Berlin Philharmonic's Twelve Cellists

We welcome the following review from guest contributor Sophia Vastek, another Ionarts exclusive.

Tuesday evening at the Music Center at Strathmore, the German Embassy presented an incredibly powerful concert in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The musicians were the Twelve Cellists of the Berlin Philharmonic, one of the finest orchestras in the world (scheduled to play tonight at Carnegie Hall), and their cello section only exceeded the high-bar expectations of their parent ensemble. Touted as an “orchestra within an orchestra,” the cellists started with Bach and ended with Duke Ellington, running the gamut of sacred and secular in between and purveying comfortable ease with all. Even without a clear leader, the musicians were so perfectly unified in every aspect that they seemed to transcend their numbers and were truly of one mind.

The opening of the Bach, a selection from The Art of Fugue, was so transparent and utterly simple that it did not sound like three instruments were playing (which they were). The piece was exactly as Bach should be, without the added weight of interpretation and what could have been heaviness through sheer numbers. In an arrangement of the Trio from Mendelssohn's Elijah, the musicians showcased the ability of their instrument to imitate the human voice, in the range of the cello and warmth of its sound. Again, in the Poulenc cantata, the Romantic and thick harmonies were hauntingly pastoral, but sung simplicity in typical Poulenc fashion was most important. Even amid the most complex textures, the ensemble never became merely a wash of sound. A Verdi selection was especially multi-faceted: each layer a different idea and quality all together, despite being comprised of the same instruments. In Casals’ arrangement of Song of the Birds, a Catalan folksong, compounded by the thick droning accompaniment, the first cellist’s solo (which comprises the bulk of the piece) was utterly hair-raising.

Other Reviews: Andrew Lindemann Malone, Playing the Dozen: The 12 Cellists of the Berlin Philharmonic at the Music Center at Strathmore (DMV Classical, November 12)

The second half, of a more popular and secular ilk, juxtaposed Gershwin, Elvis Presley, and Duke Ellington with more jarringly modern music by Berlin composer Boris Blacher and the downright schmaltzy sounds of Hildegard Knef. Blacher’s set of three pieces, written specifically for the ensemble, used many of the tricks possible for the cello and number of musicians. The espagnola was the first and only time that the first cellist emerged as a true leader, beating time as the rest of the musicians forged ahead on a demanding piece written solely in pizzicatos. The concert ended with two standards, Clap Yo’ Hands by George Gershwin and Caravan by Duke Ellington. Not only was the ensemble capable of having fun, they showed they were good at it, as the players deftly handled the rhythmic and harmonic complexity and occasional improvisatory nature of these pieces, propelling the evening to an exciting close.

This concert, part of a series of events hosted by the German Embassy entitled “Freedom Without Walls,” was introduced by German Ambassador Klaus Scharioth, who expressed his country’s gratitude to the United States for supporting them in their time of rebuilding. The program was a powerful argument that all things are possible, especially if there is music such as this in the world.

Apollo's Fire Has Fuel, Does Not Ignite

Violinist Veronika Skuplik-Hein

This review is an Ionarts exclusive.

Members of Apollo's Fire, the early music ensemble based in Cleveland, came to Dumbarton Oaks this past weekend for a concert on the Friends of Music series. Their program, Mediterranean Nights, recycled from 2005, surveys examples of Baroque music based on ground bass patterns. Unlike a similar program, American Opera Theater's Ground, this concert seemed to shoehorn much of its music into its supposed theme, "Sultry Songs and Passionate Dances from Italy and Spain." Guest guitarist Steve Player, who also specializes in the speculative recreation of Baroque dance, tried to provide the sultry and passionate part, but in a way that struck me as kind of silly, clogging and spinning on the little platform at one end of the Dumbarton Oaks Music Room.

