Metropolitan Opera – Muhly’s Marnie. October 27, 2018.

Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center.  Balcony (Seat D106, $79.)

Story. Marnie is a thief who goes about stealing from her employers using different identities.  She works at the accounting firm Crombie & Strutt where customer and widower Mark Rutland is attracted to her.  After she leaves the accounting firm she goes to Halcyon Printing, owned by Mark.  Mark doesn’t seem to recognize her.  Mark’s brother Terry also works at the firm and makes a pass at Marnie.  Mark catches Marnie in the act of breaking into the company safe, and threatens to turn her in unless she marries him.  When she refuses sex with Mark on their honeymoon, he assaults her, causing her to slash her wrist.  To get Marnie to see an analyst, Mark agrees to stable her beloved horse Forio on his property.  They go on a fox hunt, Marnie is thrown from the horse and Mark is hurt trying to help.  Forio is injured and has to be shot.  Even though there is a connection with Mark, Marnie still steals the keys but finds herself unable to take anything from the safe due to her feelings for Mark.  She tries to visit her mother, but finds out she has died.  At the cemetery, Marnie is finally told the truth: she has grown up thinking she killed her brother when he was born, but the murder was actually committed to committed by her mother.  The police finally catch up with Marnie, and she says “I’m free” as she is taken away.

Conductor – Robert Spano.  Marnie – Isabel Leonard, Mark Rutland – Christopher Maltman, Little Boy – Gabriel Gurevich, Marnie’s mother  - Denyce Graves, Terry Rutland – Iestyn Daves, Mrs. Rutland – Janis Kelly.

The story is based on the 1961 novel by Winston Graham.  It is made famous because Alfred Hitchcock adapted it into a novel in 1964, although with substantial deviations from the original plot.  This work was commissioned by the Met.  Nico Muhly (b. 1981) is the composer.  Per the “In Focus” article, the music is “simultaneously rooted in lyric tonality and highly innovative techniques.”  It calls for “18 soloists, a prominent role for the chorus, and large orchestral forces.”  Marnie’s role is sung by a mezzo-soprano, and Mark by a baritone.  There are also four Shadow Marnies who appear as her psyche.  The composer also made Marnie’s vocal intervals reflect her internal state, moving from very disjointed in the beginning to more lyrical as she discovers herself.

Given all that, I was quite looking forward to see the opera.  I came away quite disappointed.

When you think Hitchcock and suppressed childhood memories, you think thriller (at least that is what I think.)  Yes, Marnie took on a life of crime because she mistakenly thought she had murdered her baby brother.  But she wasn’t a serial killer who murdered her husbands, she didn’t even rob, but “merely” burglarized from company safes when no one was present.  I don’t think you need a traumatized childhood for that.  Intentionally or not, there were more comedic moments in the story, if the audience reaction was any indication.

The only tender moment was the horse scene where Marnie showed some emotion for Mark.  Which some may argue points to what her psyche was.  However, for most of the rest of the opera she was just bland, as opposed to cold.  The audience didn’t empathize with her, nor did it dislike her.  That she utters “I’m free” at the end would lead one to think that she had not been able to get out from under whatever was governing her behavior, but we had no idea what that was – not even in hindsight.

The singing was generally okay, except for that of Marnie.  Since other voices came across clearly, it wasn’t a problem of the acoustics at our seats.  Turns out I had seen Isabel Leonard in the Carmelite Nuns before, as Blanche, a main character. I looked at the blog, her singing left zero impression for me during that performance – I didn’t mention her at all.  She is playing three major roles this season at the Met, that tells you how much I know.

The staging was okay, not surreal, not modern, just functional.  I was hoping for a real fox-hunting scene, naturally I was disappointed in that count also.

I suspect Terry is quite germane to the story as he appears in quite a few scenes in this opera, including being suspected of buying out Halcyon.  The story (as I outlined it above) still hangs together without any mention of him, or the Rutlands’ mother, who was the person trying to buy the company, for that matter.  If they are characters used to “explain” or illustrate Marnie’s psyche, I didn’t get that at all.

Since the entire performance, including the intermission, was about 2 ½ hours, I didn’t find it unbearable.  However, about 30 minutes in I already thought to myself: interesting, but please, not another 90 minutes of this.

Curtain Call.  The shot is too bright, but I think both Mulhy and Spano were in this photo.

The New York Times review is uncharacteristically long, and somewhat unfocused (inevitably, perhaps).  The reviewer says a lot of positive and negative things, and I am not sure exactly where he stands.  The headline is “Marnie stays in the shadows,” but the last line in the second to last paragraph (about Robert Spano) is “where has he been?” 

We drove up, and had a simple meal at a pizzeria.

New York Philharmonic – Tugan Sokhiev, conductor; Gil Shaham, violin. October 25, 2018.

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

Program

In the Steppes of Central Asia, Op. 7 (1880) by Borodin (1833-87).

Violin Concerto No. 1 in D major, Op. 19 (1917) by Prokofiev (1891-1953).

Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36 (1877-78) by Tchaikovsky (1840-93).

This was an all-Russian program of familiar pieces, conducted by the Russian maestro Sohkiev.

The Steppes of Central Asia was written by Borodin in celebration of Tsar Alexander II’s silver anniversary as Russia’s ruler.  I hadn’t heard the piece in its entirety in recent years (no reference in the blog, for instance,) if ever, but knew many of the delightful tunes contained in it.  It was a nice piece to start the program.

Prokofiev’s violin concerto was based on a violin concertino Prokofiev worked on (but didn’t complete) in 1915, and thus retained an opus number from that time period.  I would characterize the piece as ephemeral (at 21 minutes) and ethereal.  I still remember how Midori played it, quite a few years ago; that was 2005, some concerts do stick with you.

