100 Years of Epic Film Scores from the TSO

Posted on October 26, 2022 by barczablog

The Toronto Symphony program “100 Years of Epic Film Scores” is a kind of history lesson, while celebrating the role music has played in film for over a century. The significance of the century comes from it being TSO’s 100th anniversary, being commemorated throughout the season.

Steven Reineke was a combination of conductor, curator, history teacher & lecturer: and stand-up comedian. He’s a real entertainer.

Conductor Steven Reineke

Every piece was explained for its historical significance, including some funny anecdotes in a program playing at least one thing from each decade:
1920s:
Erdmann & Leuschner: Overture from Nosferatu (1922)

1930s
Max Steiner: Main Theme from King Kong (1933)
Whiting & Mercer: “Hooray for Hollywood” (the first item on the program)

1940s
Erich Wolfgang Korngold: Suite from The Sea Hawk (1940)

1950s
Miklós Rózsa: “Parade of the Charioteers” from Ben-Hur (1959)

1960s
Bernard Hermann: Suite from Psycho (1960)
Elmer Bernstein: Main Theme from The Magnificent Seven (1960)
Maurice Jarre: Overture from Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
(intermission)

1970s
Nino Rota: Love theme from The Godfather (1972)
Jerry Goldsmith: End title from Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)

1980s
Ennio Morricone: “Gabriel’s Oboe from The Mission (1986)

1990s
Rachel Portman: End titles from Emma (1996)

2000s
Hans Zimmer (Music from Gladiator (2000)
Klaus Badelt: Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)

2010s
Alan Silvestri: Theme from the Avengers (2012)

2020s
Michael Giacchino: Main Theme from The Batman (2022)

There were times we heard music that’s so popular it needed no introduction. As we began the second half of the concert, after intermission Erika sighed beside me when they began to play Nino Rota’s music from The Godfather, while the audience cheered. At times there was a fervor bordering on something you’d find at a sporting event or a rock concert.

But at other times I watched Reineke conducting pieces that deserve to be played in the regular TSO concert programs. I wonder if Gustavo Gimeno would consider programming the music of Bernard Herrmann. We heard a wonderfully edgy performance of music from Psycho, although yes people did start to giggle when they heard the music from the shower scene.

Reineke’s friendly manner with the microphone is hugely educational, while he’s also like a cheerleader for the TSO, reminding us of how well they were playing. Yes, the dry Psycho score written entirely for strings offered the brass a bit of a break, after the fanfares from Ben-Hur or Sea Hawk. Yes you could hear the clear emulation of Holst’s Mars the bringer of war (coming up in a TSO concert next month), in Zimmer’s Gladiator: as Reineke explained.

Conductor Steven Reineke (photo: Michael Tammaro)

It was like a lecture on film music history, but a lot of fun.

These pieces stand on their own without the film, recalling that their purpose was to be played in support rather than in a concert. We were treated to an encore from the big name conspicuous for his absence from the above list, namely John Williams, in music from Superman (1978).

My one quibble is the parking. Right now it’s pretty crazy downtown with the construction, so be ready for a long drive home. Next time I think we’ll take transit (perhaps a GO train).

The TSO repeat this program twice on Wednesday Oct 26: at 2:00 and 8:00. It’s brilliant.

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Another look at Alden’s Dutchman, a first look at Harold Wilson

Posted on October 24, 2022 by barczablog

Today’s matinee was the Canadian Opera Company’s closing performance of The Flying Dutchman, complete with a singer making his debut. The American bass Harold Wilson stepped in for an indisposed Franz-Josef Selig in the role of Daland. When I looked it up I saw he’s covered the role at the Metropolitan Opera.

Not too shabby.

Bass Harold Wilson

While it may be unfair comparing Wilson to anyone else (when they’re at the end of a run and he’s fresh) he sounded bigger & more precisely pitched than any singer we’ve heard in this show. The production may be different from what he’s seen, but even so Wilson fit in perfectly. We were lucky to have him.

I’m pleased that COC artistic director Perryn Leech found such a capable replacement.

