I was lucky with my visit to my hometown in that the weather was great, and one only needed a top coat and hat, but no gloves. Being use to the mild winter climate of South Carolina, it felt about the same. Kansas City, Missouri, Kansas City, Kansas, Overland Park, Kansas and North Kansas City, Missouri all run together to form a huge metro area. The state line between Missouri and Kansas is a street that runs down the middle of a huge residential area, so you really hardly notice what state you are in. But that doesn't mean Kansas people consider themselves from Kansas City, Missouri, and vice-versa. The distictions are there, and can be very subtle or very overt. When it comes to sports and the arts, its really a metro area experience. All the big concerts are in downtown Kansas City, Missouri.Kansas City Mo. has long been a mecca for touring groups. When I was growing up there in the 1950's there were several big arts series, and in a season it was not unusual to hear five or six of the greatest pianists, either in solo recitals, or with the Kansas City Symphony. It was a great theater town as well, as being half way between New York City and Los Angeles/San Francisco, we usually were the second stop for road companies coming out of New York. I saw many musicals with top casts, including "South Pacific", "Kiss Me, Kate", "Oklahoma", "Carousel", "Annie Get Your Gun" and "Brigadoon". I remember some of the stars, including Mary Martin, Alfred Drake, Janet Blair, Pamela Britton, Jean Arthur....all top flight productions.
With this in mind it was fun to hear Joyce DiDonato give a hometown concert at the Folly Theater in downtown Kansas City. On tour with her Handel program entitled "Furore" along with a wonderful baroque orchestra from Paris.."Les Talents Lyriques". Singing all Mad Scenes from operas by Handel (known and unknown) she gave a virtuoso performance that left a home town audience enthralled. Obviously, she is the darling of Kanss City. Two nights later she repeated the performance at Zankel Hall in Carnegie Hall, and then managed to return two days later to Carnegie and sing Mozart with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra with conductor James Levine. She is a pro in every sense of the word, and to see her reach the top has been a wonderful experience.
Kansas City is booming, and the old warehouse district behind the glorious Union Station is the scene or a renovation marathon. I visited Lidia's wonderful Italian restaurant and had a wonderful meal, had lunch at the old Walker School, a turn of the century treasure filled with superb architectural features, and then toured Quality Hill, the oldest downtown neighborhood, with its grand vista looking over the Kansas and Missouri Rivers.
Overland Park, Kansas has new neighborhoods of luxury homes that go on for miles. Everything reminds me of the Prarie Style, so beloved in the area. Shopping is great, and restaurants in endless supply. But I miss the "Mix" of my semi-rural area where millionaires rub shoulders with everyday folks like me.
Returning home I realized I have a free calendar for most of the Spring. There is something to be said about grouping my concerts and events into a special period of time. But several students are currently coaching with me, and I have my "Eroica" project to finish. This summer I will teach at the Southeastern Young Artist Festival here in Columbia...more about this later... and spend time in London, to hear a special concert in memory of a longtime friend. More about all this soon.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Music Highlights for 2008...
Its that time of year when everyone seems to have a list of something to display. Here's mine fot the past musical year....in the USA and Europe.
1. Joyce DiDonato at Rose Hall, Lincoln Center
This was my first chance to hear this amazing American mezzo-soprano live.
This is a stunning voice..supple,beautiful mid-range, and glorious top...one almost feels she is a lyric soprano at times. But the darker side of her voice keeps her firmly in the mezzo range, even if it is hard to believe the bravura that she dispatches coloratura passages in Rossini. Her Rosina in "The Barber of Seville" is unsurpassed today, and her Octavian in "Der Rosenkavalier" is no less exciting. On the Web I also heard a superb Donna Elvira from "Don Giovanni" at Covent Garden. Her career is based more in Europe than America, but that is changing rapidly with an appearance with James Levine and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in Carnegie Hall, a tour de force concert of Handel mad scenes ... "Furore" ..again at Carnegie, and an appearance with the New York Philharmonic all upcoming in the first part of 2009.