Again, Shaham was very good technically, and he was certainly into the piece.  I may be prejudiced from the last concert, today it was again “a day at the office” for him.  To put a positive spin on it, the way he played gave me a chance to “analyze” the piece rather than simply being mesmerized by it.

He played a short encore, notable for all the harmonics in it.

Shaham and Sohkiev after the Prokofiev violin concerto.  Quite a sizable orchestra, and Shaham's violin came through clearly.

One thought that I had when I saw Tchaikovsky’s symphony in the program was: small world, small repertoire.  I heard this symphony by the New York Phil in November 2016, conducted by van Zweden; by Hong Kong Philharmonic earlier this month, conducted by van Zweden; and again by the New York Phil tonight, led by a guest conductor.  I remarked that the HK Phil program was one of the best I had heard, than qualified it by saying “against expectations.”  Tonight’s performance was enjoyable, but at an expected level.  For instance, the horns did well on an absolute scale, but I found the unsteadiness at the beginning a bit unexpected.  Also, the second movement wasn’t as dark as what I heard in Hong Kong.  The pizzicatos of the third movement were done well, as were the intervening arabesques.  We got the same wild ride for the fourth movement.

A huge orchestra for the Tchaikovsky.  We noticed quite a few young musicians in the mix. Also, a couple of familiar faces were missing, result of disciplinary actions.

This was our first encounter with Sokhiev, he seemed to be very much in his element, and the orchestra responded well.

I couldn't find a New York Times review.  Here is one review I found on the web.

Interesting question: how would van Zweden compare the two performances?  (I doubt very much he heard this performance as he is scheduled in Europe and Hong Kong.)

It is a testament to the excitement of the program that I was fully awake for all the pieces, despite my having returned from Hong Kong the previous day.  Dinner was at East Szechuan Garden.

Stile Antico. October 22, 2018.

Concert Hall at Hong Kong City Hall. Front  Stall (Seat  G10, HK$150.)

Program

I was by myself some evenings during this trip, so I looked at the Urbtix website and found this concert which was somewhat interesting.

This is an ensemble of 12, from the UK, and Hong Kong is the last leg of their Asia tour.

Their specialty is Renaissance polyphonic music, and for tonight all their numbers were a cappella (not sure if that’s the term used with this period.) Someone in the group probably had perfect pitch as one could hear notes hummed before each song.

The songs were all composed during the 16^th century, except for one that was recent (but still somewhat in this period style.)  In any case, the lines and the harmony were easy to follow along, and they sounded nice.  There are period instruments and period techniques (for example, not much vibrato in the strings,) I wonder if there are period singing techniques.

Not all 12 singers were needed for some numbers, so they got rotated out to rest their voices.  Still, it has to be taxing to perform more than 1:30 hours of music, without amplification.  But they did as well at the end as they did at the beginning.

An all-Renaissance program (if that’s what it’s called) to me is like an all-Mozart or all-Baroque program: a bit much.  Not that I didn’t enjoy the music, but it ceases to be novel after 30 minutes, and then it begins to sound the same.  To be fair, that there are stories in the lyrics make things a bit more interesting.

The songs were in Latin, English, and French.  A couple of them were part of a work by William Byrd who worked for a Protestant king but was secretly a Catholic, so he used the lyrics to express his opposition.  The Huw Watkins lyrics were from a Shakespeare play, where the word “turtle” meant a turtledove.

The concert is produced by Premiere Performances, which also produced the Hong Kong International Chamber Concert series every January.  We attended one concert this year.  The series has since been renamed.

Hong Kong Philharmonic – Jaap van Zweden, conductor; Jing Wang, violin. October 19, 2018.

HK Cultural Center Concert Hall.  Stall 1 (Seat H52, HK$240.)

Program

Violin Concerto in D, op. 77 by Brahms.

Symphony no. 4 in F minor, op. 36 by Tchaikovsky.

Wang is the concertmaster of the Hong Kong Philharmonic.  He was appointed by van Zweden in 2013.  The two evidently knew each other from their Dallas days: Wang was the concertmaster for Dallas Opera, and van Zweden music director of Dallas Symphony.  Wang was born in China, grew up in Canada, and went to Julliard.  He is now in his early 30s.  He performs on the 1760 G. B. Guadagnini violin on loan to him.

He did a great job with the Brahms concerto.  The last time I heard this in concert was Gil Shaham with the New Jersey Symphony.  I described Shaham’s playing as technically sound, but the performance ultimately felt like “a day at the office.”  There was a lot more passion tonight, and Wang also rose to the technical challenge, for the most part.  There were hints of intonation problems every now and then, and some of the arpeggios could be cleaner; but they did not hinder how well the music spoke.  Brahms seemed to have a fondness for double stops, and there were many in this piece, Wang did very well with them.

The Program Notes described how Joseph Joachim’s suggestions to Brahms were mostly ignored initially.  The premiere was by Joachim and Brahms, and was not a success.  Brahms then incorporated some of Joachim’s ideas, and the rest is history.

Jing Wang, with Jaap van Zweden looking on, thanking his colleagues after the Brahms violin concerto.

The Tchaikovsky symphony was simply a treat.  When done well, it is easy to like, and it was done well tonight.  As an example, Tchaikovsky reused the first theme of the second movement multiple times.  Some performances caused me to wonder: will this ever end?  Tonight, the repetitions just took the music to a darker and darker place, close to depressing at the end.  The fourth movement was wild, and the orchestra picked up its pace and galloped along.