The music itself was often lovely, if not all that daring in terms of pacing or virtuosity, with the exception of the two violinists, the group's own Johanna Novom and guest star Veronika Skuplik-Hein, who dueled in the program's best piece, Marco Uccellini's Duo Bergamasca. Skuplik-Hein, generally on the upper of the two violin parts, provided the most exciting playing of the evening, albeit with an oddly passion-less efficiency, a thrill that was more intellectual than visceral. The first half would have ended more aptly if yet another performance of Riu riu chiu had been omitted, mingling somewhat uneasily with this decidedly secular program. Director Jeannette Sorrell, who was responsible for most of the arrangements, made a desperate attempt to exaggerate this dance-like, popular sacred song's secular qualities in her spoken comments, which mistook the work's piety and ultimately diminished it.

Other Reviews: Donald Rosenberg, Apollo's Fire revels in sunlit Baroque repertoire (Cleveland Plain Dealer, November 1) Gary Budzak, Baroque group's improvisations a delight (Columbus Dispatch, November 7) Andrew Druckenbrod, Cohesive Apollo's Fire brims with passion and precision (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, November 9) Mark Kanny, Apollo's Fire 'jams' into 'Mediterranean Nights (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, November 9)

Guest soprano Nell Snaidas, as noted of her appearance in the area with another ensemble in 2007, does not have the strongest voice: an angular vibrato that mucks up some of the clarity, some constriction at the top, an excess of point. What she does have in spades is a charming stage presence and the ability to act, surely a help in her past dalliances with musical theater. Two of her better performances demonstrate this duality, a fine rendition of Luigi Rossi's Lamento di Euridice, which nonetheless left some musical and virtuosic possibilities unexplored, versus a semi-staged and charming performance of Luis de Briceno's Romance Biejo, about a woman confessing her breaking of the ten commandments to a shocked priest. While one could have imagined a more interesting musical result for this program, the group's delight in improvisation on these repeating bass patterns and especially in rhythmic shifts was pleasing, if not captivating.

The Friends of Music series at Dumbarton Oaks makes a bid for the city's best holiday concert this year with its next offering, a program by the vocal quartet Anonymous 4 called The Cherry Tree. Get an early start on the Christmas season with these concerts for the First Sunday of Advent (November 29 and 30).

Fine Arts Quartet Plays It Close to the Chest

We welcome this review from guest contributor Sophia Vastek (with apologies for omitting this acknowledgment at the time of publication!).

Sunday afternoon, the Fine Arts Quartet presented a program as part of the National Academy of Sciences concert series. It seemed altogether fitting for a group whose members appeared to wear the same exact black suit, however sharp, and never smiled. The program matched Haydn’s Quartet in B flat (op. 76, no. 4, “Sunrise”) with Bruckner’s Quartet in C minor and Schumann’s Quartet in A minor (op. 41, no. 1). Of a completely Austro-German bent, the Fine Arts Quartet was a perfect vessel of austere 19th-century emotion. Incredibly proficient in every technical aspect, the group exemplified the single mindset mantra of the string quartet idiom, and they played beautifully together. Even so, for such a talented group of musicians, the concert was entirely lackluster.

Beginning with the first movement of the Haydn, the Fine Arts Quartet immediately showcased their ability to communicate effortlessly with one another. The melodic lines moved as one voice from instrument to instrument with buoyancy and an ever-careful, light touch. As appropriate as their style was to the classical work, upon reaching the Menuetto, the sound had already gone stale. It is Haydn after all, and the work demands its performers to have fun, but the third movement had no audible or visual traces of being a dance. The music was square. One wanted the performers to loosen up in the slightest and move their bodies to prove to the audience that they were feeling at least some enjoyment, but without avail. The piece altogether lacked any trace of Haydn’s ubiquitous wit.

