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Bit twice by the same dog
Fine singing in Babylon 2
Saturday, February 1, 2004
By Barbara ThomsonCoro Lyrico, Italo Marchini (conductor), Verdi: Nabucco (in concert). Nabucco - Mark Rucker (baritone); Abigaille - Marie-Adele McArthur (soprano); Zaccaria - Philip Cokorinos (bass); Ismaele - Jeffrey Hartman (tenor); Fenena - Mariana Karnataka (mezzo-soprano). The Community Theater, Morristown.
The famous chorus from Nabucco, "Va' pensiero", is so well known that before the day's program even began, conductor Italo Marchini spoke to the audience and invited them to sing it along with the orchestra then and there, in exchange for their promise not to sing along with it later. It was a cute idea, and, judging from the volume of sound from the audience, a good idea, as everyone seemed to know the tune (the words were in the libretto).
Sadly, this was practically the high point of the day, as the quite capable soloists and chorus were undermined at every turn by probably the worst "professional" orchestra I have ever heard. As soon as the lengthy overture began, major problems were in evidence: the brass played wrong notes with an ugly, blatty sound; there were sloppy entrances, poor balance between the sections of the orchestra, and shaky string intonation.
I learned later that this orchestra, which travels as a unit, failed to even show up for the dress rehearsal, and arrived only about 45 minutes before the actual performance, so much of the opera had never even been rehearsed with the orchestra before it went on stage. It looked to me like the same bunch which had played badly (but not quite this badly) in Coro Lyrico's Verdi Requiem a few performances back, and I hope they never darken their door again.
Fortunately, the singers were much better than the instrumentalists. The soloists were well-matched in volume, although the loud playing of the orchestra unfortunately left them screaming much of the time in order to be heard, leaving only a few chances for them to do anything subtle.
The opera is based on the Biblical account of the Jews' enslavement in Babylon, ("Nabucco" is the Italian version of "Nebuchadnezzar"), and is constructed as a series of vignettes, rather than a continuous plot.
Mark Rucker, in the title role, sang with good line, flexibility, expressivity, and fine control of his *mezza-voce, whenever the orchestra allowed him to be heard. He had a commanding stage presence and, even though this was an unstaged performance, was convincingly regal or insane as the plot demanded.
Soprano Marie-Adele McArthur negotiated the vengeful Abigaille's highly demanding *fioratura with aplomb. Although I thought that some places could have been more tender, she did some very nice soft singing in the final scenes as she begged forgiveness for her evil deeds.
She was well-matched with tenor Jeffrey Hartman, as her lover Ismaele: both have big, bright voices that went well together.
Mezzo-soprano Mariana Karpatova as Fenena, the Babylonian princess converted to Judaism, sang with a big, rich sound and was clearly audible in the quintet, where mezzos all too often become lost in the texture.
Bass Philip Cokorinos made a memorable high priest, Zaccaria. By turns stentorian, meditative, or righteous, he sang with plenty of volume and a nice metallic ring to the voice, particularly on his high notes. He impressively effected a very nice *diminuendo on a high E in Scene II. He deserved the perseverance-of-the-day award for maintaining his pitch accurately in Act II when a lovely, delicate meditation was marred by such poor *intonation by the string players that I marveled that he could just ignore them and sing in tune anyway (and with nice line, to boot). If I had any complaint, it would be that his lowest tones were a bit gravelly, but it is a role which, like that of Abigaille, places demands on both the highest and lowest parts of the voice and it is hard to be equally proficient in all.
The chorus sang with mixed results. So often they were drowned out by the orchestral playing that it was hard to tell much about how they were singing. At one point in Act II the male choristers got completely tangled up, so Marchini had to stop and start the scene over again. Yet the chorus redeemed itself in "Va' pensiero", and later in "Immenso Jehovah," the latter with excellent intonation and effective *a cappella singing.
A few asides that would have improved the experience: the lighting of the stage was poor; without footlights you couldn't see the singers' faces very well, especially as they stepped toward the edge of the stage. And while it was good to provide a libretto with translations, it looked like a cut-and-paste photo-copy from the notes in someone's CD, not laid out well on the page and hard to read. In this day of home computers, someone could have made a much more serviceable copy for the program, and perhaps have tidied up some of the dumber translations (e.g."Nabucco is sitting on a seat and finds himself immersed in deep slumber").
But the end result was sabotage by orchestra. If Coro Lyrico has enough money to hire the Community Theater, they should consider spending it instead on better instrumentalists (New Jersey is full of them) and return to performing in one of the many big churches in Morristown.
Eight Cellos . . .
. . . and not a note from Villa-Lobos!
