Oberon's Grove

Ariel Rivka/CaitlinTrainor/Texture

Above: Kaitlyn Gilliland and Caitlin Trainor is a rehearsal photo by Paul B Goode

Thursday February 27th, 2014 - An evening of dance at Ailey Citigroup featuring three companies: Ariel Rivka Dance, Trainor Dance, and Texture Contemporary Ballet.

Caitlin Trainor presented two works: KaitlynCaitlin (2013) a duet showcasing Ms. Trainor and former New York City ballet dancer Kaitlyn Gilliland.  This is a danced conversation between the choreographer, Caitlin, dancing barefooted, and guest artist Kaitlyn, dancing on pointe.  To music by Major Scurlock, using piano and electronics, the two girls dressed in ruby-red frocks dance in-sync and then move off on separate trajectories to explore their own vocabularies in combinations that makes great use of the space. The work reaches a peak as they come face-to-face, literally, and the movement stops for a moment.

In the second Trainor piece, The Air Turned White, Ms. Trainor appears both in person and as a projected image, in filmwork crafted by Maria Niro. The dancer enters from the audience, wearing jeans and a halter top. To a pulsing electronic beat (the musical setting also by Ms. Niro) Caitlin begins to dance while on the huge screen above we see her folding and crawling slowly across the surface. In a miraculous ending, the filmed image shrinks to nothing.                                                                                              

Take… Taken… Taking (world premiere) was performed by Texture Contemporary Ballet; choreographed by Alan Obuzor to music by Philip Glass. This is a pas de cinq in three movements with the girls on pointe; simple blue costumes and fine lighting set off the dancers in this well-structured ballet in which Mr. Obuzor's choreography shows imagination and musicality throughout. In the restless opening segment, the flow of movement and stylized port de bras keep us engaged; the vivid dark-haired dancer Alexandra Tiso seems something of an outsider, and the others seek to entice or console her with lovely gestures. Then a chill descends and Mr. Obuzor commences a long solo to the adagio section; seemingly a lost soul, the dancer uses his long limbs to express isolation and fear. The solo takes on a more agitated aspect but there seems to be no escape. Three girls return for the turbulent finale, their hair down. Ms. Tiso is seen again both in solo and duet phrases with Mr. Obuzor. The ending of the work is visually pleasing but slightly inconclusive dramatically...though that in itself adds to the ballet's mystique. Dancers:  Kelsey Bartman, Jennifer Grahnquist, Alan Obuzor, Alexandra Tiso and Brynn Vogel.

From Ariel Rivka Dance, The Book of Esther begins with Vashti - an homage to Vashti, wife of the ruler of Persia - which the Company performed last year. Set to a melodic score by David Homan for violin, cello, guitar and piano, Vashti features five women - four handmaidens and Queen Vashti - and tells the story of Vashti's stuggle to choose between obeying her husband's command that she dance naked before his guests or to maintain her dignity by refusing.

Hana Ginsburg Tirosh is a poetic Vashti with an expressive face; the dancing of the five women recalls both Isadora Duncan's works and Jerome Robbins' Antique Epigraphs.

Last year, Vashti stood alone; now the choreographer has extended the narrative continues with Esther. As the successor to the displaced Vashti,  Esther is in the difficult position of having to inform the King that she is Jewish. The King's advisor, Haman, works to undermine Esther.

Esther begins with the entry of a solo clarinetist (Moran Katz) who crosses the stage playing a wistful melody. The story the unfolds, with Claire Cholak as Esther advised by Mordechai (Kristen Licata) and by a vision of Vashti (Ms. Ginsburg Tirosh) as to how she should deal with her dilemma. Danita Shaheen dressed in red as the Good/Evil Haman brings a welcome vibrancy to the proceedings.

By extending the dancework to incorporate the stories of both queens, the piece now seems a bit long; it might be well to pare it down just a little to maintain the dramatic flow of the narrative. But that is up to the choreographer; as it stands now The Book of Esther is both musically and visually rewarding.

A note of praise for the excellent musicians who played the David Homan score live: Ms. Katz (clarinet), Mario Gotoh (violin), Nadav Lev (guitar), Elad Kabilio (cello) and Ben Laude (piano).

Preljocaj & Martins @ NYC Ballet

Above: from LA STRAVAGANZA

February 25th, 2014 - Angelin Preljocaj's unusual 1997 ballet LA STRAVAGANZA and Peter Martins' tango extravaganza TODO BUENOS AIRES (dating from 2000) were on the bill at New York City Ballet tonight, along with a Wheeldon pas de deux A PLACE FOR US.

To date I've admired everything I've seen by Mr. Preljocaj, most especially his L'ANNONCIATION which has been perfomed in New York City by Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet. I was at the NYCB premiere of LA STRAVAGANZA over a decade ago and was very taken with this dancework which revolves around a warp in the time continuum.