Other Reviews: Alex Baker, Fine Arts Quartet at NAS (Wellsung, November 9)

Following the Haydn, Bruckner’s string quartet seemed but an extension of the previous work. It is not a piece one hears very often, and for good reason. It is as if Bruckner took a page out of every previous study-worthy composer’s book on quartets and form and style, and then simply laid out those pages. On top of that, the Fine Arts Quartet did not even attempt to differentiate it from the Haydn stylistically, however difficult that may have been given the music. It was not until the scherzo of the Schumann that the musicians finally proved that they were capable of something other than a filigreed, classical sound. The scherzo was fueled by rhythmic energy, and the embedded intermezzo had true lyric beauty. Sadly, this spark of life was a one-time occurrence. Even the closing presto was calculated and lacked the kind of abandon that would make for an exciting finish.

According to its Web site, the National Academy of Sciences will not be hosting concerts for the rest of the season in its own auditorium. Its planned schedule is now going to be moved to the National Gallery of Art's concert series, with the next concert by the Ritz Chamber Players planned for February 14, 2010, at 6:30 pm.

A Foundation with Art and Soul

Most often I write about exhibits of art on the white walls of galleries or museums. But can art also help a community to prepare itself for the future? Should artists play a role in a community as fundamental as an elected official would or a city planner? Why not?

That's a question that Lyman Orton is asking. Better known as the heir to the Vermont Country Store empire and later forming the Orton Family Foundation, Orton has long been a supporter of the arts and artists in Vermont, searching for fresh and creative ideas to encourage local communities as they re-think their futures. This past weekend I traveled to the village of Starksboro, Vermont, for a barn dance and dinner, prepared from the local community garden (yumm), to celebrate the successful completion of an Orton Foundation, Art and Soul project conceived by Orton Fellow and my friend, the artist Matthew Perry. (Matthew also runs the Vermont Arts Exchangeand its fabulous Basement Music Series, which I've written about previously.) After a challenging vetting process, Matthew's proposal was chosen over two others for an Orton grant working with the Starksboro community.

Matt has a renovated school bus, turned into a mobile art studio, that he uses to bring art classes and programs to schools and the veterans' hospital in the Bennington, Vermont area. Recently he took the art bus on a road trip north to Starksboro, which began what he called his Roadside Conversations. The first stop was the Volunteer Fire Hall to ask the fire crew what they liked best about their community or what wasn't working. Slowly they warmed to this outsider -- an artist no less -- and had some solid responses and ideas, like how do we protect out town when we can't find local employment and have to travel long distances. Much story telling ensued.

Another engagement was at the town meeting, where Matt got attendees to air their dirty laundry. He then painted the issues on shirts and towels, issues including how the youth are moving away and lack of jobs; then Matt strung them on a clothes line literally to blow in the wind. It was brilliant and a very effective way for the citizens of the community to start a discussion, visualize their thoughts, and take ownership of them.

Of the many projects undertaken over the past summer, one of my favorites was a discussion of safety with local school kids. Each child was given a generic "Slow Children" street sign, but on these signs they drew self-portraits in place of the generic stick figures. The results personalized the importance of public safety: the child you save may be someone very familiar. The signage is also very cool and quite noticeable: this a definite keeper for a national program.

Is there a place for artists in community planning, an official designation? My response is a resounding Yes! And it's about time. In this perilous time of tanking art markets it's also an opportunity for some artists to rethink their own value to the community: are you missing something in your current career path? Can your talent as a musician, poet, or dancer have a tangible benefit for your community beyond the traditional formats? The Orton Foundation believes so. More images on Flickr.

American 'Ring' Cycle Comes to Surprising Conclusion

In 2006, when Washington National Opera opened its American Ring Cycle, few could have imagined that it would end as it did on Saturday night, with a concert performance of Götterdämmerung. After very promising productions of Das Rheingold and Die Walküre in 2006 and 2007, financial considerations delayed the staging of Siegfried by one season, to last spring, when it ended up with a troubled casting and special-effects woes. The collapse of the financial and housing market last fall was the final nail in the coffin, forcing the company to give up on the ultimate goal, canceling the plans to mount the entire four-opera cycle this month. Instead of an international operatic event, we had a hastily reconfigured season, until now less than stellar, and two concert performances of Götterdämmerung. By all logical expectations, this doomed Ring should have come to an ignominious end, with nothing but the fact that it finally concluded to show for all the trouble.

