Christmas Music from the National Shrine

If you are in Washington, D.C., tomorrow evening, you could come to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception to hear the annual Christmas Concert for Charity (December 3, 7:30 pm), featuring yours truly in the Choir of the National Shrine, along with the Chorus and Symphony Orchestra of the Benjamin T. Rome School of Music at Catholic University. Our part of the program includes:

• Michael Praetorius, Puer natus in Bethlehem
  
• Peter Latona, Annunciation
  
• Tomás Luis de Victoria, Ave Maria (à 8)
  
• Luca Marenzio, Jubilate Deo (à 8)
  
• Victoria, Missa Salve Regina (à 8), "Credo" movement
  
• Hans Leo Hassler, Verbum caro factum est
  
• Victoria, O Magnum Mysterium (secunda pars)
  
• Latona, Hodie Christus Natus Est

Entrance is free, and the proceeds of a charitable donation will benefit an excellent organization here in Washington called So Others Might Eat (S.O.M.E.). Enjoy some beautiful music and do something good for the world. (If you cannot attend in person, you can watch this concert if you have EWTN on your local cable or satellite programming, broadcast on Sunday, December 19, at 1:30 pm, or on Saturday, December 25, 2004, at 3 am.)

Also, mark your calendars. We in the Shrine Choir recorded a program for Public Radio International called Carols for Christmas 2004:

Host Bill McGlaughlin presents Carols for Christmas 2004 from the nation's capital, a festival of superb choirs joined by some of the finest young soloists in the land. Performed at the splendid Basilica of the National Shrine, some 200 voices from the great churches of Washington perform with the exciting young talent from the National Opera to present this unique program of much-loved carols. Listeners enjoy traditional favorites, such as "Joy to the World" and "Adeste Fideles." They also hear soloists performing "Cantique d'noel" (O, Holy Night), excerpts from Berlioz popular "L'Enfance du Christ," long-standing favorite "Ave Maria" by Gounod, festive works by Verdi and Puccini, and a hallelujah chorus. Readings are interspersed among the carols to retell the Christmas story. McGlaughlin not only introduces the music and readings, he also guides listeners through the amazing venue. With a capacity of 7,000, the Basilica of the National Shrine is the eighth largest religious space in the world, replete with brass and golden mosaics adorning a space that boasts two great organs situated at opposite ends of the sanctuary.

Not mentioned are Franck's Panis angelicus and the Gloria movement from Franck's Mass from which Panis angelicus is excerpted. The program will be broadcast here in the Washington area on WETA (90.9 FM) on Christmas Day (Saturday, December 25, from noon to 1 pm). It will be broadcast at various times on stations that carry PRI programming around the United States. Check your local public radio station's program to see if you can hear it in your area.

Philadelphia Orchestra & Nadia Salerno-Sonnenberg

Some people came to the Kennedy Center on Monday, November 29th, still expecting the Philadelphia Orchestra under Christoph "Engel mit drei Flügeln" Eschenbach to play Rachmaninov's 2nd Symphony. Wonderful as that work can be, the program got upgraded to Mahler ››5‹‹. (While I betray my personal predilections by calling this an upgrade, the reason might just be that the NSO is planning to play the Rachmaninov 2nd this Thursday, also at the Kennedy Center.) Unlike other Mahler symphonies, the 5th does not suffer from a nickname, though if someone insisted on contriving one, "Life" could be appropriate. (The program notes by Eric Bromberger actually indulged in similar speculations, albeit with slightly different results.) The famous Adagietto of Death in Venice and Bernstein's JFK funeral performance fame is just one part of Mahler taking the listener through the entire cycle of life from the primes of life through loss and rebirth.

G. Mahler, Symphony No. 5, J. Barbirolli

Conducting the Mahler from memory, Christoph Eschenbach—who seems to have settled in with the Philadelphia Orchestra after initial irritations among the Orchestra (which was not consulted when the Management decided on Mr. Eschenbach after he had, in turn, been turned down by the New York Philharmonic)—veered between the analytically precise in his movements and an almost comically animated way of shaking every limb at his disposal at his players. Brass-plated, matter-of-factly, and refreshing were my impressions from the first two movements. The march elements were particularly outstanding, in both meanings of the word. The brazen energy, threatening almost, came out wonderfully at the end of the third movement and made for all the enchanting contrast with the haunting and yearning Adagietto, soft and deeply felt. The pizzicato in the Scherzo was remarkable, and the sole viola plucks reminded one of a mandolin, so vigorously did Roberto Diaz treat his instrument.