In LA STRAVAGANZA, a sextet of young people in contemporary dress are dancing quietly in the twilight to the music of Vivaldi. At the intrusion of mechanical sounds, a black panel at the rear of the stage rises to review another sextet: three men in Puritan garb and three colourfully-dressed peasant girls. The contemporary group warily explore these aliens from another era who dance in stiff patterns with a stylized gestural language. A pas de deux ensues for one of the contemporary girls and one of he Puritans; in the end the girl is abducted and taken off to the other world. The contemporary dancers return to their original formation and the lost girl magically reappears: the story seems poised to repeat itself, endlessly. 

In this rather odd ballet, which as I recall tended to baffle people at its premiere, Mr. Preljocaj has successfully merged the heavenly Baroque music with works of 20th century composers Evelyn Ficarra, Robert Normandeau, Serge Morand, and Ake Parmerud. Dance highlights are a duet for two of the Puritan men - Sean Suozzi and Craig Hall - moving in-sync with fast-paced gestures, and the time-spanning pas de deux danced by the ever-intriguing Gretchen Smith and Sean Suozzi.

The contemporary boys - Devin Alberda, Joseph Gordon and Allen Peiffer - have some demanding combinations and later they stand stock still in a field of light as the girls - Ms. Smith, Brittany Pollack and Sara Adams - tentatively examine their bodies. Daniel Applebaum was the third Puritan, and a very attractive female trio - Emilie Gerrity, Claire Kretzschmar and Lydia Wellington - worked beautifully together and seemed to have stepped out of a Vermeer painting. 

The title A PLACE FOR US made me think we were in for that cloyingly sentimental song from WEST SIDE STORY; but mercifully Chris Wheeldon turned to far more interesting - and rare - works from Andre Previn and Leonard Bernstein for this duet, the music being performed live onstage by Steven Hartman (clarinet) and Nancy McDill (piano).

The duet, danced by NYCB's beloved couple Tiler Peck and Robert Fairchild, is performed in squares of light gleaming onstage. The piece has a dedication: 'For Jerome Robbins. A thank you.' and that choreographer's work is indeed recalled while watching this pas de deux with its combination of romance and wit. Oddly enough, though - perhaps because of Robbie's white tights and soft tunic - this pas de deux made me think of Balanchine's APOLLO more than once. Needless to say, the dancers and musicians did very well by it.

TODO BUENOS AIRES premiered in 2000 with Darci Kistler and Wendy Whelan in the principal female roles. In 2005, Peter Martins re-worked the ballet to incorporate a featured role for Julio Bocca. It's the 2005 version we saw tonight, with our own primo bailarín Joaquin de Luz in a virtuoso performance.

The musicians, led by concertmaster Kurt Nikkanen and featuring JP Jofre on bandoneon, are seated onstage, and two large soft drapes mark out the dance floor of a spacious after-hours club. Five Piazzolla tangos, arranged by Ron Wasserman, provide the setting for a series of duets and ensembles. Maria Kowroski - could her extension be any more heavenly? - danced with cool allure surrounded by a quartet of sexy boys: Jared Angle, Robert Fairchild, Adrian Danchig-Waring and Amar Ramasar. In a performance marked by radiant star-power, Ashley Laracey took on the role created on Wendy Whelan and made it her own. Right from her first duet with the sensuous Amar Ramasar, Ashley was thoroughly captivating; it seems to me that she is a dancer who could take on a huge variety of roles and make them all shine.

Joaquin had the audience in the palm of his hand from the start: his speed-of-light pirouettes and spacious leaps caused the people around me to gasp in disbelief. The character's moods range from aloof to seductive, and Joaquin seemed to be having a blast as he covered the stage with his daredevil feats, in the end basking in the adulation of the crowd and flashing his award-winning smile.

PRINCE IGOR @ The Met

Above: Ildar Abdrazakov as Prince Igor at The Met

Monday February 24th, 2014 - I fell in love with Borodin's PRINCE IGOR back in the late 1960s when I saw several performances of it in an English-language production at New York City Opera. The staging was traditional and featured unforgettable performances by my beloved Maralin Niska (Yaroslavna) and that great singing-actor William Chapman (doubling as Khan Konchak and Prince Galitsky); much of the music became imbedded in my operatic memory, and the famed Polovtsian Dances were staged as a warriors-and-maidens extravaganza, led by the great Edward Villella who was on-loan from New York City Ballet.

The City Opera's production used painted drops and built set-pieces to evoke the locales, with era-appropriate costumes. It spoke to us directly of the time and place that Borodin's music conveys. The Metropolitan Opera's new production of PRINCE IGOR is more generalized; the women of Putivi are seen in 1940-ish dresses and coats even though the action supposedly takes place in the year 1185. 

