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AUGUST-DECEMBER, 2008
DECEMBER 19, 2008
Review: Handel's "Messiah," presented by the Seattle Symphony Orchestra with Gerard Schwarz conducting; Benaroya Hall, Dec. 18-21.
A one-horse open sleigh would have come in handy for patrons driving to Benaroya Hall for Thursday night's "Messiah" production where many empty seats bore witness to road conditions more suited to sleighs than to cars. This opening performance (of four) by the Seattle Symphony Orchestra and Chorale, however, was worth the perilous trip over sheet-ice streets and slippery sidewalks. It was a lively, committed and often inspiring performance of a classic that never loses its charm as a holiday perennial (even though Handel originally designed "Messiah" to be performed at Easter). Each year, as "Messiah" fans take comfort from the serenity of "Comfort ye" and ponder again the vexing question of "Why do the nations so furiously rage together?", Handel always strikes home.
Getting this complex oratorio right is not a musical slam-dunk. It's full of stops and starts and tempo changes, with florid and virtuoso writing for soloists, singers and instrumentalists. The score is a minefield of possibilities for mini-disasters, and not surprisingly, a few of those little mines went off on Thursday evening. There were some bad entrances, some problems with soloists' breath support, and moments when the Symphony Chorale's blend could have been better.
The minor flaws paled, however, in comparison with the rest of the evening, which was full of musical rewards. Symphony music director Gerard Schwarz chose the soloists with care, and shaped a performance full of drama and immediacy. It was a fast, fleet "Messiah" with the conductor in the middle of things (no podium), and the chorus trimmed down to just over 50 singers from a roster of 136. The smaller size fit well with the 28-piece orchestra; Emmanuelle Boisvert was the guest concertmaster.
The production's tone was set by tenor soloist Robert MacPherson, who sang "Comfort ye" and "Ev'ry valley" with a lovely ease and freedom that established an imposingly high standard. MacPherson has appeared regularly in Seattle, but he's never sounded better. He has matured in both vocal polish and interpretive depth, and his performance was a consistent pleasure.
Soprano Sarah Coburn, also familiar to Seattle audiences, sang her solos with radiant delicacy and stylish ornamentation. Mezzo-soprano Sarah Heltzel, another Northwest regular, had the mezzo's usual problem in some of her solos (Handel composed them in a low register that's particularly hard to hear over the orchestra), but prevailed elsewhere with a strong and committed performance. And the bass-baritone soloist, Charles Robert Austin, sang with authority and unusually clean passagework in the florid arias Handel allotted to this voice category.
The Chorale, trained by Joseph Crnko, was responsive and quick, giving an effectively light touch to choruses such as "And he shall purify," and a solidly magisterial quality to "Worthy is the lamb." Maybe it was the smaller cadre of singers employed in this production, but the blend (particularly in the sopranos) could have been better, most noticeably in the a cappella moments (in "Since by man came death"). The enunciation was remarkably clear throughout the performance.
So if your season is missing a few hallelujahs thus far, this might just be the ticket - especially if you have an all-wheel-drive sleigh. Check the orchestra's website for updates, though if they didn't cancel Thursday's performance, they're unlikely to cancel any of them. [Note: they did indeed have to cancel a subsequent performance ... and several of the orchestra players trotted over to McCaw Hall/Opera House to sub in Pacific Northwest Ballet’s “Nutcracker.” As they say: go figure.]
DECEMBER 7, 2008
Review: Seattle Men's Chorus Holiday Show, "Fruitcake," Benaroya Hall, Dec. 7 (repeated Dec. 8, also with guest soloist Jennifer Holliday; show continues without Holliday on Dec. 14, 15, 21 and 22, plus Tacoma's Temple Theater, Dec. 13).
Every year it's different - and every year it's the same.
Over the years, the Seattle Men's Chorus has evolved a formula that works brilliantly for its annual holiday show: something old, something new, something funny and a bit of boo-hoo. For thousands of Northwest music lovers, it's not Christmas until conductor Dennis Coleman and his finely honed ensemble have ushered in the holiday season with their inimitable blend of the musically sublime and the ridiculous, each in well-judged quantities.
Is the 2008 version of the show, dubbed "Fruitcake" this year, as good as in previous years? That question probably will be debated around the city, as it usually is, and the answer may well depend on whether you're one of the lucky ones to hear Jennifer Holliday (she does a guest-artist star turn on Dec. 7 and 8 only). Holliday, who told the packed house on Dec. 7 that she has lost more than 200 lbs. since she starred in "Dreamgirls" on Broadway 27 years ago, cut a svelte and power-packed figure on the Benaroya stage. She drew some of the most fervent standing ovations in Seattle Men's Chorus history with her set of three songs (only one of them Christmas-themed), concluding with an ultra-emotional version of her signature song: "And I Am Telling You" (from "Dreamgirls").
A few of Coleman's decisions may be a bit more controversial. The opening number, a small-scale and intimate version of "Christmas Once More," was a nice intro but lacked the visual and musical punch of an opener with the entire chorus assembled. (They streamed in for the second number, a high-energy David Maddux arrangement of "Deck the Halls.") Another surprise: the decision not to perform any version of "Silent Night," which has appeared annually for several years and in several incarnations (always with a silent verse accompanied by perfectly synchronized sign language). No "Silent Night" this year. Yes, it may be time to give the piece a rest, but in this season, it's hard to stomp on tradition.
