Before Die Gezeichneten - Franz Schreker - Der Geburtstag der Infantin

Franz Schreker's masterpiece, Die Gezeichneten opens this weekend in Los Angeles, under the name "The Stigmatized". It's worth preparing for, because the plot's complicated and quite unsavoury (child abduction and rape). Much isn't "revealed", but rather intimated, which to me is one of its strengths. Please read what I've written about the  2005 Salzburg production. Orchestrally, it's outstanding, Nagano is intense, wonderful transparent textures despite the density of the score. Moreover, he doesn't over-romaticize the grimmer depths. See HERE, too, for my original piece with video clips from the DVD

Another way to prepare for Die Gezeichneten (it's not such a difficult word to learn) is to listen to Schreker's much earlier Der Geburtstag der Infantin. .It's based on the Oscar Wilde story, The Birthday of the Infanta (read full story here)

The Infanta is privileged, but there's tragedy in her past. Her mother died after her birth, her father's still distraught. She lives in ultimate luxury, because her dad's the King of Spain and rules the world. As a birthday gift, some noblemen buy a boy from the forest to amuse her. He's utterly guileless, talks to birds etc, completely the opposite to the claustrophobic artifice in the palace.The boy entertains the Infanta who tosses him a white rose. Later he walks into a secret room of mirrors and sees a monster. He's terrified. His heart breaks when he realizes that the "monster" is himself, an ugly dwarf. "Huh," sneers the Infanta, "I don't want anyone with a heart near me". Who's the real beauty here, the princess or the dwarf?

So the parallels with Die Gezeichneten are clear. Why didn't Schreker make anything more of it then, in 1908?  Perhaps it's because it was written to showcase the talents of the three Wiesenthal sisters who, like Schreker himself, moved on to other things.The original manuscript was lost til the 1980's though there's an arrangement in Schreker's hand dedicated to Willem Mengelberg in Amsterdam.

Der Geburtstag der Infantin.is pretty straightforward scene setting (Schreker was only 30), but the music's gorgeously rich and luscious. That's the life the Infanta leads, where everything's grand luxe, and, like her palace it's meant to be stunning. But Schreker wasn't a Romantic escapist. The point of the story is that the Dwarf is the purer soul. The Infanta's music is beautiful, but that's an illusion. Schreker, whose mother was an aristocrat, and grew up in privileged circles, wasn't unaware that the rich use people like toys. Die Gezeichneten, written with the collapse of the Austrian empire, allowed him to explore these ideas much further.

The critical point in Der Geburtstag is the final scene where the boy enters the hall of mirrors and is destroyed by self-knowledge. Sudden, strident strings that break off, tiny tentative figures, overwhelmed by violent trumpets, percussion, basses. The boy's melody tries to surface but it's smashed. Schreker is moving away from music for dance, even though the Weisenthal sisters weren't "ballet dancers" but avant garde modern dance pioneers.

Further music to explore: Schreker's Der Wind (see clip below) which was written for Grete Wiesenthal the year after Der Geburtstag der Infantin, and has some of the strange, not-quite-Romantic ambienceof Zemlinsky's Der Zwerg, a one act opera which, if paired with Der Geburtstag would make an interesting programme. And of course Die Gezeichneten, or "The Stigmatized" as I hope it will not come to be known.

Il Turco Rossini in Londra ROH

Il Turco in Italia in Londra!  Rossini cooks up a fine stew at the Royal Opera House, London. "You got to go" said a friend last month. "Just the thing we need in gloomy times". But like a fool I demurred. Then cheerful reviews like this one in Opera Today come up.

"I Love Lucy with a fully functioning queen size bed, instead of those two maddening twins, if you will. (Where was Little Ricky conceived in that chaste boudoir)"........Principals arrive for the meeting on the beach on all mode of transport, snazzy sedan, cheap compact, and the tenor-topped Vespa; and Selim’s subsequent making out with Zaida in the back seat was a goof that resonated with 60’s park-and-snog atmosphere.....Narciso’s yellow Elvis-meets-the Pillsbury-Dough-boy pop-rocker jumpsuit was giddily prankish."

But more depth in  this than meets the eye, as so often with Rossini (see the brilliant La cambiale di matrimonio at the Guildhall last year).  Incidentally the directors, Patrice Caurier and Moshe Leiser, and designers, were also behind Ambroise Thomas' Hamlet which was modern but didn't make the Met sky fall in.