Conductor Philippe Auguin

So, imagine the surprise of everyone in the Kennedy Center Opera House -- critics, subscribers, and likely even the orchestra and the cast -- when this Götterdämmerung turned out to be one of the most transcendent musical experiences in recent memory. Somehow, the planets aligned and Wagner's demanding and multicolored score leapt off the page in a vivid performance that had an excellent mixture of propulsion and timeless stasis. The pole star, the guiding force of the assembled forces was French conductor Philippe Auguin, who made quite a memorable debut at the WNO podium. The orchestra applauded him, with a loud rumble of their feet, at his first appearance, and the ovations for him from the audience at the start of the second and third acts were among the loudest and most appreciative heard for a conductor in a long time. His beat was crystal clear, his tempi consistent and well chosen, and the economy of his gesture allowing singers and players to come together in a solid performance. The sense of confidence in the pit was evident in the self-assured sound of the orchestra, which gave one of its best performances of the last several years.

The cast sang from the stage, some using scores on music stands and others singing from memory and doing more acting than not. Replacing the originally cast Siegried, Ian Storey (who withdrew from both Götterdämmerung and Ariadne auf Naxos because of illness), veteran tenor Jon Fredric West stepped in and gave an authoritative, breezy, and stentorian performance. The voice has lost some of its beauty over the years -- he was the Bacchus in WNO's last production of Ariadne auf Naxos, in 1994 -- but not its leathery power, and as when he sang the role in the Met's Ring cycle a few years ago, power came at the price of polish. He was matched in intensity by the explosive Brünnhilde of soprano Iréne Theorin, whose reserved singing in Ariadne (she had to sing the title role in that opera again -- the following afternoon!) paid off, as well as the scheming malevolence of Gidon Saks's loathsome Hagen and the clueless bluster of Alan Held's Gunther. The supporting cast was equally strong, with the exception of the flimsy Gutrune of Bernadette Flaitz, who seemed ill. Standing out for exceptional praise was Elizabeth Bishop, who came back from a nondescript performance in Falstaff last month to sing her heart out as the Second Norn and especially as Waltraute, and the volcanic Third Norn of Carter Scott, in another noteworthy WNO debut.

Other Reviews: Anne Midgette, Amid barren backdrop, a brassy 'Ring' (Washington Post, November 9) T. L. Ponick, WNO's lucky concert 'Ring' (Washington Times, November 9) Jerry Floyd, Blazing Brünnhilde, Reptilian Hagen (Wagneropera.net, November 9)

With some luminous backdrops of clouds or sky-like colors and some lighting effects (designed by Mark McCullough), a few costume changes (mostly formal gowns and tuxedos), narrative cues on the supertitle screen, and the dramatic gestures of the singers the story was told quite effectively. The absence of visual distractions even seemed to heighten one's focus on the orchestra, which did not let down one iota in the transitions between scenes, even though there were no sets to change or actions to accompany. In fact, if one had added a few Japanese Kabuki theater costumes and limited the stage movement even more, you would have had something close to a Robert Wilson staging.

In a metaphorical way this conclusion to director Francesca Zambello's American Ring Cycle could not have been more appropriate. In Das Rheingold Zambello cast Wagner's gods as American captains of rapacious capitalism, with Wotan taking out a mortgage on the worst possible terms to build a home ultimately beyond his means. When the speculation and resulting bubble went bust, life imitated art. An opera company's grand project went up in flames, but perhaps by the act of self-immolation, the destruction can not only be turned to some eventual good but was, by its own right, intensely beautiful to behold.

This concert performance of Götterdämmerung will be repeated only once, this coming Sunday (November 9, 2 pm). If I could go to it again, I would.