Christopher Alden’s production is in its fourth incarnation with the COC. Roughly every seven years it comes ashore in Toronto, like the Dutchman himself.

I find that director’s theatre productions of opera aka “Regietheater” have not just their good and bad points, but more accurately good and bad scenes. There are moments in the show when one goes “aha”, because for that instant at least, the concept clicks. And there are also moments when the concept doesn’t quite fit the story.

While I heard comments on social media critical of the way Alden ends the work (and because it’s closing night I am comfortable offering a spoiler), it’s a brilliant resolution to the problem every director and designer faces with this opera. We’re told Senta is true to the Dutchman unto death, via stage directions in the score telling her to jump into the ocean (or the theatrical equivalent), followed by the ships sinking and the two, now happily transfigured, seen ascending into heaven. Of course nobody ever does it that way anymore, if they ever did.

By having Erik the hunter shoot her, which is totally consistent with the characters onstage at that moment and not far from what’s written, Senta can keep her promise. Alden then has the Dutchman ascend a spiral staircase as though into heaven: an effect that always gets me, today being no exception.

The production has diverged somewhat from its first presentation in the O’Keefe Centre, as usual. I suppose it’s inevitable. It was very different the first two times in that big barn of a theatre where we now have much more detail in Four Seasons Centre because of the intimacy of the venue. My friend Celine Papizewska reminded me of some of the edge she saw in Alden’s original version that’s not there anymore, especially the “horrific Holocaust imagery of the ghost chorus”. Whether that’s what Alden intended or not, it’s drifted in a new direction, possibly because the performers are restoring the usual readings of their roles, reflecting the score. Daland (both Selig or Wilson) are now closer to the usual comic territory of the role. The chorus in Act III seemed more human.

I found that I enjoyed Marjorie Owens’ Senta even more today, as I noticed some lovely nuances to her singing especially in her Act II ballad. Miles Mykkanen was again excellent as the Steersman, although I continue to be perplexed by what Alden asks of this character. In Act III when the chorus picks up the song from Act I with the refrain “Steuermann! Lass die wacht” (Steersman leave the watch), it’s as though Alden thinks this has to be literally directed at his Steersman, when it’s just a reprise of the song from Act I, and generic in its suggestion that the Steersman leave the watch. They’re drinking and having fun, but Alden asks Mykkanen to walk like a zombie across the front of the stage. Mykkanen does a great job of it, vocally & dramatically, but no matter how many more times I see this I don’t understand this. Oh well. (although –second thought next morning–perhaps the Steuermann is enacting something that made more sense in the earlier Alden versions, alongside a nastier version of the chorus, perhaps a dissenting soul, guilty, not wanting to take part..? but I’m still not sure)

The orchestra and chorus were again the real stars. Conductor Johannes Debus got the biggest applause of the night, deservedly.

Dutchman may have walked up his spiral staircase for the last time, but we still have a few Carmen performances left October 26, 28, 30, and November 4.

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Orpheus in the Underworld

Posted on October 22, 2022 by barczablog

Toronto Operetta Theatre opened their production of Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld tonight, directed & designed by Guillermo Silva-Marin, and the familiar music conducted by Larry Beckwith.

In a month when the opera stages are showing two divas murdered by a jealous tenor (COC’s Flying Dutchman and Carmen) and another whose tale of heartbreak leads her to kill herself (Opera Atelier’s Dido and Aeneas) we need something more lighthearted: and this fills the bill.

It’s farce not high art, so we’re in a place where we don’t ask difficult questions. Last night I heard Yuja Wang play a transcription of music from Gluck’s heaven, tonight we heard Offenbach having fun playing with Gluck’s famous tune “che faro senza Euridice”. Yes this husband and wife couple are dying: dying to get away from one another that is. The gods help as only they can, showing them and us lots of fun along the way.

Beckwith gives it lots of energy, the tiny orchestra boisterous in their support of the chorus and soloists.
There were a few standouts, vocally and dramatically.

Gregory Finney is TOT’s best investment, always bringing a show to life whenever he comes onstage. While the voice is quite lovely, his delivery is like the funniest character in a sitcom. Just like Kramer in Seinfeld or Karen Walker in Will & Grace, he’s precisely at the centre of the funniest scenes, delivering the lines that bring the house down. Finney’s instincts are superb.

