Борис Годунов

M.Musorgsky, Boris Godunov (1869 & Rimsky Korsakov editions), V.Gergiev, Kirov, Soloists Philips M.Musorgsky, Boris Godunov (1872 'R.K.' Edition), V.Gergiev, Kirov, Soloists Decca

Calixto Bieito must be getting old: His new production at the Bavarian State Opera ofModest Musorgsky’s Boris Godunov (original version in four acts and seven scenes) doesn’t feature full frontal nudity. This third performance since the February 13^th premiere didn’t even draw a single Boo! At least it holds plenty violence in store. In the wake of False Dmitri (Dmitri the Pretender a.k.a. novice Grigory) bodies pile up, shot at point blank range and strangled with a pillow case. Not all of this can be found in the libretto, but even with Bieito’s best efforts, the opera version still remains considerably less violent than the Russian original, the “Time of Troubles.”

all the efforts of Bieito notwithstanding, the operatic version still remains considerably less violent than the reality of that part—the “Time of Troubles”—in Russian history.

It has been a while since I last saw a Boris: It was 2005, when Valery Gergiev conducted the Mariinsky Orchestra at the Kennedy Center; the staging (also of the unedited 1869 version) was a spruced-up traveling show—all light and foldable, a bit conventional, yet exquisite. Bieito and the State Opera lavished their considerably greater and more expensive attention on the staging, yet achieved little more.

Boris Godunov tells the story of the rise and fall of the third Russian Tsar in seven, not particularly connected pictures. It might be argued whether or not it is a duty of a production to connect that which isn’t; it might equally be argued whether Bieito doesn’t succeed in doing so, or whether he didn’t try. He badly flounders through the first act, with a tiresome “oppressed crowd scene”. Bieito at his best is an ingenious director, but, alas, hampered by his do-gooder ignorance about economics and his anarchic hyper-sensitivity to oppression by the state and clichéd ideas of capital. (Granted, he’s not the only econ-ignoramus in the opera world: Whenever manacing consumerism, evil globalization, and threatening free markets are hoisted onto the stage, I’m reminded of Mitchell & Webb’s “Lazy Writers’ Emergency Medical Treatment”.) Instead of delivering a first scene with an ultimately felt plea for Boris to become Tsar (interrupted by blips of violent ‘peace-keeping’ against mock-trouble-makers), we get ham-handed people-oppression in riot gear, with clumsy overtones of Pussy Riot, anti-austerity messages, and so erratic and pointless in its mildly sadistic aggression that it’s no longer threatening, but ludicrous.

The good news is that it gets only better from thereon. Rebecca Ringst built Bieito a ‘Machine’ for Boris which takes over from the second picture onward. It looks something like a cross of a spice harvester on Dune with a stranded barge, and it opens its many mouths of rough metal exterior to a multi-room palace on the inside. A totalitarian Kinder Egg, if you will. On the inside: Alexander Tsymbalyuk’s young and strapping Boris (in terrific, clear and resonant voice) who wonders and wanders, and instructs his little Fyodor. The latter is sung by Yulia Sokolik (an adult female), and perfectly congruously performed as a little girl. (Her inclusion as a woman added at least another female role to the two lady-cameos of this version. (Xenia, Boris’ daughter, and her nurse are the otherwise sole representatives of their gender.) Bieito’s conspiracy scene of the boyars is intimate and chilling, with the cunning Prince Shuysky plotting away like Wallace Shawn as Vizzini, in Gerhard Siegel fine tenor.

The violence and the dark set, down to Dmitri’s final murder spree, suit the bleak original version—both musically and dramatically speaking. But perhaps too well: The whole affair, without intermission, and with Kent Nagano’s often brittle touches, end up feeling more slow-going and dreary than need be. Nagano wasn’t all hardened cool, though: The softer his Bavarian State Orchestra played, the more sensitive and nuanced it got, emoting gentle empathy. (Only the horns had off night with plenty cracks.)

Vladimir Matorin skillfully indulged in the popular, populist role of Varlaam, the inebriated monk-cum-vagabond. The Innkeeper (Okka von der Damerau), now a beggarly street food vendor, gets happily molested and her little girl abused. It’s hardly a surprise when she shoots the border guards to facilitate Grigoriy/Dmitri’s escape. Anatoly Kotscherga, with soulful timbre and artless dignity, was a stand-out Pimen. Kevin Conners, the State Opera’s man for everything, did himself proud as Yuródivïy (the Holy Fool) who ends up with a bullet in the cranium, courtesy of a manipulated little girl that evidently broke bad.

Pictures above and below courtesy Bavarian State Opera, © Wilfried Hösl

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Smithsonian Chamber Orchestra

Charles T. Downey, Smithsonian Chamber Orchestra at Renwick Gallery
Washington Post, March 5, 2013

Stravinsky, Dumbarton Oaks Concerto (inter alia), Ensemble Intercontemporain, P. Boulez

Three pieces of music composed in the years around World War II can reveal not only the range of emotions inspired by world events, but also the ferment of musical styles in that era. This was the goal of an excellent program offered by the Smithsonian Chamber Orchestra on Sunday night, in the Grand Salon of the Renwick Gallery, executed thoughtfully and with admirable precision.

