A ROSENKAVALIER BY ANY OTHER NAME

Concertmaster Markus Wolf, Adrianne Pieczonka, Angela Brower, Peter Rose, Hanna-Elisabeth Müller, Maestro Kirill Petrenko, Lawrence Brownlee, Helene Schneiderman, and Ulrich Ress

What is your favorite Strauss opera? Our is, hands down, Der Rosenkavalier, just presented in concert form at Carnegie Hall by the Bayerische Staatsoper, under the baton of Maestro Kirill Petrenko. The partnership of Richard Strauss and librettist Hugo von Hoffmansthal was legendary.

We love the characters, above all the noble and worldly wise Marschallin who knows just how to handle a lovesick teenage lover, a boorish entitled cousin, and a miffed member of the parvenu persuasion. Her concerns with aging and the passage of time seem quaint in our epoch, when 60 is the new 40. Perhaps in the 18th c. a woman close to 30, as we believe she is meant to be, was likely considered to be past her "sell by" date. Still, we identify!

We also love the character of Octavian who is highly hormonal and fickle in the way that young men can be.  His cluelessness is tempered by his protective nature toward women and we find him an endearing personage. He loves passionately but capriciously.

Who would not love Sophie, fresh out of convent and given all the burdensome baggage of someone of the bourgeois class recently raised to nobility; she is determined to fit in and to permit no slights from the highly born. No pushover is she, however, but feisty in her intent to avoid a miserable fate and to find a better one for herself.

We do not love Baron Ochs, the proverbial bull in a china shop. But we love laughing at him, with all his pretentiousness and feelings of entitlement. His attitude toward women reminds us of POTUS. We squirmed as he boasted of his success with women and his attitude toward his bride-to-be was nothing short of deplorable.

We love the score and the massive forces of the orchestra for which Strauss has written music of complexity and great variety. The affection felt for the story is obvious in his lavish orchestration. and attention to detail. Each act begins with a stunning prelude and each character has a leitmotiv. Mr. Petrenko conducted with verve and brought out things in the score that we had not heard when we were distracted by the lavish sets and costumes. And we never mind hearing a waltz!

The opera begins with a musical depiction of orgasm with whooping brass; the intent is unmistakable, even in concert.  Strauss saved the best for last--a gorgeous trio for three very different female voices in which each expresses her innermost thoughts and feelings. 

The Marschallin herself was pushed into marriage straight out of convent and, we imagine, compensates for the presence of a probably much older and unloved husband by taking on young lovers. That she relinquishes Octavian to young Sophie is a mark not only of her generosity of spirit but of her acceptance of reality--"der lauf der welt".

Hearing the magnificent forces of the Bayerische Staatsoper and their excellent choir in a concert performance was a new experience for us.  We carry fond memories of the late lamented Nathaniel Merrill/Robert O'Hearn iteration at The Metropolitan Opera, starring Renée Fleming, Susan Graham, and Christine Schäfer; this permitted us to "fill in the blanks" visually. We wondered how audience members new to the opera might have understood the absences of minor characters, with major characters speaking into thin air!

Still, we must admire the way every cast member offered not only superlative vocal performances but effective acting, without the use of music stands.  Suppose we call it semi-staged.

Of all the excellence onstage, we were most impressed with the Octavian of American mezzo-soprano Angela Brower.  Her rich resonant instrument filled Carnegie Hall from stage to balcony and her acting was totally convincing. She needed no costuming but used her body to emulate a 17-year-old boy. When she was called upon to portray Mariandel (a joke on Baron Ochs) she needed no women's weeds to effect the transformation and successfully imitated a rural dialect. She was able to create great chemistry with both Ms. Pieczonka and Ms. Müller.

As the Marschallin, dramatic soprano Adrianne Pieczonka took a while to settle into the role but wound up being a marvelous Marschallin and provided the firm strength to anchor the final trio.

As the virginal Sophie, lyric soprano Hanna-Elisabeth Müller dazzled with her crystalline sound and evoked the right degree of sympathy.

Bass Peter Rose kept us laughing, even when we felt anger at his pawing of Sophie. He is truly a master comedian.

Baritone Markus Eiche made an effective Herr Faninal, Sophie's father. He so desperately wanted her marriage to Baron Ochs that he was ready to throw her back into the convent if she disobeyed.

Tenor Ulrich Ress made a fine Valzacchi with mezzo-soprano Helene Schneiderman performing as his "niece" Annina.  The two gossips and intriguers were instrumental in the plot to orchestrate Baron Ochs humiliation and rejection. (Like POTUS, Ochs doesn't think he has done anything wrong and can't believe he is being rejected.)

