's Violin Op. 27 Sonata No. 3.  I heard "Ysaye," the rest of the tune identification was done by Google.

I am not familiar with any of Prokofiev's symphonies.  The Program provides some interesting information on both the composer and the piece.  The structure of the piece was described in some detail.  Written during WWII, it mostly reflected the defiance and celebration felt by Prokofiev as the war drew towards a close.  During the premiere performance, conducted by the composer, one could hear in the distance artillery fire.  It turned out to be a celebration of the Red Army's victorious entry into Germany.  (I got this from the Program.)  I didn't read the Program in advance of the performance, and didn't get either the structure or the emotions involved after I read the Program.  Some additional listening is required.

After the Tchaikovsky violin concerto.

Elim Chan at the end of the concert.  The audience was very appreciative of a local girl making it to the international stage.

As to how well Elim Chan did, I must say the overall concert wasn't extraordinary.  If one goes with the adage that the conductor adds a few percent to the orchestra's performance, I felt that percentage was small.

I met up with Daniel L at American Club's Central location for coffee and snacks before heading over to the Cultural Center for the pre-concert talk.  I also ran into Sonny Y right before the concert started.  I stopped by a Causeway Bay cafe for beef noodles at around 11 pm, before heading back to the apartment.

This is not a food blog.  But I was famished by 11 pm, so this tasted very good.

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.