On the serious side, the programming included a Maddux arrangement of "We Three Kings" (blended with "Star of Wonder"); de Victoria's "Ave Maria"; and the most technically difficult piece on the program, Eric Whitacre's "Lux Arumque"(a good performance that's not quite "there" yet, in terms of blend and accuracy).
And there was plenty of innovative hilarity in Eric Lane Barnes' witty "Nine Kings": not just the original Three Kings, but also three Elvises ("The King"), Stephen King, Billie Jean, King Tut, King Kong . . . you get the picture. The traditional carol has never gotten so many laughs. There also was a high-spirited visit from the ensemble "Sensible Shoes," from the Men's Chorus' sister organization, the Seattle Women's Chorus.
Striking a more sober note on this 67th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor bombing was a new work based on a World War II story, "The Promise - A Christmas Miracle," by Robert Seeley and Robert Espindola, commissioned by the Seattle Men's Chorus with three other choruses. Soloist Ritchard Wooley also tugged the heartstrings with "New Words," a piece evoking the bonds between parents and children.
It wouldn't be the Christmas show without the annual sing-along - this time with "Winter Wonderland" interrupted at the line of "He'll say, 'Are you married?' We'll say, 'No, man!'" by a quick and funny mini-protest (marriage is, of course, a hot political issue now, especially for a gay chorus).
The finale, a paean to the much-regifted fruitcake (this time equipped with a GPS device to track the unloved gift), was fully in the tradition of brilliant closing numbers - though Chorus fans may wistfully remember such other finales as the "Honolulu Chorus" (complete with aloha shirts) and the Silent Monks (who "sang" Handel by raising placards with just the right word at the right time). It's a challenge to prevail when you're your own toughest competition.
NOVEMBER 21, 2008
Review: The Seattle Symphony Orchestra, with Vassily Sinaisky, guest conductor, and piano soloist Yevgeny Sudbin (Nov. 20-23).
It's always a pleasure to see Vassily Sinaisky back in Seattle. The Russian-born conductor has been here twice before to guest-conduct the Seattle Symphony (in 2005 and 2007), each time making an extremely positive impression. On Thursday evening, he led the first of four concerts in a program displaying the musicianship that has made Sinaisky so popular among audiences and players alike.
This conductor certainly gets around. He has current orchestral posts in Sweden (Malmo Symphony) and England (BBC Symphony), but his previous positions range from the Moscow Philharmonic and Latvian Symphony to the Netherlands Philharmonic and the Bolshoi Opera. He also gets around the repertoire landscape - mainstream symphonic music and operas, but also lots of lesser-known works.
In Sinaisky's current Seattle Symphony program, the dessert came first: a sumptuous reading of Tchaikovsky's arch-romantic "Romeo and Juliet" Overture-Fantasy, an iconic work that's always a popular favorite. This performance was something special: beautifully detailed, convincingly delicate and hushed where it needed to be, and lushly passionate where the score indicates strong emotion. Sinaisky created a feeling of headlong urgency as one phrase built upon the next, leading the orchestra on with powerful gestures and commanding the players' watchful attention.
The evening's concerto soloist was the 28-year-old pianist Yevgeny Sudbin, who made a positive impression last year in his Seattle debut on the President's Piano Series at Meany Theater. Sudbin joined Sinaisky for Rachmaninoff's "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini," a set of 24 variations on a particularly famous theme, masquerading as a piano concerto. It's a fairly lightweight piece, great for keyboard display but not exactly mighty of musical substance. With his spectacular technique, Sudbin made this cream puff into an enjoyable indulgence for the audience, which rose to give the soloist one of the more fervent standing ovations in recent memory.
The program's finale - the Sibelius Symphony No. 2 in D Major - was a worthy account of this well-known work, with Sinaisky emphasizing the symphony's big changes in character with broad, urgent gestures. Not everything was perfect; several passages sounded under-rehearsed, and there was some murky playing in speedy passages here and there. But the sizzling third movement and the impassioned finale were evidence of what this orchestra and conductor can achieve together. Here's hoping for Sinaisky's speedy return.
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Review: The Seattle Symphony Orchestra with John Fiore, guest conductor, and Stefan Jackiw, violin soloist; Benaroya Hall, Thursday, Nov. 6 (repeated Saturday and Sunday).
Author Thomas Wolfe famously declared that "You Can't Go Home Again," but conductor John Fiore has just proved him wrong. Fiore returned this week to his boyhood home of Seattle, leading the Seattle Symphony in a program that amounts to a personal triumph for this gifted young maestro. Hired as a late replacement for Andre Previn when Previn cancelled a short time ago, Fiore stepped up to the Benaroya Hall podium with a firm artistic concept of his middle-European concert lineup, one that evidently inspired the orchestra.