Gregory Finney as John Styx (photo: Gary Beechey, BDS Studio)

We saw & heard River Guard in late 2019 singing with Tongue in Cheek’s eight drinkers program. Time isn’t flowing in the usual way, given the hiatus in the performing world from roughly March 2020 until this year, so I have to say: I didn’t realize it was so long ago, until I double-checked. He impressed then with his voice and personality, as he did tonight in the role of Pluto. As with Finney, Guard is another one with great instincts, taking the stage boldly, moving and singing with flair. It’s a great sounding voice used with musicianship but usually at the heart of the comedy.

Vania Chan sang Cunegonde five years ago with TOT, an impressive take as I recall (and again I can’t believe it’s so many years ago). Tonight as Eurydice she was if anything even better, with lovely vocals that were often used to underline comic moments, a delight.

River Guard as Pluto (Aristaeus) and Vania Chan as Eurydice (photo: Gary Beechey, BDS Studio)

Julia MacVicar’s relatively small part as Diana was impressive dramatically and vocally, as they showed us a big stunning sound.

It’s a huge company, full of lovely young talent, but the ones I mentioned were the standouts. This show is overflowing with youthful energy, wonderful tunes, although there were times it was hard to hear the text. The ones I mentioned all enunciated clearly, which goes a long way towards making comedy funny.

Orpheus goes back to the underworld again Saturday night October 22nd and the afternoon of Sunday October 23rd at the St Lawrence Centre.

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Yuja Wang, Magnus Lindberg, Anton Bruckner and the TSO

Posted on October 21, 2022 by barczablog

As we tentatively poke our heads out, looking for signs that normal life has resumed after the pandemic, concerts like tonight’s from the Toronto Symphony affirm relationships & collaboration, the latest in a series of celebratory moments in the orchestra’s 100th anniversary season.

The first & worst sign of COVID to hit me in 2020 was Yuja Wang’s scheduled TSO concert in April: first in a heart-breaking series of cancellations. She might be the most exciting pianist in the world right now, between her stylish appearance, her flamboyant interpretations, brilliant technique and the encores to really impress. Thank goodness we now pick up where we left off in April 2020.

Magnus Lindberg’s piano concerto #3, composed with her in mind –co-commissioned by the TSO, the San Francisco Symphony, Orchestre de Paris, China NCPA Orchestra, Norddeutscher Rundfunk and NY Philharmonic—had its world premiere last week in San Francisco. One of the concerts included this encore, shared from YouTube.

You won’t hear better piano playing anywhere. The TSO rose to the occasion in response.

Yuja Wang under the watchful eye of principal cellist Joseph Johnson (photo: Gerard Richardson)

It will sound cliché, but Yuja makes it seem easy. Her deportment throughout the concerto and in her two delicious encores showed no signs of effort or struggle, just the joyful exuberance, sharing something beautiful with an adoring audience. While she has every right to behave like a diva –especially given the wild response from the Roy Thomson Hall crowd tonight—yet she’s the picture of humility, sharing the spotlight with TSO conductor Gustavo Gimeno, composer Lindberg (who came up onstage to a rapturous reception) and the orchestra.

Her bows always freak me out. She drops so far (an athletic move you don’t expect to see in a concert hall) I worry she’s going to hit her head. But she always comes up smiling, thank God.

Don’t get me wrong. Although Yuja beamed happily, this concerto does look challenging to play. But she’s Olympian in her technique, a true athlete of the keyboard. At times Yuja’s fingers were going quickly, at times she was boldly hitting octaves with precision with no apparent loss of accuracy even though the targets were widely spaced. Her energy seems limitless.

Yuja Wang and the TSO (photo: Gerard Richardson)

Lindberg’s composition reminded me at first of Ravel but more dissonant, the music emerging out of a wash at the beginning of all notes, gradually finding its way not just to tonality but something very beautiful, resembling a style we might call “impressionistic”. In short order I thought hmm reminds me of Gershwin in the extended chords but not really bluesy. What if Gershwin’s family never left Russia and then grew up in the same milieu as Stravinsky or Rachmaninoff? That’s what I thought I found in this music, sometimes melodic with chords and clusters, not as syncopated as jazz, and often luscious & sensual. There are some dissonant moments to make us appreciate the many moments of great beauty.