Sunday, February 8, 2004
By Koren CowgillComposers' Ensemble at Princeton. Tarab Cello Ensemble: Annie Barley, Elizabeth Brown, Adam Carter, Caroline Kang, Susie Kelly, Kevin McFarland, Florent Renard-Payen, Ben Wensel. Taplin Auditorium, Princeton
The Tarab Cello Ensemble brought us a masterful concert of nothing but music written in the twenty-first century. Featuring nine diverse pieces, all were executed magnificently, the eight cellists playing as if they have been performing together for many years.
The first piece of the afternoon was Sisina's Reservoir by Eastman composer Aaron Travers. I was moved by the *program of the work as well as the music. The composer writes: "Sisina's Reservoir derives its title from Baudelaire's poem Sisina, about an angel who, despite her aggressive and warlike nature, is extremely tender and sympathetic."
The main body of cellists plays *harmonics throughout the piece, a foundation over which two solo cellos "play out a sad and bitter drama, united at the beginning by a single melody, but gradually becoming more estranged as the piece goes on." The harmonics represent the tears of Sisina while in the composer's imagination the accompanying cellos weep for the two soloists.
The piece is restrained as if some grandiose display of emotion would detract from the power of the notion that the angel Sisina is there to weep for us, as the composer states, in our darker moments. The piece unfolds very slowly and portrays the idea that salvation is possible after someone has grieved on our behalf. Soloists Adam Carter and Caroline King depicted the drama of the poem beautifully and appeared quite attuned to the musical content of the piece.
Alan Tormey's Ten Years On gives the impression of time moving very slowly and is well proportioned as far as the musical material is concerned. The composer's use of *pizzicato and string harmonics gives the impression of slow and deliberate drops of water. In the second section I found the low droning sounds coming from below the bridge of the cellos both disconcerting and much in keeping with the pathos of Alan Tormey's poem. The music leads us to believe that much has happened in the time which has elapsed in the lives of the composer and his friend mentioned in the poem Ten Years On, also by the composer.
De Zoe loosely means "contrast" in Korean and was written by Tae Hong Park. I was most impressed by the way in which the stomping of feet which the cellists had to execute along with their playing added to the rhythmic vivacity already inherent in the music rather than coming off as a gimmick. I would have liked the stomping of feet to return somehow in the slow section, but I suppose that its absence was in keeping with Mr. Park's idea of De Zoe. The only multimedia piece on the program, Frog City by Betsey Biggs, was "inspired by the sounds of foghorns, which the composer often listened to and recorded in San Francisco." The "movie" - for want of a better word - that accompanied the appropriate music was minimal in its hazy black and white shifting in and out pictures of leviathan ships which frequent San Francisco Bay or any other major seaport. In fact, when I closed my eyes and listened to the music while still seeing in my mind the images of the projections on the screen, I had the impression of ghost ships on the prowl when all the world is asleep. Miss Biggs's exploitation of various colors of the cellos especially "at the *frog" of the bow also sounded like what the composer described as "a chorus of otherworldly frogs."
A Cappella is a piece with *minimalist tendencies written by Dan Trueman. Unlike many of the previous works, the piece ended in a completely different place from where it began. The gorgeous pizzicato *ostinato provided a foundation for the melodic fragments which sang above it. With the faster pace of the music later in the piece I began to feel the "*phase shifting" of the music. I did indeed hear the composer's description that "the subtle details of each instrument are transparent, summing up to a meditative, immersive whole." Also inherent in the piece was the composer's knowledge of electronic music which came through in the different colors brought out in the cello writing.
Larry Bell's Tarab was "conceived as a concertino for two cello quartets." The composer describes his music as using "high-ratio *polyrhythms to articulate the background phrase structure." This I confess I did not hear, but what did stand out were the lush harmonies and fanfare-like motives in the first section of the piece and the two quartets in opposition in the second half, in particular the pizzicato versus chords. I was also impressed with the striking lyrical lines towards the end of the piece. The overall feel struck me as Romantic in its harmonic language and in its emotional quality as well. My ears didn't find anything particularly "experimental" about it (though the composer apparently did), but perhaps the use of a Romantic sensibility was an experiment. I did get a sense of the catharsis that the composer attempts to portray and a final feeling of "tarab" which translates as "ecstasy."
Eastman composer Gregory Mertl's Lover Calls is an example of magnificent ensemble writing for eight cellos. The music is meant to be evocative rather than narrative. Mr. Mertl's music projects a sense of longing and beckoning.