It didn't hurt that the concerto soloist, violinist Stefan Jackiw, is the sort of player who could make any orchestra look good. The lucky listeners who heard Jackiw in the Beethoven Violin Concerto heard a performance of exquisite sensitivity and delicacy, with a wonderful variety in phrasing - no two repeated phrases ever sounded quite the same. Jackiw's tremendous bow control spun out long, long lines of perfect evenness even at an impossibly low end of the volume spectrum. Head tilted back and eyes closed, Jackiw appeared to perform in a state of bliss, one that was rapidly induced in the audience as well. Only 23 and already a frequent repeat visitor here, this is a young star of astonishing gifts, whose musicality and technical finesse place him at the top of his peers. Jackiw was partnered with equal sensitivity by Fiore, whose unhurried, attentive approach with the orchestra gave the soloist every opportunity to work his magic.
The Seattle Symphony's Masterpiece Series audience isn't given to clapping between the movements of symphonies and concerti, so it was disconcerting to hear applause punctuating the carefully established moods of the Beethoven concerto. Jackiw met the surprise applause with aplomb, and rewarded the final ovation - a great outpouring of appreciation - with a single encore, the Largo movement of Bach's Solo Violin Sonata No. 3.
Fiore opened the program with a stately reading of Mozart's "Don Giovanni" Overture, and closed it with the Dvorak Symphony No. 7 in D Minor. Both works displayed a decided gravitas, but it was in the Dvorak that Fiore had the scope to show what he can do to shape orchestral balances, phrases, and the big picture of a full-scale symphony. It was an impressive performance. He has a clear concept of this mercurial and stormy work, and he gives equally clear direction to the orchestra. Fiore led the Dvorak with verve, discipline, and an obvious enjoyment in the process. He is an intensely musical conductor; the players responded remarkably well, especially the horns and brass.
The warm ovation must have made an especially nice homecoming for this conductor, who has long been based in Germany (he is former General Music Director of the Dusseldorf Symphony, and current Chief Conductor of the Deutsche Oper-am-Rhein, as well as a frequent guest elsewhere, notably at New York's Metropolitan Opera). Let's hope we find him disproving Thomas Wolfe's dictum more often here in Seattle.
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2 *OCTOBER 30, 20
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*OCTOBER 30, 2008
Review: Seattle Opera's "Elektra"
No opera company presents Strauss' searing one-act opera "Elektra" without the best soprano they can muster in that demanding title role. If that fact weren't enough to rivet everybody's attention on Seattle Opera's debuting star, Janice Baird, there was also the news that Baird has arguably an even more important role coming up: she will be the company's Brunnhilde in three cycles of next year's eagerly awaited Wagnerian "Ring."
Fortunately, Baird's Elektra delivers the goods: powerful singing, strong stage personality, and an apparently tireless store of thrilling high notes. This role also marks the West Coast debut for this American-born soprano, who has sung in many of the big European houses but isn't as well known here. She almost certainly will be, with the vocal and dramatic skills she displayed in this production. (Baird made a surprise Metropolitan Opera debut as Isolde this past March, standing in on short notice for an indisposed Deborah Voigt and earning a warm reception.)
Baird's performance is the centerpiece, but far from the only attraction, of an "Elektra" that boasts a wealth of vocal, staging and orchestral excellence. She is part of a trio of women who dominate the opera, including Elektra's sister, Chrysothemis, and mother, Klytamnestra.
Elektra's story is one of the final chapters in the long and bloody Greek tragedy of the House of Atreus: Elektra's father, Agamemnon, had earlier been murdered upon his return home from the Trojan War by Elektra's mother and her lover, Aegisth (Strauss' librettist, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, uses the German forms of these Greek names, hence "Aegisth" instead of "Aegisthus"). The opera, set 10 years after this fact, finds Elektra waiting obsessively for the return of her banished brother, Orest, to avenge Agamemnon's murder.
Irmgard Vilsmaier, as Chrysothemis, gave an all-out performance that initially struggled with Strauss' unrelenting high notes, but warmed up to command the stage with an intensity that matched Baird's. As the doomed Klytamnestra, Rosalind Plowright was exceptional: costumed (by Melanie Taylor Burgess) in a preposterous headpiece with earrings only slightly smaller than cymbals, she revealed herself to Elektra as a doddering old woman, tormented almost enough - but not quite enough - to earn Elektra's sympathy. Plowright made a mighty impact with this complex portrayal.
Strauss gives each of the three women a scene in which they reveal their hearts. For Chrysothemis, it's the confrontation with Elektra in which she begs her sister to relent in her quest for vengeance, so they can have the normal life of Chrysothemis' dreams. For Klytamnestra, it's the scene in which she reveals her nightmares and her fears to the daughter whose life she has ruined. And for Elektra, it is the touching reunion scene with her long-lost brother, Orest, who finally belies the false rumors of his death and arrives to enact the long-postponed vengeance by killing Klytamnestra and Aegisth. (That last role, brief but telling, was undertaken by the outstanding tenor Richard Margison; for once, you wished Aegisth would live a little longer.)
The reunion scene, with Baird and the imposing Alfred Walker as Orest, was genuinely touching, with Strauss temporarily letting up on the shrieks and alarms of the orchestral score and providing the most beautifully lyrical music of the opera. Throughout the evening, the orchestra performed at a remarkably high level under the direction of Lawrence Renes, the Dutch-born conductor who has been a frequent and popular guest at the Seattle Symphony. Renes has a fine sense of pacing and an excellent ear for balances, and gave his musicians full rein while very seldom overpowering the singers. The players made short work of this virtuoso score, with its huge requirements for brass and terrific workouts for everyone from piccolo to tuba.