The evening overall was a rather mixed affair: musically sound and with some interesting visual elements (the field of poppies) it does not really end up making a strong dramatic statement; this may be due in part to the episodic character of the opera itself. In this updated setting we don't get much of a feel for exoticism. Khan Konchak for example is not seen as an Asiatic warlord with a scimitar but rather as a rather anonymous military type in a toxic-yellow uniform.

The opening scene takes place not in a public square in Igor's capital but rather in a great hall where the Prince's troops assemble in preparation for going to war. This is fine, but it rather short-circuits the effect of the solar eclipse that is taken as a bad omen by the populace. Despite this warning, Prince Igor leads his troops out to fight the Khan; he is defeated and captured.

Black-and-white films of the Prince and of his soldiers are shown during interludes; these are rather superfluous though it's nice to see two men in a gentle embrace as they await the coming battle. The field of poppies is really very attractive and the ballet - with the dancers is gauzy cream-coloured costumes - is sensuous and flowing rather than militant and grand. I loved spotting several of my dancer-friends: Loni Landon, Michael Wright, Anthony Bocconi, Kentaro Kikuchi, Matt Van, and Bradley Shelver.

In this production, the three scenes of Act II all take place in the same spacious great hall as the prologue; nevertheless, there are longish pauses between scenes.

The first intermission stretched out unduly and the far-from-full house seemed bored waiting for the opera to resume. There were very short rounds of applause after the arias, which were for the most part attractively sung. A huge double explosion as the Act II curtain fell with Putivi under attack almost made me jump out of my seat.

Gianandrea Noseda conducted with the right sense of grandeur, but also with a nice feeling for the more reflective moments. Perhaps what was missing was a Scheherazade/mystique in the Polovtsian scene. Noseda sometimes tended to overwhelm his singers; and the very open sets did not help to project the voices into the hall. The orchestra and chorus were on optimum form.

In the title-role, Ildar Abdrazakov sang beautifully, especially in his great aria of anguish over his defeat and of his longing for his beloved Yaroslavna far away. The role, often sung by baritones, seemed to work well for Abdrazakov even though his voice is more basso-oriented. Read about Mr. Abdrazakov's recently-issued CD of Russian arias Power Players, here. Igor's lament is a highlight of this excellent disc.

Stefan Kocan and Mikhail Petrenko appeared as Khan Konchak and Prince Galitsky respectively and both sang well though neither seemed as prolific of volume as I have sometimes heard them. Sergei Semishkur's handsome tenor voice and long-floated head-tone at the end of his serenade made his Vladimir a great asset to the evening musically, though he was rather wooden onstage. The veteran basso Vladimir Ognovenko was a characterful Skula, with Andrey Popov as his sidekick Yeroshka.

Oksana Dyka's stunning high-C as she bade farewell to Igor in the prologue sailed impressively into the house; but later, in her Act I aria, the voice seemed unsteady and lacking in the dynamic control that made Maralin Niska's rendering so memorable. Niska always took a flaming, sustained top note at the end of the great scene with the boyars where the palace is attacked. Dyka wisely didn't try for it. The sultry timbre of Anita Rachvelishvili made a lush impression in the contralto-based music of Konchakovna, and it was very nice to see Barbara Dever onstage again in the brief role of Yaroslavna's nurse: I still recall her vivid Amneris and Ulrica from several seasons ago.

A particularly pleasing interlude came in the aria with female chorus of the Polovtsian Maiden which opens the scene at Khan Konchak's camp. Singing from the pit, the soprano Kiri Deonarine (above) showed a voice of limpid clarity which fell so sweetly on the ear that one could have gone on listening to many more verses than Borodin provided. It was a definite vocal highlight of the evening, and also showed Mr. Noseda - and the Met's harpist - at their senstive best.

Metropolitan Opera House
February 24, 2014

PRINCE IGOR
Alexander Borodin

Prince Igor.............Ildar Abdrazakov
Yaroslavna..............Oksana Dyka
Vladimir................Sergey Semishkur
Prince Galitzky.........Mikhail Petrenko
Khan Konchak............Stefan Kocán
Konchakovna.............Anita Rachvelishvili
Skula...................Vladimir Ognovenko
Yeroshka................Andrey Popov
Ovlur...................Mikhail Vekua
Nurse...................Barbara Dever
Maiden..................Kiri Deonarine

Conductor...............GIanandrea Noseda

Schubert's Octet @ CMS

Above: Franz Schubert

Sunday February 23, 2014 - A sold-out house at Alice Tully Hall as Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center continued their series The Incredible Decade, featuring works composed between 1820 and 1830, with octets by Schubert and Mendelssohn.

