Manhattan Opera Association
There were five vocalists: Soprano; Mezzo-soprano; Contralto; Tenor; and Bass-baritone; plus Eric Sedgwick, pianist
My favorite of the afternoon was the pianist, and that says a lot. I will not list all of the pieces I heard in the first half of the concert but they were mostly unsuccessful to my ear, though there were “brava”s and “bravi”s from the audience. Sort of what you call papering the house. Asked and answered here: Bravo for a man, brava for a woman, and bravi for two or more people.
Offenbach’s Barcarolle (a lovely piece) from Tales of Hoffman opened the concert. It was not lovely. Two selections from Mozart’s Don Giovanni followed. One was really OK. One was not. Full disclosure, I’m not a huge Mozart fan and I’m not a huge opera fan. When amateur opera is on tap, I should have been (and was) prepared to bail. I did, after intermission.
I am a former vocalist. My pipes are not what they used to be. I would not attempt to perform works like these in public at my age unless I had very, very good feedback that my performances would be OK. I believe that two of these five were either convinced that they were still in the groove of their glory days or were being misled somehow. One was just squeaking through. (All of this is my opinion only.)
After hearing eight selections in the first half, including a disappointing The Sound of Music, I was convinced that I didn’t need to hear the eight in the second half.
At this particular venue, there is another amateur opera company that I have avoided after a couple of non-enjoyable programs. This company now joins that one, for me; your mileage may vary. If you enjoy all things opera, no matter what, this may fit your bill.
I’ll not be back.
ConcertMeister
Sunday, January 26, 2020
Friday, January 17, 2020
Midday Masterpieces (1/8/2020)
Sorry, WQXR did not provide names of the Kila Quartet performers and my quick online search does not match what I saw onstage. That said, the quartet comported themselves very well—often, onstage bows are awkward; these were not.
Where do the years go? 2020.
String Quartet No. 19 in C Major (“Dissonance”) K. 465 – W. A. Mozart
String Quartet No. 3 – Bela Bartok
Oddly, when the quartet set up for the Mozart, they were not in ‘usual’ formation. From the house (left to right) we had violin, violin, viola, cello. More on that later.
The ‘Dissonance’ was a bit of a misnomer. Yes, the beginning of the piece had slow, rising and falling lines, creating dissonance (but in an enjoyable way). Then it turned into a regular, bubbly Mozart string quartet. The first movement, after the strange opening, was bubbly and very lengthy, leading to a quiet ending. The second movement was slow and slightly stately, though not somber. It picked up in energy, just barely. The third seemed to be a scherzo (which means joke). It was perky, with interruptions of louder and fuller phrases. The final movement was also fairly brisk and had interruptions that seemed a little more serious.
When setting up for the one-movement Bartok piece, the first and second violinists switched places. This is fairly common in quartets. In this case, though, the violist and cellist also switched places, giving a more standard quartet placement on stage. Why? I do not know.
As announced from the stage, this is/was the shortest of the six string quartets Bartok wrote. Interestingly, all four players re-tuned—I’m thinking maybe Bartok had specific tuning in mind? This is merely speculation on my part.
The piece was mysterious, with modern sounds, and dissonance (for real, this time).
Overall, I appreciate the difficulty and different techniques. I can’t say, however, that I really enjoyed it. I’m learning a lot here.
ConcertMeister
Where do the years go? 2020.
String Quartet No. 19 in C Major (“Dissonance”) K. 465 – W. A. Mozart
String Quartet No. 3 – Bela Bartok
Oddly, when the quartet set up for the Mozart, they were not in ‘usual’ formation. From the house (left to right) we had violin, violin, viola, cello. More on that later.
The ‘Dissonance’ was a bit of a misnomer. Yes, the beginning of the piece had slow, rising and falling lines, creating dissonance (but in an enjoyable way). Then it turned into a regular, bubbly Mozart string quartet. The first movement, after the strange opening, was bubbly and very lengthy, leading to a quiet ending. The second movement was slow and slightly stately, though not somber. It picked up in energy, just barely. The third seemed to be a scherzo (which means joke). It was perky, with interruptions of louder and fuller phrases. The final movement was also fairly brisk and had interruptions that seemed a little more serious.
When setting up for the one-movement Bartok piece, the first and second violinists switched places. This is fairly common in quartets. In this case, though, the violist and cellist also switched places, giving a more standard quartet placement on stage. Why? I do not know.
As announced from the stage, this is/was the shortest of the six string quartets Bartok wrote. Interestingly, all four players re-tuned—I’m thinking maybe Bartok had specific tuning in mind? This is merely speculation on my part.
The piece was mysterious, with modern sounds, and dissonance (for real, this time).
Overall, I appreciate the difficulty and different techniques. I can’t say, however, that I really enjoyed it. I’m learning a lot here.
ConcertMeister
Wednesday, January 8, 2020
Songs of Gratitude (1/4/2020)
String Quartet No. 15, Op. 132 (1827) – I. Assai sostenuto – Allegro; II. Allegro ma non tanto; III. Molto adagio: Heiliger Dankgesang eines Genesenen an die Gottheit, in der lydischen Tonart – “Neue Kraft fühlend”; IV. Alla marcia, assai vivace; V. Allegro appassionata – Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)
Happy New Year! I start with a quibble. Lincoln Center Library for the Performing Arts’ brochure only listed the title of the concert and the work being performed. As they say on late-night/cable TV commercials—but wait, there’s more! As a first act, there were readings, representing gratitude, by eight writers who are members of Read650 (look them up, it’s pretty interesting—1 Writer. 5 Minutes. 650 Words). Consequently, this LPA event was swamped, as in, people were turned away.
Long story short, I didn’t make it into the auditorium but I was able to view it on a live stream in an overflow room (that sat about thirty but I was still a standee). I only recognized a couple of names of the readers—Jamie Bernstein (daughter of Leonard) and Malachy McCourt (brother of Frank). Mr. McCourt got off the best zinger before he began reading: “As Donald Trump said to all three of his wives, I’ll be brief.”
A note about the third movement of the Beethoven quartet. He switched from Italian naming to his native German. And the translation is: Holy song of gratitude of a convalescent to the Deity in the Lydian mode; feeling new strength. So that provides the gratitude link to the title of the day, the readings, and the music.
On to the music. I was unable to take notes but my memory tells me that this was not your regular Beethoven string quartet. Written in the last year of his life, he was stretching the form and the format. Harmonies were bolder (and mind you, he was totally deaf when he wrote it), and the format was bolder and different, as well. The third movement (depending on tempo chosen by the quartet playing it) lasts fifteen to twenty minutes, which was unheard of in that era. I don’t presume to make a formal analysis of the form and format. That said, this was a beautiful performance by Brian Bak and Gergana Haralampieva, violins; Chieh-Fan Yiu, viola; and Madeline Fayette, cello; all members of the New York Classical Players, a collective of local, professional musicians.
Also, New York Classical Players, Lincoln Center LPA, and Read650 will be taking part in the broader Carnegie Hall’s Beethoven Celebration this year—250 years for LvB. Check your local area for LvB Celebrations.
ConcertMeister
Happy New Year! I start with a quibble. Lincoln Center Library for the Performing Arts’ brochure only listed the title of the concert and the work being performed. As they say on late-night/cable TV commercials—but wait, there’s more! As a first act, there were readings, representing gratitude, by eight writers who are members of Read650 (look them up, it’s pretty interesting—1 Writer. 5 Minutes. 650 Words). Consequently, this LPA event was swamped, as in, people were turned away.
Long story short, I didn’t make it into the auditorium but I was able to view it on a live stream in an overflow room (that sat about thirty but I was still a standee). I only recognized a couple of names of the readers—Jamie Bernstein (daughter of Leonard) and Malachy McCourt (brother of Frank). Mr. McCourt got off the best zinger before he began reading: “As Donald Trump said to all three of his wives, I’ll be brief.”
A note about the third movement of the Beethoven quartet. He switched from Italian naming to his native German. And the translation is: Holy song of gratitude of a convalescent to the Deity in the Lydian mode; feeling new strength. So that provides the gratitude link to the title of the day, the readings, and the music.
On to the music. I was unable to take notes but my memory tells me that this was not your regular Beethoven string quartet. Written in the last year of his life, he was stretching the form and the format. Harmonies were bolder (and mind you, he was totally deaf when he wrote it), and the format was bolder and different, as well. The third movement (depending on tempo chosen by the quartet playing it) lasts fifteen to twenty minutes, which was unheard of in that era. I don’t presume to make a formal analysis of the form and format. That said, this was a beautiful performance by Brian Bak and Gergana Haralampieva, violins; Chieh-Fan Yiu, viola; and Madeline Fayette, cello; all members of the New York Classical Players, a collective of local, professional musicians.
Also, New York Classical Players, Lincoln Center LPA, and Read650 will be taking part in the broader Carnegie Hall’s Beethoven Celebration this year—250 years for LvB. Check your local area for LvB Celebrations.
ConcertMeister
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