Concert Review: The Return of Lorin Maazel

Former Philharmonic maestro returns with cheerful Mozart and Debussy.

Lorin Maazel and the wooden railing. Photo by Chris Lee © New York Philharmonic.

One of the highlights of the 2011-2012 New York Philharmonic schedule is the return of the three "M's": former Philharmonic music directors Lorin Maazel, Kurt Masur, and Zubin Mehta to the podium in Avery Fisher Hall. Mr. Maazel is the first of these. On Friday afternoon, the conductor appeared at Avery Fisher Hall for the first time in three years. This was his second concert of the weekend, a pleasant, if unadventurous program of works by Mozart and Debussy.

The concert opened with a broad reading of Mozart's Prague Symphony, the composer's 38th. Mr. Maazel and the orchestra sounded relaxed and genial in the opening movement, following the stirring slow introduction with a joyful leap into the main theme of the Allegro. Mr. Maazel was loose on the podium, sometimes using minimal movements of his long white baton, sometimes leading with one hand on the wooden railing behind him.

The conductor seemed happy to be back. The orchestra offered the same genial impression. The central slow movement was played with lush, almost hypnotic textures from the orchestra's wind section. The strings sounded crisp, but never stiff or hurried in the final movement, as the band flew through the pages of the Rondo, driven with a steady tick of the white baton.

The rarely heard Concerto for Flute and Harp followed. Mozart wrote this double concerto when he was 21, for a French nobleman (and flautist) whose harp-playing daughter was one of his music students. Pairing it with the "Prague" established contrast between the composer's more familiar, mature style and the galant music expected by his French clients. 

Flautist Robert Langevin and harpist Nancy Allen created a unique sound as they played together, using cadenzas that were written, not by Mozart but by Karl Hermann Pillney. The flute-and-harp combination wove melodic lines together creating a celestial texture against the expertly played orchestral accompaniment.

The second half of the program featured two contrasting works by Debussy. Jeux is one of the French composer's most demanding scores, an abstract ballet that has an almost total absence of melody. It's all little fragments of sound, arranged artfully in an aural shimmer.  Little stabs of struck cymbal and tambourine penetrate the complex fabric, alternating with short lines for winds and horns. Mr. Maazel led this difficult music in an engaging manner, opening up the sound-world of the piece and letting Debussy's inspired writing speak for itself.

Iberia is ten years older, a colorful work found in the larger collection Images.. This work, originally conceived as a piano duet finds Debussy in "tour guide" mode with sound-pictures of France's southern neighbor. (Ironically, the composer had not visited Spain before writing the piece!)

The work offers impressions of scenes in Spanish city life. Portraits of a street scene and a nocturne gave plenty of opportunity for orchestral color and shape. The Philharmonic responded admirably in these movements. The festive finale was dominated by the brass and percussion, in the manner of many past concerts under Mr. Maazel's baton.

The Italian Job

Daniel Barenboim takes over at La Scala.

Daniel Barenboim leads a rehearsal in 2005. Photo from Wikimedia Commons.

Conductor/pianist Daniel Barenboim has been appointed as the new Music Director of La Scala. He is the first conductor to hold that post since Riccardo Muti left in 2005. The conductor signed a 5-year contract which starts Dec. 1. He has been a frequent guest conductor at the house in recent years.

By taking this position, Mr. Barenboim has effectively swapped jobs with Mr. Muti, who now serves as music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Barenboim led the CSO for 17 years, stepping down at the end of his contract in 2006.

The La Scala position is one of the most important jobs in Italian musical culture and the operatic world. As the house is often subject to strikes and other unpredictable labor actions, the music director must balance singers, unions, press, and a volatile and vocal public.

Mr. Barenboim will also retain his current post as the Music Director of the Berlin Staatsoper. An acclaimed conductor of operas and symphonies, he remains in international demand as a solo pianist and a performer of concertos. His newest recording is the two Liszt piano concertos, recorded with the Staatskapelle Berlin. Pierre Boulez conducts.

Born in Argentina in 1942, Mr. Barenboim was raised in Israel. He received early praise from Wilhelm Furtwängler and formal training from Nadia Boulanger. Mr. Barenboim rose to fame in the early 1970s as a pianist, conductor and accompanist to his first wife, the late cellist Jacqueline du Pré. She retired from music in 1973, and died in 1987.  

He has served as music director at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, conducted the Ring at Bayreuth and issued a massive recording catalogue over a 44-year career. Among his prominent recordings: two cycles of Beethoven piano sonatas, the major  symphonies of Beethoven and Brahms, and two cycles of Bruckner symphonies recorded in Chicago and Berlin. 

