Tag Archives: haydn

Haydn’s Orfeo at the MacMillan Theatre

Posted on by
Reply

orfeoposterLast night saw the first of two performances of Haydn’s rarely performed 1791 work Orfeo: L’anima del filosofo.  I know how much effort and indeed passion went into creating this production and the singing is pretty good.  I wish I could say I enjoyed it but I can’t.  There were just too many issues.

Let’s start with the opera itself.  Maybe it was never completely finished as it was shut down by the authorities during rehearsals in London.  Maybe that’s why it feels horribly unbalanced.  The first half (two acts) tell us of Eurydice being betrothed, against her will, to her father, King Creonte’s, rival Arideo.  She runs off into the forest where she is about to be devoured by beasts when the news is brought to Orfeo who then sings at length before “rushing” off to rescue Euridice.

Continue reading →

Heretic Threads

Posted on by
Reply

Heretic Threads (Cover)I’ve been listening to an intriguing new album.  It’s called Heretic Threads and it contains a most unusual treatment of three keyboard works by Haydn.  The three works are:

  • Sonata in F Major for fortepiano Hob XVI 23
  • Sonata in E Minor for fortepiano Hob XVI 34
  • Fantasia in C Major Hob XVI 4

The treatment is that each is first played on fortepiano by Boyd McDonald.  Then there’s a version for accordion by Joseph Petric.  Finally composer and recording engineer Peter Lutek has created an electronic piece by sampling and processing excerpts from the fortepiano and accordion versions.

Continue reading →

Jessye Norman – The Unreleased Masters

Posted on by
Reply

jessyenormanunreleasedDecca have just released a 3CD set of previously unreleased recordings made by the late Jessye Norman between 1989 and 1998 with various orchestras and conductors.

The first is a series of extracts from Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde recorded in Leipzig in 1998 with Kurt Masur conducting the Gewandhaus Orchestra.  Besides the Prelude there’s most of the Isolde/Brangäne scenes from Act 1 (Hannah Schwarz is Brangäne).  Then comes the huge Act 2, Scene 2 duet; “Isolde! Geliebte! – Tristan! Geliebte!” etc, with Thomas Moser as Tristan, and finally, and inevitably, the “Liebestod”.  It all sounds really good with the duet properly ecstatic and the “Liebestod” very moving.  It’s a studio recording made in many takes so that challenging final scene doesn’t have to be sung after many hours on stage which no doubt contributes but it’s all very fine and a good record of Jessye in the role.

Continue reading →

Haydn’s Orfeo

Posted on by
Reply

Orfeo (_icon)On May 26th and 27th in the MacMillan Theatre there’s a chance to see Haydn’s rarely performed Orfeo: L’anima del filosofo. It was composed for London in 1791 but was shut down during rehearsals because the Lord Chamberlain’s office thought it subversively supportive of enlightenment values at a time when Pitt’s government was cracking down brutally on pro French Revolutionary sentiment in the UK.

It finally made it to the stage in 1951 in Florence with Maria Callas as Euridice.  It’s had a few runs in Europe since, including Cecilia Bartoli’s Covent Garden debut, but can scarcely be called a “staple of the repertoire”.  Now it’s being given its North American  premiere by a collaboration between the music schools at University of Toronto and McGill University led by Dr. Caryl Clarke. Continue reading →

Hannigan and Storgårds

Posted on by
1

The TSO’s opening concert of the season at Roy Thomson Hall was quite boldly conceived.  Basically hand the evening over to the powerhouse duo of soprano/conductor Barbara Hannigan and violinist/conductor John Storgårds and see what they come up with.  It was an excitingly eclectic programme which produced some great performances but a sadly disappointing turn out.

hanniganstorgards1

Continue reading →

From another planet

Posted on by
Reply

Yesterday lunchtime in the RBA soprano Lauren Eberwein and the Rosebud String Quartet (Sheila Jaffé, Aaron Schwebel, Keith Hamm and Rachel Desoer) entertained us with a program of Haydn and Schoenberg.  First up was an arrangement of Haydn’s Arianna a Naxos.  We got the recitative, Teseo mio ben, and the two arias, Dove sei and Ah! che morir vorrei.  It’s basically a cantata with tessitura that sits very nicely for Lauren’s voice.  It was an elegant performance all round with some passion in the concluding aria.  And it’s always good to hear a Haydn vocal work.