Stravinsky’s Orchestral Concerto in E-flat came to be known by the name of the house where it was premiered, Dumbarton Oaks in Georgetown, in 1938. The first movement bubbled along, the players adroitly avoiding the many possible pitfalls of shifting meter, the poky second movement animated by jabs of melody punctuated by bassoon bleats, jazzy bass syncopations and a chatty flute solo. [Continue reading]

Smithsonian Chamber Orchestra
Music by Stravinsky, Copland, Shostakovich
Renwick Gallery

'Manon Lescaut' at WNO

Patricia Racette (Manon) and Kamen Chanev (Des Grieux) in Manon Lescaut, Washington National Opera, 2013 (photo by Scott Suchman)

I have a weak spot for Puccini and especially for Manon Lescaut, the earliest of the composer's operas to remain in regular performance. It was the first opera I ever saw at the Metropolitan Opera, as an undergraduate music major visiting the big city for the first time (a story I have told elsewhere), and the experience set me on a course of opera obsession. In many ways, the score, premiered in Turin in 1893, is one of Puccini's best, showing him working out an understanding of the Wagnerian Leitmotif in his own way and not yet fully reaching the vulgar excesses of his later melodramas. So I was happy to see it on Washington National Opera's season, especially since I had missed the debut of this production, made for WNO in 2004. The chance to study the work again with a group of my students (in a class that I take to an opera dress rehearsal every year) was equally welcome.

As experienced at opening night, in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall on Saturday evening, this revival is a success but far from a revelation. Soprano Patricia Racette had a solid role debut as Manon, youthful and sweet of tone in the first act, if not as refined as one might hope (in "In quelle trine morbide," for example), but with the needed power and dramatic presence for the main event of "Sola, perduta, abbandonata" in the last act. Kamen Chanev stepped into the role of Des Grieux at the beginning of the rehearsal process, to replace Marco Fabio Armiliato, who had just had a vocal surgery and was on medical rest. It was a competent, if not stellar company debut for the Bulgarian tenor, whose sturdy voice carried on the role's high notes -- in many ways, Des Grieux has the better music -- but was not always quite polished in terms of intonation or suavity. In two other company debuts, veteran singer Jake Gardner was an arrogant, rather ridiculous Geronte, while Giorgio Caoduro was less than elegant as Lescaut, a little vocally rough around the edges. In minor roles, Raúl Melo was equally rough as Edmondo, while WNO regular Robert Baker came close to stealing Act II as the fruity, snooty dancing master.

Other Reviews: Anne Midgette, WNO shows promise of things to come in ‘Manon Lescaut’ (Washington Post, March 4) Philip Kennicott, Puccini's Manon Lescaut (PhilipKennicott.com, March 4)

John Pascoe's staging managed to be both disappointingly traditional (Pascoe's set for Act I, pictured above, looking like it could have come out of a Thomas Kinkade painting) and a little odd (a nice touch to have the Act IV desert a red-baked hellscape, with exploded fragments of the boudoir scene in Act II littering the bare stage). Stage-length mirrors hinted heavy-handedly at the element of self-regard in the story, and a video-screened parchment opened and closed, showing us the relationship of life lived and remembered in literature. This gave the sense of entering into the characters' lives through the book of Abbé Prévost, but also the sense of how an aria moment in an opera is a distancing mechanism, with some of the celebrated solos of the opera taking place in front of the closed book. Not that the modernized production by Mariusz Trelinski just mounted in Brussels (last day of live streaming is today) would have necessarily been better (Manon snorting cocaine and all), but sometimes a little outrage can be welcome.

At the podium, music director Philippe Auguin sounded a little impatient, although the fast tempi often gave the crowd scenes a good urgency. He is experimenting with a new seating arrangement for the orchestra in this production, with the strings and harp in the center of the pit, which yielded fine results in the Intermezzo and other string-centered parts of the score. Having the winds to the left and the brass to the right did seem to help with the balance, although there were still moments when the pit overpowered the stage.

This production will run through March 23, in the Kennedy Center Opera House.

Paul Lewis @ LoC

Charles T. Downey, Paul Lewis plays Schubert with force and flair at Library of Congress
Washington Post, March 4, 2013

Schubert, Piano Sonata, D. 845, Wanderer Fantasy (inter alia), P. Lewis (2012)

The free concert series at the Library of Congress, long focused on chamber music, does not include many piano recitals. The venue’s new piano, debuted in 2011, may change that trend, and Saturday afternoon’s recital by Paul Lewis set an excellent example. The English pianist, who has been steadily putting together a fine recorded set of Schubert’s piano sonatas for Harmonia Mundi, played two of the composer’s late sonatas, remarkable for their power, expressive range and multitude of crunchy sonic details.

