Oberon's Grove

Sankofa Danzafro @ The Joyce

Photo by Marcela Gómez

~ Author: Oberon

Wednesday February 28th, 2024 -  Still on a high from last night's CARMINA BURANA at Carnegie Hall, I went down to The Joyce on a rainy evening to see the Colombia-based dance company Sankofa Danzafro performing Behind the South: Dances for Manuel, which took me even higher.

The work references the Colombian writer Manuel Zapata Olivella, whose “Changó, el Gran Putas” - a mythological construction of South America's African diaspora which spans more than five hundred years of history - took the author two decades to complete.

The Company's Artistic Director, Rafael Palacios' work celebrates the traditional music and dances of the muntu (the African people) as a key element of the Afro-Colombian community. Sankofa means "to return to" or "to go back and fetch...": a finding of one's roots.

I read all the background information regarding what I was about to see and hear, but it all vanished from my head when the house lights went down: for one hour I was simply mesmerized by music and movement.

Seated in an upstage corner were the two drummers who cast a spell over the hall with their playing: Juan José Luna Coha and Gregg Anderson Hudson Mitchell. The rhythmic vitality of their drumming was a primal force - like the heartbeat of the universe - creating an irresistible and urgent need to dance. 

In a brief prologue, individual dancers rush fearfully about the stage, dodging bullets and sometimes hurling stones at their oppressors. Then the first of the tales unfolds: Rebel Blood. A woman in a white gown stands trembling in a pool of light. The mood is somber, and mystical voices are heard. A red-clad quartet of dancers emerge; they dance in pairs. Now a heavily pregnant woman enters, tethered to her mate by a silken cord. The man begins to shake uncontrollably; a pale spirit appears and carries him away.

Then comes the Song of Yemayá, a nurturing sea-goddess all in white who performs a flowing solo invoking protective energy. The red quartet return, and a vocal solo is heard, which evolves into a hypnotic rhythm. A procession now arrives, to the ringing of a bell: the pregnant woman and her mate return. The scene slowly fades. 

A lone female, masked and ghostly, appears. Eerie vibraphone-like music is heard as spirits gather. Dancing with small, rapid steps, they move hypnotically about the stage in evolving patterns, almost like automatons. From the assembled community, fleeting solos stand out. The endless beat accelerates and things get wild before the initial woman is left alone.

A freshly agitated rhythm leaps up, the dancing full of fast steps, and a sense of exuberance rises. There are swift comings and goings as the pace quickens, becoming a runabout, and a frantic man shakes violently. The dancing slows, and in the end the dancers strike poses in place as the light fades.

The audience had clearly been enthralled throughout the piece; they now rose as one to scream heartily for the dancers. The two drummers came forward to a torrent of cheers. The stage was cleared, but insistent applause brought everyone back for another bow. Waves of love seemed to fill the hall, flowing to - and from - the stage.

I don't feel I've done justice to the evening and the emotions the piece evoked. I must say, it's nearly impossible to take notes at The Joyce; in the darkness, you end up writing lines on top of lines, and when you get home it is all undecipherable. But what I was feeling during this hour can't really be expressed in words...you had to be there.

~ Oberon

CARMINA BURANA @ Carnegie Hall

Above: composer Carl Orff

~ Author: Oberon

Tuesday February 27th, 2024 - This evening at Carnegie Hall, the Orchestra of St Luke's presented Carl Orff's CARMINA BURANA. The performance was conducted by Tito Muñoz, with soloists Ying Fang (soprano) Nicholas Phan (tenor), and Norman Garrett (baritone), and the Westminster Symphonic Choir (James Jordan, Director) and the Young People's Chorus of New York City (Francisco J. Núñez, Artistic Director).

What an exhilarating evening! The Carnegie stage was jam-packed with music-makers, and they brought the amazing score vividly to life. There is never a dull moment in CARMINA BURANA; every bar of music engages us. Maestro Muñoz had the massed forces under fingertip control, and by keeping his arms poised in the air between the work's individual movements, he held applause at bay...until the end, when an ovation of tsunami proportions swept thru the venerable Hall, everyone on their feet and cheering with delight.

The choral singing was truly impressive, ever-alert to the shifting rhythms and the swirls of words. Their dynamic range is vast, down to near whispers at times, and then going full-tilt in the lusty Tavern Song. Likewise, Orff's keenly judged orchestration was given in its full glory: rich, sweeping strings, clear and enticing winds (a special cheer for the flutes), and the percussionists, who are busy all evening with an array of instruments that includes chimes and castanets. The sounds of piano and celesta add magic to Orff''s imaginative scoring.