laurenrosebuds.jpg

Continue reading →

St. Lawrence String Quartet

Posted on by
Reply

The St. Lawrence String Quartet opened this year’s Toronto Summer Music Festival with a really interesting programme.  They kicked off with the Haydn String Quartet No. 25 in C Major.  This very much belied the idea that Haydn is a skilful but not especially inventive composer.  It’s full of invention; especially rhythmic and really suited the intensely physical style of the St. Lawrences; especially the hyperkinetic first violin, Geoff Nuttall, who also contributed a rather extraordinary pair of socks to the evening’s festivities.  Watching, too, is a different experience from listening and here pointed up the extent to which chamber music like this is a conversation between the players rather than a regimented or choreographed thing.

SLSQ_Dalby_LMascaro

Continue reading →

The week in prospect

Posted on by
Reply

Tomorrow (Sunday) is a busy day.  There’s a matinée of Götterdämmerung at the COC with a few tickets still available.  UoT Opera is doing their annual student composer piece.  This year it’s called Prima Zombie and it’s based on the premise that a cabal of disgruntled music critics, disenchanted with the current state of opera, unearth and electrify the corpse of the celebrated 19th century diva Nellie Melba.  Mayhem ensues.  This one is in the MacMillan Theatre at 2.30 pm and it’s free.

3e4a80caf6

Continue reading →

Voicebox: Opera in Concert 2016/17

Posted on by
Reply

engraving_for_the_opera_l_isola_disabitata_by_goldoni_and_scarlatti_1753VOICEBOX:Opera in Concert has announced details of their upcoming season.  There are four shows:

  • October 30th sees Shakespeare 400, featuring music using and inspired by Shakespeare’s texts.  Solists are Michael Nyby, Holly Chaplin, Gena van Oosten, Diego Catalá, Stephanie Kallay, Anthony Rodrigues and Mikhail Shemet witrh pianist Narmina Afandiyeva and chorus.
  • On November 20th it’s more bard (sort of) with Bellini’s I Capulet e i Montecchi.  Anita Krause sings Romeo, Caitlin Wood is Juliet and Tonatiuh Abrego plays Tybalt with Raisa Nakhmanovich at the piano.
  • Onto the new year and it’s Haydn’s L’isola disabitata on February 5th.  This, for me, is the one to go for.  Haydn’s operas are greatly underrated and this is the piece that gets Kevin Mallon and the Aradias in the pit rather than just piano.  The cast includes Valérie Bélanger, Marjorie Maltais and Alexander Dobson.
  • The season finishes up with Mussorgsky’s epic Khovanshchina, presumably in much reduced form.  Voicebox:OIC Sunday afternoons rarely run much over two hours and Khovanshchina is well over three.  The soloists include Emilia Boteva, Andrey Andreychik and Dion Mazerolle with Narmina Afandiyeva at the piano.

All performances are at 2.30pm in the St. Lawrence Centre’s Jane Mallett Theatre.

Some announcements

Posted on by
Reply

pearleharbourFor those of you who were wondering “whatever happened to Opera 5?” they are back, and with some pizzazz (and possibly some pizza).  Their upcoming show is an “immersive” version of the Johann Strauss classic Die Fledermaus.  In act 2 patrons will be encouraged to interact; to dance with the cast, gamble at the tables, snort coke with Prince Orlofsky (ok I made that up) etc.  The cast includes Michael Barrett, Rachel Krehm, Julie Ludwig and Erin Lawson with drag queen Pearle Harbour as Ivan and emceeing.  Aria Umezawa and Jessica Derventzis direct with Patrick Hansen conducting.  It plays at 8pm on June 8th to 11th at 918 Bathurst Street.  Tickets at www.opera5.ca.

Continue reading →