Lewis gave the C minor sonata (D. 958) all of its force and flair right from the opening of the first movement, reveling in the work’s active figuration, giving it a kinetic energy. His singing touch had more than enough power to vault the melody over all the movement, which is often played in a more understated way, the drama capped off by a moody coda. [Continue reading]

Paul Lewis, piano
Schubert, Sonatas (D. 958 and 959)
Library of Congress

Classical Month in Washington (April)

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!

April 1, 2013 (Mon)
7:30 pm
Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities: Martin Scorsese
National Endowment for the Humanities
Kennedy Center Concert Hall

April 1, 2013 (Mon)
7:30 pm
Yo Kosuge, piano
S&R Foundation Overtures Concert Series
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

April 2, 2013 (Tue)
12:10 pm
Noontime Cantata: Bleib bei uns, denn es will Abend werden, BWV 6
Washington Bach Consort
Church of the Epiphany

April 3, 2013 (Wed)
12:10 pm
Crowden School Ensemble [FREE]
National Gallery of Art

April 3, 2013 (Wed)
8 pm
Mason Symphony Orchestra
GMU Center for the Arts

April 4, 2013 (Thu)
7 pm
National Symphony Orchestra
With Hugh Wolff (conductor) and Emanuel Ax (piano)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall

April 4, 2013 (Thu)
7:30 pm
Kristin Lee, violin
Mansion at Strathmore

April 4, 2013 (Thu)
8 pm
Windscape Quartet
Clarice Smith Center

April 4, 2013 (Thu)
8 pm
Ivo Kaltchev, piano
Catholic University

April 5, 2013 (Fri)
7 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Fantasia screened with live music
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (Baltimore, Md.)

April 5, 2013 (Fri)
7 pm
Le Choeur des Armaillis de la Gruyère
With 18th Street Singers
Lansbergh Theater

April 5, 2013 (Fri)
8 pm
National Symphony Orchestra
With Hugh Wolff (conductor) and Emanuel Ax (piano)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall

April 5, 2013 (Fri)
8 pm
Gabriel Kahane (composer) and Timothy Andres (piano) [FREE]
Library of Congress

April 5, 2013 (Fri)
8 pm
Peter Kolkay (bassoon), Alexandra Nguyen (piano), and Deirdre Chadwick (oboe)
Barns at Wolf Trap

April 5, 2013 (Fri)
8 pm
Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic and Choirs
Music Center at Strathmore

April 5, 2013 (Fri)
8 pm
Annapolis Symphony Orchestra
With Markus Placci, violin
Maryland Hall (Annapolis, Md.)

April 6, 2013 (Sat)
11 am
Peter and the Wolf
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Bob Brown Puppets
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (Baltimore, Md.)

April 6, 2013 (Sat)
3 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Fantasia screened with live music
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (Baltimore, Md.)

April 6, 2013 (Sat)
3:30 pm
Winners of Feder Memorial String Competition [FREE]
National Gallery of Art

April 6, 2013 (Sat)
8 pm
National Symphony Orchestra
With Hugh Wolff (conductor) and Emanuel Ax (piano)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall

April 6, 2013 (Sat)
8 pm
National Philharmonic
Music Center at Strathmore

April 6, 2013 (Sat)
8 pm
A Far Cry
Dumbarton Concerts

April 6, 2013 (Sat)
8 pm
Hermitage Piano Trio
Candlelight Concert Society
Smith Theater, Howard Community College (Columbia, Md.)

April 6, 2013 (Sat)
8 pm
University of Maryland Chorale and Chamber Singers
Clarice Smith Center

April 6, 2013 (Sat)
8 pm
Annapolis Symphony Orchestra
With Markus Placci, violin
Maryland Hall (Annapolis, Md.)

April 6, 2013 (Sat)
8 pm
Orlando Roman, guitar [FREE]
Washington Conservatory of Music
Westmoreland Congregational UCC Church (Bethesda, Md.)

April 7, 2013 (Sun)
3 pm
Clancy Newman (cello) and Noreen Cassidy Polera (piano) [FREE]
National Academy of Sciences

April 7, 2013 (Sun)
3 pm
Bach Sinfonia
Cultural Arts Center (Silver Spring, Md.)

April 7, 2013 (Sun)
3 pm
Illuminare
Falls Church (Falls Church, Va.)

April 7, 2013 (Sun)
4 pm
Choir of King's College, Cambridge
Washington National Cathedral

April 7, 2013 (Sun)
4 pm
Amphion Quartet
Phillips Collection

April 7, 2013 (Sun)
4 pm
WNO Domingo-Cafritz Young Artists
Amadeus Concerts
St. Luke Catholic Church (McLean, Va.)

April 7, 2013 (Sun)
5:30 pm
Pavel Haas Calder Quartet
Shriver Hall (Baltimore, Md.)