I characterized this in my Facebook blurb as one of the best concerts I have attended, world-wide.  Looking back, I also enjoyed the many times the same symphony was performed by New York Phil, including a recent one with van Zweden conducting.  So it may be a case of expectations: the high one for NY Phil was met, and the (slightly) lower one for HK Phil was exceeded.

The applause at the end of the Tchaikovsky was as enthusiastic as I have seen.  It was well deserved.  Too bad there were quite a few empty seats in the balcony sections.

The horn section did very well.  For instance, it produced a firm and steady sound at the start of Tchaikovsky; I suppose having all four horns (and the bassoons) playing together helped.  The oboe, on the other hand, didn’t sound as well as I expected, especially in the “duet” it had with the violin in the second movement.

Being a frequent visitor to Hong Kong this year (this is my fourth trip), and given that van Zweden is now also the music director of the New York Philharmonic, it seems I cannot avoid running into him everywhere. As long as the music great, I am fine with it.

I had a late afternoon snack today, and a bowl of wontons from Mak’s noodle after the concert.

New Jersey Symphony – Otto Tausk, conductor; Seong-Jin Cho, piano. October 13, 2018.

Prudential Hall at NJPAC.  Tier G (Seat C5, $38.)

Program

Concert Romanesc (Romanian Concerto) (1951) by Ligeti (1923-2006).

Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Minor, Op. 21 (1829-30) by Chopin (1810-1849).

Symphony No. 7 in D Minor, Op. 70 (1884-1885) by Dvorak (1841-1904).

This was the second concert for the day.  I was surprisingly alert for it, considering we started in the morning driving into New York City.

It didn’t take long for us to realize there were a lot of Asians in attendance tonight (I will further venture to guess Korean.)  The soloist Cho gets billed as a 20-something phenomenon who now lives in Berlin. Justifiably so, as the Korean-born Cho won the Chopin Competition in Warsaw in 2015.

Bottom line: it was a respectable but not inspiring performance.  Not like Tsujii (playing Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto with Orpheus) whom I considered inspiring at many levels, or Trifinov, whom I first heard in 2012, who both inspired and instilled confidence.  Cho was well-prepared, but little of the emotion came through the 30-plus minute performance.  In any case, the applause was very enthusiastic and he performed an encore.  The movements are Maestoso, Larghetto, and Allegro vivace.

Tausk and Cho after the Chopin Piano Concerto.

Dvorak’s Seventh Symphony is described in the Program Notes as modeled after Brahms’s Third and not overly infused with Czech flaver.  Despite its credentials (for instant, “one of the symphony’s strengths is the power of inner movements”,) the symphony is not nearly as popular as his Ninth or Eighth, and I am embarrassed to say this is the fourth entry about this symphony in this blog, and it still felt foreign to me.  And I had looked at the score on YouTube before the concert!

The piece by Gyorgy Ligeti was most interesting by comparison.  It is relatively short at 12 minutes, and consists of four movements played without pause: Andantino, Allegro vivace, Adagio ma non troppo, and Molto vivace.  It is often considered a concerto for the orchestra as the different sections (and sometimes the section principals) got to be highlighted.  The solo passages were all performed beautifully by the musicians.

Actually the orchestra sections and players all played well.  It is unfortunate that these well-performed segments were not strung together into compelling stories.  Tonight the standout was the horn, it was steady the whole time.

Tausk was very businesslike in his approach.  The orchestra gave a mostly precise reading of the pieces as a result.  I do wish the violins would be a bit more together at the starts of their phrases.

Line of folks buying Cho's CDs and waiting for him to sign them.  Several left after the intermission and came back for this event.  Quite a few fans.

The concert lasted about 2 hours, and we got home at around 10:45 pm.  We left the house at around 10:30 am in the morning, and had dinner at Ellie’s.

Metropolitan Opera – Saint-Saens’ Samson et Dalila. October 13, 2018.

Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center.  Balcony (Seat B105, $133.)

Story.  See previous post.

Conductor – Sir Mark Elder.  Samson – Roberto Alagna, Abimelech – Elchin Azizov, High Priest – Laurent Naouri, Old Hebrew – Dmitry Belosselskiy, Dalila – Elina Garanca.

 

This opera was staged in Vienna during our European trip in May, but the tickets were sold out the day they became available (about 2 months in advance,) so we couldn’t see it, not even at 240 euros per ticket.  In perusing the Met schedule, I found out the same headliners would be performing, and tickets were about half what they would cost (of course we are talking about different auditoria and different seats.)

This was a new production.  The word that came to mind was “mesh,” starting with the curtain with a large circle.  To Anne that immediately spoke of a trap, which I agree.  The other characteristic of the set design is the symmetry, broken by different placements of the balconies on the two sides in Act I, for instance.

The Curtain for the opera is dominated by this circle.  The photograph shows the hands more clearly than viewed in real life.  There are on a mesh which Anne though denoted a trap.

Most voices in the opera were male.  I found the “supporting cast” especially impressive, they were clear and strong.  Alagna also did well as Samson.  He had quite a bit of singing, but most of the arias were not that singable.  He played a credible Samson.

Elina Garanca’s name has been popping up all over the place.  Given my previous encounters where she sang – I once called her voice “simply heavenly” - it was well deserved.  However, for me her performance tonight didn’t quite measure up, especially against the strong ones put in by her counterparts.  Even though the costume designer did a great job overall, some of Delilah’s costumes weren’t that great.

Today’s Program Notes mentions the three arias sung by Delilah, and I am glad I caught the other two (“Printemps qui commence” and “Amour! Viens aider ma faiblesse”) in addition to the familiar “Mon Coeur s’ouvre a ta voix” which Garanca did well with.  The Note also described how the opera moved from oratoria-like in Act I, to a classic opera style with three soloists in Act II, and back to oratio for the beginning of Act III.

