In Brief: Holy Week Edition

Here is your regular Sunday selection of links to online audio, online video, and other good things in Blogville and Beyond. (After clicking to an audio or video stream, press the "Play" button to start the broadcast.)

• Harry Christopher conducts The Sixteen in a concert recorded in February at the Wigmore Hall in London, featuring excerpts from Monteverdi's Selva morale e spirituale. [France Musique]


• Franz Welser-Möst conducts Berg's Wozzeck at the Wiener Staatsoper, with a cast led by Simon Keenlyside (Wozzeck), Anne Schwanewilms (Marie), and Gary Lehman (Tambourmajor). If you understand German, listen to this interview with Schwanewilms about the production. [Österreichischer Rundfunk]


• Listen to Mariss Jansons conduct the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in Shostakovich's sixth symphony, plus excerpts from Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet, and Stravinsky's Firebird. [BR-Klassik]


• Baritone Tobias Berndt and pianist Alexandre Melnikov join the RIAS Kammerchor for a concert pairing Renaissance sacred music by Palestrina and Lassus with sacred music by Franz Liszt. [France Musique]


• A performance of Emmanuel Chabrier's Le Roi malgré lui, recorded at the Wexford Opera last October, with Liam Bonner, Luigi Boccia, and others. [Österreichischer Rundfunk]


• You can watch the Stefan Herheim staging of Mozart's Abduction from the Seraglio at the Salzburg Festival in 2006, on YouTube. [Part 1 | Part 2]


• Listen to a rare performance of Johann Adolf Hasse's serenata Marc' Antonio e Cleopatra, with Vivica Genaux and Francesca Lombardi Mazzulli in the title roles, accompanied by Le Musiche Nove and directed by Claudio Osele, recorded in Vienna earlier this month. [Österreichischer Rundfunk]


• Pianist Maria João Pires joins members of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra for a concert of chamber music by Schubert, recorded in Munich in January. [France Musique]


• Angela Hewitt conducts and plays two of Beethoven's piano concerti with the Britten Sinfonia, recorded at the Barbican Center in London in January, plus Wagner's Siegfried-Idyll. [Österreichischer Rundfunk]


• John Storgårds directs the Göteborg Symphony in a trumpet concerto by Rolf Wallin, with soloist Håkan Hardenberger, plus a symphony by Korngold. [GSO-Play]


• Recorded at the Opéra Comique in February, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France performs music by Mozart including a flute concerto with Magali Mosnier and the harp concerto with Xavier de Maistre. [France Musique]


• If you have always wanted to hear Richard Strauss's Duett-Concertino for clarinet and bassoon with strings and harp, this is your chance, in a performance by the Symphonieorchester Vorarlberg, plus music by Britten and Beethoven. [Österreichischer Rundfunk]


• Paavo Järvi conducts the Orchestre de Paris in Dutilleux's first symphony and Beethoven's first symphony, plus Bartók's second violin concerto with Gil Shaham as soloist, at the Salle Pleyel. [France Musique]


• Tenor Giuseppe di Vittorio joins the ensemble I Turchini di Antonio Florio for Baroque music by Kapsberger, Marini, and others. [France Musique]


• Watch Stanislaw Skrowaczewski conduct the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra in music by Beethoven and Brahms, plus Shostakovich's first cello concerto with Johannes Moser as soloist. [ARTE Live Web]


• Listen to Plácido Domingo's performance, as a baritone, in Verdi's Simon Boccanegra, recorded in Vienna in February. [France Musique]


• Here is the 1993 recording of Tchaikovsky's opera Mazeppa made in Göteborg with Neeme Järvi conducting a cast that included Sergej Leiferkus (Mazeppa), Anatoly Kotscherga (Kotschubei), and Larissa Dyadkova (Ljubow). [Österreichischer Rundfunk]


• Yoel Levi conducts the Orchestra National d'Ile de France in Beethoven's fifth symphony and violin concerto, with soloist Veronika Eberle, plus a piece by Christina Athinodorou, winner of the "île de créations" composition competition, called Intermède pour une mer jamais vue. [France Musique]


