Reviews of Performances and their Audiences
Salvatore Licitra has canceled his January 10th concert in Berkeley. The performance was to be a joint presentation between Cal Performances and San Francisco Opera. Apparently, Licitra has been having back trouble.
Press Release [PDF] | Official Site
* Notes *
Los Angeles Opera is midway through a revival of Carmen from Teatro Real. Emilio Sagi's production is a bit avant garde, the set is traditional looking enough, and the costumes have a traditional feel with a few rough edges. The ending has been fiddled with, such that Carmen somehow takes a more active role in her own demise. This was interesting, but one is not altogether sure it works.
The dancers were required to make percussive sounds with their hands and feet, sometimes this was good, and other times they were entirely off. Likewise, the conducting was erratic, Emmanuel Villaume did not have command of the orchestra, they were often not together or with the singers.
Raymond Aceto did not look dashing as Escamillo until the last act, though vocally he was fine. Genia Kühmeier (Micaëla) was wonderful, she did start off a bit breathy, but her voice is sweet and clear. The strongest performance was from Marcus Haddock as Don José, his volume was good, and he sang with fire. His "La fleur que tu m'avais jetée" went particularly well. Viktoria Vizin looked beautiful in the title role, her throaty, dark tones were not unpleasant, but she just did not seem fully engaged. Her hip movements were quite good, but her castanet playing left something to be desired.
* Tattling *
The audience was talkative, as the Sunday matinée audience often is. They applauded for the set more than once.
* Notes *
James Gaffigan conducted San Francisco Symphony in a program of Russian music last weekend. The evening began with Tchaikovsky, first his Voyevoda, which was rather incidental, but played well, and then his Violin Concerto. The soloist in the latter was the famed Hilary Hahn, and she could be both ferociously aggressive and delicately restrained as the music dictated. Her style was not as lush as it could have been for Romantic music, but her technique was flawless.
After the intermission came Glinka's Kamarinskaya, a perfectly delightful piece. The concert ended with Shostakovich's rather bombastic Symphony No. 1 in F minor, Op. 10. Both were played with little subtlety, but much vigor.
* Tattling *
People spoke during the music as usual. I was told that people were ill-behaved during the Violin Concerto, phone usage was mentioned, and the audience applauded once between movements.
It was an amusing evening, as evidenced here at sfmike's Civic Center.
Gerard Mortier is to be the next artistic director of Teatro Real in Madrid.
* Notes *
Pianist Sarah Cahill gave a presentation on her project entitled A Sweeter Music at Mills College last night. The name comes from Martin Luther King, Jr.'s quote "We must see that peace represents a sweeter music, a cosmic melody that is far superior to the discords of war." 18 composers are participating, writing pieces about peace or war, and the premiere will be in January at Hertz Hall on the UC Berkeley campus.
Cahill played excerpts from the work, including pieces by Peter Garland, Terry Riley, Preben Antonsen, Pauline Oliveros, and The Residents. I was quite partial to Oliveros' "New Indigo Piece," as it was a sing-along, and on the whole, the project seems promising. The only aspect that may be problematic is the John Sanborn's video art that is to be played with the music, as it is a tricky business to synchronize everything.
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The audience was quiet and very respectful. Preben Antonsen was recruited to turn pages during Terry Riley's "Be Kind to One Another."
Tenor Joseph Calleja is not making his debut at San Francisco Opera after all. He has withdrawn from the three performances as Rodolfo in La Bohème he was scheduled for due to illness. He will be replaced by Marius Brenciu, who will be having his US debut with the performance on November 29.
Press Release [PDF] | Official Site
* Notes *
Hauschka played a prepared piano concert with members of The Magik*Magik Orchestra last night at the Hotel Utah. The sounds produced by prepared piano can be rather harpsichord-like, which has a certain appeal. The accompaniment of two celli, two violins, and two oboes was also pleasing, the playing was strong, particularly on the part of cellist Lucas Chen. Hilary Hahn, who is in town for the Tchaikovsky concerts this week at SF Symphony, was the guest star of the evening. She played with Hauschka and The Magik*Magik Orchestra for one piece, but also played with Tom Brosseau earlier in the evening. Naturally they did have Ms. Hahn play a bit on her own as well, and she played Schubert's Erlkönig transcribed for solo violin by Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst and a movement from a Eugène Ysaÿe piece. Hahn played Erlkönig with utter ferocity, and at one point near the end she stopped, said "That is not how it ends," and continued to play.