The most note-worthy staging was the Dagon Temple.  We have a (meshed) head split in the middle as the center piece, and different effects (perspectives) were achieved with changes in the lighting. During the Bacchanale scantily garbed dancers came on stage and performed a well-choreographed number, including climbing up the face of the statue.  I expressed disappointment at the feeble collapse of the temple when I saw this last time; we didn’t even have that tonight, all we got was a bright flash before the opera concluded.

Curtain Call in front of the statue inside the Dagon Temple.  The Philistines were dressed in a bright red. Conductor Elder is in front.

The New York Times review is rather unflattering, saving what little praise the reviewer had on the chorus.  He views the “mesh” as “Islamic trellis design.”  It was also unclear to him if Delilah was deceptive throughout, or whether she was tormented by her love of Samson.  The article has some nice photos from the opera.

Curiosity drove me to this review of the Vienna State Opera performance that we couldn't get tickets for.  It was equally brutal.  Here the reviewer went into great details of how the singers did on individual notes.

Anne and I drove in and had street food.  The weather dried up in time for us to eat it outdoors.  We had another concert at NJPAC this evening, so we stopped by Hoboken for dinner afterwards.

Metropolitan Opera – Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West. October 8, 2018.

Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center  Orchestra (Seat AA11, $25).

Story.  See previous post.

Conductor – Marco Armiliato.  Jack Rance – Zeljko Lucic, Minnie – Maria Westbroek, Dick Johnson (Ramerrez) – Yusif Eyvazov.

I started this blog in April 2005, and my first entry was a review of this opera, performed by NYC Opera.  In the meantime, I have written about 586 different (mostly) concerts and operas, and this is the second time I saw this opera.  Not sure if any conclusions can be drawn; for now, just some interesting statistics. I do know there was more insight in my last review, though.

I remarked in 2005 that the NYCO set was more elaborate than the ones I had seen prior.  I still remember a windmill, and the sunrise (I had thought it was a sunset) Minnie and Dick walked into at the end of the show.  Tonight’s staging was a lot more complicated, which may explain why the two intermissions took so long (40 to 45 minutes) as the crew probably had to work at putting the sets together.

For Act 1 we have Minnie’s tavern.  It was huge: high ceiling with rafters and joists.  I don’t know what the backstage mechanism is at the Met, but can imagine how complex it must be to move the props on and off stage.  Minnie’s cabin in the mountains is depicted in Act 2, and there is this constant snow fall outside.  It is a wonder that none of the heavy snowfall spills into the orchestra.  Act 3 is “main street” with two rows of houses and a few gallows.  The noose looked real enough that I worried about an accident happening.  (I do hope they rehearse these scenes well.)

Despite the impressive staging, I don’t think I enjoyed it as much as the 2005 NYCO performance.  One could attribute this to my being a bit jaded after so many operas, but there were things I jotted down for that performance that I didn’t find as compelling tonight.

The scene that stood out for me was the card game played by Minnie and Jack Rance, with Dick Johnson’s life at stake.  Minnie cheated to win, but it was not as funny tonight.  I still (vaguely) remember how the cello’s sound enhanced the mood, but tonight the cello just sounded weak.  (I think the description “… pizzicatos in the lower strings suspend time …” is wrong.)  The other one was how Minnie appealed for Johnson’s life in Act 3. It was a gripping moment in 2005, tonight it didn’t particularly stand out.  Since I knew Minnie would make an entrance, so I looked for it, and tonight I got it.

For Act 1 I sat in my ticketed seat AA11 in the orchestra.  Generally this area has good acoustics, but I found the voices quite weak, perhaps due to the cavernous tavern on stage.  I took AA1 after the first intermission, it was better; the smaller cabin may have contributed to the improvement.  Chung Shu, Felicia, and John were sitting in the Grand Circle (free tickets provided by CS’s daughter), and there were empty seats around them.  For Act 3 I had a good seat in that section (center, row D.)  There was no walking into the sunrise (or sunset, for that matter) at the end of the story.

The cast is nearly all men.  The only women are Minnie and Wowkle.

A couple more unrelated remarks.  One, I remembered this Lady M mentioned several times in the opera, but forget again her name after a couple of days.  Two, it is a bit strange to see an American “western” sung in Italian.

The New York Times review is generally positive, but not effusive.  The reviewer wants an updated staging to reflect today’s values; on that point, I am not sure I agree.  Wowkle is described as "the squaw of a Red Indian" in Wikipedia, perhaps one reason why the reviewer calls the opera "awash with ... casual racism."

I had the evening free and decided to get a rush ticket for this opera.  Anne didn’t want to go, so I went by myself.  I drove in as the train schedule would mean arrival at home after 1 am.  Dinner was a sandwich in the Rubenstein Atrium.  It took about 90 minutes to get into town, and I had to take Holland Tunnel back home as the usual entrance to Lincoln Tunnel was closed due to construction.

New Jersey Symphony – Xian Zhang, conductor. October 6, 2018.

State Theatre in New Brunswick, NJ.  Orchestra (Seat F104, $51.)

Program

Speak Out (2016) by Whitley (b. 1989).

Lyric for Strings (1946) by Walker (1922-2018).

Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, “Choral,” Op. 125 (1822-24) by Beethoven (1770-1827).

Artists

Mary Elizabeth Williams, soprano; Elizabeth Bishop, mezzo-soprano; Lorenzo DeCaro – tenor; Reginald Smith Jr, baritone.

