Bamberg Symphony. Jakub Hrusa, conductor. March 19, 2023.

Hong Kong Cultural Center Concert Hall.  Balcony (Seat N124, HK$740).

Program

Symphony No. 3 in F Major, Op. 90 by Brahms (1833-1897).

Lontano by Ligeti (1923-2006).

Symphony No. 8 in G Major, Op. 88 by Dvorak (1841-1904).

Around each time this year Hong Kong hosts a HK Arts Festival.  This year's would be the 51st.  Whether they counted the pandemic years or not would not detract from the fact that this has been ongoing for a while.  I left Hong Kong in 1970, so probably missed the inauguration year of the festival, which I assume would be a relatively modest event.

The Festival officially ended on the 18th, with Bamberg Symphony performing in the Festival Finale.  That concert was sold out when I checked into it.  For whatever reason, there was going to be another concert the day after the Finale, and tickets were readily available.  The actual Finale program had more popular pieces of Brahms (4th Symphony) and Dvorak (New World), but I was sure I would enjoy the less popular symphonies by these composers.  And I was right.

Brahms and Dvorak lived around the same time, yet their musical styles were very different.  A program that contains work from both composers would provide an interesting contrast, which today's program did.

My experience with Dvorak's Eighth runs hot and cold.  I have always attributed that to how well the piece was performed.  I have no reason to change my theory, today's performance belongs in the well-performed category.

After performance of Brahms' Symphony.  The Usher (doing his job) told me photos were to be taken after the entire concert concludes.

This is taking "miniature score" to the next level.

The conductor acknowledged the soloist in the orchestra.  Here the flutist.

Many sections were close to being entirely empty.

Time stamped at 7:12 pm, after the orchestra played an encore.  Not sure today's added much to an already exciting program and performance.

The movements in the Brahms' Symphony are: Allegro con brio, Andante, Poco allegretto and Allegro - Un poco sostenuto.  For Dvorak: Allegro con brio, Adagio, Allegretto grazioso - Molto vivace, and Allegro ma non troppo.

The Program Notes contains the following quote from Ligeti: "Technically speaking, this is achieved with the aid of polyphonic methods: Fictive harmonies emerge from a complex vocal woven texture; gradual opacity and new crystallisations are the result of discrete alterations in the individual parts.  The polyphony in itself is almost imperceptible, but its harmonic effect represents the intrinsic musical action; what is on the page is polyphony, but what is heard is harmony."  My best description of the experience was the aural equivalent of watching a lava lamp where the "lave" coalesces and then breaks apart.  To make things more interesting, add some tint to the liquid, that would describe a "... credible performance ... requires inextinguishable intensity wed to a mult-faceted presentation of iridescent orchestral colours."  Again quoting from the Program Notes.

The program on the 18th had instead Ligeti's "Poeme symphonique for 100 metronomes."  That does sound interesting.

Bamberg is a small city in Germany, and Bamberg Symphony evidently does a lot of tours.  It was formed in 1946 by former members of the German Philharmonic Orchestra of Prague after the war.  It has the honorary title of Bavarian State Philharmonic Orchestra, and receives considerable funding from the Free State of Bavaria.

As to the Czech-born conductor Jakub Hrusa, he will become the music director of the Royal Opera House in London in 2025.

Earlier in the day we had lunch at the Rainbow Restaurant on Lamma Island.  The Restaurant provides a ferry service to Central and Tsim Sha Tsui.  We took the 2:45 pm ferry and got off right at the Cultural Center.  We had enough time for coffee before the concert.

For whatever reason, today's concert was poorly attended.  I was talking to the ushers and they had no idea why.  Some more expensive sections were completely empty, so one must wonder if HK$980 (priciest) was too much to ask for.  Of course the same price tickets were sold out for the prior day's concert.

New York Philharmonic. Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor; Sasha Cooke, mezzo-soprano; Dashon Burton, bass-baritone. March 10, 2023.

David Geffen Hall, New York.  Orchestra (Seat X103, $64.50).

MTT acknowledged each of the orchestra sections after the program concluded.

Program

Meditations on Rilke (2019; New York Premiere) by Michael Tilson Thomas (b. 1944).

Symphony in C major, D.944, Great (1825-26) by Schubert (1797-1828).

From what I can tell, even though his career has taken him overseas often, MTT considers himself more as an American conductor and composer (he would mention his Jewish roots every now and then).  From both the Program Notes and his short speech before the concert, Meditations on Rilke is very much a result of his heritage: his father the piano player trying to find work in the 1930s (that would be before MTT was born), and his grandfather's life in 1915 - a connection I failed to grasp.  He also speaks of the "Schubert-Mahler-Cowboy Western" arc.  Schubert being a great writer of songs; Mahler whose format for Das Lied von der Erde MTT tried to follow for these songs; and western (Red River Valley type of western, not country western) because of his heritage.

