Philippe Sly and Julius Drake at Walter Hall

Posted on July 24, 2013 by operaramblings

Up and coming Canadian bass-baritone Philippe Sly was joined last night by veteran collaborative pianist Julius Drake for a program of chansons and lieder at Walter Hall. The 490 seat hall was almost full which is rather nice to see for a song recital in Toronto. The first half was devoted to chansons by Duparc, Ropartz and Ravel. I was struck by the restraint of Sly’s singing. It was conversational and not operatic at all but very expressive. I think that takes a lot of guts in a young singer. He let the words and music do the talking and didn’t exaggerate. This was perhaps best shown in the drinking song from the Don Quichotte songs of Ravel. He was very funny but sounded like a drunk, not somebody overacting the idea of a drunk. Continue reading →

Paramore revisited

Posted on July 24, 2013 by operaramblings

Great though my admiration for Benjamin Britten’s music is I wouldn’t consider him a creator of memorable female characters. There’s Ellen Orford, of course, but one struggles to find a Tosca, Lucia or Violetta in his oeuvre. I open with this because what struck me watching the 2001 Channel 4 film of Owen Wingrave for a second time was how generally unsympathetic the female characters are. This is an opera with a female librettist (Myfanwy Piper) and the film has a female director (Margaret Williams) yet, with the exception of the fairly ineffectual Mrs. Coyle, the female characters embody an unthinking militarism and behave with extreme malevolence towards Wingrave; none more so than his “girlfriend” Kate. The filming reinforces this with close up scenes of groups of the women spitting venom at young Wingrave.

Continue reading →

Theodora redux

Posted on July 21, 2013 by operaramblings

Peter Sellars’ 1996 Glyndebourne production of Handel’s Theodora just gets better with every viewing. I utterly retract my original view that the music isn’t Handel at his finest. It’s very good indeed and the production and performances on this disk are fantastic. Despite not being the best recording ever (though the recent Blu-ray release is an improvement) it remains a “must see” for any fan of Baroque opera or challenging music theatre.

What makes it so compelling? I think it’s two factors. The first is the production. The contemporary American setting works with very little violence to the libretto or music and yet speaks directly to very contemporary concerns. It’s particularly effective that current reality is inverted with respect to mainstream Christianity. Added to this are some extraordinarily intense performances led by the late Lorraine Hunt as Irene, the leader of the Christians. “As with rosy steps the morn” and “Lord to thee, each night and day” bring me out in goosebumps every time. The chemistry between David Daniels and Richard Croft is also palpable and Dawn Upshaw could hardly be bettered in the title role. Even Christine Schäfer in the only competing recording doesn’t come close.

One of the notes I made while watching this the other night reads “anybody not moved by this is an emotional cripple”. It’s a fair summary.

Summer second thoughts

Posted on July 20, 2013 by operaramblings

The heat and humidity of a Toronto summer aren’t especially conducive to dealing with most of what’s in my DVD review pile right now (Wagner chiefly!) and the live music pickings are slim as, Toronto Summer Music Festival aside, music has departed for the land of moose and loon. I thought, therefore, that I might take another look at some old favourites and see how they shape up to a second look. I thought I’d focus on works where I have seen many subsequent productions or, perhaps, on works once seen only on DVD but which I had more recently been able to see live.

Continue reading →

Gryphon Trio with Robert Pomakov

Posted on July 19, 2013 by operaramblings

Back to Koerner Hall last night for a concert of chamber music and art song. Anchoring the show were the Gryphon Trio. They kicked off with the Debussy Piano Trio in G Major. This was an enjoyable and compact piece with a very playful second movement. Then came what was, for me, the main reason for going, Mussorgsky’s Songs and Dances of Death. For this the Gryphons were joined by Toronto bass Robert Pomakov. He was excellent. Obviously completely at home singing in Russian he produced a nuanced reading of text and music. His acting with the voice was exemplary and no extraneous physical acting was required. His control of dynamics was exemplary. He has a really big voice which he deployed as appropriate but he was also capable of floating a lovely pianissimo. Accompaniment from the Gryphons was also well up to par. There are some interesting instrumental lines including making the cello go about as low as a cello can to match the bass voice. Continue reading →

Reblog

Posted on July 18, 2013 by operaramblings

John Terauds is promoting what sounds like a really worthwhile event; a “pop up concert” for Toronto Composer Nic Gotham. You can find John’s post here.

Toronto Summer Music Festival kicks off

Posted on July 17, 2013 by operaramblings

Last night saw the first concert of the Toronto Summer Music festival which runs at a variety of venues until August 3rd. The theme for the festival is Paris La Belle Époque and this was reflected in last night’s opening concert being given by the distinguished French trio Trio Pennetier Pasquier Pidoux. One might question though to what extent works written in 1914 and 1923 can be said to belong to the themed era. It didn’t seem to bother a packed Koerner Hall. The reception to all three pieces given was raucous.

Trio Pennetier Pasquier Pidoux (From left to right:
Roland Pidoux, cello; Régis Pasquier, violin; and Jean-Claude
Photo credit: Guy Vivien

Continue reading →

Watery Kat’a Kabanová

Posted on July 14, 2013 by operaramblings

Robert Carsen’s producton of Janáček’s Kat’a Kabanová is typically simple and elegant. Recorded at the teatro Real in Madrid it features a flooded stage with a large number of wooden pieces, like palettes, that are rearranged to form the set. At the beginning of Act 1 the pieces form a pathway through the water simulating the banks of the Volga. Later they are rearranged int a square at centre stage to represent the claustrophobic Kabanov house. All this rearrangement is done by the ladies of the chorus who roll around in the water in white shifts. No breaks are needed between scenes, just the intermezzi the composer provided for the purpose. A mirror at the back of the stage reflecting the water and an elegant and effective lighting plot complete the staging.

Continue reading →

On to Toronto

Posted on July 12, 2013 by operaramblings

The Tcherniakov Don Giovanni that I just finished watching on Blu-ray is a Canadian Opera Company co-production so, sooner or later, it should end up in Toronto. That will be interesting. There’s a very conservative streak in the Toronto audience and, especially, among the critics for the major newspapers. These are people who are disturbed by Robert Carsen and go apopleptic over Chris Alden. It will be most interesting to see what the reaction is to something like Tcherniakov’s interpretation, even though it’s not that radical by European standards.

Continue reading →

Happy families

Posted on July 12, 2013 by operaramblings

Dmitri Tcherniakov’s Don Giovanni recorded at the 2010 Aix-en-Provence festival is full on Regie. He takes the characters and story of Mozart/DaPonte and recasts them quite radically. Zerlina is Donna Anna’s daughter. Donna Elvira, Donna Anna’s cousin, is married to Don Giovanni. Leporello is a family member too. The sense is of one extended, conventional, bourgeois family in which Don Giovanni is a fatally disruptive intrusion. Tcherniakov changes the time line too. Instead of taking place over a 24 hour period the story plays out over many weeks.

Continue reading →