Chris Alexander, a company regular who has won consistent acclaim here, gave the production a wealth of dramatic detail and frequent surges of energy in the action. The characters were like coiled springs, ready to snap at any moment - from the opening violent scrubbing activities by the five maids (Cynthia Jansen, Sarah Mattox, Melissa Parks, Emily Clubb and Eleanor Stallcop-Horrox, all excellent) to the startling near-enactment of human sacrifice upon Klytamnestra's entrance, and a final coup d'etat battle upon Orest's return. Alexander provided not only spectacular action on Wolfram Skalicki's dark, massive set, but also lots of nuance; we see Chrysothemis prettying herself up in preparation for a new life, Klytamnestra's handmaidens insinuating their confidences into her ear, and Klytamnestra visibly shrinking as she unburdens herself to Elektra. The lighting, by Marcus Doshi, underscored the drama at every turn.
"Elektra" continues through Nov. 1, with an alternate cast performing Oct. 31 (though Baird sings the title role that night, and Jayne Casselman takes over for her on Nov. 1). Go if you can: it's the most riveting 100 minutes you're likely to spend in a long time.
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Review: Violin recital, with Dmitry Sitkovetsky and pianist Konstantin Lifschitz; Benaroya Hall, Oct. 1.
By Melinda Bargreen
When the news came that pianist Bella Davidovich had withdrawn (citing ill health) from the Oct. 1 duo recital with her son, violinist Dmitry Sitkovetsky, there was consternation among local music lovers. Would the recital lack that unique bond that had produced such high-powered and closely-attuned concerts from this duo in the past?
No one needed to worry. Sitkovetsky, now 54, showed up with the 31-year-old Ukrainian-born pianist Konstantin Lifschitz, and the two of them played a recital that sounded as if they’d spent decades sharing the concert stage.
Sitkovetsky has had a big Seattle-area profile over the years, as a regular guest with the Seattle Symphony, and the former artistic director of the now-defunct International Chamber Music Festival of Seattle. He led that festival, and conducted concerts featuring the New European Strings chamber orchestra here, for five seasons before the festival closed in 1997. Seattle audiences also know him as an arranger and transcriber, and Sitkovetsky is usually such a draw that it was a surprise to see a small turnout for his recital with Lifschitz. The audience may have been modest in size, but it was fervent in applause, rewarding a set of spectacular performances with a resounding ovation.
What made the evening special? First, it was the best playing I’ve ever heard from Sitkovetsky, who is known as a strong, bold, straight-ahead violinist with great technique and musicality. In this recital he was something considerably more: an artist of considerable subtlety who turned one arresting, ear-catching phrase after another. The very attractive program extended from two beloved classical-era standards – Beethoven’s Sonata No. 1 in D Major, and Mozart’s brief little G Major Sonata (K.501) – to the Ravel Violin Sonata and Prokofiev’s Violin Sonata No. 2 in D Major. With each repertoire shift, Sitkovetsky retooled everything – style, articulations, phrasing, bowing – to make the strongest case for each sonata, with Lifschitz matching him phrase for phrase.
The performances were full of little surprises. Phrases were stretched and compressed, with sudden shifts in dynamics and a slight hesitation to make the listener wait just a split-second for that resolution of a melodic line. Sitkovetsky’s tremendous bow control means that he can achieve just about anything on his instrument, from the exquisite subtlety of his Beethoven to the sinuous, jazzy turns in the Ravel’s Gershwin-like middle movement.
The Mozart, always a test of players’ musical depth, was particularly fine. Here Sitkovetsky and Lifschitz made the music strongly individualized without ever distorting it, taking little liberties in a performance that kept listeners on the edge of their seats. When players can do that with one of the most familiar Mozart sonatas in the repertoire, it’s a real achievement.
The Prokofiev drew some pardonable exaggerations in its Allegro movement (so reminiscent of “Peter and the Wolf”) from Lifschitz, who had an rousing time with the finger-busting accompaniment. The triumphant finale brought such warm applause that the artists returned for two encores: an arrangement for violin and piano of the “Winter Fairy” excerpt from Prokofiev’s “Cinderella,” and the familiar March from Prokofiev’s “The Love of Three Oranges.”
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REVIEW: Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 (“Symphony of a Thousand”), with Gerard Schwarz conducting; Benaroya Hall, Sept. 25-28.
By Melinda Bargreen
Historians tell us that composer/conductor Gustav Mahler really did assemble a group of more than 1,000 performers for the 1910 premiere of his “Symphony of a Thousand” (No. 8). The Seattle Symphony’s production of this symphonic landmark may have been numerically smaller (nearly 400, including eight vocal soloists, the Northwest Boychoir, Seattle Pro Musica and Seattle Symphony Chorale, in addition to a beefed-up orchestra with lots of extra players). But ambient volume levels, not to mention the huge collection of musicians on the specially extended stage, suggested that Benaroya Hall was just about maxed out in terms of sheer volume in this majestic, inspiring performance.
