Mary Martin

 

This film serves a number of functions. 

• If I wander too far from Kurt Weill, I begin to feel lost. 
• It's the wonderful Mary Martin from my youth. 
• It's an excellent example of stage English diction, something you used to hear, something you used to learn.  Notice how you understand every word.
  

 

Elizabeth Blumenstock

 

This is someone I know. I know her as the concert mistress of American Bach Soloists, a group I very much admire.  Elizabeth Blumenstock, violin, is performing Nicola Matteis Jr: Fantasia and Thomas Baltzar: A Prelude for the Violin.

Messiah from San Francisco

This is a performance of Handel's Messiah from Grace Cathedral, an Episcopal cathedral on Nob Hill in San Francisco, by the American Bach Soloists.  They are the original instruments ensemble I visit regularly in Davis, but they perform Messiah only in Grace Cathedral, which is a bit far away for me.  They are seriously striving for an authentic style, and I think the effort here was very successful.  If you are not getting enough Messiah, I recommend this one.  Disclaimer--there is no historical basis for using a countertenor to replace the alto solo.  This is my usual complaint.

Serenade to Music

I thought to myself while leafing through lists in YouTube of Vaughan Williams' Serenade to Music that Bernstein would completely understand this piece.  He understood perfectly the necessity of ecstasy.  The words are Shakespeare, of course.  "How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank...."  I think I got it in one.

This new one is also very nice.


Now we can have both.

Serious Opera Blogs don't Include Stuff Like This

I was messing with my iPhone 5c and I keyed in the letters "theo," which could be theory or something like that.  The list of words above the key pad displayed the word "theorbo."  I bet yours doesn't do that.

I posted this on Facebook and was immediately presented with a film from Big Bang Theory where Sheldon plays the theremin.



In this film Sheldon plays a bit of the theme from Star Trek. If you navigate to YouTube, the comments will tell you that in the first few episodes of Star Trek the theme was indeed on the theremin while later ones were actually sung. You have to be a serious Star Trek fan to notice this.



Sheldon is apparently quite the musician. This longer film shows him playing other instruments, too.

Maybe I should take my synthesizer out of the closet.  I wonder what a theremin costs.

Brahms Horn Trio

I heard this piece today at a concert.  The horn player tells us that Brahms wrote this for his mother. Please recall that I am a Brahmsie.


The scherzo is especially cool.






This is for my son the horn player.

This was played on a concert with the Capitol Chamber Players by  I-Hui Chem, piano, Pete Nowlen, French horn, and Robert Bloch, violin.

Rapid Fire

These come to us from Lincoln Center in New York.















Spoken like a tenor.  One more.



Oh what the heck.

He is so cute!!

This is Rapid Fire with Luca Pisaroni.

Antidote for too much opera

This is in case you thought old people could not keep up.

Here You Go

Pierrot Lunaire, or at least a bit of it.

For Verdi

This is the chorus, orchestra and conductor we heard at Salzburg--Rome Opera and Riccardo Muti.  In the middle of this film Muti makes a short speech about Italy.  Then follows the traditional encore that is always sung in Italy, but not in Salzburg.  Muti turns and conducts the audience. 

Brahms Cello Sonata

Someone played this movement from the Brahms first cello sonata today at a meeting I attended.  This would be the main problem with obsessing over opera--Brahms did not write any opera.  I think today was the first time I heard this wonderful piece, here played by Jacqueline Du Pré and Daniel Barenboim.

Did you know about this?

And if you did why didn't you tell me?  I didn't know the English ever censored anything.

Sacramento Opera and Philharmonic

I have tracked down the brochure for next season for the combined Opera and Philharmonic.  We have a lot more details.

August 11, 1:30, the Opera and Philharmonic will combine at Fairy Tale Town in William Land Park for the "Cat and Fiddle Music Festival."  Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf is one of the numbers in this family oriented concert.

Oct 19, 2:00 and 8:00, Community Center Theater, "Here to stay:  the Gershwin Experience" concert with Sylvia McNair, conducted by Michael Morgan.

Nov 22, 8:00, Crest Theater, International Stars of Opera Recital, Ruth Ann Swenson, soprano, Frank Lopardo, tenor, Mark Robson, piano.  This is what was meant by Una Sorpreso Lirico! 

January 11, 8:00, Community Center Theater, Michael Morgan conducts Brahms Variations on a Theme by Haydn, Stravinsky Firebird Suite and Daniel Bernard Roumain Woodbox Concerto.  Here's a short film of DBR playing an electric violin.



