VOCE DI MECHE
Reviews of performing arts with emphasis on young artists and small opera companies.
MISSION
Sunday, February 9, 2025
SALOME
Friday, February 7, 2025
CHELSEA GIRL
Thursday, February 6, 2025
A WORTHY DISCOVERY
Wednesday, January 29, 2025
MUST THE WINTER COME SO SOON
Reinhard Mayr and Irena Portenko
Our favorite song cycle is Winterreise, composed by Franz Schubert in 1828, a setting of text by Wilhelm Műller. We never miss an opportunity to hear it live and recall hearing it sung beautifully by students at our local musical conservatories. This gives the lie to the opinion that only a mature singer possesses the depth of feeling and finely developed artistry to do the work justice. Indeed the work is the pinnacle of German Romanticism, with elements of nature expressing emotion--in this case, the abject despair over the loss of love that can only be felt by the very young. Is the histrionic hyperbole of the text foreign to our age of irony and "kewel"? We think not! To this day, unstable teenagers commit suicide over romantic rejection.
This leads us to question the occasional practice of putting this cycle into the hands of female singers and men of various fachs. We ourself prefer the youthful coloration of a lyric tenor, as Schubert intended. We were curious to hear how it sounded sung by a bass and we did not enjoy it at all. Enjoyment is not quite the right word. We have always been moved to the core, fighting back tears as we recalled our own pain of lost love when we were but thirteen years old. And who among us has never experienced such pain?
Well, Dear Reader, last night at Weill Recital Hall, we fought off boredom, not tears. Two well-regarded musicians worked their way through the hour-plus cycle without reaching our heart. We will do our best to explain our lack of emotional connection and how the performance failed to draw us in. We cannot attribute it to our mood which was one of anticipation. Nor can we blame distance from the stage, since we were sitting as close as was possible.
Part of the problem may have been the quality of the bass fach. Tones often sounded angry and stentorian; perhaps that is the way Reinhard Mayr interpreted the story of a jilted youth wandering alone through the countryside. Nowhere did we hear any variety of coloration, whereas Schubert's piano part often gives us many shades of sadness--melancholy, disappointment, grief, despair, sorrow, loneliness, false hope, and resignation. The vocal performance was monochromatic. There was, however, a great variation in dynamics. When the volume was high, it was stentorian. When low, one could barely hear it over the piano.
Even worse were the exaggerated body movements. Mr. Mayr swayed back and forth constantly with his trunk forming circles. However, his hands remained locked in front of his body with fingers pressed together in the manner of men of the cloth delivering a sermon. We found this distracting.
There was no audience engagement, neither visual nor emotional. We wanted so much to see the barren wintry landscape through his eyes but there was nothing. We searched for something positive in the performance and the best we can say is that we understood his German, which is to be expected since he is of Austrian nationality. Singing in one's birth language should have given the singer an advantage in interpretation but there was none to be heard.
There also seemed to be a disconnect between the piano of Irena Portenko and the singer. One never had the feeling that they breathed together, something we have observed in good partnerships between singer and pianist. Ms. Portenko occasionally lost her place and kept the bass line going whilst scrolling through the score with her right hand. This lack of preparation is something we might have ignored had we been wrapped up in the emotional content but we were not.
Schubert's cycle is replete with harmonic interest and rhythmic variety that tells us what the protagonist is feeling and, sadly, this rarely came across. Schubert was already quite ill with syphilis when he composed this cycle and clearly mined his own grief so thoroughly that it seemed strange to be sitting in Weill Recital Hall feeling nothing. Schubert's genius expressed itself in his depiction of natural elements. One should be able to feel the snow, the ice, the menacing crow, the bareness of the landscape.
To our surprise, the audience applauded enthusiastically at the conclusion and we wondered whether there was something wrong with us. However, our opera singer seat mate was similarly bored and agreed with our criticism, offering some of her own. Not a very good night!
Just to find out whether we had grown bored with the cycle we played the first recording of Winterreise that we could find. It was Jonas Kaufman with Helmut Deutsch as collaborative pianist--from twenty years ago. We really needed to erase the memory of the live performance and reassure ourselves of the greatness of Schubert's masterpiece.
© meche kroop
Monday, January 20, 2025
OPERA INDEX 2025 WINTER GALA
Sunday, January 5, 2025
SINGING PIRATES AND DANCING COPS
Those kindly thoughtful pirates
"No, Frederic, it cannot be. I don’t think much of our profession, but, contrasted with respectability, it is comparatively honest." Thus spake The Pirate King to his apprentice Frederic revealing to an ever enthusiastic audience the hypocrisy of the respectable. In the present day, news sources are full of tales about genuine and very scary pirates who attack merchant ships for political causes or for economic benefit. Not so the pirates of Gilbert and Sullivan's masterwork The Pirates of Penzance.