The evening didn't quite turn out as I'd hoped; I've been fighting off a cold and I thought I had medicated myself sufficiently to get thru the concert. But about half-way thru the Schubert all the symptoms suddenly activated and - since I am always kvetching about people who come to performances when they are coughing - I thought the polite thing would be to leave at intermission. This choice was seconded by the presence of a fidgety woman next to me who kept poking me in the ribs with her elbow. I hated to miss the Mendelssohn - one of my favorite works - but in the end I think I made the right choice because by the time I got home I was really sick.

At any rate, the performance of the Schubert octet in F-major was certainly worth my effort to attend; as is their wont, Chamber Music Society assembled a group of players of the highest calibre and their work - both as individuals and in ensemble - was dazzling. The vociferous ovation at the end was fully merited, the musicians called out twice as the audience's cheering waves of applause swept over them.

Schubert's octet in F major, D. 803, was an ambitious project for the young composer. Sometimes viewed as a preparatory 'outline' for what would eventually become the Symphony No. 9 in C major, The Great, the octet in itself is a rewarding and innovative work. Performance timing of one hour makes this one of the longer chamber works in the active repertory; its six movements literally brim over with melodic and harmonic riches. The mood runs from sunshine to shadow and the work conveys Schubert's musical and emotional ebb and flow; it's a piece that calls for both vrtuosity and spiritual intention, and our stellar band of players tonight gave a performance that was nothing short of spectacular.

I was particularly excited to encounter one of my favorite musicians, Alexander Fiterstein (above), whose prodigious talents as a clarinetist were very much an illuminating factor in this evening's performance. In the Menuetto, Alexander and violinist Erin Keefe engaged in a courtly dialogue, and earlier in the Adagio it is the clarinet which first 'sings' the lovely melody. Ms. O'Keefe's silken timbre was a joy to hear throughout, and her fellow string players - Sean Lee (violin), David Aaron Carpenter (viola), Jakob Koranyi (cello) and the Society's formidable double-bass player Kurt Muroki - blended stylishly while the wind trio - along with Mr. Fiterstein - had Bram Van Sambeek (bassoon) and the matchless velvet of Radovan Vlatkovic's horn playing. Having played the horn in high school, every time I hear Mr. Vlatkovic I develop a case of 'timbre envy'. How does he do it? My timbre was always too trumpet-like. Special kudos to Mr. Koranyi as well: his 'variation' in the Andante was one of the outstanding passages of the evening.

In her pre-curtain speech, co-Artistic Director of CMS Wu Han gave us the exciting news that subscription/ticket sales were already well ahead of projection for the 2014-2015 season.  Bravo CMS!

Jessica Lang Dance @ The Joyce

Above: from Jessica Lang's The Calling, photo by Takao Kamaru

Thursday February 20, 2014 - Jessica Lang Dance are at The Joyce this week, presenting an exciting programme of danceworks in varied musical styles, all of it choreographed with Lang's innate sense of sophistication and grace. And it's all beautifully danced as well.

Lines Cubed is a Lang work new to me and I loved every moment of it. Set to a score by composers John Metcalfe and Thomas Metcalf, the ballet takes on the aspects of a danced symphony: there's a prelude, an andante, a scherzo, an adagio, and a finale - and each movement is colour-coded for the costuming and set decor. Throbbing mechanical rhythms and passages of lyricism allow the choreographer to explore various movement motifs: much of the ballet has a stylized, ritualistic quality with questing port de bras. The lighting (Nicole Pearce) and the use of accordian-like set pieces which the dancers open and close in passing create a shifting visual framework.

Following a ritualistic opening movement, Black, the space glows in ruby-rich light for Red with an evocative solo danced by Kana Kimura backed by four men. Bright sun and infectious joy are expressed by a trio of women - Julie Fiorenza, Sarah Haarmann and Laura Mead - in Yellow. This gives way to a rather sombre Blue adagio, danced by Claudia MacPherson and Milan Misko. The colours are mixed and matched for the full-cast finale. Such was the cumulative effect of the setting, music and dancing that I could have immediately watched this ballet again.

For Mendelssohn/Incomplete, Jessica Lang has turned to my favorite chamber work - the Mendelssohn piano trio #1 - and created an ensemble work of longing and gentle melancholy in a dusk-like setting. The women in purple dresses and the men in soft shades of grey cross the stage in a clustered formation, a community seeking something in the impending darkness. They pause to dance: here the choreographer shows us tenderness and consolation in choreography that quietly illuminates the music. In the end, the group seem to be moving on - one woman lingers in the space, but she is not left behind. This poignant ballet, so touching in its sincerity and humanity, made a fine impression and was superbly danced by Mlles. Fiorenza, MacPherson and Haarman with Clifton Brown, Milan Misko and Kirk Henning.