The Meditations are based on poems by the German Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926).  It consists of six songs sung alternately by a man and a woman vocalist, with the fifth one a duet.  (If you are counting, man: 1, 3, 6; woman 2, 4; duet 5.)  One might ask why an American experience would use German lyrics; not a clue.

The six songs, totaling about 40 minutes, are:

Herbsttag (October Day)

Ich lebe mein Leben (I Live My Life)

Das Lied des Trinkers (The Song the Drunkard Sings)

Immer wieder (Again, Again!)

Imagniarer Lebenslauf (Imaginary Biography)

Herbst (Autumn)

MTT took about five minutes to describe this collection.  I quote some of what he said below, together with my observations.  For the first movement, he mentioned the use of  a slightly detuned upright piano, and that the piano plays an ascending scale (or is it descending?).  I didn't catch that at all.  There was quite a bit of ragtime swing to it, with the piano first passing the baton to the oboe which in turn passes it on.  The third movement begins with quite a bit of orchestral music.  The fourth begins with two cellos and horns.  The last song is also "Autumn" and has an inverse (of the first song) scale played by the flute - I didn't catch that either.  Overall, Sasha Cooke came across much better than Dashon Burton.  The acoustics at my seat wasn't bad otherwise.

For "In the Composer's Words," MTT describes the songs as "based on motives that recur, recombine, and morph differently in each song."  The opening piano passage describes a bar pianist of over 100 years ago (his father, as he said at the beginning), and the first song introduces many of the motives in the subsequent numbers.  He also mentioned the fourth song is like a Schubert "cowboy song."

I perhaps got 10% (an arbitrary number) of all that.  MTT expresses the wish that the audience would walk away with some of the melodies he wrote.  While the songs are quite lyrical, I can't remember one single melody!

Sasha Cooke and Dashon Burton after performing MTT's Meditations on Rilke.

Looking back on the blog entries I made after listening to Schubert's Great (and it has been a few times), words like "boring," "long" were often used.  I did enjoy it once (at least as recorded in this blog).  The remark I made to myself tonight was: how many times can Schubert tease the audience about a movement's ending, but disappoint them by repeating another theme?

Much is made of Brahms not daring to compose a symphony because of the giant shadow cast by Beethoven.  Schubert evidently had no such qualms, even though he was an admirer of Beethoven.  Schubert never heard a full scale performance of any of his symphonies during his lifetime.

As mentioned above, my seat's acoustics was generally good, with the exception of the bass-baritone.  To my surprise, on several occasions I seemed to catch the sound of an individual instrument.

View of auditorium from Seat X103.

The audience gave an enthusiastic ovation after the concert was finished.  MTT quoted Bernstein and said "Far be it for a conductor to try to end a standing ovation ..."  After the audience calmed down, he proceeded to thank each section of the orchestra.  A nice gesture on his part.

Today MTT seemed to walk a bit more deliberately than when I last saw him in 2019.  At about 79 that's not unexpected.  I remember hearing his name in the 1970s, when he led the Buffalo Philharmonic.  For the Schubert, he had the music score in front of him, but didn't seem to refer to it much, nor did he turn the pages consistently.  The audience let out a chuckle when after each movement he seemed to flip over many pages to get to where he needed to be.  After first publishing this blog, I found out MTT disclosed his cancer diagnosis last year.

When I got an email announcing a discount for this concert, I grabbed two tickets.  Turns out we had babysitting duties and have to be in Hoboken.  I gave CS a ticket and met up with him at the venue.  Today traveling to and from Lincoln Center from Hoboken was straightforward.

Los Angeles Philharmonic. Zubin Mehta, conductor. March 4, 2023.

Walt Disney Hall, Los Angeles, CA.  Orchestra East (Seat B53, $200).

Waiting for the concertmaster and the conductor to appear.

Program

Symphony No. 3 (1895-96) by Mahler (1860-1911).

Artists

Gerhild Romberger, alto

Women of the Los Angeles Master Chorale. Grant Gershon, director; Jenny Wong, associate director

Los Angeles Children's Chorus.  Fernando Malvar-Ruiz, director

I couldn't find the program notes on line, reading it in advance would have added to my appreciation of the performance.

I was on a weekend trip to the area, and took the chance to visit the "new" Walt Disney Hall.  I lived in the area for about a year in 2002, at that time LA Phil had their concerts at Dorothy Chandler.  Construction of Disney Hall was ongoing while I visited LA Phil and LA Opera, but I don't remember seeing it.  It opened around 2003, so it has been around for 20 years.