Of course when I went to book, it turned out it was first day of public bookings, so it took ages and I ended up with a few extras, but I'll try to get to Il Turco later in the week.

Korngold improvises Wagner

For a change Erich Korngold didn't write the music for the film Magic Fire, a biopic of Richard Wagner. But he adapted Wagner's music for the film, and played it on piano. Because he really knew how to conduct he could coach the star, and act the part of Hans Richter. The CD is a compilation of different bits of Wagner adapted for the film by Korngold, no dialogue, no actors. Korngold plays five pieces himself, transcribed freely for piano. For example a bit where "Wagner" plays Der fliegende Holländer to Meyerbeer, and then a bit of Tristan und Isolde. It's so lush, I want to see it in full technicolor. Imagine, Peter Cushing as Otto Wesendonck. 

One of the things I like about Erich as opposed to his father, Julius, was that he didn't seem to take himself too seriously. Here he is playing around with his masterpiece Pierrots Lied from Die tote Stadt

Eleven year old's opera premieres in Vienna

Eleven-year-old Erich Korngold wrote Der Schneeman, which was premiered this month 100 years ago in a version for two pianos and dancers. Aged 13, he played one of the pianos. It caught the attention of the Emperor Franz Josef who ordered a fully orchestrated version to be created for the Hofopernhaus. where it was played by the Vienna Philharmonic in October 1910   Read more HERE

and below
a snippet
from an even earlier Korngold piece written aged 6 !

Why Jesus walks in Macau

This is the statue of Jesus that normally sits in a secret alcove behind the altar in the church of São Augustinho in Macau. He's hidden from public view but those who know enter an unprepossessing opening, and suddenly this magnificent statue in glowing colours appears out of the darkness. Amazingly theatrical. No wonder he's reputed to do miracles.photo credit(see photostream, lots of excellent images)

All over the Catholic world, statues are taken in procession through the streets as an act of faith. The idea is that God shares in the life of the community. It's not "just" for show. This statue is special because there's a legend attached to it. Four hundred years ago, there was a power struggle in the city  between the Augustinian order, the Dominicans and the Jesuits. The statue was taken to the Cathedral, but mysteriously kept returning to São Augustinho. Compromise: each year since then, at the beginning of Lent, the statue is shrouded and taken to the Cathedral in the dead of night. Next day, it's returned to its original church in an elaborate procession, bishop and clergy also dressed in purple, the colour of Lent. Incense, prayers, songs. Everyone follows, or comes to look, believers or not. Chinese do processions, too, of Chinese gods and symbols, so it's a good example of cross-cultural empathy. Nowadays Jesus walks through the city centre, past McDonald's and so on, but that shows that faith for those who follow it is real and alive.

There are many legends connected to this church, which is known as Lung So Miu in Chinese - "Dragon Hair Temple", because the first structure (1589) burned down, but mysteriously, the mat shed roof  collapsed and didn't burn. Proof that the church was protected by a powerful dragon. Then, in 1712  the procession stopped. There was famine in South China. The statue came out again, and the harvest returned.  Macau is full of legends like this, it's part of the mystique of the place. Please look up labels on right. I'll do more as and when I can...

Mahler LPO London 2010/11

Mahler is The Biggest Party in Town, and everyone wants a grab at the party bag. Because he's been so effectively rebranded he's become a surefire hit favourite, like Tchaikovsky and Mozart. Maybe that's good for the music, but maybe not. What does London's music flagship, the South Bank, have on offer?

Vladimir Jurowski and the London Philharmonic Orchestra kick off the South Bank Mahler 2010/11 season with Mahler's Third Symphony.  It's likely to be starry, which is apt, since this is Mahler's sunniest symphony (though there is dark humour in it)  It's being paired with Zemlinsky's Maeterlinck Songs (Petra Lang) which are lovely, but not perhaps familiar to the kind of audiences that turn out for stellar events. Quite possibly it will divert attention from the symphony. In any case, why not Mahler songs of the same period ? Plenty of those later in the season, and Lang has them in her repertoire.