• Pianist Maurizio Baglini joins musicians from the Orchestre National de France for an unusual concert of chamber music by Salieri, Rossini, Verdi, and Glinka. [France Musique]


• Pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet joins the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France for music by Dvořák and Bartók, at the Salle Pleyel in Paris. [France Musique]


• From back in 2002, Lorin Maazel leads the Vienna Philharmonic in music by Mendelssohn, plus music by Bach and Mozart. [Österreichischer Rundfunk]


• A young trio named Trio con Fuoco performs Mendelssohn and Beethoven in the Auditorium du Louvre. [France Musique]

Washington Ballet's 'Cinderella': Spring 'Nutcracker'

Morgann Rose, Ji Young Chae, Emily Ellis, and Aurora Dickie in Cinderella, Washington Ballet (photo by Brianne Bland)
What is to prevent a ballet company from replicating its December cash cow, The Nutcracker, in the spring season? The Washington Ballet could just about make it work with its pastel-pink production of Prokofiev's Cinderella (created in 2003, last revived in 2008), made for little girls, which we saw on Friday night at the Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater. Septime Webre's choreography even recycles some of the vignettes from his Nutcracker, including little kids as adorable butt-shaking bees and sweet snow angels. It is a traditional, wedding-cake kind of staging -- far from the updating of Alexei Ratmansky, the art deco vision of American Ballet Theater, or the mise-en-abyme staging of Yuri Possokhov for the Bolshoi -- but with enough wit and charm, and pleasing dancing, to keep adults engaged. Its smaller scale and use of recorded music -- the lovely performance by André Previn and the London Symphony Orchestra (EMI) -- might draw a negative comparison to the Russian National Ballet's touring version, but the evening is packed with laughs and sweetness.

Prokofiev, Cinderella, London Symphony Orchestra, A. Previn (EMI)

Most of the comic relief is due to the two stepsisters, cast as campy drag queens by Webre and hilariously realized by Luis R. Torres and Zachary Hackstock, the latter especially over the top with his grotesque smile and big-legged hamming. Exceptional beauty of movement came with the divertissement of the four seasons, with elegant dances by Ji Young Chae (Spring), Ayano Kimura (Summer), Morgann Rose (Autumn), and Aurora Dickie (Winter), and the transformation of Sona Kharatian's Beggar, all hunched form and pointed hands, into the tall, refined Fairy Godmother was remarkable. As Cinderella, Emily Ellis was youthful but more feisty than shy, not willing to submit to the (mild) abuse from the stepsisters but also not overly assertive in her steps. The Prince of Jonathan Jordan was earnest but more of a complement to Ellis, making for a lovely pas de deux, than a standout on his own. Andile Ndlovu made an athletic Jester, entertaining the Prince in the ball scene and creating many humorous diversions with the stepsisters.

Other Reviews: Sarah Kaufman, Washington Ballet’s ‘Cinderella’ enchants with humor and splendid dancing (Washington Post, March 23)

The problems for the ears remain insurmountable: a ballet without live music is deprived of half of its life, its ability to stretch and breathe, its spontaneity. Washington Ballet, faced with ongoing budget shortfalls, is doing its best to make this unfortunate situation work, and its Cinderella offers much to impress the eyes. Beautiful settings are evoked through minimal sets designed by James Kronzer -- a ghostly forest, a fireplace, chandeliers, fancy tall mirrors that tip vertiginously to reflect the waltz in the ball scene -- and the costumes by Judanna Lynn are alternately outrageous (the multi-colored bustles of the stepsisters) and sickly sweet (the cloudy pinks of Cinderella and the Prince, complete with fairy-tale trains for both). It is not a production for purists and it offers little that is new about the story, but younger viewers will likely be as charmed and thrilled by it as Miss Ionarts was.

This production will be repeated today and tomorrow (March 23 and 24), in the Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater.