In the program note Lindberg alludes to the novels of William Faulkner and his narratives from several points of view. I’d want to hear it again, but I thought I encountered something like this, phrases or events that recur, sometimes in parts of the orchestra, sometimes entirely at the piano, a lovely metaphor even if this might be the normal self-referential writing you’d expect in a concerto from the middle of the 20th century or of course earlier, sometimes in a dialogue or working together. Everyone seemed very thrilled, between Yuja’s playing and the lovely sound of the TSO.

Lindberg, Gimeno and Wang enjoy the applause with the TSO (photo: Allan Cabral)

Yuja gave us a pair of encores. The first, paraphrasing music from the scene among the blessed spirits in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice, was truly like a trip to heaven, as we heard some of the gentlest softest playing I’ve ever heard in Roy Thomson Hall, the audience dead silent in respectful awe. That was followed by something I can’t identify (sorry), a late romantic study of some sort, that was as big and brash as the first was gently angelic.

Most of our evening was the Bruckner 4th Symphony after the intermission. The symphony is called “the romantic” which also describes Gimeno’s approach to tempi & dynamics. Passages that were more introspective and soft were slowed, allowing space for reflection. But in the big powerful parts, especially when the full orchestra was called for, Gimeno pushed the pedal to the metal. The big climaxes in the last two movements were virtuoso displays from the whole orchestra. It was fun watching the applause afterwards, when Gimeno raised every section to give them recognition. The orchestra clearly respond to his leadership.

We began with a short celebratory fanfare composed by Janet Sit, with the whimsical title Omega Threes <*)))< Let me be clear, I’m not sure I fully understand that title although I do recall that for dietary health we’re supposed to eat fish oils to get our Omega Threes. The piece is a 21st century alternative to Saint-Saens “aquarium“ movement from his carnival of the animals.

The concert repeats Saturday night Oct 22.

Yuja Wang accepting the rapturous applause tonight
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The tenth anniversary ELIZABETH KREHM MEMORIAL CONCERT

Posted on October 17, 2022 by barczablog

Join us for an evening of music in celebration of Elizabeth Krehm’s life and in support of St Michael’s Hospital ICU.

Come Closer: Songs on Texts by Elizabeth Krehm – Ryan Trew
Symphony no. 4 “Italian” – Felix Mendelssohn 

Evan Mitchell, conductor
Rachel Krehm, soprano
Canzona Chamber Players Orchestra

Elizabeth Krehm

Thursday November 3, 2022, 7:30 pm
Christ Church Deer Park
1570 Yonge Street, Toronto

Admission by donation at the door:
Suggested minimum of $25
All donations go to the St. Michael’s
Hospital ICU in Elizabeth Krehm’s name

For more information, please call
647-248-4048

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Darkly Comic Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo

Posted on October 17, 2022 by barczablog

I’ve just come from the matinee of Rajiv Joseph’s play Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, presented by Crow’s Theatre in co-production with Modern Times Stage Company.

The title tells you the basic premise, a tiger is caged in a zoo far from its place of origin. It’s also the time of the Iraq war in 2003.

The Guloien Theatre space is configured as a square, a cage in the centre surrounded by rugs as we begin.

In the first minutes of the play we see a person (Kristen Thomson) in a cage, who we discover is portraying a tiger. We see no tiger costume but rather a person in a cage. This is only the first instance of many when we will be drawn in, invited to use our imaginations. While this war story may be based on recent events, while we see personages performing in Arabic languages without titles, creating an aura of realism: yet it’s a wild poetic fantasy including ghosts, guns and gore, even if we’re spared many of the grosser manifestations.