On 1st December, another blockbuster programme, matching Mahler's Fourth Symphony with Britten's Les Illuminations. Both are massive tours de force for high voice, so it's hard to imagine any single performer singing both in one evening, and may stretch even one as experienced as Christine Schäfer. They divide focus, so each may not be heard to best advantage.  Again, why not match the symphony with relevant songs? Das irdische Leben, for example, which is a mirror image of Das himmlische Leben.(the finale of Mahler 4). Together they'd be much more sensitive to Mahler's mindset. And they're ideal for Schäfer's light, child-like purity.  Although she's done a good Les Illuminations in the past, it's not necessarily her forte (unlike Mahler 4 which could have been written for her).

Three days later, Jurowski conducts Mahler's First Symphony, with Blumine, the extra movement the conductor discarded.  It's a nice piece, so you can see the attraction. But in performance it can drag (which is why Mahler changed his mind). Perhaps Jurowski will make a case for it, but if he doesn't, it's still an interesting curiosity. This time it's paired with Beethoven Piano Concerto no 4 (Grimaud) which is different enough (though has similarities) to work well.

Mahler's Fifth and Sixth Symphonies follow in January. Jaap van Zweden conducts Mahler 6 first, then Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts the 5th.  Nézet-Séguin conducts Das Lied von der Erde in February (Sarah Connolly and Toby Spence).  Neither conductor has made a name in Mahler, but these should be interesting as both are still very young, fresh and lively.

Jurowski's conducting the full three movement Das klagende Lied on 29th January. (Diener, Stotijn, Koenig, Purves) which should be good, as Jurowski's Mahler tends towards the high Romantic, which in this early work is quite approproate.

I'm already booked for Christoph Eschenbach's Mahler Ninth in February 2011, because Eschenbach's approach is distinctive. Don't expect Bernsteinesque neurotic sentiment. Eschenbach, who's lived through more real tragedy than most of us, penetrates more deeply.  This won't be a weepie, but all the more valid for that. It's paired with Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (Christopher Maltman) which is a great idea: Mahler setting off as a young hopeful, Mahler later in life, having learned what the world can be like.

The series is quite completist, in the sense that it includes minor works like Mahler's transcriptions of Bach and Beethoven, but oddly enough no Second Symphony, Seventh or Tenth.  This is better, musically, than doing a cycle for the sake of doing a cycle. Jurowski and the LPO should be respected for having the integrity of avoiding the commercial trap.

Still, it's a worry that the songs are spread out so thinly. Kindertotenlieder is placed with Brahms and Mendelssohn Reformation.  Mahler's songs are integral to all his work. In a series like this, aimed at the general listener, it would have been wise to structure the programmes so they have greater effect.  As for the Philharmonia, they did their big Mahler season last year with Salonen. This year they're doing it with Lorin Maazel......no comment.  See hear for an outstanding Mahler cycle.

Niccolò Castiglioni Knussen London Sinfonietta Julian Anderson

Bombarded with the cliché that modern music isn't "emotional", people have learned to think in easy boxes, instead of really listening. (There's even humour in Schoenberg, whose favourite composer was Brahms.) Castiglioni is yet more proof that a capacity for wit lies in the mind!

Niccolò Castiglioni is uncompromisingly avant garde, but his music is so vivacious, it sparkles. It's a pity Alfred Brendel wasn't at last night's concert when Oliver Knussen conducted Castiglioni Revisted with the London Sinfonietta at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London. Castiglioni (1932-1996) was a virtuoso pianist, incorporating the piano into most of his music. Brendel's known for his dry humour.. He's giving a talk at Aldeburgh in June about humour in classical music.

Oliver Knussen gets Castiglioni. The man who wrote Higglety Pigglety Pop! and Where the Wild Things Are has conducted Castiglioni many times, most recently in 2008. This concert was even better, showcasing some of Castiglioni's more ambitious works for chamber orchestra and voice.

Capriccio (1991) started with manic frenzy, the pianist (Ian Brown) playing so presto that it seemed the notes were jammed in the keys at the extreme right, straining to go further than the poor machine could cope with. Then suddenly Castiglioni shifts into calmer waters, lyrically beautiful bassoon and bass, before returning to a con brio finale, where all instruments frolic together. The piano, however, has the last word, Brown's hands crossing each other, playing even more gleefully than before.