Tenor Lawrence Brownlee gave us a nice aria during the levee, a moment of beauty midst the controlled chaos of this musically and dramatically rambunctious scene.

So yes, this is our favorite Strauss opera.  No one dies, no one gets beheaded, no one goes mad. It's all just good clean fun with Hoffmansthal in the early years of the 20th c. looking back with nostalgia at a fantasy of the 18th c.  Even the presentation of a silver rose was an invented fantasy, but we love it just as much as if it were real.

(c) meche kroop

SO MANY STARS IN THIS FIRMAMENT

Star-studded cast of Richard Tucker Foundation Gala at Carnegie Hall

Perhaps you enjoyed the gala webcast live on medici.tv; we were fortunate enough to be there in person, right there in Carnegie Hall, a venue we much prefer to host an event of this magnitude. It's been a quarter century since the Richard Tucker Foundation Gala was held here.

Every year the Richard Tucker Foundation throws a helluva party to celebrate the current year's winner of the Richard Tucker Award, a ginormous $50,000 cash prize. That buys a lot of gowns and coachings!

The Richard Tucker Foundation was begun shortly after Mr. Tucker's untimely and premature death.  It has perpetuated his artistic legacy by supporting young artists for 40 years and bestows its incredibly generous award on an artist poised at the edge of a major international career. Soprano Tamara Wilson sure meets that requirement in spades (and in hearts, diamonds, and clubs).

This versatile artist made several appearances tonight, opening the program with "Dich, teure Halle" from Richard Wagner's Tannhäuser, following the "Entrance of the Guests" from the same opera, performed by the superb New York Choral Society and members of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra led by Maestro Asher Fisch.

Ms. Wilson is one of those big beautiful girls with  big beautiful voices that come along every few years; she sure knows how to use this impressive instrument. We loved the way she sensitively modulated the volume and the way she limned the character of Elizabth. 

She is just as adept with Verdi as with Wagner. Now that we have heard her sing "Tu al cui sguardo onnipossente" from I due Foscari, we will be very disappointed if the Met doesn't stage Verdi's early work and cast her! The flexibility in the fioritura fireworks, coming from such a huge voice, was remarkable.

With her mezzo-soprano counterpart Jamie Barton as Adalgisa and tenor Joshua Guerrero as Pollione, the finale of Act I from Bellini's Norma made a great impression.  As versatile as she is, perhaps Cunegonde was not the best choice for the closing number, although her voice did harmonize well with Mr. Guerrero's in "Make Our Garden Grow" from Leonard Bernstein's Candide.

Getting back to Jamie Barton, this artist never fails to astonish us. There is something about her self-possession and the ability to get inside each character and make it her own that makes her a standout. Not since Marilyn Horne performed the role have we heard such luscious seductiveness pouring out of Dalila in "Mon coeur s'ouvre à ta voix" from Camille Saint-Saëns' Samson et Dalila. No Samson could resist!

Her duet with mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato "Son nata a lagrimar" from Georg Frideric Händel's Giulio Cesare was stunning. It was a perfect example of two fine artists of the same fach sounding very very different.  Having just come from Ms. DiDonato's master class, we witnessed exactly what she was trying to teach the youngsters in her class--giving the audience YOU, not what they expect.

We wish we could say that of soprano Kristine Opolais. She has a small voice without much variety of color but the major deficit, from our point of view, is that she "presented". We did not perceive much depth in her "Song to the Moon" from Antonin Dvorak's Russalka (a favorite of ours) and her "Un bel di" from Giacomo Puccini's Madama Butterfly was filled with extravagant gesture but not much feeling. We may be alone in this opinion since the audience seemed pleased with both arias.

We suppose we have been spoiled by Renée Fleming's Russalka and wished that she had sung it last night. Not that we were at all disappointed in her choices!  The violins set the tone for her "Adieu, notre petite table" from Jules Massenet's Manon. The colors of grief gave way to colors of joy in Ruggero Leoncavallo's  lovely serenade "Mattinata".

Soprano Nadine Sierra can be counted on to give a superior performance each and every time. She is an artist of the finest caliber and graces the stage with her presence. We have witnessed the growth of her career for several years and she just keeps getting better and better. 

In "Regnava nel silenzio" from Gaetano Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, she was totally present and made Lucia's character her very own. She wisely set up Lucia's fragility and instability while maintaining vocal integrity.  Her duet with tenor Javier

Camarena--"Vieni fra questa braccia" from Vincenzo Bellini's I puritani showed a generosity of spirit and some lovely harmonies.