In Aria, a quartet set to Zenobia's restless-fury aria "Son contenta di morire" from Handel's RADAMISTO, three boys (Todd Burnsed, Kirk Henning and Milan Misko) in grey tights and bright red shirts sail thru strongly musical combinations while Laura Mead - in a flame-red frock and dancing on pointe - comes and goes in a breathlessly-paced virtuoso performance. Mr. Burnsed is her primary partner; there are lifts, escapes, and swirling entrances and exits in this portrait of a woman on the brink.

The Calling, a mind-bendingly gorgeous solo, is culled from a Lang signature work Splendid Isolation II. It was performed tonight by the radiant Kana Kimura. The dancer - in a long white gown - basically remains stationary, using port de bras and gentle shiftings of the upper body, neck and head to enthrall the viewer while music by Trio Mediaeval lends a timeless sense of rapture. This work, and Ms. Kimura's sheer expressive elegance, enthralled the packed house tonight.

White, a dance-on-film made in 2011 and having its New York premiere at these performances, shows six white-clad dancers against a jet-black background. The perspective makes them appear large or small as they dance across the screen, sometimes with witty inflection. Their comings and goings have a silent-movie flair, and the music of Edward Grieg makes White an especially pleasing interlude.

i.n.k. is a Jessica Lang work that I have experienced from its earliest formative stages. Visually engrossing, the ballet features black-clad dancers moving before a snow-white back-panel, sometimes dancing with their shadows. Meanwhile drops or waves of dark ink splash across the screen. The other-worldly score by Jakub Ciupinski, the costuming of Elena Comendador, Nicole Pearce's lighting, and the intriguing film elements (KUSHO by Shinichi Maruyama) all combine to draw the viewer into this dream-like world.

Clifton Brown - truly one of the great dancers of our time - and the celestial Kana Kimura have a remarkable adagio in i.n.k. which ends with a mesmerizing slow backbend from Kana, supported on high in Clifton's arms. This passage is so compelling and I felt this evening that i.n.k. should actually end here; and my companion felt the same way.

On my dance wish-list is Jessica Lang's production of Pergolesi's STABAT MATER which premiered at Glimmerglass in the Summer of 2013; I'm hoping it could be brought to New York City.

Violin Concertos @ NYC Ballet

Above: Russell Janzen of New York City Ballet

Wednesday February 19th, 2014 - Ballets by Jerome Robbins, Peter Martins, and George Balanchine - each set to a great 20th century violin concerto - were on the bill at New York City Ballet this evening. To an already-great line-up of dancers there was a late addition: Russell Janzen made his debut in BARBER VIOLIN CONCERTO; Tiler Peck and Amar Ramasar were also making role debuts tonight.

Three conductors passed the baton one to another as the evening progressed; the Company's two concertmasters - Kurt Nikkanen and Arturo Delmoni - shared the soloist spotlight, Kurt playing the Prokofiev and Arturo playing Barber and Stravinsky. It was a programme during which really missed my beautiful seat in Fourth Ring AA where I used to watch the orchestra from on high.

The evening opened on a high note: the curtain rose on Robert Fairchild, all in white, as the restless dreamer of Jerome Robbins' OPUS 19/THE DREAMER - my favorite Robbins ballet. Robert danced the ballet's opening solo with deep musicality and supple fluidity of movement. Out of the blue, his muse materializes: Tiler Peck, in this role for the first time, found a perfect balance between the classical vocabulary and the sometimes jagged expressionism the ballet requires. In the more lyrical passages, her lush pirouettes had remarkable clarity; to a role that has been gorgeously danced in recent seasons by Wendy Whelan, Jenifer Ringer, and Janie Taylor, Tiler brought her own distinctive touches. Robbins gives the corps some dreamy moves - and also some athletic ones - in OPUS 19; I very much enjoyed tonight's collective which was made up of some of my favorite dancers.

It took me a few hearings to figure out exactly what it is about the opening measures of the Barber violin concerto that sings to me so clearly: it's the use of the piano, especially the opening chord. It gave me a little frisson again tonight; while I love so many violin concertos I think sometimes the Barber is my actual favorite. I remember one summer driving very fast out Route 6 with Kenny to the end of the world - Provincetown - with the Barber blasting on the car stereo. Music and memory are so often indelibly linked.

In tonight's performance of the Barber, Teresa Reichlen and Russell Janzen looked great together - not just because they are long-limbed and attractive, but because they share a sense of elegance that manifests itself in their bearing and the grace of their line. A chill passed thru me as Amar Ramasar entered, a fallen angel with a dangerous 'loner' appeal who will eventually draw Tess to the dark side. Megan Fairchild excels in the barefooted role created by Kate Johnson: it's a far cry from the charming, pristine pointe-work that is Megan's specialty, but she jumps right in and makes it happen.