Mahler's third symphony is his longest, I don't know what symphonies are longer than that.  And I am sure this was my first encounter with the symphony (either in concert or as a recording).  It has six movements, with Part I consisting of the first movement, and Part II the rest.  Evidently Mahler had some scenes in mind when he wrote the symphony, and referred to them by their titles in his various correspondences, but withdrew the description when the symphony was published.  My take, from today's concert, is that the titles weren't necessary.  However, the images the titles conjure up did provide an interesting backdrop as I listened to the performance.  In my case, the description often did not match with what I was hearing.

First, a list of the movements as listed in the Performances magazine, with the "titles" copied from Wikipedia.  There are different views as to whether the last movement represents Mahler's vision of heaven instead.

Part I

Kraftig: Entschiede (Vigorous; Decisive).  "Pan Awakes Summer Marches In"

Part II

Tempo di Menuetto: Sehr massig (Very moderate).  "What the Flowers in the Meadow Tell Me"

Comodo; Scherzando: Ohne Hast (Without haste).  "What the Animals in the Forest Tell Me"

Sehr langsam (Very slow); Misterioso.  "What the Animals in the Forest Tell Me"

Lustig in Tempo und keck im Ausdruck (Lively in tempo and jaunty in expression). "What the Man Tells Me"

Langsam; Ruhevoll; Empfunden (Slow; Peaceful; With feeling).  "What Love Tells Me"

The notes in the Performances Magazine contains some interesting background on how the symphony got put together, and descriptions of each of the movements.  I will excerpt a few points below, albeit incomplete - otherwise I might just as well take pictures of the notes.

Mahler first started with poems in the collection "Des Knaben Wunderhorn" (The Youth's Magic Horn), setting "Das himmlische Leben" (The Heavenly Life) into song in 1892, with the idea of using it as the finale in the symphony.  He abandoned the idea only after completing the rest of the symphony, and used it in his fourth symphony instead.  The words in the fourth movement are from Zarathustra's song "O Mensch" from Nietzsche's "Thus Spoke Zarathustra."  Together they paint a picture of a world filled with a pain assuaged only by death, and a longing fulfilled only by heavenly paradise.  [One wonders how much of that remains after "Das himmlische Leben" is taken out, and should one care?]  In any case, Mahler seemed to be of the opinion that "'symphony' means to me building a world with all the resources of the available techniques" and "the symphony must be like the world.  It must embrace everything."  [No idle strolling in the meadow by a brook for him, even though that's how I often describe his music.]

For an epic work we need epic musicians.  I counted (to the best of my ability) 18 first violins, 14 second violins, 11 violas, 10 cellos, 9 double basses, 2 harps, 9 horns, 4 flutes (and two of them also played the piccolo), 5 clarinets, 4 oboes, 4 trumpets. 4 trombones, 1 tuba, 2 sets of timpani, and an additional 4 percussion players on a variety of instruments.  Here are excerpts from the notes that differ or add to what I wrote: 4 flutes (all=piccolo), 4 oboes (4th=English Horn), 4 clarinets (3rd=bass clarinet, 4th=E-flat clarinet); 4 bassoons (4th=contrabassoon; I forgot to jot this down); 8 horns (not 9), 4 trumpets, posthorn (offstage); percussion (bass drum, chimes, cymbals, glockenspiel, rute, snare drum, suspended cymbals, tam-tam, tambourine, triangle).  Totaling to about 100 musicians.  The children's and women's choruses had about 40 members each.  Altogether about 180 people on stage.

The piece was captivating from the start.  The first movement, described as a march, lasted 60 minutes.  I was impressed with the clarity of the sound the orchestra produced.  What was surprising was sometimes I could hear the individual instruments in a section (surprisingly it's often the viola, which I generally have problems picking out).  I don't remember the LA Philharmonic from 20 years ago, but I can't imagine the clarity and precision then could compare with what I heard today.  The concert hall has a lot to do with it, but I am also sure the ensemble has improved a lot.  The last part of the movement evoked for me the immolation scene from Wagner's Gotterdammerung.  Mahler often used solo instruments and small ensembles in this symphony, and they all worked out very well.  Towards the end of the symphony they did sound a bit weaker.  It was 100 minutes of music and concentration, after all.

The symphony began with a melody that's modified from Brahms's first symphony (4th movement, at about the 5 minute mark).  I referenced Wagner's immolation scene earlier.  The knowledgeable listener probably can find many other instances in this work.

