Met Opera NY: Pelleas et Melisande' 1/31/2019

     I heard the Met's rendition of 'Pelleas et Melisande' last night with Derrick Inouye standing in for Nézet-Séguin in the fifth and final performance of the season.   Inouye was an assistant conductor in the preparation of this run, so I can only guess how much of the reading was his own and how much was his beating time to the performance shaped by Nézet-Séguin.  I doubt he was given enough extra rehearsal time to shape his own interpretation for just one scheduled performance.  I couldn't help the feeling that the syncing of the orchestra with the admittedly difficult conversational patter was rather approximate for much of the evening. 

     In any case, this was a way too bloated, super Wagnerian approach for my tastes.  Paul Appleby as Pelleas was overwhelmed by the orchestra when he was pushed for low notes, as reviewers have already noted.  Isabel Leonard has a pleasant voice, but little command of French diction, and an approach to the role that calls to mind Waltraute more than the kind of Melisande I have gotten used to.  I don't require Melisande to be a simpering waif, but I still feel an aura of confusion supported by a meandering kind of subconscious rambling lends some much needed mystery to the character.  Ferruccio Furlanetto channeled Arkel via Wotan, with loud barking and dreadful diction to boot.  Kyle Ketelsen was superb vocally as many have noted and was in tune with the Edwardian era sensibility of the production in his stage prescence.  As Golaud he could switch from a stiff and formal manner to neurotic insecurity in a nanosecond.  The big orchestra sound helped in the scene with Yniold and Golaud, which I sometimes feel is underplayed.  Overall, I am hardly insisting on trying to recreate the sound world of the Desormiere recording of 1942, but I do think performers and listeners alike should be familiar with it to appreciate what is lost when a bigger, more modern approach is favored.  Oh, and I really dislike this Jonathan Miller production from 1995 as much as I loved its predecessor from the 1970s.

Julia Wolfe: Fire in my mouth

I heard 'Fire in my mouth' at the New York Philharmonic last night and found it to be an effective and even moving homage to the victims of the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire,  The choral writing for 146 women is skillful and the texts were so well enunciated that they were audible even over some fairly dense and cacophonous orchestral writing.  The orchestra, often serving to provide uncannily realistic sound effects, also managed to maintain a forward momentum, sometimes using minimalist techniques where they worked well without getting stuck in a kind of musical rut with those techniques, as I feel often happens with other composers.  The discreet choreography and outstanding preparation on the part of all involved made the whole experience that much more compelling.

Leinsdorf Lohengrin

The RCA recording with the Boston Symphony is recommended by many mainly for the performance of Sandor Konya.  I listened to the recording recently, and found the conducting, orchestra playing, and chorus to be rather good as well, and the recording quality is as good as it gets.  Lucine Amara comes across as weak and tepid at first, but warms up to the part for her key scenes in Acts 2 and 3.  Elsa seems to be suffering from ADD in Act 1, and Amara's small scale voice reflects the character's spinelessness for me.  I have seen comments verging on the hatefull about Rita Gorr's Ortrud, which many find tasteless and way over the top.  I didn't mind her hysterics at all in Act 2, even with a few missed high notes.  At the conclusion of Act 3 she turns things up a notch, and ends up shrieking way off pitch more than once.  You wonder why they didn't do some retakes, but maybe their budget didn't allow for too many redos given the high hourly rate for American orhestras.

Overall, I found the performance compelling on its own terms.  Leinsdorf grasp of the long line and the superb choral work made be sit up during the Act 3 final scene and other big choral scenes, which often bore me.

I am making a note to check out the reknowned Kempe recording on EMI, which I have not listened to in decades,

Mahler & NYC article

interesting little article....

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/18/opinion/18Davis.html?_r=1

Alan Gilbert and New York Philharmonic - Mahler 5th

I had the privilege of my first encounter with Alan Gilbert and Mahler last night.  The quality that springs to mind is his vigilance in preserving the long line, with clear consistent rhythms, and by keeping some of the more startling Mahlerian interruptions from sounding too exaggerated and cartoonish.  As a younger listener, I might have preferred more startling affects, especially when listening to recordings, such as could be found on the Solti Mahler Sixth with Chicago.  But even then, when I finally heard Solti's Mahler Sixth live at Carnegie Hall, there was something missing in the overall line and momentum of the piece.  Gilbert with the NYP doing the Fifth had no such problems, and the sometimes problematic 3rd movement Scherzo was maybe the most coherent and effective I have ever heard.

Met Opera's Wozzeck

I saw the Met Opera's Wozzeck last Wednesday.  I couldn't help but be struck with how symphonic an opera it is.  The big dramatic and emotional climax is in the famous interlude after Act II, Scene IV where Wozzeck drowns himself.  Overall, the performance had the impact it should, but I was struck how I missed the somewhat overarticulated reading of the German, that characterizes the Boulez recording.  The relatively prosaic diction of the Doctor and the Captain took away some of the black humor for me.  I know some don't like the exaggerated readings in the Boulez recording, but I got very used to it, and always hear the parts done that way in my head.  I guess I should get acquainted with some of the other admired recordings out there.