Montclair State University Singers, Montclair State University Chorale – Heather J. Buchanan, director

New Jersey Youth Chorus – Trish Joyce, artistic director

My first reaction to today’s program was “isn’t Beethoven’s Ninth enough for a concert already?”  Not only is the length (a bit over an hour) enough, the story it tells is also compelling, and needs no embellishment.

I may still harbor that sentiment, but I am glad I got to hear the first two pieces on the program.  Kate Whitley’s piece saw its US (and NJSO) premiere at these concerts, and Walker’s piece was last performed by the NJSO in 1989.

“Speak Out” is based on Nobel Peace Prize’s winner Malala Yousafzai’s speech to the UN Youth Assembly in 2013.  Malala’s being shot on her way from school in 2012 became a rallying cry for girls’ education, and she was awarded the Nobel in 2014.  Part of her text was incorporated in this composition, including the words “Today is the day of every woman, every man, every boy and every girl.  Today is the day we speak out.”  Whitley is a British composer, and Xian Zhang conducted the premiere of this work in Cardiff, Wales.  The Youth Chorus makes a beautiful sound, but it is relatively weak when up against a full orchestra.

George Walker was trained as a pianist, and held many firsts as an African-American: admitted to the Curtis Institute, chair of the Rutgers music department, and to win a Music Pulitzer Price.  Despite all that, his work is rarely performed, leading him to make the remark about winning the Pulitzer Price: “… it materialized in nothing.” “Lyric for Strings” is an orchestration of the slow movement of his String Quartet No. 1.  It was beautifully played (and written), my only observation is it doesn’t conform with the idea of “contemporary music.”  The composer passed away early this year, in August.  No doubt he was still alive when the program was finalized.

I have made many remarks about Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony before; however, I want to make some that are specific to tonight’s performance.

While familiar with most of the symphony, I do find the third movement less familiar.  One reason I have is I usually lose my attention (or even doze off) after the second movement, and pick things up again at the last.  Tonight I was fully awake during the whole performance, which is a tribute to the performance, especially given my somewhat jet-lagged state.

It is probably difficult to book soloists for this work as there is not a lot of singing for those voices.  I am sure our seats being in the sixth row contributed to it, but tonight’s four were impressive, starting with the booming voice of the baritone.  And the singers seemed to enjoy belting out the lines.

From left: Reginald Smith, Jr; Lorenzo DeCaro; Mary Elizabeth Williams; Elizabeth Bishop; and Heather J. Buchanan.

The orchestra in its enthusiasm sounded a bit sloppy at times.  It was still a thrilling performance, and the applause afterwards was one of the most sustained I have seen at a NJSO concert.

This was our first NJSO concert of the season.  I was waiting for discounted offers on the Red Bank Series, which never came, so I have been buying individual tickets for concerts I want to attend.  I have two more in my calendar, and will buy more if the price and timing are right.

Opernhaus Zurich – Vivaldi’s La verita il cimento. September 30, 2018.

Haupthuhne Opernhaus, Zurich.  1 Rang Rechts (Row 2, Seat 11, CHF 96).

Story.  Mamud is a wealthy businessman who had an affair with maid Damira. Both Damira and Mamud’s wife Rustena give birth to Melindo and Zelim at about the same time.  Mamud refuses to marry Damira, and instead he agrees to swap the two babies so Melindo can be raised as his heir while Zelim is raised as Damira’s son.  The opera starts 25 years later, when Mamud wants to intall Zelim as his proper heir.  Damira disagrees and says she would claim Mamud proposed to do that but she refused; her goal is for her son to be the heir.  Rosane, who had been in love with Zelim, is engaged to marry Melindo as she desires a better life.  With this turmoil she isn’t sure whom she should go after, and end up sleeping with Mamud.  Things quickly deteriorate, Mamud tries to commit suicide by car exhaust, Rosane accidently shoots Melindo and then commits suicide, both Damira and Rustena die in the bedroom for no apparent reason, and Zelim is the one left with concluding the opera.

Conductor – Ottavio Dantone; Orchestra La Scintilla.  Rosane – Anna Devin, Rustena – Liliana Nikiteanu, Melindo – Christophe Dumaux, Damira – Delphine Galou, Zelim – Deniz Uzon, Mamud – Richard Croft.

 The title means "Truth on Trial." 

The La Scintilla Orchestra uses period instruments for their performances.

I found out about this opera last night, after having finished the writeup on La Boheme.  I decided to skip part of this afternoon’s tour to attend; Anne decided to stay with the tour.  After lunch and a climb up the tower of Grossmunster, we parted ways and I went to buy a ticket for the performance.  This is a “half-price” performance, so my seat was quite good.  (I believe every performance for this show is reduced priced, but not an issue.)

The La Scintilla Orchestra uses period instruments; I am no expert, but saw a harp, a harpsichord, records, and (possibly) a lute.  One can find out more about the ensemble at their website, where curiously only modern instruments are listed (e.g., no recorders.)  The conductor Dantone also plays the harpsichord.  The orchestra played well, and to my surprise I enjoyed the entire two hours or so of baroque music; I am usually not a great fan of this genre.

In the original version, the story had a happy ending which “leaves everyone satisfied.”  The story was adapted, with rather big modifications, for Zurich Opera’s 2015 production.  (See this Opera News article. It says the story ends with two suicides, three mental breakdowns, and one scarred survivor; I am not sure that’s correct.)  The story I provided above is what I gleaned from the actual performance, and frankly why nearly everyone died is a mystery to me.  The plot is mostly comedic, and quite funny for a first-time audience, but turned very dark at times.

The vocalists did great, by now not any surprise in this venue.  Not being a student of the craft, I don’t know how challenging the music is for the singers, but they all have these long and fast runs that are simply amazing.  I did notice a drop in quality as the program went on, and won’t be surprised if it was due to fatigue.  Melindo is played by a countertenor, and Zelim by a woman.  When they sing with their mothers we have four high voices going, which can get quite confusing.  Luckily, most of the time I can tell them apart in context.