A number of those recordings are being reissued this month, including a 34-disc box set (on Warner Brothers Classics) of his complete Wagner operas, recorded in Bayreuth and Berlin. (This has been released in Europe on Oct. 10--an American release date remains TBA.) Also newly available, Mr. Barenboim's first recording of the complete Bruckner symphonies, made with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in the 1970s.

Live Simulcast Coverage: Into the Fire

Opening Night: Don Giovanni from the Met.

Not appearing tonight: Kurt Moll as the Commendatore in Don Giovanni
Image © 1989 Salzburg Festival/Deutsche Grammophon.

PREGAME SHOW:
7:12pm: So we're trying this LiveStream technology again, this time with the opening night of Don Giovanni. The stream should be up at 7:30pm but there's no pre-show this time with Met radio broadcast announcers. So I'll just provide some background.

7:18pm: Energy hustlers in cheap uniforms with clipboards at the front door of my Brooklyn co-op, trying to solicit personal information from my neighbors. Actually had to hold the door shut and wait for them to leave. Not like my servant invited them to dinner or anything--although the idea of people in disguise getting into the house is central to Don Giovanni.

7:20pm: The Met has had bad luck with Don Giovanni. I've made this point before. But this new production, mounted by Michael Grandage has had it worse than most. The first casualty was music director James Levine, who went down with a back injury after a fall on Labor Day Weekend. He's been replaced by Fabio Luisi.
7:23pm: Worse luck struck again at Monday's dress rehearsal, when star baritone Mariusz Kwiecien went down with an injured disc, not ten minutes into the opera. Mr. Kwiecien has had back surgery and his prognosis is good. His substitute: Peter Mattei, recently heard in Il Barbiere di Siviglia. Dwayne Croft remains the cover.
7:25pm: Welcome to the Metropolitan Opera Online Stream. Stay with us because tonight's broadcast will begin shortly.
7:29pm: ...and here's Margaret Juntwait and Will Berger.

Barbara Frittoli (l.) as Donna Elvira confronts Peter Mattei's Don.
This is from the old production. Photo by Ken Howard © 2009 Metropolitan Opera.

ACT I: 
7:30pm: Get well wishes for Mariusz Kwiecien and they're so glad Peter Mattei is here. Quick Act I summary for the listener going over the plot.
7:33pm: Conductor to the pit....
7:34pm: Audience applauds and it's game time. Act I.
7:35pm: Opening of the Overture measured, with those famous chords. "Hellfire" theme against solemn background of brass and timpani...orchestra sounds good. Now the second, faster theme, taken a little slow then gathering speed to the first climax. After this Luisi does not let up. Strings very crisp with fine pointing from the oboes and flute.
7:40pm: Curtain up and here's bass Luca Pisaroni as Leporello, kvetching about his boss.
7:42pm: Enter a vigorous-sounding Peter Mattei and an equally determined Donna Anna. Trio ensemble here not quite perfectly together but the dramatic energy is palpable.
7:43pm: Stefan Kocán as a resonant Commendatore. Swords drawn audibly. "Se voi morir!"
7:45pm: And he's down. Sword thrust, not a back injury as the Commendatore breathes his last--as a mortal, anyway.
7:46pm: Fabio Luisi moves to harpsichord for first recitatives. Love that he's doubling the two jobs. Lot of clomping about on the wooden set.
7:48pm: Bel canto tenor and Met veteran Ramon Vargas is unusual, luxury casting for Don Ottavio, the worst role in opera because the character (not the singer) is basically a jellyfish. Donna Anna has all the stingers!
7:52pm: This duet sounds "even" for once with Vargas singing with more power than most Don Jellyfish.