After their classical parterning passages in the first movement, Tess and Russell will each experience a transformation. At first seeming to console Amar, Tess falls under his spell and is borne away to an unknown fate; their duet is a psychological conflict which reaches its turning point when the subjugated woman lets her hair down. Amar's character is not so much seductive as simply a force that cannot be withstood; Tess in her vulnerability looks ravshingly ravished. Random thought: I'd love to see Amar in the Martha Graham rep.

In the final allegro, Russell strives to withstand the endless torment of Megan's advances: she's playing one of the most annoying characters in all dance. She ends up writhing on the floor as Russell backs away, covering his eyes to blot out the vision of her over-sexed frenzy. In a final attempt to get what she wants, Megan literally climbs up Russell's back to perch on shoulder; in a last defense, he flips her over and sends her crashing to the floor. The two dancers handled this tricky finale with aplomb and in fact danced the whole third movement to perfection.

Above: Janie Taylor, in a Henry Leutwyler portrait

Tonight's Stravinsky had a special energy; it was in fact one of the finest performances of this ballet I've seen. Part of the singular excitement in the atmosphere tonight may have stemmed from the presence of Janie Taylor, the Company's enigmatic/charismatic principal ballerina who is soon to retire. I've been crazy about Janie since she first stepped out, a mere slip of a girl just over from SAB, to dance the lead in LA VALSE. After building a reputation as a dancer at once fragile and fearless, a long hiatus due to a complicated injury took her away from the stage for months...years, even. Her 'second career' has been a real source of joy for me and so tonight it was bittersweet to think that in a few days she will be vanishing from this stage, leaving only perfumed memories. But what memories they are!

Tonight's performance showed off of Janie's balletic split personality: a palpable vulnerability alinged to a steely technical resiliance: she's simply extraordinary...and irreplacable. Ask LaCour's partnering of this blonde enigma developed a wonderful simpatico, a sense of tenderness in what is after all an abstract and 'emotionless' ballet. In that marvelous moment where the ballerina stands against her partner as he shows her a view of the world with a sweeping gesture of the arm, I thought I'd never seen anything so beautiful.

Janie and Ask seemed poised to walk off with the gold tonight, but the other Stravinsky couple - Rebecca Krohn and Adrian Danchig-Waring - were so potent technically and so vivid in their presentation that the entire ballet took on a grand dynamic, abetted by the excellent corps (the quartet of leaping boys won a 'bravo' all their own). Rebecca Krohn has really done wonders in the leotard ballets; she looks phenomenally confident and polished, and for me she's the equal of any ballerina I've seen in this rep, going way back to Suzanne and Karin. Her generous dancing found a fine match in Adrian Danchig-Waring's vibrant physicality; together these two dancers crafted amazing shapes as they moved thru the ballet's demanding partnering motifs, ending their pas de deux with Adrian in a finely-timed fall to the floor and Rebecca in a sweeping back-bend.

Extra delight: Faye Arthurs in a brief partnered segment with Adrian; she danced in both the Prokofiev and the Stravinsky tonight. So nice to run into Erica Pereira and Caitlin Dieck...and Tess, after the show.

OPUS 19/THE DREAMER: *T. Peck, R. Fairchild [Conductor: Sill, Solo Violin: Nikkanen]

BARBER VIOLIN CONCERTO: Reichlen, *Ramasar, M. Fairchild, *Janzen [Conductor: Otranto, Solo Violin: Delmoni]

STRAVINSKY VIOLIN CONCERTO: Taylor, la Cour, Krohn, Danchig-Waring [Conductor: Capps, Solo Violin: Delmoni]

WARSAW SERENADE @ Merkin Hall

Above: soprano Dina Kuznetsova

Tuesday February 18, 2014 - An evening of Polish songs, presented by New York Festival of Song at Merkin Hall, offered an opportunity to hear music I'd never heard before. Michael Barrett and Steven Blier were at the Steinways as tenor Joseph Kaiser opened the evening with "Nakaz niech ozywcze slonko" from Stanislaw Moniuszko's Verbum Nobile; to a march-like rhythm, Mr. Kaiser poured forth his rich-lyric tone with some strikingly sustained high notes. Soprano Dina Kuznetsova made her first appearance of the evening singing Edward Pallasz's "Kiszewska" (a 'lament of the mother of mankind'); intimate and mysterious at first, this song takes on a quality of deep sadness for which the singer employed a smouldering vibrato.

Four songs by Grazyna Bacewicz represented a wide spectrum of vocal and expressive colours: Ms. Kuznetsova in three of the songs ranged from reflective to chattery, at one point doing some agitated humming as she expressed the numbing horror of having a severe headache. Mr. Kaiser's rendering of "Oto jest noc", a song to the moon, was powerfully delivered with some passages of vocalise and a big climactic phrase.