Dip Your Ears, No. 130 (Bach, Fresh Squeezed)

J.S.Bach, Partitas No.2, 4 BWV 826, 828, “Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme” (arr. Dimetrik) W.Dimetrik Gramola 98945

The accordion has a reputation problem in the US, where its esteem ranks somewhere between recorder and kazoo. But after recording three English Suites in 2007, the Austrian Wolfgang Dimetrik is back with a Bach-accordion-disc that has the power to dispel any suppressed giggles. Perhaps forced, when transcribing, to think about the music beyond what can usually be expected, Dimetrik displays an incredible sense of phrasing in the two Partitas. And his keen musical intelligence becomes obvious in the ‘slight’ piece included, the arranged famous Choral Prelude “Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme”, which stirs instead of being merely catchy.

Bach, Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme BWV140 (excerpt), Wolfgang Dimetrik, Gramola 98945

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Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Siberian Melancholy

Rachmaninoff, Romances, D. Hvorostovsky, I. Ilja (Ondine, 2012) G. Sviridov, Petersburg: A Vocal Poem, D. Hvorostovsky, M. Arkadiev (Delos, 2004)

Two hours of depressing Russian songs -- broken hearts, cold winters, silent steppes, nostalgic pasts, crushing presents -- may not be everyone's cup of tea. When sung with exceptional diction, mesmerizing presence, and oozing musicality by Russian baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky, you can count me in. Last here in Washington in 2007 and 2006, Hvorostovsky was fresh off a run of Verdi's Don Carlo at the Metropolitan Opera, and while there were some seats left unsold by Washington Performing Arts Society in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall, it was a concert made for a Russian audience. Just perhaps in a smaller hall. The audience, obviously less familiar with how song recitals work, applauded after every song -- or tried to, stopped a couple times by the wagging finger of Hvorostovsky's hand.

My usual dislike of most instrumental music by Rachmaninoff does not apply to that composer's operas and songs, where perhaps the texts he chose excuse the tendency toward harmonic and melodic schmaltz. The first half of that composer's brooding songs, most of which Hvorostovsky has recently recorded with the same pianist featured here, Ivari Ilja, was potentially stultifying: slow and somber song after slow and somber song, with little variation. Both pianist and singer took their time to let each song unfold, stretching the tempo to set the words in place and craft each shape, the molasses-like gooeyness of the rubato giving the right air of tragic longing and regret. Highlights were the dramatic crescendo at the end of In my soul and the soul-permeating melancholy of Sad Night, as well as the finely turned simplicity of How nice this place is and the shimmering piano part of Lilacs. At times one felt the dramatic leanings of this singer, who is a creature of the stage, straining against the demands of the song recital, like an actor trying to emote rather than just recite poetry.

Other Articles: Anne Midgette, Difficulties of material, venue don't stop Hvorostovsky (Washington Post, March 22) Wynne Delacoma, Hvorostovsky returns to Miami, for what may be Drucker’s last stand (South Florida Classical Review, March 20) Tim Smith, Baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky to give recital for Washington Performing Arts Society (Baltimore Sun, March 18)

That problem was somewhat alleviated by the more dramatic songs on the second half, Petersburg: A Vocal Poem, composed by Soviet composer Georgy Sviridov (1915-1998) for Hvorostovsky in 1995. Sviridov, a student of Shostakovich, wrote in a more dissonant style that provided a savory contrast with the sweet palette of the first half. The poetry, by Russian poet Alexander Blok, offered some opera-like dramatic vignettes in which Hvorostovsky reveled, like the halting, quiet ending of The Golden Oar and the drunken howl of I am nailed to a tavern counter. He gave searing intensity to the bleak existentialism that pervades the cycle, too, like the anguished rage of A Voice from the Chorus and the sincere regret of Those born in obscure years. Strong ovations coaxed forth three encores, the central (and best) of which was a preview of Hvorostovsky's Iago, a role he will debut in Vienna this September in Verdi's Otello. The Creed Aria, one of the more blasphemous moments in opera ("Death is nothingness, and heaven is an old wives' tale"), gave a glimpse of a compelling Iago, a sociopath who uses his charm to destroy. The other encores were another Rachmaninoff song (In the Silence of the Night) and a Neapolitan ballad (Tagliaferri's Passione).