Mr. Camarena delighted the audience with his garlic-infused tarantella "La danza" by Gioachino Rossini, an old chestnut made new. His duet with tenor Lawrence Brownlee--"Ah vieni, nel tuo sangue" from Rossini's Otello was kind of strange with each tenor holding onto the "money note" for unreasonable lengths of time, causing the audience members to laugh out loud. Somehow, this rivalry seemed wrong for the aria in which Otello and Rodrigo are planning a duel, not a vocal competition.

The appearance of Anna Netrebko was most welcome. Having passed through the ingenue phase she has emerged with a glorious burnished instrument that thrills us in verismo territory even more than it did in bel canto land. Hearing her "La mamma morta" from Umberto Giordano's Andrea Chénier was a revelation and we can't imagine Gérard resisting any better than Samson resisted Dalila.

She has not lost her scintillating upper register with overtones galore while the lower register has expanded, offering a plenitude of texture. Her interpretations serve the character.

She followed this aria with an unscheduled one--"Io son l'humile ancella" from Francesco Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur--which further confirmed our impression. How interesting that Joyce DiDonato sang an aria on a similar theme--"Si, son io" from Jake Heggie's opera Great Scott which premiered exactly one year ago in Dallas with Ms. DiDonato as the star.

We have never enjoyed Heggie's writing as much as we did this aria. The thought occurred to us that the Italian language dictates a far lovelier vocal line than does the English language. And Ms. DiDonato's performance demonstrated all the principles that she taught in her master classes, reviews of which will appear within a couple days, right here.

Tenor Lawrence Brownlee performed "Seul sur la terre" from Donizetti's forgotten opera Dom Sébastien. His French was lovely, as was his phrasing but his voice did not capture our interest; we found the vibrato a bit too wide for our taste and there was some closing off of the high notes that made our throat hurt--a problem we experience so often with tenors. 

We enjoyed the participation of the New York Choral Society in the opening number especially but also in the Norma trio, the Verdi, and in the closing number from Candide. Several musicians from the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra made significant contributions, especially the harp in "Seul sur la terre".

Our ears are still tickled 8 hours after the concert.  We imagine the walls of Carnegie Hall are still vibrating! Long may they vibrate!

And here's a link to the broadcast....https://www.medici.tv/richard-tucker-opera-gala/embed/.  Now you too can enjoy!

(c) meche kroop

THE STARS AT NIGHT ARE BIG AND BRIGHT....

What a lineup at the Richard Tucker Music Foundation Gala!    
(photo by Dario Acosta)

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Richard Tucker Music Foundation. Sunday night's recital was not just an opportunity to hear some of the greatest voices onstage today; it was also a celebration of the foundation's work in supporting young American opera singers with awards, grants and performance opportunities at every stage of their careers. As if this were not enough to perpetuate the legacy of Richard Tucker, the foundation also offers free performances in New York City and supports music education enrichment programs.

The biggest prize, the Richard Tucker Award, went this year to the glorious and glamorous mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton who gives us goose bumps every time we hear her. The best part is that this glorious instrument belongs to a completely likable and unaffected young woman who exudes Southern charm from every pore.

Anyone interested in acquiring stage presence should observe Ms. Barton as she strides onto the stage knowing that she is her own woman and in full confidence of what she has to offer.  And offer she did!  In fine French she bid farewell to Carthage in Queen Dido's aria "Je vais mourir...Adieu, fière cité" from Berlioz' Les Troyens.  She knew exactly when to give forth and when to pull back, milking the aria for every ounce of pathos. She floated a top note so effectively it seemed to evaporate.

Her delivery of "Acerba voluttà", the Principessa's aria from Francesco Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur, revealed the luscious texture of her voice when confronted with soaring Italian melody. Phrasing and dynamics lent even more interest.

The other famous aria from this opera belonging to the titular character "Io son l'umile ancella" was given a touching performance by the glorious soprano Renée Fleming whose career was launched by a Richard Tucker grant 25 years ago.  To hear a glamorous star sing of humility in such a convincing fashion was evidence of her incomparable artistry.

She also contributed two lovely duets.  The first had her singing Marguerite to Piotr Beczala's Faust in "Il se fait tard" from the Gounod opera of the same name. Their voices balanced beautifully. We were not so enthusiastic about the second pairing when she sang Mimi to Andrea Bocelli's Rodolfo; she did fine but Mr. Bocelli's slender tenor was no match for her vocally. We could barely hear him. This was an impoverished Bohème leaving us as cold as Mimi's hands.

Perhaps he was invited to participate because he is famous with the general public but it seemed somewhat unfortunate to me that he was put on stage with all these great voices. In his solo, "M'appari tutt' amor" from Friedrich Flotow's Martha, one strained to hear him; this was also the case in his duets with any of the other singers.  No matter!  The audience loved him.

Soprano Nadine Sierra, who has won career and study grants, has been achieving phenomenal success recently and deserves it. Although she did not perform a solo, we greatly enjoyed her duets. She sang Juliette to Stephen Costello's Roméo in Gounod's "Va! Je t'ai pardonée" and the two of them had such incredible chemistry that we forgot it was a recital. We have already lined up tickets to Mr. Costello's performance of this role in Santa Fe next summer!

Mr. Costello's solo "E la storia solita del pastore" from Francesco Cilea's L'Arlesiana revealed a fineness of tone and depth of feeling. The night we went to hear Mr. Costello as Percy in Anna Bolena (we had enjoyed his performance so much a couple years earlier) he was out sick but this performance made up for it. He won his award in 2009, after getting a career grant two years earlier. The foundation really does nurture it's grantees.

Christine Goerke has a soprano that shakes the walls. If there had been a set we could have said that she chewed up the scenery when she sang Princess Eboli's aria "O don fatale" from Verdi's Don Carlo.  It was an electrifying performance, giving different colors to each of the three sections, creating a complex character. Ms. Goerke always knows her characters and brings them to vivid life. Although we love Mozart and bel canto, we are glad that this amazing artist is finally achieving her true purpose onstage. She won the Richard Tucker Award in 2001. Perhaps they saw her potential before anyone else did.

Mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard is a star of the first quality who stood out since her days at Juilliard. Her award came in 2013 and we have never seen her give a performance that was less than brilliant. She performed "Nacqui all'affano...Non più mesta" from Rossini's La Cenerentola. With her brilliant bel canto technique and rich flexible instrument, she is the perfect Rossini heroine. The fireworks of her fioritura linger in the memory.

Coming onstage towards the end of the recital was Angela Gheorghiu who impressed with her performance of "In quelle trine morbide" from Puccini's Manon Lescaut and "Ebben! Ne andrò lontano" from Alfredo Catalani's La Wally. She stuck us as an old school diva with great command of the stage, the material, and the audience's attention.

We were happy to hear tenor Piotr Beczala because his communication with the audience was so far superior to that in his Zankel Hall recital two nights earlier. He knew his way around "Nessun dorma" from Puccini's Turandot and managed not to imitate anyone else. He exhibited the easy top notes that had sounded strained at the recital. He had some excellent choral assistance from the massive New York Choral Society who had opened the program so effectively with the well-chosen curtain raiser "Ohè! Ohè Presto" from Leoncavallo's Pagliacci.

Tenor Lawrence Brownlee sang "Terra amica...Cara! deh attendimi" from Rossini's little known opera Zelmira. His voice was exposed by the light orchestration and proved to be pleasantly flexible. However, he tended to push his high notes rather than floating them.

We have saved the best for last.  Christine Goerke and Jamie Barton joined forces for the duet "E un anatèma" from Ponchielli's La gioconda. Two huge voices, perfectly matched, dukeing it out for romantic supremacy=major wow.

The evening closed with excerpts from the "Triumphal Scene" from Verdi's Aida. The New York Choral Society, under the direction of David Hayes, and members of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra conducted by Maestro Eugene Kohn, were joined by all the singers onstage. Trios of trumpets blared from the second ring of the newly renamed David Geffen Hall, creating a Surround Sound effect that was thrilling, drawing the evening to a sensational close.

(c) meche kroop

LA DONNA SENZA LAGO

Joyce DiDonato--photo by Ken Howard

Here you see the lovely mezzo Joyce DiDonato standing on the moors of Scotland with a painted backdrop of the sky.  Wait!  She's standing on the stage set of La Donna del Lago at the Santa Fe Opera and the SKY is REAL, seen through the proscenium.  Rossini sure had a thing for the mezzo voice and Ms. DiDonato made the most out of the master's gorgeous bel canto vocal lines. Her embellishments were as accurate as any we've heard and her trill gave us a thrill.

Here she portrays Elena in Andrea Leone Tottola's adaptation of Sir Walter Scott's poem "The Lady of the Lake"--given an Italian flavor of course.  Elena is the daughter of one Duglas d'Angus (performed by deeply resonant bass Wayne Tigges) who was once the tutor of Giacomo V--King James of Scotland; he has, at the time of the opera, joined the Highland Clan, opposed to James' rule.  He has plans for Elena to wed Rodrigo di Dhu, the fierce chief of this clan.  Elena has other ideas; she is in love with the more gentle Malcolm Groeme, portrayed by mezzo Marianna Pizzolato, who sings like an angel and looks nothing like a man.  The love duet between the two of them was one of the evening's highlights.