Above: tenor Joseph Kaiser

Each singer represented a song by Mieczyslaw Karlowicz: the tenor in the touchingly melodic "Mów do mnie jeszcze" ('Keep speaking to me...') with its rising passion so marvelously captured by the singer; and then the soprano in the composer's very first published song "Zasmuconej" ('To a grieving maiden...') with its simple, poetic melody showing Ms. Kuznetsova's communicative gifts with distinction.

Mieczyslaw Weinberg’s Seven Yiddish Songs were composed in 1943 to texts by the great Yiddish writer, I. L. Peretz. Weinberg, whose life was lived under the dark clouds of anti-Semitism (his entire family destroyed in a concentration camp with the composer having fled to Russia in 1939), is only now experiencing a renaissance with his 1968 opera THE PASSENGER having been recently performed at Bregenz and Houston and due to be seen in New York City this Summer. This evening's performance of the Seven Yiddish Songs, Opus 13, was my first live encounter with Weinberg's music.

The cycle commences with a child-like "la-la-la-la" duet and proceeds with solos for each singer; another duet takes the form of a playful dialogue. Things take a darker turn as Mr. Kaiser sings of an orphaned boy writing a letter to his dead mama; in the closing song "Schluss" the piano punctuates Ms. Kuznetsova's musings. Both singers excelled in these expressive miniatures.

Two more Moniuszko songs: a flowingly melodic 'Evening Song' with an Italianate feel from the tenor, and a ripplingly-accompanied, minor-key 'Spinning Song' delivered with charm by Ms. Kuznetsova.

Mr. Blier spoke of Karol Szymanowski's homosexuality and how it coloured much of the composer's work. In four songs, the two singers alternated - first the soprano in a quiet, sensuous mood and then Mr. Kaiser singing with increasing passion in a Sicilian-flavored '"Zuleikha" (sung in German). Ms. Kuznetsova employs her coloristic gifts in one of the Songs of the Infatuated Muezzin, a cycle inspired by Szymanowski's visit to North Africa. In 'Neigh, my horse' from The Kurpian Songs Mr. Kaiser tells of a rider, en route to his beloved, being distracted by another beauty he meets on the journey; the tenor's voice rose ringingly to a clarion climax which faded as he sent his riderless horse on to reassure his waiting sweetheart.

The evening ended with an operatically-styled 'Piper's Song' by Ignacy Jan Paderewski where the two voices blended very attractively as the duet moved to its shimmering conclusion.

Despite a bit too much talking - and an un-cooperative microphone - and some distracting comings and goings, the evening was an enjoyable encounter with rarely-heard music and the pleasing experience of hearing Ms. Kuznetsova and Mr. Kaiser lift their voices in expresive song.

Margriet de Moor's THE STORM

The Dutch novelist Margriet de Moor has written some of my favorite books, including THE VIRTUOSO and THE KREUTZER SONATA. First published in 2005, her novel THE STORM revolves around a catastrophic event of nature which took place on January 31st, 1953: a massive, towering wave of water - driven by hurricane-force winds - crashed into the Dutch coastline, reducing the dikes to rubble with ensuing great loss of life and property. A quarter of the Netherlands' land mass was effectively wiped off the map.

In de Moor's novel, Armanda has persuaded her sister Lidy to take her place at a party for Armanda's godchild in the town of Zierikzee. In turn, Armanda will stay home, caring for Lidy's two-year-old daughter Nadja and accompanying Lidy’s husband to a party. The sisters look so much alike and Armanda thinks this "switch" will be a charming diversion for both of them. But what neither sister can know is that Lidy is headed for the center of the oncoming, deadly storm.

The plan goes forward; having driven thru heavy rains and winds, Lidy arrives at Zierikzee. It isn't til later, on leaving the godchild's party, that she realizes the life-threatening force of the storm, and that she is right in the midst of it. As the flooding commences, Lidy and a random group of strangers find refuge in the attic of a farmhouse the lower floors of which are under water. As the group deal with the delivery of one woman's baby, the storm continues outside unabated. Back at home, news of the diasater begins to reach Armanda, her parents, and Lidy's husband Gjoerd.

The group huddled in the attic survive overnight and it seems next day that the flood waters might be receding just a bit; they hope for a rescue boat to come by. But a second assault of wind blows in off the North Sea and in a hair-raising moment the foundation of the house gives way. Lidy and the others are plunged into the vastness of the turbulent waters, clinging to random bits of flotsam. All hope is lost.

For Armanda and Gjoerd there now begins a long period of time communicating with officials and going to the various recovery points, hoping to claim Lidy's body. But all leads are false: Lidy's name remains among the missing.