Perhaps I am just prejudiced, but she is a hometown girl, growing up in Kansas City in the same neighborhood I lived in from age 13 on. In any case, a major American artist in her prime.
2. Karita Matila as "Salome" from the Met (Theatercast)
This was possibly the most direct portrait of depravity I will ever experienced. The white heat of the Richard Strauss score met its match in this performance. It is hard to call it that...it was in truth a complete identification with the role. Not only was it vocally superb, it was an acting triumph. The sheer physicality of her interpretation left one stunned and drained. She dominated the stage, covering every square inch of it with her athletic movements...seeming at times like a demented tiger on the loose. After being presented with the head of John The Baptist, she ended up in a crazy ecstasy, lying flat on her back with her head hanging into the orchestra pit. At the close everyone sat frozen in their seats, unable to get up.
3. Berlin Philharmonic "Scharoun Ensemble" at the Zermatt Festival, Switzerland
Two performances stood out this August at the Zermatt Festival. First was the Schbert Octet for Strings and Winds, a work that I heard many years ago at the Aspen Festival, and had not heard since. Written in 1824, this is a huge six movement work of enormous emotional range. Some feel it was a preparation work for his Symphony in C Major "The Great" which he began shortly after composing this octet. It was full of the long lines and varied harmonic questings that dominant his style in his late works. What struck me in this performance was the sheer joy in the work, and how closely the Berlin Philharmonic players identify with Schubert's style. The second performance was Schoenberg's "Verklarte Nacht" in its original version for small chamber ensemble. The sheer intensity of the writing was virtually laid bare, and the beauty of the individual lines came through with a completely different aspect than in the big orchestral version. In this case, less was much, much more.
4. Martha Argerich performing Beethoven Concerto No.1 from Lugano Festival.
Heard in live performance over NPR, Argerich amazed with the freshness, directness, and sheer musicality she brought to this often neglected work, more in the student's domain today then the artist's. This tempermental artist, who often cancels at the last minute, is completely at home at her own piano festival each June in Lugano, Switzerland. What strikes me about a performance such as this is how immediately the attention is focused, and how the energy never flags. She seemed to relish what others often neglect: the constant need for surprising dynamics, the eveness of finger passage work, and the courage to make it into a really big work, with an amazing cadenza at the close of the first movement. It is startling to realize that someone you heard at the start of their career in the late 1950's, is now a matronly woman with long gray hair!
5. Tchaikowsky "Fourth Symphony" with New York Philharmonic conduced by Lorin Maazel, London Proms. BBC
Always controversial, Maazel has lead some superb performances during his final days with the NY Phil. Although the English critics hated this performance, I was galvanized by the vituosity of the orchestra, and how Maazel drove them to a frenzy. Thats always a problem between the USA and the UK. The English get very uncomfortable with such vigor and unabashed emotion. Maazel let them have it between the eyes, even though their eyebrows had long since fallen off by the last movement.
A stunning performance of "Die Walkure" from the Met Opera, which drew lavish praise from the critics, confirmed the fact that Maazel was overlooked for two decades there, and could have been of much greater use. Very sad, and rather typical when you become controversial.
1. Joyce DiDonato at Rose Hall, Lincoln Center
This was my first chance to hear this amazing American mezzo-soprano live.
This is a stunning voice..supple,beautiful mid-range, and glorious top...one almost feels she is a lyric soprano at times. But the darker side of her voice keeps her firmly in the mezzo range, even if it is hard to believe the bravura that she dispatches coloratura passages in Rossini. Her Rosina in "The Barber of Seville" is unsurpassed today, and her Octavian in "Der Rosenkavalier" is no less exciting. On the Web I also heard a superb Donna Elvira from "Don Giovanni" at Covent Garden. Her career is based more in Europe than America, but that is changing rapidly with an appearance with James Levine and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in Carnegie Hall, a tour de force concert of Handel mad scenes ... "Furore" ..again at Carnegie, and an appearance with the New York Philharmonic all upcoming in the first part of 2009.
