Cataclysmic Concerts: The Best of 2012

The year in concerts, recitals and chamber music.

by Paul J. Pelkonen

Some say the world will end with fire. But this didn't actually happen either.
Image from The Day After Tomorrow © 2004 Centropolis Entertainment/20th Century Fox. 

With the exception of a certain often-mentioned iPhone alarm (that disrupted a Jan. 11 concert by the New York Philharmonic) there weren't too many in-concert disasters in 2012.  Or maybe I spent the whole year going to the wrong performances?

Here is a "dozen sampler" of shows that stood out in 2012, from avant-garde chamber works to a unique walk in a freezing cold garden of song. This is  part of our ongoing Year in Reviews series here on Superconductor. 

Berlin Philharmonic: The "completed" Bruckner Ninth at Carnegie Hall.

"The questions asked by the descending opening theme of the first movement are answered by a dissonant, raging theme from the trumpets and horns. The whole is expressed in a gigantic double fugue over a thick texture of strings. Sir Simon Ratle and his orchestra poured themselves into this music."

San Francisco Symphony: American Mavericks

"Michael Tilson Thomas chopped fruits and vegetables, preparing a smoothie with the blender. He added a banana, and tasted it again. Eventually, he added some blocks and stones to the piano, playing tonal clusters on the strings. (Later, another musician tried the smoothie.)"

aron quartett at the Austrian Cultural Forum

"The aron quartett played the four movements with grit and earnest, with long melodic lines that unfolded from instrument to instrument. Plucked, scraped notes alternated with winding themes tossed from player to player in a performance that made a good case for more New York performances of Erich Zeisl's catalogue."

Opera-pocalypse! The Best of 2012

The Twelve Best Operas Performances of 2012.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

No this didn't actually happen this year. (The Mayans were wrong!)
 Framegrab from Armageddon © 1998 The Walt Disney Company/Touchstone Entertainment.

I saw a total of sixty-five operas in 2012 (sixty-six if I snag a ticket for Maria Stuarda on Monday night.) Here's the twelve best opera performances (overall) for the year that was supposed to end with us being hit by a flaming pyramid two weeks ago.

Anyway here's the best operas I saw this year. Rough chronological order.

Ernani at the Metropolitan Opera.
"Angela Meade brought her admirable instrument to the part, meeting the challenging high-and-low notes of the opening "Ernani, inviolame" and  the fiery duets and trios that form the backbone of this score."

The Ghosts of Versailles at Manhattan School of Music
"One of the joys of Mr. Corigliano's opera is seeing Beaumarchais bring his beloved characters back to life for one more romp. Figaro is older in this opera-within-an-opera, played here with energy and a rich low end by American baritone Nickoli Strommer. "

Notre Dame with the American Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall
"Stephen Powell walked a fine line between piety and desparation, using his potent baritone in the prison scene to convincingly portray the deacon's capricious, ambivalent attitude toward Esmerelda."

Salome with the Cleveland Orchestra at Carnegie Hall
"Nina Stemme didn't just sing--she embodied the title role, meeting the opera's exacting requirements with a huge instrument that proved capable of soaring heights and spine-tingling lows. This was the heroic soprano voice that New Yorkers have been starving for: real singing, thrillingly delivered with no compression or spreading above or below the stave."

¡Ay Marimba! The Worst of 2012

At least the Mayans were wrong.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The end of the world, Mayan-style....

Although there was no Mayan apocalypse, 2012 had its share of catastrophes on and off the stage in the world of classical music and opera. Here's our annual look at bad performances, worse managerial decisions, and the aftermath of one significant natural disaster.

2012 will forever be remembered around the Superconductor offices as the Year of the Ring Tone. It was on January 11th when a New York Philharmonic audience member had the alarm on his iPhone start playing the "Marimba" ring tone in the fourth movement of Gustav Mahler's Ninth Symphony. That story went viral, and might be one reason you are here reading this list of the worst things about the last year in classical music. (We'll get to the happier stuff in the next few posts.)

Let's start with the Metropolitan Opera.

Opera Review: A Short Scissor Cut

The Met's trimmed-down Barber of Seville.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

"He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom."--J. R. R. Tolkien

Opera is a drag! The cast (l.r.: Rodion Pogossov, Alek Shrader, Isabel Leonard, John del Carlo) in Act II of
Rossini's The Barber of Seville. Photo by Ken Howard © 2012 The Metropolitan Opera.

In 1969, the Italian musicologist Alberto Zedda stewarded a critical edition of Rossini's 1816 masterpiece, The Barber of Seville. This edition clarified and codified the composer's original intentions, putting lost arias back in their right and proper place and ensuring the future of this beloved comic opera for years to come.

Given the Metropolitan Opera's penchant for textual accuracy under the reign of music director James Levine, it was surprising that the company chose Barber as this year's "family-friendly" holiday presentation.  This new edition of the score (by J. D. McClatchy) translates the show into English and cuts it by an hour. The cuts are occasionally seamless, but more often brutal.

Mr. McClatchy axes two-thirds of the famous Overture and halves most of the arias, omitting repeats or having singers start numbers at the cabaletta. Gone: Don Basilio's bass aria "La calunnia", Berta's "Il vecchioto" and whole chunks of Figaro's "Largo al factotum." Musically speaking, the effect is like a skilled amputation--you're not supposed to look too closely. The translation of Cesare Sterbini's original text is generally well done and sing-able, although the patter songs are awkward.

Opera Review: Troy, Troy Again

Bryan Hymel debuts, triumphs in Les Troyens.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Road to Rome: Bryan Hymel took over for Marcello Giordani in Les Troyens. 
Julie Boulliane looks on. Photo by Ken Howard © 2012 The Metropolitan Opera.

The night of a nor'easter is no time to go to the opera, let alone one that lasts five and a half hours. But the hardy souls sitting in the Metropolitan Opera house on Wednesday night for Berlioz' Les Troyens were rewarded. The reason: the Met debut of tenor Bryan Hymel, the Louisiana native who caught the attention of the opera world last year when he stepped in for Jonas Kaufmann in this opera at Covent Garden. Here, the singer was subbing for Marcello Giordani, who announced earlier this week that he'd a) dropped out of the show and b) removed the role of Enée from his repertory.

When the Trojan Breaks

Casting changes in Les Troyens, Comte Ory.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

A wanderer no more: Marcello Giordani has announced he will cancel the four remaining Troyens
appearances and remove the role of Enée from his repertory.
Photo by Cory Weaver © 2012 The Metropolitan Opera.

It's Saturday morning with the Christmas holiday right around the corner. And that means it's time to write about under-the-radar cast changes at the Metropolitan Opera.

According to a report published by our friends at parterre box (and sourced from the Met press office) Marcello Giordani has dropped out of the current revival of Les Troyens. The Italian tenor (whose other Berlioz operas at the Met have included the title roles in Benvenuto Cellini and La Damnation de Faust will "retire" the role of Enée from his repertory.

The exciting news: Mr. Giordani's replacement in this five-hour Berlioz-a-thon is tenor Bryan Hymel, a promising American tenor who just finished a Covent Garden run in Meyerbeer's Robert le Diable. The performances affected are Dec. 26 and 29, Jan. 1 and Jan. 5, which is the Live in HD broadcast of the opera.

Concert Review: Lied, Down the Garden Path

Winterize brings Schubert outdoors.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Christopher Dylan Herbert sings Schubert in Winterize.
Photo by the author.

Schubert's Winterreise is a harrowing descent into solitude, madness (and probably, hypothermia) told over 24 songs. Based on poems by Wilhelm Müller, this is the composer's crowning achievement in the field of lieder, a forbidding journey for any singer. Most performances take place in a concert or recital hall, with a formally attired singer and accompanist tracking the hapless protagonist's journey, a setting of relative comfort for audience and artists.

On Friday afternoon, New York baritone Christopher Dylan Herbert walked a different path, performing the song cycle at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden as part of a city-wide arts project, Make Music New York. This particular performance, dubbed Winterize, took place in the sere, leafless grounds of the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens on the first day of winter. Under a chilly, leaden sky, the songs of Schubert had new meaning and weight, especially as clouds rolled in over Prospect Heights and the wind picked up.

Although singing in the cold, Mr. Herbert proved to have a rich, theatrical baritone that had no difficulty being heard in this outdoor setting. He projected the emotions behind this descent into madness, capturing the irony of the cycle's more fantastical moments and the self-flagellating character of Schubert's protagonist. From the steady tramp of "Gute Nacht" through the manic determination of later songs like Mut, this was a consistent, and sometimes harrowing performance. He managed the wide spectrum of sounds, even floating a lovely "head voice" in the more difficult passages of Die Nebensonnen and the haunting despair of Der Leiermann.

Your Daily Gingerbread II

Some more holiday cheer from Superconductor.

What every kid (and adult) really wants under their tree.
Image from Ren and Stimpy © John Kricfalusi/MTV Networks.

Bach's Christmas Oratorio. 

Your Daily Gingerbread

For your viewing pleasure this holiday season, the opening of Act II of Puccini's La bohème, filmed in 2003 at La Scala.

From the libretto:

ACT II: IN THE LATIN QUARTER 

CHRISTMAS EVE

A conflux of streets; where they meet, a square, flanked by shops of all sorts; on one side the Café Momus.

Aloof from the crowd, RUDOLPH and MIMI; COLLINE is near a rag-shop, SCHAUNARD stands outside a tinker's, buying a pipe and a horn, MARCEL is being hustled hither and thither.

A vast, motley crowd; soldiers, serving maids, boys, girls, children, students, work girls, gendarmes, etc. It is evening. The shops are decked with tiny lamps; a huge lantern lights up the entrance to the Café Momus. The café is so crowded that some of the customers are obliged to seat themselves outside.

(Content from Puccini's La bohème © Ricordi and Sons)

And you thought the streets of New York were crowded at Christmas.

The Superconductor 2012 Gift Guide

Lock the Door and Hit the Floor! 
(And by that I mean, Merry X-MAS!)
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Robot Santa trapped in ice. 'Cos it's been that kind of year.
Image from Futurama © Matt Groening/30th Century Fox Television.

'Twas less than a week before Christmas,
And all 'cross the Net,
Shoppers were realizing,
that their lists were not set.

In other words (and with apologies to Clement Clark Moore, we proudly present our annual guide to the best in new recordings and boxed sets for that hard-to-please classical music lover on your lis(z)t this year.

New Complete Operas:

Don Giovanni (Deutsche Grammophon, 2012)

This live recording from Baden-Baden offers the opportunity to hear an all-star cast of young singers, drawn from the current generation of stars. Diana Damrau, Joyce Di Donato, Ildebrando d'Arcangelo and Rolando Villazon spangle this energetic set, the first of a planned cycle of major Mozart operas on Deutsche Grammophon.

Tristan und Isolde (PentaTone, 2012)
The newest and best of Marek Janowski's half-completed survey of the ten mature Wagner operas, made in a live setting with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra. The reason to hear this set is soprano Nina Stemme, whose powerhouse Isolde veers from seething rage to passionate ecstasy. Mr. Janowski has the pulse of this unique score in a crystal-clear recording that benefits from the presence of a live audience.

The Bartered Bride (harmonia mundi, 2012)
The BBC Symphony Orchestra offers this energetic recording of Smetana's comedy, a work which none other than Gustav Mahler elevated to a repertory standard. The use of the original language preserves much of the opera's humor and rhythm, helped by an authentic Czech cast.

Opera Review: A Horse of Different Colors

The Metropolitan Opera revives Les Troyens.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Pyre woman: Didon (Susan Graham) goes to her death in Act V of Les Troyens.
Photo by Cory Weaver © 2012 The Metropolitan Opera.

Hector Berlioz' Les Troyens is the most ambitious of 19th century French operas. Clocking in at five acts and five hours (counting intermissions) the opera has divided opinion since its premiere, when Paris' Theatre-Lyrique would only present the second half of the opera as Les Troyens à Carthage. The first half, La Prise de Troie was never performed in the composer's lifetime.

Opera Review: The Da Ponte Code

Columbia's Casa Italia premieres Così Faran Tutti.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Cosí monsters: Ariana Chris, Mary Elizabeth Mackenzie, Glenn Seven Allen
and Marcy Richardson in Jonathan Dawe's Cosí Faran Tutti. Photo by Joel Graham.

Writing a new opera takes a certain amount of courage. But when that new work is a prequel to one of Mozart's legendary collaborations with librettist Lorenzo da Ponte, the creation and staging of that work becomes a matter of sheer nerve.

Concert Review: An Unexpected Party

David Zinman steps in at the Philharmonic.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

David Zinman in motion. Photo courtesy davidzinman.org.

This week at the New York Philharmonic was supposed to be a summit of young artists. Canadian pianist Jan Lisiecki was scheduled to make his New York debut with the Schumann Piano Concerto. And on the podium: Daniel Harding, the imaginative young British conductor. Music lovers looked forward to hearing his interpretations of two Sibelius symphonies: the Third and Seventh.

However, Mr. Harding cancelled due to illness. His place was taken by David Zinman, the veteran American conductor (and Brooklyn native) who last appeared with the orchestra for The Modern Beethoven, a two-week survey of that composer's instrumental symphonies in March of this year. From the chugging cello-driven opening of the Sibelius Third, the audience at Friday morning's 11am concert knew that they, and the orchestra were in the hands of an expert.

Mr. Zinman's calling card is clarity, bringing out unusual textures from the depths of a well-known score so listeners sometimes walk out having heard a work in a different way. This approach was admirably suited to the Sibelius Third, a lean, thirsty symphony in which the Finnish composer eschewed nationalism and narrative for pure music and an economy of style that would serve as his second musical legacy.

Concert Review: The Last Party Hats

The American Symphony Orchestra fétes John Cage.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

John Cage turned 100 this year. We celebrate with this photo of him in a hat.
Image © The Estate of John Cage.

In New York City, the year 2012 will be remembered for natural disasters, pseudo-Mayan hysteria and the cheerful mayhem caused in the city's concert and recital halls by due to the observance of the 100th birthday of John Cage.

On Friday night, Leon Botstein and the American Symphony Orchestra acknowledged the centennial of that iconoclastic American composer with The Cage Concert at Carnegie Hall. The performance, which is (as far as we know) the last major concert of the year to feature Cage's music, included the New York premieres of two late works.

Unlike some concerts which rely on this composer's vast output to stand by itself, Dr. Botstein chose to place John Cage in a context of important musical directions of the 20th century. In encyclopedic fashion, the set list covered minimalism, indeterminacy, 12-tone serial organization and a healthy sense of the absurd, before culminating in the performance of three Cage compositions.

The performance opened with the most conventional music of the night: Anton Webern's Symphony. An example of Webern's intricate 12-tone style, this two-movement ten-minute work creates spidery, delicate textures, a brush of bassoon, a short series of notes on the strings, and (most importantly) a breath of empty space between the notes, the rests themselves forming part of the work's integral fabric.

Lay Down Your Guns

Some words from Emerson, Lake and...Powell.

In light of today's tragic events in Newtown CT, I wanted to share this lyric, from the underrated 1986 progressive rock album Emerson, Lake and Powell, recorded by the group of the same name. Due to Carl Palmer's commitment to the band Asia, he was replaced by the late drummer Cozy Powell, allowing ELP to keep its famous initials. This lineup only recorded one album together.

This was a song (and a record) I loved as a kid and today it's particularly relevant. It's also the last I'll say on the subject of Newtown on this page. 

Unfortunately, YouTube does not allow the video file of this song to play in the United Stated due to copyright issues with the Universal Music Group. However I have included a link included to Amazon.com in case you'd like to hear this for yourself. The lyrics are below the fold.

Blog Interrupted

A Brief Reflection on the Newtown Murders.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Hi readers,

I am sitting here in the David Rubinstein Atrium at Lincoln Center. It is about 2pm on Friday, Dec. 14.

I just attended the New York Philharmonic's 11am concert, and was looking forward to a pleasant afternoon writing a review of that and of last night's American Symphony Orchestra concert featuring the music of John Cage.

But first, I need to use this space (and it is mine, after all) to talk about what happened this morning in Newtown, CT. According to police reports, 18 children and 9 adults were murdered by an unidentified male this morning in what media outlets are calling a massacre. Among the reported victims are kindergarten children, and their teacher.

I am not going to use this forum for a rant on gun control (which I believe in) or the wide availability of auto-loading pistols and rifles to the people of this country on both sides of the law (which I'm against.) This isn't about politics, Democrat vs. Republican or the Obama presidency.

I just want you to read this and think.

Sit there and breathe. Or like me, feel your breath stop and a cold stone form in your chest.

Think of those small bodies. And think about the adult-sized ones too.

Think about the terror in their eyes, and the moment when their eyes no longer saw anything.

Think about the music they'll never hear, the songs they will never sing, and the cold silence in their parents' homes.

And think about what might be done to prevent the next massacre. The next Columbine. Aurora. Newtown. The next murder of a John Lennon, Darrell Abbott, John F. Kennedy.

Think of what might be done and said by our elected representatives in the next few days, which might make all the difference for a nation shell-shocked by too many shells fired.

Normal service will be resumed eventually. But in the light of what's just happened, your author begs your indulgence.

Yours in grief,

Paul Pelkonen
Editor, Superconductor

Concert Review: Rain Gods and Singing Devils

Gustavo Dudamel brings South American choral works to Carnegie Hall.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Depiction of the Mayan water god, Chaac.

Conducting sensation Gustavo Dudamel and the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela concluded their three-day stand at Carnegie Hall on Tuesday night with a program that offered a two South American choral works along with part of a new composition by Argentinean composer Esteban Benzecry.

Mr. Benzecry, who attended the concert, dedicated his Rituales Amerindos, which he describes as a "Pre-Columbian triptych" to Mr. Dudamel, who has conducted the complete work elsewhere. For this concert, the conductor chose Chaac (Mayan Water God), the central section that depicts the worship of the elephant-nosed deity of rain and thunder in the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico.

This slow, contemplative movement incorporates exotic percussion to evoke the rituals of Mayan water worship. The whoosh-and-patter of a rain stick is echoed by deep grumbles in the double basses and contrabassoon. Mr. Benzecry calls for a huge orchestra, but uses his resources in a spare, economical way. The result is fascinating, and contemplative, and left this listener wanting to hear the whole piece. (It hasn't been released on disc, but the work is available on YouTube, conducted by Mr. Dudamel.)

Concert Review: The Sistema Works

The Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela returns to Carnegie Hall.

The Passion of the Dude: Gustavo Dudamel in action.
Photo © Los Angeles Philharmonic.

In 2007, the Simón Bolívar Youth Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela created a New York sensation with their appearances at Carnegie Hall under te baton of their young maestro, Gustavo Dudamel. Five years later, Mr. Dudamel and the orchestra have returned for a two-night stand as part of Carnegie Hall's season-long intitiative, Voices of Latin America. (Mr. Dudamel serves as one of the four artistic advisors on the series' content.)

Mr. Dudamel is now 30, and the word "Youth" has vanished from the orchestra's posters.

Indeed, one thing that could be said for this ambitious program of Latin American classics (presented on Monday night at Carnegie Hall) is that the players, groomed in the Venezuelan government's ballyhooed El Sistema program have a tremendous sense of what it takes to play as an ensemble. And  Mr. Dudamel, formerly of their ranks conducts these vast forces without a score, using an easy a command born of long familiarity and musical collaboration.

All three works on this program would challenge any orchestra. Eduardo Chávez's Sinfonía india led off, a twelve-minute work that draws inspiration from Mayan source material. Chavez was an important Mexican composer from the 1930s. His tonal language bears some similarity to the Latin-flavored works of Aaron Copland, with inventive percussion and wind writing evoking the ancient rituals of the Yucatan peninsula.

The Hallelujah Alternative

A look at upcoming holiday concerts in New York.

Image from the film Hallelujah © 1929 MGM Pictures.

I know it's been a while since we've done a calendar post on this blog--the work that went into them was not equalling the amount of page views and clicks every month. However, as the holidays approach we would like to take a look around our fair city and offer up some alternatives to holiday merriment in various local music merriment. 

Do not fear, New Yorkers: there are plenty of performances of Handel's Messiah scheduled in the two-week run-up to Christmas.

The famed oratorio returns to the New York Philharmonic this season with a strong cast of singers and the New York Choral Artists. 

Dec. 18-22 at Avery Fisher Hall

It will also be heard at St. Thomas' Church (Dec. 11, 13) Avery Fisher Hall (Dec. 12 with the Trinity Choir, Dec. 17 with the National Choral Council Messiah Sing-In) Carnegie Hall (Dec. 20, with two performances Dec. 23 at 2pm and 7:30pm) and elsewhere. 

But this year, we're moving beyond Messiah to explore some alternative holiday concerts that offer other composers' equally profound takes on the reason for the season. 

Obituary: Charles Rosen (1927-2012)

Pianist, educator, author was 85.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The pianist and author Charles Rosen from the cover of his book
 Music and Sentiment. Image © 2010 Yale University Press. 
Photo from the Lebrecht Archive at  www.lebrecht.co.uk

Charles Rosen, the pianist, author and educator whose written works included The Classical Style and The Romantic Generation has died in New York. He was 85.

Dr. Rosen started his study of the piano at the age of four. He was an accomplished performer whose teachers included Moriz Rosenthal (1862-1946) a pupil of Franz Liszt. However, the pianist Józef Hoffmann was his most important influence.

In a 2007 interview with BBC Music Magazine, Dr. Rosen recounted a story from when he was 7. Young Charles was asked to play for the pianist and composer Leopold Godowsky, himself a superstar of the keyboard. When asked by the older man what he wanted to be when he grew up, the youth said: "A pianist just like Józef Hoffmann."

Metropolitan Opera Preview: Les Troyens

The Met brings back Berlioz' classical epic.
by Paul Pelkonen

The Trojan Horse in Act I of Les Troyens in the Met's production. That's Deborah Voigt at the left.
Photo by Marty Sohl © 2003 The Metropolitan Opera.

A snarky opera commentator might call this revival The Return of the Horse. The Met brings back Francesca Zambello's stunning production of Hector Berlioz' longest opera, a sweeping adaptation of Virgil's Aeneid. And yes it's over five hours long.

When it premiered in 1858, Berlioz' five-act tragédie-lyrique was split into two halves La prise de Troi ("The Sack of Troy") and Les Troyens a Carthage. ("The Trojans at Carthage.") The Theatre-Lyrique (now the Chatelet) in Paris opted to perform the second half, with heavy cuts. La Prise remained unperformed until 1890. The complete opera had to wait until 1921. The Met plays the whole five acts. The entire show clocks in at about five-and-a-half hours, depending on the conductor--in this case Met Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi.

Troyens is Berlioz' most ambitious work, using repeated melodies and themes to retell the story of Enee (Aeneas), his escape from the burning city of Troy. The second half follows the Trojans across the Mediterranean and recounts Enee's his disastrous love affair with Didon, (Dido) the Queen of Carthage.  Marcello Giordani armors up as Enee. Deborah Voigt takes off her Valkyrie wings to utter warnings as Cassandra. Susan Graham sings Didon, a role created in this production by the late Lorraine Hunt Lieberson. Fabio Luisi conducts.

Les Troyens opens December 13. Please note, start time for (most) evening performances is 6pm.

Opera Review: The Serenity Now

The Manhattan School of Music mounts Thaïs.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Spiritual seeker: Rebecca Krynski sings the title role of Thaïs at MSM.
Photo by Jeffrey Langford © 2012 Manhattan School of Music.

Jules Massenet's Thaïs is a strange girl.  In telling the story of an ascetic monk's disastrous obsession with the title character, a famous (fictional) prostitute in 4th century Egypt, the composer was striving to show the clash between pagan belief and the Christian world. What he got was an uneasy alliance between the soul-searching of Wagner's Tannhäuser and the heartbreak of Verdi's La Traviata.

In other words, when the goddess of love met early evangelism, there were no winners.

Happily, this production at the Manhattan School of Music (seen Friday night with the second cast) overcame the composer's florid mix of (Verdian) pathos and (Wagnerian) piety to create sympathetic, believable portraits of these outsized characters. The singers were couched within a simple, pleasing production (designed by André Barbe and originally seen at the Opera de Montréal) that used a contrast of bright colors (the lighting is by Guy Simard) and costumes (also by Mr. Barbé, from the Opera of St. Louis) to create an attractive show that evoked Massenet's Egypt with minimal means.

The severe vocal challenges written into the title role are one factor that keeps Thaïs off the world's stages. Soprano Rebecca Krynski made a convincing case for herself in the part, tracing the courtesan's path from bordello to cloister with a powerhouse performance that anchored the whole show. Elegant and teasing in the first act, Ms. Krynski managed to make Thaïs' lightning-quick conversion in Act II into a believable theatrical coup.

Concert Review: 100 Nights of Fun and Games

André Watts celebrates a Philharmonic milestone.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

André Watts. Photo by Steve J. Sherman © CM Artists.

On Thursday night, the pianist André Watts made his one hundredth appearance with the New York Philharmonic. The program, which featured the soloist playing Rachmaninoff's well-loved Second Piano Concerto also marked the second appearance of an exciting young conductor, Juraj Valčuha, who is giving his first set of subscription concerts this weekend at Avery Fisher Hall.

Let's flash back for a moment, to Jan. 1, 1963. The Philharmonic was in a crisis. Leonard Bernstein had just learned that Glenn Gould had cancelled due to illness. The eccentric Canadian pianist was scheduled to perform Liszt's First Piano Concerto in a subscription concert. Bernstein turned to Mr. Watts, then 16, to play the solo part. Two weeks later, a repeat of the same concerto was broadcast on television, and an international concert career was launched.

Enough history. The Rachmaninoff work is well-known, from its distinctive opening of tolling bell-intervals to its famous main theme, later rewritten as a Sinatra ballad ("Full Moon and Empty Arms"). The bells open the piece played by the soloist's left hand long before the orchestra enters. This doleful sound that evokes the composer's love of Russian church music. Mr. Watts expanded on this idea in the first movement, letting loose a free-flowing stream of melodic ideas and good-natured musical argument with the orchestra.

Opera Review: Bright Stars on a Dark Horse

The Collegiate Chorale mounts Beatrice di Tenda.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The soprano Angela Meade. Photo by Dario Acosta © the artist.

On Wednesday night, the Collegiate Chorale overcame a surprisingly early start time (6pm?!) and a misbehaving supertitle screen to deliver their first opera of the season: Vincenzo Bellini's Beatrice di Tenda. Written between the twin peaks of Norma and I puritani this is the dark horse in the composer's canon. First presented in a famous 1961 concert performance with Joan Sutherland and Marilyn Horne, Beatrice hasn't been mounted in New York (in any form) since 1988.

Movie Review: Four Against Beethoven

Superconductor takes on A Late Quartet
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The Fugue String Quartet (l.r.) Mark Ivanir, Philip Seymour Hoffman,
Catherine Keener, Christopher Walken. Image © 2012 RKO Pictures.

It's all Haydn's fault.

Ever since that composer came up with the idea of writing sonata forms for the combination of two violins, viola and violoncello, the string quartet has been one of the most intimate forms of musical expression. Composers have used this format to express their innermost thoughts, delving to depths of misery and despair (Shostakovich) or expressing cosmic truths (Beethoven) through this unique combination of instruments.

A Late Quartet, the new film by Yaron Zilberman explores not just the music but the complex personal intertwinings of the four members of the (fictional) Fugue String Quartet. They are New Yorkers who find themselves thrust into chaos when their cellist, Peter Mitchell (Christopher Walken) develops Parkinson's disease. With retirement looming, he decides to end his concert career with Beethoven's difficult Op. 131, a seven-movement marathon that must be played attacca--without pauses between movements.

The screenplay (by Mr. Zilberman with Seth Grossman) takes pains to explain that the cello's role is to support the other instruments as it moves through the musical depths of a piece. And Mr. Walken's character provides that support--serving as a surrogate father figure to Juliette Gelbart, the group's violist (Catherine Keener) , and paterfamilias to the whole ensemble and their inner circle.

Opera Preview: Beatrice di Tenda

The Collegiate Chorale presents a Bellini rarity.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Angela Meade stars in Beatrice di Tenda.

On Wednesday night at Carnegie Hall, the Collegiate Chorale will present a rare New York performance of Beatrice di Tenda by the bel canto composer Vincenzo Bellini. This is the first performance of this opera in New York since 1988.

Please note: the performance starts at 6pm.

Beatrice stands in the composers's canon between Norma and I Puritani. The opera has a compelling title role (sung here by Angela Meade) and a style of dark choral writing that inspired Verdi in early operas such as Ernani and I due Foscari.

The plot deals with Beatrice's unhappy marriage to Filippo, the Duke of Milan. Filippo has eyes for Agnese, a rial at court. She, in turn is in love with Orombello, another courtier. In the opera's climax, the Duke and Agnese accuse Beatrice of adultery...with Orombello. A trial follows and Beatrice is sentenced to death. The libretto (by Bellini's usual collaborator, Felice Romani) has a curiously unfinished quality, which may account for why Beatrice has never gained a foothold with the public.

However, with singers like this, you don't need to worry too much about the plot. Angela Meade takes on Beatrice. This is the bel canto soprano's first major New York appearance of the 2012 season. She is joined by mezzo Jamie Barton as Agnese, tenor Michael Spyres (Orombello) and baritone Nicholes Pallesan. James Bagwell conducts the Collegiate Chorale and the American Symphony Orchestra.

Concert Review: In the Big Dream

The MET Orchestra at Carnegie Hall
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Fabio Luisi apparently demonstrating the proper way to eat one's baton.
Photo by Barbara Luisi.

Fabio Luisi has been an important figure in the musical life of New Yorkers in the last two years. Last season, he was promoted to Principal Conductor in the wake of a seemingly catastrophic series of health problems for the Metropolitan Opera's Music Director, James Levine. On Sunday afternoon, Mr. Luisi led the MET Orchestra (as they are billed for concerts0 in a bold, ambitious program, showing that even with Mr. Levine's impending return to conducting in 2013, this conductor is confident in putting his stamp on the ensemble in a concert setting.

This was an ambitious program. It started with the first Carnegie Hall performance of In tempus praesens, ("In the present time") the second violin concerto from the pen of Russian-Tatar composer Sofia Gubaidulina. Here, the solo part was taken by Met concertmaster David Chan. In tempus praesans begins with a deceptively simple series of wide intervals on the solo violin: less than a melody but more than a tone-row. From there, the piece set the soloist against the tuttis from a very large orchestra, minus its violin section.

Judging from a first listen, this piece folk influences of central Russia and the ancient, pagan ceremonies that also inspired Stravinsky's Rite. Huge, slab-like constructs were laid down by the violin-less string section. They seemed to rise up and impede the soloist's progress through the score. Colorful percussion and adventurous tonalities make one think of the late works of Scriabin, pushing the boundaries of tonality in the quest for mystic understanding through music.

Concert Review: The Importance of Winged Helmets

The Philadelphia Orchestra takes on (parts of) the Ring.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Your Valkyrie Airlines flight director: conductor Donald Runnicles.
Photo by Ken Friedman © San Francisco Opera.

In the last two years, as the Philadelphia Orchestra has struggled with (and emerged from) bankruptcy, programming for the ensemble's Kimmel Center concerts has been somewhat conservative. This is no doubt in an effort to keep the interest of an aging audience intent on hearing their favorites. Those conservative listeners were thrilled by this week's program selection, featuring Scottish maestro Donald Runnicles leading Beethoven's First Piano Concerto (with soloist Lars Vogt) and an hour's worth of selections from Richard Wagner's mighty Ring Cycle.

The Beethoven opened the program, with Mr. Vogt displaying his precise, pedal-heavy approach to this music. Mr. Runnicles drove the accompaniment forward, reveling in the lush strings and winds that characterize the "Philly sound." Mr. Vogt too, seemed comfortable in his approach to the solo part, playing with a warm, singing tone and an appreciation for the robust humor that infects this early work. Especially impressive, the tricky cadenzas of the third movement, answered back by robust tone from the orchestra.

Mr. Runnicles returned to start the Wagner excerpts with the Ride of the Valkyries, that Act III curtain-raiser from Die Walküre beloved of Army colonels and a certain, magic helmet wearing rabbit-hunter. Although the early horn-calls featured a few false notes at the top of the phrase, the players settled in to create the illusion of soaring flight and wild warrior women without the aid of sopranos, costumes, or rising and falling planks. The cellos were particularly fine here, supplying the tricky "horse" rhythms that are the engines of this piece.

Concert Review: New Sounds from the Old School

Steven Stucky's Symphony has its New York premiere.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The composer Steven Stucky. His new Symphony had its New York premiere last night. 
Photo by Nicola Kountopes© 2005 Cornell University/University Photography.

Yesterday, the New York Philharmonic announced a two-year plan, (starting in 2017) to renovate Avery Fisher Hall, rebuilding the venue's auditorium while leaving the façade intact. That news (see, I got it in!) threatened to overshadow the fact that last night marked the first New York performance of Steven Stucky's Symphony, a work co-commissioned by the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics.

Although it bears no number, this is technically Mr. Stucky's fifth--with the earlier works written in his twenties and currently withdrawn from publication. He requires a large orchestra to produce conventional, tonal sounds. Symphony is twenty minutes, consisting of four continuous movements. The sections have cool English titles instead of traditional movement names.

Introduction and Hymn featured impressive playing from the Philharmonic wind soloists, as their single melodic lines coalesced to form paragraphs of musical thought, answered by soft, solemn brass chords from the horns and trombones. Alan Gilbert let the theme develop, his extravagent gestures creating an arch of sound that would do a late Romantic proud.

Opera Review: Statue, With Limitations

Don Giovanni returns to the Met.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

"Want to switch?" Don Giovanni (Ildar Abdrazakov, l.)  negotiates with Leporello (Erwin Schrott, r.) 
in Act I of Don Giovanni. Photo by Marty Sohl © 2012 The Metropolitan Opera.

On Wednesday night, the Metropolitan Opera revived Michael Grandage's 2011 production of Don Giovanni, which sets the action against a curved, sliding wall of louvered doors that (to this writer) recalls the façade of certain seedy motels in Wildwood, New Jersey. The show's biggest success:  Ildar Abdrazakov, whose bellowing, hyper-testosteroned take on the title character made him an energetic and charismatic leading man.

This reviewer saw Mr. Abdrazakov's Don a few months ago. He still purrs and fawns during "La ci darem la mano" and achieves a manic glee in the Champagne Aria. He still prowls with a catlike presence and charisma. And he remains compelling in the Damnation Scene, going (quite literally) down in flames as he bellows his last notes at the statue. (Note on that effect: although it was a major talking point of this new production last year, it (along with the rest of this staging) has outworn its welcome.) If anything, the Russian bass seemed more restrained in this show, toning down the excesses and working within the context of the ensemble.

In this cast, Erwin Schrott moves from singing the Don to Leporello. As the put-upon servant, the  bass-baritone seemed to yearn for his old role: macking on the ladies instead of carrying the catalogue. He undermined his performance repeatedly, with comic mugging and repeated attempts to one-up Mr. Abdrazakov. However, his Catalogue Song sparked the first act, bringing a sluggish opera to life The Act Two "seduction" scenes with Donna Elvira (Emma Bell) were a comic highlight.

The Superconductor Interview: Angela Meade

A conversation with the next queen of bel canto.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

"I don't read blogs." Soprano Angela Meade in Ernani.
Photo by Marty Sohl, © 2012 The Metropolitan Opera.

"The essence of a great bel canto opera is beautifully written melodies that seem extremely organic." Soprano Angela Meade should know. In the last five years, Ms. Meade has taken the spotlight as a bel canto specialist, reviving this lost operatic form (the phrase is Italian for "beautiful song") for a new generation of opera lovers.

Opera Review: The Princess Diaries

The singers trump the sets (for once) in the Met's latest Aida.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Aida (Liudmila Monastyrska, l.) emotes as Amneris (Olga Boridina) glowers in the Met's
latest revival of Verdi's Aida. Photo by Marty Sohl © 2012 The Metropolitan Opera.

Since 1988, Sonja Frisell's over-the-top Metropolitan Opera production of Verdi's Aida has been a house favorite. Tourists and opera lovers flock to see the sandstone walls, white-and-gold costumes and spectacular depictions of Ancient Egypt, inspired by the Temple of Dendur at that other Met across town. But thanks to some questionable casting decisions in recent years, the show's big set pieces tend to supersede what is essentially an intimate drama against a huge backdrop.

All that changed Monday night with this current revival, boasting the talents of Liudmila Monastyrska in the title role. This run marks the Ukrainian soprano's house debut as the Ethiopian princess. For once, listeners could look forward to "Ritorno vincitar." The Act I monologue/aria was sung as intended, with a smooth legato and limpid tone that floated above the stilled orchestra.

Things got better from this encouraging start. Ms. Monastyrska won the audience in her Act II confrontation with Amneris even as her character sunk into self-pity. She sliced cleanly through the big ensembles in the Triumph Scene, underlining Aida's plight. Best of all was Act III, where she dominated the banks of the Nile. "O patria mia" presented with the climactic high notes sung, not shrilled.

Concert Review: From Familiar Composers, Unfamiliar Sounds

Christian Zacharias conducts the Boston Symphony Orchestra
by Paul J. Pelkonen

On Friday afternoon at Symphony Hall, Christian Zacharias conducted from the keyboard.
Photo by Stu Rosner © 2012 Boston Symphony Orchestra.

In the modern classical music world, programming a weekend concert exclusively with the works of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven can lead to accusations of conservatism or (worse yet) pandering to the taste of an audience whose age has gone up even as their tolerance for "modern" music (anything written in the last 100 years) has gone down.

However, as Friday's afternoon concert at Symphony Hall proved, the choice to bring back German pianist-conductor Christian Zacharias proved a wise one. For this concert, Mr. Zacharias dug deeply into the vast catalogues of these three composers, crafting an appealing program from some of their least-performed compositions.

This was the BSO's first performances ever of Haydn's Symphony No. 76, a work that falls between his fertile Sturm und Drang period and the late compositions which thrilled audiences in Paris and London. This is Haydn at the height of his powers as a spinner of inventive, constantly changing melodies laced with ease and good humor. Mr. Zacharias led a crisp performance, with the Boston players sounding as if this was a symphony that was part of their regular repertory.

Before We All Get Stuffed....

Happy Thanksgiving from Superconductor!

Thanksgiving preparations at the Simpson house.
Image framegrabbed from The Simpsons, Episode 7F07, Bart vs. Thanksgiving.
© 1990 Gracie Films/FOX.

Hopefully, dear readers, you are either

• waking up in a household of loved ones
• traveling (safely) from point A to point B this morning
• getting ready to watch the Lions stomp the Cowboys (hey, it could happen!)
• or watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and Commercial-fest. 

Anyway, happy Thanksgiving, and please accept the thanks of this (not so) humble classical music  journalist for reading Superconductor and helping to make it a recognized name for quality classical music coverage.

We have some exciting stuff planned, including excursions to Boston and Philadelphia as well as reviews from the Metropolitan Opera rush line and Family Circle. So after you read this, go have a fabulous and hopefully music-filled Thanksgiving holiday. We'll be right back here tomorrow with more...stuff.

All best,

Paul J. Pelkonen,
Editor,
Superconductor.

In the spirit of the holiday, here is the third movement from Beethoven's String Quartet Op. 132. Yep, it's the Heiliger Dankgesang.

Concert Review: No Turkeys At All

Andrey Boreyko conducts the New York Philharmonic.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Thanksgiving guest: conductor Andrey Boreyko.
Photo by Susanne Diesner © 2012 Tonhalle Orchester Zurich.

The New York Philharmonic adjusted their concert schedule for Thanksgiving week, allowing the players to enjoy time with their families (and not having to rehearse a new piece for the weekend concerts. As a result, last night's concert was a rarity: a new program premiered on a Tuesday. (The program will repeat Nov. 23, 24 and 27, with a Saturday matinee also featuring the New World Symphony.)

The concert, conducted by Andrey Boreyko opened with a rarity from Mendelssohn's vast (and underplayed) catalogue. Specifically, this was the charming, witty Overture to Die Heimkehr aus der Fremde ("Son and Stranger") one of the light operas Mendelssohn wrote to be played by his friends and family.

Mr. Boreyko's interpretation ull of the melodic life and joy one associates with this composer. A slow introduction was followed by a brisk middle section, with the introduction coming back as a brief, quizzical reprise at the very end.

The orchestra was then joined by Frank Peter Zimmermann for a performance of Shostakovich's First Violin Concerto. From the keening, mournful melodic line of the slow first movement, which bends and unwinds itself at a leisurely pace, this was playing of the highest level from last year's Artist-in-Residence.

Opera Review: It's a Gutter Ballet

Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts Wozzeck at Lincoln Center.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Baritone Simon Keenlyside sang Wozzeck at Lincoln Center.

On Monday night, Esa-Pekka Salonen led a concert performance of Alban Berg's Wozzeck, featuring the Philharmonia Orchestra and Simon Keenlyside in the title role. Although played in a concert setting, the singers eschewed music stands, playing out the drama in front of the orchestra in a narrow, claustrophobic acting space along the lip of the stage in Avery Fisher Hall.

Berg's opera is a study in contrasts. To set Woyzeck, the sprawling, chaotic play by Georg Büchner that is the opera's source material, the composer relied on an absolute, rigid use of forms. The first act is composed as a suite, with each short scene forming a dance movement of sorts. The second is a miniature symphony of despair. For the work's apocalyptic last act Berg created a series of "Inventions," with each scene based on a different type of musical element.

This rigorous approach paved the way for twelve-tone composition and the serialism that followed, but each piece of math music has its own radiant inner beauty. Mr. Salonen conducted a burly reading of the score that highlighted the chamber-like details and witty parodies that lie buried in this brilliant work. Compressing the three acts into a tight 95 minutes, he drove the performance with deadly precision, allowing the luminous moments in the score their own chances to shine.

Mr. Keenlyside, fresh from his run as Prospero in the Met's new production of The Tempest lay down his staff for Wozzeck's knife, inhabiting the soldier's madness for a harrowing three acts. Indeed, his Wozzeck seems unbalanced from the first few moments, jittering and twitching in the fields with Andreas, and barely interacting wih Marie and their child, here played by empty air.

Concert Review: Checking the Baggage

Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts Mahler's Ninth. 
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Esa-Pekka Salonen. Photo by Mat Hennek © Deutsche Grammophon

It's not every day that a familiar conductor can present a well-known and well-loved repertory symphony in such a way that the listener hears it with fresh ears. But that's exactly what happened Sunday at Avery Fisher Hall, when Finnish composer-conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen led the Philharmonia Orchestra in Mahler's Ninth Symphony.

No other symphony has the baggage of the Mahler Ninth. It's the composer's last completed work. Mahler did not live to hear it played. And the opening, descending dotted rhythm phrase that forms the motto of the entire 90-minute symphony was associated (by Leonard Bernstein, no less) as representing the composer's own damaged, faltering heart.

That's quite a legacy. However, in performing ths symphony on Sunday night, Mr. Salonen chose to lay sentiment aside. He took a clear, assured approach which offered the audience new inroads into the mysteries of these four strange movements. Throughout, this performance had a clarity of texture in the strings. The Philharmonia horns sounded noble and mournful, but not over-wrought.