Oberon's Grove

On the Banks of the Nile

Leontyne Price sings Aida's "O patria mia", her signature aria. This comes from her remarkable "Blue Album": some of her finest singing ever, and still available.

Leontyne Price - AIDA ~ Qui Radamès verrà!....O patria mia

Taylor @ Lincoln Center ~ 2022: Gallery

Above: Devon Louis in Paul Taylor's ARDEN COURT; photo by Whitney Brown

Here are some images from the Paul Taylor Dance Company's 2022 season at Lincoln Center:

John Harnage and Eran Bugge in ARDEN COURT; photo by Whitney Brown

John Harnage and Eran Bugge in ARDEN COURT; photo by Whitney Brown

Kenny Corrigan in ARDEN COURT; photo by Whitney Brown

Devon Louis and Maria Ambrose in Paul Taylor's COMPANY B; photo by Steven Pisano

John Harnage, Devon Louis, Lee Duveneck, and Maria Ambrose in Larry Keigwin's RUSH HOUR; photo by Whitney Brown

Austin Kelly, Maria Ambrose, Devon Louis, and Jessica Ferretti in Lauren Lovette's SOLITAIRE; photo by Whitney Brown

John Harnage in Lauren Lovette's SOLITAIRE; photo by Whitney Brown

Alex Clayton, Kenny Corrigan, and Madeyn Ho in Taylor's ARDEN COURT; photo by Ruven Afandor

Karajan Conducts TROVATORE

Above: Raina Kabaivanska as Leonora

Herbert von Karajan conducts Verdi's TROVATORE at the Vienna State Opera in 1978. The principal singers are Raina Kabaivanska, Fiorenza Cossotto, Placido Domingo, Piero Cappuccilli, and Jose van Dam.

Watch and listen here.

The Dutch Mandolin Chamber Orchestra

A performance of Mozart's Divertimento in F-major (KV 138) given in 2015 by the Dutch Mandolin Chamber Orchestra HET CONSORT, director Alex Timmerman.

Watch and listen here.

Paul Huang & Anne-Marie McDermott @ CMS

Sunday November 13th, 2022 - This concert had been on my calendar, circled in red, since violinist Paul Huang mentioned it to me many months ago. Mr. Huang and pianist Anne-Marie McDermott are two of my favorite musicians, and Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center have given the duo an entire evening of their own.

The program opened in a most magical way: with Arvo Pärt's Spiegel im Spiegel ("Mirror Within the Mirror") for Violin and Piano, composed in 1978. This unique work, one of the masterpieces of 20th century music in my humble opinion, became known worldwide after choreographer Christopher Wheeldon created a poignant duet, entitled After the rain... to it in 2005 for New York City Ballet's beloved Wendy Whelan and Jock Soto.

Spiegel im Spiegel calls for great concentration on the part of the players: the pianist plays endless repeats of a three-note motif whilst the violinist needs perfect control to sustain the long notes and a seamless line. Mr. Huang and Ms. McDermott pulled off this risky concert opener to perfection, creating a calming, spiritual atmosphere in the hall.

Without pausing for applause, the duo then embarked on Sergei Prokofiev's Sonata No. 1 in F-minor, Op. 80, the writing of which had engaged the composer from 1938 to 1946.

Trills from the violin introduce the darkish and somber Andante assai; this is followed by the Allegro brusco, in which off-kilter melodies come and go, and the music dances along, sometimes fast and furious, before reaching a big finish. Gently rippling piano figurations are heard in the Andante with the violin playing sinuous or pensive melodies, sailing into the high range.  Ms. McDermott makes the keyboard shimmer whilst Mr. Huang plays an eerie passage before the music fades away.

A sharp attack ignites the Allegretto, with some mad plucking from Mr. Huang and cascades of notes from both players. There is an onward rush, and a passionate interlude with some slithering sounds from the violin. Resuming the Andante atmosphere established at the start of the work, the music takes on a melancholy feeling before reaching a quiet end. Having enthralled us thru the many mood swings of this incredible work, Mr. Huang and Ms. McDermott were rewarded with a full-house standing ovation.

Following the interval, Mozart's Sonata in F-major for Violin and Piano, K. 376 (composed in 1781) showed the classical styling of the two musicians. From its abrupt start, the music is swift and sure, with the violin sometimes echoing the piano, and vice-versa. Swirling patterns of notes fill the hall. Gentle melodies flow during the slow movement, with Mr,. Huang's tone at its sweetest, and a lovely sense of unity between the two artists. The concluding movement is elegantly lyrical and dramatic by turns.

I first heard John Corigliano's Sonata for Violin and Piano (1963) performed live earlier this season, and to be honest, I was not much taken with it. Tonight, I found myself feeling rather differently about this music, possibly because Mr. Huang and Ms. McDermott were so persuasive in their playing.

