Oberon's Grove

More from Cardiff ~ 2021

Claire Barnett-Jones, winner of the Dame Joan Sutherland Audience Prize at the 2021 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition, sings Ivor Novello's "We'll Gather Lilacs" here.

I was especially pleased that Ms. Barnett-Jones sang Waltraute's narrative from GOTTERDAMMERUNG in her first round program.

Jusung Park from the Republic of Korea moved me to tears with his touching singing of Sancho Panza's "Riez, allez riez du pauvre ideologie", the faithful servant's defense of his master, Don Quixote, against the ridicule of lesser beings. Listen to this wonderful aria from Jules Massenet's rarely-performed DON QUICHOTTE here.

Chinese tenor Chuan Wang pulled out all the stops for his vivid performance of "Ah, mes amis" from Donizetti's FILLE DI REGIMENT. Watch and listen here.

Icelandic soprano Alfheiður Erla Guðmundsdottir (above) was sadly forced to withdraw after the opening round of the Song Prize competition when a 'track and trace' from the Welsh health department notified her that someone on her flight into Cardiff had tested positive for Covid 19. Her set was so lovely that I wanted to post it. (She has since been invited to participate in the 2023 Cardiff Competition.) Also heard in her round are Gihoon Kim from Republic of Korea (eventual winner of the main prize) and Evgenia Asanova from Russia, with pianists Simon Lepper and Llŷr Williams. Watch and listen here.

Gihoon Kim: Cardiff Singer of the World 2021

Korean baritone Gihoon Kim has won the title of BBC Cardiff Singer of the World for 2021. The competition, which was first held in 1983, takes place every other year at Saint David's Hall in Cardiff. Past winners have included Karita Mattila, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Katarina Karnéus, Anja Harteros, Shenyang, and Nicole Cabell.

This year, due to the pandemic, the number of entrants (and the number of judges) was reduced; there was no live audience in the hall. Despite this change in atmosphere (Welsh audiences tend to go mad for singers they like), there was much to enjoy.

Mr. Kim impressed me immediately in the first round with his poignant rendering of Pierrot's Tanzlied from Korngold's DIE TOTE STADT; the judges (including soprano Roberta Alexander and baritone Neal Davies) were seen wiping tears from their eyes as he finished the aria. Gihoon followed up with a wonderful performance of the PAGLIACCI Prologo. When he was announced as the winner of the round, he was literally speechless.

A brief bio/rehearsal clip showed him to be a good-natured guy with a ready laugh.

Enjoy his singing of the Korngold here. And watch Gihoon Kim in his performance for the final round here.

Bravo Gihoon!!

Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha @ Cardiff

South African soprano Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha has won the Song Prize at the 2021 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition.

Ms. Rangwanasha is also the "wildcard entrant" for the final round of the Singer of the World Competition. Here she is performing "Ebben, ne andro lontana" from Catalani's LA WALLY: Link

Olive Fremstad

Born in Stockholm, Sweden, Olive Fremstad received her early musical training in Oslo, Norway. When she was twelve years old, the family moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where Olive continued her studies.

In 1890, Ms. Fremstad moved to New York City and sang as a contralto. It was the great Lilli Lehmann who re-trained her as a soprano, but Fremstad's operatic debut was at Cologne in 1895 was as Azucena. She was a member of the Munich Opera from 1900 to 1903, and then joined the Metropolitan Opera where she starred from 1903 to 1914, whilst also appearing with other prestigious opera companies.

Ms. Fremstad was a celebrated interpreter of Wagnerian roles, including Venus, Sieglinde, Elsa, Kundry, Brunnhilde, and Isolde. She was also a famed Tosca and Carmen. Fremstad and Enrico Caruso had sung CARMEN together on The Met tour at San Francisco on April 17th, 1906. The performance ended close to midnight. In the pre-dawn hours of April 18th, an earthquake caused massive damage and claimed an estimated 3,000 lives.

Above: Olive Fremstad as Salome

Olive Fremstad created a sensation when the sang Salome at the Metropolitan Opera premiere of Strauss's opera on January 22, 1907. SALOME outraged members of the opera house's Board of Directors and also several prominent subscribers. Though further performances of the opera had been scheduled, the work was banned following the premiere. Ms. Fremstad won this remarkable review from the renowned critic W J Henderson in The Sun:

"Mme. Fremstad accomplished a miracle. A sleek tigress, with seduction speaking in every pose, gesture, look, and utterance, she grew steadily into the monster which she was when she sank under the shields of the soldiers while the orchestras shrieked its final horror and left the listeners staring at each other with startled eyeballs and wrecked nerves." 

Harper's Weekly ran the above cartoon depicting Salome's "eviction" from The Met.

One of the most famous stories rising out of The Met's premiere of SALOME was of Ms. Fremstad acquiring a human head from the coroner's office so she could gauge how to lift and carry the silver salver on which Jochanaan's head rested during the opera's final scene. "The human head is very heavy", the diva remarked.

