New York Philharmonic - David Robertson, conudctor; Leonidas Kavakos, violin. October 25, 2008.

Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center, Orchestra 2 (Seat E4, $54)

Program
Symphony No. 34 in C major, K. 338 (1780) by Mozart (1756-91).
Violin Concerto No. 2 BB117 (1937-38) by Bartok (1881-1945).
Symphony No. 3 in F major, Op. 90 (1882-83) by Brahms (1833-97).

We exchanged another concert for this one due to scheduling conflict, and then realized (i) we would be coming back to NYC after yesterday's concert by the National Chorale, and (ii) Kavakos would be playing another relatively modern piece. Anyhow, here we are.

People (well, the New York Times anyway) keep saying how great a programmer Robertson is. Tonight's concert comprised of a piece each from the 18th, 19th and 20th century, so at least we get to listen to music from vastly different periods.

Robertson conducted the Mozart Symphony with great gusto; a bit much for my taste. And I kept asking, how could he possibly make it more exciting for the Bartok and Beethoven pieces. Turns out he couldn't, which isn't necessarily an indictment on how the latter pieces were performed. In any case, I am not familiar with this particular symphony, and it was quite enjoyable. It came in the standard three movements of Allegro vivace; Andante di molto (piu tosto Allegretto); and Finale - Allegro vivace. There is a remark in the Program Notes about how interesting the tempo marking for the second movement was, which I am sure only an annotator would find interesting.

A couple of observations. A reduced orchestra was used for this symphony, and all the first violin players were women. Mozart was known for his love of the viola and supposedly wrote nice double parts for the instrument (in the slow movement). We were up front, on the right side of the audience, and had a good view of the viola section. Still I had to strain to hear the part(s).

I last heard Kavakos play (in 2005) the Violin Concerto by Henri Dutilleux, and had some choice words for the music and the performance. Today's performance was better, or I should say not as bad. I usually enjoy Bartok and violin music. However, this concerto seemed to wander all over the place, I couldn't figure out what Bartok was trying to say, except to demonstrate the ability of the violinist. We were seated at the front, and had a good view of the performer. The sound of his Stradivarius was great, especially in the higher registers (surprisingly weak on the low notes), and Kavakos' technique is impeccable. Unfortunately, when the performance ended I could say only "Oh, it's over." A couple of additional remarks: this time he played the piece from memory, which is quite remarkable; and the pounding the violin took was simply brutal, it had to be retuned after the first movement.

The concerto's three movements are: Allegro non troppo, Andante tranquillo, and Allegro molto, although I am not sure why Bartok bothered with the markings. Also, notice there is no key to the music. There are supposedly quarter tones towards the end of the first movement; I caught the passage (it was written in the program) but not sure I could distinguish a quarter tone from a half tone. Bartok had written an earlier violin concerto but never published it. So there is debate how tonight's concerto should be numbered; again, great fodder for an annotator.

As with the other two pieces, I am not familiar with the third Brahms Symphony. The movements are Allegro con brio; Andante; Poco allegretto; and Allegro - Un poco sostenuto. It is relatively short, and sounded very much like Beethoven. The Program Notes contain enthusiastic words penned by Clara Schumann. I wish I can find the same excitement.

All in all, tonight's was a program that looks interesting on the surface but falls flat in the actual execution. See the New York Times review. They are surprised that the audience wasn't as enthusiastic either.

The National Chorale - Martin Josman, Music Director. October 24, 2008.

Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center, Third Tier Left (Seat BB108, $56).

Program
Micele Capalbo, Soprano; Janara Kellerman, Alto; Daniel Weeks, Tenor; Grant Youngblood, Bass
Schicksalslied (1871) by Johannes Brahms.
Singet dem Herrn (1746) by Johann Sebastian Bach.
Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125 (1824) by Ludwig van Beethoven.

We bought a 3-concert series to the National Chorale performances at the suggestion of our friend Chung Shu. Tonight's was the first. Joining Anne & me were Chung Shu, Shirley, and Pastor Al. Before the concert we spent a few hours at MoMA (with the special van Gogh exhibit)and had dinner at MEE. Anne didn't go to MoMA but joined us for dinner.

We have noticed the same National Chorale poster outside Avery Fisher Hall year after year, but never got around to going to any of the concerts. In addition to tonight's, we will be going to the Messiah and Carmina Burana concerts later in the season.

Overall this was a disappointment. It was more form than substance, starting with the colorful dresses worn by the women members of the chorale. And the adjustments they had to make in where they stand was another example of show over substance. The orchestra was small (especially for the Symphony), so was the chorale at about 50 members. Perhaps that's because of budget constraints? It begs the question of why do we need this chorale when other organizations (e.g., NY Philharmonic and Choral Artists) and capable of putting out perfectly adequate performances.

Tonight was the "Opening Gala" and, alas, the concert hall was only about half full. The director looks quite a bit older than the picture in the posters would indicate, and could have put a little more energy in the conducting.

Let's hope future performances are better. I am a bit leary of the Messiah one as it is so familiar.

New York Philharmonic – Lorin Maazel, conductor; Yefim Bronfman, piano. September 20, 2008.

Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center, First Tier Center (Seat DD12, $54).

Program
Rhapsodies for Orchestra (2008) by Steven Stucky (b. 1949).
Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30 (1909) by Rachmaninoff (1873-1943).
Suite from Ma Mere I'Oye (Mother Goose; 1980-1910; 1911) by Ravel (1875-1937).
Suite from The Miraculous Mandarin, Pantomime in One Act, Op. 19 (1917-19) by Bartok (1881-1945).

This was the first New York Philharmonic concert of the season for us. Our friends Chung-shu and Shirley also had tickets for this concert; and they bought additional tickets for Pastor Al and Miss Ruth; so there were 6 of us. Too bad we had to go up in separate cars as no one had a car that could take six. We had dinner at China Fun before going to the concert.

We saw Stucky in a “conversation” with Leonard Slatkin on stage last season. He got his doctorate from Cornell, where I had a couple of years of music education. He has done far better than me: he is a Pulitzer-prize winner and a chaired professor at the school. Among his composition teachers was Karel Husa, who conducted the Cornell Symphony while I was a violinist in the orchestra. Alas, that didn't translate to my enjoying the piece. The word “rhapsodies” gives people the impression of joy, rapture, and excitement. If one insists, one can get that in the music. However, I felt the both the dynamic and tonal range could have been broader. I could be charitable and attribute it to the acoustics at my seat ... The good news is that the piece was 10 minutes long rather than the advertised 12 minutes.

The was the U.S. premiere for the piece. It was played earlier the month at the BBC proms. So happens we heard over the radio the program on the last evening while driving around Michigan.

We heard Bronfman before, and enjoyed his performance. Somehow things seemed a bit off tonight. Make no mistake, the music is very difficult (program notes called it “Mount Everest of piano concertos”), and Bronfman's playing was brilliant at times. But musically the piece sounded disjoint, and muffled at times. The concerto is very melodious, and is enjoyable even though the performance wasn't as good as it could be. Bronfman is on the heavy side, but he still managed to lift himself from the seat at multiple locations. The audience gave him a tremendous ovation afterwards. For the record, the movements are (i) Allegro ma non tanto, (ii) Intermezzo. Allegro, and (iii) Finale. Alla breve.

We last saw the concerto performed in 2005 by Simon Trpceski, with Gianandra Noseda conducting the New York Philharmonic. Looking back at my notes, I wasn't completely satisfied either.

The Ravel Suite was written originally for the piano. It was dedicated to the children of Ravel's good friend; the premiere was played by two other youngsters. Ravel later orchestrated the piece. The Suite consists of a series of movements (played without noticeable pauses) which are (i) Pavane of the Sleeping Beauty, (ii) Tom Thumb, (iii) Laideronnette, Empress of the Pagodas, (iv) Conversations of Beauty and the Beast, and (v) Apotheosis, The Enchanted Garden. Unfortunately, the notes are more interesting than the music itself!