Before it got to the Mahler, though, it was Nadia Salerno-Sonnenberg and the band playing Mendelssohn's E-minor violin concerto. With a tone that struck me, for lack of a worse word, as 'leathery' and a wee bit on the thin side, Mme. Salerno-Sonnenberg, in dashing black- and white-striped vinyl trousers, stayed true to her reputation. With rubato so pronounced it was more a succession of ac- and decellerandi as well as (is "extreme" too strong?) ...significant shifts in volume took the lyrical element right out of the work, replacing it with virtuosity. Some of the effects were, well, effective, but such an interpretation is also vulnerable to the accusation of being affected. (Her particular—or, if you wish, peculiar—interpretation can be sampled on a disc with her playing the E-minor, Saint-Saëns's Havanise and Introduction and Rondo and Massenet's Méditation [EMI CDC-7 49276 2].) The spiccato parts were great, but most of the work ended up sounding like someone driving a car stepping on and off the accelerator. Mendelssohn, however, is fairly indestructible, and a super-charged, willful interpretation can add to your experience of such oft-heard music.

Upcoming performances of the Washington Performing Arts Society include Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra (Friday the 10th and Sunday the 12th) and pianist Roberto Cominati at the Terrace Theater. [Update: Roberto Cominati, so I have been told, cancelled his performance and will be replaced by Mr. Lifschitz(??)... though it might matter little, given that the event is sold out.]

Shostakovich, Lady Macbeth

Other Newspaper Review: Raymond Stults, Femme Fatale (Context: The Moscow Times, November 26)

One of the opera productions that I missed in my Preview of the Opera Season, 2004–2005 was the new Bolshoi Opera version of Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District. George Loomis's review (A tame version of a steamy opera, December 1) for the International Herald Tribune has the goods:

After years of post-Soviet stagnation, the Bolshoi Theater has made notable progress in upgrading the theatrical and musical standards of its opera productions under the general director Anatoli Iksanov and its music director Alexander Vedernikov, even importing international producers on the order of Francesca Zambello and Peter Konwitschny. Much of the interesting dramatic work is centered in the company's New Stage, which opened two years ago. In the venerable main theater, ties to tradition remain stronger, as one was reminded by its new production of Shostakovich's "Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District."

This should have been an exhilarating experience - the final step in the post-Soviet rehabilitation of Shostakovich's expressionistic masterwork in its original form (as opposed to the toned-down 1962 revision). It was at the Bolshoi, after all, that Stalin attended a performance in 1936, disliked what he saw and heard, and caused the opera to disappear from the Russian stage. Alas, the competent but bland staging by the Georgian director Temur Chkheidze manages to take the edge off this steamy tale of a provincial merchant's wife who seeks relief from boredom through sexual fulfillment and murder.

It sounds like the Berlin production of this opera, at the Komische Oper, is much more interesting, as reviewed by Shirley Apthorp (Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Komische Oper, Berlin, December 1) for the Financial Times (London):

Just which Lady Macbeth are we watching? Hans Neuenfels leaves the question open. His new production for Berlin's Komische Oper weaves Shakespeare into Shostakovich and recalls Verdi. For good measure, it bows to Brecht and hints at Greek tragedy. Vassily Sinaisky, by contrast, leaves no doubt. This is Shostakovich's original score of 1932, in all its vulgar glory. Sinaisky lets it rip, wallowing in the graphic crudity of the score. Seldom has this orchestra sounded so full-bodied and raw. No wonder Stalin took offence when he heard the piece. But the salacious stays firmly in the pit. This must be the first premiere in years for which Neuenfels has reaped no boos. It is rare for him not to set out to provoke his audience, and seldom that he tells a story with such spare clarity.

While we wallow in Shostakovichiana, there is also this review (Shostakovich and Stalin: An Extraordinary Relationship, November 30) by Anatoly Korolev for Novosti (in English) of Simon Volkov's latest book, Shostakovich and Stalin: The Extraordinary Relationship between the Great Composer and the Brutal Dictator.