There were various ways in which the composer musically conveys these emotions to us. The piece begins sensually and intimately after which it progresses to a more lively middle section. The most striking moments in the piece came when I heard a small section with blatantly major chords over pizzicato which I am told is marked *"alla serenata" in the score. This stands out because it projects a moment of levity after the music is so intense, albeit in a lyrical manner. The "major" section returns again after the music intensifies, making me wonder if the composer is being called or is he the one who beckons to his lover? I had a sense that some sort of resolution exists in the music because it did indeed come to a climax near the end as soloist Adam Crater spun a beautifully singing line over string *tremolos.
Box by Randall Bauer is an eclectic piece which combines elements of *minimalism and "not-very-classical" harmonic progressions with fourteenth century *polyphonic tendencies and material derived from the composer's piano improvisations. The title of the piece is apt because I get a sense of the disparate material being employed in a postured manner. I heard the allusion to fourteenth century polyphony and did not find it altogether out of place with the rest of the music as it gave us a brief respite from the fuller sounds of the other sections of the piece. Mr. Bauer's harmonic writing is poignant and rich, and his sense of pacing is appropriate.
Eastman faculty composer David Liptak's Broken Cries is a most sensitive and sincere work. The first section is called "Breathing," but it is of the sort that sounds labored. There is an underlying current of melancholy to the music, which Mr. Liptak communicated through the exquisite solo played by Florent Renard-Payen over *cluster chords. The second section called "Singing" moves "in a continuous way. Two lead cellos alternate melodic figures in a *call and response as the rest of the ensemble divides into a support for one or the other." Soloists Renard-Payen and Elizabeth Brown played tremendously off one another. The former was more extroverted and the latter more introverted, almost as if she made a point of echoing his lines. They were obviously listening very closely to one another. In the third section which is called "letting go," the music is more forceful with a sense of driving rhythmic ensemble writing that took advantage of the Tarab Ensemble's energy as a group. I am under the impression that this is a deeply personal work and the musical content reflects this.
A windy Valentine's Day
A band and a "band"
Saturday, February 14, 2004
By William Allin StorrerMusic for Wind Instruments. The Ridgewood Concert Band, Christian Wilhjelm (conductor), David Fedor (organ). Stravinsky: Octet for Wind Instruments; Dupré: Prelude and Fugue in G minor, op. 7, no. 3; Dvorák Serenade in D minor, op. 44. St. Cassian's Church, Upper Montclair.
How to describe a perfect musical afternoon - one of those times when everything falls into place without a fault? That is what we had when a chamber ensemble from the award-winning Ridgewood Concert Band played at St. Cassian's Church in Montclair.
Stravinsky's Octet for Wind Instruments is perhaps the peak of difficulty for performers as well as audience in the wind literature. Those who over the years have tuned in to the musical humor in the dissonances that are everywhere in this raucous composition find them delicious!
The work is filled with them, but otherwise it is a study in the tonal qualities of the instruments and the way they can blend and contrast. While there are pairs of bassoons, a typical arrangement, there is only one flute and one clarinet, no oboe, and then two trumpets and two trombones. Yet this is not all; the trombones here were valved, tenor and bass, rather than your standard slide trombone and, when playing together, one often used a mute. So Stravinsky, while using common old-time forms including a theme and variations, is playing with musical textures and tonal qualities. What fun, and a tour de force for the Ridgewood instrumentalists who delivered with élan. A "wind band" of a different sort - an organ - provided variety.
Organ composer Marcel Dupré was a close contemporary of Stravinsky. His G minor Prelude and *Fugue was written within two years of the Stravinsky Octet. St. Cassian music director David Fedor prepared us by playing the prelude theme, then the contrasting fugue theme. When the prelude theme entered in the closing bars of the fugue, we could hear how Dupré was playing with musical form to break traditional expectations. Expertly done!
A treat was a piece not on the program and added at the last minute; the Cedille by Albéniz in an arrangement for four horns. Anyone familiar with Alicia DeLarocha's recordings will know the work, but to hear it engulfing you in the St. Cassian acoustic was enlightening.
Conductor Christian Wilhjelm is also the director of the newly re-formed Goldman Concert Band whose place in band history is legendary. That this honor is deserved was amply demonstrated in his masterly balancing and blending of the instrumental choirs in the Dvorák Serenade. His choices of tempi and use of *rubato caused the Serenade to breathe and come to life. While for a short time I missed the particular growl of the contrabassoon (cello and string bass were the low end of the spectrum here), there was perfection in everything else in this performance. I say that even though twenty-two years ago I heard the then "no-one-better-than" Netherlands Wind Ensemble perform the work in London. At that concert we were spectators separated from the musicians. With the Ridgwoodians at St. Cassian we were involved, part of the performance. What Wilhjelm and his musicians gave us was sublime.
Indeed, it was so sublime that there was no encore. There was nothing with which this performance could have been encored.