In 1957, The Diaries of Anne Frank were still relatively "new", so Castiglioni's Elegia (in memoria di Anne Frank) feels immediate, and first person. He seems to enter the mind of the girl forced to communicate in silence, acutely observing small things because the wider situation is witheld from her.  So the soloist, Anu Komsi, sings sotto voce, without vibrato, and in snatches, her voice blending into the background. The instruments  play snatches, too, lines retreating almost before they're stated. Castiglioni explicitly credited Anton Webern's influence.Again, Castiglioni shows that fragmentation and stillness, key themes in 20th century music, can be extremely moving, if you make the effort to listen.

The quiet. thoughtful mood continues in Eine kleine Weinachtsmusik,(1959/60). This isn't "Christmassy" in the sense of vulgar commercial celebration. Rather it's contemplative rapture, played so quietly it's barely audible.  Like Messiaen, Castiglioni understood what Christmas meant. Again deep feeling, but understated, working on the listener's soul.

Così parlò Baldassare, (1980/1) is equally atmospheric. Anu Komsi sings solo, completely unsuppported, but has to traverse snatches of numerous styles. It's music as collage. You think you hear Galli-Curci trilling like a mad canary, then suddenly you hear a growl bluntly squeezed out from the lower lungs, then bombastic  declamation, and high pitched squeaks, as if Komsi's suddenly been pinched from behind.

It's dramatic, in the sense that multi-image frames in film are dramatic. It would make a fascinating movie. The more you identify, the better the kaleidoscope colours. Why Baldassare Castiglioni, the Renaissance writer? Were the two men related? The family was influential in Italian culture, and still thrive today. Perhaps Niccolò is writing an opera in miniature, a panorama of 800 years of Italian history. Maybe that's why the "pinch" is there after the bombast: Castiglioni wit at work.

The text for Terzina (1992/3) comes from Gerhard Tersteegen, a 17th century mystic. Gott ist ein Herzens-Gott, to reach him you sink your head into your heart like a child : Kleinheit, Reinheit, Einfaltswesen. underlined by Castiglioni with cymbals so muffled you can barely hear them. The opposite of what cymbals are supposed to do. In the depths of the soul time, place and worldly concerns with reach depths in the soul no storm can penetrate. Castiglioni builds silence into the music, each word separated by silence, like the tolling of an unheard bell.

Quickly (1994) is strikingly original. It comprised 23 aphoristic Variations. It's a whirlwind..Each Variation is distinctive and witty: a manic woodwind quartet is at its heart, the theme taken up by other groups, which include celesta, harp, harpsichord, harp, glockenspiel and of course piano. Eleven violins enter as individuals, combining in a merry dance punctuated by tubular bells, an unusual combination of ultra high strings and low-resonance metal. The woodwind quartet disguises itself in different forms. At one stage the piccolo player (Frank Nolan) pipes a simple melody, like a child's toy pipe. Seriously well written music, but not serious in portent. It must be exhilarating to play. Knussen knows that the London Sinfonietta relish challenges like this, and keeps them moving so fast, it feels like the orchestra will suddenly levitate.

Was Esa-Pekka Salonen in the audience? He was one of Castiglioni's relatively few students. His own style, as conductor and composer, reflects Castiglioni's ideas of light and brightness, concealing great depth.  Quickly would be fun to hear with the Philharmonia, but it would be a good idea: it might stun the usual Festival Hall audience, and make them realize that very modern can mean very good.

Julian Anderson's latest The Comedy of Change (2009) received its premiere.  I've left it for last, not because it is last in any way, but to do it justice.  I liked this and want to hear it again, soon: Anderson's music is very organic, using sounds that feel like nature's being incoporated into its very heart. Part of the inspiration behind The Comedy of Change is the idea of evolution, and the way living creatures adapt and change. Hence, perhaps, seven movements, some played without a break. Change becomes part of the music. It starts with harp and flute, but sounds timeless, as mysterious as a digeridoo. From this emerges low, languid violin. The percussionist uses something that sounds like crumpling paper : being a visual person, I think "unwrapping", but it's very beautiful : that violin sounds primeval, like the stirring of life.

More organic sound, three violins playing rippling figures, the rivulets deeping with violas.  The percussion (xylophone and marimba) clatter along: Messiaen bird feet scuttling, discovering flight at the beginning of Time.  Towards the end the low voice of a bass clarinet deepens the mood, but the overall feeling, for me, was movement up the scale, plants emerging towards the light, maybe. Anderson's music is visual, but none the worse for that because it feels rooted in real life. Comedy of Change reminds me of his much earlier Symphony, where a thread emerges from great depth, like a stream turning into a river. It's on the excellent Book of Hours CD from NMC.  Read more about it HERE.