I remember hearing The Miraculous Mandarin by Bartok before. Not so much the music itself, but the story behind it. This is before my "blogging" days, so I have no record of the event to counter Anne's insistence that we had never seen it. [Later note: I did save a copy of the concert program on 10/2/2004.] The story, about a visit to a prostitutes' den by a wealthy Chinese man, is grotesque and vulgar. If you don't know the story, the music is quite okay. (Generally I enjoy Bartok's music.) With the story in mind, though, it is a different situation. Perhaps that's the whole point?

The program notes talks about three post-WWI pieces that still have shock value today, The Miraculous Mandarin being one of them. Stravinsky's Le Sacre du printemps is one that I am very familiar with. However, I had not heard of the sado-masochistic Chout by Prokofiev.

The New York Times has an interesting (not necessarily insightful) review of an earlier performance. The program was good enough for the reviewer that he thinks it should be used for the season opener. That evening two pieces were played as encores. I am quite sure they didn't do it on Saturday as we left the concert hall quite late. In any case, the concert was a bit longer than usual, ending at 10:15 pm.

Opera Australia – Verdi's Otello, August 16, 2008.

Opera Theatre, Sydney Opera House – Seat Circle L25 (A$135).

Simon Hewett – conductor; Dennis O'Neill – Otello, Cheryl Barker – Desdemona, Jonaathan Summers – Iago, Kanen Breen – Cassio, Jaqueline Dark – Emilia, Andrew Brunsdon – Roderigo.

Story. See previous blog.

I had the choice of picking either Otello or Lucia di Lammermoor to see today. I picked Otello because it was a matinee and Ruth didn't want to stay up late for the evening show. I like the performance I saw at the Met also, so wouldn't mind seeing it again. Also we were late for that performance and missed the first act. This knowing full well the opera is not quite singable and the drama is the element that carries the performance along. In addition to Ruth and Steven, Ling and Wally also saw the opera with me.

I was disappointed at tonight's performance. It wasn't so much it was a bad performance, but rather it didn't succeed at any of the elements that make a performance great.

First, the whole performance felt disjointed. The “dialog”, the music, the acting, they all seemed to move from element to element without much continuity. I felt this way from five minutes into the show, and the feeling remained till the end. My experience at the Met was a compelling story propelled along by a great sense of doom and urgency.

The staging for Act I was okay. They used many steps as both the deck of a ship and the square where the fight between Cassio and Roderigo took place. It got monotonous when they used it for Act II, Act III, and then Act IV! More ridiculous than minimalist. Staging is part of what makes an opera enjoyable, but evidently the stage manager wasn't aware of that. People were dressed in non-period specific costumes. The brown uniforms worn by the soldiers remind me of Nazis, which probably isn't the intention of the designer. It's a matter of debate whether one should “modernize” these works, and I am a traditionalist when it comes to this matter.

Otello traditionally is painted with a black face to show his Moorish heritage. This wasn't done at today's performance. Probably political correctness carried to an extreme. I am Chinese, and I wasn't at all offended at Domingo being portrayed (and made up) as Chinese in the First Emperor. I am sure there are few people as sensitive as the Chinese ...

I do not know the singers, so didn't know what to expect. Desdemona seemed only capable of reaching the higher notes by belting them out. Even though I “enjoyed” the Willow Song and Ave Maria, I wish she had whispered them rather than shouted them (well, she wasn't that bad). Nonetheless, perhaps to have the same expectations of Cheryl Barker as Renee Fleming is unfair – to Fleming. Otello's voice was quite weak, and he was a bit on the stocky side. Don Jose of Carmen was another Opera Australia person that was a bit on the heavy side – do we have a pattern here? Anyway, Otello seemed to manage the stairs without a lot of difficulty, good for him.

The orchestra played reasonably well, but there wasn't much drama to the music, a real pity for “unsingable” operas.

I am quite amazed at how different the levels of performance is between a production by the Met and one by Opera Australia. Something that seems to come out with ease from the Met appears to be very difficult to piece together by a lesser company, even though the story is by Shakespeare and the music is by Verdi, both acknowledged masters in their genres.

I bought a program for AUD 15 since there were 5 of us, against my "principle" and better judgment. There was very little additional information in it. It does contain one article contrasting how Verdi and Shakespeare treated the different characters, worthy of a college paper. As I suspected, most of the pages were advertisements.

The Sydney Morning Herald gave the opera a raving review. (I hate to sound snobbish) Perhaps the reviewer, Peter McCallum, should go out more often.

Benefit Concert for China Earthquake Victims – Yi Heng Yang, piano; Gloria Vasconcellos - harp; Max Zeugner – double bass, August 3, 2008.

Lincroft Bible Church Sanctuary, Lincroft, NJ.

Program
L'Egyptienne by Jean Phillipe-Rameau; Gloria Vasconcellos, harp.
Toccata by Nicolas-Charles Bochsa; Vasconcellos.
Fantasy pieces, Op. 73 by Robert Schumann; Max Zeugner, double bass & Yi-heng Yang, piano.
(Zart und mit ausdruck - Lebhaft, leicht - Rasch und mit feuer)
Scherzo no. 4, Op. 54 by Frederic Chopin; Yang.
Etude in C-sharp minor, Op. 10, no. 4 by Frederic Chopin, arranged for double bass by F. Sevitsky; Zeugner & Yang.
Tango by Jean Michel Damase; Vasconcellos.
Une Chatelaine en sa tour by Gabriel Faure; Vasconcellos.
Argpeggione Sonata, D. 821 by Franz Schubert; Zeugner & Yang.
(Adagio - Allegretto)
Lullaby by He Lau-Ting; Zeugner, Vasconcellos & Yang.

In May of this year, a huge earthquake (close to 8 on the Richter scale)) occurred in Sichuan Province, causing many deaths and much property damage. The three musicians today performed a concert at which they collected good will offering for disaster relief.

I have never been to a concert where these three instruments were featured together as solo instruments. Actually I have never heard the double bass as a solo instrument. The program was quite long (may be totaling 1 hour 15 minutes or so), most of the pieces would be what I call occasional, light music (doesn't mean easy to play) composed by the likes of Chopin and Schubert.

About 100 people attended, by my estimate. The auditorium can pack in maybe 400 people, so it felt a little too cavernous. Nonetheless, the performance was quite enjoyable. There was some discussion about the acoustics. Instead of holding the concert at MCCC (which sponsored the concert), LBC was chosen because it should work better for the harp. However, the relative loudness of the instruments would still work differently at different locations.

Yi Heng and Max came to our boat for a ride on the Navesink river afterwards, and we talked some more about the concert. Most (if not all) of solo music for the double bass is transcribed from music written for other instruments. The “double” in “double bass” denotes the propensity for composers (especially before the romantic period) to simply write a part that is an octave lower than the cello: it is very obvious if you watch an orchestra play. I believe the New York Philharmonic simply call them the bass section.

Max played the double bass standing up, and had to reach down to get the high registers. This can't be easy on the back. Most bassists play the instrument sitting on a high stool, less stress on the body, but more limiting in range of motion. It actually sounded very like a cello, which may be the ultimate praise (or insult) to a bass player. And they do carry them around from performance to performance. No small cars for these musicians, oversize luggage for airplanes.

The last piece by a Chinese composer was written for the piano and another instrument (I forget which) which they transcribed for the bass, and then asked the harpist to add something to it so the three of them can play together.

The Vienna Chamber Orchestra – Mark Laycock, conductor; David Meier, piano. July 24, 2008.

Richardson Auditorium in Alexander Hall, Princeton University. Row 1, Balcony Center.

Program

Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major, Op. 58 by Beethoven (1770-1827).

Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, Op. 55 “Eroica” by Beethoven.

Our friends David and Vivian told us about this free concert. They were nice enough to get to Princeton early to pick up tickets for us. Good thing they did: there was a long line waiting for returns when we got there at 7:30 pm or so.

The Vienna Chamber Orchestra consists of about 40 musicians (I counted 8 first violins, 6 second, 5 violas, 4 cellos, 3 double basses, oboe, clarinet, 2 bassoons, 2 flutes, 3 horns, 2 trumpets, and a timpani: working from memory, so not completely sure). It is on the small side to play a grand symphony such as the Eroica. The auditorium seats perhaps 1000 people but is surprising intimate, that made the small orchestra less of an issue. They also have done some improvements (like bathrooms on the first floor) since we last visited about 3 years ago. The conductor was “local” but now lives in Berlin.