The evening began with Gloria Justen playing three pieces she had written for solo violin. Her "Mothdance" sounded very much like one would expect, quite descriptive. Ross Edwards' Ecstatic Dances written for two flutes was played by oboists instead, and also had an insectile feel. Terry Riley's lush "Francesco en Paraiso" from Cantos Desiertos was played beautifully by guitar and flute.
* Tattling *
The audience was quiet and attentive. There was some slight noise from the bar. There were no set intermissions and the sold-out show started late, so people would leave and return during the music. I was particularly distracted by a photographer who pushed his way past me during Hilary Hahn's second appearance on stage.
* Notes *
Director Robert Lepage's production La Damnation de Faust was shown as a simulcast over the weekend. His Met debut certainly had the marks of a production from that company. Carl Fillion's set was not entirely unlike the one for Doctor Atomic from a few weeks ago, both being vertical and grid-like. Both also made use of projections, though the ones here were more elaborate, reactions to the performers themselves.
Lepage did serve up one arresting image after another, and one must say that choreographers Johanne Madore and Alain Gauthier did especially fine work. However, at times it did seem like overkill for a piece that is most often performed unstaged. Going wild with video projections, dancing, and acrobatics was dizzying, though it translated well cinematically. The cameras moved quite a bit, but it seems that Barbara Willis Sweete is being less creative with her work, there were no moving or doubled images as in Tristan. It is, however, difficult to judge the overall impact of a production when there are so many closeups.
The musical values were exceedingly high, as usual, and conductor James Levine was impressive. Bass-baritone John Relyea had suitable eyebrow makeup for Méphistophélès, and he sang with great vigor. Marcello Giordani had not a trace of warmth in his voice, but sang perfectly well. Susan Graham was, however, sublime as Marguerite. Her "Autrefois un roi de Thulé" was lovely.
* Tattling *
Both sound and picture briefly stopped twice at the beginning of "D'amour l'ardente flamme" at the beginning of Part IV. The audience whispered a bit during the music, and there was much coughing. The cinemacast was supposedly sold-out in San Francisco, though there were quite a few seats that were empty in the first few rows.
* Notes *
Michael Tilson Thomas and San Francisco Symphony continued their Mahler recording project with Mahler's Symphony No. 8 in E-flat major, the so-called Symphony of a Thousand. The work struck me as a bit strange, the first part being in Latin and rather religious in feel, whereas the second part is in German, and more like an unstaged opera or an oratorio. Overall the work seemed both impenetrable and architectural to me, especially the Latin bit, which I had more difficulty understanding.
The soloists were wonderful, though I was particularly fond of baritone Quinn Kelsey, soprano Erin Wall, and most especially of soprano Elza van den Heever. These three were best at cutting through the immensity of the orchestration and the three choruses. Kelsey's voice is perfectly warm and velvety, and Erin Wall's was rather the opposite, icy, but lovely. Van den Heever's voice sounded as gorgeous as ever, full, lovely, yet not at all cloying.
* Tattling *
Despite all the microphones and admonitions, a few people still whispered during the sold-out performance on Friday. The noise levels were much more reduced than usual, though the person to my left did hum along a few times.
Both Elza and Erin were crying by the end of the performance.
* Notes *
Paul Haas conducted Berkeley Symphony in a program of Penman, Barber, and Tchaikovsky last Thursday at Zellerbach Hall. The California premiere of Songs the Plants Taught Us by Joshua Penman was apropos for Berkeley, though it did veer into kitsch at times. The soloist for Barber's Violin Concerto, Op. 14, Danielle Belen Nesmith, was expressive and athletic.
The timing was off at times during Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36. The slow parts felt slack, though the pizzicato in the third movement Scherzo was quite violent. The piece ended well, certainly with fire.
* Tattling *
People whispered during the music, yet gave a standing ovation to the performance.
The Opera Tattler 
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