Classical Monday--Gounod's Faust at Lyric Opera

It's not actually Monday, but I saw this opera on Monday night and it's been weeks since I've posted anything, so I thought I'd better get this down.

I had never seen Gounod's Faust before, so when I was offered a ticket by a friend, and I realized that Rene Pape was singing Mephistopheles, I was happy to take the ticket off my friend's hand. There are several arias that are excerpted for recitals and discs often--particularly Marguerite's "Jewel Song", which must be the idea that Leonard Bernstein spoofs in "Glitter and be Gay"--but I had never heard the whole work before. The music is lovely and vrai francais. Even the recitative sections are melodic. Fortunately, the music was front and center in this production with a strong international cast under the music direction of Sir Andrew Davis.

That said, I felt a lot of potential in the physical production was missed. I have no idea how old the sets and costumes for this staging are, but even if they are only a couple of years old, they represent staging ideas from a couple of centuries ago. While there were some sections of active staging, a lot of the time it was the "park and bark" style of presentation. If you're not familiar with that phrase, it means to plant yourself center stage and sing at the top of your lungs. I particularly wanted some more from Mr. Pape as Mephistopheles. While the Bass exudes suavity and charm--although not to the same degree as Samuel Ramey, the Mephisto I heard in Boito's Mephistopheles--I felt that attribute could have been played up more, particularly in the garden scene when the devil is getting into the details of seducing and then being put off by the attentions of Marthe. This production was staged by Frank Corsaro, a familiar name in opera direction. And the production had a lot of familiar opera touches, most of which fell flat, like the pyrotechnic flash Mephisto sets off in the final scene of the opera; it added nothing, revealed nothing, was an obvious, dated trick, and seemed cheesy.

The singing was all good, though not often excellent. Rene Pape was obviously the most mature singer in the cast--a complaint I've often had recently with Lyric Opera productions, there is some star power in the cast, but the people who sing opposite them are not of the same caliber or experience. Pape has sung in all the major houses in the world--Ana Maria Martinez (Marguerite) and Piotr Beczala (Faust) have sung in one or two major houses at this point in their careers. With the Civic Opera House (where Lyric performs) holding more than 3,600 seats, you need an accomplished singer and performer to reach the audience.

Not that I had any trouble hearing anyone. Volume was not the issue--color was. None of these singers, including Pape, seemed to have the right vocal color or style for French music. Tenor Beczala, while having all the clarion high notes you could ask for, seemed vocally strident at times, and more a Verdi tenor than a Gounod one.

Clearly, I haven't grown much in my quest to outgrow the bitterness that has crept into my theater-going experiences. With the resumption of the fall theater and opera seasons, I need to see if I can shake that off.

Faust
Music by Charles Gounod

Rene Pape, Ana Maria Martinez, Piotr Beczala, Lucas Meachum
Continues at Lyric Opera through November 7

Classical Monday--Lux Aeterna by Morten Lauridsen

I've talked in previous postings how important singing in a choir is to me. There is very little I get more satisfaction from than singing with a group of committed choral singers. And to scratch that continual itch for that last 20 years, I have sung in a 36-voice volunteer church choir. Every Sunday from September through June, the choir provides one or two anthems in the church service, as well as "incidental music" for the service. Once or twice a year, though, the choir performs a larger mass, or cantata as the focus of the church service. Yesterday we performed Lux Aeterna by Morten Lauridsen (pictured right, receiveing a 2007 National Medal of the Arts).

While it's not unheard of for my choir to sing music of a living composer, I don't believe we have sung a larger work by one. The usual dead, white men music we have sung are masses, or requiems, or cantatas of Haydn, Britten, Handel, Debussy, Faure, Durufle, Vivaldi, Bach and others. I have nothing against singing this music, in fact I love it; but discovering the music of Mr. Lauridsen has show me how current good choral music can be. I should say that my choir has sung cantatas of Conrad Susa and a Latino composer whose name I can't recall, Rodriguez maybe, and they could still be living, I'm not certain. Oh wait, I just remembered we sang a collection of arrangements of Christmas carols by a former pastor of our church; he's still living, but I won't count that piece for many reasons.