April 7, 2013 (Sun)
6 pm
Donizetti, Maria Stuarda
Washington Concert Opera
Lisner Auditorium

April 7, 2013 (Sun)
6 pm
What Makes It Great: Schumann Piano Quintet
Musicians from Curtis Institute of Music
Lecture-performance with Rob Kapilow
National Museum of Natural History

April 7, 2013 (Sun)
6:30 pm
Danielle DeSwert Hahn, piano [FREE]
National Gallery of Art

April 7, 2013 (Sun)
7 pm
András Schiff, piano
WPAS
Music Center at Strathmore

April 8, 2013 (Mon)
8 pm
Diana Damrau, soprano
Washington National Opera Celebrity Concert Series
Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater

April 9, 2013 (Tue)
7:30 pm
Mixed Repertory Program (Bizet, Purcell, Shostakovich)
American Ballet Theater
Kennedy Center Opera House

April 9, 2013 (Tue)
7:30 pm
Gülsin Onay, piano
Embassy Series
Residence of Turkish Ambassador

April 10, 2013 (Wed)
12:10 pm
National Gallery of Art Vocal Ensemble [FREE]
National Gallery of Art

April 10, 2013 (Wed)
7:30 pm
Mixed Repertory Program (Bizet, Purcell, Shostakovich)
American Ballet Theater
Kennedy Center Opera House

April 11, 2013 (Thu)
1:30 pm
Bach Cantata Series [FREE]
Wachet auf, BWV 140
University of Maryland School of Music
Clarice Smith Center

April 11, 2013 (Thu)
7:30 pm
Adam, Le Corsaire
American Ballet Theater
Kennedy Center Opera House

April 11, 2013 (Thu)
8 pm
International Contemporary Ensemble
Atlas Performing Arts Center

April 12, 2013 (Fri)
7 pm
Frances-Marie Uitti (cello) and Ayman Fanous (guitar and bouzouki)
Church of the Ascension and St. Agnes

April 12, 2013 (Fri)
7:30 pm
Christophe Rousset, harpsichord
La Maison Française

April 12, 2013 (Fri)
7:30 pm
Adam, Le Corsaire
American Ballet Theater
Kennedy Center Opera House

April 12, 2013 (Fri)
7:30 pm
Mozart, Idomeneo
Maryland Opera Studio
Clarice Smith Center

April 12, 2013 (Fri)
8 pm
Cameron Carpenter, organ
Music Center at Strathmore

April 12, 2013 (Fri)
8 pm
Folger Consort
Vienna: Music for Maximilian
Folger Shakespeare Library

April 13, 2013 (Sat)
1:30 and 7:30 pm
Adam, Le Corsaire
American Ballet Theater
Kennedy Center Opera House

April 13, 2013 (Sat)
2 pm
Christophe Rousset, harpsichord [FREE]
Library of Congress

April 13, 2013 (Sat)
3 pm
Narek Hakhnazaryan (cello) and Noreen Polera (piano) [FREE]
Baltimore Museum of Art

April 13, 2013 (Sat)
5 and 8 pm
Folger Consort
Vienna: Music for Maximilian
Folger Shakespeare Library

April 13, 2013 (Sat)
7:30 pm
Puccini, La Bohème
Maryland Opera Studio
Clarice Smith Center

April 14, 2013 (Sun)
1:30 pm
Adam, Le Corsaire
American Ballet Theater
Kennedy Center Opera House

April 14, 2013 (Sun)
2 pm
Folger Consort
Vienna: Music for Maximilian
Folger Shakespeare Library

April 14, 2013 (Sun)
3 pm
Mozart, Idomeneo
Maryland Opera Studio
Clarice Smith Center

April 14, 2013 (Sun)
3 pm
Robert DiLutis (clarinet) and Mayron Tsong (piano) [FREE]
Clarice Smith Center

April 14, 2013 (Sun)
3 pm
James Litzelman, piano
Catholic University

April 14, 2013 (Sun)
3 pm
Piano Society of Greater Washington [FREE]
Calvary Lutheran Church (Silver Spring, Md.)

April 14, 2013 (Sun)
4 pm
Maurizio Pollini, piano
Music Center at Strathmore

April 14, 2013 (Sun)
4 pm
Phillips Camerata
Phillips Collection

April 14, 2013 (Sun)
5 pm
Choral Arts Society of Washington
National Presbyterian Church

April 14, 2013 (Sun)
5 pm
Capital City Symphony
Puccini, La Bohème (excerpts)
Atlas Performing Arts Center

April 14, 2013 (Sun)
5:15 pm
Benjamin Sheen, organ
Washington National Cathedral

April 14, 2013 (Sun)
6:30 pm
National Gallery of Art Vocal Ensemble [FREE]
National Gallery of Art

April 14, 2013 (Sun)
7:30 pm
Carter Brey (cello) and Gabriela Martinez (piano)
JCCGW (Rockville, Md.)