Perhaps I am just prejudiced, but she is a hometown girl, growing up in Kansas City in the same neighborhood I lived in from age 13 on. In any case, a major American artist in her prime.
2. Karita Matila as "Salome" from the Met (Theatercast)
This was possibly the most direct portrait of depravity I will ever experienced. The white heat of the Richard Strauss score met its match in this performance. It is hard to call it that...it was in truth a complete identification with the role. Not only was it vocally superb, it was an acting triumph. The sheer physicality of her interpretation left one stunned and drained. She dominated the stage, covering every square inch of it with her athletic movements...seeming at times like a demented tiger on the loose. After being presented with the head of John The Baptist, she ended up in a crazy ecstasy, lying flat on her back with her head hanging into the orchestra pit. At the close everyone sat frozen in their seats, unable to get up.
3. Berlin Philharmonic "Scharoun Ensemble" at the Zermatt Festival, Switzerland
Two performances stood out this August at the Zermatt Festival. First was the Schbert Octet for Strings and Winds, a work that I heard many years ago at the Aspen Festival, and had not heard since. Written in 1824, this is a huge six movement work of enormous emotional range. Some feel it was a preparation work for his Symphony in C Major "The Great" which he began shortly after composing this octet. It was full of the long lines and varied harmonic questings that dominant his style in his late works. What struck me in this performance was the sheer joy in the work, and how closely the Berlin Philharmonic players identify with Schubert's style. The second performance was Schoenberg's "Verklarte Nacht" in its original version for small chamber ensemble. The sheer intensity of the writing was virtually laid bare, and the beauty of the individual lines came through with a completely different aspect than in the big orchestral version. In this case, less was much, much more.
4. Martha Argerich performing Beethoven Concerto No.1 from Lugano Festival.
Heard in live performance over NPR, Argerich amazed with the freshness, directness, and sheer musicality she brought to this often neglected work, more in the student's domain today then the artist's. This tempermental artist, who often cancels at the last minute, is completely at home at her own piano festival each June in Lugano, Switzerland. What strikes me about a performance such as this is how immediately the attention is focused, and how the energy never flags. She seemed to relish what others often neglect: the constant need for surprising dynamics, the eveness of finger passage work, and the courage to make it into a really big work, with an amazing cadenza at the close of the first movement. It is startling to realize that someone you heard at the start of their career in the late 1950's, is now a matronly woman with long gray hair!
5. Tchaikowsky "Fourth Symphony" with New York Philharmonic conduced by Lorin Maazel, London Proms. BBC
Always controversial, Maazel has lead some superb performances during his final days with the NY Phil. Although the English critics hated this performance, I was galvanized by the vituosity of the orchestra, and how Maazel drove them to a frenzy. Thats always a problem between the USA and the UK. The English get very uncomfortable with such vigor and unabashed emotion. Maazel let them have it between the eyes, even though their eyebrows had long since fallen off by the last movement.