Curtain Call. From left of photo: Rustena, Melindo, Mamud, Rosane, Conductor Dantone, Zelim and Damira.

The set is quite simple, a row of rooms starting with a bedroom on the right, followed by a dining room, a hallway, and a study.  As the row moved back and forth different rooms would come into view.  The last room on the left is a garage, with a brand new Porsche in it; that brought a chuckle to the audience.  The stage was set back considerably, and the walls between the rooms are solid.  Sitting in the middle of the auditorium, I could see the singers, but I do wonder how this worked for people sitting on the side.

Screen shots taken from Opera Zurich's webpage on this opera.

While I won’t call this a “hidden gem,” I am certainly glad that I ran into it.  The auditorium had many unfilled seats, though.

I stayed in town a little to catch the tour bus returning from Eisendeln to our hotel.  It was a nice afternoon for an extended walk around the city.

The synopsis below is taken from the Zurich Opera website, as are some of the photographs in this blog entry.  (I did a Google Translate of Act III.  In addition to the usual haphazard result, the story as told is nothing like what I saw.)

Synopsis:

Vorgeschichte
Mamud, Unternehmer und Oberhaupt einer wohlhabenden Familie, hat zur gleichen Zeit zwei Söhne gezeugt, den einen mit seiner Ehefrau Rustena, den anderen mit seiner Geliebten, dem Dienstmädchen Damira. Um Damira ruhigzustellen, die seiner Ehe nicht im Weg stehen soll, verspricht er ihr, den gemein­samen Sohn in seine Familie zu holen und ihn als Erbe aufwachsen zu lassen. Das Versprechen löst er mit einer folgenschweren Tat ein: Er vertauscht die Säug­linge seiner beiden Frauen, sodass sie mit der jeweils falschen Mutter in den falschen Verhältnissen aufwachsen: Der melancholische Zelim wird vom Dienstmädchen aufgezogen, obwohl er der Spross aus Mamuds rechtmässiger Ehe ist; der aufbrausende Melindo wächst als Sohn aus reichem Hause auf, obwohl er das uneheliche Kind einer Affäre ist. 25 Jahre nach dem fatalen Kindertausch, von dem nur Mamud und Damira wissen, holt Mamud sei­n schlechtes Gewissen ein. Er will – koste es, was es wolle – mit dieser Lebenslüge Schluss machen.

Erster Akt
Melindos Hochzeit steht unmittelbar bevor. Er wird Rosane heiraten, die, bevor sie sich in Melindo verliebt hat, mit dessen Halbbruder Zelim zusammen war. Mitten in den Hochzeitsvorbereitungen erklärt Mamud Damira, dass er die Lüge nicht länger aushält und den Kindertausch richtig stellen will. Damira ist empört und kündigt an, alles daran zu setzen, die Aufdeckung zu hintertreiben.
Zelim erscheint und klagt seiner «Mutter» Damira, wie unglücklich er da­rüber ist, mitansehen zu müssen, dass seine Ex-Freundin Rosane nun Melindo heiratet. Damira (die sich insgeheim nichts sehnlicher wünscht als diese Hochzeit) spielt Zelim Mitgefühl und besorgte Mutterliebe vor. Mamuds Ehefrau Rustena wiederum ist überglücklich darüber, dass Melindo heiratet. Rosane erzählt allen, wie sehr sie in Melindo verliebt ist, und stellt gegenüber Zelim klar, dass ihre frühere Liebe aussichtslos war, weil er ihr nichts bieten konnte.
Rustena erfreut sich an den Zärtlichkeiten, die das junge Paar austauscht und fordert den eifersüchtigen Zelim auf, sich doch mit seiner Ex-Freundin Ro­sane mitzufreuen. Zelim beklagt sein Unglück. Melindo hält Zelims Gejammer für Verstellung. In Wirklichkeit warte Zelim nur darauf, wie eine Schlange aus sei­nem Versteck hervorzustossen, um einen tödlichen Biss anzubringen.
Damira sucht noch einmal das Gespräch mit Mamud, um ihn davon abzubringen, den Kindertausch rückgängig zu machen. Sie erinnert ihn daran, wie er sie einst geliebt und ihr Versprechungen gemacht hat. Sie ver­sucht, ihn zu verführen, aber er will davon nichts mehr wissen. Es kommt zum Streit.
Damira erzählt Rustena, dass Mamud einst eine Liebesaffäre mit ihr, Dami­ra, hatte. Weil er sich noch immer schlecht fühle, dass er sie damals habe sitzen lassen, wolle er ihr nun Gutes tun und ihrem Sohn seinen Reichtum vererben. Dazu habe er sich die Lügengeschichte eines Kindertauschs ausgedacht, die Rustena auf keinen Fall glauben solle. Rustena vertraut den Worten Damiras.
Alleine schreit sich Damira ihren Frust von der Seele: Sie hasst ihre Zurück­setzung gegenüber der hohen Familie, den unseligen Kindertausch, das Leben insgesamt. Rustena wiederum ist verbittert über die Lieblosigkeit und die Untreue ihres Ehemanns. Nie habe ihr das Schicksal Freude ohne Bitter­nis bereitet.
In einem nächtlich traumwandlerischen Moment kommen die drei jungen Menschen Rosane, Melindo und Zelim zusammen. Rosane und Melindo spüren ihr Glück, Zelim spürt sein Unglück. Zelim erinnert Rosane daran, wie sehr sie ihn einst geliebt hat und wie nahe sie sich gekommen sind. Rosane tut das als Ver­gangenheit ab. Nun wird Melindo gegenüber Rosane misstrauisch: Er zweifelt sehr grundsätzlich an ihrer Fähigkeit, treu zu sein. Rosane erklärt Melindo, dass sie ihn zwar liebe, ihm aber «Addio» sage, falls er ihr mit seinen Treueforde­rungen die Freiheit und den Lebensspass zu nehmen gedenke.