The work is divided into 25 relatively short sections, many of which are assigned to the chorus. There are three solo vocalists; the first to be heard was baritone Norman Garrett, a tall gentleman with an intriguing timbre. He was especially impressive in the Cour d'amours section, where the vocal line took him from falsetto to bass-like depths, and where a high-lying song displayed his lyrical powers. He looked very dapper in his tux.

By contrast, tenor Nicholas Phan wore an appropriately white nightclub suit in his role of a Roasted Swan. His treacherous aria, which lingers in a super-high tessitura, was cunningly managed, and his droll facial expressions conveyed the bird's torment.  

That ravishing soprano, Ying Fang, was the crowning glory of the evening. Clad in an unusual white frock trimmed in black, the soprano's crystalline purity of timbre was magically projected into the great Hall. She lingered on uncannily sustained pianissimi that hung on the air like an alluring perfume. And on the sensual heights heights of the Dulcissime, Ying Fang's voice shimmered with an intoxicating glow.

~ Oberon

TOSCA: Nice 1980 - Caballe/Carreras/Pons

A performance of TOSCA given at Nice in 1980 featuring Montserrat Caballe and Jose Carreras (above) as Floria Tosca and Mario Cavaradossi, and Juan Pons as Baron Scarpia. The conductor is Jésus Etcheverry.

Watch and listen here.

Saint-Saëns and Fauré @ CMS

Above: Anthony McGill, photo by Todd Rosenberg

~ Author: Oberon

Sunday February 25th, 2024 - Music by two of France's most beloved composers - Camille Saint-Saëns and Gabriel Fauré - was on offer this evening at Alice Tully Hall. Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center once again assembled a stellar group of musicians, assuring a thoroughly enjoyable concert experience.

Gabriel Fauré's Dolly Suite for Piano, Four-Hands, composed between 1894 and 1896, made for a charming start to the program. Pianists Anne-Maria McDermott and Gloria Chien gave a splendid performance of the work, which derives its name from an affectionate nickname for Helene Bardac, the young daughter of Fauré's long-time mistress, Emma Bardac. Fauré composed these gem-like miniatures between 1893 and 1896, to mark Helene's birthdays and other events in her young life.

The suite's movements are:

Berceuse (a lullabye), honoring Helene's first birthday (Allegretto moderato).

Mi-a-ou, which gently mocks Helene's attempts to pronounce the name of her elder brother Raoul, who later became a pupil of Fauré's.

Le Jardin de Dolly (Andantino); this was composed as a present for New Year's Day, 1895. It contains a quotation from Fauré's first violin sonata, composed 20 years earlier.

Kitty-valse: this is not about a cat, but rather about the Bardacs' pet dog, named Ketty.

Tendresse, an andante, was written in 1896 and presages the composer's beloved Nocturnes.

Le pas espagnol (Allegro) denotes a lively Spanish dance tune which brings the suite to its close.

Tonight, Ms. Chien was in charge of the lower octaves, and Ms. McDermott of the upper. They seemed to be truly enjoying playing this music, which veers from rambunctious to elegant. At the end, they embraced, and then basked in the audience's warm applause.

It's always a delight to hear Anthony McGill, Principal Clarinet of The New York Philharmonic, and this evening he regaled us with his sumptuous playing of Camille Saint-Saëns' Sonata in E-flat major, Op. 167, dating from 1921...one of the composer's last works. With Ms. Chien at the Steinway, the music simply glowed, from first note to last.

The opening Allegretto has a subdued start, but passion lurks beneath the surface. Mr. McGill was soon astounding us with his mastery of dynamics and his fluent coloratura. His pianissimi must be experienced to be believed: such control! Infinite beauty of tone is a McGill trademark, reaching our souls like a blessing from above. The movement has a poetic finish.

From a sprightly start, the Allegro animato finds the two players in perfect simpatico mode. Enchanting subtleties from both musicans continually cast a spell over the Hall. Ms. Chien opened the Lento with a deep, somber melody. She then commences a soft heartbeat motif, with Mr. McGill's clarinet singing a forlorn melody. A wistful 'ending' is reached, but there's a lovely piano postlude to follow.