P.S. If you have not heard the Polka and Fugue from Schwanda der Dudelsackpfeiffer (Schwanda the Bagpiper) in the recording by the full Ridgewood Concert Band in recording at Newark's Sacred Heart Cathedral, Pro Organo CD 7055, you are missing one of the band events of the last century.
Opera off the beaten (Italian) path
Two reviewers to reflect a cast difference
Friday, February 20, 2004 and Sunday, February 22, 2004
By Paul M. Somers and Dennis Hyams
New Jersey Concert Opera. Menotti: The Old Maid and the Thief, Robert W. Butts (conductor); Elizabeth Moulton (soprano, Miss Todd, the old maid), Meredith Hoffmann-Thomson/Nicole Franklin (soprano, Laetitia, her maid), Don Sheasley (baritone, Bob, the thief), Olive Lynch (soprano, Miss Pinkerton). First United Methodist Church, Westfield; Crescent Avenue Presbyterian Church, Plainfield.The Old Maid and the Thief is a Menotti opera known far more by its name than from actual performances. It has a reputation as a work suitable for college opera department productions, though one will be hard pressed to think of one production in New Jersey during the past 20 years.
The choice of a Menotti opera buffa as the opening program was auspicious; this delightful comedy was given as fine a performance as could be wished for.
Gian Carlo Menotti needs no introduction to operaphiles, nor to many TV viewers, because of the enormous popularity of his TV opera, Amahl and the Night Visitors, which for many years was an annual Christmas favorite since its first performance in 1951. Other operas by Menotti were premiered on Broadway and at the Met.
The Old Maid and the Thief was commissioned in 1937 by NBC, the first opera written specifically for radio; it was given its first radio performance in 1939 and it was successfully presented as a stage work in Philadelphia in 1941. It was a great success, though most subsequent performances have been in colleges.
It is Menotti's second opera (excluding his childhood efforts: he started writing operas at the age of 10), and, like his previous opera that first drew attention to him as a composer, (Amelia al ballo), was an opera buffo (comic opera). Menotti was enamored of the commedia dell'arte at this time, and so the old maid had to be grotesquely funny, her young maid sparkling and witty, and the handsome hero had in the end to achieve his objectives. As usual for Menotti, then and since, he supplied his own libretto. His story was inspired by his frequent visits to the family home of Samuel Barber, his fellow student at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. The house was in West Chester, at that time a sleepy little town. From conversations held and heard in that quiet house, it became apparent to Menotti that under the calm surface of the town were many secrets and scandals, and this led him directly to his idea for The Old Maid and the Thief.
It was worth hearing this debut performance of New Jersey Concert Opera if only to hear the opera live. It proved to be an admirable choice since it was originally intended as a radio production with no staging. So when company director Olive Lynch made her first singing entrance as the busybody Miss Pinkerton while wearing a flowered "old lady" hat of an earlier day, she was already breaking away from the original.
It was, indeed, the degree to which it was engaging to watch concert opera that was intriguing. The interactions between characters depended to a large extent on how much or how little they needed the score in front of them. Meredith Hoffmann-Thomson as Laetitia barely needed the music, rarely looking at it while she acted the role with nearly the same dramatic freedom as if she were in a fully staged production. At the other end of the scale, Don Sheasely, a late-comer to the role and the production, was pretty much bound to his music stand as he worked at getting all the composer's notes out properly. Even so, his veteran baritone was at its lyric best most particularly in his gorgeous aria extolling the virtues of living on the road instead of being cooped up in a house.
Miss Hoffmann-Thomson, however, had the show-stopping aria "Steal Me" - the only other in the full opera - and brought the eager audience to its first interruption for applause. Not only did she have a sparkling voice (she went up to a high D with no visible effort) and great diction (a rare combination) but proved to be a modern Clara Bow, for she has "it" - whatever "it" is - that can become star-quality.
In Plainfield on Sunday, Laetitia was sung by Nicole Franklin, whose smooth, attractive, firm coloratura soprano voice was also ideal for this role. Her upper register was glorious and sounded effortless. In duet passages with Elizabeth Moulton as Miss Todd, both singers produced honeyed sounds, in precise harmony.
Moulton and Ms. Lynch's Miss Pinkerton immediately let the audience know that this was to be high level singing. Their opening duet on what they had not gotten out of life and love was movingly sung, producing the right balance of irony and biting characterization. Throughout the evening both sang their aria-less parts with a conviction which raised their several scenes together to a high artistic level.
Ms. Lynch's previous experience is notable for (among many impressive credits) her performances as Monica in Menotti's The Medium, conducted by the composer himself at the Philadelphia Opera.