Mr. Lauridsen's compositions definitely have a certain sound to them. I don't know enough about music to define that sound, but there is a lushness with the use of 7ths, 9th and 2nds in many of the chords. The music can be very satisfying to sing, and really rewards the choral singer who knows how to sing "on top" of the voice and can listen across their own and the other voice sections. Rarely is the bass part the "shimmer note" of the chord, but when that did happen I wanted to hear how my part conflicted with its neighbor, rather than just bombast my way through the texture, as is my initial reaction to needing to find my note in a thick chord.

I can take a little pride that I was the one who introduced the music of Lauridsen to my choir. A couple of years ago I purchased Lauridsen's anthem O Magnum Mysterium as a gift to the choir. I've been pleased to heard my choir-mates reactions to singing that piece--so much so that two other choir members purchased the Lux Aeterna scores for this performances. You're welcome. No, really, I mean thank you. I've gotten so much more out of being a member of my choir for 20 year than I could ever give back.

Lux Aeterna
Music by Morten Lauridsen
Lyrics adapted from the Latin mass (although with some text that I have never sung in a mass before, and I swear is more Pig Latin than Latin)
Written in 1997

Classical Monday--Verdi Requiem live with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra

It may have been the coldest weather in Chicago in something like 15 years, but I had the hottest ticket in town this weekend. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, chorus, soloists and conductor Riccardo Muti (left) performed the Verdi Requiem in three performances.

This is a monumental work, and while it is often performed, it is often performed poorly. It takes a good orchestra with fantastic wind players, a regiment of capable choristers, four top flight soloists, and mostly a conductor who knows how to keep everyone working toward the same thing. Fortunately, many of those elements were in place for the CSO performances. Maestro Muti is the CSO music director designate and will come on board with the orchestra starting with the 2010-11 season. This is Muti's first appearance with the CSO since being named to the post. The Music Director position has been vacant since Daniel Barenboim left in 2006, I think it was.

But on to the Requiem. This is a choral work, primarily. And while the soloists and the orchestra have their moments in the sun and would detract from the work if not fully capable, it is the chorus that decides whether this piece succeeds or fails. The CSO Chorus made this work a success. Able to morph their sound from full-throated fortes to hushed unisons, the 150-voice group made nary a misstep.

Likewise, the instrumental soloists were spot on. This work calls for 8 trumpets, four on-stage and four off (or in the balcony as was the case for this performance). There are five horns. Legendary principal horn Dale Clevenger handled his delicate solo magnificently. All the woodwind moments were delightful.

I had never heard any of the vocal soloists sing either live or in recordings. Soprano Barbara Frittoli is a big recording and opera star, whose repertoire includes all of the lead roles in the Verdi canon. Mezzo-soprano Olgo Borodina also has many recordings and a distinguished opera career. Tenor Mario Zeffiri and bass Ildar Abdrazakov were completely new names to me. While all four were very able in their singing, the stand out for me was Ms. Borodina; she was both a powerhouse and musical. All four solo parts are incredibly rangy, calling for secure high notes and robust low notes--Ms. Borodina was particularly exciting throughout all registers.

In a rare opportunity, I also had the chance to attend the final rehearsal of the work, which I found very interesting. I had never been to a CSO rehearsal; it was not like the final dress rehearsal at Lyric Opera; Maestro Muti stopped and started many times. While I couldn't always hear what he was saying to the orchestra or chorus, it was clear there was a lot of respect given the maestro by players and singers. Muti seemed to focus his comments on the articulation of the wind players and the articulation of consonants by the chorus. He wanted very strong final consonants--sometimes too strong for my tastes.

But then I'm not Italian.

Requiem Mass
Music by Giusseppe Verdi
Text from the latin
Presented by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chicago Symphony Chorus
Conducted by Riccardo Muti
Soloists: Barbara Frittoli, Olga Borodina, Mario Zeffiri, Ildar Abdrazakov

Sorry but the final performance has already taken place

Classical Monday--Gerald Finley sings Songs of Samuel Barber on CD

I have loved the songs of Samuel Barber for a long time. Barber's lyrical writing and strong sense of text make a nice respite from the spiky, 12-tone music of his 20th century composing contemporaries. So when BBC Music Magazine highly recommended a new recording of Barber's songs by Canadian baritone Gerald Finley, I knew how I was going to spend part of my Amazon.com gift card. I'm so glad I did, because there is a lot to admire in Hyperion's Songs by Samuel Barber, with Finley and pianist Julius Drake.