Mady Mesplé Ophélie's mad scene Hamlet

Mady Mesplé sings Ophélie's mad scene from Ambroise Thomas Hamlet.  There is also a clip circulating of Marlis Petersen singing it at the Met.  Completely different, and takes getting used to because it's lower, less decorative and more resonant, but in many ways more drama.  Petersen's growing on me with repeat listenings. Amazing that she's just learned the part!  Please see my comments on Hamlet at the Met here with FULL performance download.  Wonderful Keenlyside Hamlet.on it

Piccadilly Revisited - Anna May Wong

Tonight and tomorrow at the Linbury Theatre at the Royal Opera House there's Piccadilly Revisited, a "film, dance, music and drama celebration" of the life of Anna May Wong (1905-61). AMW was the first Chinese woman to become a star (of sorts) in Hollywood, playing  with Douglas Fairbanks Jnr and Marlene Dietrich.  Her finest film, though, is Piccadilly (1929), filmed in London.(cheaper on amazon than ebay) The film's wonderfully shot, atmospheric angles and mysterious scenes of 1920's Limehouse, and uses several very good Chinese actors, besides AMW herself. Many Hollywood films used whites like Walter Oland  made up to look Chinese.

Although it depicts Chinese as inscrutable stereotypes, it deals with race relationships, and in a much less airbrushed sentimental way than Hollywood.  AMW must die because she breaks the rules, but at least the movie acknowledges that such things happen and that there's prejudice. Until the late1920's interracial marriage was illegal in some parts of the US.  Mass deportations in Mexico, no civic rights in Canada, and even China was under extraterritorial control until 1943. That's the background.

Anna May Wong was third generation ABC (American born Chinese) not FOB (fresh off boat), ethnically Chinese (although extremely tall) but acculturated American. There were quite a number of Chinese in the California film industry even then (before Keye Luke, James Wong Howe etc) In fact, the very first Chinese-American movie was made by a woman, Marion Wong (no relation)  in 1916, self financed, and using her family as actors.  The first Chinese movie was made in Hong Kong in 1909, but Chinese and American movie circles were completely separate worlds. Could be different planets. In fact, more Chinese movies than western, just as Bollywood is bigger than Hollywood..

Nowadays, there are tens of thousands of Chinese who've known only the west. There's a rude term, "bananas" (peel off the yellow skin, white inside) but that trivializes a very genuine need for these new generations to redefine their unique identity. That's why Anna May Wong fascinates modern  ABC's and BBC's (British born Chinese). She's the pioneer, who faced these challenges long ago. She's also drop dead gorgeous.  Hence the AMW cult, lots of  books, films, and "celebrations" of what she means to a whole new generation of Chinese who've grown up in the west.

To Chinese born and raised in China, though, she's strangely western and alien. That's not Chinese dancing at all in the clip, from a Chinese perspective it's an obscene travesty. That's why the "Chinaman" in the clip looks embarrassed. You can almost hear Chinese people scream that she's letting the side down with this undignified playing to caricature. When AMW visited China in 1936 there were plenty of Chinese "New Women" of many kinds, not only actresses but writers, artists, teachers and businesswomen, much more sophisticated than AMW. She wasn't relevant to the Chinese identity, indeed, she represented a kind of colonialism, since the locals were pretty good at doing modern themselves without outside help.  Plenty of Chinese icons. AMW didn't fit in, and went back to the US, her destiny to be "white" but not quite.

There always will be more Chinese Chinese than hybrids,  Eurasians and westernized Chinese. But cultural adaption is an issue and needs to be understood. So alien as AMW may seem to Chinese Chinese, she's relevant there too. Ultimately, though,. we need to appreciate just how innovative and "modern" China really was in those days, despite the wars and sufferings.  ABC's and others should be studying China, and Chinese moderns, not AMW. The South China mentality is enterprising, innovative, adaptive but misunderstood because the North dominates. They key to the future I think, is understanding this most vibrant region (which is where most "bananas" ancestors come from): Read  Hong Kong in Chinese History for starters..