We begin with Kev (Christopher Allen) and Tom (Andrew Chown), two soldiers pacing around the cage with their weapons. When Tom carelessly reaches into the cage to offer some food to the tiger (how they see the woman in the cage) she tears his hand off: or so we’re told. Kev immediately kills her (the tiger): at which point she (the woman) steps between the bars of the cage. We’ve seen this for a long time in films, so it’s not troubling, indeed it makes a great deal of sense that the tiger and the humans can communicate, especially after they’ve died. She is but the first in a series of characters speaking from beyond the grave.

(l-r) Sara Jaffri, Ali Kazmi, Andrew Chown, Kristen Thomson, Christopher Allen and Ahmed Moneka (photo: Dahlia Katz)

Musa (Ahmed Moneka) is a figure we’ve seen in generic terms in the news, the local whose work with the invaders puts him in a dangerously compromised position, let alone coping with his own conscience. First shown working as a translator, we discover other aspects of his life, especially his work as a gardener who created animal-shaped topiaries. The set design by Lorenzo Savoini even includes a series of vaguely lit topiary-figures hanging above us on all sides of the theatre. Sara Jaffri plays two very different characters, the ambiguity of that duality part of what’s haunting Musa. Mahsa Ershadifar who is listed as “Iraqi woman” seems to play more than one person although ambiguities in the play add a fascinating layer to our experience, wondering whether the character is the same one we saw, also whether they’re living or dead.

I saw it described as comedy by Rouvan Silogix (director of the play & artistic director of Modern Times Stage Company) in his program note. It’s darkly comic, full of profanity. Yes there are places where people laugh. Also places where people shudder, gasp, quiver in awe. It grows on you once you figure it out, knowing who’s who and what to expect. I found myself wondering how come Kev’s vocabulary had improved: until I remembered that we had seen him near death. And his after-life version explained to us that he was learning a great deal. Please don’t mistake my discussion of ghosts as something to be confused with Halloween or Ghostbusters, as we’re instead in a very spiritual realm even if the spirits onstage hurl questions at their creator.

The story is a surprisingly positive view from a dark place, moments where the characters struggle is truly life and death, including reflections from beyond the grave. There are some dark characters, for example Ali Kazmi in an overpowering portrayal of Uday Hussein, son of Saddam. To be precise, we never meet Uday as he’s already a ghost when he first comes strutting into the middle of the stage. His accoutrements remind me of the operatic Salome as he walks in carrying the grotesque severed head of his brother. Depending on where you sit and how you feel about this sort of thing, it may give you the giggles or trigger you. Think of this as very dark comedy. If you have any kind of history with wars or bombardments you might not see anything comical at all.

But it’s very well done. I think John Gzowski’s sound design may have contributed to the sense I had that many were cringing: which may be exactly what the director wanted. For something so full of artifice & theatricality it sometimes resembles something we might have seen on CNN during the Iraq War.

But it’s well done. It works.

There are people I know who wouldn’t want to see this because it would trigger their visceral memories of war. If you want something powerful and totally unlike anything you’ll see onstage in Toronto, this is the show for you, on until November 6th.

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COC Carmen Opens

Posted on October 15, 2022 by barczablog

I saw and heard opening night of the Canadian Opera Company’s Carmen tonight at the Four Seasons Centre, a revival of Joel Ivany’s 2016 production. It’s a wonderful take on a well-known work with a very original approach to the last act.

But don’t expect me to tell you. I aim to be spoiler free. To find out see the show. But it’s not odd or a travesty, distorting the work. Bizet would approve.

American mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges brings a sultry sound and a smoldering hot stage presence to everyone’s favorite femme fatale. She is especially good in the last scene with tenor Marcelo Puente, and he saved the best for last. I’ve never seen such a hair-raising interpretation for the last pages of the opera.

Marcelo Puente as Don José and J’Nai Bridges as Carmen (photo: Michael Cooper)

It’s not the same as last time (in 2016).

The night was full of terrific performances. Lucas Meachem, whom you may recall as Marcello from the COC’s 2019 La Boheme, was the best Escamillo I’ve ever seen, singing the role really well while swaggering with all the poise of an Elvis.

Lucas Meachem as Escamillo (photo: Michael Cooper)

Joyce El-Khoury gave us a superbly sung Micaëla.