Music director Gerard Schwarz also assembled a distinguished cast of vocal soloists, including Lauren Flanigan, Jane Eaglen, Jane Giering-de Haan, Nancy Maultsby, Jane Gilbert, Vinson Cole, Clayton Brainerd and Harold Wilson, to join the outsized choral and orchestral forces. Several of the soloists are well-known Wagnerians, decidedly an advantage in projecting over Mahler’s army of choristers and instrumentalists. Schwarz located the vocal soloists not at the front of the stage, but between the orchestra and the chorale – an excellent choice, as it turned out, because all of the soloists were clearly audible, even the dulcet, caressing tones of the most lyrical of the singers, Vinson Cole. And what a thrill to hear Jane Eaglen’s soaring soprano ringing out into every corner of the hall.
Nearly all the singers had a huge job to perform in the 90-minute behemoth that is the Mahler Eighth. It’s a very big “sing” for the soloists, who are taxed with relentless barrages of challenging high notes (even the basses: Brainerd occasionally was up in tenor territory). The choral singers, too, are pushed to the extremes of their registers. The Seattle Pro Musica gave the choral sound a particularly lovely spin, with a rock-solid bottom that sounded as if a herd of Russian basses had arrived. Enhancing the evening on the other end of the sonic spectrum was the Northwest Boychoir, which sang with intensity, focus and a beautiful purity.
The “Symphony of a Thousand” may well have been Gerard Schwarz’s finest hour (well, hour and a half) thus far in his long tenure here. He is a first-rate Mahler advocate, able to pull together these huge and disparate musical forces into a cohesive and impressive whole. Inevitably there are a few stray moments when things don’t work right, but these paled in comparison with the beautiful solo playing, the carefully engineered contrasts and climaxes, and more delicate chamber-like sections, where wind choirs (most of them in tune) brought the enormous scale of the piece down to an intimate level. Schwarz also is a great encourager of the brass section; the finales of both the Mahlerian movements were a veritable brass-fest.
Kudos also to the choral conductors, Joseph Crnko (both the Seattle Symphony Chorale and the Northwest Boychoir) and Karen P. Thomas (the Seattle Pro Musica). Their skill in choral preparation was amply evident.
This production, performed three times, is a treat for Mahler fans, and a life-changing experience for those who think they’re immune to Mahler. And as a sheer symphonic landmark, it’s a work you owe it to yourself to hear live, because it may be several years before there’s another chance.
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Seattle Symphony Opening Night Gala, Sept. 13
By Melinda Bargreen
The opening of each concert season is always a time to ponder and reflect, but the 2008 Seattle Symphony Opening Night Gala came at a real watershed for the music community. Just days before music lovers gathered for the Gala celebrating the 10th anniversary of the opening of Benaroya Hall, music director Gerard Schwarz announced that he would step down from his post at the conclusion of his current contract in 2011. Despite Schwarz’s long tenure here (25 years thus far, following his 1983 arrival in Seattle as music advisor), the announcement and its timing came as a surprise, even to many music insiders.
Maybe that’s one reason why Schwarz got an unusually warm welcome when he arrived onstage for the Sept. 13 season kickoff, with an ovation that was surely a show of support from many in the audience. It was an evening of acknowledgements, from the patrons whose generosity made the Benaroya Hall possible (Jack and Becky Benaroya) to the hall’s architect (Mark Reddington) and acoustician (Cyril Harris) and the then-mayor (Norm Rice).
The concert itself was not exactly electrifying; it was in many ways a typical gala program, whose programming logic is less strictly musical than an opportunity to showcase the star (or, in this case, stars). Two longtime favorites of the opera stage, mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade and bass Samuel Ramey, are now in the later stages of their singing careers and have built up several decades of good will among music lovers. They were featured separately and together, along with solo orchestral works, in a musical lineup that extended from Berlioz’s stirring “Hungarian March” to Gershwin’s familiar “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off.”
The serious stuff came in the first half, with Ramey reprising Berlioz and Boito arias from some of his most famous roles (Ramey is an internationally renowned devil, so to speak, and one of the world’s foremost interpreters of Mephistopheles in Boito’s “Mefistofele” and Gounod’s “Faust”). The arias he performed (Berlioz’s “Une puce gentile” and “Devant la maison,” and Boito’s “Ave signor!,” “Son Io Spirito” and “Ecco il mondo”) are not among the most recognizable in the operatic repertoire; they’re also very challenging for the bass in terms of their emphasis on extended and repeated high notes. They are the meat and potatoes of Ramey’s career, however, and he knows how to present them to good effect. Ramey’s voice is still robust, well supported and possessing a handsome bass timbre that projected throughout the hall.
Von Stade, who appeared in three different outfits (black, then white, then red), has long been renowned as one of the most appealing singers in the business. At her best, she projects a warmth and radiance that draws the listener in, filling the music with a human compassion that never fails to connect with audiences. She sang two Jake Heggie pieces: first, the aria “Don’t Say a Word” from “Dead Man Walking” (von Stade sang its premiere), and then the short “Primary Colors” (from the song cycle “The Deepest Desire”), but made her strongest artistic points with Thomas’ “Connais-tu le pays” from the opera “Mignon.” Von Stade’s voice is still in good shape, but there is a troubling break in the shift from chest to head register, and one of the evening’s songs (Rodgers’ “People Will Say We’re in Love”) seemed to sit squarely in that break between registers.