Fortunately, Rodrigo gets killed in an uprising and the only other rival for her hand is the king himself who, disguised as Umberto, has met her, accepted her hospitality and fallen in love with her also.  (And who wouldn't fall in love with the beautiful and charming Ms. DiDonato!)  It is the king's respect for Elena that finally heals the rift so that peace in Scotland is achieved.

Lawrence Brownlee sang the role of the king and René Barbera the role of the ill-fated Rodrigo.  Both tenors have beautiful voices for the most part but both fell into the "tenor trap" of pushing their top notes instead of floating them, lending a harsh sound to otherwise fine bel canto singing.

We enjoyed seeing several apprentices onstage in smaller roles.  Soprano Lacy Sauter made a fine Albina--an interesting variation on the customary situation in which a mezzo is the confidante of the star soprano.  David Blalock and Joshua Dennis portrayed servants.

Maestro Stephen Lord conducted with high spirits and Paul Curran directed with a sure hand, making sense out of a confusing plot.   Costumes by Kevin Knight were appropriate to time and place; his sets were spare and lit by Duane Schuler to emphasize the gloom.  The chorus sang beautifully under the director of Susanne Sheston.

We understand that this production will appear at the Metropolitan Opera in a couple years.  How wonderful that New Yorkers will get to enjoy one of Rossini's lesser known operas.  Just don't expect the sunset!

© meche kroop

WHO'S THE PRINCE?

Elina Garanca

A vocally superior Cenerentola could not be imagined than the one presented by The Metropolitan Opera on HD.  The young Rossini (age 25) followed the success of Il Barbiere di Siviglia with this sprightly melodic work which reminds one of....guess what?...the aforementioned.  Gorgeous melodies tumble out one after another with all the excitement of youth and success.  The madcap ensembles for which Rossini is famous bring several scenes to a close.  Rapid-fire patter songs are given to the basses.  We are meant to be smiling throughout and smile we did, with the exception of a couple of longueurs which can be attributed to the libretto of Jacopo Ferretti, loosely based on the fairy tale.  Gone are the fairy godmother, the pumpkin, the shoe and the wicked stepmother.  Instead we have the kind-hearted Alidoro who doubles as her guardian angel and a beggar who tests the heroine's generosity.

Latvian mezzo Elina Garanca is a spunky Cinderella who enjoys tormenting her nasty vain stepsisters (Rachelle Durkin as Clorinda and Patricia Risley as Tisbe) by singing the lament "Una volta c'e un re" over and over again as the opera opens.  She closes the opera with the well-known and cheerful "Non piu mesta".  Between those two show stoppers this beautiful singer invests every phrase with meaning and full round sound.  The fioritura tickles the ear.  American tenor Lawrence Brownlee makes some thrilling sounds as Don Ramiro, the prince; every note in his runs evinces pinpoint accuracy.  But is he princely?  Well, no!  It certainly doesn't help that he is a head shorter than his Cinderella, nor is he assisted by good acting.  His facial expressions range from anxious to angry to pained. Whereas Ms. Garanca convinces us that she falls in love with the little prince on first sight, even though he is masquerading as his valet Dandini, Mr. Brownlee shows no such chemistry toward her, fetching as she is.  There is no law that says a prince should be taller than his beloved, or even of the same racial background; still, one expects the prince to be, well, charming is the word we use.  As in Prince Charming.  Mr. B. came across as more relaxed in his duet with his valet.

Vocal honors are also awarded for the Don Magnifico of Alessandro Corbelli who portrays the nasty greedy stepfather who disparages Cinderella at every turn and makes us laugh at the same time.  Likewise, the Dandini of Simone Alberghini is hilarious.  Both men are called upon to overplay a bit.  John Relyea is excellent as Alidoro in all three incarnations.  The physical comedy is also a bit overdone with the two disdainful and competitive stepsisters; their voices were perfect for the roles.

The 1997 production of Cesare Lievi takes the tone of a cartoon and it does wear thin.  Maurizio Balo did the sets, also cartoonish, and the costumes, strangely updated to the Erte period.  The excellent Met choristers wear bowler hats and look like something out of a Magritte painting.  None of these directorial conceits matter very much since we are watching a comedy.  But they seem tired and tedious.

Maurizio Benini led a brisk reading of the score, which is both frivolous and incredibly artistic.  Gary Halvorson directed the HD and at times we thought he chose his camera angles to minimize the height disparity between Brownlee and Garanca.
He did not succeed.  There are many opera lovers who are able to close their eyes to visual shortcomings (OUCH) but we are not amongst them.

(c) meche kroop