David Meier is a relatively young man (born 1977). I found his playing to be adequate but not inspiring. He is in some fierce competition though: I heard recently Andre Watts playing concerto No. 1 and Emmanuel Ax playing No. 5 with the New York Philharmonic. It will take Meier a while to catch up with these masters' technique and musicality. Many runs were sloppy, and he used too much pedal for my taste.

The symphony performance was also a bit sloppy. Perhaps we were too close to the orchestra, but oftentimes I would hear the concertmaster or the principals play the notes much more loudly than the rest of the sections, which is a bit disconcerting (no pun intended). Laycock did conduct from memory though. For some reason I am very familiar with the first three movements, but not with the fourth.

One word about the programming notes. They are published in memory of the author, so I don't want to say too much about them. Nonetheless, it reminds me of my college days studying music (actually the Beethoven symphony was one piece we studied) and analyzing the structure of the piece in about the same way. Looking back, it probably was a necessary part of a formal education, but the annotation didn't provide a lot of insight beyond an academic analysis.

The biographical notes of the conductor contains multiple mentions of the word “maestro”. I don't mean to belittle his accomplishments, but the biography certainly reminds me of this Seinfeld episode where the conductor says something like “I know for a fact his (Leonard Bernstein) friends called him maestro”.

The orchestra played as the encore piece Strauss's Blue Danube (what else would one expect?) I didn't realize the piece was that long. Given the late start (probably to find seats for people waiting), we didn't get out until after 10:30 pm.

New York Philharmonic – Lorin Maazel, conductor. June 7, 2008.

Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center – First Tier Center (Seat BB16, $59).

Program

Symphony No. 9 (1908-1910) by Mahler (1860-1911).

I have always enjoyed Maazel conducting the Mahler symphonies, so I was looking forward to tonight's concert. Mahler was rather superstitious about the 9^th symphony being many composers' last (Beethoven, Schubert and Dvorak). Indeed it was completed a year before he died of a heart bacterial infection and Mahler never got to listen to it performed. He left behind some sketches for a tenth symphony, though. It is very long at an advertised 79 minutes; in reality it was even longer at close to 90 minutes altogether.

It is difficult to characterize this symphony. Despite its length, it is not as complex as some of Mahler's other symphonies. Orchestration is simple by modern standards, there are no unusual instruments, although he did employ the tam-tam, snare drum, chimes, and two sets of timpani. The second timpani player also doubled as a base drum player.

Interestingly, Mahler scored one harp for the orchestra but tonight's performance followed Bruno Walter's score which divided the the part between two harps. The division was clearly uneven as the second harp doesn't have much to do. Anyway, some rather haunting tones are generated by the harps during the first and fourth movements.

The first movement (Andante comodo) is the longest at about 35 minutes. I like to describe Mahler's symphonies as wandering from scene to scene, and the 9^th is like that also. The movement's tempo is slow, which is not common for a first movement. The second and third movements are each about 15 minutes. The second (In the tempo of a comfortable landler, somewhat clumsy and very coarse, what a tempo marking) is rather light-hearted, and I didn't hear much coarseness. The third movement (Rondo: Burleske (Allegro assai, very insolent)) is on the mischievous and giddy side, and Maazel's conducting reflected the mood with various motions of his arms and twist of his body. The last movement (Adagio (Very slow, and even holding back)) reminds me of one of Apostle Paul's epistles. He was only half-done when he said “finally”. Similar, the music went on for another 5 to 10 minutes after I thought it had come to an end. The ending was a bit much, with the same motif repeated many times.

The audience gave Maazel a hearty applause after the performance. The gentleman next to me clearly enjoyed the performance. I think there were four curtain calls. This is our last New York Philharmonic concert for the season, and I believe the orchestra has another one to go (“Tosca in Concert”). Next season will be Maazel's last with the New York Philharmonic, perhaps there is a nostalgic element to the reaction? In any case, I am impressed with his level of energy.

While I enjoyed this concert, and Maazel is dependable when it comes to Mahler, I thought it could have been better. This may be the music, or Maazel's conducting; I don't know the music well enough to tell.

The New York Times review uncharacteristically is all praise for Maazel's performance.

New York Philharmonic – David Robertson, conductor; Emanuel Ax, piano. May 31, 2008.

Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center – Orchestra 1 (Seat L8, $59).

Program

Three Etudes for Piano (1915; orch. 1992) by Debussy (1862-1918)/M. Jarrell (b. 1958)

Rendering for Orchestra (1988-90) by Schubert-Berio (1797-1828; 1925-2003)

Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 73, Emperor (1809) by Beethoven (1770-1827)

The current issue of Playbill talks about David Robertson skills as a programmer. The program he chose for tonight is certainly unusual, which doesn't necessarily means good. The first two pieces were just baffling. One would think the orchestra has better music to do.

Debussy's Three Etudes for Piano were described as masterpieces by the program annotator. They are (i) for repeated notes, (ii) for opposing sonorities, and (iii) for chords. The transcription into orchestra music by Jarrell might have been great accomplishments for a composer, but still leaves one with the question of “why?”

Robertson illustrated what Berio did to compose Rendering. He would have the piano play out a simple line and then the orchestra play Berio's rendition. Which sounded reasonable enough. The program lists the three movements (Allegro, Andante, and Allegro) which would lead one to expect a Schubert-like symphony. But when the entire work is played, one noticed very little Schubert in the music; the piece sounded very contemporary, which I should have expected in hindsight. Alas, this piece is also about three times as long as the Debussy Etudes. This is probably a symphony only a musicologist would love.

Anne was relaying an interview WQXR had with Emmanuel Ax, who describes himself as lazy and needs to force himself to get the several hours of practice in every morning. We heard Ax several years ago at Tanglewood and enjoyed the performance despite all the distractions associated with an open concert hall (The Koussevitzky Shed).

How honest! Beethoven's concerts are difficult for amateurs technically, but are usually not a problem with professionals, much less someone of Ax's stature and reputation. But he managed to put in a technically flawed performance, botching many notes, some of the runs just sounded muddy. It is a tribute to him as a musician that the overall performance was quite enjoyable. Actually the audience clamored for more and Ax played (I believe) a Chopin piece as an encore. I have to contrast Ax with Andre Watts whom we heard recently. Admittedly Beethoven No. 1 is much easier than No. 5, but still Watts managed to make the music come across clearly, with a well-defined structure.

Overall though, I still find the concert quite enjoyable. That may yet prove the genius of Robertson's programming, or it may just be my feeling good after two concerts today.

See the New York Times review. It contains some additional interesting facts about the Schubert piece. The reviewer is obviously a fan of Robertson's.

American Ballet Theater – Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, May 31, 2008.

Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center – Orchestra BB118 ($79).

Conductor – David LaMarche; Odette-Odile – Veronika Part, Prince Siegfried – David Hallberg, von Rothbart – Vitali Krauchenka and Marcelo Gomes.

Story. Prince Siegfried is given a crossbow on his birthday. He retreats to the lake and sees the swan Odette who is under von Rothbart's spell. She is destined to turn back into a swan every night unless she finds true love. Evening comes, von Rothbart returns and Odette disappears. That evening, the Queen throws a party for Siegfried, after several young ladies are introduced, von Rothbart shows up with Odile. Siegfried falls in love with Odile, and Odette weeping is noticed by Siegfried who races to the lake to catch up with her. Odette says she must kill herself or she will forever remain a swan, and the two lovers do so by throwing themselves into the lake. They are seen united in life after death.

I have to say this is a much more enjoyable ballet than Le Corsaire. Of course, Swan Lake is a well-know ballet, and the music is often played on a stand-alone basis. Many of the tunes are well known and lovely; some violin solos are just exquisite pieces. I was a bit surprised that the story doesn't hang together as well as I thought it would, though. And how does a swan kill itself? In this story she jumps into a lake. Siegfried's jump is very impressive though, I hope whatever is catching him off stage is very sturdy.