A stunning performance of "Die Walkure" from the Met Opera, which drew lavish praise from the critics, confirmed the fact that Maazel was overlooked for two decades there, and could have been of much greater use. Very sad, and rather typical when you become controversial.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
"Thais" From The Met...via Theatercast
Some years ago while attending the French Piano Institute in Paris I heard Renee Fleming at the Bastille Opera in "Manon". I thought at the time she had the perfect voice for Massenet..creamy middle voice...an extension into coloratura..and always elegant musicianship. Having never heard "Thais", I was eager to see how I would react to this production. As far as sets and staging it was very conventional, and at times was rather uninspired, expecially the palace in the second act. It took forever to change the sets and that took away from the fluidity of sequence. Nothing remotely resembled an Egyptian setting, but at least they avoided the pitfall of making it all resemble a church pageant, (although some stray palm trees almost went in that direction). What was impressive was Fleming's emotional and direct "Thais", sung will all of the above, but some years later with an added maturity and insight. This is a great role for her, and she conquered the exotic vocal color, projected in a really difficult vocal line that requires nerves of steel to accomplish the quick chages of register, and also the high tessitura of the last scene. If you share the stage with Fleming at this point in her career, you had better have your shots in order. Thomas Hampson was ardent in expression and commanding in figure. What was lacking was real vocal beauty. I have always felt he is more of a lieder singer, and some of this quality came through. But I rarely felt swept up in sheer vocal opulence. The opera as a whole was quite wonderful, and one felt Massenet's sense of theater in the way the whole affair built towards the final scene. He was the composer par excellence for divas of the day, and no one mixed sex and the Bible to better effect. Renee Fleming is surely at her peak, and its exciting to hear her any chance you get.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
A Busy Autumn Brings Rewards.....
Last night I played my final recital of the year for a wonderful audience at The Heritage at Lowman, a Lutheran Retirement Center where I have had a piano series the past six years. The New Life Chapel is such a beautiful setting, especially during afternoon concerts when the light streams through the dramatic stained glass windows. There is a very serene feeling in this rather chaste, modern setting that reminds me of Scandinavian architecture I have experienced. The chapel has a very high dome just over where we place the piano, and this amplifies the sound in a most natural way, considering it is only a six foot Schimmel. But the piano speaks with a lovely sound, and has alot of color possiblities. Last night I played an unusual work by Ottorino Respighi entitled "Antiche Danze ed Arie", a transcription of his orchestral suite for orchestra, based on lute melodies from the 17th century. Respighi did this transcription himself, and it is a very fine example of the art. The haunting "Villanelle" is a favorite. I read where composers could break the rules of composition during this era with the Villanelle, and here Respighi uses open fifths in parallel motion...long before Debussy thought of doing it. I was inspired to learn this work after visiting Rome last year for the first time. There is something quite Roman in the work, afterall, Respighi spent his adult life there, and wrote those powerful works for orchestra..."The Pines of Rome" and "The Fountains of Rome"...both great favorites of the immortal Toscanni.
After this work I performed most of the "Carnaval" of Robert Schumann. It is what I call the intellectuals "Nutcracker". It was made into a ballet and performed by many companies long before "Nutcracker" became the thing it is today. Centered around a Viennese Ball, Schumann captures the great waltzes, german dances, and intermixes real life characters, like his future wife Clara, a current flame, Estrella, Chopin, Paganini, with characters from the Italian Comedy...the soap opera of its day. For once, keeping in mind an older audience (altho I was heartened to see more than a few young people) I outlined the story in detail, and played in groups of three pieces at a time. This way the audience was able to follow a complicated plotline without getting lost in program notes. Its not easy to play this way..jumping back and forth from microphone to keyboard..! In fact I got lost once just after I sat down to continue, and with no program in front of me, I simply asked "Where am I?". Of course, they all shouted out "Reconnaissance"...which I had just finished explaining in great detail. Playing in front of a retirement center audience, no one held it against me!!!
For the last part of the program I arranged a medley of Christmas hymns, carols, popular songs,and spirituals into a "Christmas Garland".
This comes easily to me, as I only played by ear until the age of 11, and did this type of thing often at school and church. At the close, after the stirring "Bless This House" ( which sadly you rarely hear today) a lady came up with her walker and said "I guess you know that you played all this just for me!" What do you say when you are touched to tears.
There are so many audiences around South Carolina, and I played for a great variety of them this fall. .. South Carolinas Governors' School Furman University, USC Sumter. It never fails to impress me when people say how much it means to hear live music in a quiet setting. Perhaps that what this rather broken down world needs this Christmas...
