Tag Archives: strauss

Lieder Nachmittag

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Thursday’s RBA concert featured members of the Ensemble Studio singing German Lieder.  First up were tenor Angelo Moretti and pianist Kimly Wang with Beethoven’s An die ferne Geliebte.  Although this is probably the first true “song cycle” in German I feel it doesn’t get done nearly as often as the better known Schubert and Schumann cycles and it’s really pretty interesting.  I think it was also my first time hearing Angelo sing in German and he’s really very good.  This was a well articulated, rather beautifully sung set with equally skilled accompaniment. Continue reading →

Songs of Glass and Iron

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On Thursday evening soprano Reilly Nelson and composer/keyboardist Friedrich Kern presented an intriguing programme based around songs by Kurt Weill.  Songs were interleaved with composed passages for electronics based on glass harmonica and texts in English and German.  It was a “celebration” of impermanence and of the never quite dying hope that there is something more substantial out there somewhere.

The songs were a mix of the familiar; Youkali, Surabaya Johnny, and the less familiar; Und was bekam des Soldaten Weib? and Ballade vom ertrunkenen Mädchen, for example.  All of it was sung in the original language (French or German) with keyboard accompaniment and Reilly made no attempt to make it lovely.  This was Weill at his cabaret rawest which is just the way I like it; gritty not pretty  Crooned, bowdlerized English translations be damned! Continue reading →

Lise Davidsen at the Met

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Soprano Lise Davidsen recently gave a recital at the Metropolitan Opera with pianist James Baillieu.  The live recording of that gig is now being released by Decca in various formats.  My gut reaction was to think that a piano recital at the Met is not such a great idea but the recording turns out to be terrific.

It starts out with a couple of opera arias,  There’s a powerful but very beautiful account of “Vissi d’arte” and a very stylish account of “Morrò, ma prima in grazia” from Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera.  In this one she shows some interesting colours as well as terrific, clean, high notes. Continue reading →

Ensemble Studio do the standards

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Last Tuesdays’s concert in the RBA featured four singers and two pianists from the Ensemble Studio in a concert of highly recognisable opera arias.  I guess with Barber of Seville and Rigoletto coming p on the FSC stage that was a bit inevitable.  It was though very well done with all four singers not only singing well but really conveying a sense of character.

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What one calls a happy marriage

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Richard Strauss’ Intermezzo is a very strange semi-autobiographical piece apparently dealing with the married life of Richard and Pauline Strauss thinly disguised as Court Composer Robert Storch and his wife Christine.  What is really a bit weird is how these two characters are presented.  Herr Storch is a bit stuffy and self absorbed but Frau Storch is just awful.  She is rude to everyone, especially her long suffering maid and other servants, and she overreacts bizarrely to just about everything.  She’s spoiled, self-centred, vain and generally a giant PitA.

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Neujahrs in Vienna… in Toronto… in July

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The last Koerner Hall concert of this year’s Toronto Summer Music riffed off the Vienna Phil’s traditional New Year extravaganza with lots of Johann Strauss waltzes and the cheesiest fake Magyar (mezzo) soprano arias from operetta.  I was skeptical when I first saw the programme but it turned out to be extremely enjoyable; partly on account of excellent musicianship and partly because everyone involved was having so much fun.

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Munich’s “new” Fledermaus

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For many years Bavarian State Opera used a production of Johann Strauss’ Die Fledermaus that was created by Otto Schenk and Carlos Kleiber back in the 1980s.  It was replaced in 2023 with a new production by Barrie Kosky and Vladiimir Jurowski which was issued on video.

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Seven Veils theatrical release

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Atom Egoyan’s 2023 film Seven Veils filmed at the Canadian Opera Company and featuring members of the cast of that season’s run of Strauss’ Salome is getting  a theatrical release on March 7th.  I can’t find exact details on whe and where it’s showing but at least some Cineplex and Landmark cinemas will have it.  I saw it pre-pre-release at the Four Seasons Centre in September 2023.  My thoughts are here.

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