The Shtick, Shpil, and Spheres of Daniel Hope

Daniel Grossmann has been leading and shaping Munich’s little, innovatively programming Jakobsplatz Orchestra since its inception in 2005. Recently he hit upon the good (indeed highly necessary and long overdue) idea to also let other conductors lead the band: It ought to be good for the band, their experience and morale, and also mitigate their reputation as a toy orchestra for Grossmann (à la Mendelssohn, who got a chamber orchestra for his 12^th birthday).

Grossmann could hardly have landed a more impressive coup than getting Daniel Hope as the orchestra’s first ever guest conductor. Hope (who looks a bit how Louis C.K. might, with a violin and minus the funny) is on the front end of a promo-tour of his albums “Spheres” and “Four Seasons Re-Composed” (see Best Recordings of 2012) and needed a backup band for his project anyway… and the Jewish community center’s Jakobsplatz Orchestra was a ready, willing, and an appropriate fit for Hope, who likes to engage in a bit of ambiguous jewishy shpil & shtick. (Always reminds me of “The Yada Yada” Seinfeld episode: “…and this offends you as a Jewish person? / No, it offends me as a comedian.”)

All kinds of composers, Spheres, D.Hope et al. DG M.Richter, Recomp. / 4 Seasons D.Hope / de Ridder / KCO DG

There he was, Monday the 18^th, going down his set list of songs, doing a chat’n’play along the way, in nearly perfect German. Right off the bat Johann Paul von Westhoff’s Imitazione delle Campane, which lends itself to anywhere and anytime, in any kind of arrangement… and it really does sound timeless. Or rather it seems to be foreshadowing (if there was such a thing) 20^th century retro-minimalism (if there is such a thing). What followed was the (in-concert) world premiere of Gabriel Prokofiev’s Spheres, modern minimalist tic-toc that already set the mood for the Recomposed Four Seasons later on. Then Philip Glass’ Echorus, which is the good man at his Glassian best and better yet: a piece originally written for Menuhin which allows Daniel Hope one of his “did you know I studied with Menuhin?!” plugs. No... really? Tell us more. Trysting Fields is Michael Nyman taking Mozart (specifically the Sinfonia Concertante) apart and reassembling it (not for the first time). It’s fun; more fun still is the Peter Greenaway movie in which it originally found use. An excerpt from Karsten Gundermann’s Faust II Reloaded was the epitome of excited violin trapeze-work above a carpet of calmly moving strings. Arvo Pärt’s evergreen Fratres (not a particularly clean performance, alas, with poor pizzicatos but impressive right-on-the-money flageolet notes) capped a first half full of very different pieces, all of which sounded the bloody same.

If Grossmann was nervous before the show about his orchestra’s performance, he need not have been. They did very well, including the co-soloists when they were asked upon. Then again, very little was asked of them in the repertoire—which relegated the orchestra to a slightly wasteful backup role not unlike using a great choir only to go “ah-umm” on two notes, alongside a starlet singer.

The ‘Max Richter-goes-Four Seasons’ album is great, if you give it half a chance. Much greater, incidentally, on record (with amplification and athmospherinization [sic]), than it comes across live. The swoosh of turning pages (not Hope, who uses a very fancy page-self-turning Kindle-like gizmo) is an element of reality that this seductive re-Vision of the Four Seasons does not need. What it needs is a car stereo and a long, late-night drive on the highway. Hope encored a bit from Summer and then, true to form (and place) his encore-staple, the Kaddish by Ravel. Yadda Yadda… a fun night, quibbles and all.

Ionarts-at-Large: Dallas SO and @violincase in Munich

Just a month after Washington’s National Symphony Orchestra toured Europe (reviews from Nürnberg & Frankfurt), the Dallas Symphony Orchestra under their music Director Jaap van Zweden [guest conducting the NSO on April 25^th] did something much the same, with their string of concerts in Eindhoven, Amsterdam, Vienna (Konzerthaus), Munich, Frankfurt, Hamburg, and Hannover. Those last three cities were also on the NSO itinerary. Conveniently the Texans first stopped in Munich, though, where I heard them last Sunday with their second of two programs: Wagner’s Prelude & Liebestod, Steven Stucky’s Elegy from August 4, 1964, and Richard Strauss’ Suite from Der Rosenkavalier pivoting around the constant of the two programs, Erich Korngold’s Violin Concerto, performed by

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Classical Month in Washington (May)

Last month | Next monthClassical Month in Washington is a monthly feature. If there are concerts you would like to see included on our schedule, send your suggestions by e-mail (ionarts at gmail dot com). Happy listening!

May 1, 2013 (Wed)
7:30 pm
Charpentier, Actéon
Opera Lafayette
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

May 1, 2013 (Wed)
8 pm
Philadelphia Orchestra
With Yannick Nézet-Séguin (conductor) and Hilary Hahn (violin)
WPAS
Kennedy Center Concert Hall

May 2, 2013 (Thu)
7 pm
National Symphony Orchestra
With Alisa Weilerstein, cello
Music by Elgar, Shostakovich
Kennedy Center Concert Hall

May 2, 2013 (Thu)
7:30 pm
Charpentier, Actéon
Opera Lafayette
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

May 2, 2013 (Thu)
8 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Music by Higdon, Prokofiev, Adams
Music Center at Strathmore

May 3, 2013 (Fri)
7:30 pm
Anja Bukovec (violin) and George Peachey (piano)
Embassy Series
Embassy of Slovenia

May 3, 2013 (Fri)
8 pm
National Symphony Orchestra
Music by Shchedrin, Shostakovich, Schnittke
Kennedy Center Concert Hall

May 3, 2013 (Fri)
8 pm
Orchestra 2001 [FREE]
With Ann Crumb (soprano), Patrick Mason (baritone)
Music by Crumb, Czernowin
Library of Congress

May 3, 2013 (Fri)
8 pm
University of Maryland Symphony and Concert Choir
Music by Stravinsky, Verdi, Adams, Ives
Clarice Smith Center

May 4, 2013 (Sat)
11 am and 1:30 pm
NSO Teddy Bear Concert
Teddy and the Ten Hats
Kennedy Center Family Theater

May 4, 2013 (Sat)
2 pm
Carducci String Quartet
WPAS
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

May 4, 2013 (Sat)
2 pm
Gamer Symphony Orchestra [FREE]
Clarice Smith Center

May 4, 2013 (Sat)
3 pm
Aeolus String Quartet [FREE]
Clarice Smith Center

May 4, 2013 (Sat)
8 pm
Beethoven, Symphony No. 9
Choralis, Alexandria Choral Society
Schlesinger Concert Hall (Alexandria, Va.)

May 4, 2013 (Sat)
8 pm
Meredith Monk, On Behalf of Nature
Clarice Smith Center

May 4, 2013 (Sat)
8 pm
National Symphony Orchestra
With Alisa Weilerstein, cello
Music by Elgar, Shostakovich
Kennedy Center Concert Hall

May 4, 2013 (Sat)
8 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Music by Higdon, Prokofiev, Adams
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (Baltimore, Md.)

May 4, 2013 (Sat)
8 pm
National Philharmonic
With Denyce Graves, mezzo-soprano
Music Center at Strathmore

May 4, 2013 (Sat)
8 pm
McLean Orchestra
Music by Barber, Ravel, Gershwin

May 4, 2013 (Sat)
8 pm
Haskell Small, piano [FREE]
Washington Conservatory of Music
Westmoreland Congregational Church (Bethesda, Md.)

May 5, 2013 (Sun)
3 pm
National Philharmonic
With Denyce Graves, mezzo-soprano
Music Center at Strathmore

May 5, 2013 (Sun)
3 pm
Nils Neubert (tenor), Julian Milkis (clarinet), Donald Shore (bassoon), Vera Danchenko-Stern (piano)
Russian Chamber Art Society
Katzen Arts Center at American University

May 5, 2013 (Sun)
3 pm
Bach Sinfonia
Baroque music from South America
Cultural Arts Center, Montgomery College (Silver Spring, Md.)

May 5, 2013 (Sun)
4 pm
Pomerium
Renaissance polyphony
Phillips Collection

May 5, 2013 (Sun)
4 pm
Evelyne Berezovsky, piano
Châteauville Foundation (Castleton Farms, Va.)

May 5, 2013 (Sun)
5 pm
University of Maryland Wind Symphony
With members of Orpheus Chamber Orchestra
Music by Mozart, Varèse
Clarice Smith Center

May 5, 2013 (Sun)
5:15 pm
Ines Maidre, organ
Washington National Cathedral

May 5, 2013 (Sun)
5:30 pm
Alban Gerhardt (cello) and Cecile Licad (piano)
Shriver Hall (Baltimore, Md.)

May 5, 2013 (Sun)
7:30 pm
Smithsonian Chamber Players
Music by Beethoven, Purcell, Dohnányi
National Museum of American History

May 6, 2013 (Mon)
7:30 pm
Barnabás Kelemen (violin), Péter Bársony (viola), and Melvin Chen (piano)
Embassy Series
Embassy of Hungary

May 6, 2013 (Mon)
8 pm
University of Maryland Percussion Ensemble [FREE]
Music by Xenakis
Clarice Smith Center

May 8, 2013 (Wed)
7:30 pm
Hemingway: The Sun Also Rises
Washington Ballet
Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater

May 9, 2013 (Thu)
7:30 pm
Hemingway: The Sun Also Rises
Washington Ballet
Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater

May 9, 2013 (Thu)
7:30 pm
Mak Grgic, guitar
Mansion at Strathmore

May 10, 2013 (Fri)
7:30 pm
Hemingway: The Sun Also Rises
Washington Ballet
Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater

May 10, 2013 (Fri)
8 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Screening of Modern Times with live music
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (Baltimore, Md.)

May 10, 2013 (Fri)
8 pm
Annapolis Symphony Orchestra
With Cornelia Herrmann, piano
Maryland Hall (Annapolis, Md.)

May 10, 2013 (Fri)
8 pm
Maya Beiser (cello) and Michael Harrison (piano)
Atlas Performing Arts Center

May 11, 2013 (Sat)
1:30 and 7:30 pm
Hemingway: The Sun Also Rises
Washington Ballet
Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater

May 11, 2013 (Sat)
2 pm
Shai Wosner, piano
WPAS
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

May 11, 2013 (Sat)
6 pm
Emerson String Quartet
With Paul Watkins, cello
Music by Haydn, Bartók, Schubert
National Museum of Natural History

May 11, 2013 (Sat)
8 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Screening of Modern Times with live music
Music Center at Strathmore

May 11, 2013 (Sat)
8 pm
Prince George's Philharmonic
With Michael Mizrahi, piano
Clarice Smith Center

May 11, 2013 (Sat)
8 pm
Chantry
Music by Byrd, Josquin
St. Mary, Mother of God

May 11, 2013 (Sat)
8 pm
Fairfax Symphony Orchestra
GMU Center for the Arts

May 11, 2013 (Sat)
8 pm
Annapolis Symphony Orchestra
With Cornelia Herrmann, piano
Maryland Hall (Annapolis, Md.)

May 12, 2013 (Sun)
1:30 and 7:30 pm
Hemingway: The Sun Also Rises
Washington Ballet
Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater

May 12, 2013 (Sun)
3 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Screening of Modern Times with live music
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (Baltimore, Md.)

May 12, 2013 (Sun)
3 pm
Opera Bel Cantanti
Music by Tchaikovsky (in concert)
JCCGW (Rockville, Md.)

May 12, 2013 (Sun)
3 pm
American Youth Philharmonic Orchestra
GMU Center for the Arts

May 12, 2013 (Sun)
4 pm
Martina Filjak, piano
Phillips Collection

May 12, 2013 (Sun)
4 pm
Cathedral Choral Society
Diamond Jubilee, Queen Elizabeth II
Music by Handel
Washington National Cathedral

May 13, 2013 (Mon)
7:30 pm
Apollo Ensemble
Jewish Baroque music from Italy, Amsterdam
Pro Musica Hebraica
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

May 14, 2013 (Tue)
7:30 pm
Dawn Upshaw, soprano
With Crash Ensemble
Music by Golijov, Dennehy
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

May 15, 2013 (Wed)
7:30 pm
Eugenia Zukerman (flute) and Anthony Newman (harpsichord) [FREE]
National Museum of Women in the Arts

May 17, 2013 (Fri)
7:30 pm
Verdi, Rigoletto
Lyric Opera of Baltimore

May 17, 2013 (Fri)
8 pm
Great Noise Ensemble
Atlas Performing Arts Center

May 18, 2013 (Sat)
8 pm
Chantry
Music by Byrd, Josquin
TBA

May 19, 2013 (Sun)
1 and 3 pm
NSO Family Concert
C. Brubeck, The Cricket in Times Square
Kennedy Center Concert Hall

May 19, 2013 (Sun)
3 pm
Verdi, Rigoletto
Lyric Opera of Baltimore

May 19, 2013 (Sun)
4 pm
Zuill Bailey, cello
Phillips Collection

May 19, 2013 (Sun)
4 pm
Amadeus Orchestra
With Silver-Garburg Piano Duo
Saint Luke Catholic Church (McLean, Va.)

May 19, 2013 (Sun)
5 pm
Capital City Symphony
Atlas Performing Arts Center

May 19, 2013 (Sun)
5:15 pm
Richard Spotts, organ
Washington National Cathedral

May 19, 2013 (Sun)
7:30 pm
Goldstein-Peled-Fiterstein Trio
JCCGW (Rockville, Md.)

May 22, 2013 (Wed)
8 pm
Attacca String Quartet [FREE]
Music by Janáček, Andres, Beethoven, Adams
Library of Congress

May 23, 2013 (Thu)
8 pm
Jennifer Koh (violin) and Reiko Uchida (piano) [FREE]
Music by Janáček, Salonen, Schubert, Adams
Library of Congress

May 23, 2013 (Thu)
8 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
With Carlos Kalmar (conductor) and Jean-Philippe Collard (piano)
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (Baltimore, Md.)

May 24, 2013 (Fri)
7:30 pm
Jonathan Floril, piano
Embassy Series
Embassy of Ecuador

May 24, 2013 (Fri)
8 pm
International Contemporary Ensemble [FREE]
With John Adams, conductor
Music by Stravinsky, Schoenberg, di Castri, Adams
Library of Congress

May 24, 2013 (Fri)
8 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
With Carlos Kalmar (conductor) and Jean-Philippe Collard (piano)
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (Baltimore, Md.)

May 25, 2013 (Sat)
8 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
With Carlos Kalmar (conductor) and Jean-Philippe Collard (piano)
Music Center at Strathmore

May 26, 2013 (Sun)
4 pm
Phillips Camerata
Phillips Collection

May 26, 2013 (Sun)
5:15 pm
Paul Carr, organ
Washington National Cathedral

May 30, 2013 (Thu)
7 pm
National Symphony Orchestra
With John Adams (conductor) and Jeremy Denk (piano)
Music by Respighi, Ravel, Adams
Kennedy Center Concert Hall

May 30, 2013 (Thu)
7:30 pm
Chantry
Music by Byrd, Josquin
St. Bernadette's

May 31, 2013 (Fri)
8 pm
National Symphony Orchestra
With John Adams (conductor) and Jeremy Denk (piano)
Music by Respighi, Ravel, Adams
Kennedy Center Concert Hall

May 31, 2013 (Fri)
8 pm
Gilbert and Sullivan, The Mikado
New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players
Filene Center at Wolf Trap

More 'Norma'

Angela Meade in Norma, Washington National Opera, 2013 (photo by Scott Suchman for WNO)
Even theater and cinema require a suspension of disbelief, a surrendering of the doubts of everyday perception to the narrative tide presented to the senses. Opera, however, is in a class by itself in this department, as "the extravagant art" (in the memorable phrase of scholar Herbert Lindenberger) -- "an exotic and irrational entertainment," as Samuel Johnson put it. Anyone who wants to enjoy opera has to accept that in the world on that stage, people sing instead of speak, to the accompaniment of an orchestra. All sorts of far-fetched things happen, including plot twists few would be willing to accept in theater or cinema, but somehow the emotional heightening achieved by music makes it all satisfying, in a way that has little to do with realism, theatrical or otherwise. Different viewers will have different limitations on just how much they can accept visually, but with many opera lovers, including your reviewer, if the singing is excellent, many other shortcomings can be easily overlooked -- like the Norma of Angela Meade, who is in her 30s, addressing the Adalgisa of Dolora Zajick, who is twice Meade's age, as "giovinetta."

The singing in Washington National Opera's current production of Bellini's Norma, all critics agree, is excellent, indeed more than excellent. I have already written about both the cast and the production, by theater director Anne Bogart, in my review of opening night, and Robert R. Reilly added a second opinion about the second performance. The chance to hear the third and fourth performances this past week, on Friday and Monday nights, offered a chance to reassess the production. If I could have heard all six performances, I would have, solely for the opportunity to hear this cast, which is top-notch. Further hearings confirmed that Angela Meade is one of the voices you will want to hear in years to come, supported with consummate power and professionalism by Dolora Zajick as Adalgisa and bass Dmitry Belosselskiy as Oroveso. Tenor Rafael Davila actually got better as Pollione later in the run, with more security and legato smoothness at the top of his range, if still not that much sound at the bottom. Unfortunately, when I wrote that Mauricio Miranda "had a very off night as Flavio," I was being kind. It was somewhat surprising to me that he was not replaced later in the run: surely the company can produce a better singer to round out this otherwise excellent cast.

First Performance: Charles T. Downey, Meade and Zajick, Trionfo in 'Norma' (Ionarts, March 11) Anne Midgette, Washington National Opera’s ‘Norma’ takes all that symbolism rather literally (Washington Post, March 11) Second Performance: Robert R. Reilly, Second Opinion: WNO 'Norma' — Good Opera, Bad Theater (Ionarts, March 15)

If Anne Bogart's production -- static, ritualized, abstract -- did not really grow on me, it did not grate on me more either, even by the end of the third performance I saw. The libretto places the action in one of the groves sacred to the Druids (foresta sacra de' druidi), but Oroveso's first line instructs the Druids to go up the hills ("Ite sul colle, o Druidi!"), and Neil Patel's organic set provides just such a steeply raked incline. Not much later, Pollione sings of a demonic power that seems to be leading him into a yawning pit ("l'abisso aperto"), which may have inspired the sort of pit that opens up on the right side of the stage. After having sat house right at the first and third performances, I saw the show from house left on Monday night, and it is much less flattering visually, because the scene is dominated by the more squared-off façade to the right representing the Roman occupiers.

The sound is also better from the right side of the house, with the singers more direct and exposed on the left, and the two powerful crescendos at the end of the opera's final number not sounding as perfectly balanced from that position in relation to the orchestra. Conductor Daniele Rustioni settled into the score later in the run, hitting the right tempi with greater assurance and fewer histrionic gestures. The orchestra continued to sound quite good, with some bad intonation issues in the trumpets appearing during the third performance, including the off-stage banda effects. The orchestra remained in its new seating arrangement, introduced by music director Philippe Auguin in the performances of Manon Lescaut, with the strings and harp at the center, the woodwinds on the left and the brass and percussion on the right. The intention is to create a better balance in the house, and it seemed to work much better on the right side of the house than on the left.

Two performances of this production remain, on Thursday night and Sunday afternoon, in the Kennedy Center Opera House. Readers who hear any of the later performances are invited to share their thoughts in the comments section.