After this work I performed most of the "Carnaval" of Robert Schumann. It is what I call the intellectuals "Nutcracker". It was made into a ballet and performed by many companies long before "Nutcracker" became the thing it is today. Centered around a Viennese Ball, Schumann captures the great waltzes, german dances, and intermixes real life characters, like his future wife Clara, a current flame, Estrella, Chopin, Paganini, with characters from the Italian Comedy...the soap opera of its day. For once, keeping in mind an older audience (altho I was heartened to see more than a few young people) I outlined the story in detail, and played in groups of three pieces at a time. This way the audience was able to follow a complicated plotline without getting lost in program notes. Its not easy to play this way..jumping back and forth from microphone to keyboard..! In fact I got lost once just after I sat down to continue, and with no program in front of me, I simply asked "Where am I?". Of course, they all shouted out "Reconnaissance"...which I had just finished explaining in great detail. Playing in front of a retirement center audience, no one held it against me!!!
For the last part of the program I arranged a medley of Christmas hymns, carols, popular songs,and spirituals into a "Christmas Garland".
This comes easily to me, as I only played by ear until the age of 11, and did this type of thing often at school and church. At the close, after the stirring "Bless This House" ( which sadly you rarely hear today) a lady came up with her walker and said "I guess you know that you played all this just for me!" What do you say when you are touched to tears.
There are so many audiences around South Carolina, and I played for a great variety of them this fall. .. South Carolinas Governors' School Furman University, USC Sumter. It never fails to impress me when people say how much it means to hear live music in a quiet setting. Perhaps that what this rather broken down world needs this Christmas...
Sunday, November 23, 2008
"The Crops are In....Let's Go to Market"
It was a long summer in Carolina, but thankfully, except for a few days of 100 plus degress in June, it moderated in July and August, and the weather was liveable. I worked at new programs in the mornings and in the afternoons I did chores on my 3 acres of Sandhills forest. Now I have a new gardener, and he is a whiz. He has pulled so much together that I was never able to finish, and in general, made everything look 10 times better. I think gardening and working at music have traits in common. Watching a plant grow reminds me of the steps it takes to learn a new piece of music. Constant attention is the secret. But always there is the treat of pests, drought, heat, cold, all the elements. You learn to be philosophical. Sometimes benign neglect is the correct course.Put it away and come back later. Things have a way of taking care of themselves if you give it enough time and patience. My students always told me I was patient...and they would marvel that I didn't scream and rant and rave. I always told them it took too much energy to do that, and besides, its terrible for your health. So, I treated them like plants ( some were definitely hot house plants!) and cultivated them slowly but surely.
Now all the leaves are down and the weather has been unseasonably cold. But I have already traveled around the state giving master classes and recitals, plus a PowerPoint program on Vladimir Horowitz. I love contact with the young. It renews hope for the world and it make one feel that what one has to offer my just live on.
Now all the leaves are down and the weather has been unseasonably cold. But I have already traveled around the state giving master classes and recitals, plus a PowerPoint program on Vladimir Horowitz. I love contact with the young. It renews hope for the world and it make one feel that what one has to offer my just live on.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Rachmaninov Fourth Piano Concerto at the Proms
Listening to the stunning performance by pianist Boris Berezovsky I was reminded how a seldom played work can suddenly take on a whole new life when the right forces collide. Such was the case here. The European Youth Orchestra was in great form...as invariably they are...and Antonia Pappano continues to impress as one of the more musical young conductors around. The writing in this work is at time cerebral, and not once do you find Rachmaninov letting your listening path be easy. The first movement does have a haunting second theme, but still it is hard to bring it to mind. The last movement is furious and unrelenting, a macabre scherzo of dazzling speed. Berezovsky took all the fearsome technical difficulties in stride, and managed to project clarity and a crystaline sound that was a joy to hear. Seldom have I heard a Proms audience as enthusiastic as this one, which made for a great listening experience.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Vaughn Williams' Piano Concerto
Listening to a performance of Vaughn Williams' Piano Concerto, one wonders about its curious history. Given its first performance in 1932 by Harriet Cohen, it promptly fell into obscurity, until being revived in the 1940's in a revised version. Its always fun to hear the English version of the name Ralph...which comes out Raffe..If you say that over here in the USA everyone stares at you. Anyway, it is Sir Raffe Richardson, Raffe Fiennes, goes on and on. Oh what a time I had with names when I first went to England.