Being ballet, there are still puzzling elements to the work. I can understand why von Rothbart has to be played by two different artists, the transition from the devil to the human may just be too quick to pull off. Odette and Odile are played by the same person. That confuses me. Other than to show off the skills of the ballerina, there is no conceivable reason why this is so. They are not related (other than both names begin with “O”), one is a person turned into a swan, the other is a devil's daughter who can take on human form. One wears white, the other wears black. And each would be an important role by itself.

There are some nice numbers, such as the pas de deux of Odette and the prince. And Odile gets to do the most impressive dance where I counted 29 spins. The many other swans (are they also under the spell?) are nice. Again ABT disappoints somewhat with imprecision.

The orchestra had a somewhat limited dynamic range. The violin solos were botched somewhat, the soloist seemed to have problems with intonation. And one of the dancers fell as she was about to exit the stage – must have hurt.

Overall though, the nice music, graceful movements, athletic feats, beautiful costumes, and some staging effects add up to a very enjoyable performance.

The New York Times review of this run is of a different dancer, who did 32 of these “foutte turns”. Perhaps I did Ms. Part injustice by miscounting?

American Ballet Theater – Le Corsaire, May 24, 2008.

Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center. Orchestra AA103 ($81).

Conductor – Ormsky Wilkins; Conrad – Marcelo Gomes, Birbanto – Sascha Radetsky, Ali – Ethan Stiefel, Lankendem – Jose Manuel Carreno, Medora – Paloma Herrera, Gulnare – Maria Riccetto, Seyd – Victor Barbee.

Story: Slave girls are being sold by Lankendem at a noisy bazaar in Turkey. Pirate Conrad arrives and falls in love with Medora. The pasha Seyd arrives and buys Gulnare and Medora. Conrad instructs his slave Ali to steal Medora and the pirates kidnaps Lankendem. Conrad gets into an argument with his friend Birbanto about freeing the slave girls; Birbanto wants to start a revolt but is thwarted, he then gives a poisoned flower to Conrad via Medora to drug him into a sleep. Lankendem manages to steal Medora back and escapes. When Conrad wakes up Birbanto feigns ignorance. The pasha declares Medora will be his wife, falls asleep, and dreams of lovely women in a beautiful garden. Conrad, Birbanto, and other pirates show up in disguise and chase away the pasha and his guards. Medora exposes Birbanto for what he is and Conrad kills him. They all flee to the ship which is then capsized by a storm. The ballet ends with Conrad and Medora clinging to a rock and offering thanks for their miraculous survival.

Ballet remains a strange art form to me. To illustrate my point, some production credits (from Playbill). Staging by Anna Marie Holmes after Marius Petipa and Konstantin Sergeyev. Music by Adolphe Adam, Cesare Pugni, Leo Delibes, Riccardo Drigo and Prince Oldenrourg. Music reorchestrated by Kevin Galie. Libretto by Jules Henri de Saint-Goerges and Joseph Mazilier in a version by Anna Marie Holmes. Based on The Corsair (1814) by Lord Byron.

So, who wrote the music? Did the four composers get together to write the piece? Or did someone string the pieces together – and who is that someone? What is libretto in ballet? There were no words said during the entire show, except a couple of grunts. While the story hangs together well enough, it is mainly a series of excuses for the dancers to do their thing. For example, the three slave girls got to dance individually, in pairs, and as a trio (well, I may be exaggerating a bit).

I have no idea who is who in ballet, but the slave (only bare-chested fellow) drew a hearty applause from the audience when he first appeared, and Anne claims he is quite well-known. He didn't dance too many numbers, perhaps they were all technically demanding? I don't know. Anne was watching this PBS show about Nureyev, and he supposedly danced this role to great acclaim also. If precision is the hallmark of a great ballet troupe, then ABT isn't quite there. If it were an orchestra, there would be utter chaos. Quite a few young girls danced in this production, and many of them were able to stand on their toes, which I found quite impressive. The pasha provided some comic relief, even though he only had to walk.

In any event, the music was nice, the dance movements pleasing to the eye, and length of the program not too long, so it was an afternoon well spent.

One other thing, the audience. Naturally many children (I assume they are taking ballet lessons) attended the ballet, and the audience was therefore noisier. What I didn't expect was the readiness of people to take empty seats. It's quite okay with me, but we saw instances where people holding those seats hadn't left and everyone had to move back.

The New York Times review is quite interesting. I am glad I am correct in saying the ballet is mainly constructed so the dancers can show off their skills.

Metropolitan Opera – Tan Dun's The First Emperor, May 17, 2008.

Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center – Orchestra, Seat AA28 ($150).

Conductor – Tan Dun; Libretto – Ha Jin and Tan Dun; Emperor Qin – Placido Domingo, General Wang – Hao Jiang Tian, Princess Yueyang – Sarah Coburn, Gao Jianli – Paul Groves.

Story. Emperor Qin iss tired of the traditional music and wants Gao Jianli, his children friend, to write a new anthem for him. Qin conquers the Yan state and has Gao brought in as a prisoner. Gao refuses to write the anthem and goes on a hunger strike. Qin's daughter, Princesss Yueyang, goes about convincing Gao to end his hunger strike by feeding him from her own month. After the two fall in love and makes love, Yueyang, who was paralyzed from a riding accident, miraculously regains use of her legs. Yueyang was promised to General Wang and the Princess commits suicide when the Emperor forces her to marry Wang. As Qin gets ready to ascend to the throne, Yueyang's ghost appears to tell Qin that she couldn't sacrifice her love for her country. This is followed by the ghost of Wang, who was killed by Gao. Finally Gao shows up, commits suicide by biting off his own tongue. Qin then asks the anthem to be sung, and is shocked to discover it is the song of the slaves being forced to build the great wall.

I was looking forward to seeing this opera after listening to Tan Dun's piano concerto played by Lang Lang. While “modern,” the concerto was still well-structured enough for me to make sense of it, and it also showcased Lang Lang's ability, which was what Tan set out to do. I was somewhat disappointed by the opera, although there were many impressive aspects to it.

Tan Dun talks about the three techniques he used to bring out the three colors of Qin culture: tri-tone as black, continuance of the fourth as white, and highest to lowest note as red. While somewhat interesting, the motifs were not particularly appealing, and soon became monotonous. Unfortunately, Tan seemed to have fallen in love with this discovery and saturated the opera with them.

Other than the Peking-opera style introduction by the Yin-yang Master, which was in Chinese, the opera was sung in English. I was glad they had subtitles as I found the sung dialog difficult to follow. Placido Domingo sang the role of Qin. One of the famous “three tenors” with Pavoratti and Carreras, Domingo has an active schedule as a director, conductor, and performer. While he was good, I always find his voice to be a bit weak. I am glad I had a chance to see him though: I had seen him conduct a few times before, this was the first time I saw him sing. A couple of Asian singers were in the operas (e.g., General Wang and the shaman).

The staging is mostly based on what I would describe as bleachers. Nonetheless, it was effective and pleasant. I find the colors to be well designed, and the costumes add a lot of glamor appropriate for a regal setting. The masks worn on the back by the Yin-yang masters, which make them transform from dark to light by turning around, are quite ingenious (I assume this technique is well-known in the trade.)

Although Qin was indeed the first Chinese emperor who unified the country by conquering many of the surrounding warring states, and started the Great Wall, he was generally considered a brutal and ruthless person. While the opera makes no excuses for his brutality, it does illustrate the more human aspects of him. I didn't know this story until I came across this opera, which is supposed to be based on an account by the well-known historian Sima Qian (c. 145-85 BCE).

When I was a child, I had seen movies where people committed suicide by biting off their tongues. I imagine the profuse bleeding would be the cause of death. In this opera Qin “helped” Gao by stabbing him with a sword afterwards. Somewhat like hari-kiri. Macabre, but makes sense if one thinks about it.

I am glad to have seen this opera, I'm not sure I'll want to see it again, though.

The New York Times reviewer thought some of the musical passages outlived their welcome, and that the opera could be shorter still (it was trimmed by about half an hour from its 2007 debut).

New York Philharmonic – Charles Dutoit, conductor; Andre Watts, piano. April 26, 2008.

Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center, Orchestra 1 (Seat O6, $59).