The audience had the most fun with a Copland set in the second half, introduced by the sparkling “Outdoor Overture” and moving on to several of the “Old American Songs” – from “Simple Gifts” to “I Bought Me a Cat” (the latter humorously interpreted by both singers). The elegiac “Waltz” from Copland’s “Billy the Kid” brought the orchestra’s solo contributions to a graceful close.
For Schwarz and the orchestra, this was a program full of disparate bits and pieces, and it’s hard to get everything just right. There were some stellar solos and also some intonation problems. The orchestra has a pops series up next, with Marvin Hamlisch presiding over a “big band” program. It’ll be interesting to hear how the Symphony sounds in its “Masterworks” series opener, when Schwarz, the musicians, and a lengthy lineup of distinguished soloists will undertake Mahler’s “Symphony of a Thousand” (No. 8).
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Review: Seattle Opera’s production of Verdi’s “Aida”; Marion Oliver McCaw Hall (August, 2008).
By Melinda Bargreen
Operas don’t come any grander than Verdi’s “Aida,” a work that allows the audience to revel in musical spectacle, romance, tragedy and terrific arias. Yet the real feelings beneath all the grandeur and pageantry are seldom as fully realized as in Seattle Opera’s new “Aida,” a production of such gripping intensity that listeners may feel they’ve never really seen and heard this opera before.
You know an opera company has a winner when you find yourself choking up in the middle of a scene that has never particularly moved you before. In Seattle Opera’s current production, that moment arrives partway through the judgment scene in Act IV, when Stephanie Blythe’s Amneris realizes that nothing she can do will save her beloved Radames. So passionate is her singing and acting, so palpable her grief, that it’s a real moment for the handkerchiefs (and normally this is the point where I’m thinking, “OK, Amneris, enough; let’s get back to our title character here”).
Not that the rest of the cast wasn’t impressive – and we’ll get to them in a moment. But Blythe is something else again. She has sung Wagnerian goddesses, a gypsy seductress and an adventurous aviatrix here in Seattle, among other roles, but her Amneris eclipses them all. She’s dangerously good: dangerously because she comes perilously close to tilting the balance of the opera to the point where you stop caring about the show’s central romance between the title character and the tenor. It’s not only the sheer amplitude of that huge, fabulous mezzo-soprano, which rises above all the other principals and the chorus in the ensemble scenes; it’s the force of personality with which Blythe invests this spoiled and jealous princess, turning her into a real woman.
Blythe has a formidable counterpart in Lisa Daltirus’ Aida, a role that shows this soprano off to even better advantage than did last season’s “Tosca.” Daltirus, too, is a powerful singing actress (and she needs to be, in this show); she projects an emotional intensity that lights up the stage. Her voice is very close to being a great Aida voice, floating beautiful high notes and shaping some lovely lines – particularly in her aria, “O patria mia,” which she made deeply affecting. On the minus side were some issues with vocal control, slack pitch in some of the quieter passages and insufficient projection in the lower register. Daltirus was well matched with the passionate Radames of Antonello Palombi, who debuted here four years ago as a robust Dick Johnson (“La Fanciulla del West”) and was more recently heard as Canio in “I Pagliacci.” Palombi’s Radames demonstrates considerably more vocal finesse here, sliding into a nifty voix mixte (a seamless transition in and out of falsetto), and varying the volume of his high notes to striking dramatic effect (a favorite technique of the late Franco Corelli). He’s an impetuous actor, sometimes to near-comic levels; Palombi’s appalled double-take when the King announces that Radames is to marry Amneris brought chuckles from several audience members.
The supporting cast was unusually well chosen, not only for vocal strength (of which there was plenty), but also for realistic, impassioned acting. Luis-Ottavio Faria’s Ramfis was a standout; so were Joseph Rawley’s King and the elegant High Priestess of Priti Gandhi. Charles Taylor galvanized the stage with his angry energy as Aida’s vanquished royal father, Amonasro.
Robin Guarino’s stage direction kept the show from sinking into the usual static tableaux and made strongly effective use of the handsome, traditional Michael Yeargan sets (originally created for the San Diego Opera). Beth Kirchhoff’s disciplined, intelligent work with the chorus paid big dividends in the all-important chorus scenes. The show has a retro feel, full of the look and gesture of the King Tut exhibits and Egyptian friezes; Peter J. Hall designed the principal costumes, and one of Amneris’ outfits appears to be modeled on Nefertiti’s. There’s gold and glitter galore.
With all this traditional grandeur, the otherwise-terrific choreography of Donald Byrd isn’t a perfect fit for the show. Decidedly modern, despite some stylized Egyptian-style gestures, the dancers appear to reenact the Egypt-Ethiopia wars in high-energy martial-arts style, where grand-opera audiences are likely to expect something a little more balletic.
In the orchestra pit, conductor Riccardo Frizza (in his Seattle debut) made a strong impression, infusing the musicians with the same kind of impetuous energy and drama that was taking place on the stage. This is an interesting maestro, one who is just as adept at supporting a singer’s pianissimo line as executing the wonderfully corny grandeur of the Triumphal March.
The production runs through Aug. 23, with an alternate cast (including such imposing singers as Margaret Jane Wray and Richard Paul Fink, both Seattle “Ring” veterans) taking over on five of the dates. With this “Aida,” Seattle Opera’s 2008-09 season can fairly be said to be off to a flying start.
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SEATTLE OPERA’S 2ND INTERNATIONAL WAGNER COMPETITION (August, 2008)
By Melinda Bargreen
Dissent is so common at music competitions that it’s rare to find one in which the audience is not ready to lynch the judges.
But Seattle Opera’s International Wagner Competitions are bucking that trend, and harmony has prevailed. The first competition, held in 2006, found the audience, the judges and the orchestra (yes, the players demanded a chance to vote, too) united in the selection of English baritone James Rutherford as one of the two winners. (The judges also selected Irish soprano Miriam Murphy.)
And this year’s second competition also found the audience and the judges in unanimous accord, though the orchestra chose another singer – stay tuned for those details, while we first consider why there’s a Wagner competition in the first place. Seattle Opera has made Wagner its standby, presenting productions of “Der Ring des Nibelungen” regularly ever since 1975, and under the current general director – Speight Jenkins – the company has intensified its Wagnerian focus. Not surprisingly, the discovery of hot new talent in a repertoire that is notoriously difficult to cast well makes the idea of a Wagner competition very attractive. It doesn’t hurt that local billionaire arts buff Charles Simonyi, a noted Wagner fan, has underwritten both competitions.
And then there’s a huge level of audience interest in the Wagner Competitions. Currently in a “Ring” drought – the Seattle “Ring” was presented in 2005 and returns in August of 2009 – Seattle Opera audiences were more than ready for a competition that would be all Wagner, all night, performed by eight budding international stars with full orchestra. Asher Fisch, Seattle Opera’s principal guest conductor, did the evening’s conducting honors. The audience involvement in the competition was clear throughout the evening: listeners cheered boisterously for their favorites, rushed to the ballot boxes to vote following the final performance, and even accorded the judges an ovation. And it was quite the international team of judges, too: Pamela Rosenberg (managing director of the Berlin Philharmonic), Eva Wagner-Pasquier (the composer’s great-granddaughter, who has long been associated with the Metropolitan Opera, Festival d’Aix en Provence, and several other companies), Ben Heppner (noted tenor), Stephen Wadsworth (stage director and a faculty fellow at Juilliard, with posts at the Met and at Aspen Institute), Peter Kazaras (tenor and artistic director of Seattle Opera’s Young Artists Program), and Hans-Joachim Frey (general director of the Theater Bremen).
Earlier international auditions had created a promising field of finalists, aged 25-39, selected in a Munich, London, New York and Seattle; they competed for two cash prizes of 5,000 each. The lineup included Erin Caves, tenor, from Stockton, California; Jason Collins, tenor, of Beaufort/Seneca, South Carolina; Deborah Humble, mezzo-soprano, from Adelaide, Australia; Darren Jeffery, bass-baritone, of Cambridgeshire, England; Peter Lobert, bass, from Jena, Germany; Michael Weinius, tenor, of Stockholm, Sweden; Nadine Weissmann, mezzo-soprano, from Berlin, Germany; and Elza van den Heever, soprano, of Johannesburg, South Africa. Each singer presented two arias, one before and one after intermission, with Seattle Opera’s principal guest conductor, Asher Fisch, and the Seattle Opera Orchestra.
By and large, the candidates were certainly ready for their close-up: trim, beautifully attired, communicative by both voice and gesture, with plenty of star presence. No “operatic Fat Ladies” here; just a group of people one could easily imagine as stars of tomorrow.
It’s always a challenge to fit the right Wagnerian repertoire to the right voice. With some major exceptions, Wagner is not really a standard-aria composer, and some of the selections that are the most musically interesting are not ones that impress an audience in the manner of, say, a “Celeste Aida” or “Vissi d’arte.” Not surprisingly, the “Ring” was well represented in the aria lineup, with two singers (Weissmann and Humble) both choosing Erda’s “Weiche, Wotan, Weiche” and Waltraute’s Narrative. Three other singers (Caves, Weinius and Collins) picked excerpts of the ill-fated Siegmund; Jeffrey undertook one of Wotan’s “Das Rheingold” scenes, and Lobert sang “Hagen’s Watch,” from “Götterdämmerung.” The operas “Tannhäuser,” “Parsifal,” “Lohengrin,” “Die Meistersinger” and “Der Fliegende Holländer” also were represented.
Usually it’s a disadvantage to be the first performer in a competition -- unless you’re so terrific that everyone keeps judging the subsequent singers by your standard. This happened with the Wagner Competition’s first contestant, the lovely Elza van den Heever, who swept out on the stage and launched into a radiant “Dich, teure Halle” (“Tannhäuser”) that knocked everybody’s dress socks off. Her voice, good-sized and well-focused, made the top notes sound easy, and she knew how to sell the aria to the audience. Van den Heever further impressed later on with a highly artistic presentation of “Einsam in trüben Tagen” (from “Lohengrin”).
