Tolomeo from Il Complesso Barocco

Handel, Tolomeo, A. Hallenberg, K. Gauvin, R. Basso, Il Complesso Barocco, A. Curtis (released March 11, 2008) Archiv 477 710-6

Alan Curtis, a musicologist formerly at the University of California at Berkeley, has released a number of striking Baroque opera recordings with his group Il Complesso Barocco. Recent examples recommended here include Handel's Floridante (2007), Radamisto (2005), and Rodelinda (2005) and Vivaldi's Motezuma (2006), and we look forward to the forthcoming Alcina, with Joyce DiDonato in the title role (recorded last summer). The latest Handel to join the collection is this Tolomeo, Rè di Egitto, premiered in 1728, the last opera to be presented under the auspices of the failed Royal Academy of Music. The opera was meant to be produced on a small scale, with just five roles and only one concluding number for chorus. Handel pulled out all the stops for the premiere, casting his celebrated alto castrato, Senesino, in the title role, across from the dueling sopranos Francesca Cuzzoni and Faustina Bordoni as Seleuce and Elisa, respectively. Handel also mounted revivals of Tolomeo, with revisions for different casts, in 1730 and 1733.

For much of the opera, it feels like Handel is phoning it in, although recent scholarship has indicated that the lack of vocal and instrumental pizzazz represents Handel's attempt to create a more dramatically believable work. With singers as talented as this exceptional cast, there are still thrilling moments, especially with the often inspired embellishments on da capo repeats (presumably by Curtis). Worth mention is Elisa's Quanto è felice, with its high notes on short Ha's, by the brilliant soprano of Anna Bonitatibus, another singer in the mold of Simone Kermes, who has worked with Curtis several times. Given Curtis's apparent preference for mezzo-sopranos over countertenors for the castrato roles, the only male voice is the puissant bass of Pietro Spagnoli as Araspe.

Two of the most beautiful numbers in the opera are the duets between Tolomeo and Seleuce, Se il cor ti perde and Tutto contento (at the ends of Acts II and III, respectively), which feature the pure, blended voices of mezzo-soprano Ann Hallenberg (Tolomeo) and soprano Karina Gauvin (Seleuce). Both are splendid individually, too, as is Romina Basso in the role of Tolomeo's younger brother, Alessandro. The major conflict of the libretto (.PDF file) by Nicola Francesco Haym is a struggle of succession, between Tolomeo (Ptolemy IX) and his mother, Cleopatra, who favors his younger brother, who will become Ptolemy X. The opera begins like The Tempest, with a shipwreck, as Tolomeo's brother, Alessandro, washes up on the shores of Cyprus, where he falls in love with Elisa, the sister of the ruler, Adraspe.

Elisa has fallen in love with Tolomeo, who has been exiled to Cyprus and lives disguised as a shepherd. By chance, Tolomeo's wife, for whom he has searched in vain, is also living on Cyprus disguised as a shepherdess. Adraspe falls in love with her, and hilarity ensues. Improbably, all of these complications are, not unexpectedly, resolved into a lieto fine. This opera may not be the best option for the average listener, but for any fan of good Baroque playing and singing, it is highly recommended.

Felicity Lott Channels Yvonne Printemps

Soprano Felicity Lott (photo by Trevor Leighton)

Vocal Arts Society concluded another excellent season on Wednesday night with a delectable recital by British soprano Felicity Lott and her long-time collaborator, the superlative Graham Johnson. The capacity crowd took some extra time to pass through the recently added security measures at the Austrian Embassy, but the opening note was delayed only by about fifteen minutes. The brilliant program of this recital was organized in sets devoted to important poets, beginning with Mahler's settings of poems by Friedrich Rückert. The duo were strongest in the dreamy textures of the slower songs of the Fünf Rückertlieder, with a gentle, varied vocal line from Lott in Ich atmet' einen linden Duft! perfumed by gentle, heavily pedaled aromas in the piano. In the shy Blicke mir nicht in die Lieder, Johnson's playing could have been a little more agile, but that somewhat fuzzy style was perfectly suited to Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen, which ended in a disembodied and exquisite stillness. Although it seemed a shame not to have heard the set's final song, Um Mitternacht, that suspended stasis made for a glorious conclusion.