All the singers had exemplary diction, and their characterizations were well-delineated.
Conductor Robert Butts led a group assembled from the Baroque Orchestra of North Jersey in what must have been a first venture into the 20th century for many. From the crisp playing of the Wolf-Ferrari-like overture to the final devastating scene Mr. Butts clearly knew the score cold and kept his charges not only together but musically engaging. There were perhaps a few too many for the space, but this kind of thing will doubtless be adjusted in the future.
The opera itself left Mr. Somers disturbed. After 90% comedy, the final two scenes turn nasty. Throughout the opera it seemed that this was to be a gender-reversed version of the old comedia dell'arte convention of the too-old-would-be-lover: Barber of Seville's Dr. Bartolo or the title character of Don Pasquale for instance. But the whole point of those kinds of characters is that at the end they see the folly in their actions and either sanction the final union of the young lovers or go blustering off stage. But in The Old Maid and the Thief Menotti has Laetitia and Bob, not even lovers - just possible future lovers - rob Miss Todd of all her valuables and steal her car to get away. The old maid learns nothing, sanctions nothing, and is left ruined. It makes for a bitter ending, which may have something to do with why the piece, in spite of its very attractive score, is now rarely heard.
But of course that touches on a significant point about New Jersey Concert Opera: it intends to produce works outside the constant stream of Italian opera which pours from the state's other companies, staged or unstaged. When have you heard Der Freischütz recently? Or Purcell's The Fairy Queen? Not in New Jersey, that's for sure. But those are the next two productions for this company eager to go down less traveled paths.
Opera in New Jersey
A wide view
By Paul M. SomersWhat with Opera Festival of New Jersey having gone down in flames at the end of last season, the state has been left with no company which gives balanced programming or has a season in which it plays multiple operas in repertory. The fault for Opera Festival's demise lies in a multitude of places which would take at least a pamphlet to describe, perhaps a book. But the lesson many companies have taken from the experience is that they were right all along: standard repertoire - the old favorites - sells out, and only old favorites can leave an opera company with a bottom line worth contemplating . . . maybe.
As if proving this further, State Repertory Opera, a small company but no less ambitious, has reduced itself to producing a spate of popular Italian repertoire warhorses. Their history of imaginative stagings: included a very edgy Magic Flute, Susanna, and Goyescas. This listener even remembers early in the company's history an avant-garde opera sung and played on only four pitches! But now they are doing a concert presentation of Lucia. "We have to give them what they seem to want," says Dita Deman, who holds up Opera Festival's fate as the reason why. SRO is in its 29th season, a group of survivors. But gone - or at least on hold - is the driving vision of doing music outside the standard repertoire box.
In this issue we look at New Jersey State Opera which continues to stage operas, also standard; Opera at Florham, which at least for one production stopped staging and went the concert route; Coro Lyrico, which was begun in order to present concert opera productions of the standard repertoire or of less produced Italian fare; and finally New Jersey Concert Opera, which has as its purpose the presentation of less-often-performed works in concert an ambitious six times per year. So far it has one production under its belt.
The viability of the concert opera format is well-established: Eve Queler has been doing this very successfully in New York City and New Jersey for years. Many will recall that about 25 years ago the Jersey Lyric Opera, run by the indefatigable Sonia Lewis, performed several operas in concert.
The state of opera in New Jersey is not great, but it is not moribund. Boheme Opera has its fully staged Barber coming up in Trenton (April 23 and 25), but shows no sign of blossoming into a repertory company. Nor does any New Jersey opera group seem to be aiming in that direction.
Is it just our play-it-safe post-9/11 times? Is it that the economy has left us wanting to spend our money only on what we know? Whatever the cause, the reality is that we allow ourselves to hear very little of the full operatic richness that is available.
German opera is said to be a tough sell (though I remember a concert Rienzi selling out Richardson in record time). Yet I'm convinced that a Fliegende Holländer would draw a crowd from all over if the PR went heavily into New York and Philadelphia as well as New Jersey. And what of American opera? One of the reasons Opera Festival's demise is lamented was its commitment to not only the modern but to American modern: Barber's Vanessa, Peter Westergaard's The Tempest, and Frank Lewin's Burning Bright come to mind immediately as widely varied works by Americans, two of them New Jerseyans.
Of the present companies only Concert Opera of New Jersey is going far a field, and even then they are hedging their bets with Gilbert & Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance, Puccini's Suor Angelica, and Menotti's perennial favorite Amahl and the Night Visitors.
So there is no one ready right now to step into the vacuum left by Opera Festival's departure. But Opera fans still have some performances to attend.