Erin Caves did a fine job with Siegmund’s “Ein Schwert” and “Winterstürme,” but his tendency to veer sharp -- more than a semitone -- on the big high notes put him out of contention. Lobert, a big and imposing bass, sang well but was too stolid to make a good Hagen; he shone in Daland’s “Mögst du, mein Kind” (from “Der Fliegende Holländer”).
Humble, another very attractive singer, was a convincing Erda, but suffered from some pitch problems and vocal gear-shifting into a startling chest voice in Waltraute’s Narrative. Weinius, a very baritonal-sounding tenor, gave a polished, lyrical account of the “Preislied” from “Die Meistersinger,” and also later with “Amfortas, die Wunde” (“Parsifal”), though his top notes seemed strained.
Weissmann’s beautiful and distinctive sound made it clear that this is just the right instrument for both Erda and Waltraute, but she didn’t carry the tone all the way through the notes, which substantially diminished the impact of her splendid tone quality. Jeffery’s noble, well-produced bass-baritone didn’t seem quite focused enough; the impression was worthy but dull. And Collins, the only singer to have appeared in the earlier first Wagner Competition, was less successful as Siegmund than in a nicely sung “Nur eine Waffe taugt” (from “Parsifal”).
And the winners? The orchestra, whose members could hear but not see the performers, chose Weissmann, whose opulent voice must have put her near the top of everyone’s list (vote totals were not announced).
The judges, who could pick two winners, chose van den Heever and Weinius; the audience choice was van den Heever. Another miracle had occurred: a competition in which the audience was thrilled, not mutinous, over the judges’ verdict.
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Review: Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival, opening concert (Aug. 19, 2008)
By Melinda Bargreen
Good things come in small packages.
The Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival has spent the past decade proving the truth of that old saying. Small and homegrown, with an international reach in both artists and programming, the Little Festival That Could is racking up awards for excellence: its “The First 10 Years” DVD/CD just won the International Academy of the Visual Arts’ “Communicator Award of Excellence,” and festival director Aloysia Friedmann has just received a “CMAcclaim Award” from Chamber Music America.
No wonder expectations were high for the opening pair of concerts Aug. 19-20, when Friedmann programmed a big, diverse lineup of works and artists – including the international violin star Chee-Yun. Not even the arrival of heavy rains (a rarity during the Festival) could dampen the excitement of what must be one of the most involved, enthusiastic audiences for chamber music anywhere. Despite the uncompromising excellence of the musical standard, this festival still has a homey, intimate feeling, with impromptu commentary from the stage, unabashed sales pitches for festival merchandise, and lots of interaction between artists and audience members. Post-concert receptions let those two groups mix over wines and a finger-food buffet in an adjacent hall at the Orcas Center after each concert. And though lots of audience members come up from the Seattle metropolitan area, the festival is deeply, unmistakably Orcas’ own.
The opening program started off with that forefather of chamber music, J.S. Bach, in a small-scale performance of his Keyboard Concerto in D Minor. This time, the keyboard was a piano and not the harpsichord of Bach’s day, with the pianist Anna Polonsky – a regular visitor to the Seattle Chamber Music Society’s festivals – as the featured soloist. Joining her was a sextet of strings: just enough players to give that chamber-orchestra feeling. Polonsky’s beautifully articulated and nimbly ornamented reading was lovely, though her more dulcet approach to the piano was sometimes swamped by the rest of the ensemble (Andres Cardenes and Monique Mead, violins; Friedmann and David Harding, violists; and Anne Martindale Williams and Page Smith, cellists).
Some pieces of music sound as if they were created specifically to evoke summer, and that’s the case with the lovely Debussy Sonata for Flute, Viola and Harp. This sunny work, in which each of the instruments sets off the other perfectly, was given a warmly sensuous reading by flutist Karla Flygare, violist Friedmann and harpist Heidi Lehwalder (a Northwest legend who was discovered as a preteen by the late Milton Katims, and went on to become the first Avery Fisher Prize winner, among many distinctions).
The arch-romantic Franck Violin Sonata was given the full bravura treatment by Chee-Yun and pianist Jon Kimura Parker. Chee-Yun’s purity of tone and emotional engagement were evident in a rhapsodic approach to this landmark work. The piano part presents a huge challenge: how to realize fully the tremendous virtuoso opportunities of the score without overwhelming the violinist. Parker never let his piano-soloist instincts overcome his chamber-music skills; he has always had a great ear for balances as a pianist partner.
All this programming, amounting to the length of the average chamber concert, happened before intermission. Still to come: one of the greatest of all chamber works for clarinet, the Brahms Clarinet Quintet. Franklin Kowalsky, a regular at several Northwest festivals (including the Seattle Chamber Music Society’s and the Bellingham Festival), played the prominent clarinet part in a performance that was remarkable for its rhapsodic freedom and its passionate abandon. Cellist Anne Martindale Williams was a particular standout in the ensemble strings (which included Cardenes, Mead and Harding).
The festival continues through August 30, though getting tickets is always a challenge. You’ll find complete details of programming at the website, www.oicmf.org.