April 15, 2013 (Mon)
5:30 pm
Chamber Music Showcase [FREE]
University of Maryland School of Music
Clarice Smith Center

April 16, 2013 (Tue)
7 pm
Chamber Music Showcase [FREE]
University of Maryland School of Music
Clarice Smith Center

April 16, 2013 (Tue)
8 pm
Dresden Staatskapelle
With Christian Thielemann (music director) and Lisa Batiashvili (violin)
WPAS
Music Center at Strathmore

April 17, 2013 (Wed)
12:10 pm
Nima Sarkekich, piano [FREE]
National Gallery of Art

April 17, 2013 (Wed)
7:30 pm
Puccini, La Bohème
Maryland Opera Studio
Clarice Smith Center

April 17, 2013 (Wed)
7:30 pm
Rafal Bartminski (tenor) and George Peachey (piano)
Embassy Series
Embassy of Poland

April 17, 2013 (Wed)
8 pm
Stile Antico [FREE]
Library of Congress

April 17, 2013 (Wed)
8 pm
New Music at Maryland [FREE]
University of Maryland School of Music
Clarice Smith Center

April 18, 2013 (Thu)
7:30 pm
Mozart, Idomeneo
Maryland Opera Studio
Clarice Smith Center

April 18, 2013 (Thu)
8 pm
Pavel Haas Keller Quartet [FREE]
Library of Congress

April 18, 2013 (Thu)
8 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Music by Rouse, Wagner
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (Baltimore, Md.)

April 18, 2013 (Thu)
8 pm
Antonio Di Cristofano, piano
Catholic University

April 19, 2013 (Fri)
7:30 pm
Puccini, La Bohème
Maryland Opera Studio
Clarice Smith Center

April 19, 2013 (Fri)
7:30 pm
Puccini, Madama Butterfly
Opera Bel Cantanti
JCCGW (Rockville, Md.)

April 19, 2013 (Fri)
8 pm
Mozart, Marriage of Figaro
Virginia Opera
GMU Center for the Arts

April 19, 2013 (Fri)
8:15 pm
BSO: Off the Cuff
Wagner: A Composer Fit for a King
Music Center at Strathmore

April 20, 2013 (Sat)
5 pm
21st Century Consort
Smithsonian American Art Museum

April 20, 2013 (Sat)
7 pm
BSO: Off the Cuff
Wagner: A Composer Fit for a King
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (Baltimore, Md.)

April 20, 2013 (Sat)
7:30 pm
Mozart, Idomeneo
Maryland Opera Studio
Clarice Smith Center

April 20, 2013 (Sat)
7:30 pm
Handel, Belshazzar [FREE]
Gallery Voices and Smithsonian Concerto Grosso
Freer Gallery of Art

April 20, 2013 (Sat)
7:30 pm
Wendy Waller, soprano
IBIS Chamber Music
Music by Strauss, Schoenberg, Korngold
Belmont Mansion

April 20, 2013 (Sat)
8 pm
Left Bank Concert Society and Patricia Green, soprano [FREE]
Library of Congress

April 20, 2013 (Sat)
8 pm
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra
With Gabriel Kahane
Clarice Smith Center

April 20, 2013 (Sat)
8 pm
Gregory Spears, Paul’s Case!
UrbanArias
Artisphere (Arlington, Va.)

April 21, 2013 (Sun)
2 pm
Mozart, Marriage of Figaro
Virginia Opera
GMU Center for the Arts

April 21, 2013 (Sun)
2 pm
Gregory Spears, Paul’s Case!
UrbanArias
Artisphere (Arlington, Va.)

April 21, 2013 (Sun)
3 pm
Puccini, La Bohème
Maryland Opera Studio
Clarice Smith Center

April 21, 2013 (Sun)
3 pm
Puccini, Madama Butterfly
Opera Bel Cantanti
JCCGW (Rockville, Md.)

April 21, 2013 (Sun)
3 pm
Xun Pan, piano
Catholic University

April 21, 2013 (Sun)
3 pm
Eclipse Chamber Orchestra
Music by Mozart
George Washington Masonic Temple (Alexandria, Va.)

April 21, 2013 (Sun)
3 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Music by Rouse, Wagner
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (Baltimore, Md.)

April 21, 2013 (Sun)
4 pm
City Choir of Washington
Washington National Cathedral

April 21, 2013 (Sun)
4 pm
Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, piano
Phillips Collection

April 21, 2013 (Sun)
4 pm
Heather Bingham, soprano [FREE]
Jeffrey Grayson Gates, baritone
Vocal Arts D.C.
Washington Conservatory of Music
Glen Echo Park

April 21, 2013 (Sun)
6:30 pm
Mykola Suk, piano [FREE]
National Gallery of Art

April 21, 2013 (Sun)
7 pm
Ray Chen, violin
Dumbarton Oaks

April 22, 2013 (Mon)
8 pm
Ray Chen, violin
Dumbarton Oaks

April 24, 2013 (Wed)
12:10 pm
Duo Leroy-Moubarak [FREE]
National Gallery of Art

April 24, 2013 (Wed)
8 pm
Evgeny Kissin, piano
WPAS
Kennedy Center Concert Hall

April 24, 2013 (Wed)
8 pm
UMd Repertoire Orchestra [FREE]
Debussy, La Saulaie
Clarice Smith Center

April 25, 2013 (Thu)
7 pm
National Symphony Orchestra
With Jaap van Zweden (conductor) and Andreas Haefliger (piano)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall

April 25, 2013 (Thu)
7:30 pm
Christine Brewer, soprano
Vocal Arts D.C.
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

April 25, 2013 (Thu)
7:30 pm
Marian Anderson Quartet
Mansion at Strathmore

April 25, 2013 (Thu)
8 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
With Gilbert Varga (conductor) and Midori (violin)
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (Baltimore, Md.)

