Season's Greetings

This will be old hat for some of my readers, but it might be new to a few. First, thank you to any and all readers—this blog is a great joy for me and, indeed, has helped me through a rough spot or two. I urge others to explore what is in your own back yards.

A B C D E F G H I J K M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Here's to more and more concerts!

ConcertMeister

A Seasonal Saturday

New for me was caroling in Greenwich Village, sponsored (?) by the West Village Chorale, with caroling based out of Judson Memorial Church, with ConcertMeister as performer. First, there’s a lot going on at that church—children’s programming, a theater group, etc. Not being sure whether I was in the right place, I walked in the door and a gal in a Santa hat said, “You’re in the right place.”

I asked, “How did you know?”

“I can see your inner child,” she replied.

There were a lot of carolers—I was in Group 5 and there were about 40 to 50 of us. It was almost too large a group but we made it work. They supplied lyrics booklets and a pair of leaders, to start us off on pitch and try to keep us together. It was mostly unison singing (I added some harmony and so did a few others), but the important thing was that we had fun. And got positive feedback from New Yorkers (thunk! sorry, I fainted there for a second)—on the street, in some of the pubs and restaurants, and even from folks who opened their windows, leaned out and listened, and thanked us.

A few people bailed out before we got back to the church (the wind picked up quite a bit, and that made it feel even colder than it was). I didn’t, because I always get lost when I go to the Village, so I needed an anchor point in order to get me back to the subway to get home.

Once I was home and warmed up with a bowl of leftover chili and a slice of supermarket frozen pizza doctored up and heated up, I tuned in to WQXR for a broadcast of their radio play of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. This was recorded live recently and I was really looking forward to it. An actor was hired to play Scrooge, radio broadcasters (from both WQXR and WNYC) played various supporting roles, sound effects were by a Prairie Home Companion guy, and a 10-year-old from Brooklyn played Tiny Tim (plus a few other child roles).

This was a wonderful one-hour (approx.) version of Dickens’ tale, very nicely performed with just the right touch of old-fashioned radio play feeling, almost-amateur-theatricals and, once again, just plain fun.

Seasonal Saturday—check!

ConcertMeister

Two from Last Weekend (12/15 & 12/16)

Bargemusic—this was interesting. Music of Fritz Kreisler, a composer and virtuosic violinist. Our violinist was Mark Peskanov with pianist Doris Stevenson (I hope I get the names right—with Bargemusic, the program is announced from the stage).

We heard nine selections (number six was a trilogy). First up was Praeludium and Allegro, painted in broad strokes with a few embellishments. Next we had a Kreisler arrangement of Rondo (from Hoffman Serenade by W.A. Mozart) which was sunny and brisk; next an original, Syncopation with a jazz-era feel to it (or maybe a gentle ragtime feel?). This was followed by March Miniature, with a light, almost Slavic quality.

Next was a tune (arranged by Kreisler) from a Rimsky-Korsakov opera—this guy Kreisler was esoteric and eclectic! The trilogy included Love’s Joy, with a very familiar tune, Love’s Sorrow, mostly minor with a shift to major for the ending, and Schön Rosemarie, written in Odessa (Mr. Peskanov’s home town), which had a Viennese waltz-hesitation feel to it.

What followed felt like an encore (actually, in the Q&A session after the concert,
Mr. Peskanov agreed that we usually only hear Kreisler pieces as encores). There were a Falla dance, a Viennese Waltz, and Chinese Tambourine. I bet you’d recognize some of them.

Harwood Management Artists—Deck the Halls

This was very similar to last year’s version, with classical/religious pieces in the first half, followed by lighter, secular performances in the second half. Once again, these are performers who are probably new to the New York scene—I think I recognized one or two from last year.

This year’s crop seemed a little less polished. In the classical portion, there were several selections from Handel’s Messiah. Most of the performers added their own ornamentations, with varied success. There was some four-part harmony that was also varied in its success—that may be a result from lack of rehearsal time.

In the secular section, there was a nice blend of humor and staging (though light on vocals). There were the usual “crooner-style” performances from some of the folks we heard in the first half. There was a pair of renditions that showed real flair for just plain ol’ having fun. More of that might have been better.

Okay, there’s honesty and then there’s honesty. One fellow came out to sing Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow! (Are we all singing along yet?) He then announced that he might need help with the lyrics. Polite laughter ensued. He said that he wasn’t kidding—and proceeded to blow the lyrics!

It was still a fun afternoon—just one that I wish had been a little bit better.

ConcertMeister

Delayed, from Last Weekend (12/8 & 9)

Two very different types of performances. On Saturday, I attended a lecture with music—The Musical Parlor of Emily Dickinson. Sunday brought the 39th annual version of Tuba Christmas!

I know very little about Emily Dickinson or her poetry. The lecture I attended, curated by George Boziwick (of the Lincoln Center Library for the Performing Arts) with the Red Skies Music Ensemble and Elise Toscano was interesting. And I mean interesting in a good way.

The focus was on the music book—an actual compilation of purchased sheet music—of Emily Dickinson. It gave us insight into what might have been the “sing around the piano” life of Emily and her family. For the record, the songs/music included “Long Long Ago” (strophic, very folk-song–like), “Oh the Merry Days When We Were Young” (1840), “There’s a Good Time Coming” (1846), “The Girl I Left Behind Me” (c. 1830), “The Blue Juniata” (1844), etc. Additionally, there were Irish tunes and minstrel songs (vestiges of Ms. Dickinson’s family’s Irish and black servants—still, it’s to her credit that she included those pieces in the music book that was sent away and bound for posterity).