Program

Overture to Le nozze di Figaro, K. 492 (1786) by Mozart (1756-91).

Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major, Op. 15 (ca. 1795/1800) by Beethoven (1770-1827).

Symphonic Dances, Op. 45 (1940) by Rachmaninoff (1873-1943).

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

We got tickets to this concert because we wanted to hear Martha Arguerich, whom we had heard several times before. But she had taken ill and Andre Watts was asked to substitute. Andre Watts is a well-regraded pianist, so it was no disappointment at all for us. Beethoven's first piano concerto (which turns out wasn't the first he wrote, it is his second) did not have the flourish of his later piano works, I would even attribute it to Mozart if I didn't know the work.

In any case, Watts played very well. His playing had a very well defined structure to it, phrasing was exquisite. The full dynamic range of the piano was utilized. We were seated quite close to the stage, so we could tell he enjoyed playing as much as the audience enjoyed listening to him.

The short piece that began the program was a light-hearted piece. We usually hear it as a “real” overture (i.e., part of an opera performance.) Good as the Met Opera's Orchestra is, the New York Philharmonic managed to make them look like amateurs. While this is a relatively simple piece, it does make one appreciate how good the Philharmonic can be.

The rest of the program was quite enjoyable. Rachmaninoff's Dances didn't sound like his usual melodic piano concertos or symphonies, but were nonetheless pleasant. Ravel evidently had a habit of writing “tribute” music, in this case (evidently) to the Viennese Waltz. However, the events of the time made him quite disillusioned about the decadent lifestyle of that period, so the piece showed a “dark side,” which made it quite interesting.

Unfortunately I am writing this about three weeks after the concert, so don't remember much of how I felt about the concert. That's the whole point of having these written blogs, isn't it?

Dutoit, whom I had always thought was French or Canadian, turned out to be Swiss. Anne noticed the hairpiece he was wearing. The texture was similar to the rest of his hair, but the color match could have been better. Now I cannot get the image off my mind! He did put out an enjoyable performance, though.

See the New York Times review. The reviewer thinks highly of Dutoit and the program also; it is interesting to note that in the reviewer's opinion the pairing between Dutoit and the Philharmonic didn't work so well in the 80s.

My Fair Lady – the musical. April 22, 2008.

Ahmanson Theater, Los Angeles, California – Mezzanine (Seat L11, $65).

Book & lyrics – Alan Jay Lerner; Music – Frederick Loewe; Director – Trevor Nunn; Eliza Doolittle – Lisa O'Hare, Colonel Hugh Pickering – Walter Charles, Professor Henry Higgins – Christopher Cazenove, Alfred Doolittle – Tim Jerome, Mrs. Pearce – Barbara Marineau, Mrs. Higgins – Marni Nixon.

Story. Based on George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion, this story is about how Prof. Higgins, on a bet with Colonel Pickering, tries to convert the flower girl Doolittle into a proper lady, and in the process falling in love with her.

A friend suggested we watch this show during my trip to Los Angeles, so the five of us (Alfred & Emily, David & Ruby, and myself) went to see it together. I was surprised at the price of the ticket (relatively inexpensive) and the size of the theater (must seat over 2000 people).

This was an okay show, but a bit disappointing given how well-known the story is. And the standard set by the movie where Audrey Hepburn played the role of Eliza with Julie Andrews doing the singing probably made it difficult for any subsequent productions to come close to matching it.

The sets were cleverly designed, although not as elaborate as one might expect, and the operations seemed smooth.

In most musicals I have seen, I have always been amazed at the clarity of the actors' diction, probably with the help of expertly designed sound systems. This was not the case. First “problem” is the British accent (affected and real), compounded by the cockney accent of the working class people. And I suspect the sound system could have been designed with better voice projection in mind. Fortunately the story is well known enough that a missed line here or there didn't get me that confused.

The only good singing was from Eliza, and the quality was adequate at best when she had to sustain high notes. Both Prof. Higgins and Colonel Pickering talked through much of the singing, and the parts they sang weren't that great either. Nonetheless, it was nice to hear familiar songs such as “I could have danced all night”, “The rain in Spain”, and “Get me to the church on time”. The two or three rowdy pieces were a bit too loud for my taste.

Both the maid and the mother provided some good comic relief. We aren't sure at the final scene whether Higgins and Doolittle have a romance going, which is okay. And one wonders why the colonel seems to be around so much ...

The show was a bit on the long side, first act was 90 minutes, a (relatively short) intermission of 15 minutes, and a 60 or so minute second act. I thought they could at least cut out the horse-racing scene to shorten the show. I was told (by an executive producer of a musical) the production costs about $9 million.

This musical is another proof that comedies (even with romance thrown in) don't work, not for me anyway. All in all, though, a was a good evening spent with good friends.

See the Los Angels Times “on-the-one-hand, on-the-other-hand” review of the show. And they say I am wishy-washy.

New York Philharmonic – Leonard Slatkin, conductor; Lang Lang, piano. April 12, 2008.

Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center, Orchestra 1 (Seat G111, $59).

Program

Piano Concerto by Tan Dun.

The Firebird (Complete, 1909-10) by Stravinsky (1882-1971).

We didn't know what to expect with the concert. Tan Dun is known for two works: the soundtrack to the movie “Crouching Tigers and Hidden Dragons” and the opera “The First Emperor”. The former is a kung-fu movie, the latter is based on the story of Emperor Qin. I saw the movie, and caught glimpses of the opera (both on TV), and wasn't particularly impressed. However, we booked this concert because we were curious, and Lang Lang was going to be the soloist.

There was a “Hear and Now” session before the concert. This was the first such event we attended, so I didn't know what to expect. The concert hall (reasonably full) was darkened and a spot light was trained on the stage. Basically the soloist (XXX, principal percussionist of the orchestra) played with water using his hands and various implements. A bit novel, yet quite monotonous. I found out later this was a concerto written by Tan Dun about 10 years ago. Following that, Robert Stucky conducted an interview with Leonard Slatkin which was informative – but I have forgotten it after two weeks.

The concert began with a short video of an interview of Tan Dun, he talked about how he wanted to have this collaboration with Lang Lang, and that the concerto is based on the martial arts movements of pointing with fingers, flipping with fingers, chopping with an open hand, and pressing with the forearm. I am not knowledgeable about martial arts so am in no position to argue.

The concerto actually turned out to be quite exciting. It is in three movements: Lento, Adagio melancholia [attaca], and Allegretto. We were seated in the sixth row, so had a good view of the soloist and the orchestra (at least those in the front anyway). Since we were on the right side of the hall, we didn't get to see his fingers. Nonetheless, one could tell indeed these motions were used in the concerto. There is enough interplay and structure to the music to keep one's attention focused and interest going. Every now and then the repetition of notes reminds one of the pi-pa. To this listener, the concerto is well-knitted, showcases what it is supposed to (martial arts and artist), even there are intervals of wandering every now and then. A page turner was on stage to help with the music, and Lang Lang sometimes had to count, so the piece is not one easily committed to memory.

Neither Glenn Dicterow nor Sheryl Maples was playing tonight, so it fell to Michelle Kim to lead the orchestra. The principal violist Cynthia Phelps wasn't there either, and the lead had a broken foot that had to be propped up.

The program says the Firebird Suite was last played on February 19, 2005. I am sure I saw it quite recently, indeed my notes indicate we did so on September 16, 2006. Perhaps they were referring to the complete work? Although I thought we listened to the suite its entirety then. In any case, the program describes the Suite as follows: First Tableau: Kaschchei's Enchanted Garden; Appearance of the Firebird, pursued by Prince Ivan; Dance of the Firebird,;Capture of the Firebird by Prince Ivan, Supplications of the Firebird – Appearance of Thireteen Enchanted Princesses; The Princesses' Game with Golden Apples (Scherzo); Sudden Appearance of Prince Ivan; Khorovod (Round-Dance) of the Princesses; Daybreak – Prince Ivan Sneaks into Kaschchei's Palace; The Magical Carillon, Appearance of Kaschei's Guardian-Monsters and the Capture of Prince Ivan – Arrival of Kaschei the Immortal – Dialogue between Kaschei and Prince Ivan – Intercession of the Princesses – Appearance of the Firebird; Dance of Kaschei's Retinue, under the Firebird's Spell; Infernal Dance of All Kaschei's Subjects – Lullaby (The Firebird) – Kaschei's Awakening – The Death of Kaschei – Deep Shadows. Second Tableau: Disappearance of the Palace and of Kaschei's Sorcery, Bringing to Life of the Petrified Warriors, General Happiness.

