Metropolitan Opera Preview: Werther

The Met brings back its handsome new Werther...without its star, Jonas Kaufmann.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Isabel Leonard stands strong as Charlotte in Massenet's Werther.
Well actually this photo is of the mezzo in Cosí fan tutti but we're on deadline.
Photo © 2017 The Metropolitan Opera.

Vittorio Grigolo has big shoes to fill (Jonas Kaufmann's) as the Met revives its Richard Eyre staging of Werther, the tale of a lovestruck poet whose tragic love for the beautiful Charlotte (Isabel Leonard) leads to suicide.

Concert Review: The Odd Couple

Dorothea Röschmann and Mitsuko Uchida at Carnegie Hall.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Pianist Mitsuko Uchida (left) and soprano Dorothea Röschmann.
Original photo of Dorothea Roschmann  © Sony Classical. Photo of Ms. Uchida by Justin Pumfrey © Universal Music Group.
Photo alteration by the author because it's nice to have them in the same picture.

Every once in a while in this business you get to see something unique. That happened on Wednesday night at Carnegie Hall, when soprano Dorothea Röschmann gave a lieder recital accompanied by a world-class pianist: Mitsuko Uchida. It is unusual to hear an internationally known virtuoso and a regular touring visitor to Carnegie Hall with a vast repertory in the role of accompanist, but the pairing proved inspired.  The evening, a stop on the artists' current North American tour, featured art songs by Robert Schumann and Alban Berg, in a concert that made the cavernous Stern Auditorium seem intimate and warm despite the crowd in attendance.

The Superconductor Interview: A Taste for Complexity

A pianist in motion: Marc-André Hamelin.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Marc-André Hamelin.
Photo by Sim Cannety Clarke © 2014 Hemsing Associates.

Among piano virtuosos, Marc-André Hamelin stands apart. The Canadian pianist and composer is known for his relentless exploration of the most challenging repertory of the instrument, bringing "lost" composers from the 19th century back into the public eye.

In New York to make his first subscription appearances with the New York Philharmonic, Mr. Hamelin graciously agreed to an interview while hurtling through the steel canyons of Manhattan in the back of a taxi. In these concerts, he is playing Cesar Franck's Symphonic Variations for Piano and Orchestra a work that used to be frequently heard but is now regarded as an antique.

Brass Tacks: The Concerto

The Eternal Struggle of Soloist vs. Orchestra.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Sergei Rachmaninoff at the piano.
Acclaimed as a composer and pianist, he wrote four piano concertos.

In today's installment we're going to talk about forms again--specifically the concerto, one of the most popular types of concert music. Concertos are a standard feature of most orchestral programs, appearing second after an overture and before the symphony.

Some concertos have the soloist enter first. Others have the orchestra lead off. This can change from movement to movement, with the soloist and conductor "taking turns."

Concertos usually have three movements: a fast Sonata allegro, a slow central Adagio and a Presto finale. The music generally observes sonata form, eliminating the dance movement found in most symphonies. 

The three movements usually have passages (cadenzas) where the orchestra stops entirely and allows the solo player to either play a pre-written solo or add one of their own creation. These are usually placed between the different sections of the sonata, for example between the development and the recapitulation.
Here's a helpful diagram courtesy of our friends at Wikipedia.

Concert Review: The Substitute Virtuoso

Louis Lortie in recital at Carnegie Hall.
by Paul Pelkonen

The pianist Louis Lortie. Photo by Elias.

A few weeks ago, Carnegie Hall subscribers were informed that pianist Maurizio Pollini had cancelled his planned New York recitals for this season for "health reasons." This the second year in which the Italian virtuoso had declined to appear on this side of the Atlantic. On Sunday afternoon, those subscribers had the pleasure of hearing Louis Lortie, who offered a program of Beethoven and Chopin in the second of these scheduled concerts.


This Canadian pianist has built a reputation in recent years for clean, imaginative playing. He began the concert with two of the most popular Beethoven Sonatas, the Waldstein and Les Adieux. The first movement of the Waldstein was played with a pell-mell spirit that slowed with the application of rubato in the second theme. Mr. Lortie accelerated again, playing Beethoven's thematic building blocks with a sure touch. The glissando notes came as fast as it was possible to play them without slurring.

In his methodical way, Mr. Lortie brought equal weight to the Waldstein's short second movement, providing melodic expression and making this Adagio more than just a bridge between big ideas. The quick turn into the final Rondo happened almost invisibly, as Mr. Lortie siezed hold of the big, singing theme, playing the repettions of it with rhythmic drive and a warm sense of melody.