Feb 28, 8:00, and March 2, 2:00, CCT, Verdi's Il Trovatore.  Michael Morgan will conduct.  Leonora, Lisa Daltirus; Azucena, Tichina Vaughn; Manrico, Arnold Rawls; Count Di Luna, Marcus Jupither.

March 14, 8:00, The Assembly (1000 K st.), Violinist Rachel Barton Pine and cellist Mike Block will discuss the evolution of music from Bartok to Metalica.  This is a bold undertaking. 

April 5, 8:00, CCT, concert featureing Dvorak, Glazunov and John Williams.  Michael Morgan conducts and Rachel Barton Pine plays the Glazunov violin concerto.

June 21, 1:00 and 3:00; June 22 1:00 at Crocker Art Museum, Family opera to coincide with a Crocker exhibition.  Robert Xavier Rodriquez is the composer and the words "mariachi music" appear in the text.  I think this is just for fun.

I feel this represents a different perspective.

Announcement

This just in.

The software Opera has decided to vigorously pursue their copyright on the name Opera.  This means that the art form with this title will have to come up with something else to call it.  Theater with a lot of Singing is all I can think of.  Heavy Musical.  Too serious to call a Musical.  I'm running out of ideas.

OK so this is lame.  So what about this?



Footnote:  it is important for everyone to know that Baby Einstein on the Beach is not an April fools joke.

Helicopter String Quartet

This is the Elysium Quartet performing Karlheinz Stockhausen's Helicopter String Quartet as part of the world premiere of the opera Mittwoch aus Licht by the Birmingham Opera Company 22.08.12. It was written between 1995 and 1997. There are other days in the week, but he didn't finish the whole cycle. It didn't get its premiere until this year, so if you missed it, you may not get a second chance.  Feel free to skip around in the video.

Here is something from someone who went to this in Birmingham.

Oh Darn

My efforts to guess what Cecilia Bartoli is recording continue to be a complete bust.  I have missed it again.   I went with Domenico Zipoli, but it turned out to be the other guy, Agostino Steffani.

I have a theory.  I once posted a list of Italian composers between Monteverdi and Rossini, and Cecilia is trying to make sure she records all of them.  Zipoli wasn't in the list.  She did a whole album of Vivaldi.  Alessandro Scarlatti is on Se tu M'ami and Proibita.  Porpora and Vinci are on Sacrificium.  She recorded the Pergolesi Stabat Mater with June Anderson.  Paisiello, Caccini, Cavalli, Carissimi and Cesti are on Se tu M'ami.  Caldara is on three different albums.  That doesn't leave very many.  I realize this is far too egocentric to possibly be true. 

Webisode 1



Webisode 2



Webisode 3



Webisode 4



This one is a favorite.  She threatens to call the police and picks up a banana and holds it to her ear.  This is a lot of fun.

Go to http://www.deccaclassics.com/mission to gain access to exclusive content from Cecilia Bartoli's new album 'MISSION'

There is a tour associated with this, of course.  We assume she will not be performing bald.

4'33"

One can't help wondering if the maestro would approve.  And what do I think?  I think Nicolas Cage is far too interesting to satisfy John Cage's idea of this piece.  The purpose is to redirect your attention to the sounds in your own environment.  It is fun to watch, though.

Opera Singers Talking

This is turning into a series.



And I absolutely swear singers say this.  My favorite line is "Arvo Pärt."  Wait wait.  Maybe it's "I'm bi-sectional."

St. John Passion

I got up in the middle of the night to listen to Bach's Johannespassion from Carnegie Hall, streaming on WGBH (due to insomnia, not necessity).  The performance was by Les Violons du Roy, La Chapelle de Quebec, soloists, and conducted by Bernard Labadie.

I included the above chorale from a performance from Munich in 1964 because it shows the traditional style for performing Bach chorales maintained at the Thomaskirche in Leipzig over the centuries.  In this style the fermatas which appear in the score are observed, and the tempo is slow.  At Carnegie Hall you hear the modern idea that "Oh no, these fermatas are just for show.  Nobody does them.  We should get the whole thing over as quickly as possible."  For me it's a prayer and should be allowed to soak in slowly.



My favorite part of the John Passion has always been the final chorale, included above in a performance from 1934, also in the old style.  For me the fast modern approach trivializes these wonderful works.

The broadcast fills in the pauses with talking which you can avoid by clicking on the red line at different spots.

In the John Passion the aria interruptions are less frequent and less glorious then in the St. Matthew.  The words of the gospel are sung by the evangelist, Ian Bostridge tenor here, Jesus, Neal Davies bass-baritone, and the chorus.  None of the vocal soloists had the traditional sound usually heard in the Bach passions, but they made up for it in enthusiasm and emotional fervor.  The small chorus was outstanding.