Fatto, Matto, Quid Pro Quo

Read my review today on the Washington Post Web site:

Charles T. Downey, Mozart, by and for kids
Washington Post, November 9, 2009

Among the many offerings of the Kids Euro Festival was a free performance of Mozart's singspiel "Bastien und Bastienne," presented Saturday morning by the Austrian Embassy. As the capacity crowd of children and their adults arrived, magician David Morey was ingeniously on hand to keep young minds engaged until the performance began.

The opera, written when Mozart was 12, offers glimpses of the greater achievements to come. The most memorable number, "Diggi, daggi, schurry, murry," is given to Colas, a self-proclaimed magician who helps reunite the eponymous twin-named young lovers. Baritone Steven Scheschareg, the only adult in the cast, scored a big hit with this silly aria of fake magic words, peering over his tome of imagined arcana at the wide-eyed children gathered at the front of the room. As Bastien and Bastienne, treble Noah Winston Donahue, 13 (Mozart actually wrote the role for a tenor), and soprano Katherine Mariko Murray, 17, sang with composure and confidence, with the assistance of capricious amplification. [Continue reading]

Mozart, Bastien und Bastienne
Presented by the Austrian Cultural Forum and the Embassy Series
Kids Euro Festival
Embassy of Austria

BSO's Stellar Mahler, with Mozart Comfort Food

Read my review today on the Washington Post Web site:

Charles T. Downey, BSO goes pretty with cozy standards
Washington Post, November 8, 2009

Susanna Phillips, soprano (photo by Ken Howard)

If anything, the program offered by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra on Friday night at Meyerhoff Hall was too pretty, too easy on the ears. Continuing an unofficial traversal of Gustav Mahler's symphonies, music director Marin Alsop gave up on last season's unsuccessful pairing of Mahler's music with that of Leonard Bernstein. Instead the concert matched Mahler's most radiant, least neurotic symphony, the fourth, with some cozy Mozart.

Susanna Phillips's pellucid soprano voice, heard in an excellent recital earlier in the week, seemed optimally suited to Mahler's last movement. The poem it sets, "Das himmlische Leben" from the "Des Knaben Wunderhorn" collection, is a childlike description of a heaven where, on fast days, the fish swim up to offer themselves as food for the blessed. Indeed, Phillips sang the solo with gorgeous, well-supported clarity, a shining, simple but not colorless sound, limpid and calm on the mysterious chords of "Sankt Peter im Himmel sieht zu," which return as a refrain. [Continue reading]

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Mahler, Symphony No. 4
With Susanna Phillips, soprano
Also Mozart, Eine kleine Nachtmusik and three concert arias

SVILUPPO:
See also Tim Smith, The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra with Mozart, Mahler and Marin (Baltimore Sun, November 9)

In Brief

Here is your regular Sunday selection of links to good things in Blogville and Beyond.

• One of the things that makes The Onion so funny is that it is the inversion of journalism. They write the headlines first, which are always engineered to grab your attention, and then write the articles to go under the headlines. [New York Times]


• Even for singers, the vocal mechanism can be something of a mystery. After watching the video of the "Glottal Opera," involving close-ups of human voices in action, I wish it had stayed that way. [Boing Boing]


• What would happen if a string quartet -- say the Quatuor Mosaïques -- gave a concert following the rules of a typical rock club performance -- say, by the Wu-Tang Clan. A hilarious mash-up from Andrew Lindemann Malone. [DMV Classical]


• Bálint András Varga’s recently published György Kurtág: Three Interviews and Ligeti Homages. WANT. [From Beyond the Stave]


• "When I go to an opera, I go for the story and the music. If the singer is wonderful, that's gravy. People who love opera are willing to put up with the longueurs. In fact, they enjoy them, because they allow the singer to shine; that's the thrill." Mark Stryker talks to Stephen Sondheim about opera. [Detroit Free Press]


• We wish Leonard Slatkin a speedy and full recovery, after suffering a heart attack on the podium during a concert with the Rotterdam Philharmonic. [Washington Post]