April 26, 2013 (Fri)
8 pm
National Symphony Orchestra
Beyond the Score: Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4
Kennedy Center Concert Hall

April 26, 2013 (Fri)
8 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
With Gilbert Varga (conductor) and Midori (violin)
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (Baltimore, Md.)

April 26, 2013 (Fri)
8 pm
Gregory Spears, Paul’s Case!
UrbanArias
Artisphere (Arlington, Va.)

April 26, 2013 (Fri)
8 pm
Mozart, The Magic Flute
Mason Opera
GMU Center for the Arts

April 27, 2013 (Sat)
6 pm
Emerson Quartet
National Museum of Natural History

April 27, 2013 (Sat)
7:30 pm
Rafał Blechacz, piano
WPAS
Kennedy Center Concert Hall

April 27, 2013 (Sat)
7:30 pm
Cantate Chamber Singers
Music by Purcell, Britten
St. John's Norwood Parish (Chevy Chase, Md.)

April 27, 2013 (Sat)
7:30 pm
CUA University Singers, Chamber Choir
Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle

April 27, 2013 (Sat)
8 pm
National Symphony Orchestra
With Jaap van Zweden (conductor) and Andreas Haefliger (piano)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall

April 27, 2013 (Sat)
8 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
With Gilbert Varga (conductor) and Midori (violin)
Music Center at Strathmore

April 27, 2013 (Sat)
8 pm
Gregory Spears, Paul’s Case!
UrbanArias
Artisphere (Arlington, Va.)

April 27, 2013 (Sat)
8 pm
Mozart, The Magic Flute
Mason Opera
GMU Center for the Arts

April 27, 2013 (Sat)
8 pm
Nikolay Khozyainov, piano [FREE]
Winner of Dublin Piano Competition
Washington Conservatory of Music
Westmoreland Congregational UCC Church (Bethesda, Md.)

April 28, 2013 (Sun)
1:30 and 4 pm
NSO Kinderkonzert
Viva Violins: From Baby Talk to Mozart
Kennedy Center Family Theater

April 28, 2013 (Sun)
2 pm
Matthew Grills, tenor
Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions Winner
Washington Performing Arts Society
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

April 28, 2013 (Sun)
2 pm
James Renwick Alliance Distinguished Lecture
Michael Puryear
Renwick Gallery

April 28, 2013 (Sun)
3 pm
Bach, B Minor Mass
Washington Bach Consort
National Presbyterian Church

April 28, 2013 (Sun)
4 pm
Stefani Collins, violin
Phillips Collection

April 28, 2013 (Sun)
4 pm
Mozart, The Magic Flute
Mason Opera
GMU Center for the Arts

April 28, 2013 (Sun)
4 pm
Amadeus Concerts
Amadeus Orchestra and Fairfax Choral Society
Saint Luke Catholic Church (McLean, Va.)

April 28, 2013 (Sun)
5:15 pm
Christopher Dekker, organ
Washington National Cathedral

April 28, 2013 (Sun)
6:30 pm
Katherine Chi, piano [FREE]
National Gallery of Art

April 28, 2013 (Sun)
7 pm
Gregory Spears, Paul’s Case!
UrbanArias
Artisphere (Arlington, Va.)

April 28, 2013 (Sun)
7:30 pm
Axelrod String Quartet
National Museum of American History

April 28, 2013 (Sun)
8 pm
Jose Ramos Santana, piano
Catholic University

April 29, 2013 (Mon)
7:30 pm
Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

April 29, 2013 (Mon)
7:30 pm
CUA Symphony Orchestra
Catholic University, Hartke Theater

April 30, 2013 (Tue)
7:30 pm
Andrew Tyson, piano
Young Concert Artists
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

In Brief: Sede Vacante 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.)

• Listen to Simon Rattle conduct the Berlin Philharmonic at the Salle Pleyel, with Mitsuko Uchida as soloist in Beethoven's third piano concerto, soprano Barbara Hannigan in Dutilleux's song cycle Correspondances (2003), and Schumann's third symphony. [France Musique]


• If you wanted to hear Plácido Domingo sing the title role of Verdi's Simon Boccanegra at the Vienna State Opera, here is a recording made in February. [Österreichischer Rundfunk]


• Zubin Mehta conducts the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in Tchaikovsky's fifth symphony, plus Yefim Bronfman in Bartók's second piano concerto. [BR-Klassik]


• Watch Tugan Sokhiev conduct the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse in Berlioz's La Damnation de Faust, with Olga Borodina, Bryan Hymel, and the Singverein der Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna's Musikverein. [Medici.tv]


• Cornelius Meister conducts the ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester in Sibelius's fifth symphony , plus Grieg's second suite from Peer Gynt and Arvo Pärt's Credo for piano, chorus, and orchestra. [Österreichischer Rundfunk]


