Above: Johannes Brahms
Author: Oberon
Thursday June 15th, 2023 - The Met Orchestra in concert at Carnegie Hall. The centerpiece of the evening was the Brahms REQUIEM, in which soloists Lisette Oropesa (stepping in for Nadine Sierra) and Quinn Kelsey joined the Met chorus and orchestra. This was preceded by the New York premiere of Oraison, by the Cuban composer Luis Ernesto Peña Laguna. Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the Met's Music Director, was on the podium.
If anyone had told me a week ago that I'd be sitting in Carnegie Hall tonight, listening to one of the dearest friends I have ever had sing Brahms, I would have have rolled my eyes in disbelief. But on Sunday came a message from Madrid, and on Tuesday Lisette Oropesa was sitting opposite me at our old haunt, Pain Quotidien, where we spent endless hours - talking, laughing...and sometimes weeping - when she was a Met Young Artist.
I will never forget hearing Lisette's voice for the first time: in a tiny role in Mozart's IDOMENEO. I contacted her, met her, and we quickly became fast friends. She is a true kindred spirit, a radiant light in an often dismal world. It seemed inevitable from that first moment that her career would skyrocket; and it did, much to my delight. The only problem with that is that sometimes months pass without my seeing her. But it makes the times when we meet all the more special.
Above: composer Luis Ernesto Peña Laguna
The evening's highlight for me was the piece by Luis Ernesto Peña Laguna. Oraison is a work that moved me from note one: a gentle heartbeat from the timpani and very soft singing from the chorus (including whisperings) drew me in right away, as did sound of the inevitable word "Miserere" - something we are all in need of.
The women's voices blend with the harp and a lovely flute/oboe/clarinet motif. Plucking celli and dense choral harmonies lend a pensive air, and then the male voices take over, and the music becomes more ominous. Trumpet calls summon a triumphant passage before the heartbeat timpani resumes. The choir by now is sounding simply celestial, but darkness hovers: with dolorous celli and the eternal timpani beat, the voices fade to whispers and - finally - to the sound of breathing.
The composer, a dapper gentlemen, rose in the audience to very warm applause. Now I will go in search of more of his music, whilst imagining what sort of opera or song cycle he could write for Ms. Oropesa.
Tonight was only my second 'live' experience of the Brahms REQUIEM; over time, the music of Brahms has lost much of its appeal for me (aside from the Alto Rhapsody, of which I never tire) and while the REQUIEM abounds in sheer gorgeousness, I can't connect to it emotionally on the same level as I do to the Verdi or Mozart settings, which transcend mere beauty and take us on a true spiritual journey. And so tonight, as this this flood of music washed over me, I became curiously bored.
While the score was marvelously played by the Met musicians and sung spectacularly by the Met chorus, Yannick Nézet-Séguin on the podium seemed to be doing everything he could to make the evening all about himself...to the extent of hiding the vocal soloists among the strings, just as he did to Pretty Yende when she sang the Mahler 4th for him. Maybe in time he will outgrow this need for drawing attention to himself; probably not in my lifetime, though.
Both Lisette and baritone Quinn Kelsey sounded wonderful in their solos, and the audience surely deserved the chance to enjoy their singing - and to actually see them! - under better circumstances. Even at the end, during a prolonged and tumultuous ovation, Yannick would not bring the singers forward for bows, which is the very least he could have done.
After several "curtain calls", we went up to the greenroom, which has completely changed since the last time I was there - years ago, visiting Evelyn Lear and Martina Arroyo after a gala. Gone is the signature wallpaper; it's much more spacious and relaxed. And so we fell into a very long conversation with Lisette, her mom, and a couple of other friends, whilst a lovely minder who had been assigned to the soprano kept watch over us but never made us feel rushed.
It was well after an hour since the concert had ended when we left via the stage door, only to find a crowd of fans who had patiently waited for Lisette. With typical generosity, she took time with every single person, and posed for endless photos, whilst her mom and I looked on proudly.
~ Oberon