Rapid keyboard figurations open the concluding Molto allegro, wherein the virtuosity of both players delights us: rapid scales and sparkling cascades of notes are crystal clear. Then M. Saint-Saëns makes a surprising mood-swing: there is a gorgeous fade-away, from which a lovely melody arises. Mr. McGill's final pianissimo note, sustained to spine-tinlging effect, was simply uncanny.  

I cannot recall ever having heard Fauré's La Bonne Chanson performed live before. When this concert was first announced, Sasha Cooke was listed as the soloist; but in the event, it was the radiant young Chinese soprano Meigui Zhang (photo above) who sang the Fauré for us...exquisitely.

It's been nearly a year since I first heard Ms. Zhang: in John Luther Adams' Vespers of the Blessed Earth, on a memorable evening at Carnegie Hall, which you can read about here. For the Fauré songs tonight, she joined an ensemble of outstanding musicians: violinists Arnaud Sussmann and Paul Huang, violist Matthew Lipman, the NY Phil's primo basso Timothy Cobb, and Ms. Chien at the piano.

The nine songs are settings of nine poems by Paul Verlaine, which the poet wrote as a wedding gift to his wife. (Ironically, Verlaine had also had an affair with Emma Bardac, mistress of Fauré.)

The songs explore many moods, by turns restless, idyllic, passionate, and pensive. The pretty, lyrical quality of Ms. Zhang's voice is ideally suited to these songs. Particularly impressive were "J'allais par les chemins perfides" where the singer's silken tone sounded especially lovely among the rich string mix; the urgent ecstasy of "Avant que tu ne t'en ailles"; the meltingly soft allure of her tone in "Donc, ce sera par un clair j:our d'été" with its beautifully sustained final note; and the sweet rapture of her "L'hiver a cessé". Surely Ms. Zhang gained many new admirers this evening.

In these songs, the piano and strings provide a sonic tapestry into which the voice is woven to magical effect. Ms. Chien's playing was a constant source of pleasure, and Arnaud Sussmann's tone shimmered on high, seconded by Paul Huang. The deeper voices gave plushness to the ensemble: Matthew Lipman (viola) and David Requiro (cello) have much to do - they were particularly fine in "N'est-ce pas?"  The composer might have given more to the bass, but Mr. Cobb made the most of each opportunity.

Following the interval, a glorious rendering of Camille Saint-Saëns' 1875 Quartet in B-flat major brought together Ms. McDermott, and Mssrs. Huang, Lipman, and Requiro. Ms. McDermott commences the opening Allegretto, with the trio of strings joining in a unison passage. The blending of the four voices is most cordial, with the pianist's seamless phrasing and the intriguing timbres of the three string players. I hadn't heard Paul Huang for a while, and it was simply great to hear his distinctive sound again, as he sailed thru an ascending/decending solo motif. The Allegretto has a terrific ending.

Ms. McDermott emphatically attacks the opening bars of the Andante maestoso; the strings again join in unison, and the music has a vaguely Russian feel. There's a slow piano theme, with the strings etching in comments along the way. Things then turn fast and furious, Ms. McDermott commanding the keyboard and the strings slashing away. Turbulence! 

Mr. Lipman and Ms. McDemott launch the delightful Poco allegro, which charmed my companion and me with its Mendelssohnian flavor. There are major/minor shifts which lead to a Paul Huang cadenza, passionately played and with a ravishing trill. The music races lightly forward to a deliciously subtle finish.

The concluding Allegro starts briskly, the piano leading the way. The strings play in unison or pass phrases to one another. There's an underlying restlessness that calms to a series of soft pizzicati. A slow build-up of tension gives way to a luxuriant sense of peace before a rising passage brings this splendid piece to its end. The musicians enjoyed a standing ovation; with our spirits lifted, we headed out into the freezing winter night.

~ Oberon

Gulín/Derksen ~ DUE FOSCARI

Jan Derksen (above) and Ángeles Gulín have the leading roles in a 1968 radio broadcast from Amsterdam of Verdi's I DUE FOSCARI, conducted by Fulvio Vernizzi.

Ms. Gulín is Lucrezia Contarini and Mr. Derksen sings Francesco Foscari. Luigi Lega (Jacopo), Ugo Trama (Loredano), Cor Niessen (Barbarigo), and Adriana Hali (Pisana) complete the cast.

Listen here.