• We enjoy keeping up with what Leonard Slatkin is doing these days with the Orchestre National de Lyon: how about a concert performance of Ravel's fine short operas L'Heure espagnole and L'Enfant et les Sortilèges, performed last month at the Salle Pleyel? [France Musique]


• From back in 2011, a performance of Antoine Dauvergne's opera Hercule mourant, from 1761, with Christophe Rousset conducting Les Talens Lyriques and a cast including Andrew Foster-Williams, Véronique Gens, Emiliano Gonzalez Toro, and Jaël Azzaretti at the Opéra Royal de Versailles. [Österreichischer Rundfunk]


• Andreas Staier plays the harpischord solo in Poulenc's Concert champêtre, plus Poulenc's Suite française and Dvořák's seventh symphony, with Thomas Zehetmair conducting the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées. The concert is followed by a 1966 recording (Erato) of Poulenc's organ concerto, with the late organist Marie-Claire Alain and the Orchestre National de l'ORTF, under conductor Jean Martinon. [France Musique]


• Also, from the Salle Molière in Lyon, a recital by Andreas Staier on fortepiano, with music by Beethoven, Schumann, Schubert, and Bach. [France Musique]


• Kirill Karabits conducts the Munich Radio Symphony Orchestra in music of Glinka, Tchaikovsky, Musorgsky, and Schtschedrin's sixth piano concerto with Anna Gourari. [BR-Klassik]


• David Robertson conducts the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in music of Mozart (the "Paris" symphony), Mackey (Stumble to Grace, with Orli Shaham as soloist), Prokofiev's first symphony, and Matthew Hindson-William Barton's Kalkadungu, a concerto for didgeridoo, recorded last summer in the Sydney Opera House. [Österreichischer Rundfunk]


• Stefan Solyom directs the Göteborg Symphony last month, with music by Albert Schnelzer, Berwald, Wagner, and Elgar (the cello concerto with Truls Mørk). [GSO-Play]


• Watch Roberto Alagna and Nino Machaidze headline the cast in a concert performance of Bizet's Les Pêcheurs de Perles, recorded at the Salle Pleyel last month. [Cité de la Musique Live]


• Rodolfo Richter conducts the Academy of Ancient Music, with mezzo-soprano Bernarda Fink, at the Auditorium du Musée d’Orsay, performing music by Veracini, Merula, Vivaldi, Albinoni, and Ferrandini. [France Musique]


• Ingo Metzmacher conducts the Berlin Philharmonic and Ernst Senff Chor Berlin, last summer, with music by Ives (the fourth symphony), Gershwin, Antheil, and Bernstein. [Österreichischer Rundfunk]


• Live from Bordeaux, the Soirée spéciale des Victoires de la musique classique 2013. [France Musique]


• Listen to pianist Lise de la Salle in recital last May in Graz, with music by Beethoven and Liszt. [Österreichischer Rundfunk]


• Music by Chopin, Debussy, and Rachmaninoff played by pianist Nelson Goerner, recorded last month in the Salle Gaveau in Paris. [France Musique]


• A 2011 recital by Katia Buniatishvili, with music by Chopin, Stravinsky, and Liszt, at the Wiener Musikverein. [Österreichischer Rundfunk]


• At last summer's Salzburg Festival Valery Gergiev conducts the Vienna Philharmonic in Prokofiev's fifth symphony, plus Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms and Musorgsky's Songs and Dances of Death, with tenor Sergei Semishkur and the Vienna State Opera Chorus Chorus. [France Musique]


• Recorded in 2011 at the Wiener Konzerthaus, violist Isabel Charisius joins the Belcea Quartet for music by Haydn, Janáček, and Mozart (the K. 516 string quintet). [Österreichischer Rundfunk]


• From a concert in 2011 in Stuttgart, harpist Xavier de Maistre joins the SWR Radio Symphony Orchestra and conductor Constantinos Carydis, for music by Beethoven, Debussy, Strauss, and Henriette Renié. [France Musique]


• It was April 1968, and Charles Bruck conducted a performance of music by Lili Boulanger -- Vieille prière Bouddhique (1914), Du fond de l'abîme, Psaume 130 (1910-1917), Pie Jesu (1918), La terre appartient à l’Éternel, Psaume 24 (1916) -- with tenor Michel Sénéchal, others singers, and the Orchestre Philharmonique de l'ORTF and Chorus. [France Musique]


• From 1983, listen to Marilyn Horne sing the title role of Rossini's Tancredi. [Österreichischer Rundfunk]


• Christina Pluhar conducts her ensemble L'Arpeggiata last July at Cadogan Hall in London, as part of the Proms. [France Musique]


• Radio France recorded a recital of Beethoven, Dvořák, and Poulenc by cellist Victor Julien-Laferrière and pianist Adam Laloum. [France Musique]

Dip Your Ears, No. 127 (The Bright Motion)

P.Burke, W.Brittelle, M.Dancigers, R.Brown, J.Mayrose, J.Greenst The Bright Motion, M.Mizrahi New Amsterdam Records 036

Pianist Michael Mizrahi showcases six brand new short compositions for piano, of which he commissioned four. The names Patrick Burke, William Brittelle Mark Dancigers, Ryan Brown, John Mayrose, and Judd Greenstein meant nothing to me until now, but their works are consonant consumer-friendly vignettes, thankfully without pretense of greatness; lulling one moment, playful and perky another. Ryan Brown’s second of Four Piano Pieces is a particularly funky gem. The performances speak considerably more to the artist than his self-serving liner notes and the whole release serves as a great reminder of the continued vitality of “notational music.”