Spoiler Alert! One doesn't find out until the final scene that the pirates are all nobleman gone astray, fine fellows all with a soft spot for orphans, and eligible to wed the numerous wards of Major-General Stanley, whose patter song "I am a Model of a Modern Major-General" is a model of clever rhymes that tickle the ear. W. S. Gilbert was a whiz of a wordsmith indeed.
The beloved Savoyards skewered British social customs and legal systems to the delight of their Victorian audience and continue to delight modern audiences, even though there are words that are somewhat unfamiliar. We read the libretto in advance and were obliged to look up such words as "costermonger" and such terms as "a Ward in Chancery" but one can enjoy the story, the tunes, and the sound of the rhymes and rhythms even if one does not understand every word.
Still, there are a plethora of couplets that one can appreciate such as our favorite: "You shall quickly be parsonified, Conjugally matrimonified, By a doctor of divinity, Who resides in this vicinity". That Arthur Sullivan's melodies amplify Gilbert's wordsmithery does not make it a periphery, but it does make us so dithery. Oh dear! Their wit is contagious and a bit outrageous. (No more, we promise!)
Although we have been fortunate enough to have seen the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company when they toured the United States some time ago, we prefer the performances of New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players who always deliver a performance that is dramatically valid and musically rewarding. We've never been disappointed by the artists who seem to enjoy being onstage as much as we enjoy being in the audience.
2025 marks their 50th season and last night we were thrilled to be in the audience for opening night of The Pirates of Penzance. Directed by Albert Bergeret, the performance was full of wit and over-the- top shenanigans. We would hate to spoil it for you! David Auxier's witty choreography added greatly to the fun and, in a highly amusing modernizing twist, employed some choreography suggestive of Bob Fosse with appropriate use of headgear.
Joseph Rubin's conducting made every sparkling tune come to life and the melodies are still ringing in our ears. Even the lighting by Benjamin Weill added to the fun; in a clever bit, the Sergeant of Police, played by the loose limbed Mr. Auxier himself, interacted with the person handling the spotlight, motioning for it to be directed towards himself. This was only one of several inventive and amusing moments.
But we are talking about musical theater (operetta?) so let us concern ourselves with the voices. Regrettably amplified (my companion and I both found the sound a bit muddy at times with some artists sounding clearer than others), it is difficult to evaluate vocal quality with the exception of that of soprano Claire Leyden. Her coloratura was crisply and musically rendered, with Sullivan's writing sending up Lucia's mad scene from Donizetti's Lucia de Lamermoor.
The acting was superb all around with Alex Corson portraying the innocent Frederic about to "graduate" from his apprenticeship with a pirate band, due to the disarticulation of the word "pilot". He has never seen a woman except for his nursemaid Ruth who would like to marry him. These days, everyone is butt-hurt about something or other and protests abound from those experiencing racism in the theater. As a middle-aged woman, we personally object to the ageism in this work, since Ruth is discarded as being too old for Frederic! We are laughing up our sleeve since we wouldn't change a word of this delightful piece.
The loyal Ruth was wonderfully performed by Angela Christine Smith. The aforementioned Ms. Leyden was charming as Mabel, the only one of Major-General Stanley's passel of wards willing to show interest and affection for the "Poor Wand'ring One" whose profession as a pirate was deemed unacceptable for respectable young ladies.
The role of Major-General Stanley was taken by James Mills who dazzled us with his rapid-fire patter song "I am the very model of a modern Major-General" in which he pretended to be groping for Gilbert's clever rhymes.
Matthew Wages made a marvelous Pirate King and convinced us that "it is indeed a glorious thing to be a Pirate King"! As his Lieutenant Samuel, Adam Hirama Wells had just the right spirit.
Three of Stanley's wards were named in the program -- Hannah Holmes, Alexandra Imbrosci-Viera, and Laura Sudduth but there was no way to tell which artist played which girl.. Well, one of them performed some lovely ballet moves.
We will repeat how excellent was the direction and staging. Among the numerous sight gags we particularly enjoyed the one in which the gaggle of girls created a train with twirling parasols as wheels. Their beautiful and most apropos costumes were created by Quinto Ott and Gail Wofford, whose artistry most radical made sense of costuming piratical (Oh, stop us before we begin speaking like Gilbert!)
We cannot keep from mentioning how successful this company is at attracting audiences without directorial co-opting. We are in Victorian England where duty is a major value as is love of The Queen. Thanks for honoring the time and place without attempts to make the work "relevant".
By the end of the performance, our face was sore from smiling. Dear Reader, next weekend offers more opportunities to enjoy this experience and you should make sure that you do!
This review was NOT written by AI. We take full responsibility for it, errors and all.
©meche kroop
--