Getting off to a noisy start, the opening Allegro features leaping intervals and feels rather jazzy. The Andante begins lyrically and then turns more passionate before calm is restored. Ms. McDermott has a gift for remarkable subtlety, and for the irony of some of the passages here. The music gets quite grand before tapering to a settled finish.

A dramatic piano introduction ushers in the Lento, which has an anxious feeling. Mr. Huang's cadenza was flawlessly and fabulously played, with his playing taking on an eerie feel before the remarkably sustained   final note.

The lively start of the concluding Allegro leads to a fantastical shower of notes before stalling out. Lyricism returns, but agitation wins out. Still, there will be another lull before an ending can be reached.

Recalled to the stage by insistent applause from Gotham's most ardent music-lovers, an encore - a poignant arrangement of the classic "Oh Danny Boy" - was played from the hearts of the evening's two generous artists: Paul Huang and Anne-Marie McDermott.

~ Oberon

Scenes from DON CARLO

A collection of audio-only excerpts from Verdi's DON CARLO from various performances.

The opera is set at the court of Philip II of Spain. This much is factual: Philip has married the much younger French princess Elisabetta de Valois for political reasons. In the opera, Elisabetta meets Philip's son Don Carlo prior to being pledged to Philip; she and Carlo fall in love instantly, but then her marriage to Philip is announced. Carlo remains smitten with his step-mother. 

The opera's four-act version in Italian, which I prefer to the five-act in French, opens with the prayer of a mysterious friar before the tomb of Charles V at the Monastery of St Juste.

Above: Dieter Weller

Dieter Weller as The Friar - DON CARLO - Frankfurt 1971

Carlo reveals his love for Elisabetta to his best friend, the Marchese di Posa, who urges the prince to rise above his obsession with the queen and take up the cause of the oppressed people of Flanders.

DON CARLO - scene - Ernst Kozub & Vladimir Ruzdak - Hamburg 1968

In the garden, Princess Eboli, a high-ranking courtier, entertains the queen's ladies-in-waiting with the Canzone del Velo.

Above: Grace Bumbry as Eboli

Grace Bumbry ~ Canzone del Velo from DON CARLO - with Judith Forst - Met 10~11~71

The Marchese de Posa brings Queen Elisabetta a letter from her mother; he also furtively slips her a message from Carlo, asking her for an audience. Reluctantly, the queen agrees to meet her stepson. At first, the prince asks her to intercede with the king so that he may leave court and journey to Flanders. But soon he is confessing his undying love for the young queen. She tries to maintain decorum, but the prince becomes more agitated and more impassioned. When Elisabetta dismisses him, he rushes away in despair. But the queen prays that god will watch over herself and the unstable prince.

Above: Franco Corelli as Don Carlo

DON CARLO ~ duet - Mary Curtis-Verna & Franco Corelli - Met 1961

The king and his courtiers now enter and, finding the queen unattended, he banishes her lady-in-waiting, the Countess d'Aremberg. Elisabetta bids the faithful countess a poignant farewell.

Above: Dame Margaret Price as Elisabetta

Dame Margaret Price - Non pianger mia compagna ~ DON CARLO - Met 1989

King Philip then has a long conversation with the Marchese di Posa regarding the troubles in Flanders; later, the king finds himself confiding in the young nobleman his fears that his son loves the queen. Warning Posa to beware the Grand Inquisitor, the king departs.

Above: Vladimir Ruzdak as Posa

Vladimir Ruzdak and Franz Crass - DON CARLO scene ~ in German ~ Hamburg 1968

The Princess Eboli, who secretly loves Don Carlo, arranges a secret tryst with him. The prince, believing the veiled woman to be Elisabetta, pours out his feelings. When Eboli lifts her veil, Carlo's response tells her that it is his stepmother, not herself, that Carlo loves. Posa arrives, and Eboli departs in a fury, vowing to inform the king of Carlo's infatuation with the queen. Posa fears that the king will retaliate against his son.

DON CARLO - trio - Irene Dalis - Ernst Kozub - Vladimir Ruzdak - in German - Hamburg 1967

At a great outdoor ceremony where heretics are to be burned alive, Carlo confronts his father on behalf of the people of Flanders. Frustrated, the prince draws his sword against the king; it is Posa who intervenes. At the end of the scene - a scene I refuse to watch whenever I'm seeing DON CARLO in the house - Carlo is arrested, and a Celestial Voice promises salvation to the victims.

Alone in his chamber, Philip II agonizes over his loveless marriage in the great aria "Ella giammai m'amo".

Above: Martti Talvela

Martti Talvela - Ella giammai m'amo ~ DON CARLO - Frankfurt 1971

The Grand Inquisitor comes to the king, appalled at Carlo's act of rebellion and questioning the king's friendship with Posa. The aging cleric demands that both Carlo and Posa be killed. Philip bows before the will of the all-powerful Inquisitor.