Zweiter Akt
Mamud hat Rosane in einem vertrauensvollen Gespräch über die wahre Identi­tät von Zelim und Melindo aufgeklärt und ihr zu verstehen gegeben, dass er Zelim als seinen Erbe einsetzen wird. Rosane ist verwirrt. Mamud rät ihr, sich an Zelim zu halten und sich von Melindo abzuwenden. Es sei keine gute Idee, zu lieben, was einem Nachteile bringe.
Rosane macht Schluss mit Melindo, der inzwischen von seinem Vater, wie Zelim auch, die Neuigkeiten seiner wahren Herkunft erfahren hat. Sie liebe Melin­do zwar immer noch, aber eine Liebe ohne Aussicht auf ein angenehmes Leben sei nichts für sie. Melindo wird wütend. Zelim beginnt sich mit seiner Identität als wahrer Sohn der wohlhabenden Familie anzufreunden.
Mamud bestellt die Familie ein und verkündet offiziell, dass Melindo der Sohn von Damira ist und Zelim der Sohn von Rustena. Er erklärt Zelim zum Erben und Nachfolger in seinem Unternehmen. Der Streit unter den Familienmitgliedern eskaliert und mündet in tieftraurige Gefühlsverwirrung: Keiner weiss mehr, wer zu wem gehört. Niemand ist sich seiner Empfindungen mehr sicher.

Dritter Akt
Melindo erscheint mit einer Waffe und läuft Amok. Er fühlt sich um seine Braut, sein Erbe und seine Familie betrogen. Er hält die Ungerechtigkeit nicht aus.
Damira startet einen allerletzten Intrigenversuch: Rustena soll sich ihrem Ehemann eine theatralische Szene machen, Tränen und Wahnsinnsanfälle simulieren. Aber sie erkennt die Aussichtslosigkeit ihres Unterfangens.
Mamud erkennt die Katastrophe, die er mit seiner öffentlich gemachten Wahr­heit ausgelöst hat, bleibt aber dabei, dass es zu Tugend und Vernunft keine Alternative gibt.
Rustena wünscht sich, in den Wäldern geboren zu sein, weit weg von allem Unglück und ihrem Schmerz.
Rosane versucht noch einmal mit einer Liebesbeschwörung an Melindo, zu retten, was nicht mehr zu retten ist.
Zelim bleibt zurück. Desillusioniert. Hoffnungslos. Hochmütig.

Opernhaus Zurich – Puccini’s La Boheme. September 29, 2018.

Haupthuhne Opernhaus, Zurich.  2 Rang Mitte Rechts (Row 6, Seat 19, CHF 95).

Story.  See previous post.

Conductor – Speranza Scappucci.  Rodolfo – Benjamin Bernheim, Marcello – Yurly Yurchuk, Schaunard – Huw Montague Rendall, Colline – Stanislav Vorobyov, Mimi – Guanqun Yu, Musetta – Georgia Jarman.

Program for this performance. 

We are on a group tour of Europe, and will be in Zurich for two evenings.  For tonight there was La Boheme, and for tomorrow night Macbeth.  My preference would have been Macbeth as the story is a bit more “substantial.”  Problem was this performance had discounted tickets, so very few “cheap seats” were left.

We decided to go with La Boheme, and we were not disappointed.

Although our seats were in the second balcony, the small size of the auditorium meant we could see reasonably well, and hear very well.  I don’t know how these musicians would do at the Met, but they certainly came through clearly.  My only complaint would be the orchestra still managed to overwhelm the singer at some critical moments, although it wasn’t a case of the singers and the orchestra were trying hard to be heard over the other group.

View from our seat in Rank II (highest level) of auditorium is great.

The production was definitely low-budget, and in many instances difficult to understand.  In Act I there were these furnishings set up with thin, white cardboards that the singers collapsed as the storyline unfolded.  The rear of the stage has its own curtains and was sometimes set up as the outdoors, or another scene.  Act II in the “original” story happened outside Café Momus.  I had no idea what they were trying to portray in this production, and found the scenery at times very incongruent with the story.  Act III should show a check point; here people dressed in strange costumes tried – and failed – to add a light element to the story.  Act IV should be the apartment again, but we had the leftover rows of chair from Act II, and a bed was carried out by Schaunard and Colline for Mimi to lie in.  My understanding was Act IV happens in late spring, so what is this winter scene doing in the background?  While the soloists were great, I though the chorus could be more precise.  Except for being too loud for the vocals every now and then, I really enjoyed the orchestra’s performance.  Unfortunately my seat didn’t have a good view of the orchestra, or the conductor.

Despite all that, the simple and sad story still came through clearly, and I was moved by it.

All the principal musicians (the four men and two women) looked quite young, so one didn’t have to use too much imagination to see them that way.  Mimi’s dress certainly looked expensive for a poor seamstress, and she couldn’t pass herself off as being very sick.

Scappucci is one of the few women conductors that I know of who have seen a world opera stage, and Yu is from Yantai, China.  Perhaps Zurich Opera is a great stepping stone to other famous houses in the world, which would be great.

Curtain Call.  The conductor is a woman and Mimi is sung by someone from Yantai, China.

We were a bit rushed for time, so dinner was at the MacDonald’s next to the opera house.