A set of Rückert and Goethe songs by Schumann and Wolf ended the first half. Schumann's Widmung and Liebeslied provided a chance for a more agitated musical approach. Lott's German pronunciation was clean, and her characterization for each song was carefully crafted, from detached coolness to coy, girlish skittishness. The voice sounded strained at the top at times, but Lott was still able to spin out a gorgeous high pianissimo. The set ended with a pairing of two of Wolf's settings of Goethe's lyrics for Mignon, the wandering naïf in Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship, sung with childish intensity and some of the most booming sounds from the embassy's Bösendorfer.

Yvonne Printemps

A second half of filthy French songs prompted a gown change for Lott, from classic gold to bright pink. Johnson later explained that the program was also unified by the connection of all of the songs to Yvonne Printemps (née Wignolle, 1894-1977), the genre-crossing French soprano. A set of Baudelaire poems brought together songs by Duparc and Debussy, as well as lesser composers Pierre Capdevielle and Henri Sauguet. Duparc's L'invitation au voyage and Capdevielle's Je n'ai pas oublié seemed in this context to be the French mirror image of the Mignon songs, a dream of an exotic Shangri-La (the Netherlands) and a memory of a lost home. Lott's French was as good as her German, with only the deadly combination of "u" and "r" proving difficult ("sur," "azur").

Other Reviews: Anne Midgette, Felicity Lott, Basking in a Wistful Glow (Washington Post, May 10) Joshua Kosman, French songs elicit Lott's best (San Francisco Chronicle, May 3) Thomas Aujero Small, A Halcyon Recital (ConcertoNet, May 2)

Johnson, speaking from the piano, took the part of Noël Coward to Lott's Yvonne Printemps in a set of pieces from the act Coward wrote for her. For all that Coward's music has an effortless, refined air, it can be desperately hard for other performers to recreate that brilliant nonchalance, but it was a natural fit for Johnson and Lott. Nevermore had one of those instantly memorable melodies that Coward could spin so easily, and English Lesson, with Lott feigning to read her language exercises from a book, was a macaronic stitch. A final set of poems by Printemps's first husband, Sacha Guitry, concluded the recital, extended the Coward group with a series of pretty cabaret-style songs. This conclusion not only provided a lighter contrast to the earlier serious repertoire, it brought some attention to composers like Reynaldo Hahn, Oscar Straus, and André Messager. Encores continued in the same vein, with Coward's If Love Were All and Poulenc's setting of the Jean Anouilh poem Les chemins de l'amour.

This concert will be repeated tomorrow (May 10, 7:30 pm) at Carnegie Hall.


Noel Coward and Yvonne Printemps, I'll Follow My Secret Heart
Vocal Arts Society's 2008-2009 season promises to be another blockbuster. Major names are on the roster, including another recital by Felicity Lott (April 17, 2009), Anne-Sophie von Otter in her stunning Theresienstadt program (April 30, 2009 -- not part of the subscription series), Magdalena Kožená (May 6, 2009), and Teddy Tahu Rhodes (May 12, 2009). The other secret to VAS's success is that it showcases the most promising young singers, too, including mezzo-soprano Kate Lindsey with Steven Blier's New York Festival of Song (November 14, 2008), Sarah Coburn and Lawrence Brownlee (January 31, 2009), soprano Susanna Phillips (March 26, 2009). If you enjoy exquisite song recitals, get your subscription soon.

Hilary Hahn Performs Paganini Concerto

Hilary Hahn, violinist

As arguably the most outstanding American violinist of her young generation -- with Julia Fischer holding the European title -- Hilary Hahn’s Thursday evening performance with the National Symphony Orchestra exemplified her unparalleled standards of perfection in performance. Verdi’s Overture to I vespri siciliani provided a suitable introduction the violin pyrotechnics show to follow, with the portamenti of the cello section, perhaps the strongest string section of the NSO, sounding gorgeous.

One might expect more than a show of soloistic virtuosity from Paganini’s Violin Concerto No. 1 given the composer’s thin orchestral writing, but one would be wrong. (Paganini's personal quartet of Stradiviari instruments were nearby last fall.) Hahn exploited Paganini’s weaknesses in order to direct all attention to her soaring tone, continuously far above the orchestra. I had incorrectly written off Hahn’s enormously forward tone in her recent CD of concertos (reviewed by Charles here and by Anne Midgette at the Post) as artificially enhanced; now I stand corrected.

Other Reviews: Anne Midgette, The NSO's Wild Wonderland (Washington Post, May 9)

Back to the Paganini, Hahn made each note have a purpose and is one of the only NSO violin soloists this season not to fudge through double and triple stops and other technical challenges in terms of intonation. The sweet second movement Adagio expressivo was augmented by Hahn’s wide and fast vibrato. The first movement (Allegro maestoso) was almost not quite enough Maestoso for Hahn to manage; the more relaxed tempo of the third-movement Rondo: Allegro spirituoso was more pleasing. Blistering runs, chords, multiple-stop glissandi, harmonics, and runs of harmonics were all handled in a cool, masterful way in the cadenza, where she at times accompanied herself with chords dashed between florid runs. Hahn’s sleepy encore, a soupy sarabande from Bach's second partita, was a real let-down; however, one can understand why she chose to contrast the Paganini with something mellow (perhaps to clear the cholesterol from her veins).

Hila Plitmann, soprano

The program ended with David Del Tredici’s Final Alice (1976), an extended work for large orchestra and amplified soprano (Hila Plitmann) speaking and singing the “final” chapters of Alice in Wonderland. This tonal work featuring unusual orchestration was undermined by the vocalist's microphone, which discouraged close listening. Feedback through the sound system seemingly affected Plitmann’s pitch, especially when the engineers adjusted the volume to match orchestral swells. Perhaps they could have turned the microphone on only during Plitmann’s speaking parts? Otherwise, Plitmann could likely have held her own.

This concert repeats tonight and tomorrow night (May 9 and 10, 8 pm), in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall.

Handel's Saul: "Thou darling of my soul"

Handel, Saul, English Baroque Soloists, Monteverdi Choir, John Eliot Gardiner (remastered August 14, 2007) Philips 475 8256

With Saul, David, and Jonathan on my mind recently, it seems a good time to revisit this recently remastered recording of a classic musical setting of the Biblical story, Handel's oratorio Saul. The title is a good indication of the different focus of Handel's librettist, Charles Jennens (1700-1773), on the character of Saul, instead of the friendship of David and Jonathan (as in Charpentier's intermèdes). Instead of beginning with the Witch of Endor scenes, as Charpentier did, Handel and Jennens leave the summoning of the Ghost of Samuel to the third act, where it leads directly to Saul's destruction. Jennens drew on Abraham Cowley's Davideis, an epic poem left incomplete, to add the character of Merab, Jonathan's jealous sister, and some of the conceits of the famous Envy Chorus at the opening of Act II.

Tenor John Mark Ainsley is a pleasing Jonathan, appropriately lyric for a teenager, while countertenor Derek Lee Ragin is a little strident as David. Bass Alastair Miles is a rumbling, ranting Saul. Soprano Donna Brown's pretty voice is both venomous and later sweet as Jonathan's sister Merab, who initially hates David and later admires him. Ruth Holton has an angelic, white-toned turn on "An infant raised" that one wishes might have been applied instead to the role of Michal, in which Lynne Dawson was a little acidic and under-inflated. The English pronunciation is all native in this classic performance, a distinct advantage, and the diction clear as a bell.

It is a tribute to John Eliot Gardiner's pioneering spirit in historically informed performance that this early recording still sounds so good. The organ and harpsichord are both beautifully played and captured, as are the strange carillon that is meant to signal Saul's mad jealousy (as in the symphony at the end of Act I, scene 2). The three trombones are round-toned and accurate, too. The high quality is all the remarkable for this combination of several live performances, at the 1989 Göttingen Handel Festival. Like most performances of Saul, Gardiner mostly follows the 1739 version of the score, from the work's premiere. This includes having the part of David, which Handel originally composed for the mezzo-soprano Marchesini, sung an octave down by a tenor. The Witch of Endor, sung by a character tenor, could be sung in a much more burlesque way than it was here by Philip Salmon.

The Gardiner set cannot compete on merit alone with the two most recent recordings of Saul, from the Gabrieli Consort and Paul McCreesh, with Andreas Scholl's David (one of Jens's Best Recordings of 2004) and the even more pleasing version from Concerto Köln/RIAS Kammerchor and René Jacobs (which made the Best Recordings of 2005). The Jacobs is lean and mean, a vigorous reading that helps point out just how expansive Gardiner's reading. That same broadness that makes Gardiner a little dull in the first two acts is luxuriant in the final scene, an extended lamentation from the Dead March through Jennens' poetic heightening of the Biblical text of David's grief.

Next Season from WPAS

Anne-Sophie Mutter, violinist

Washington Performing Arts Society has released its schedule for the next season, and the choices may be somewhat predictable but with most of those reliable choices, how could one mind? Anne-Sophie Mutter will be back, for the Season Opening Celebration (October 11) with the Camerata Salzburg. Other violinists returning next season are Vadim Repin with Nikolai Lugansky (November 15), Midori (November 2), Joshua Bell (February 4, 2009) with Jeremy Denk, and

As for visiting orchestras in the ongoing dance of conductor hiring, we will have the New York Philharmonic (October 4), but with Lorin Maazel instead of incoming music director Alan Gilbert. Gustavo Dudamel, who has everyone and his brother in rapturous delight, will conduct twice, with the Israel Philharmonic (November 18) and the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra (April 6, 2009). Far more interesting on the young conductor front from my point of view will be the appearance of Vladimir Jurowski with the London Philharmonic (February 26, 2009). Valery Gergiev will conduct Prokofiev with the London Symphony Orchestra (March 28, 2009). Manfred Honeck will make a visit with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (May 4, 2009), and Charles Dutoit with the Philadelphia Orchestra (June 3, 2009).

Krystian Zimerman, pianist

Piano recitals will include Louis Lortie playing the complete Chopin etudes (May 2, 2009), Evgeny Kissin (March 1, 2009), András Schiff playing Beethoven (October 10), and the divine Maurizio Pollini (October 29), Richard Goode (March 29, 2009), and Olga Kern (March 22, 2009). Krystian Zimerman has sworn not to play in the U.S. "until the Iraq situation is sorted" -- his recital (April 8, 2009) will fall after a new president begins his or her term.

Exciting new names on the roster include pianists Anna Vinnitskaya (September 27), Yevgeny Sudbin (January 24, 2009), and Simone Dinnerstein (February 7, 2009), the Capuçon brothers with Nicholas Angelich (November 21), and violinist Nicola Benedetti (February 3, 2009). Cellist Daniel Müller-Schott will collaborate with pianist Angela Hewitt in a fascinating Bach and Beethoven program (December 15). There are also some older, recognizable, and -- frankly -- less exciting names: Frederica von Stade and Samuel Ramey (March 25, 2009), Yo-Yo Ma with the Silk Road Project (March 11, 2009), and the Tokyo String Quartet (April 17, 2009).

Kožená and Marcon's Handel

Magdalena Kožená, Ah! Mio Cor: Handel Arias, Venice Baroque Orchestra, Andrea Marcon (released April 22, 2008) Archiv 477 6547 Other Kožená Reviews: La Clemenza di Tito (Mackerras) Mozart Arias | Lamento Enchantment compilation Gluck, Paride ed Elena (McCreesh)

We have admired Magdalena Kožená's recordings many times before at Ionarts. The Czech mezzo-soprano's latest disc of Handel arias forms a pleasing diptych with her earlier release of Italian cantatas by Handel with Mark Minkowski's Les Musiciens du Louvre. This was her first collaboration with Venice Baroque Orchestra and Andrea Marcon, a set of pieces performed in live concert in Brussels (review by Martine Mergeay) and elsewhere in 2007. (The recording was made in Toblach's Gustav Mahler Saal in 2006 and was released last year in Europe.) Kožená's voice is well suited to the transparency and incisiveness of historically informed performance (HIP) ensembles, and Marcon's is one of the best in the field today.

The voice can have an intense grain to it, especially toward the top at full volume (as in Alcina's "Ah! mio cor!"). This is only one color that Kožená pulls from her palette to illustrate the range of emotional states in these arias, mostly from operas and a few from oratorios. A certain vocal stridency enters for Deianira's "Where Shall I Fly?" from Hercules, quite appropriately for the context. The jealous wife of Heracles, tricked by the centaur Nessus, has accidentally caused the death of her husband and sees the Furies rise up against her to avenge him. The meaning of the line "What yellings rend my tortured ear!" is treated quite literally. Even the most dramatic moments, however, do not cross the line into ugliness (close in Orlando's mad scene "Ah! stigie larve!"). Kožená's Italian has been well coached by Rita de Letteriis, but the English is charmingly idiomatic at some points (the often pronounced "theh," for example).

The VBO plays with lean, luscious sound, featuring fine solo contributions from the oboe (Stefanie Haegele) and trumpet (Patrick Henrichs). The continuo is covered exclusively by harpsichord, with two lutes percolating through the texture at delicate moments. If there were any doubt that Kožená is a mezzo-soprano (she has flirted before with some of the soprano repertoire), her "Scherza infida" features a ghostly low F#. The cadenzas and ornamented da capo repeats, uncredited in the booklet, are all interesting and tasteful. The burgeoning Handel discography and the composer's continuing growth in popularity means that it is harder and harder to unearth real discoveries. Most of the selections, happily, are not overly familiar, but a couple of inevitable favorites ("Oh! Had I Jubal's Lyre" and "Lascia ch'io pianga") will do no one any harm.


Oh, Had I Jubal's Lyre, from Joshua (in concert in Brussels, 2007)

Listening to Itzhak Perlman

Itzhak Perlman
Washington Post, May 6, 2008

Itzhak Perlman (violin) and Rohan DeSilva (piano)
Washington Performing Arts Society
Music Center at Strathmore

David ♥ Jonathas

Brian Cummings (David), David et Jonathas, American Opera Theater (workshop version, 2005) American Opera Theater: Messiah | Ground | Acis and Galatea | La Didone

Judging by the preview article of this weekend's production by American Opera Theater, Artistic Director Timothy Nelson has taken a page from Sergei Diaghilev's lesson book. Concerning his gay interpretation of Marc-Antoine Charpentier's David et Jonathas, Nelson admits that the relationship of the future King of Israel with Jonathan, the son of his doomed predecessor, Saul, is not construed as homosexual in the Bible. He also admits that Charpentier did not intend his intermède scenes to be interpreted that way in 1688, when they were performed between the acts of a Latin play about Saul at a Jesuit school (the Collège Louis-le-Grand in Paris). None of that should prevent Nelson from recasting the story that way in his production, of course, and the shock of the choice was perhaps an attempt to attract notoriety (although it must be said that a homosexual understanding of the relationship is hardly new).

Charpentier, David et Jonathas, Les Arts Florissants, W. Christie

Charpentier's music is not exactly unknown, having been recorded in an excellent (but now difficult to locate) set by Les Arts Florissants and toured in concert by the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment a few years ago. Still, the staging of this unusual and gorgeous work (libretto by François Bretonneau) is a major achievement for Nelson and his young company. In a city where operatic taste is so damnably conservative, American Opera Theater is often like a breath of fresh air, if only because the group tends to produce works off the well-trodden Top 20 path that makes up so much of American operatic life. This is a work that is most welcome in a live performance, especially in one that was in many ways musically pleasing.

Other Articles: Anne Midgette, 'David' Slays a Grand Ambition (Washington Post, May 5) Karren L. Alenier, The Angelic Voices of David and Jonathas (The Dressing, May 3) Rebecca J. Ritzel, A Provocative Twist on the Bible and the Baroque (Washington Post, May 2) Rebecca Duren, For the Record (A Soprano on Her Feet, May 3)

The Ignoti Dei Orchestra, basically a pick-up group of HIP specialists with a few regulars, played with poise and stylistic sensitivity. Particularly fine sounds came from wind players Kathryn Montoya (doubling on oboe and various recorders) and Anna Marsh (bassoon), as well as paired violin principals Dana Maiben and Daniel Boothe. Local early music veteran Tina Chancey headed up the low string section, and Kris Kwapis Ingles added some clarion sounds on trumpet. As happened during AOT's recent production of Messiah, Nelson conducted the performance. While he was able to resolve a couple of rhythmic misalignments among the ensemble, it was not clear what benefit Nelson's presence had in the pit over, say, co-music director Adam Pearl leading from the keyboard.

2 Kings 1: 17-27 And David made this kind of lamentation over Saul, and over Jonathan his son. And he said: Consider, O Israel, for them that are dead, wounded on thy high places. The illustrious of Israel are slain upon thy mountains: how are the valiant fallen? Tell it not in Geth, publish it not in the streets of Ascalon: lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph. Ye mountains of Gelboe, let neither dew, nor rain come upon you, neither be they fields of firstfruits: for there was cast away the shield of the valiant, the shield of Saul as though he had not been anointed with oil. From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the valiant, the arrow of Jonathan never turned back, and the sword of Saul did not return empty. Saul and Jonathan, lovely, and comely in their life, even in death they were not divided: they were swifter than eagles, stronger than lions. Ye daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed you with scarlet in delights, who gave ornaments of gold for your attire. How are the valiant fallen in battle? Jonathan slain in the high places? I grieve for thee, my brother Jonathan: exceeding beautiful, and amiable to me above the love of women. As the mother loveth her only son, so did I love thee. How are the valiant fallen, and the weapons of war perished?

The singing was a mixed bag, with many of the smaller voices too often covered by the orchestra. Part of this may have something to do with the arrangement of Georgetown's Gonda Theater, and the balance was better when we sat toward the back of the seating than at the front, near the pit. Anyone who remembers Rebecca Duren's astounding turn as Ascanio in La Didone will not be surprised to hear that she was a convincingly boyish Jonathas, again channeling a boy soprano sound. Emily Noel and Bonnie McNaughton (Creusa/Anna and Dido, respectively, in La Didone) were impressive as major parts of the Petit Chœur. Kristen Dubenion-Smith had to bark and growl a bit as La Pythonisse (the Witch of Endor), but it suited the character just fine.

As for the production, much more confusing than the homosexual love relationship of the title characters was the time setting. The Biblical backdrop, of course, is a war in the Middle East, between the ancient Israelites and the Philistines. Saul is trying to destroy the Philistines, and David helps him at first. As Saul becomes jealous of David's victories, David takes refuge with the Philistines for a time and puts together alliances on both sides. Nelson's production makes reference to modern political struggles in the Middle East, but not in any coherent way. The chorus is clothed in black cloaks and hoods -- burqas? the infamous garb of the Abu-Ghraib prisoners? -- and spends most of the performance behind a fence of posts and concertina wire. Are the two sides Iraq and the United States? Israel and the Palestinian Authority? It makes more of a mess of the story than helping to illuminate it.

American Opera Theater will take its production of David et Jonathas to the Brooklyn Academy of Music this weekend (May 9 and 10, 7:30 pm).

UPDATE:
Vivian Schweitzer, Modernizing a Baroque French Opera (New York Times, May 13)
See also David et Jonathas: What were they smoking? (Cafeteria Rusticana, May 11) and Timothy Nelson's reaction to the Washington reviews -- especially the (edited) comment by Henry Holland.