As described above, the story of the Firebird is quite simple. The movements run on, I managed to get quite lost even with the descriptive titles. We know only a couple of tunes, despite the fact the work is well known.

I think this is the first time we saw Slatkin conduct. I can't comment on how he did with the Tan Dun piece, but am not particularly impressed with the Firebird, which was a bit flat (perhaps in comparison to the piano concerto?) In any case, I notice Lang Lang has never appeared with Lorin Maazel, the four or five times I have seen him were all with guest conductors. And he won't be appearing with Maazel next year either.

What I find amazing, though, was that the work of Stravinsky was tame in comparison to that of Tan Dun's. Perhaps music evolves after all. On the other hand, I am sure many contemporary work considered great by today's critics will fall by the wayside eventually. Stravinsky had his contemporaries, and most of them are forgotten today.

We have tickets to “The First Emperor” in May, I somewhat look forward to seeing it.

See the New York Times review.

New York City Opera – Verdi's Falstaff, April 5, 2008.

New York State Theater at Lincoln Center – Orchestra, Seat M107 ($96).

Conductor – George Manahan; Dr. Caius – Joel Sorensen, Sir John Falstaff – Jan Opalach, Bardolfo – Jeffrey Halili, Pistola – Eric Jordan, Meg Page – Heather Johnson, Alice Ford – Pamela Armstrong, Dame Quickly – Ursula Ferri – Nannetta, Anna Skibinsky, Fenton – John Tessier, Ford – Timothy Mix.

Story. Falstaff writes identical love letter to Meg Page and Alice Ford, and asks his friends Bardolfo and Pistola to deliver, which they refuse to do. The ladies realize what Falstaff is up to, and cook up a plan to humiliate him. Dame Quickly is sent to see Falstaff and invites him to meet Alice at her house. When Falstaff shows up, Mr. Ford shows up and Falstaff hides in the laundry and subsequently gets tossed into the Thames, to the amusement of all. Dame Quickly then invites Falstaff to the park which is known to be haunted. Children disguised as gremlins torment him when he shows up, until he promises to change his ways. Meanwhile, Nannetta and Fenton trick Mr. Ford into blessing their marriage. Dr. Caius, whom Ford favors, is instead paired up with Bardolfo! At the end, everyone agrees that “all the world's a jest.”

The opera was Verdi's last, written when he was 76 years old. Verdi wrote three operas based on Shakespeare's plays, and by happenstance we saw all of them this season (Macbeth and Otello are the other two).

I am not a great fan of comedy, but did find this opera quite amusing. Our tickets were 20% off list (although one can probably get them cheaper on the day of the show), and we got very good seats.

The sets are typical New York City Opera – simple, and functional. Anne is quite sure the sets had been used in other NYC operas, I don't remember that. When I was searching the web for information on this opera, I saw much more elaborate sets (e.g., by the Chicago Lyric Opera). The sets seem to affect the projection of the voices quite a bit though. In the relatively confined setting of a room in the inn, the voices projected very well, but in the more open garden setting, the singing was a bit weak.

The artists generally acquitted themselves well. We especially enjoyed Nannetta's singing. The acting was quite good also. Comedy is very dependent on timing (or so I hear), and the timing was generally good.

For us, a disappointment is there are not too many singable tunes in this opera. This is actually true of all three Shakespeare-play-based operas by Verdi. Macbeth and Otello, however, are captivating dramas in which one is easily engrossed. For a comedic opera, I would have enjoyed more singable tunes. The applauses during the acts were not that frequent as a result.

The famous line “he who laughs last, laughs best” concludes this comic opera. This is delivered as a complex fugue involving as many as eight soloists.

See the generally favorable New York Times review of this production.

Washington National Opera – Wagner's The Flying Dutchman, March 30, 2008.

Kennedy Center Opera House – Premium Orchestra, Seat Z118 ($190).

Conductor – Heinz Fricke; Daland – Gidon Saks, Steersman – Andreas Conrad, The Dutchman – Alan Held, Senta – Jennifer Wilson, Erik – Ian Storey.

Story. Daland meets up with the Dutchman and finds out he is rich and is looking for a wife. Daland invites the Dutchman home and offers his daughter Senta for marriage. The Dutchman is condemned by the devil to sail the seas forever; every seven years he gets to look for redemption by marrying someone who is faithful until death. Senta, meanwhile, is fascinated by the legend and believes she is the woman to save the Dutchman. When her boyfriend Erik finds out, he plead with Senta to marry him. This is taken as betrayal by the Dutchman, so he sets sail again. After unsuccessfully pleading her case, Senta jumps into the ocean after him. The spirits of Senta and the Dutchman are joined.

I have heard the opera a couple of times (on CD), and heard the overture once performed by the New York Philharmonic. So when I found out this was being performed in Washington DC when we were visiting, we bought tickets for the concert. David and Ruby joined us also. The tickets were a bit expensive at $190 each, though.

Placido Domingo is the General Director of the National Opera; he continues to be the general director at the Los Angeles Opera, and I am still puzzled why there isn't enough talent to go around that people have to take multiple appointments.

The concert hall is smaller than I expected, with a capacity of around 2,000. The seats were quite comfortable, with quite a bit of leg room. The performance was quite well attended, although there were visible stretches of empty seats. The audience tended to be a bit better dressed than the New York crowd. We were at the Kennedy Center the previous evening (attending part of a free Flamenco concert), and were worried at how well-dressed the crowd for the evening concerts were; luckily the afternoon crowd wasn't that fastidious.

The sets were not very elaborate. Somewhat on par with NYC Opera – wait, the program notes actually say “Production from New York City Opera.” The ocean is represented by a projection of icebergs in the background. The tilted “squares” were used for multiple purposes (tilted ships, rooms). The moving boats were these riggings you see on these old sailing ships, the one of the Dutchman being in red. I was wondering what the final scene would look like, and was disappointed it was simply images of two seagulls.

The performance was okay. To me the overture has to have elements of ocean waves in it; by this measure the orchestra didn't quite meet my expectations. The voices were all quite strong. The acting was a bit contrived and disjoint, though. I didn't expect to see all these ghosts (scantily dressed women, were they former lovers of the Dutchman?); a bit eerie when they first appeared, but then they became superfluous. The conductor Fricke is surprising short, and Senta is a bit on the heavy side. (Not germane to the review, but obvious observations nonetheless.)

Seeing these other operas make one more appreciative of what the Met manages to do day-in and day-out for a busy season. To be fair, the performance was captivating enough that the entire opera went by quite quickly (no intermissions at that). See the Washington Post review of an earlier performance.

New York Philharmonic – Kurt Mazur, conductor. March 22, 2008.

Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center, Orchestra 1 (Seat P7, $59).

Program

The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ According to the Evangelist Matthew, BWV 244 (ca. 1724-42) by J.S Bach (1750)

Matthia Goerne, baritone, as Jesus; James Taylor, tenor, as the Evangelist; Christiane Libor, soprano; Anna Larsson, alto; Dietmar Kerschbaum, tenor; Jason Grant, bass-baritone, as Judas, Peter, and High Priest II; Westminster Choir, Joe Miller, director; The American Boychoir, Fernando Malvar-Ruiz, director.

We did not book this concert when we did our subscription, oratorios not being something I particularly enjoy. We switched to this concert because we couldn't make the one originally planned.

