barczablog

click for Amazon

I was never koo-koo for Coco-puffs, but the headline ambushed me as I sat listening, enthralled.  If it sounds childish, that might give you some idea of how this recording moves me.  I associate Nutcracker –the ballet, and the score– with Christmas and childhood. That hardly makes me unique.

Let me give you two pieces of context, and as usual, make a big digression to personalize this. No, I am not about to confess that I am nuts, period (although some who know me might protest).

Context part one concerns transcriptions. I play them, both in the sense of undertaking to transcribe, and playing transcriptions by others. There are some amazing ones out there, for instance Busoni’s Bach, Liszt’s Berlioz, Beethoven & Wagner (among so many others I could name), Rachmaninoff’s Bach, Mendelssohn & Schubert, among so many others one could name.

Context part two concerns the pianist.  I’ve written more about Stewart Goodyear on this blog than any other pianist. If you look at the tag cloud to your right, and exclude opera company names or dead composers, you might notice that the largest font belongs to a pair of Opera Atelier artists, namely David Fallis & Marshall Pynkoski. It could be a sign that I love them dearly, but it’s also a purely mathematical reflection of their presence in every single Opera Atelier review you’ll find here; Alexander Neef or Johannes Debus are smaller in font because they’re not in every performance. Robert Lepage (who is the same font size as Goodyear, another Canadian I admire very much) and Goodyear are the next biggest after Fallis & Pynkoski.

When we remember that I make a point of not mentioning an artist in a review if I am unhappy with their work, it’s a big deal that a solo pianist is in this position. Where I can talk about other aspects of an opera production if I don’t like the conductor or director, there would be no review if the solo pianist didn’t measure up. To be honest: I worry sometimes that if I go on too much about Goodyear, that people will simply assume I am partisan, biased, and not objective. In fact I would have written even more about Goodyear had I not feared I was beginning to sound like a broken record, like his shill.

While I enjoy everything from Goodyear at least on the level of his pianism, I put his Beethoven at a higher level. I was fascinated by his Rachmaninoff, which sounds different than any other reading of this composer I’ve ever encountered. I don’t say that in the sense of “oh wow you must listen” so much as an admiration of an original approach that hasn’t fully persuaded me.

And here we come to something rather intriguing. If you saw the segue coming, yes Tchaikovsky is also Russian. Goodyear plays this music as though he knows this music at a very deep level. Surely this began in the transcription process, where Goodyear sat at the piano and attempted to replicate the ballet by ear. In the liner notes he makes clear his deep lifelong connection to this music, and by that meaning the full ballet rather than just the short suite people sometimes hear played in concert halls. Goodyear’s transcription is over 82 minutes long, another astonishingly ambitious project to put alongside his marathons of Beethoven sonatas. The physical component alone would be daunting to other pianists, but Goodyear isn’t like other pianists.

I shall quote one tiny passage from the liner notes:

To hear Tchaikovsky’s music without the visuals is fascinating in that it allows us to focus on all the brilliant craftsmanship of the composer, while the piano brings with it a new palette of color. That Goodyear could undertake such a project speaks to his genius. That he succeeds speaks to Tchaikovsky’s. [Ben Finane]

Many effects are startlingly orchestral. The phrasing and dynamics suggest the ballet, the ongoing physical pulse of the dance, the drama of the story in full colour. Listening to it I kept getting lost in it as though I were watching one of my videos of the ballet.

I make no apologies to you, if you get into my car anytime in the next few weeks. If this is what you’ll hear on the sound system consider yourself fortunate.

Pianist Stewart Goodyear (Photo: Victor Avila)

click for Sick Kids Foundation

Over $50,000 was raised at the first Toronto Symphony benefit for Sick Kids Hospital, likely to be an annual affair. The TSO put on a brilliant show.  There were two Peters, both the fictional one in the Prokofiev story and the real one on the podium –Peter Oundjian– conducting and addressing the audience.

I was not surprised at how much buzz there was when Rick Mercer appeared on the stage. There was a genuine electricity, aided by his willingness to embellish that familiar story with a few modern twists. For instance, when Mercer got to the part of the story with the cat, he quickly reminded us that in the internet, cats and cucumbers are trending now. (if you don’t believe me go to youtube and see for yourself).  We were simultaneously given relevance & humour. Mercer kept us grounded.

Even with his occasional extras, this was the familiar story, back and forth between Mercer & Oundjian. It’s a natural given that the TSO’s music director is also a gifted communicator, a natural in front of a crowd.

This isn’t their first encounter! 

The event seemed to be a success, both as a fund-raiser and as a promotional event for the TSO. I have a wee bit of feedback to offer, in the interest of improving this for next year.

There were four items on the program which wasn’t uniformly kid-friendly.

1. We began with Britten’s “Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra”, but without the explanatory narration. I wonder if that was the original plan? Without the pedagogical talk it becomes much harder for the kids, especially the fidgety ones, two of whom were seated right beside me, and two more just behind. If not Rick Mercer, perhaps some other upbeat person could make something fun out of this? As a purely musical performance it’s quite lovely, but not if the omission of the narration makes it harder for the young ones.
2. Then came an arrangement of “Stardust”, contrasting in its brassy sonorities (featuring principal horn Neil Deland accompanied by nine brass players & the harp) as well as the visuals.
3. The last item before the interval was the “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini” by Rachmaninoff. While the performance featured a young player –Coco Ma is 15, and so might seem to signify youthful content to the TSO management—the composition is dead serious for a child, especially if they were brought to Roy Thomson Hall with promises of “Peter & the Wolf.”
4. And after the intermission came Peter & the Wolf.

Wonderful as the playing was in the Rachmaninoff, the drama of the piece brought out the worst in the kids beside & behind me who disappeared abruptly at the end of the piece, frog-marched to the lobby by frustrated parents. I have to think there were others if I saw this much misbehaviour within five feet of me. The child to my left seemed intent on surfing on the heads of the ladies in front of her, or in other words sought to aggravate her mother to the point of complete exasperation in order to salve her complete boredom during the Rachmaninoff. Next year there should be something for the kids before the intermission, whether it’s “Peter & the Wolf”, “The Carnival of the Animals”, or something else that is more kid-friendly. Tonight’s Peter & the Wolf only began around 9 pm, which is likely bedtime for the smallest.

I am torn.  As a parent i don’t believe you take a child into this kind of place unless you’re sure they’re ready, as in you’ve prepared them energetically, exposed them to the stories & music and they are enthusiastic rather than reluctant (the children i sat beside? their enthusiasm was all directed at getting out of the place).  Does the TSO have any responsibility to program everything for wee kids? not at all.  Indeed, an earlier version of myself would be sending angry letters to the moronic blogger (that is moi) who is proposing to enable bad behaviour. And yet… I know what I saw. The washroom & the corridors were full of children, and that’s a good thing. Now that they’ve been invited, why not ensure that they come back?

But the TSO must do this again, absolutely. This is a wonderful opportunity not only for fund-raising but for audience building. Maybe they should play some of Nutcracker while a dancer or two comes onstage, and the music & the action are explained for us. Or give us one of the Bugs Bunny cartoons with the classical content such as “The Rabbit of Seville”, OR a combination of cartoon and music. I’ll be eager to see what they do next year, and hope nobody minds a bit of constructive feedback.