All these English piano concerti..Vaughn Williams, Ireland, Bax, ...exhibit a curious companionship in that they never follow the Continental manner. Usually there is this fascination with the piano as a coloristic contributor in a wider orchestral framework. That is what I am hearing here. Of the lot, I much prefer the John Ireland Piano Concerto.
I met Harriet Cohen as a student in London, about 1960. She was a colorful person, with a rather darker side.One had a certain sympathy for her, as she cut her finger on a broken glass, and that put an end to playing. Also, her home was bombed in the Second World War, so she had lost everything. She never quite reached the prominence of say, Dame Myra Hess, or Moura Lympany. But she did have a knack for giving first performances of important English compositions. My teacher Hilda Dederich was promised the first performance of the Piano Concerto by Sir Arnold Bax, but found out to her dismay that it had been given to Harriet Cohen instead. For a bit of gossip, it was generally known in music circles in London at the time that La Cohen was a rather free spirit. Guirne Van Zuylen, a contemporary and fine pianist and composer, told me of having visited in the homes of both Vaughn Williams and Sir Arnold Bax. Prominently displayed were similar photos of Harriet, both inscribed." to Dear Ralph, with all my Love"....and "to Dear Arnold, with all my Love'. I must say I was not attracted to La Cohen, finding her self absorbed and acerbic. She did give a Medal...the Harriet Cohen Medal...which always attracted note. I didn't get one.
Following through with the use of English folksong in many of these works, I always get more of the "folk" and less of the "song". When the composition is over I can rarely hum the tune. Perhaps that is a rather good indicator on the likeability scale.Pianist Ashley Wass did a fine job with a tiger of a piece. Certainly Vaughn Williams is having a good airing on these Proms this season.
All these English piano concerti..Vaughn Williams, Ireland, Bax, ...exhibit a curious companionship in that they never follow the Continental manner. Usually there is this fascination with the piano as a coloristic contributor in a wider orchestral framework. That is what I am hearing here. Of the lot, I much prefer the John Ireland Piano Concerto.
I met Harriet Cohen as a student in London, about 1960. She was a colorful person, with a rather darker side.One had a certain sympathy for her, as she cut her finger on a broken glass, and that put an end to playing. Also, her home was bombed in the Second World War, so she had lost everything. She never quite reached the prominence of say, Dame Myra Hess, or Moura Lympany. But she did have a knack for giving first performances of important English compositions. My teacher Hilda Dederich was promised the first performance of the Piano Concerto by Sir Arnold Bax, but found out to her dismay that it had been given to Harriet Cohen instead. For a bit of gossip, it was generally known in music circles in London at the time that La Cohen was a rather free spirit. Guirne Van Zuylen, a contemporary and fine pianist and composer, told me of having visited in the homes of both Vaughn Williams and Sir Arnold Bax. Prominently displayed were similar photos of Harriet, both inscribed." to Dear Ralph, with all my Love"....and "to Dear Arnold, with all my Love'. I must say I was not attracted to La Cohen, finding her self absorbed and acerbic. She did give a Medal...the Harriet Cohen Medal...which always attracted note. I didn't get one.
Following through with the use of English folksong in many of these works, I always get more of the "folk" and less of the "song". When the composition is over I can rarely hum the tune. Perhaps that is a rather good indicator on the likeability scale.Pianist Ashley Wass did a fine job with a tiger of a piece. Certainly Vaughn Williams is having a good airing on these Proms this season.
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