Composer Portrait: Amy Williams

~ Author: Oberon

Thursday February 22nd, 2024 - American composer Amy Williams (photo above by John Mazlish) was the guest at this evening's Composer Portrait, a popular 'interview and performance' series offered by the Miller Theatre at Columbia University. Read the composer's bio here.

Tonight the illustrious JACK Quartet were with us to perform Tangled Madrigal (the world premiere of a Miller Theatre commission) and other works by the composer, who, as an accomplished pianist, joined them for a trio and a quintet.

The evening opened with Cineshape 2 for piano and string quartet, composed in 2007. This was a compelling introduction to the composer's music. It starts off with a sizzling motif from John Pickford Richards' viola; as the music turns somber, the viola is joined by Jay Campbell's distinctive cello, with the composer providing pizzicati from the piano. Suddenly there's an explosive crash, followed by a passage for skittering piano and chirping violins. Another crash, and then the music turns dreamy, becomes agitated, and stutters before a third crash. The strings descend, the music pulsing, then shivering, before it fades magically away.

For Bells and Whistles (2022) the composer was joined by violinist Christopher Otto and Mr. Campbell. The gentlemen tap their strings whilst Ms. Williams reaches into the piano to pluck the strings. It's quite hypnotic! The music grows louder and becomes turbulent, the piano part is very active, with swirls of notes running up and down the keyboard. A trudging motif arises, churning and relentless. An eerie postlude ensues, develops a dense quality, and then turns other-worldly.

One of Ms. Williams' most highly regarded works, Richter Textures (2011), was inspired by the paintings of Gerhard Richter. Listed as being in seven movements, my companion and I both detected five: some of the subtle transitions seem to have eluded us.

From an agitato start, the music turns high and spacey, with brilliant interjectory phrases from Jay Campbell's cello. As the cello goes low and ominous, the unison violins and viola take up a slow, descending theme, which the cello eventually joins. Then things ascend to the heights.

Slashing bows evoke a painter's aggressive brush strokes; these are quietened, and the cello sings low, whist the violins linger on high. Insectuous, insistent buzzings give way to ethereal, kozmic high harmonies.  The music becomes driven - and rather jazzy - before a sudden stop.

Following the customary interview of the composer, the world premiere of Tangled Madrigal was magnificently played by the JACK Quartet. Early Music influences colour this music, which is so beautifully written...and written with these specific players in mind. From a high, squeaky start, the composer takes us on a time-warp journey back to the Renaissance. Mr. Richards' viola is gorgeously prominent, Mr. Otto's violin shines, Jay's cello has a song to sing, and violinist Austin Wullmans floats in the high register. There is a cadenza from the viola, but it's the cello that has the last word. I think I could have derived even more pleasure from this piece had not the two girls sitting in front of kept whispering and checking their phones.

The program was a fine introduction to the composer's work, though a certain sameness prevailed as the evening progressed. It would have been interesting to hear Ms. Williams in a solo piano work, since her playing is truly captivating. So...the Miller will have to have her back at some point. Meanwhile, having the JACK Quartet for the whole evening was its own reward.

~ Oberon   

Rita Gorr: "Impitoyables dieux" ~ LA VESTALE

Rita Gorr sings Giulia's "Impitoyables dieux" from Spontini's LA VESTALE, recorded in 1958.

Listen here.

Sutherland/Forst/Hadley ~ ANNA BOLENA

Above: Judith Forst

I attended this exciting concert performance of Donizetti's ANNA BOLENA in 1975 at Avery Fisher Hall. Dame Joan Sutherland, Judith Forst, Cynthia Clarey, Jerry Hadley, and Greg Yurisich sang the principal roles, and Richard Bonynge was on the podium.

Watch and listen here.

DON CARLO ~ Final Scene

The final scene of Verdi's DON CARLO, performed in concert at the Musikvereinsaal in Vienna in 1988. The soloists are soprano Mara Zampieri, tenor Giacomo Aragall, and bass Kurt Rydl. Mr. Rydl sings the lines of Philip II, the Grand Inquisitor, and the Ghost of Charles V. Very sporting of him!

Watch and listen here.

Joffrey Concert Group @ Ailey Citigroup

~ Author: Oberon

Saturday February 17th, 2024 matinee - The Joffrey Concert Group offering a program of four works by three choreographers at the Ailey Citigroup Theater. The dancers were all technically adept and physically attractive, and the performance was enhanced by excellent lighting. While each ballet was enjoyable to watch individually (and to listen to, at least until someone pumped up the volume), being performed one after the other made for an afternoon lacking in contrasts.