Natural madness
Fine singing, fine playing
Sunday, February 22, 2004
By Barbara ThomsonNew Jersey State Opera, Alfredo Silipigni (conductor). Donizetti: Lucia di Lammermoor. Prudential Hall, Newark.
Sir Walter Scott's Gothic novel The Bride of Lammermoor has all the ingredients for a great romantic opera - ghosts, a murder, evil machinations, and, of course, doomed lovers. While the story wouldn't wash today, one can see why operas were the popular soap operas of the last century, especially in Italy.
The doomed lovers in question here are Lucia (soprano) and Edgardo, (tenor), and in best Romeo-and-Juliet tradition, they are from families which are mortal enemies. To make a long story short, Lucia is coerced by her nasty brother into a loveless marriage with another tenor to save the family finances, and, in so doing, she goes insane, murders her new husband, sings a fabulous mad scene, and dies, as does Edgardo upon hearing the news.
The role of Lucia is tricky in several senses. It is a famously difficult *bel canto role, full of incredible coloratura work. It is also a difficult task for a singer/actress to avoid having Lucia look pretty dumb, staggering around the castle hall in her nightgown, dagger in hand, singing to people who aren't there for at least fifteen minutes. Korean soprano Sumi Jo pulled off both in spades, singing what is the best mad scene I have ever seen.
In interviews before the performance, Ms. Jo explained that she worked hard to try to put herself in the place of a woman brought up in a society where women had no power and were often used as political pawns in arranged marriages. Her sweet, hopeful Lucia of Act I gave way to the psychologically beaten woman who signed the marriage contract in Act II, and then, convincingly, to the crazed woman who wandered about the stage muttering (in high notes) to herself, absorbed in her inner visions, in Act III.
It takes great vocal control to sing this role convincingly, and that is what made her portrayal work. I have heard sopranos who just belt out the high stuff like vocal exercises, but Ms. Jo has a wonderful high pianissimo which made not only the music more interesting but the acting more believable. She sang her mad scene much the way a deranged person might walk down the sidewalk muttering to himself in an undertone, speaking to people who aren't there. To sing high D's and clean *fioratura so softly takes wonderful technique, and she has it.
If there is anything to complain about, one could say that her voice, at forty-something, is beginning to show some evidence of wear. The sound is starting to have an edge, and her vibrato is a bit fast and hard, but the excellence of her technique, artistry, and fine acting more than compensate.
Her lover Edgardo, Chinese tenor Jianyl Zhang, has a ringing voice, very even top to bottom, and he sang with a good musical line. His acting improved as the drama progressed: he was less interesting as the supposedly ardent lover in Act I, but came alive as the furious jilted lover in Act II. His top notes tended to all be loud, and it's a good sound, but the contrast with Ms. Jo's excellent use of *mezzo voce in the upper register made him sound somewhat unsubtle.
Lucia's scheming brother Enrico was sung by baritone George Fortune with mixed results. He suffered from intermittent intonation problems, and while sometimes his voice sounded fine and he sang with a good musical line, other times his top was tight and barky. Nonetheless, he sang with presence and plenty of volume and was believably nasty, selfish, and manipulative.
Russian basso Mikhail Svetlov sang the role of Raimondo, the chaplain, quite adequately, and had good low notes, but the voice often sounded swallowed and lacked real excitement. His best singing was in his Act III aria, as the chaplain tells the people of the circumstances of Arturo's murder. Tenor Stephen Tillman, as the luckless husband Arturo, and mezzo Mariana Karpatova, Lucia's maid, both acquitted themselves well in their smaller roles.
One of the musical highlights of the opera is the famous sextet in Act II, which suffers if the voices are not of approximately equal volume, but in this case it was well-balanced and came off well.
It is a testament to the quality of the players available in the metropolitan area that the orchestra did a good job, given the short rehearsal schedule they have to work with. Unfortunately, the pit is a very live one, and although Maestro Silipigni sometimes gestured to the players to keep the volume down, they were fairly often too loud in relation to the stage, although the balance within the orchestra itself was good. Special kudos to harpist André Tarantiles for his extended solo at the beginning of Scene 2, to principal flutist Mary Landolfi as the phantom "voice" in the mad scene (no, it's not really a duel between the soprano and flutist) and to principal cellist Lanny Paykin for his solo in the graveyard scene.
The chorus, under the new leadership of chorus master Mark Shapiro, sounded markedly better than in recent years. The costumes and sets borrowed from the Montreal Opera were quite serviceable, and I thought the interior castle scenes looked particularly good. The super-title people seemed to have occasional trouble, as the translations sometimes lagged behind, but it is certainly a help to audiences to have these available.
In the final analysis, the success or failure of this opera hinges on its Lucia, and in presenting Ms. Jo, the New Jersey State Opera hit a home run.
