Opera Preview: The Tender Land

Aaron Copland's American opera at Chelsea Opera.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Aaron Copland's The Tender Land brings the American heartland to Chelsea.
Photo from Flickr.com

Chelsea Opera, the small company that gives its performances at St. Peter's Churg on W. 20th St. in Manhattan, concludes its 2014 spring season with Aaron Copland's The Tender Land. This is Copland's only opera, composed in 1954 and premiered at the New York City Opera in 1955. There are just two performances: on June 13 and June 14.

The Prisoner of Sixth Avenue

Or... My worst Fourth of July. (1991)
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The year was 1991. I had finished a desultory freshman year at Fordham University. Being a young college student (OK, I was 18 and a year ahead) I had to get myself a summer job.

The month before, I had started applying to record stores. Most of these were part of a large, uncaring chain run by a larger, uncaring holding company. Back then, these stores were everywhere in Manhattan. HMV. Tower. Coconuts. Sam Goody. Most were bloated, badly run supermarkets, each of which was filled with a vast selection of recorded music that most of the staff didn't care about.

But what did I know? I was 18. After several failed applications, I found out that the brand-new Sam Goody in Greenwich Village was hiring for its classical department.

"Classical?" I thought. "I can do that."

Concert Review: Before God Showed Up

The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall.
by Paul J. Pelkonen
(Ed. Note: Here's the review of last Saturday night at Carnegie Hall with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. I know it's a little late in coming but things haven't been exactly normal around here.)

Before the storm: Robert Spano (right) conducts countertenor John Holiday
and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus  in Leonard Bernstein's Chichester Psalms
at Carnegie Hall. (Photo by Chris Lee © 2012 Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.)

On Saturday night at Carnegie Hall, New Yorkers attending this year's appearance by Robert Spano and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus knew that a storm was coming. They didn't know that Hurricane Sandy would create the greatest natural disaster that this city has seen in a century, or that the venue itself would remain closed, due to the danger of a collapsed crane that has hovered over 57th Street this week like the anvil in the Metropolitan Opera's current production of The Barber of Seville.

Concert programs for touring orchestras are determined well in advance of a performance. There was no way of predicting that the three works on this program (Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring, Leonard Bernstein's Chichester Psalms and William Walton's 20th century cantata Belshazzar's Feast) would share the common thread of depicting the interference of the Almighty on people's everyday lives, even as Hurricane Sandy barrelled towards New York.

The concert opened with the Suite from Appalachian Spring, one of Copland's most enduring compositions. Mr. Spano displayed the rich, dulcet tones of the Atlanta cellos and basses to full advantage here, creating a rich, woven texture shot through with the homespun authenticity of Copland's folk melodies. The sonorous climax (featuring the full statement of the Shaker hymn Simple Gifts created Copland's frontier idyll for the listener in rich, glowing detail.