Below is a rare clip from Toll of the Sea, a very early film starring Anna May Wong (1922) made before the Thief of Bagdad (1924) made her famous. The director was one of AMW's boyfriends, which is why it shows a Chinese woman in a sympathetic light : far less racist than Madama Butterfly. There were hundreds of real life situations like this, and many were genuine relationships, not scams like the one Puccini depicted. (though he didn't know). There are lots of other early Chinese and Chinese-American films, which I might post as and when I can, look at labels on right and please keep coming back. Watch the full movie  download on this site of Street Angel and read the analysis.. In the long term Zhou Xuan is a much better icon of the modern Chinese woman than AMW.(though she ended up insane).  Please see my other post on  Anna May Wong Piccadilly HERE  Later I'll be doing a lot more on Li lili a "real" Chinese icon..

Keenlyside Thomas Hamlet at the Met with DOWNLOAD

Perhaps Renée Fleming's performance before the beginning of Ambroise Thomas's Hamlet told us something. La  Renée started her spiel about how great things would be. Then forgot her lines completely and had to be handed a prompt sheet - filmed live on camera, broadcast to thousands watching in movie houses all over the world. She didn't miss a beat, reading off the card with the same fixed smile and artificial bonhomie.  I was at a cinema where the audience burst out snorting at the insincerity. It's not Renée so much as the way the Met works, and the difference between US and European attitudes. And Renée's bombshell : "This is an empty set, this time the focus is on the singers".

Renée is right. The unfussy set emphasizes the action. The set is stylized, the courtiers in simple drab. King Claudius, Queen Gertrude and Ophélie wear monochrome outfits which are streamlined modern takes on mid 19th century costume. For the "Play" scene in Act 2 a long trestle table is wheeled out: a few tureens, no fancy plates and decorations. The table's like a wall between the actors in the play within a play and the "real" murderers watching them. Later, Keenlyside jumps onto the table, pouring a jug of wine over his head. He really looks wild, as if he's covered in blood.  Ô vin, dissipe la tristesse has never been so realistic. After this, long interval (Keenlyside needs a shower).

In Act 3, the backdrop is lit claret-red, so Gertude's claret red dress dissolves into hues of wine or blood, only her haunted gface gleaming white - not unlike the white of the ghost of her late husband. In this subtle way, mother and son are linked, and murderer to murdered. For the all-important mad scene, nothing distracted from Marlis Petersen. Nice touch too, pulling up the floorboards to dig her grave, and finding sand!

Modern as this production was (Moshe Lieser and Patrice Caurier, set Christian Fenouillat)) , the sky did not fall in, nor did the audience collapse in hysterics. The filming was directed by Brian Large, who has made the filing of opera into an art form of its own. He uses close-ups well, so you see musch more than you'd see live. He knows which angles to shoot, and just how much detail to include. He's also musically well-informed. In this case, he picks up on how cleanly Ambroise Thomas orchestrated.  Large pinpoints the use of solo instruments - French horn in the overture, oboe, double harps and even saxophone (brand new instrument then, mentioned in Berlioz's Treatise on Orchestration).

You can follow Thomas's orchestral thinking clearly, which helps a lot in an opera like Hamlet better known for its big numbers than its overall structure. This opera gets derided but heard on its own terms, it's not all that far from, say, Gounod's Faust. It's French after all, with a French sensibility. Having Louis Langrée conduct  made a huge difference because he did so with precision and clarity. His light but disciplined touch kept the music animated. The performance lasted nearly four hours, but didn't at all feel that long, so vivid was this playing.

Simon Keenlyside created the part in 1996. He's completely immersed, as though he was born to Shakespeare, but the least hammy Hamlet I can imagine. Keenlyside's Hamlet looks tortured, but he's mentally very tough, playing psychological games to break Claudius. Breaking his own mother is part of the process, which gives the struggle a Freudian edge.  Keenlyside's French is superb, too. être ou ne pas être sounds so natural you almost forget what it is in English. He gets the right sardonic Gallic snarl and is completely intelligible without sub titles. Hamlet made his career, the characterization of his lifetime. As Renée said, they did the opera to get him, and you can see and hear why.

Listen to Keenlyside singing in London in 2003 - STREAMED ONLINE from Opera Today. It's a very good performance indeed - Louis Langrée conducts, much better than Bertrand de Billy on the Barcelona DVD, and Natalie Dessay as Ophélie, which makes it unmissable. The performances are better than the Met.  Brian Large's film of the Met performance, however, is so intelligent and sensitive that the combination of listening to London while thinking of New York is a better experience than having either live.