The third movement, a forest scene, is described as a "transition from daylight to darkness ... to the depth of night, glowing in shimmering moonlight."  I don't think so: that's not how I would use to describe this movement.  The passage by the offstage fugelhorn (or a posthorn? not that I know the difference) was in a major key, but somehow tinged with sadness.

In the fourth movement the alto sang the words by Nietzsche.  The words were sad: "... What says the deep midnight?  'I slept, I slept ... pain says: pass away! But all joy seeks eternity - seeks deep, deep eternity!"  The movement was relatively short and flowed directly (attacca) into the fifth where the choruses joined in.  The words from "Des Knaben Wunderhorn" end with "The heavenly joy is a blessed city, the heavenly joy that has no end!  The heavenly joy was granted to Peter through Jesus, and to all mankind for eternal bliss."

At the end of the performance Mehta (pretend-)collapsed.  The applause was deservedly thunderous.

Our last encounter with Mehta was last summer, he conducted Turandot at the Berlin State Theater.  We didn't get to see the orchestra pit.  Before that was January 2012 when he conducted the New York Phil in a performance of Bruckner's Eighth Symphony.  I remember liking that very much. I am quite sure I am even more appreciative of the performance tonight.  He walked with the aid of a cane, and sat during the performance.  He also conducted from memory.

Alto Romberger sang with a silken voice that was well-suited for the occasion.  The choruses added some "meaning" to the music, added some insight into Mahler's thinking.  Frankly I haven't studied Mahler's worldview or philosophical leanings, so don't know how this work reflects his outlook on life.

Frank Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall.

With so many percussion instruments, sound levels got dangerously high at times.  This was the level at around 9:30 pm (I took this screen shot after I returned to NJ).

At the conclusion of the performance.  The people in red vests are from the Children's Chorus.  I didn't have the presence of mind to include people from the LA Master Chorale, seated to the left.

Well, I took a short video clip of the curtain call, and did capture the choruses.  (This was added on 3/30/2023).

Mehta had to take slow and deliberate steps, with the aid of a cane.  One can imagine for 100 minutes he was immersed in another world.

I had bought tickets to the New Jersey Symphony performing the same piece this weekend, and gave the tickets away.  The one report I got back was the first movement was a bit chaotic.  Perhaps NJ Symphony is not quite up to that yet, or perhaps the acoustics at NJPAC aren't as good.  I am glad they decided to tackle it, for the third time in their 100 year history.  One reviewer was very impressed with how they did, and suggested that this be the Symphony's calling card to a Carnegie Hall event.

Tickets for LA Phil concerts seem to be slightly cheaper than those for NY Phil.  The total price I noted above included a $21 fee, the ticket itself was "only" $179.  One bargain in this exercise: parking cost only $10, in the basement of the hall.  It was $7 twenty years ago.

One concern was driving in the evening in the downtown area, it turned out to be okay.  On my way back to the hotel an overturned car caused some delay.  I tried to walk around the block, and must say the back side (Hope Street) wasn't one I would want to linger.

As close to a perfect musical evening as one can hope to get.

A Valentine's Celebration. Roderick Williams OBE, baritone; Yiheng Yang, piano. February 19, 2023.

Town Hall Auditorium, New York.  Balcony Left (Row C, $25.75).

Program

Robert Schumann:

   Widmung

   Du bist wie eine Blume

   Dichterliebe Op. 48

Roger Quilter: 7 Elizabethan Lyrics

Clara Schumann: Liebst du um Schonheit

Fanny Mendelssohn: Nahe des Geliebten

Joseph Lang: Abschied

Robert Schuman: Er, der Herrlichste von alten

Caroline Shaw: how do I find you

Sally Beamish: Nightingale (from 4 Hafez Songs)

Cheryl Frances Hoad: The Pros and Cons

Gerald Finzi: I said to Love

Benjamin Britten: Tell me the Truth about Love

CS told me about this concert.  Yiheng was on both the 2/18 and 2/19 concerts offered by Peoples' Symphony Concerts.

New York City does offer many different venues for music, and this was my first encounter with Town Hall, located on 43rd Street, a couple of blocks from Bryant Park.  The auditorium itself felt a bit dated, but still very functional.  (Think Count Basie before recent renovations.)

It was a rather ambitious program that - with an intermission - lasted a full two hours.  Perhaps the small auditorium helped, but to sing for 2 hours must put quite a strain on the vocal cords.  I didn't notice any deterioration in the quality of William's fine baritone voice.  Many of the pieces had the piano as an equal partner to the voice, although one couldn't but help but think of "piano accompaniment" as the pieces were being sung.  (Same reaction I had with Trifonov accompanying Goerne, even though Trifonov got the top billing.)