7:55pm: Barbara Frittoli makes her entrance as Donna Elvira.
8pm: Leporello and Elvira discuss the Don and his outrageous sex life. Here comes that famous er...number. Sound of a book being opened.
8:06pm Pisaroni gets the Catalogue song rolling with sprightly accompaniment from the pit. Audience laughter at "mil 'e tre." Thank God for MET Titles! Second subject with its courtly dance-figures (a little Mozartean joke) taken very slowly and delicately. Sung with warmth but not leering. Last part taken very slowly with some vocal showing off from Pisaroni.
8:07pm: How rude of me. LiveStream is HERE. We now rejoin our peasant wedding, in progress.
8:08pm: Peasants occupying the stage like it's Zuccoti Park. Sorry, couldn't resist. Joshua Bloom gruff and unsubtle as Masetto, Mojca Erdmann makes a good first impression as Zerlina.
8:12pm: Masetto may be a churl, but Joshua Bloom sang a good, very fast "Ho capito." BTW that is how you respond when someone gets in your face and says "Capeesh?" (I'm from Brooklyn.)
8:14pm: Peter Mattei coming into his own, the right mix of seduction and swagger as he goes to work on Zerlina and the lead-in to the most famous duet in Mozart. Tho he's wandering away from the mic.
8:15pm: Best part of duet: sensual, exquisite playing from the orchestra evoking Mozart's very carnal music. This is where Strauss got the sex scene that opens Rosenkavalier from, the pulsing, squeeze-box rhythms and parrying, dancing voices. Andiam!
8:20pm: The Don meets Anna and Ottavio. And cue Elvira.
8:25pm: The complex Quartet, beautifully executed by the ensemble. At least their timing seems to be down, which bodes well for next Monday (when I see this show in the house.)
8:31pm: Marina Rebeka an excellent Donna Anna singing "Or sai chi l'onore."
8:34pm: Vargas just floating those long notes into the air of the Met with remarkable control in "Dalla sua pace," stretching out the texture--he has the technique for this and Luisi is trusting his singer.
8:36pm: Now stretching out with vibrato--but not unsteadiness for the last notes, ending with an organ-like woodwind figure that shows up in a lot of Wagner operas.
8:39pm: Champagne aria taken at ridiculously fast speed with Mattei blustering through it and banging stuff around on stage. Not sure the grapes were stomped in France.
8:42pm: "Batti, batti O bel Masetto": the favorite aria of New York Rangers fans, who believe that Masetto clearly plays for the Islanders and wears No. 6.
8:46pm: Enter the chorus as the pieces move into position for the Act I finale. My brain always hears "Zerlinetta" as "Zerbinetta." Too much Strauss.
8:52pm: This finale is sometimes muddled but here it's crisp and sounds as if it's well-directed. (We'll know more Monday.) Some exquisite wind playing. Much more clomping around on the set and bustling about before everyone launches into the fast section. Luisi VERY tight here and the singers know their parts and sound great even with the last-minute cast change.
8:55pm: "Viva la liberta!" sung with extra meaning here. Is that because the cops are going to try to clear Zuccotti Park tomorrow at 6am on the pretext of "cleaning" away "Occupy Wall Street." OK. Back to opera.
8:57pm: Someone get the cast some nice soft Crocs. Clomp, clomp, clomp.
8:59pm: Last whizzing section of the finale launched at very high speed. Luisi a steely-eyed missile man in the pit leading a very fast ensemble and nobody missing a cue. Prompter must be working overtime down in the smallest room in the house. So far this has been a solid Don Giovanni off to a great start with an invigorating finish to the first act. Damn, that's fast, but everything is dead on. And last notes.