Natalie Dessay was to have appeared at the Met, too, because Ophélie is one of her great roles. She had to pull, out shortly before, replaced by Marlis Petersen, who had to rehearse while singing in Vienna. Petersen is good, considering, but a little too formal for my taste (which is Mady Mesplé, whose Lakmé was one of the first LP's I ever bought)

At the Met, Jennifer Larmore sang Gertrude in a nicely tense, edgy performandce - you could see her neck tighten with anxiety in the close-ups, just as you would in a movie.  James Morris sang Claudius. His voice isn't what it was, so he didn't develop the character much, but was suitably imposing.  Toby Spence as Laerte was described as having been at "Oxford University" another transatlantic term that raised a chuckle with a British audience. 

A nod though towards Shakepeare. The play scene was wonderfully danced at the Met - such athletic dancers, so expressive that they seemed to be acting, rather than dancing.They didn't cut all the ballet at the Met, they sublimated it.

Singers aren't machines : Christianne Stotijn

Here is a link to the Opera Today review of Christianne Stotijn's Lieder recital at the Wigmore Hall, London, on 25th March. It's critical, but constructive. She's basically a good singer, with charm and sensitivity, who needs to be nurtured, not knocked. In the long run that's what's best for the art. Maybe reading this will help other singers, too, and help non-singers appreciate what's involved.. 

"....Tamerlano is a brutal tyrant, and male. Modern audiences are perhaps more used to hearing a lower voice expressing such things. But Handel isn’t Verdi. He wrote the role for female voice, which makes it all the more difficult to create the role convincingly for modern expectations. Tamerlano’s personality doesn’t come naturally to Stotijn, though part of the art of acting means becoming a character completely different to yourself...."

"Her programme was wide-ranging: Pfitzner, Wolf, Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, Debussy, Strauss and Loewe. This is the kind of recital singers often create to show their prowess....The danger with programmes like these is that they stretch singers out too thinly, militating against depth of interpretation....The Strauss set showed her at her best......"

"Part of Stotijn’s problem is that her voice is currently underpowered. Sound seems trapped in her chest, not fully projected, either in volume or intensity. Building up her technique will help, and strengthening the middle of her voice....."

"Unlike instrumental players, singers “are” their instruments. Unlike machines, their performance can vary, depending on many different factors. Stotijn was born with a good voice, capable of great warmth and sensitivity, but at the moment, something is getting in the way. At times like these, technique comes to the rescue. Indeed, good technique has saved many a lesser voice. If she takes the opportunity to refine her skills and rebuild her confidence, she’ll emerge from this period with credit. Just as fire strengthens steel, perhaps these current difficulties can strengthen Stotijn in the longer term."
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Eötvös Angels in America Barbican BBC London

Here is a link to the review of Angels in America in Opera Today.

Angels in America, Peter Eötvös’s opera based on the Tony Kushner plays, received its London premiere at the Barbican Hall. This was very high profile. David Robertson conducted the BBC Symphony Orchestra in a performance that will be broadcast internationally, online on www.bbc.co.uk/radio3..............Ultimately, Angels in America works on stage because the subject is so powerful. It packs such an emotional punch that it would be hard not to be moved by the human drama in the first part. A lot of choices had to be made when Eötvös and his librettist reduced Kushner’s seven hour saga. That’s all the more reason why decisions had to be taken for maximum dramatic and musical effect. As an opera, Angels in America might have served the subject better had it been less dependent on replicating the play, and taken a more original vision."

The ultimate daan tart recipe

Beautifully clear! If you can't get moulds, use muffin pan.
Coming soon: Ambroise Thomas, Hamlet at the Met. Will wonders never cease? A Met production that's modern and the sky didn't collapse.

Eötvös Angels in America, Barbican

Tony Kushner's Angels in America is an icon, bigger than "just" a play (or plays) because it commemorates the AIDS pandemic, or rather its first phase. In the early 80's, AIDS didn't have a name. It was terrifying because no-one knew why so many healthy young men were dying horrific deaths of what we called then "Karposi's Sarcoma",  a cancer of the very old. Then, ostensibly straight men started dying too, and their partners, and even militant homophobes.  Everyone panicked. Dreadful as the epidemic was, AIDs was a turning point. It exposed hypocrisy and prejudice, and ironically did a lot to bring homosexuality out of the closet.