Above: Olive Fremstad as Brunnhilde in GOTTERDAMMERUNG; a Herman Mishkin photograph.

After leaving The Met in 1914 - the ovation at her farewell (as Elsa) was endless - Ms. Fremstad continued to concertize until 1920, when she gave her farewell performance at New York's Aeolian Hall. Thereafter, she taught in New York City. During her final years, she suffered from severe rheumatism; she passed away in 1951.

Listen to Olive Fremstad singing Wagner:

From TANNHAUSER here...

...from WALKURE here...

...and Isolde's Liebestod here.

Mischa Maisky ~ Bach Cello Suite No.1

Mischa Maisky plays Bach's Cello Suite No.1 in G, a Unitel 1993 release.

Watch and listen here.

Rosalind Plowright ~ Vier Letze Lieder

I'm always glad to discover live performances of Strauss's Vier Letze Lieder.

Rosalind Plowright performed the songs at a concert in Copenhagen in 1991. Listen here.

Sheku Kanneh-Mason ~ Elgar Cello Concerto

British cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason plays Edward Elgar's Cello Concerto at the 2019 BBC Proms; Mirga Gražinyte-Tyla conducts the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.

Watch and listen here.

It has just been announced that Mr. Kanneh-Mason will be making his New York Philharmonic debut playing the Dvorak Cello Concerto in three concerts at Alice Tully Hall (November 11th, 12th, and 13th, 2021) conducted by Simone Young.

Malgorzata Walewska as Dalila

On March 16, 2005, the Polish mezzo-soprano Malgorzata Walewska made an exciting Met debut as Dalila, opposite the Samson of Jose Cura. The two singers seemed ideally matched both in voice and in their characterizations - the tenor's intense and strangely thoughtful acting in the opera's final moments was spell-binding - and they were very warmly received.

Ms.Walewska, slender and glamorous, was vocally rather restrained at first but by "Printemps qui commence" her singing was house-filling, with a smouldering effect:

Malgorzata Walewska - Printemps qui commence ~ SAMSON & DALILA w Robt Lloyd - Met 2005

The mezzo's "Amour, viens aider ma failblesse" had a vivid dramatic edge...

Malgorzata Walewska - Amour viens aider ~ SAMSON ET DAILA - Met

...and her duet with Frederick Burchinal's High Priest was vibrantly sung:

Malgorzata Walewska & Frederick Burchinal - SAMSON ET DALILA duet - Met 2005

Ms. Walewska's "Mon coeur s'ouvre a ta voix" had a seductive glow...

Malgorzata Walewska & Jose Cura - SAMSON & DALILA scene ~ Part 1 - Met 2005

...and from there to the end of Act II she and Mr. Cura caused sparks to fly; the mezzo's blistering dismissal of Samson -  "Lâche! Cœur sans amour!"- was thrilling:

Malgorzata Walewska & Jose Cura - SAMSON & DALILA scene ~ Part 2 - Met 2005

Mr. Cura's rendering of the Millstone Scene was truly touching:

Jose Cura as Samson - Met 2005

Dalila and the High Priest lead the revels of the Temple Scene...

Malgorzata Walewska & Frederick Burchinal - Act III scene ~ SAMSON & DALILA - Met 2005

...before Samson hauls down the pillars. Amidst the distorted sound caused by the temple's collapse, you can hear Ms. Walewska sustaining an unscripted high note as her death cry:

Malgorzata Walewska & Jose Cura - SAMSON & DALILA - finale - Met 2005

Borodin's 2nd Symphony

A performance of Alexander Borodin's 2nd symphony by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, conducted by Karel Mark Chichon.

Watch and listen here. 

The House of Mercy

Saturday June 12th, 2021 - Today, after 15 months (almost to the day) of no live performances, I took the train down to 104th Street, walked across Central Park North to 5th Avenue, and down to 104th Street where Catherine Gallant/DANCE, in association with OpenCulture WORKS, were presenting a performance of ESCAPE FROM THE HOUSE OF MERCY, Catherine's dancework about the inmates of a Magdalene Laundry that was once located in Inwood, where I live.

I had seen the work before and very much enjoyed seeing it again, performed by Catherine Gallant and her lovely troupe of young women: Kelli Chapman, Abra Cohen, Halley Gerstel, Jessie King, Charlotte Hendrickson, Erica Lessner, Megan Minturn, and Cecly Placenti. Kudos to the girls for dancing on the sloping pavement, surrounded by parked cars. It felt wonderful to be experiencing a live performance again.

Afterwards, I walked down to 96th Street and back across the Park, and - after long waits - caught the C and then the A back to Inwood.

 

A couple of years ago I would have thought nothing of making this kind of excursion, but since my June 2020 diagnosis of spinal stenosis and accompanying ailments, each day has been touch and go. Luckily my body was co-operating today.

 

 

Thanks to Catherine & Company for motivating me to venture out today.

 

~ Oberon