We got to NYC early, so we bought ticket sto the pre-concert talk. The session sold out soon after we got ours; a first for us. I forget the name of the speaker ... It was actually a rather informative talk where we learned how Bach used different solo voices to interject meditations into the narrative, that James Taylor is well-known for singing the role of the Evangelist, how the accompaniments are different for the Evangelist and Jesus (dry vs accompanied recitatives, e.g.), and the different forms. Also, the work contained the worship elements of memory (scripture), understanding (aria), and will (chorale). And the chorales were well-known to the audience of the time; the famous one "O Sacred Head now Wounded" actually appeared several times. I was shocked to learn that the oratorio would last three hours (it was close to that). The speaker oversold it a bit though, saying the impact on the listener would be enormous; it was good, but not quite up to the expectations he set.

Kurt Mazur was the conductor of the Philharmonic before being replaced by Lorin Maazel. I was surprised to learn he is 81 years old. And the last time the orchestra played this piece was about 10 years ago, he was also the conductor. For an 81-year old person, he certainly managed to summon the requisite energy for the occasion, impressively, I might add. I am quite sure he is suffering from Parkinson's disease as his hands (left one especially) kept shaking when at rest. There is this inevitable tinge of sadness when you see how time catches up with everyone.

The Evangelist (Matthew) role is well performed by Taylor. The range is quite impressive, and all (as far as I could tell) recitatives. The other soloists were good also; Goerne did all his parts without referring to the music. He also didn't wear any neckwear. I wonder why.

The choirs were good also. They have several people who sang some short solo passages (witnesses, e.g.); they did well.

One final interesting aspect. The original orchestra was divided into two separate orchestras, seated on opposite parts of the stage. I am not sure I understand why it was necessary.

All in all, a good concert. See also the New York Times review.

Metropolitan Opera – Verdi's Otello, February 22, 2008.

Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center – Grand Tier, Seat E28 ($140).

Conductor – Semyon Bychkov; Cassio – Garrett Sorenson, Iago – Carlo Guelfi, Roderigo – Ronald Naldi, Otello – Johan Botha, Desdemona – Renee Fleming, Emiliar – Wendy White.

Story. Iago is bent on revenge after the Moor Otello promotes Cassio instead of him. Cassio gets into a fight and is demoted by Otello, and asks Desdemona to help with getting his job back. Iago uses this to stoke the jealousy in Otello by making this into a case of infidelity. Otello is convinced of Desdemona's guilt because she cannot produce a handkerchief he gave her. As Desdemona prepares to go to bed, Otello strangulates her. Iago's plot is revealed and Otello stabs himself and dies next to Desdemona.

The plot, exploring the dark yet powerful human emotion of jealousy, is a great one. My son, who majored in English at Cornell, says this is his favorite Shakespeare play. We saw another Verdi/Shakespeare opera, Macbeth, recently, and that explores hunger for power. These human emotions are timeless. Another lesson: get out of a relationship as soon as it becomes abusive. In this opera it starts with a slap and ends with murder.

We took the train up because there was fear of more snow that evening. Turned out there was no snow. On our way up, our train was stuck behind a disabled one for an hour, so we missed the first act. We did see part of it in a theater, without subtitles we didn't understand anything (and I didn't read up on the story before we went), except people were fighting with swords.

Our seats were okay, with an unobstructed view of the stage. The sets were quite impressive, with these giant paintings as backdrops for the castle scenes. The lighting was certainly “adequate” most of the time.

As with Macbeth, there were not that many singable tunes in the opera, which is mostly carried along by the plot. The fact that it was a compelling performance would mean the lyrics (or translation thereof) and the acting were good.

Desdemona didn't get to sing much during the first 3 acts, and we thought Fleming was a bit weak in some of the arias. She really shone during Act 4 singing the Willow Song and Ave Maria. High notes, soft voice, and she still managed to soar above the orchestra and captivate the audience. I found the combination of the two songs a bit much, though. You only want to hold the audience's attention for so long in one sitting, and the work might be better served by having Desdemona sing the two arias in two different scenes.

I wonder if there are more Shakespeare plays turned into operas. I saw Hamlet in London a few years back, and it was also enjoyable.

The New York Times review is mixed on Botha, partially attributing the lack of dramatic depth to his weight. The reviewer had reservations about the conductor also.

Opera Australia – Bizet's Carmen, February 7, 2008.

Opera Theatre, Sydney Opera House – Seat Stalls S33 (A$ 195).

Richard Hickox – conductor; Kirstin Chavez – Carmen, Don Jose – Rosario La Spina, Escamillo – Michael Todd Simpson, Micaela – Sarah Crane.

Story. See previous blog.

I have seen this opera quite a few times already, but went again as this was the only show that worked out with our schedule during this trip. This also must be the 3^rd or 4^th opera I have seen at the Opera House, and I never realized that it was so small, seating perhaps (by my estimation) 1500. The seats are quite comfortable, though. We had quite a crowd: Anne, Steven, Ruth, Tim, Alyson, and me.

Carmen is always enjoyable. This was no exception. The staging is not quite as elaborate as the Met production we saw, but was quite substantial nonetheless.

The best singing was put out by Don Jose. He was quite heavy and I worried with all the falling down whether he would have trouble getting up. Turns out he must have practiced quite a bit as he had no trouble at all.

Carmen's voice was not as rich as some other mezzo-sopranos I have heard. And she tended to take things a bit too slowly for my taste. I always wonder if that's the conductor or the singer.

Micaela did quite well though. I think Bizet put in the part to contrast her moral character with those of the other actors. I have never felt that click, and this is no exception.

Escamillo is very athletic, jumping onto and off tables with ease. His entrance was on a (real) horse and his singing was weak and a bit out of tune. I initially attributed it to the fear of animals (who wouldn't be, having to stand on the stirrups.) Eventually I decided his athleticism isn't matched by his singing ability, which is too bad as the toreador's song is one of the best tunes around.

All in all, this was enjoyable, although not as good as it could be. See the Sydney Morning Herald review for a different take on the opera – they are much kinder than me.

Metropolitan Opera – Wagner's Die Walkure, February 2, 2008.

Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center – Grand Tier, Seat Box 30-5 ($115).

Conductor – Lorin Maazel; Sigmund – Clifton Forbis, Sieglinde – Deborah Voight, Hunding - Mikhail Petrenko, Woten – James Morris, Brunnhilde – Lisa Gasteen, Fricka – Michelle DeYoung.

Story. Sigmund falls in love with Sieglinde, who is married to Hunding. Hunding challenges Sigmund to a duel. Woten sends Brunnhilde to help Sigmund, but is later forbidden by his wife Fricka to do so. Sigmund is killed and Brunnhilde is punished by Woten for disobeying him. Woten nonetheless puts a wall of fire around Brunnhilde to protect her.

This opera is the second in Wagner's famous Ring Cycle, and the story is quite a bit more complicated. Among other things, Sigmund and Sieglinde are twins, and yet they get married and Sieglinde is pregnant. (She later gives birth to Siegfried who marries Brunnhilde, which complicates things even further: but that is another opera.) Woten seems to be the father of everyone, including the two protagonists and all the “Hildas”. Yet his wife defends the sanctity of marriage.

This is a rather long opera at 4 hours 45 minutes, yet Loren Maazel, who can seem lethargic when conducting the New York Philharmonic, was very energetic. While he used the score, but he was undoubtedly very familiar with the music. We could see him cuing and singing along with the soloists. Alas, there is only one familiar tune: The Rides of the Valkyries.

The singing was excellent. I can understand why people say Voight is a great Wagnerian soprano as her voice indeed soared above the orchestra. Since I didn't have a good view of the stage, I can't comment on the acting. The staging was okay, the fire scene was not as spectacular as I expected, but they should turn on more lights so we could see better.

Maazel had an interview in one of the magazines (probably New York, but I am not sure) which talked about his return to conducting the Met. He made the observation that Wagner, who wrote his own lyrics, wasn't that good a lyricist. Since I have forgotten all my German from my college days, and I depended on the subtitles to understand what was going on, I couldn't tell.

In any case, this was all-in-all an impressive performance. Some people still found reason to boo during the curtain call, though.

See the New York Times article on the return of Maazel to the Met podium. The review is kinder than usual, bordering on a rave.

New York Philharmonic – Riccardo Muti, conductor; Radu Lupu, Piano. January 26, 2008.

Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center, Orchestra 1 (Seat G8, $59).

Program

Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54 (1841-45) by Schumann (1810-56).