Above: Samuel Ramey as Philip II

DON CARLO ~ scene - Samuel Ramey & Sergei Koptchak - Met 1992

The queen enters, complaining that her jewel casket has been stolen. King Philip produces the casket and demands that she open it. When the queen demurs, he breaks the lock and inside he finds a portrait of Don Carlo. Accused of adultery, Elisabetta faints. Princess Eboli comes to her aid. After the king leaves them, Eboli confesses to the queen that it was she who gave the jewel casket to the king; she admits that she loves Carlo and that Carlo rejected her. Elisabetta is about to forgive the princess, but Eboli further admits her greatest sin: she has had a liaison with the king. Elisabetta banishes Eboli to a convent and departs.

Above: Tatiana Troyanos as Princess Eboli

Eboli, devastated, curses her own beauty and the intrigue she has sown. Lamenting her betrayal of the queen, she vows to do a single act of good before leaving court: to save Don Carlo from execution.

DON CARLO scene - Tatiana Troyanos & Dame Margaret Price - Met 1989

Posa visits Carlo in prison; realizing he himself is marked for death, Posa still tries to comfort the prince. An assassin sent by the Inquisition shoots Posa. The dying man tells Carlo that the queen will meet him the next day at St. Juste. Begging Carlo to save Flanders, Posa dies in his friend's arms.

Above: baritone Darren Nimnicht

Darren Nimnicht - DON CARLO ~ aria - Met Auditions 1980

Before the tomb of Charles V at St. Juste, Elisabetta kneels in prayer; she longs now only for the peace of the grave. Carlo arrives, and he and the queen tenderly sing that one day, perhaps, they will be united in heaven. Addressing each other as "My son!" and "Mother...", they share a final embrace.

Above: Raina Kabaivanska

DON CARLO ~ final scene - Kabaivanska - Domimgo - Siepi - Macurdy - J Morris - Met 1971

The King and the Grand Inquisitor step from the shadows: Carlo's murder is imminent. But then the mysterious Friar appears: as he sings that only Heaven can relieve the agonies of mankind, he draws Carlo into the safety of the chapel. "That is the voice of Charles V!!!", states the Inquisitor. "My father!" cries King Philip. The queen, with a final exclamation, faints.

CHENIER ~ Bayerische Staatsoper 1973

A 1973 performance (audio only) of Giordano's ANDREA CHENIER from the Bayerische Staatsoper,  conducted by Kurt Eichhorn. Rita Orlandi-Malaspina (above), Bruno Prevedi, and Peter Glossop have the principal roles.

Listen here.

Paul Taylor @ Lincoln Center 2022 ~ III

Thursday November 10th, 2022 - The Paul Taylor Dance Company's season at Lincoln Center continued with a program that opened with Taylor's supremely lyrical ARDEN COURT and ended with Kurt Jooss's powerful anti-war ballet THE GREEN TABLE (photo above). In between the two danceworks, the Orchestra of Saint Luke's played a suite from Philip Glass's score for the film THE HOURS. 

In ARDEN COURT, the opening men's ensemble established the mood. The dancers - Lee Duveneck, Alex Clayton, Devon Louis, John Harnage, Austin Kelly, and Kenny Corrigan - cross the stage on a diagonal, executing fantastical leaps. Kenny Corrigan then has a spacious solo, observed by the lovely Eran Bugge. Duets follow: Eran with John Harnage, Alex and Austin (they have a built-in encore, with the music exceeding the speed limit), Madelyn Ho and Devon Louis, and Maria Ambrose with Lee Duveneck. Everyone was dancing divinely.

A men's pas de six delights us, ending wryly in a line-up with one fellow upside down. Then the ballet sweeps on to its finish: the men repeat the leaping diagonal, with Alex Clayton vaulting across the space before hurtling to the floor and rolling offstage in a breath-taking combination as the curtain falls. Pure Taylor magic!  

The Glass suite summoned visions of the film THE HOURS for which, with its many shifts of time and place, it is ideally suited. The players of the Orchestra of St. Luke's came into view as they were slowly elevated from the pit. Maestro David LaMarche led a finely-textured performance, with Margaret Kampmeier the featured pianist. Having watched the movie at least twenty times over the years, the iconic Glass themes, so closely associated with the characters of the film, seemed as meaningful as ever tonight. The poignant moments of the movie's "three kisses" never fail to move me. This evening, Philip Glass was in the audience; he rose from his seat to take a bow.

I'd first seen THE GREEN TABLE performed by the Joffrey Ballet in 1985. At that time, I was more taken with the score by Frederic ("Fritz") Cohen than with the dance-drama. The quirky, ironic, tongue-in-cheek music was tonight expertly played by pianists Margaret Kampmeier and Blair McMillen. 

