Reviews of Performances and their Audiences
* Notes *
Trio Mediæval had a concert last Sunday at Herbst Theatre. The singing certainly had a hypnotic quality, and the singers’ voices sounded perfectly beautiful together. Some of the percussion from Birger Mistereggen was silly, though I very much liked the use of hand chimes.
* Tattling *
The audience was well-behaved. There was some pronounced yawning, but this was only a minor distraction.
David Gockley reiterated his statement from last Sunday's Bohème, that though productions might cut or would be less elaborate, San Francisco Opera would never compromise on vocal quality, despite a downturn in the economy. He also gave hints on San Francisco Opera's latest commissions, the topics include heroism and 9/11, Mary Magdalene, and Hurricane Katrina.
The Opera Tattler was quite shocked to see how poorly behaved certain audience members were at the Bregenzer Festspiele in the latest James Bond movie.
* Notes *
Michael Tilson Thomas conducted San Francisco Symphony in a program of Haydn, Barber, and Beethoven last week. The Haydn was Symphony No. 60 in C major, Il distratto, which was sprightly and perfectly cute. This made for a nice contrast with Barber's Knoxville: Summer of 1915, which is a bit moodier. The soloist, soprano Erin Wall, produced a lovely pure-toned sound.
I have never been mad about the Beethoven at hand, his Symphony No. 6 in F Major, known as Pastoral. It is a descriptive work on nature, and this of course bring to mind the bovine, at least for me. However, all these silly thoughts fell away as I listened to San Francisco Symphony play. The singing, limpid sound of the strings was particularly beautiful, and the brass and woodwinds all sounded very clean as well.
* Tattling *
The audience talked a bit during all the pieces, but fairly quietly.
Stéphane Lissner has extended his contract at La Scala through 2013.
* Notes *
La Bohème opened yesterday afternoon at San Francisco Opera with incoming music director Nicola Luisotti conducting. His tempi were quite elastic, though even when he drew out parts, they did not sound sluggish in the least. The singing was all fine, even wobbly Norah Ansellem (Musetta) managed to be convincing, though her high notes were not pretty. Oren Gradus sang Colline's "Vecchia zimarra" beautifully. Quinn Kelsey did well as Marcello, his warm tones were lovely, though his voice was noticeably louder than the others. Piotr Beczala's Rodolfo sounded vulnerable, particularly in "Che gelida manina." I found the big star of the performance, Angela Gheorghiu, a bit difficult to hear over the orchestra at times. When audible, her voice can be sublime, and she does sound better in this than in La Rondine last season.
I did not actually watch this first performance, so I have little to say about the production. The set and costumes are standard fare for Bohème, everything looks as one would expect.
* Tattling *
It has been a long time since an opera performance was ruined for me, and given that I go so often, it was bound to happen. Everything was going well in balcony standing room for the first 2 hours and 40 minutes, no latecomers tried to speak to me, no one's cellular phones or watch alarms could be heard, and so forth. Then in the last five minutes, two middle aged men started talking aloud right next to me. One had complained of feeling faint, and so, like me, was sitting in the back. His friend apparently had grown tired of standing room as well, and they could not be quiet, they even giggled as Mimi died. Usually when the last notes of the piece ring out, I feel like I have been kicked in the stomach, and some part of my brain is highly annoyed at Puccini for being so manipulative. This time though, these couple of cretins managed to destroy that effect. Even the sing-along woman at SF Lyric was not able to do that!
Composer Conrad Susa gave an amusing talk entitled "In Wagner’s Musical Forge: Das Rheingold" on Saturday afternoon. The focus was very much on the music itself, as evidenced by the beginning of the score taped to the wall. Susa played recordings of Bach's F Major Toccata and Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major, and demonstrated how Wagner stole from these composers. He also extolled the virtues of Pythagoras, having proved music mathematically and elevating music to a sublime and divine art. Entertainingly enough, Susa called atonal music inhuman and political.
David Gockley confirmed that Peter Grimes, which was to be part of the 2009-2010 season at San Francisco Opera, is likely to be one of the casualties of the economic downturn, just as La Cieca reported yesterday. Gockley also promised to add "no sniffling" to the list of admonitions printed in the program.
In related news, the cast for this season's Porgy and Bess has been finally announced, at least, officially. The cast includes Eric Owens (Porgy), Laquita Mitchell (Bess), Gregg Baker (Crown), Karen Slack (Serena), Chauncey Parker (Sportin' Life), Angel Blue (Clara), Eric Greene (Jake), and Alteouise deVaughn (Maria).
* Notes *
The latest revival of La Bohème at San Francisco Opera may be very good indeed, if the final dress rehearsal was any indication. Though I am not crazy about La Gheorghiu, all the signs are good, she may well look and sound completely convincing as Mimi by the opening on Sunday. The rest of the cast is strong, so I actually do look forward to the upcoming performances.
* Tattling *
The audience in the Grand Tier was quite enthused. I especially enjoyed overhearing that Gheorghiu is "like a cross between one of the muppets and Judy Garland."
Nicola Luisotti had a white sweater draped dashingly over a navy blue shirt that he removed each time he was to actually conduct. It was difficult not to giggle at this.
The Met has canceled The Ghosts of Versailles next season and will have La Traviata instead.
The Opera Tattler 
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