Joyce El-Khoury as Micaëla and Marcelo Puente as Don José (photo: Michael Cooper)

It’s a cast featuring strong Canadian voices such as Alain Coulombe (Zuniga), Alex Halliday (Morales), Ariane Cossette (Frasquita), Alex Hetherington (Mercedes), Jonah Spungin (Dancaïre), and Jean-Philippe Lazure (Remendado).

Ariane Cossette as Frasquita, Alex Hetherington as Mercédès, Jean-Philippe Lazure as Remendado, J’Nai Bridges as Carmen and Jonah Spungin as Le Dancaïre (photo: Michael Cooper)

As with Flying Dutchman that opened last week, the COC lead with their strengths. Their orchestra led by conductor Jacques Lacombe sound superb, the chorus delightful throughout. Ivany’s stage is full of true to life performances, wonderfully authentic from every person or child onstage.

Carmen continues until November 4th at the Four Seasons Centre.

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Gimeno prepares the taste-buds for Bronfman’s Beethoven

Posted on October 13, 2022 by barczablog

It was a unique Toronto Symphony concert. Conductor Gustavo Gimeno said he had never conducted six items on a program before.

It was pretty radical for me too, although I was fortunate. I noticed the unorthodox program and wrote about it a few days ago.

Gimeno actually took the microphone to speak of contrast, a word I am probably over-using at this point. This is the boldest TSO program yet, and with his little speech to begin things, he answered a question I had before. I had wondered: is this his idea or someone else in the TSO admin? The way he spoke it’s clear that this principle is near and dear to his heart.

TSO music director Gustavo Gimeno

Here’s what they played (the number with the ‘ gives you the length in minutes):

Volpini Celebration Prelude World Première/TSO Commission …3′
Ligeti Atmosphères …8′
Wagner Prelude to Act I of Lohengrin …9′
Haydn Symphony No. 39 “Tempesta di mare” …16′
INTERMISSION
Chin subito con forza …5′
Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 3 …34′

I’m going to make an analogy, using food to describe our symphony concert experience tonight. It was like a series of hors d’oeuvres to prepare us for one item on the menu. Instead of the four items in the TSO season opener (featuring Scheherazade, Chopin’s 2nd Piano concerto plus two shorter items), or the 4 item program at the end of September (with Saint-Saëns: Symphony #3, two shorter ones featuring solo violin plus the Hebrides overture), we had five shorter works to go with the Beethoven 3rd piano concerto (for a total of six), featuring soloist Yefim Bronfman.

I wonder if this is a trend in entertaining? I was at a party last week featuring appetizers only, a feast of finger food. When I googled the idea I found a recent piece from Better Homes & Gardens.

The point is, why limit this idea to food? It’s exciting and dramatic to have an array of flavors, textures, visually appealing and likely cheaper to pull off in the kitchen. For the TSO, that’s maybe where the analogy breaks down, because all those short pieces require a different approach, and needing rehearsal, would be costly. Even so, the contrast was as effective to or ears and minds, as if we were really fed a series of appetizers.

By the time we got to Bronfman’s concerto our ears had been teased, bemused, awakened, encouraged. I think I’ve never heard such a polite attentive audience. For every piece, we were on the edge of our seats as if we were little kids on Christmas Eve, thrilled by what was being unwrapped before us.

The most exciting part for me was right after Gimeno spoke, preparing us for something a bit surprising, that made perfect sense once it was explained to us.

Gimeno had the TSO play the Ligeti and the Wagner together without pause, as though it were one piece.

Amazing.

If you know Atmosphères from the soundtrack album to the film 2001: a Space Odyssey, you might be surprised by how the TSO sound. It’s a gentler piece than what I recall in the film, possibly because of the way Gimeno approaches it. There are places that the music becomes almost silent, possibly because of the way the piece is structured, in sections depending on who is playing. I felt that Gimeno let it breathe, almost pushing the pause button rather than racing along. It feels very gentle, a series of different approaches to sound. They’re curiously similar to what Wagner was doing over 100 years earlier in his Lohengrin prelude.