Da Capo, Please

From the Department of "Ha! Ha!" (the sneering call of favorite Simpsons character Nelson Muntz), there is this little article (Mobile phone halts concert, December 1) from Ananova, about a conductor who abruptly stopped a concert in Copenhagen in the middle of Ravel's Daphnis et Chloé. Why? Because he heard a cell phone going off in the audience.

Danish paper Jyllands Posten says [French conductor Marc] Soustrot immediately halted the performance and waited for the ringing to stop. Then he asked his musicians to begin the performance from the start, making them repeat a large section of the ballet score.

This story was also carried in a little article (Handy-Gebimmel stoppte dänisches Symphonieorchester: "Daphnis und Chloe" - und die moderne Telekommunikation, November 30) in Der Standard, as well as in a score of other German newspapers. I think that more conductors should follow suit and make this a general practice.

Happy 80th, Georges Prêtre!

I meant to post on this on Saturday, but the pileup of other posts and pre-Christmas musical commitments has delayed it until now. Although I haven't seen any mention in the English-language press, France celebrated on Saturday, November 27, the 80th birthday of legendary conductor Georges Prêtre. I read about this first in the little article (Le grand Chef Georges Prêtre fête ses 80 ans, November 23) from Agence France-Press (by way of France 2). France Musiques had a day-long program of homages to Prêtre, including a live broadcast of the tribute concert by the Orchestre National de France at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées à Paris:

On the evening's program was French tenor Roberto Alagna, who will perform some scores of Georges Prêtre, composer: Chanson d'une opérettte, another song (Don Juan est mort), and Hommage à Coluche, with Patrick Bruel. The other pieces planned give witness to the eclecticism of Georges Prêtre, the conductor: the overture of Johann Strauss's Die Fledermaus, the first suite of waltzes from Richard Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier, Ravel's Boléro, Gershwin's An American in Paris, the slow movement from Poulenc's Concerto for Two Pianos, with soloists Gabriel Tacchino and Roger Boutry. The Italian soprano Patrizia Ciofi will also sing the barcarolle from Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann and a Verdi duet ["Parigi, o cara" from La Traviata] with Roberto Alagna.

France Musiques also aired an interview by Alain Pâris with Georges Prêtre, EMI has released a double CD with excerpts of Prêtre's favorite pieces, from seven different orchestras conducted by him. The ONF concert was reviewed, most admirably, by Simon Corley for ConcertNet.com, as well as by Agence France-Presse, which said that the public ovation was wildly enthusiastic.

Sunday (in the Park) at the Plaza

This is the final installment of a series of posts by artist Mark Barry from his recent trip to Mexico City. Here are Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

Our final day in the city. What I have saved for last is the best, the downtown historic district. Zocalo is the main plaza, also the former halls of Montezuma, although I didn’t see any Marines. Along with some great architecture, the Metropolitan Church for one, and the Palacio de Bellas Artes, which has what I have been looking for my whole trip, the big stuff. Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, Jose Clemente Orozco, three of Mexico's best ever, and you can even take pictures inside! The ultimate prize of the week is at the National Palace. Diego Rivera's Epic Of The Mexican People In Their Struggle For Freedom And Independence, a fabulous fresco depicting the history of Mexico (shown below)

One thing that I'll remember well of my trip to the museums in Mexico City will be the row upon row of buses loaded with school children, everyday! I know it happens in the States, but this seemed to be a more common occurrence. It was nice to see. A second thing will be all the walls, fences, gated communities, and security guards. I felt very safe during my stay and as in any city felt free to roam with common sense.

Along with the traffic, a city sprawling in all directions and surrounded by mountains, pollution is visible everyday. You can feel it in your pores at the end of the day, and the damage to historical sites is evident.

History is everywhere, and it is acknowledged and appreciated. Along with development, the Mexican government has made preservation a priority. I've seen only a small part of the city in four days. There are many more sites with great art and outdoor markets everywhere. I would love to tour the city's underground. This is a must-trip for anyone in search of art and, just as important, great food.