Williams did put some context into the program as it progressed.  I have forgotten most of it.  However, he did mention Dichterliebe as Schumann's gift to his new wife, and that the emotions in the different songs run high and low (the term "bipolar" was used).  Also, he heard one of the songs (Shaw's?) at a concert and decided he wanted to appropriate it.  He gave some context on how the songs can be grouped together also, but I suspect one has to be into these things to appreciate it.

One additional remark, about Caroline Shaw.  Her piece certainly didn't sound at all like other pieces of hers I have heard.

The concert was a full 2 hours.  Well-deserved flowers.

While today's concert was enjoyable, in hindsight I probably would enjoy more the one on 2/18 as it had more variety to it.

I took the train up, and after dinner with CS, Shirley, and others, took the train home.

Lviv National Philharmonic of Ukraine. Theodore Kuchar, conductor; Oksana Rapita, piano. February 17, 2023.

State Theater of New Jersey, Orchestra (Seat K5, $31.84).

Program

Chamber Symphony No. 3 for Flute and String Orchestra by Yevhen Stankovych.

Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16 by Grieg.

Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92 by Beethoven.

This is taken at the conclusion of the encore, during which the US and Ukrainian flags were displayed.

The program has traditional war horses in masterpieces by Grieg and Beethoven.  What is special is this Chamber Symphony by the Ukrainian composer Stankovych.  The wikepedia entry for him has him born both in 1942 and 1951, in the town of Szolyva in Hungary, which became today's Ukrainian city of Svaliava.  The piece is about 20 minutes long, and for the uninitiated sounds more like a flute concerto (in any case with the flute front and center).  Being my first encounter with the composer's music, I can only characterize the style as "propulsive," with a repetitive rhythmic pattern repeated many times in the orchestra, occasionally by the flute.  The piece certainly sounded more tonal than many contemporary pieces of today, but I would be hard pressed to single out any memorable melody.

The evening started with a composition by the Ukrainian composer Stankovych.  I couldn't find the name of the flutist in the program.

In the limited information I can find about the program, I don't see the name of the flutist.  I would think he warranted a mention.  As far as I could tell, the orchestra had a different person in the principal flute position (given where I sat, I caught only glimpses of the woodwind section).

If one were to name the most well-known piece by Grieg, his piano concerto must rank high on the list.  For good reason.  And tonight's soloist acquitted herself very well with her performance.  We were seated quite close to the stage, so could hear her well, most of the time.  There were still some passages where she was overwhelmed by the orchestra.  That perhaps is the lot of the soloist in a live performance.  The crowd was very appreciate after the first movement and break into a rather extended applause.  The problem with a captivating first movement is that it's a hard act to follow.  Perhaps the composition is to be faulted for that sort of (semi)letdown?

The audience greatly appreciated Oksana Rapita's performance of the Grieg piano concerto.

Similarly with Beethoven's Seventh, the defining movement (perhaps because of the movie Immortal Beloved) is the second.  The first, third and fourth movements constitute music that build up to and relax from the iconic second.  Measured that way, the performance was a disappointment.  I found the second movement to be too fast, too mechanical, and too devoid of nuances.  When performed well, the listener would admire how Beethoven can make great music with the simplest ingredients.  Tonight's performance made the composer repetitive and unimaginative.

The full orchestra after performing Beethoven's Seventh Symphony.

The orchestra played an encore piece that got many in the audience excited.  There were quite a few people wearing (what we think) "national clothing" for Ukraine, and a few clergy.  The concert had to have a special meaning for them.  For both the orchestra and the audience, the exuberance was tinged with a certain melancholy and sadness.

Opera Theater Rutgers. Puccini's La Boheme. February 11, 2023.

Elizabeth Ross Johnson Theater, New Brunswick PAC. Orchestra Left (Seat G5, $12.50).

Story.  See prior posts.

Conductor - Steven White; Rodolfo - Siyuan Yin, Mimi - Manli Deng, Marcello - Chris Fistonich, Musetta - Yeawon Jun, Schaunard - Carl Muhler, Colline - Ziliang Hao.

Having attended a couple of events at NBPAC, I am on their mailing list.  This event looked quite interesting, and at $10 a ticket (for seniors, with a $5 per order processing fee), what can go wrong?

Indeed it was a most enjoyable concert.  I expected enthusiasm, and perhaps stage fright, but didn't expect how well the opera was performed.

Perhaps it was the intimacy of a small theater (seating less than 400 people), the voices sounded great.  At first many singers' voices came across as harsh - particularly that of Mimi - but they grew on the audience.

The orchestra (Rutgers Symphony) also was up to the task.  I couldn't see the pit, and suspected a keyboard was used to produce some of the sounds.  It did on occasion overshadow some of the softer vocal lines.

The set was simple, perhaps out of necessity.  The different scenes have backdrops projected onto panels.

After Act II.

Curtain call (from left): Marcello, Musetta, Rodolfo, White (conductor), Spierman (Stage diector), Mimi, Schaunard, and Marcello.

I do wonder how much effort was spent to put this together.  All involved have every reason to be proud.

The question still remains, though.  Why is Lucia called Mimi?

New York Philharmonic. Santtu-Matias Rouvali, conductor; Nemanja Radulovic, violin. January 12, 2023.

David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center.  Tier 1 Parterre.  (Seat EE201, $59.)

Program

Catamorphosis (2021) by Anna Thorvaldsdottir (b. 1977).

Violin Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 63 (1935) by Prokofiev (1891-1953).

La Sacre du printemps (The Rite of Spring) (1911-13) by Stravinsky (1882-1971).

Yes, these two weeks constituted an audition for Rouvali as the next New York Philharmonic music director.  Indeed if one does a search on the subject, one finds many other contenders, including Dudamel and Malkki.  And (unfortunately), the Parterre seats aren't that good when it comes to a solo violin either.

If those were my only take-aways from the two concerts I attended, that would be pathetic.  The highlight of the evening was actually Prokofiev's second violin concerto.

This is a piece I have known since I was a teenager, and over the years I have heard it a few times (not often programmed), and have enjoyed every single performance.  The same tonight.  The concerto has always felt short in duration, so I was surprised it was 26 minutes in duration.  It went by quickly.  Being close to the orchestra, I had a renewed appreciation for how these professionals could do it so effortlessly.  And how "violent" the soloist attacked the violin.  The Serbian-French violinist Radulovic had to tune his violin between movements, which is expected.  Interesting the string players in the orchestra didn't need to do that (of course they can do that during the performance and not get noticed).

With the violinist's back towards us, and thus blocking both the violin and its sound, I often had to strain to hear the instrument.  When he moved in such a way that we could hear the instrument well, it sounded clean and clear.  The Program Notes doesn't say what violin it was, and I suspect it's a Strad.  (One clue is he won some "Stradivarius Competition.")

The three movements of the concerto are: Allegro moderato; Andante assai-Allegretto-Tempo I; and Allegro ben marcato.

For encore Radulovic played a piece I would call "Variations on a Theme by Paganini."  Perhaps it's a tribute to Rachmaninoff's take for the piano?  Here it is only the solo violin.  The original caprice is already difficult, the variations make it impossibly so.  There were quite a few sloppy passages, and it reminds me of how Repin played Ravel's Tzigane: a controlled train wreck.  But for the sections that work, it was surely great and impressive.

Radulovic acknowledging the orchestra, with Rouvali and Hwang looking on.

The Program Notes makes the Thorvaldsdottir piece very interesting.  The title, Catamorphosis is a word made from catastrophe and metamorphosis, and the piece (per the composer) is inspired by "the fragile relationship we have with our planet."  She further describes it as "... revolves around a distinct sense of urgency, driven by the shift and pull between various polar forces - power and fragililty, hope and despair, preservation and destruction;" and that "it is quite a dramatic piece, but it is also full of hope - perhaps somewhere between the natural and the unnatural, between utopia and dystopic, we can gain perspective and find balance within and with the world around us."  Words I don't understand.  To the extent I can make sense of them, I would expect contrasts that reflect the extremes expressed in the prose.  Another example of after five minutes one wonders if there will be anything new, and after ten minutes one can't imagine the music can keep going.  In this case the whole thing lasted twenty minutes.

The Program Notes lists the following atmospheric subsections, marked as inspirations for the players: Origin, Emergence, Polarity, Hope, Requiem, Portentia, and Evaporation.  With our binoculars we could indeed see these markings on the music.  I couldn't tell how much they inspired the musicians.

This was the US premiere of Catamorphosis.  The composer Thorvaldsdottir came on stage at the end of the performance.

CS (who didn't go to this concert) mentioned the reviews were very good, and the headline of the NY Times review is extremely positive about the performance of the Rite of Spring (the author had to say some bad things about van Zweden's performance a few years ago).  Perhaps it's where we sat, but I kept telling myself during the performance "does it have to so loud?"  That evidently didn't bother some folks sitting close to us as they applauded enthusiastically afterwards.

Nothing wrong with loud music, but a well performed Rite of Spring should bring out the mystery, anticipation, and horror of the sacrifice process, instead of an attempt to damage the eardrums of every member of the orchestra, and audience sitting close by.  (I didn't see any ear plugs in this particular violist.)