Hong Kong Philharmonic – Jaap van Zweden, conductor; Joshua Bell, violin. September 8, 2018.

HK Cultural Centre Concert Hall.  Stalls 2 (Seat CC53, HK$10).

Program

Academic Festival Overture, Op. 80 by Brahms.

Violin Concerto in D monor, Op. 47 by Sibelius.

Symphony no. 41 in C, K. 551, Jupiter, by Mozart

I am spending a week in Hong Kong with the primary aim of attending a fund-raiser for Hope International’s Hong Kong office.  By checking the Urbtix website, I knew this concert was going to be on Friday (I arrived Friday) and Saturday.  Someone in one of the chats groups I am in had an extra ticket for Friday and wanted to give it away.  I added to the chat by saying I was hoping to catch Saturday’s performance.  Another group member, S, chimed in and said he was planning to go and would try to get me a ticket before I arrived in Hong Kong.  Turns out S is an avid supporter of the orchestra and managed to get me a complimentary ticket.  Well, not completely free as there was a nominal charge of HK$10 for the HK$880 ticket.

There was quite a bit of excitement in the chat group about the event.  The person that attended the Friday performance called it “very controlled.”  He also mentioned the encore was special.  I ventured to guess it was from “The Red Violin” as Bell did that in July at a Mostly Mozart Concert.  My preference is to go into a concert with no preconception, but in this case I didn’t mind.

The seat I had was excellent, just behind the main seating area of the orchestra section.  I wonder if that is the reason the orchestra seemed to have a bigger-than-usual dynamic range.  Or it could be that was van Zweden’s intention.  It worked very well for the Brahms piece.

I was quite disappointed at how the Jupiter was performed.  Sloppy would cover most of it.  It wasn’t botched enough that I didn’t enjoy it, but enough that the “mistakes” (in many case interpretative takes, no doubt) detracted from that enjoyment every now and then.  Instead of light and crisp, it was heavy and muddled.  I did catch how the different melodies were woven together.

It is easy to love the Sibelius Violin Concerto.  Every time I listen to it, I am impressed that it is both emotionally and technically challenging.  No doubt Joshua Bell can do both, but oftentimes not at the same time, and he didn’t do it tonight.  Technically he was flawless, and he certainly played with his heart.  But I ended up admiring his skills as a violinist more than an artist.  The audience loved it, though.  As expected, he played The Red Violin as an encore.  Perhaps this auditorium is more intimate, I like it a lot more than his David Geffen Hall performance.

 Curtain call after the Sibelius Violin Concerto.

S also attended the concert, and he offered to give me a ride back to the CWB apartment.

Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra – Louis Langree, conductor; Stephen Hough, piano. August 11, 2018.

David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center.  Orchestra (Seat V7, $50).

Program: All-Mozart

Meistermusik, K.deest (1785).

Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major, K.467 (1785).

Requiem, K.626 (1791).

Artists

Jodie Devos, soprano; Jennifer Johnson Cano, mezzo-soprano; Andrew Stenson, tenor; Ryan Speedo Green, bass-baritone

Concert Chorale of New York, James Bagwell, choral director

 Many musicologists believe Mozart got only as far as Lacrimosa, although some think he had jotted down ideas for many other parts before he died, and those were used by Sussmayr to complete the Requiem.

This was the sixth MMF event we attended.  I discovered during these past several weeks that the Lincoln Center Festival was merged with the MMF, and that would explain why there were some non-musical events thrown into the festival, and why it lasted longer than it did in past years.  For the past several years I attended several MMF concerts every year, and I was confused, I wonder how the general public perceived this change.

The program started with a seldom-heard composition, a ceremonial piece composed based on a Gregorian chant melody associated with the Lamentations of Jeremiah, for a Free Mason installation ceremony.  What wasn’t explained in the Program Notes was why such dark words were used (… bitter herbs, … wormwood, … I am lost).  It was later adopted into K. 477 which honored two prominent Masons who had recently died – I wonder why any adaptation was necessary at all.

It was a beautiful piece, sung by a male chorus, and properly sets the mood for the Requiem. Only problem was this little gem of a concerto.

It is superfluous to say Concerto No. 21 contains “Madigan’s theme” as its second movement, and to me the concerto is defined by how that movement came across.  As with the violin concerto in the last concerto, I had in my mind how that second movement (Andante) should sound – slow, dreamy, and wistful.  Alas, it sounded a bit too rushed and mechanical for my taste.  Not a case of inadequate technique, just a matter of different taste.  The first and third movements (Allegro maestoso and Allegro vivace assai) were also familiar, and I enjoyed how Hough interpreted them; helped by my lack of a preconceived notion, no doubt.

Hough acknowledging the applause, with Langree looking on.

Hough played as encore “Traumerei” by Schumann.

I heard Mozart’s requiem performed by the MMFO in 2014, and I looked at that blog entry just now.  I must say my observations then continue to apply to tonight’s performance; which is not a complimentary remark.  The soloists were different from last time, but I wouldn’t characterize any of their singing as “good and strong.”

To be fair, the performance improved as the piece progressed, but it never approached a state where I could sit back and enjoy without cringing at this tentativeness or that imprecision.  Men and women were again interspersed, and I noticed that it wasn't a case of females singing tenor lines (for instance). I wonder why they were organized like this, it wasn't like they wanted or needed an additional layer of challenge.

The soloists were sandwiched between the chorale and the orchestra for the Requiem.

While I wish the Festival had ended on a more positive note for me, I was glad to be able to attend the events I did.  Not having to deal with horrific traffic, and the ease off-street parking could be found, certainly helped.  There was no pre-concert recital today, so we had time to eat the East Szechuan.