For personal reasons, I've avoided the play as I lived through those times. "The haunted Castro and City Beach".  Thirty years on, it's amazing how things have changed, and how rapidly the medical establishment responded. Remember the shock waves when Princess Diana kissed an AIDS patient? It was one time when society did pull together to fight what seemed then a plague of medieval proportions.Western people don't die of AIDS anymore, as long as they can afford health care and medication.  AIDS isn't a gay thing - the plague has moved to the Third World. Angels in America could be transcribed for southern Africa.

Peter Eötvös turned it into an opera, premiered in 2004, and at last it's come to the Barbican, London. David Roberston conducted the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and the performance was recorded for later international, online broadcast on www.bbc.co.uk/radio3. Huge audience turnout: the upper floors of the Barbican were filled to capacity.  Not for the music, perhaps, (many walked out), but because the subject is so important.

Eötvös compresses Kushner's work into 2 1/2 hours. In the first part, vignettes of people experiencing death in their own way. Prior Walter (David Adam Moore) is a gay man dumped by his frightened lover. (such things happened and can't be judged in hindsight). Roy Cohn (Kelly Anderson), the bully who thinks he can't be touched,  and Joe Pitt (Omar Ebrahim), the hapless married Mormon. This concentrates dramatic focus on human relationships, and is very moving. Indeed, the fact that parts are doubled extends the scope into other lives. Brian Asawa is subtly excellent, in a variety of roles, his rich countertenor hovering beyond easy classification. Everyone dumps on non-white menials, even the dying. Some things don't change.

In the second part, Kushner extends his panorama to the afterlife and to Heaven with its angels of different continents.  Prior is restored to life for reasons not particularly intelligible. But then fate is unintelligible. There are people who lived right through the heart of the storm who never became ill.  It's much less coherent, but works in an impressionistic way. The first part needs reinforcement, and the abstraction of the second works in an impressionistic sort of way.

Eötvös's music illustrates the text nicely. Marimbas and electronics to create weird, surreal sounds, percussion to mark tension, lovely cello and violin melodies  to enhance moments of individual reverie.  As an extension of the play, the music is usefully mood-enhancing, so in that sense it works.  On the other hand, I'm not sure it would work as music without the power of the subject matter and Kushner's dramatic momentum. It's episodic and reactive rather than development.

David Robertson led the BBC Symphony Orchestra. If anyone can give this music bite, he can.  Very good singing and acting by the principals (named above) and other parts, who, just as in life, may seem minor but are actually valid in their own ways. Julia Migenes was superb as the neurotic housewife Harper Pitt (male name, female part). Janice Hall was hampered by cliche roles - a rabbi whose music veers towards almost racist stereotype, and an out-of-towner lost in the Bronx. I enjoyed this concert staging (directed by David Gately) because it showed how the simple resources of a concert staging can have a huge impact, done as thoughtfully as this. The lighting effects were superb, evoking huge vistas in the imagination. I "saw" the stars in the heavens and the lights of a night time city. When the Angel pops out of the organ loft, she's gleaming white. I enjoyed this, but ultimately, Angels in America isn't an opera in the sense that the music is fundamental to the concept.  This music extends the play, in the way that well written film music extends the dominant narrative.  But what a narrative, what a subject!  It's too important to miss. Better and longer version of this NOW in Opera Today.

If you want to hear really original, intense music about death and the afterlife, seek out Brian Ferneyhough's Shadowtime, or better still, the Pierre Audi staging of Claude Vivier's Kopernikus.  Neither of them are as immediately accessible as Eötvös, but musically, they're infinitely deeper and more rewarding.  Kopernickus I didn't get at all, at first, but have grown to love intensely because there are so many levels in it.  An angel jumps out of the sky, too! It was made in 1980 but so advanced it's still fresh and powerful. Get it here
Reves D'Un Marco Polo - Claude Vivier, Asko Ensemble
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Rabbit strikes back!

The anthropomorphism of The Cunning Little Vixen is affecting me.....Clip by Run Wrake a Sclah film for 4mation TV.  TOMORROW : Eötvös Angels in America. In the meantime, plerase read about Claude Vivier's Kopernikus which is also about death and dreams, but INFINITELY more sophisticated and more magical.