How loud was Rite of Spring?  Loud.  The Noise APP on my Apple Watch showed levels as high as 91db.  Difficult to screen shot, though.

I found out later that the iPhone keeps a record of the sound levels.  Here it shows a maximum of 99 dB, definitely too loud.

Rouvali made it a point to acknowledge the different players in the orchestra.  Here with Judith LeClair, NY Phil's bassoonist whose line started the piece.

As to Rouvali coming on as the music director, I have no opinion.  Since I described him as Dudamel-like, I do wonder why get a copy if the original is available?

We again took the train in.

Metropolitan Opera. Giordano's Fedora. January 11, 2023.

Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center.  Dress Circle (Seat G129, $97.50).

From the cover of the Program.  (I actually took a screen shot of the online version.)

Story.  Count Vladimiro Andrejevich is shot in St. Petersburg and dies.  The Nihilists are suspected to be behind this assassination.  Fedora, bride-to-be of Vladimiro, vows revenge.  Several months later, Fedora and Ipanoff are at Olga's party.  While Ipanoff is smitten by Fedora, Fedora wants to get Ipanoff to admit that he is the killer.  She reports her suspicion to the Russian authorities and Ipanoff's brother is arrested.  Fedora and Ipanoff eventually fall in love, and live together in Switzerland.  While Ipanoff is out, Fedora receives the message that Ipanoff's brother drowned in jail due to flooding of the river Neva, and their mother died upon hearing the news.  When Ipanoff finds out it is due to Fedora's action, he curses her.  Fedora takes the poison in her necklace, and dies in Ipanoff's arms.

Conductor - Marco Armiliato.  Countess Olga Sukarev - Rosa Feola, Princess Fedora Romazaoff - Sonya Yoncheva, Count Loris Ipanoff - Piotr Beczala, Giovanni De Siriex - Lucas Meachem.

The only Giordano opera I am familiar with is Andrea Chenier, and I have seen it on several occasions: at the Met, the Royal Opera House in London, and Deutsche Oper Berlin.  The short aria "Amor ti vieta," from Fedora, is very popular, with multiple versions available on YouTube, including a 10-tenor compilation.  As it was with Andre Chenier, I knew the tune, but had no idea what the opera was about.

The great experience I had with Andrea Chenier was not matched today.  The disappointment is on many levels.

First, the story.  I have remarked in the past that music makes or breaks an opera.  Still mostly true, but this story is just lame, for the most part. Compared to Andre Chenier with an intersection between political rivalry and personal jealousy, Vladimiro's affair with Loris's wife was the driver behind the shooting: Ipanoff found out they were having an affair, and shot Vladimiro in the ensuing struggle.  Perhaps told in the "right" way one would lament how unintended mistakes can lead to unintended consequences, I didn't get that here.  The only scene that is close to evoking pity or horror is when Fedora asks for forgiveness as she dies.

It appears Yoncheva is the star soprano at the Met nowadays, and indeed deserves much of the praise she has received.  Tonight her acting was simply flat, despite her putting a "sad face" on most of the time.  Her voice was good, but lacked the emotion I expected of her.  At the end of the day, she isn't quite ready to take Netrebko's place.

My first encounter with Beczala was him in role of Rodolfo in Luisa Miller at the Met in April, 2018, and role of Werther at the Zurich Opera a month later.  He dispatched the main aria with ease, and got the only applause during the opera.  Perhaps today I was a bad listener, out of the four performances I have seen him in, tonight's was the flattest.  The Met put out him singing this aria on YouTube.

I wonder if the apparent lack of chemistry between the principals contributed to how the performance was perceived.  (Conjecture on my part, of course.)

The bright spot tonight was the orchestra.  Armiliato elicited a great sound from the orchestra, helped by lovely harp accompaniment and the solo violin.  The music was generally quite lyrical, but didn't have too many memorable tunes.  Amor ti vieta is only about 1 minute 15 seconds long.

Each of the scenes takes place in a different city: St. Petersburg, Paris, and somewhere in the Swiss Alps.  The set designer went for realism, which is fine.  One can also easily imagine surreal settings for the three different settings.  The depth of the Met stage features prominently in the designs, especially when viewed from my seat.

The roster doesn't include the role of Vladimiro, perhaps he has no vocal (nor singing) role in the performance.  He is ubiquitous though.  First as someone doctors are trying to save, then as a wandering ghost in both later acts.  At some point I thought the dead Fedora would follow him - didn't happen.