There’s a big explanation of the story in the program that likely only confused people, given that we didn’t meet any of those characters. But Wagner paints a tone picture, as if the Holy Grail were descending from above, then (after we hear a motif we will later associate with the discovery of Lohengrin’s identity, forcing him to depart), the Grail seems to go back up, section by section: until it ends as softly as it started. It begins with high instruments (winds then strings), gradually adding section by section, until we get a climax. The treatment of materials between Ligeti and Wagner is a bit similar, given their choice to employ small groups from the orchestra while leaving others sitting idly counting rests. The combination of the two is itself the highlight of the concert, although there’s lots more.

The short Haydn symphony # 39 is a wonderfully energetic little piece, again including a few pauses in the first two movements. I wondered: were those in the score or was that Gimeno? He made a few silent pauses in the Haydn that seemed as mindful and reflective as the segues between sections in the Ligeti. The outer movements go fast, suggesting stormy weather while the inner movements are elegant dance movements. Viewing Haydn in this curious retrospective way –coming back to the 18th century from ultra-modern Ligeti and romantic Wagner—we are extra attentive to every nuance.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Volpini’s Celebration Prelude, getting its world premiere tonight. It certainly did what was asked of it in beginning a very edgy program. I felt there’s more material there, that Volpini had not exhausted the ideas presented, suggesting (for me) points of light in the sky. We came to the conclusion, abruptly seeming to be high as if on a ledge: but wait we were finished…! I had this wonderful sense of vertigo, and that there was more to come. Volpini was playing with us.

We came to intermission, and I was certainly appetized. (Is here such a word?) I was hungry for more.

Then Chin’s subito con forza continued to play with us. It’s a delightful work with tiny bits of Beethoven. We get the series of notes from the Leonore overture (s) that seem to portend something, but without the conclusion, the cadenza from the opening of the 5th piano concerto, veering off track, the opening to the Coriolan overture twisted into pieces. Thinking back to another take on Ludwig, this is not nearly a fifth of Beethoven. More like a thimble full.

But that (including its final C-minor chord) set us up for the 3rd concerto, also in C-minor. Bronfman and Gimeno seemed to be on the same page, in a very conventional reading. I’m reminded of my Barenboim set, conducted by Klemperer, that has all the gravitas and seriousness the piece demands. Our ears were ready, the audience so keen as to applaud after the first movement. I’m not one of those purists who minds that.

This wonderful concert program repeats Friday and Saturday night at Roy Thomson Hall.

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Ernesto and Luciano: similar yet different

Posted on October 8, 2022 by barczablog

It was forty years ago. I was in New York on my honeymoon, seeking a ticket to see the Metropolitan Opera (even a scalper if necessary).

But I found tickets at the box office, 7th row (if my memory doesn’t fail me). It was Der Rosenkavalier, with omg Tatiana Troyanos, Kiri Te Kanawa, Kurt Moll, Judith Blegen… You couldn’t find a better cast.

It was to be broadcast. Would my view be obstructed, I wondered..? Perhaps that’s why I was able to get such superb seats.

The magic was captured for all time, broadcast on television.

The most brilliant thing in the show that I didn’t appreciate until I heard it?

There in the tiny role of the Italian Singer was Luciano Pavarotti. Has anyone ever sung it better?

Curiously Luciano didn’t read music. He was always on pitch.

What an ear. What a sound.

I was so lucky to stumble on that performance. Tis the season for gratitude (it’s our Canadian Thanksgiving this weekend).

Richard Strauss

Richard Strauss wrote this German opera to include the solo from the Italian Singer, singing up in the stratosphere. Is it high? Almost the entire solo is above middle C. It’s so simple in its design.

Strauss understood beauty.

I’m thinking of how few singers I’ve ever heard who make a sound comparable to Luciano. Of course everyone is unique.

But there is a younger singer we get to hear in Toronto from time to time. I’m thinking of Ernesto Ramirez.



Notice how perfectly pitched he sings, especially on the ringing high notes. He does read music, unlike Luciano.