Mr. Boziwick was pretty darn credible as a presenter (and harmonica player!); Ms. Toscano
acted her readings of Ms. Dickinson’s diary entries a little better than her sung versions
of the songs. It could be that her rather plain singing style was meant to intimate
Ms. Dickinson’s—it seemed a little too plain to my ears.

Red Skies (piano, percussion, guitar, mandolin, harmonica, banjo, fiddle and bass) added great support. From the program notes, it seems that this presentation will be repeated at a couple of Dickinson events later in 2013. I might suggest (and I know that this is venue related) grouping the instrumentalists separate from Ms Toscano. I especially liked her exit from the stage ahead of the lecture/presentation portion that included the death and funeral references to Ms. Dickinson.

Tuba Christmas! I stumbled upon this two years ago (in my “anything to get me out of the apartment” phase). But what fun. It is a large group of tubas—actually, Sousaphones, bass tubas, baritones and euphoniums—playing Christmas carols/music. The bells of the Sousaphones had covers spelling out TUBA CHRISTMA 2012, along with wreaths, lights, etc.

I didn’t go last year (bitterly cold) but I braved the damp (and rain) this year. {{channeling Sophia Petrillo}} Picture it. Rockefeller Center. Huge Christmas tree. Four-hundred-and-sixty tubas!!! Yep, the usual suspects—O Come All Ye Faithful, Silent Night, We Wish You …, Jingle Bells and others. But performed by four-hundred-and-sixty tubas!!!

Oh, yeah, I’ve got the Christmas spirit!

ConcertMeister

Ye Olde Annual Candlelight Tree Lighting and Caroling (12/2/12)

This was my second visit to this annual event. Fortunately, the weather was very cooperative. There were the usual suspects—families, children, dogs, Cantori New York, Orbital Brass, Carl Schurz Park Conservancy representatives, and various (actually a few too many for my taste) local politicians.

Cantori started things off (after the aforementioned Conservancy reps and politicians) with “Caroling, Caroling,” “Ding Dong Merrily on High,” “Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming,” and a couple of others. I enjoyed their performance more this year than last, partly because they had adjusted the outdoor sound system. There were still imbalances but there was a better representation of their inherent choral sound.

After the countdown and lights! community caroling followed. There was a pretty good mix of sacred and secular, and the crowd joined in fairly enthusiastically. Some of the slower-tempo carols (e.g., Silent Night) didn’t carry as well as some of the brighter songs. Jingle Bells was well sung by all. Yours truly took the suggestion from the leader of Cantori, Mark Shapiro, and jingled his apartment keys during the refrain. It even garnered a couple of smiles from the grown-ups.

I’m glad that I went, but there was a sameness to it that I wish had been shaken up a little. Maybe I’ll skip the tree lighting in December 2013 and give it another try in 2014. For this season, however, I’m thinking of trying a few more caroling events. My pipes are rusty—but they still work!

ConcertMeister

Haul Out the Holly–Presented by the PhilHallmonics

A great time was had by all, including me and the rest of the audience. Phil Hall (pianist and arranger) put together a great holiday program. (Dec. 1 is a bit early, but BabyBro and I came to this date as OK for listening to holiday music completely independent of each other.) The cast was 12 dames (and I think they’d approve of that term), one male as assistant, and Phil, a bassist, and a reed player. All were directed by Sharon Halley (disclaimer, Ms. Halley choreographed a production I did many, many years ago).

There were pluses and minuses, and I’d like to get the minuses out of the way early. Tech—when three (or four) ladies are using hand-held microphones, the gain should at least be lowered. Balance between the three or four microphones was also a problem. And a couple of the ladies who were featured as soloists were a little on the weak side, to these ears.

Now, on to the pluses. With 34 songs listed in the program, I can only hit the highlights.

The opening was It’s Christmas in New York, with real harmony—a very nice, and encouraging, touch. There were traditional songs—Caroling, Caroling; Sleigh Ride; Let it Snow!; Do You Hear What I Hear?; Silver Bells; Winter Wonderland; etc.

There was country/rockabilly—All I Want for Christmas Is You and River. And there were novelty (new?) items, including Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy (a really very funny duet) and Vodka (which went on a lit-tle too long for my taste).

O Holy Night and the Coventry Carol grounded us in the “Christ in Christmas” vein and there were a couple of pop rock–anthems, including I Hear Bells, and Christmas Lullaby. Even Do You Hear What I Hear? to some extent.

The staging, direction and choreography were much better integrated into this program than the last PhilHallmonics presentation I saw and blogged about. Mister Santa made great use of what looked like Santa potholders. All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth gave us the ladies in their ’jammies—then they came into the audience and the aisles for an audience sing-a-long—Frosty, Santa Claus Is Coming to Town and Rudolph. Fun!

Have Yourself a Merry Christmas and The Christmas Song did their “pull-at-your-heartstrings” best.

Special mention must be given to Martin Samuel, who was a gallant Cavalier in Once Upon a December—a music-box of a number whose singer created her very own music box magic.
Mr. Samuel also appeared as Santa toward the end of the concert.

I hope I’m not revealing too much {wink}, but in Mr. Hall’s A Swingin’ Christmas (composed for this Lincoln Center Library performance), Mr. Samuel’s Santa suit turned out to be a not-quite-full-monty breakaway. This Santa did not have a belly like a bowl full of jelly. The dames seemed to approve!

ConcertMeister