Chopin's supposed nephew  (Boleslao Lazinski) played a couple of piano pieces during the Paris scene.  Billed as virtuosic pieces, they didn't add much to the story.  An audience has expectations of what they get from an opera performance (e.g., ballet scenes in Verdi), but tastes do change over time.  I do wonder if it is appropriate to adapt the operas to the audience (heretical statement?).

Then there is this shepherd boy (more likely cowherd as we are in the Alps) singing and playing this accordion-like instrument.  He did add a tinge of sadness to the overall atmosphere.  And would better fit in a surreal set.

The opera is relatively short (less than 2 1/2 hours, with a 30-minute intermission).  Attendance is so-so.  The seat I bought was the last row in dress circle.  The row in front was quite empty, and I took one of the seats (F123), which would have cost $30 additional.

From the web.

The curtain call was a long process: each of the dozen or so solo cast members took their time to come out.  Yoncheva was last (time stamped at 9:26 pm).  I made my way to the subway station, waited about 3 minutes for the next train, and then ran to catch the 9:38 pm train which was just pulling out as I got on the platform.  The next train was at 10:20 pm.  In hindsight I should have stayed a little longer.

I took the train, and missed the return train by less than a minute, so spent 40 minutes in Penn Station.

New Jersey Symphony. Xian Zhang, conductor; Daniil Trifonov, piano. January 6, 2023.

Richardson Auditorium at Princeton University.  Balcony Left (Seat CC11, $69).

Program

Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat Major, Op. 83 by Brahms.

Don Juan, Op. 20 by Richard Strauss.

Suite from Der Rosenkavalier, Op. 59 by Strauss.

Today is some sort of a double-header, Yuja Wang in the morning, Daniil Trifonov in the evening.  I bet that doesn't happen often.  It's with two different orchestras, though.

Trifonov was supposed to perform a Brahms concerto (not sure if it was the 1st or the 2nd) with the NJ Symphony in November, 2021, but performed instead Beethoven's second because of an injury.

There is much contrast between Brahms' two concertos.  The second one starts boldly, and demands a great deal of virtuosity from the performer, which Trifonov (as usual) handled with ease.  From our seat in the balcony of this small auditorium, the performance felt very intimate.

A couple of remarks.  First was both Brahms concertos are on the long side at around 50 minutes, although with a great performance time went by quickly.  The second was this duet between the cello and the piano  in the slow movement: one wishes the two instruments are in more balance - in this instance the cello was way too loud, even though Spitzer put out a great sound.  I discovered with amusement that Principal Flute Feller also doubled as a piccolo player for this piece.  NJ Symphony does have someone listed under "Piccolo" in its roster.

For encore we heard a lyrical duet between Trifonov and Spitzer.

Trifonov and Principal Cellist Spitzer after performing a lyrical encore.

Don Juan was the first work by Strauss that was popular world-wide.  He was 24 years old when he wrote it.  The opera Der Rosenkavalier, however, was written more than twenty years later.  Don Juan is a tone poem, a genre popularized by Strauss.  Per Wikipedia, Strauss had nothing to do with the Suite from Der Rosenkavalier, which Wikipedia speculates as being arranged by Rodzinski as he conducted at the world premiere by the New York Philharmonic (in 1945).  Strauss evidently didn't object to it; 

A Strauss musicologist can probably describe how his composition style changed and matured in the intervening years.  For the casual (and somewhat serious) listener, Strauss's music is best understood in terms of the various motifs (or tunes, since they can be quite long) he uses to describe the different characters and scenes.  (Other examples that come readily to mind are "A Hero's Life" and The Alpine Symphony.)  I hadn't taken the time to review these motifs.  One can discern several themes in Don Juan, but with Der Rosenkavalier some familiarity with the opera helps.  The two well-known motifs from the Suite are "Presentation of the Rose" and "Baron Ochs's Waltz."  Several sensual scenes can be observed in the work also.

The orchestration for Der Rosenkavalier certainly was more complex than that of Don Juan.  Here a third flute/double piccolo was used, and the percussion section included a ratchet.  The cymbals for some reason sounded tentative on several occasions.

A harpist was used in Don Juan.  Also notice a third flutist.

Two harps were used in the Der Rosenkavalier Suite.

CS and Shirley went to the concert also, and we had dinner before at SCHouse in Princeton.  Both Anne and Shirley know the cook there.  On the way back we discussed how energetic Zhang is, and whether that is a good quality to have.  I am generally okay with that, and the quality of NJ Symphony - even with its Jekyll and Hyde performances - has certainly improved considerably during her tenure.  I do wonder, however, if the Strauss pieces wouldn't have sounded as chaotic if she had been a bit restrained.

Dinner with old friends before the concert.

CS did the driving.  The concert was quite long, so we got home rather late.