Next week Opera by Request tell us they will present:
“the final chapter of The Three Queens with Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux, starring Canada’s formidable Ernesto Ramirez and Antonina Ermolenko in the leading roles… Ably assisted by mezzo-soprano Barbara King, baritone Michael Robert-Broder, and Francis Domingue and Bruce Reid.”

I recall seeing Ernesto step in with the Canadian Opera Company in their 2014 production of Roberto Devereux, doing a superb job. Here’s a chance to hear him sing it again.

If you’re able to make it on October 15th, 7:30pm at College Street United Church, tickets are $20.

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COC Flying Dutchman Opens

Posted on October 8, 2022 by barczablog

I saw and heard opening night of the Canadian Opera Company’s Flying Dutchman tonight at the Four Seasons Centre, a revival of a Christopher Alden production directed for this revival by Marilyn Gronsdal.

Revival Director Marilyn Gronsdal

I liked it a lot.

The COC lead with their strengths in this production, with a wonderful outing from the orchestra under conductor Johannes Debus and the sparkling work of their chorus.

Flying Dutchman is a bit of a funny opera: literally. It’s ghostly enough to be apt for October and Halloween, the story of a cursed sailor seeking redemption through true love. Yet is full of comic elements that are often ignored if a director takes the work or himself too seriously.

It seems to sit on the boundary of genres, an evolutionary masterpiece from the young Richard Wagner that employs devices recognizable from older styles. The blend reminds me a bit of Beethoven’s Fidelio, a rescue opera with a disarmingly light comic opening due to the masquerade of the main character.

While the Dutchman is not disguised, he’s seen and understood differently by almost everyone. Daland, a captain who would like to marry off his daughter Senta, sees the wealthy Dutchman as an opportunity, and fits the type of a father in a romantic comedy. Erik is Senta’s jealous lover, who sees the Dutchman as a threat to his happiness.

Senta sings the ballad of the Dutchman while staring at his portrait. Her intensity disturbs everyone.

Although the other girls have been mocking her for obsessing about a man in a painting on the wall and because her boyfriend Erik would be jealous, when the sailors (aka their boyfriends or husbands) arrive home they rush away in excitement, conveniently forgetting all about Senta.

And so while the story of Senta might resemble a romance (where the usual comic ending might see Erik marry Senta), but for Senta herself and the Dutchman, it’s actually something quite new. It’s a spiritual tale of redemption.

I mention the comic element because that sometimes gets lost in the profundities. They make a welcome return this time out.

The chorus bring lots of joyful energy to the proceedings.

Chorus in Scene iii of The Flying Dutchman, 2022 (photo: Michael Cooper)

My favorite scene is the last one, when the ghostly crew of the Dutchman’s ship are roused by the chorus onstage. When we see the fun-loving sailors of Daland’s ship with their girlfriends / wives, the sudden shift in the music is genuinely scary.

Daland as sung by Franz-Josef Selig is a very human father, particularly in his second act aria, when he brings Senta & the Dutchman together with no thoughts of ghosts or redemption. He sings the role more softly and subtly than any I’ve heard. Christopher Ventris as Erik was very compelling.

Allen Moyer’s set design is a bit of a challenge in the Four Seasons Centre, sometimes leaving parts of the stage partially obscured, as well as leading to some acoustical quirks, unevenness of sound.

(front, l-r) Marjorie Owens as Senta and Johan Reuter as the Dutchman in the COC’s production of The Flying Dutchman, 2022, photo: Michael Cooper

It helps when the voices onstage are as good as Johan Reuter’s Dutchman and Marjorie Owens’ Senta. I was very impressed by the way they played the relationship. I don’t know if this is mostly their creation or something from Gronsdal, but I was delighted to see a genuine sense of connection and vulnerability between them. There’s so much big singing in this opera that it can seem larger than life, especially if the singers care most about making a big sound, becoming so preoccupied with their vocalism as to forget making a convincing connection onstage. It’s a cliché in Wagner operas, where the roles are so difficult that the acting can be forgotten or not prioritized. But not so on this occasion. I was struck by how human they seemed, thinking Wagner himself would have liked it.

The Flying Dutchman continues at the Four Seasons Centre until October 23rd.

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