Diplomats in bizarre masques meet at the Green Table. They debate: shall we have war or peace? War wins out, and they all fire pistols into the air. Now Death appears, in the person of Shawn Lesniak, who gave a masterful interpretation: ruthless and implacable.

No one escapes Death's grasp. The soldiers, with Kenny Corrigan as their valiant Standard Bearer, are mowed down. But beyond the battlefield, Death stalks the famished refugees fleeing to safety; partisans who have fought for the resistance are rounded up and executed. Famine and plague take a massive toll. Death even stalks the scavengers who profit from war's aftermath: a Profiteer (a brilliantly sneaky and sleazy portrayal from John Harnage) gets his due in the end. 

The diplomats reconvene at the Green Table: whether it's to tie up the loose ends of a war just ended or to set the groundwork for the next conflict is unclear: it's all the same fucking war anyway.

This revival of the Jooss masterwork comes at a particularly interesting point in time: America, having fought so long to "bring democracy to the world", now faces the blatant undermining of democracy here at home. And of course we have Putin, starting his vanity war with Ukraine whilst the world is still reeling from the pandemic. As a counter-melody to Mr. Cohen's score for THE GREEN TABLE, Pete Seeger's "Where Have All The Flowers Gone?" was playing in my mind. Will we ever learn?

~ Oberon

Petrenko/Berlin Philharmonic ~ Mahler 7th

Above: Maestro Kirill Petrenko

Author: Ben Weaver

Thursday November 10th, 2022 - Long considered his strangest work, and performed very infrequently, Mahler’s Symphony No. 7 in E minor (1904-05) has always struck me as one of his most accessible compositions. A symphony of endless invention and shifting moods, it reminds me in some ways of Verdi’s Falstaff: some (including Stravinsky) have complained that Verdi’s last opera contained no great tunes. As a matter of fact, it’s a work of maybe too many great tunes, they fly quickly by and are gone too soon. But repeated listenings cement them in the listener’s mind. So it is with Mahler’s Seventh. This is his most ebullient and charming work, overflowing with marvelous tunes, rhythms, and surprising orchestrations, everything all the stranger coming on the heels of his dark and depressing Sixth.

With Maestro Kirill Petrenko conducting the Berlin Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall, the concert of November 10th was an absolutely glorious night, presenting Mahler’s Seventh to a sold-out house that greeted this great ensemble with a rapturous standing ovation.

The symhony opens with a brooding funeral march - so Mahlerian - with groaning double basses and cellos interrupted by warm and golden brass (marvelous playing by the entire brass section all night.) Winds - with the glorious flute of principal Emmanuel Pahud - dominated bird-calls and sounds of nature that have also been a staple of Mahler’s works from his earliest compositions. Maestro Petrenko shepherded all the forces with effortless control, bopping and swaying on the podium. Concertmaster Daishin Kashimoto contributed gorgeous solo violin in the second Nachtmusik movement, as did guitarist Matthew Hunter and mandolinist Detlef Tewes. The presence of guitar and mandolin are highly unusual in a work of such titanic size, but their lively nighttime serenade - perhaps inspired by Wagner’s roaming cobblers, and which perhaps went on to inspire Prokofiev’s "Mandolin Dance” in Romeo and Juliet - was an inspired choice by Mahler, adding marvelous color and humor. The symphony occasionally turns dark and brooding - as in the central Scherzo (labeled Schattenhaft - “like a shadow”), where maybe a prowler stalks the night. But the music never becomes sinister, and the very light touch of the Berliners in this movement was perfect. The first Nachtmusik contains a swinging March, a light echo of the mocking Funeral March of Mahler’s First Symphony. But in the Seventh, the March remains charming and lively - and highly hummable.

A rollicking Rondo-Finale - at last the percussion section unleashed! - is an exhilarating conclusion to all the nighttime adventures. Reinventing some themes already heard, plus snippets of Wagner and folk tunes, plus new material, plus variations and reinventions, Mahler threw in the kitchen sink and pulled it off with humor and charm he’s not typically known for. A program note to the concert says this is something Haydn may have managed had he lived into the 20th century, and that’s as perfect a comparison as I can imagine for the final movement. Maestro Petrenko and the Berliners balanced everything to absolute perfection, assembling a vivid kaleidoscope of magical colors and sounds. 

~ Ben Weaver

Lioba Braun ~ Alto Rhapsody

Lioba Braun sings Johannes Brahms' Alto Rhapsody, with Helmuth Rilling conducting the Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR.

Listen here.

German mezzo-soprano Lioba Braun was born in 1957. Based at the Nationaltheater Mannheim, she has appeared at the major opera houses and festivals of Europe. She became internationally known after singing Brangäne at the Bayreuth Festival in 1994, and she performed the soprano part of Isolde onstage for the first time in 2012.