On Women composers
Speaking for the majority
Gender inclusion in composing
By Elaine Vander Plate HeldThey have won Pulitzer Prizes, inspired groundbreaking choreography, enjoyed immense international fame, and are among the least known group of artists in the world. Who? Women composers.
From Sappho's beautiful 7th century choral poetry and Hildegard von Bingen's melodic 12th century morality plays, women have created remarkable compositions since the beginning of musical time. Many have overcome social and personal odds to honor their own creative spirit. Their works have been commissioned by royalty, earned top prizes and have been applauded by packed houses around the globe. The 1995 Norton/Grove Dictionary of Women Composers features 900 of these amazing, multi-talented, award-winning, risk-taking women, yet most people cannot even name five.
It's March again, and that time when we are reminded it is "Women's History Month." I caught a ten-minute spot on NPR's "All Things Considered" about composer and pianist Amy Beach and even heard a few minutes of her Gaelic Symphony, and Piano Concerto. Martin Bookspan had a jaunty way of telling us about Beach's interesting life, and the woman interviewing Mr. Bookspan, not surprisingly, said she had never heard of Amy Beach.
I am never surprised anymore when people don't know a woman composer's name.
Musicians will sometimes know the names of Amy Beach, Clara Schumann, Cecile Chaminade, and Fanny Mendelssohn, but most have never played music by them, hardly heard their music performed or own even one CD containing music by women composers. Perhaps some musicians might assume because this music isn't being performed it must not be very good. Then again, how many of us learned music written by a woman during our years of music education? I contend that all a curious person would need to do is to try some of this neglected music or even listen to some! Try the dynamic Piano Sonata of Cecile Chaminade, or Beach's passionate piano quintet, Libby Larson's Cowboy Songs, Rebecca Clarke's viola sonata (her duo for clarinet and viola is being played this weekend by Claring Chamber Players), the list goes on and on, and you would soon know what you have been missing!
New Jersey composer Melinda Wagner won the Pulitzer Prize in 1999 for her Concerto for Flute, Strings and Percussion, but no surprise to say I have never had the opportunity to hear it. I hoped and expected the NJSO to include it in their next season as a tribute to a New Jersey composer. They never did. Brooklyn composer Mary Lloyd-Butler recounted the evening last year when she went to the Brooklyn SO for an all 20th Century Composer program. She was dismayed that not a single female composer was represented that night. They had not promoted it as a 20th Century Male Composer event!
I'm on the fence when it comes to affirmative action. In my heart I want to undo the years of disinterest and even abuse. I would do about anything to show my support for the disenfranchised. If that means purposely broadening searches to include women, as the Harmonium Choral Society does under the artistic direction of Anne Matlack, then I say "bravo." More of us should do that, but of course, that can't be mandated.
This will be the fifth year I am presenting a recital called "Honoring Women Composers" (see March 28th 4:00 for a list of the women being performed. Composer Sylvia Glickman will be our special guest). At least I call it what it is! In my small way I am trying to make it up to the women. I have a colleague I admire very much who actually told me she thought this fad of playing the music of women composers was over or over done (I can't remember which). What I never asked her (and should have) is if racial prejudice is over too? Have we overdone the Holocaust discussion? She had to admit that the piano four-hands music we performed together was exceedingly fine: a suite by Philadelphia composer Margaret Garwood (Hildegard Publishing).
How absurd to think women are incapable (or were incapable) of composing music as well as a man. Yet the recitals, concert halls, churches, and studios seem to prolong that misconception by omission.
You can help change this disparity. Look for the music written by women then and now, and at least try it. Buy some CDs; go on-line with a name and you will be surprised how many recordings are waiting for you.
If you want to perform something and need help, go to: http://www.hildegard.com, and Sylvia Glickman will be happy to assist and point you in a direction. Victoria Griswold at Plainfield Music (888-756-8745 or plfdmusic@aol.com) is a great re-source person. I have also listed the musicperformed for the "Honoring Women Composers" concerts over the last 5 years(over 30 different composers) on http://www.womencomposers.com/. Send me an email and I will be happy to tell you what I know. Women Composers' Day is far from over! In fact it is just beginning to grow.
Seeking expressive chastity
Dealing with economic realities
Sunday, February 29, 2004
By Paul M. SomersOpera at Florham. Bellini: Norma. Thomas Carlo Bo (conductor), Joanna Porackova (soprano, Norma), Nina Lorcini (mezzo-soprano, Adalgisa), Drew Allan Slatton (tenor, Pollione), Brian Jauhiainen (bass, Oroveso), Jeremy Blossey (tenor, Flavio), Kathleen Galloway (soprano, Clotilda), members of the Summit Chorale. Community Theatre, Morristown.