Symphony No. 6 in A major (1879-91) by Bruckner (1824-96)

Just a few remarks about tonight's concert. We are seated in the seventh row from the front, on the right side. So we had a great view of the viola section, including the guy who played with great gusto. Seldom do I hear the violas that well ...

I am not familiar with the (supposed popular) Schuman concerto. It is about 30 minutes long, in three movements (Allegro affettuoso; Intermezzo: Andante grazioso; Allegro vivace). It is a pleasant piece, and the audience's applause was enthusiastic afterwards. The program notes talk about Schumann characterizing his dual musical personality as fiery Florestan and dreamy Eusebius, and this piece is more on the dreamy side, which (supposedly) was quite unusual for music of that period as composers tended to write for the virtuoso. I think back on what Joshua Bell said about virtuoso versus “deep” music during the New Year's New York Philharmonic concert (parts of which we saw on TV): the distinction is artificial, and both kinds of music should be treated with respect.

The Bruckner Symphony is rather long at about 60 minutes (it was certainly longer than the 53 minutes listed in the program notes). The program notes made a big deal about this being the L. Nowak 1952 edition. I suspect if I listen to this many times, I'd care. And how many in tonight's audience had listened to this symphony (or any Bruckner symphony, for that matter) enough times to care? Sometimes the pretentiousness of the program annotator (in this case James M Keller) is a bit much. The four movements are (i) Majestoso; (ii) Adagio: Very solemn; (iii) Scherzo: Not fast – Trio: Slow; and (iv) Finale: Moving, but not too fast. I also wonder why Bruckner would state his tempo in Latin and English :)

Muti is a well-known conductor, and we have seen him a couple of times. He looks younger than I would have thought. He seldom (if ever) laughs, but I assume he enjoys the music.

See the New York Times review. I am not sure what the reviewer is saying about the Bruckner sympony.

London Philharmonic Orchestra – Roberto Minczuk, conductor; John Lil, piano. January 19, 2008.

Royal Festival Hall at Southbank Centre, London. Seat Balcony D11 (GP 21)

Program

Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 1

Rachmaninoff Symphony No. 2

This concert hall was built soon after WWII and was refurbished recently. It is the home to both the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Philharmonia Orchestra. For all its years of existence, and the many trips we have made to London, this was the first time we went inside. The concert hall is pretty big, the stage is tiered so the audience has a good view of the performers. The acoustics are quite good also, perhaps it was the refurbishment? The seats are also quite comfortable.

Today's pieces are staple fare for the orchestra. I say that afterward as I wasn't sure how Rachmaninoff's Second Symphony would sound like. The Adagio movement is a very melodic one and many people are familiar with it.

Beethoven's first piano concerto sounds very Mozartian to me. Especially the last movement. I say that in no small part due to the many repeated notes in the melody, especially the last movement. To that end I find the performance a bit disappointing. There was simply too much use of the pedal which muddies up the music quite a bit. The balance between the soloist and the orchestra is quite good though; I never thought one part drowned out the other.

The Rachmaninoff was quite enjoyable, rousing at times. In general the precision is a bit lacking. The audience was quite enthusiastic in its reception.

Again, without a program (we were a bit late so didn't even look for them), I know little about the conductor, orchestra, or the soloist.

Belmont Ensemble of London – Peter G. Dyson, conductor. January 18, 2008.

Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square, London. Seat N9 (GP 18).

Program

Mozart – Eine kleine Nachtmusik

Vivaldi – Spring from Four Seasons

Pachelbel – Canon

Mozart – Salzburg Symphony No. 3

Handel – Arrival of the Queen of Sheba

Vivaldi - Sinfonia 'Alla Rustica'

Purcell – 'Abdelazer' Suuite

Purcell - Chaconne

This is a very interesting church. It has been around for a very long time, and is well known for an orchestra (Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields). After several visits to London, I found out it also has a strong social program for the homeless (helps 6000 or so a year), and it holds both a Mandarin and a Cantonese service every week.

Today's program consisted of 10 pieces, some very short. A program would cost GP1.50. Again as a matter of principle I didn't buy one. The lighting was dim, so I couldn't quite make out the copy of the person sitting in front of me. I know some of the pieces (like Vivaldi's Four Seasons) but by-and-large was a bit lost. I continue to think the artists should protest this practice as many would not know who they are.

In any case, this was a so-so performance. There are about 10 plays plus a conductor. Some pieces called for a quartet, and the conductor would stay on. I am not sure that is necessary.

The soloist who was on the program couldn't play today, so a substitute was playing the Spring Season. She did okay, given the short notice, but not better than okay.

The church's acoustics are quite good. A bit too much resonance, though. Unfortunately the players were seated on the same level as the main sanctuary, so I didn't have a good view of them at all.

New York City Ballet – Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet, January 13. 2008.

New York State Theater at Lincoln Center – Orchestra, Seat Q103 ($86).

Conductor – Faycal Karoui; Juliet – Erica Pereira, Romeo – Allen Peiffer, Mercutio – Adam Hendrickson, Benvolio – Antonio Carmena, Tybalt – Giovanni Villalobos, Nurse – Gwyneth Muller, Lady Capulet – Darci Kistler, Lord Capulet – Jock Soto, Paris – Christian Tworzyanski.

Story: The Montagues and Capulets are involved in a feud with people on both sides killed in fights. Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet, however, fall in love and are secretly married. After Romeo is exiled for killing Tybalt, Juliet's parents try to force her to marry Paris. Juliet drinks a sleeping potion given to her by her priest which makes her appear to be dead. Romeo, not having gotten the priest's message, thinks Juliet is dead and visits her tomb. He finds Paris there, kills him, and drinks a vial of (real) poison and dies. Juliet awakes and stabs herself, dying by Romeo's side.

Ballet is an art form I still yet to have to learn to enjoy. Prior to this, I had seen a couple of performances of The Nutcracker at Christmas time. At Anne's “urging”, we went to this “can't miss” one. Prokofiev's R&J is considered the heir apparent to Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty. I am familiar with only a couple of the numbers, vaguely at that. The conductor did his job with great energy.

The performance was quite enjoyable. A couple of the scenes were actually moving. I don't know if it was the dancers, the music, or the fact that the story was well known, so one could guess what is happening even without a “blow-by-blow” account of the choreography – and the program notes did a good job of that. The staging was a bit disappointing, although there was clever use of curtains and moving parts.

The dancers all seem quite young. Anne heard while waiting in line for the ladies' room that this is the “trademark” of the chief choreographer (Martins). I couldn't even find Erica Periera (Juliet) listed under the principal dancers section. There is no reference to the conductor anywhere I could find either (which brings to my mind the question: how much is the conductor of a ballet involved with the actual stage acting and choreography?). Periera is quite young looking; and her small size probably made Romeo's job easier, although you could still see quite a bit of sweat on his forehead. There wasn't any of this precision group movement associated with group ballet, and I don't know enough to appreciate the techniques or levels of difficulties involved.

While some of the dances were elegant, I can't help but wonder if the performance would be equally gripping if the dancers actually just mimed the play. This is more a remark about my lack of appreciation of ballet as an art form than the art form itself. The nurse actually had real shoes with heels on. Her character is quite comical and enjoyable. The young mandolin dancers provided additional comic relief, and I am sure one of them tripped (but recovered). They didn't share in the curtain call, though.

The ballet is quite long at a bit over 2 hours, with a rather short 15 or so minute intermission. I had thought, what with all the running around, that the dancers would have needed more rest. It was also amazing how soft the dancers landings sounded. These must be great athletes.

Our seats were quite close to the stage and had a good view of it, but we couldn't see much of the orchestra in the pit. Also, if a tall person sits in front of you (as in this case), then you get only a partial view that can be remedied sometimes with moving your head from side to side.

I am not sure I will start scouring the calendars to see what other ballets are on, but won't mind seeing another one if it is interesting enough.

Lately we have quite a bit of Prokofiev (War & Peace and this ballet) and Shakespeare (Macbeth and this ballet). More happenstance than planning, we enjoyed them, though.

The New York Times review of the ballet is quite brutal. It also laments the frequent change of dancers for this season's performances.