Always somewhat attracted to one another, Armanda and her brother-in-law begin an affair out of sheer loneliness. As the months pass by and hope fades for ever finding Lidy, Armanda and Gjoerd decide to marry: Gjoerd needs a wife and little Nadja needs a mother. (It will be years, in fact, before Nadja discovers Armanda is not her real mother.)

Things settle into a routine and the story might have faded away in a haze of memories when, some twenty years after the disaster, Armanda receives a call from the police: some remains have been found buried in the mud near the Osterschelde. Examination of the bones have led the authorities to believe they have a possible match to Lidy in terms of height and age. Also pulled from the mud along with the remains was an eroded piece of decorative metal: de Moor had subtly planted this clue for the reader. Though Armanda herself would never be certain that these bones were indeed long-dead sister's, she accepts it as fact and along with Nadja watches as Lidy's coffin is lowered into the grave.

The novel's final pages are so evocative, but I won't spoil the ending for you. THE STORM is a very moving and well-written story.

Mirella Freni sings 'Son pochi fiori'

Mirella Freni sings the aria 'Son pochi fiori' from Mascagni's L'AMICO FRITZ.

Bride of the Wind

Above: Oskar Kokoschka's painting Bride of the Wind

BRIDE OF THE WIND is a 2001 film by Academy Award-nominated director Bruce Beresford which brings to the screen the story of Alma (Schindler) Mahler-Werfel. Alma (played by Sarah Wynter) was one of the most renowned young beauties in turn-of-the-century Vienna, pursued by some of the most famous men in the city, including the artist Gustav Klimt (played by August Schmolzer). She finds herself drawn to the enigmatic composer/conductor Gustav Mahler (Jonathan Pryce) and they marry after she has agreed to his demand that she give up her own aspirations as a composer. Alma hid her compositions away and devoted herself to the self-centered genius Mahler; their's was a loveless marriage, producing two children but leaving Alma bereft of affection.

When their oldest daughter dies, Alma's health breaks down. She goes to a sanitarium in the countryside to recover, and there she meets another patient, the young architect Walter Gropius (Simon Verhoeven). He is kind and attentive, and they begin an affair. Alma's marriage to Mahler survives the composer's discovery of her infidelity. When Mahler succumbs to heart disease, Alma marries Gropius, but their marriage lasts only a few years. Alma has been drawn to another man, the artist Oskar Kokoschka (Vincent Perez). Kokoschka is a bold, impetuous lover; his affair with Alma yields a renowned painting of her, nestled next to Kokoschka's in repose, called Bride of the Wind. Alma becomes pregnant with Oskar's child, but decides not to carry the baby to term.

Alma returns to Gropius for a time, and Kokoschka sells the painting for enough money to buy a commission in the army. He is reported killed in action during World War I. Finally, after leaving Gropius - who has become prudish and possessive - Alma meets the author Franz Werfel (played by Gregor Seberg) whom she marries. In an odd twist,  Kokoschka returns, having miraculously recovered from his wounds; despite finding Alma now married to Werfel, Oskar still loves her and he creates a life-sized doll of her which takes everywhere with him.

Meanwhile, Alma has at last found peace and fulfillment with Werfel; he discovers her long-hidden musical manuscripts and encourages her to to resume composing. The film ends with a scene from a 1925 recital at which soprano Frances Alda (played by Renee Fleming) performed Alma Mahler-Werfel's songs for the first time in public.

I'd quite forgotten how beautiful this film is: the cinematography seems to perfectly capture the architectural detail, art works and fashion of the era, and there are some evocative lighting effects: the simple motif of the sun shining thru a sheer window curtain moved me in a curious way. The opening scene, as Alma enters the shadowy foyer of a great mansion where a party is in progress, is stunning: what seems like a black-and-white shot suddenly delights the eye as she removes her black cloak to reveal a ruby-red gown; moving on to the ballroom, colour seeps into the entire scene.

One scene after another - Klimt's studio, the tiny cabin by a lake where Mahler composed, the idyllic sanitarium - lures us into this rich, luminous world; and of course the soundtrack, drawing upon works of both Gustav and Alma Mahler, is a major factor in the film's romantic allure.

Sarah Wynter as Alma (above) displays the character's intelligence, grace and attractiveness which inspired masculine fervor and tenderness; her rather aristocratic exterior conceals a deep passion and a desire for intimacy. Wynter shines in every scene, a symbol of an elegant age. At certain angles, Jonathan Pryce looks uncannily like Mahler; a polished actor, Pryce seems to simply become the great composer. Mssers. Verhoeven and Perez are heart-throbs, each in his own way. All the character roles are finely played, and the whole film carries us back in time - to an era when I think I might previously have lived, such is my sense of déjà vu.

Above: Alma Mahler-Werfel.