Bill Viola's Tristan

Tyler Green has a nice piece today at Modern Art Notes on Bill Viola's upcoming work on a new production of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, which I first mentioned in my Preview of the Opera Season, 2004–2005 (the last entry):

The Peter Sellars production (with scenery designed by Bill Viola) of Tristan und Isolde (1865), with Esa Pekka Salonen conducting, at the Bastille Opera in Paris (April 16 to May 7, 2005)

I did not realize, as Tyler quotes from the Los Angeles Times, that Viola's video images for the new production will actually be premiered not next spring but this very weekend, in a series of concert performances by the Los Angeles Philharmonic. I'll report what I can about this.

Bach in B Minor

B. Britten, Requiem, Shafer, The Washington Chorus, NSO

On Sunday, November the 21st, the Washington Chorus under Music Director Robert Shafer opened its 44th season with Bach's Mass in B Minor. In a well-filled (though not sold out—a reminder for friends of ad hoc plans) Kennedy Center Orchestra Hall, Laura Lewis (soprano), Marietta Simpson (mezzo), Robert Baker (tenor), and Eric Owens (bass) took stage. Behind them was the roughly 140-throat-strong Washington Chorus (Grammy Award winners in 2000 for their recording of Britten's War Requiem), indicating by sheer presence that this was going to be a fairly traditional performance. No "one-to-a-part" meddling à la Junghänel or McCreesh here. Nor is the Washington Orchestra a reedy little original instrument band... though their 8-6-4-4-2 (plus winds and brass) configuration is a far cry from the excesses of Thomas Beecham, Albert Coates, or Otto Klemperer. Accounting for the occasional oversized guilty pleasure one must say: mercifully so!

The Mass itself is a bit of a musical quilt. Composed over 24 years, it was at least not conceived from the beginning to be a cohesive whole. Nikolaus Harnoncourt (who also put the Mass on disc in a milestone recording with the Concentus Musicus Wien) discusses origin and performance practice at length in his book Der musikalische Dialog (available in English on Amazon.)

Robert Shafer mentions our (relatively) new understanding of the performance of the Mass (he refers to Mr. Harnoncourt's recording in his liner notes) and explains that the ultimate goal in presenting Bach's work (who himself never heard it performed) is getting the balance right. In order to do that with a modern orchestra, a bigger choir is needed. If that necessarily means eight times bigger than Bach would have had is a different matter, it seems. "Advanced choral art," meanwhile, helps keep the textures as clean as they would have been in Bach's day.

What exactly "advanced choral art" amounts to, I do not know, but I am happy to report that the choir did sound darn good. That the textures were as clean as in the old days (assuming that is even desirable) is not likely to be true... in fact could not have been true with the orchestra playing vibrato like it's Mahler.

J. S. Bach, Mass in B Minor, Gardiner

The soloists were all very able and played and sang beautifully. Notable, among other fine instrumental soloists, was flutist Karen Johnson. Given the performance, Mme. Simpson's vibrato was not out of place in her—one wobble apart—outstanding rendition. Sculpting music with his arms in grand and flowing gestures, Maestro Shafer looked a bit like he was fighting off invisible fencers; the baton his cutlass.

The singing was faultless, with the small exception of the "Crucifixus etiam pro nobis" part of the Credo, where the pianissimo parts fell apart and became a cluster of soft hisses flying about, like the flashes going off in the bleachers at a sporting event. Minor quibbles, indeed, and hardly reason not to treat oneself to a live account of this wonderful work that will always carry a special appeal to experience in person.

J. S. Bach, Mass in B Minor, van Veldhoven (nla)

Upcoming performances of the Washington Chorus include three Christmas concerts at the Kennedy Center December 18, 21, and 22. For more information, check out their schedule online.



My favorite available recording of the B Minor is van Veldhoven's (Gardiner, Rilling, , while Karajan with Kathleen Ferrier is an interesting (and in its way rather impressive, mostly because of her), obviously more old fashioned versions. A disc with excerpts of it (as well as the complete, also Ferrier-wonderful 1950 St. Matthew Passion, recently reissued and remastered by Andante) is readily available. Karl Richter, as great a Bach conductor as there ever was, has his performances see the light of day again in a 10-disc collection by Archiv of all the sacred works by Bach. (Gardiner, too, had his Bach Passions and Masses reissued a few weeks ago... and if you were thinking about getting even just one more of his Bach recordings of the Passions (or the Christmas Oratorio [my favorite being Richter]), it is worth getting the whole set.)