Liszt At 200: Five Essential Works

Franz Liszt

Franz Liszt (1811-1886) was a prolific composer, making vast contributions to the international repertory of piano and orchestral music. Here are some great examples of his art to get the curious listener started.

Piano Concerto No. 1 in E Flat Major
From its majestic opening figuration, Liszt set out to make a grand statement with this, the first of his three piano concertos. As usual, the composer broke new ground, giving the piano equal voice in the opening moments and bringing the role of the instrument deeper into the orchestra.

Polonaise from Eugene Onegin
Liszt wrote many opera transcriptions, setting works by Wagner, Verdi and others for the piano. This version of a dance from Tchaikovsky's opera is one of his finest. It bursts with the same enthusiasm and rhythmic joy as Tchaikovsky's work, bursting with a propulsive force from the keys.

Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 in C Sharp Minor
Liszt decided to explore the music and national identity of Hungary with his set of 19 Hungarian rhapsodies. The No. 2, with its sturdy rhythms and glissando passages, is among the most famous--and not just because it's featured in Who Framed Roger Rabbit

La lúgubre gondola No. 1
This dark composition for piano depicts a Venetian funeral procession. Composed in 1882, it prefigured the death of Liszt's son-in-law Richard Wagner. (Wagner, married to Liszt's daughter Cosima von Bülow, died in Venice in 1883.) The piece also exists in an orchestration (by contemporary composer John Adams) called The Black Gondola. Both are recommended.

Bagatelle Sans tonalité
This short piano piece, written in 1885 (a year before Liszt's death) is characteristic of the composer's late style. It is also one of the earliest examples of a work without tonality, relying on shifting chromaticism instead. Liszt was part of the "music of the future" movement during his lifetime. With this late composition, he predicted what was to come.

Strauss Relief: Five Great Recordings

Richard Strauss

Richard Strauss is in the news this week, with the City Opera reviving Intermezzo, the composer's 1924 opera based loosely on his own life. It's about a conductor and his troubles with his quarrelsome wife. Strauss wrote the libretto himself.

Strauss was a brilliant orchestrator, a master of the tone poem and one of the most important German opera composers of the early 20th century. Here's a look at five of the best representations of Strauss' output on disc. And I picked these 'cos they're my five favorite Strauss compositions.

THE TONE POEMS:
Also Sprach Zarathustra
The 1969 film 2001: A Space Odyssey made the three-note opening of Zarathustra one of the most recognizable moments in music. There's only one definitive recording, made in 1959, by Herbert von Karajan with the Vienna Philharmonic. This is the one that was in the movie. Accept no substitutes. It is bundled with good performances of three other works: Till Eulenspiegel, Don Juan, and the Dance of the Seven Veils from the opera Salome.


Ein Alpensinfonie
Strauss' other Nietzche-inspired tone poem is an account of a 22-movement journey up and Alp, and then down as the hikers are chased by a raging thunderstorm and a 150-piece orchestra. There are a number of recordings, but this 2001 offering by the Vienna Philharmonic under Christian Thielemann has more depth of detail and nuance than the others.


THE OPERAS:
Der Rosenkavalier
Strauss' bourgeois comedy of manners has many find representations on disc. The best modern recording features the Dresden Staatskapelle under the baton of Bernard Haitink. This EMI set preserves Anne Sofie von Otter's great interpretation of Octavian. Kiri Te Kanawa is a tremendous presence as the Marschallin, and Kurt Rydl is a marvelously funny Baron Ochs. The recording is in fine stereo, and is completely uncut.


Die Frau Ohne Schatten
Sir Georg Solti's last major opera recording with the Vienna Philharmonic. This Frau was released at the end of an era, when superstar conductors got high-end orchestras and all-star casts together to record the greatest lesser-known works of the catalogue.

Here, the complex score of Frau is presented uncut and in luminous sound. There is no better way to learn Strauss' most difficult and uplifting opera than this fine three-disc set, which reveals the layers of orchestration and vocal writing in exquisite detail.

Ariadne auf Naxos
This Deutsche Grammophon recording was the last opera recording made by Italian maestro Giuseppe Sinopoli. Although it remained in limbo for a number of years following a contract dispute, the maestro's untimely death (in the pit while conducting Aida in Berlin) paved the way for its posthumous release. He was blessed with the Dresden Staatskapelle, an orchestra which truly loves Strauss. The cast features Deborah Voigt in the title role and the crystalline Natalie Dessay in the hellishly difficult role of Zerbinetta.