Opera Review: An Overwhelming Sense of Gilt

The Dangerous Liasons bows at MSM.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The Comte de Valmont's favorite piece of furniture in The Dangerous Liasons.

Since its publication in 1782, the French novel Les Liasons Dangereuses has had many incarnations. It has spawned six film adaptations, a hit Broadway show and kept corset-makers in business. In 1994, composer Conrad Susa and librettist Philip Littell turned it into an opera: The Dangerous Liasons  which premiered in San Francisco with an all-star cast. Mr. Susa's version  arrived this weekend at the Manhattan School of Music, with three performances (featuring two seperate casts) at Borden Auditorium.

Concert Review: Goin' South

The American Composers Orchestra ends its subscription season with Border Vanguards.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Flyer for Border Vanguards, last Friday's concert at Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall, featuring
the singer Luciana Souza (center.) Art © 2014 American Composers Orchestra.

The American Composers Orchestra is dedicated to the performance of modern music. Under the leadership of former New York City Opera music director George Manahan it remains a crack collection of players who conduct fearless exploration of fresh musical terrain. Last Friday night, the ensemble ended its 2013-14 Orchestra Underground subscription series at Carnegie Hall's downstairs performance space Zankel Hall with Border Vanguards The program explored music from five composers. With two rarities and three premieres, this was an exciting evening laced with exotic sounds and rare percussion instruments.

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: Mahler, Without Bombast

Chamber arrangement of Das Lied von der Erde performed for work's centennial.

The Burial of Gustav Mahler.
Painting by Arnold Schoenberg.
 © 1911 The Arnold Schoenberg Foundation.

On Thursday night, the St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble performed Gustav Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde in a stripped-down verson for 14 musicians and two singers. This orchestration, created by Mahler's contemporary Arnold Schoenberg, brought the voices of tenor Paul Groves and Jennifer Johnson Cano to the fore. The result: an unexpected intimacy in Mahler's music.

Das Lied von der Erde ("The Song of the Earth") was originally planned as Mahler's Ninth Symphony. It marks the beginning of Mahler's final years, a race against time and his own, defective heart.Its text is drawn from The Chinese Flute, a German translation of seven Chinese poems. The songs offer poignant, sometimes bitter descriptions of nature, everyday life, and the occasional drinking binge.

Arnold Schoenberg began, but did not complete, his arrangement of Das Lied in 1920, intending the work for a series exploring contemporary music in Vienna. (It was finished in 1980 by composer Ranier Riehn.) The spare arrangement (five string players, three winds, horn, piano, harmonium, glockenspiel, and percussion) emphasizes the connection between the late music of Mahler and the works of Schoenberg were made very clear by the reduced orchestra.


A chuckling, splashing horn-call opens Das Trinklied von der Jammer der Erde. ("The Drinking-song of Earth's Sorrow") The small orchestra revealed fresh details in the score, including quotations from earlier Mahler works. Paul Groves soared over the orchestra with a strong heldentenor delivery, rising blissfully through each verse. With remarkable control, he subdued his instrument to deliver the grim refrain: "Dark is love, dark is death!"

He was ably supported by the St. Luke's Chamber Ensemble under the baton of George Manahan. The veteran conductor attained clarity from his little band, working hard to correct the balance problems caused in the bright-sounding hall. The second movement, Der Einsame im Herbst ("The Lonely One in Autumn") brought Ms. Cano's fervent mezzo to the fore. She sang with sweet, pliant tone, handling the long vocal phrases with power and ease

Two little movements (Von der Jugend ("Of Youth") and Von der Schönheidt ("Of Beauty") followed, depicting folksy images Chinese art, accompanied by Mahler's development of the traditional Asian pentatonic scale. Each movement was delivered with warmth and humor by the vocal soloists. Mr. Groves surged to the fore again for Der Trunkene im Frühling ("The Drunkard in Springtime"), navigating expertly through the tricky "off" rhythms that indicate the singer's inebriated state.

Mr. Manahan achieved stunning effects in the final Der Abschied ("The Farewell") making his chamber ensemble breathe and thunder like a huge Mahlerian band. This extended movement, lasting just over half an hour, features the final two songs from The Chinese Flute bridged together with a complex, almost atonal central passage.

Ms. Cano displayed remarkable vocal stamina, lasting through to the final passages of this marathon movement. She phrased the final, repeated" Ewig, ewig" unwinding the notes as if they were the white wrappings of a funeral shroud. The work ended on somber, trascendant chords, resolving the questions posed by the composer even as it lulled the audience to a state of bliss.

Manahan Overboard!

City Opera Drops Music Director.

Former City Opera music director George Manahan.
Photo by Nan Melville courtesy Columbia Artists Management (CAMI)

The New York City Opera has announced that music director George Manahan will not be returning for its 2012 season. No replacement has been named.

The move marks the latest of many radical changes for this troubled opera company. In April of this year, City Opera left its longtime home at Lincoln Center, after claiming that its diminished endowment would not be enough to pay the rent on the building. The decision has led to uproar in the opera world, including a letter of protest signed by director Hal Prince and tenor Placído Domingo.

Now they'll attempt to survive without a music director, one of the key positions in any opera company. In addition to leading performances, an MD plays a key role in finding singers, administration, and overseeing all aspects of opera performance. This is the same role enjoyed by James Levine at the Metropolitan Opera.

In an interview with the New York Times, City Opera general manager George Steel said: "Given the size the company is now, it doesn't make sense for us to have a music director."


A graduate from Manhattan School of Music, George Manahan served as the music director of City Opera since 1996. During that time, the conductor led a wide range of operas, from the baroque music of Handel to modern compositions. He was a key fixture of the company for the last decade, and a steady hand on the tiller for this tempest-tossed opera company.

Mr. Manahan was conspicuously absent from the recent City Opera press conference at the Guggenheim, and is not scheduled to conduct any of the four operas that constitute NYCO's short season, beginning in the spring of 2012. The operas, scheduled for performance at BAM, John Jay College and El Museo del Barrio, include the New York premiere of Rufus Wainwright's first opera, Prima Donna, a Jonathan Miller staging of La Traviata, Mozart's Cosi fan tutte and Telemann's Orpheus.

New York City Opera's decision to leave Lincoln Center has been met with vehement protests from members of Local 802 (the musicians) and the American Guild of Musical Artists. Both organizations have been offered a vastly altered contract for next season, as the company moves from relying on a full-time orchestra and chorus to a series of sporadic, pick-up performances with no guarantees for singers or musicians.