Chicago-born Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater principal dancer Vernard J Gilmore has created "Dawn Of Love", which opened the show. The work's six movements do offer some variety of pacing and atmosphere, all basically coloured by the power and intensity of the music by Prince, distinctively played by the Vitamin String Quartet and mixed by long-time collaborator, DJ April Reign.

"Dawn Of Love" gets off to a big-beat start with "Not Afraid" in which four couples wend thru various ballet partnering motifs. "Neverending" begins with the women, soon joined by the men - the music has a hoedown feeling. A steady beat pulses thru "Specks of Hope", danced by a trio of women, and then there is an ethereal solo, "I Will, I Am" danced poetically by Mari Murata, with her lovely pointe work. (I should note that, throughout the evening, some of the women were on pointe and others in soft slippers). A pointy duet for Annika Davis and Sydney Williams opens "Diamonds and Pearls", danced to an insistent beat. The other women join, and finally the men. The ballet concludes with a duet for Breeanna Palmer and Faahkir Bestman entitled "Nothing..."; the stage is bathed in a red glow, and the music has an oddly Appalachian feel. Although this duet went on a bit too long, it was very finely danced. An extra bravo to lighting designer Michael Faba.

There were no bows after the opening work, and after a brief pause Bradley Shelver's "Random People With Beautiful Parts" commenced. The music draws on the Hilliard Ensemble's recordings of J S Bach; the piece is in three sections, beginning with a solemn air of ritual. Traditional ballet combinations weave into the music, and a sense of light vs darkness develops. An interesting motif of skidding on pointe is introduced, reminding me of Mauro Bigonzetti's gorgeous "Luce Nascosta" for NYC Ballet (2010). There's a lot happening in this opening section; the eye is constantly drawn from dancer to dancer.

Mr. Bestman joined Yumeno Takechi for the ballet's central pas de deux, set to a pulsing beat. Then trilling percussion opens the dramatic finale, in which several individual dancers had a chance to shine, notably Charles Klepner. The dancing is showy and gets somewhat competitive as the music accelerates.

"The Relentless Nature of Dreaming” by choreographer Eryn Renee Young, is set to music by J.S. Bach and an original score by emerging composer Heather Cook. It's been quite a long time since I last saw Ms. Young's work: 2014, in fact, when I saw her excellent Bartok piece "Symphonie Miroir ". From the title of Ms. Young's ballet on offer this evening, "The Relentless Nature of Dreaming", I was envisioning an atmosphere of Shades or Wilis; but it's actually the word "restless" in the title that most aptly applies.

The large cast (seemingly everyone in the Company) were clad in red (the men) and hot pink (the women), making quite a breath-taking sight as the lights came up. The women are divided into two groups: some in soft slippers and other on pointe. Neat patterns and myriad steps are skillfully choreographed. An exceptional solo, danced by one of the soft-slipper girls, was a highlight of the opening movement, but I can't tell you her name.

The second section of Ms. Young's ballet is danced to "Be My Water Tonight" by Heather Cook. For some reason, this was played at a very high volume; the dancing - at times quite animated - could have been really engaging, but the music was simply earsplitting. The song eventually turns watery, as if submerged (thus the word 'water' in the song's title); there is so much going on for the dancers but it all gets lost in the musical overkill. The ballet ends with an elaborate final pose.

Closing the program is "OOF", choreographed by Mr. Shelver. Set to music by Machito, Sunny and the Sunliners, and Balkan Beat Box, it sustained the high-energy, rather relentless feeling of the program. There were passing moments when it seemed a mood-swing might happen - one such was a male solo which commenced in a pool of light - but the idea was not developed: it simply melded into an ensemble.

 

The choreography is athletic and at times quirky, with something of a gypsy tinge to it. The final duet, set to "I Only Have Eyes For You", was danced by Joliana Canaan and Faakhir Bestman, and was beautfully done.

 

What was lacking in the evening was a feeling of emotional connections between the dancers; seldom was any tenderness expressed, though in fact the extroverted nature of the ballets rarely called for it.

 

As to the music, there seems to be a tradition in this performing venue that music will be played in the theatre for a half-hour before curtain time, and during the interval. This means that the scores the choreographers have chosen to set become part of a larger sound scheme, diminishing their effect.

 

~ Oberon