INTERMISSION: WB and MJ talking about the costumes and about everything going on in the pell-mell finale. Production described as "sweaty." Hmm.
9:14pm: Good interview with bass Bryn Terfel who has sung (at least) four roles in Don Giovanni. 9:18pm: He aptly described the Das Rheingold as "sparse." That's being kind.
9:25pm: Will Berger breaking down "chocolate in opera."
9:30pm: WB describing the stage set. Windows, balconies, a courtyard and a wall of windows. And enough fire effects to make Beavis happy.

The Act II Graveyard Scene, from the 1790 production in Prague.
Image from Wikimedia Commons.

ACT TWO:
9:34pm: First duet for master and servant. "Eh via, buffone." Chemistry and comic timing evident.
9:42pm: It sucks not having a program. Who's playing Donna Elvira's anonymous (but attractive) maid? Terzetto conducted sensually by Luisi with Pisaroni's sardonic comments drawing all the laughs. (Titles again.) Now we switch costumes.
9:51pm: "Deh vieni" sung with great delicacy and warmth by Mr. Mattei. All that guitar playing in Barbiere ("Se il mio nome") probably helped.
9:54pm: Erdmann singing with great tenderness and then a stunning high note in "Vedrai, carino."
9:58pm: The welcome return of Ramon Vargas. Usually don't feel that way about Don Ottavio but he's singing really well tonight. It's not the singer, it's the character.
10:02pm: Luisi is a bold conductor taking the sextet at a pace that recalls the John Eliot Gardiner recordings. But the singers are together in the sextet and all the words can be heard. Wow.
10:09pm: "Il mio tesoro"--Vargas has the house rapt, singing with a reached-for high note but generally with good breath control, ornamentation and more volume and power than you usually hear from Don Ottavio. And it's good that he gets both of his arias!
10:11pm: And the house responds accordingly. Bravo!
10:15pm: Fast tempos again for "Mi tradi" with Barbara Frittoli breath-y but engagingly sung.
10:18pm: To the cemetery scene!
10:20pm: And there's the statue. Voice sounds like it's through an echo effect or perhaps they're using the same rig for Fafner in the upcoming Siegfried. Too much echo.
10:23pm: "O statua gentilissima!" Pisaroni very good here. Really sounds scared and not like he's playing it for laughs. If you play this for laughs the ending doesn't work.
10:30pm: "Non mi dir" sung with great delicacy, Rebeka making Anna into a more sympathetic figure and not the hard-edged "revenge Valkyrie" who stalked the Zeffirelli production. Nice coloratura too. Audience really likes her. And they should.
10:34pm: Party at the Don's house. Guess who's coming to dinner? Lots of onstage movement going on, dishes, plates clinking--does the Don have a whip to hit Leporello with? (Find out Monday.)
10:37pm: And the banda played on. "Non piu andrai" well played by the Met winds, a titter of laughter from the house. Boy are they in for a shock when the dinner guest gets here.
10:38pm: Not you, Elvira.
10:39pm: 10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1....scream!
10:41pm: The dinner guest arrives. Echo effect turned down here. Met techies must read this post and take notes accordingly. Anyway Kocán sounds a lot better. Pisaroni too histrionic here--should be singing the lines not whimpering. Sing first. Whimper later.
10:42pm: Flames rising slowly in the pit. This might be best-conducted Don Giovanni I've heard at the Met and I've seen the opera there five times. This is on a level with Fischer this summer: very solid music-making, real dread coming out of the speakers. "Parla! Parla!"
10:45pm: Peter Mattei now has to make the Don win our sympathies even as he's dragged to hell. This is the crux of the opera: you wish you were brave enough like the Don not to repent and to choose eternal damnation rather than listen to that grumpy old statue. Mattei's voice is rising to the occasion too over the orchestra--this is a face-off of equals.
10:47pm: Luisi, orchestra, chorus, are literally raising hell. I can't wait to see this. And there's the hissing fire effects. Whooshwhooshwhoosh. Last chords. House absolutely going bonkers.
10:49pm: That last ensemble. Wrapping up while the damnation still rings in their ears. I always think this last bit should be cut but...18th century convention. It reminds me of the "Where are they now?" at the end of National Lampoon's Animal House. On the bright side, you get to hear Vargas sing again. Which is nice. Audience chuckling at the titles or at the idea of Elvira entering a convent?
10:53pm: That whizzing fugue-like ending borrowed by Verdi for Falstaff. 
10:54pm: The last curtain rings down on a successful prima. Bravo to all. Can't wait to see it!
10:55pm: Loud applause for Vargas. Cheering for Pisaroni's Leporello. Roars of approval for Latvian soprano Rebeka, one of two debut artists in this strong cast. The other is Erdmann. Peter Mattei appreciated--he saved this night by switching operas. Bravo! OK. Conductor and production team next.
10:57pm: Warm reception for Fabio Luisi now on the stage. Production team comes out. No audible boos. Everyone applauding at great volume and no "boo-birds." Good.

Hope you enjoy reading this, and if you stuck with us for the duration, I hope you had fun listening to Don Giovanni. Be sure to read Superconductor for the full review (from up in the Family Circle), running next Tuesday morning.

It's (kinda) Sunny in Philadelphia

Musicians sign contract, but Kimmel Center is shut down.

Deborah Voigt sings tonight's season-opening gala, which has been moved across the Schuylkill River.

Clouds are lifting over the Philadelphia Orchestra, which has spent the summer mired in bankruptcy proceedings and labor struggles. Their season opens tonight away, but not in their usual home of Verizon Hall.

Due to a Sept. 30 strike by the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (which governs ushers, stagehands, box office and wardrobe workers at the Kimmel Center and the nearby Academy of Music) tonight's gala opening concert will be played at Irvine Auditorium, on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania. 

The concert will feature soprano Deborah Voigt, performing selections from the Great American Songbook. Ms. Voigt is a late replacement for Dawn Upshaw, who withdrew from the concert following a death in the family.

In a prepared statement, the musicians of the orchestra announced that they voted to ratify a new four-year agreement with management. "Although we accept this contract reluctantly," the statement read, "the alternative could cause additional uncertainty and harm to members of this great orchestra."

Recent articles by Peter Dobrin of the Philadelphia Inquirer indicate that the musicians will take a $35 million hit, squarely in the pension fund. The Philadelphia Orchestra Association intends to withdraw from that fund, and may face opposition from the American Federation of Musicians and Employees' Pension Fund.

The labor deal, which offers severe salary cuts and reduces the orchestra's roster by ten players, is subject to approval by a U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

The statement continues: "It is the self-admitted failures of management and the Board that have led us to this point, and we challenge them to make the changes needed to raise the funds necessary to operate and promote the Orchestra with the same passion with which we create music." The statement calls on the Board of Directors to equal the musicians' commitment to stablize the orchestra's finances.