The money crunch was vividly in evidence: Opera at Florham, once an innovative force in staged opera, was now doing Norma in concert; the orchestra had but one rehearsal and too often sounded like it in spite of conductor Thomas Carlo Bo, who clearly knew the score inside-out, leading with clarity; and the musical obeisance to an inadequate star hinted that major dollars had been spent at the cost of artistry.
This was a performance which seemed to be all about letting the voices loose in a manner comedienne Anna Russell once described as "Anything you can sing, I can sing louder." It was not until the great soprano/mezzo duet of Act II that some kind of expressive subtlety finally emerged when Norma was on stage. While it was welcome and redeemed the artistic integrity of soprano Joanna Porackova to some extent, it did not make up for her opening signature aria "Casta diva" (Chaste goddess) in which the only thing which sounded chaste in its evanescent purity was flutist Laura George's elegant, even spiritual moon-lit solo. If only the soprano had taken a lesson from the quality of the introduction to her aria. But no, she belted it to the far reaches of the balcony (where we chose to sit) as if the Community Theatre had suddenly and inexplicably taken on the proportions of the Met. Perhaps taking her power down a notch would have enabled her to actually hit her high C.
This of course created a "trickle-down effect". Brian Jauhiainen as the priest Oroveso had sung the first scene at a sane level along with the fine chorus work of members of the Summit Chorale. One sensed the night, the nobility of the forest, and dark mystery of the Druidic rites in their combined scene. Indeed, Jauhiainen's expressive abilities proved all afternoon to be the artistic touchstone.
After this opening evocation, one felt justified in anticipating an afternoon of magic. But with the pernicious effect of over-singing intruding in scene ii, everyone else seemed to feel obliged to match Porackova. Poor Drew Slatton: as he engaged in the power contest, the tenor managed to match the soprano in also badly missing a high C.
It's difficult to resist the siren call of banging it out so you can be heard in the lobby. I remember well a friend of mine, a tenor doing *comprimario roles at the Met, who was singing one of the knights in Tannhäuser for the first time. "They were all pumping it out as loud as they could, so of course I did, too," was his delighted description. It was grand, it was macho, it was fun! In Tannhäuser it was musical as well, but in Norma? It may have been Wagner's favorite non-Wagner opera, but can he have allowed such muscle to prevail in the provincial houses in which he conducted, houses the size of Morristown's Community Theatre?
Even with the ethos of "loud" in place, mezzo soprano Nina Lorcini brought expressivity to her singing when alone on stage or with Slatton. Her *fioratura was well-controlled and her feel for the part evident. Slatton, who is an old hand at Pollione, sang with the passion he usually brings to his roles. His voice always sounds as if he is on the edge of blowing it out, but sources over the years have assured me that he is actually relaxed; it's just his distinctive voice quality that sounds so close to strain. It certainly makes for exciting singing, though it, too, lacked subtlety of expression when unconnected to acting. The comprimario roles of Flavio and Clotilda were ably sung by Jeremy Blossey and Kathleen Galloway respectively. Neither of them felt the need to participate in the volume contest going on around them.
But finally the opera got around to real artistry. Porackova quit pushing and at "Ah! perchè, perchè la mia constanza" began to make music. She tamed her tendency to misplace her voice and sing sharp. The subsequent duet now found Ms. Lorcini finally able to engage in meaningful ensemble.
Her need for stage direction became humorously evident in the final pages of the duet "Sì, fino all'ore" where as her pitches went up she went up with them on tiptoe and came down again as the melodic line sank.
The chorus, having fielded only eight male volunteers from the Summit Chorale (which, after all, had its own spring concert coming up the next weekend), fielded the right eight. They sang with solidity where the score calls for a stage full of warriors. And when the women joined in it registered as a highlight of the afternoon.
Much of the stage to audience left was provided as room for some acting, but little took place. Even with everyone off-book (Jauhiainen brought the score on for some parts late in Act II) there was little meaningful interaction. The men wore standard tuxes and the women dressed more distinctively: Norma wore subdued vine designs in elegant earth-tones. Adalgisa inexplicably wore bridal white, symbolizing what? Given the plot, surely not virginity! Nothing casta about either of these female lead roles.
Opera at Florham would perhaps do well to remember that it booked the likes of Mark Delavan when he was on his way to the top. The youthful Adalgisa and vigorous Oroveso and Pollione, when left to their own devices, far overshadowed in artistic vision the veteran Norma who seemed to be trying to prove something non-musical which got in the way of her musicality.
It must be noted that the audience cheered "Casta diva" and every other utterance. That adrenalin rush will get the hands clapping every time.