The Opera Tattler

Reviews of Performances and their Audiences

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Category: Concert Review

  • Michelle DeYoung and MTT at SFS

    * Notes * San Francisco Symphony's Schubert/Berg Festival, entitled Dawn to Twilight, began yesterday evening with a performance of the Schubert's Rosamunde Overture. The playing was sloppy, and the entrance of the winds was rather poor. The brass sounded brash, as usual. Things picked up with Berg's Sieben frühe Lieder, as the soloist, mezzo-soprano Michelle…

  • Labadie Conducts Händel at SFS

    * Notes * In his second week of performances with San Francisco Symphony, Bernard Labadie conducts an all-Händel program. The Thursday performance in San Francisco started quite impressively with Zadok the Priest. The piece ranged from beautifully stately to entertainingly bombastic. The trumpets were very fastidious, and the chorus perfectly lucid. My heart is inditing lacked the immediacy of the…

  • Fates of Flesh and Stone

    * Notes * A performance of recent songs by Jake Heggie closed Music at Meyer's 2009 Season on Monday. Emily Albrink began the evening by singing Rise and Fall, four songs set to texts by Gene Scheer, accompanied by Heggie himself on piano. Albrink's soprano is cold and bell-like, she was particularly good in the last…

  • Labadie Conducts SFS

    * Notes * This week Bernard Labadie conducts San Francisco Symphony in a program of Haydn and Mozart. The Friday performance in San Francisco began with Haydn's Sinfonia concertante in B-flat major. The strings sounded precise and the brass clear, the overall effect was refined but jaunty. Dan Nobuhiko Smiley (violin), Peter Wyrick (cello), Jonathan Fischer…

  • Colin Davis at BSO

    * Notes * Boston Symphony Orchestra's season ends this week with a program of Mozart and Berlioz conducted by Sir Colin Davis. The Friday matinee performance was packed, and rightfully so. The crisp, stately sound of the orchestra was a contrast with pianist Imogen Cooper's lusher tones. Ms. Cooper used a fair amount of pedal, especially…

  • Athalia at PBO

    * Notes * Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra just finished a run of Händel's Athalia. The orchestra has a fastidious, jaunty sound, and Nicholas McGegan is always consistent. None of the singers were outstanding. Marnie Breckenridge as Josabeth had too much vibrato, and though it was clear her voice could be beautiful in some repertoire, it was not…

  • Andreas Scholl at Zellerbach

    * Notes * The Australian Chamber Orchestra played at Zellerbach Hall this afternoon in Berkeley. Lead by the disarming violinist Richard Tognetti, the orchestra navigated the rather disparate program very well. The energy of Haydn's Symphony No. 44 was strong, the piece was grave and even strident. This was followed by the violently lush Footwork by…

  • Emerson String Quartet

    * Notes * Since Angelika Kirchschlager canceled her Berkeley recital for yesterday afternoon, I stayed in San Francisco and heard an evening performance of the Emerson String Quartet instead. They began with a spirited rendition of Mozart's Quartet in B-flat Major, K. 589, the playing was sumptuous without being too showy. In contrast, Beethoven that came next, Quartet in…

  • Salonen conducts Beethoven’s 5th

    * Notes * Esa-Pekka Salonen is currently conducting LA Phil in a program which includes his own Violin Concerto, Ligeti’s Clocks and Clouds, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5. Today’s 11am performance was quite packed, since it is a part of a three-week celebration that marks the end of Salonen’s tenure as Music Director of the…

  • Cantori Domino: Matthäuspassion

    * Notes * Cantori Domino gave a performance of the Passion According to St. Matthew last Sunday in Santa Monica. Though the musicians and singers were not entirely together under the direction of Maurita Phillips-Thornburgh, the overall effect was good, as the music is so incredible. Indeed, many of the soloists, whether they were violinists…