NSO and Finland

K. Saariaho, Orion (inter alia), Orchestre de Paris, C. Eschenbach Sibelius / M. Lindberg, Violin Concertos, L. Batiashvili, Finnish RSO, S. Oramo Sibelius, Complete Symphonies, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, L. Segerstam

The opening concert of the Kennedy Center's Nordic Cool festival, given by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic last week, included music from all the major Nordic countries. For his first contribution to the festival, Christoph Eschenbach took a Finnish focus with the National Symphony Orchestra in a concert of music that had mostly not been performed by the orchestra in a long time, if at all, heard last night in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall. It was the conclusion of my intensive, four-night critical stand covering all the major venues of the Kennedy Center.

The first half concluded with the NSO's first performance of Magnus Lindberg's recent violin concerto, from 2006. It would have been all too easy to program the Sibelius violin concerto for this kind of concert, but Eschenbach chose instead to highlight one of Finland's most successful living composers. In my review of the recording of the Lindberg concerto, with its dedicatee, Lisa Batiashvili, as soloist, I asked, "Which brave conductor and orchestra will bring her to the Washington region to play this enigmatic and spectrally beautiful piece?" My wish almost came true, although the soloist here was Finnish violinist Pekka Kuusisto, who brought a brash, garrulous touch to the demanding violin part, but not the same purity on all the high E string writing as Batiashvili. Kuusisto tended more to growl than float, and his intonation was not always where it should have been. Neither was the NSO always on top of the piece, although there were some beautifully lush moments in the slow sections. Kuusisto took a folk music-like approach to the solo, stamping his feet and bending and twisting the tone, a connection that was made further in his choice of encore, a Finnish folk dance ("Devil's Polska") transcribed by Samuel Rinda-Nickola (1763-1818), which was a rollicking good time. Kuusisto offered it proudly in honor of Kalevala Day (February 28), the annual day of Finnish culture.

The other NSO debut was Orion, a three-movement tone poem (not quite long enough perhaps to be a symphony) by Kaija Saariaho, who was just in town last week and whose music Eschenbach championed while music director of the Orchestre de Paris. Hynotic, oscillating patterns, with crinkles of percussion, especially the shamanistic shiver of shell chimes, set the mythological tone in the first movement ("Memento mori"), with Eschenbach helping to shape the murmuring mass of sound, string glissandi and other soft colors, a turbulent texture that exploded in cacophony. The second movement began with a lovely, folk-inflected piccolo solo, echoed by microtonal bends downward in a recurring wind motif, followed by a treble piano ostinato like a music box. Orion's earth-depleting hunt is depicted in the third movement, active squalls of sound (bird squeal of piccolo, animal baying of the horns) punctuated by halos of starlight in soft interludes.

Other Reviews: Robert Battey, NSO struggles with cold material from Finland (Washington Post, March 1)

Music of Jean Sibelius bookended these contemporary pieces, beginning with the tone poem Night Ride and Sunrise, op. 55, not heard from the NSO since 1982. It does not refer to the Kalevala or have folk music influences, beginning with an obsessive dotted-rhythm motif evoking a jagged, jarring sleigh ride once experienced by the composer, dotted by loud brass and percussion accents. As the rhythm is evened out, impassioned string chords impart a tone of tragic realization, over tense timpani rolls, with the musicians giving plenty of time to the crescendo swells in the score. The sunrise appeared in a beautiful bloom of brass, with a glinting flute solo, expanding with the support of strings and woodwinds under the brass. The coloristic repetition was quite similar to Saariaho's approach in Orion, just more tonal. The NSO had not played Sibelius's seventh symphony, op. 105, since Vladimir Ashkenazy conducted it in 2008, and it still sounded in good form. Eschenbach's ideas were not as much to my liking, since he often seemed to push the piece too fast to allow it to blossom as it could. (Following the recommendations of our Jens Laurson in his Ionarts survey of Sibelius cycles, the Leif Segerstam cycle with the Helsinki Philharmonic is my new favorite, with a seventh symphony that thrills and soars with each vast crescendo.) The chamber string soli section was a highlight, but the fast section seemed a little helter-skelter in its lack of unity. Eschenbach did not quite draw out the calming trombone theme, which Sibelius at one point marked in the score with his wife's name ("Aino"), although it was allowed to grow and become more present.

This program repeats tonight and tomorrow night (March 1 and 2, 8 pm) in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall.