The Orchestra Now (5/14/23)

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice – Paul Dukas (1865–1935)
Poèmes pour Mi; Katherine Lerner Lee VAP ’23 soprano – Olivier Messiaen (1908–1992)
Scheherazade – Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844–1908)

What a wonderful concert. I learned so much. If you think the Dukas is just a Mickey Mouse trick, think again. Yes, the basic theme, apprentice runs amok, is inherent in the work. But when you actually see a conductor taking an orchestra through its paces to paint that picture both visually and aurally, you see it and hear it anew. And, yes, this was the first time I’d ever heard the piece live. That actually goes for all three pieces on the program.

The Messiaen composition was nine art songs for soprano and orchestra divided into two parts—First Book (four songs) and Second Book (five songs). It didn’t really matter because Messiaen’s musical style was so nebulous (to me) that it was difficult to follow the progression. Were the individual songs pretty and interesting? Yes. Did they make sense, logically, to me? No. But that’s part of what makes Messiaen Messiaen.

Scheherazade is a work I have heard many time as complete performances or as individual movements. There are four—The Sea and Sinbad’s Ship, The Legend of the Kalendar Prince, The Young Prince and the Young Princess, and Festival at Baghdad–The Sea–The Shipwreck. Here’s the backstory, and it’s a doozy. Touching on the tales of the Arabian Nights, Scheherazade keeps spinning new tales for 1,001 nights in order to prevent her husband, Sultan Shakriar, from executing her. Fun stuff, right? Well, yeah, the score is fun stuff. While I enjoyed these four movements in their entirety, it made me realize something. I’m used to hearing a well-mixed and engineered recording. That’s not what you hear in the concert hall. You hear a performance that may be a little rough around the edges, and that maybe doesn’t flow the way you’re used to, but you’re hearing it live. And I loved that experience.

I’m so glad I went. I just wish that my The Orchestra Now buddy had been with me, but she is recovering from eye surgery and, wisely, decided to stay home. Next time for sure!

 ConcertMeister

Ekmeles Vocal Ensemble (5/11/23)

The Musical Murder Mystery of Gesualdo

Charlotte Mundy & Angela Yam ~ sopranos; Timothy Parsons ~ countertenor; Tomás Cruz ~ tenor; Jeffrey Gavett ~ baritone and director; Steven Hrycelak ~ bass; Adam Cockerham ~lute

Mentre, mia stella, miri – Carlo Gesualdo da Venosa (1566–1633)

Sparge la morte al mio Signor nel viso – Carlo Gesualdo da Venosa

Tu part’ohimè dolente – Crescenzo Salzilli? (ca. 1580–1621)

Se vi duol il mio duolo
Moro, lasso
Chiaro risplender suole – Carlo Gesualdo da Venosa

Murder Mystery? Apparently Carlo Gesualdo murdered his unfaithful wife. This was never prosecuted, since it was an OK thing to do in his day. You make your own decision. I was more concerned with the music.

Unlike many early music vocal ensembles, these folks sang with a very full tone that sounded almost like a choir. I liked it. The first piece was bright and clear. The lute was included, but was hard to discern against the five voices. Not all vocalists performed each piece. This one was two sopranos (including one very high soprano), countertenor, tenor, and bass.

The second piece (soprano, countertenor, baritone, bass) was somber. There were some chromatic shifts, typical of Gesualdo’s music, that added some drama and tension to the music itself. By that, I mean that Gesualdo shifted the sound—harmonies, and even what sounds like jump-shift key changes—yet he ends with a calming tonic feeling. This was on display a little more in some of his later compositions.

Two versions of Tu part’ohimè dolente were offered. In theory, this was to offer the differences between two different tuning versions in existence during this time period. The differences were lost on me.

The final three Gesualdo pieces were my favorites. The first (soprano, countertenor, tenor, baritone, bass) included even more of the chromatic shifts within phrases and had varied tempos and volumes that created more interest and drama. The second (soprano, soprano, countertenor, tenor, bass) was somber, but with the addition of the extremely high soprano plus the many jump-shift key changes gave an edgy feel to the piece, yet it ended once again with a pretty regular major chord. The third (soprano, soprano, countertenor, tenor bass, lute) had a very full sound, similar to the first piece on the program, but with many more of the dissonances prevalent in the later Gesualdo works, stretching the style rhythmically, as well.

For the record, this was the first Ekmeles concert that included a lutenist. He acquitted himself quite well.

ConcertMeister

 

Jane’s Walks (5/5, 6, 7/23)

Jane’s Walk 2023: Garment District NYC (5/5 at 9 AM)
On the Streets Where They Lived (5/5 at 11 AM)
Downtown Dames: Historic Women Celebrated in Public Spaces in Lower Manhattan (5/5 at 1 PM)
Sustainable Walking Tour of East Village Highlighting Community Gardens (5/5 at 3 PM)

Jane’s Walk 2023: 57th Street A–Z (5/6 at 9 AM)
Jewish Harlem (5/6 at11 AM)
East Harlem (5/6 at 1 PM)

Jane’s Walk 2023: Dumbo, Brooklyn Bridge to Winter Garden Atrium at World Financial Center (5/7 at 9 AM)
Union Square: Prism of the City (5/7 at 1 PM)

 All of the walks were free. Each walk was set up in its own way, which made the experience enjoyable. Each leader was free to use her/his own style, timeline, and choice of scripted or non-scripted. Most leaders used some sort of voice amplification, which was a big help. All leaders did a good job. I’ll hit highlights or this would be a very long read.

My first walk, in the Garment District, was great. The leader was quirky but interesting. He led us through a historical venture of how the garment district was in its early years and how it progressed. He included information about how the physical buildings changed during the thirties and forties, and he actually took us into buildings and used those experiences to show us different buildings. A great experience.
On the Streets Where They Lived covered the Upper West Side—Broadway and Riverside Drive, from 106th Street to 110th Street. I didn’t take notes, so I can’t really give you names of the folks who lived there, but the architecture was well worth the tour.
Downtown Dames was a bit of a downer since the leader did not use amplification and did a lot of reading from her handwritten notes.
The East Village walk was great, covering a lot of Community Gardens and touching on the era of the squatters and their plights in the ’70s and ’80s.

Saturday morning was also a treat. The guide along 57th Street was a dynamo. He took us from Ninth Avenue to Madison Avenue. He spoke without amplification, but we could all hear everything. It was fun for me, because I worked at 9 W. 57th Street (with its curved base, famously filmed in the Superman movie). I mentioned its twin at 42nd Street near Sixth Avenue. The leader acknowledged my input.
Jewish Harlem was a lot of fun, though the leader did not use amplification, so I missed a lot of what he said.
The East Harlem tour took me by surprise a little, since a lot of it was focused on Lexington, Madison, and Fifth Avenues, not locations my mind associates with Harlem. But, indeed, to native New Yorkers (I am not one) this is technically true. The walk touched on one of my favorite spots in New York, the Conservatory Gardens (Fifth Avenue and 105th Street). If you’re ever in NYC and have the time to get there, it’s well worth the visit.

Sunday’s walk across the Brooklyn Bridge was not my first time walking the span. I’m glad I did it though, especially to see that the bicyclists have been given their own space, making it safer for walkers. This guide also did not use amplification, so it was hard to hear some of his insights into the walk we were taking. I missed my 11 AM walk because of arriving way the heck at the Hudson River at the end of the 9 AM walk. Why, yes, I had a book with me. After a lengthy lunch break, I attended my final Jane’s Walk of the weekend. I learned a lot about Union Square and had a short visit in a museum as well, to cap it off.

Jane’s Walks, named in honor of Jane Jacobs, is a tradition I have enjoyed for several years (eight? nine?). Her story is very interesting. Go, ye, and Google her.

ConcertMeister

The Gerda Lissner Foundation, in Association with The Liederkranz Foundation (5/1/23)

The Gerda Lissner Foundation, in Association with The Liederkranz Foundation
Presents in Concert
Winners of the Lieder/Song Vocal Competition and
International Vocal Competition 2022/2023

Well, that was quite a mouthful, eh? But wait … there’s more. The performance took place at Carnegie Hall, and all of the various winners were very ably accompanied/assisted by pianist Arlene Shrut. The program listed all of the winners, though they did not sing in this order. What I’ve decided to do is list the winners (and what they sang) in the order they were first listed in the program. Trust me, I made the logical/easy choice.

Lieder/Song Vocal Competition 2022
First Prize: Joseph Parrish, bass-baritone – “Calling You” from Baghdad Café – Bob Telson; “Fussreise” from Mörike-Lieder – Hugo Wolf; “Sred’ shumnogo bala” (Amid the Din of the Ball), Op 38, No. 3 – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Second Prize: Liederkranz Foundation – Alice Chung, mezzo-soprano – “George” from Cabaret Songs – William Bolcom; “Longing for GeumGang Mountain”, poem by Han Sang-eok – Choi Young-Sup
Third Prize: Erik Grendahl, baritone – “The Virgin in the city” from Petersburg, a vocal Poem – Georgy Sviridov; “Ballade des femmes de Paris” from François Villon cycle – Claude Debussy

International Vocal Competition
Opera Division – Top Prize: Liederkranz Foundation – Sophia Hunt, soprano – “Das war sehr gut Mandryka” from Arabella – Richard Strauss; “E Susanna non vien?…Dove sono” from Le Nozze di Figaro – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
First Prize: Stephen De Maio Memorial Award – Vladyslav Buialskyi, bass-baritone – “Aprite un po’ quegli occhi” from Le Nozze di Figaro – Mozart; Si, morir ella de’!...” from La Giocanda – Amilcare Ponchielli
Second Prize: Jazmine Saunders, soprano – “Ach ich fühl’s…” from Die Zauberflöte – Mozart; “Caro nome” from Rigoletto – Giuseppe Verdi
Third Prize: Korin Thomas-Smith, baritone – Within this frail crucible of light” from The Rape of Lucretia – Benjamin Britten; “Hai già vinta la causa” from Le Nozze di Figaro – Mozart
Operetta and Zarzuela Division – Third Prize: Shaina Martinez, soprano – “Salida de Cecilia Valdés” and “Hija del Amor” from Cecilia Valdés – Gonzalo Roig

Another odd and fun thing was that all tickets were complimentary—my guess is that the two foundations picked up the tab. Even with that, it was not a totally full house. Since opera was the focus of the second half of the concert, there were obvious supporters—claques, if you will—offering their support via applause and shouts of encouragement from audience members. I know and understand that that goes with the territory but it’s not my favorite part of the tradition.

And new to me was zarzuela, a type of Spanish operetta. The two zarzuela songs we heard were written by a Cuban composer. While I enjoyed the operatic selections, I was more drawn to songs/lieder, especially the William Bolcom song, George (easy to find on YouTube, if you’re interested). All in all a fun evening at Carnegie Hall. And I didn’t even have to practice!

ConcertMeister

Beethoven-a-thon (4/29/23)

What is a Beethoven-a-thon you might ask? No, not all nine symphonies but, nonetheless, this was nine Beethoven string quartets spread out over six hours (see -thon, above). The nine quartets were played by nine different string quartets, so you’re not getting all 36 names. All of the string players were from the Juilliard first year String Quartet Survey class.

As listed in the program:
Opus 18 no 1; Opus 59 no 2; Opus 59 no 3
~~~~~~~~
Opus 132; Opus 18 no 2; Opus 18 no 5
~~~~~~~~
Opus 18 no 3; Opus 95; Opus 59 no 1

As you can see, there was not a lot of info on/about the quartets—no dates, no list of movements, etc., so I did minimal online research, but I think it is slightly interesting. Beethoven – 1770–1827. Opus 18 – 1801 (publication date); Opus 59 – 1808 (publication date); Opus 95 – 1810 (either written or published, I did not do a deep dive); Opus 132 – 1825 (composition date).

First, I think all of the quartets were in four movements – fast, slow, fast, fast. That said, I only scribbled notes for a few of the quartets before deciding that my notes would become boringly repetitive. Opus 18 no 1 was played by an all-female quartet (more on that later). The first movement was a combination of muscular and lyrical. The second was slower and poignant. The third was quicker but still subdued in some parts while the fourth was bright, lively and fun.

Opus 59 no 2 had one male player. That said, of the 36 performers, ten were male, and only one was black—I’m not saying that’s right or wrong; I’m just stating facts for what they’re worth. On to the second piece. The first movement had a strong opening followed by a somewhat brooding section. I noticed that this sounded more ‘as one’ to me, and wondered whether it was the players or Beethoven’s maturing style. I really think it was the latter, seven years later than Opus 18. After a brief re-tuning, the second movement was quiet and haunting, the third lively but not boisterous, with the fourth cheerful and bright.

Opus 59 no 3 had only one female player. Go figure. The first movement had a somber opening followed by a quicker but still serious section. The second movement caught my ear because about three-fourths of the cello part was pizzicato (plucked strings, not bowed). While mostly serious, the movement ended playfully with all four instruments plucking the last two notes. The third movement was full and joyful … and then I stopped writing because I was simply repeating myself just as Beethoven did.

A strange sight to me in the printed program was the fact that Opus 95 listed Violin A and B (rather than Violin 1 and Violin 2) but my cursory searches did not lead me anywhere. One more mystery to explore.

All in all, a fun day if a bit heavy in all-Beethoven. But I knew what I was getting into before I went. And it was free, at Lincoln Center Library for the Performing Arts. I’m a lucky fellow.

ConcertMeister