This is a selection of Barber songs, and in that even are some unusual choices. "Hermit Songs" is a collection of 10 songs to poems by Irish and Gaelic monks, and it is usually song by sopranos. Mr. Finley makes a fine case for it being a cycle for the male voice, though. I don't know if he sings it in the same key as the sopranos, but he displays a smooth legato and an ease in the upper register that will win me over every time. Also notably sung on this disc is "Dover Beach", long a part of the baritone repertoire. But none of the selections on this recording are less than good, and many display recital singing of the highest caliber.

I've heard Mr. Finley sing live on one occasion, he portrayed Robert Oppenheimer in John Adams's opera Dr. Atomic at Lyric Opera of Chicago last season. Finley's singing, particularly the aria "Batter my heart, three-personed God" (based on the poem of John Donne) at the end of Act I, was a high-point of the production for me.

Songs by Samuel Barber
Gerald Finley, baritone
Julius Drake, piano
released by Hyperion

Classical Monday--Lulu live at the Lyric Opera of Chicago

I just love British 60s pop icon Lulu and her ubiquitous song "Shout."

This, however was Alban Berg's 1937 opera, repleat with three very challenging, thickly scored acts and a vocal line akin to a Richter scale reading during the Big One. That said, I couldn't take my eyes or ears off the four-hour production of Lulu which I saw last week at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

The main reason for my rapt attention was the performance of 40-year old German soprano Marlis Petersen, who imbued her characterization with so much life (even in death) that you actually didn't mind that she killed so many of her husbands before being stabbed herself. Fraulein Petersen somehow managed what no other singer in the production could--how to communicate to the other characters on stage (and thereby to the audience) while still staying connected with conductor Sir Andrew Davis and the Lyric Opera Orchestra.

I suppose it is forgivable given the difficulties of this score, but this is not a "park and bark" opera where singers can get away with standing and showing off their lovely lyric voices. This opera demands singing actors, and Petersen met every one of the criteria, while still zinging out high Bs, Cs and Ds when called for.

While certainly not Broadway fare, this opera does have one notable connection to a current Broadway hit: Lulu is based on a couple of plays by Frank Wedekind, whose Spring Awakening was adapted by Duncan Sheik and Steven Slater. So let's hear it for the enfant terrible of German expressionism and his 21st Century interpreter, Marlis Petersen. Wedekind is in good hands.

Lulu
Music by Alban Berg
Libretto by the composer

Presented at Lyric Opera of Chicago (sorry, it closed yesterday)

Directed by Paul Curran
Conducted by Sir Andrew Davis
Cast: Marlis Petersen, William Burden, Wolfgang Schone, Jill Grove

Classical Monday--Manon live opera performance at the Lyric Opera of Chicago

I'm inaugurating a new type of Monday entry--one that is musical, but not musical theater. I can sum up my first Classical Monday entry in one phrase--holy Natalie Dessay.

This weekend I went to the production of Massenet's Manon at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. This Romantic-era opera featured genuine superstar Natalie Dessay in the title role. Ms. Dessay deserves every accolade awarded her tremendous international career. She is a consummate performer, not only singing her role exquisitely, but inhabiting it. Her limp rag-doll performance in the fifth act was a study in how to physically portray a character while keeping the core of one's sound.

Ms. Dessay's tenor was every bit her equal. Jonas Kaufmann is German and while his timber was far from French, his ringing high notes and often hushed legato singing matched the beauty of Massenet's score in just about every way.

One other voice that stood out for me was that of a young baritone, Sam Handley, who sang the small first act role of the Innkeeper. Possessing a robust voice that stays even through the registers, Mr. Handley will be someone to watch. He is in his first year as a Ryan Center Artist, the training program of the Lyric Opera.

The production staging was also very interesting. Presented as a sort of fin du siecle French debauchery, the chorus acted as an audience for much of the opera, situated in tiers of opera house boxes overlooking the stage from the back (depicted in this photo). As the third act presents a ballet-pantomime for the enjoyment of the primary characters, this set-up worked well for the most part. The boxes became the altar of St. Sulpice chapel for the second scene of Act Three.

Sorry, I saw the closing performance at Lyric Opera, so you'll have to scour the opera houses of Europe to find Ms. Dessay or Mr. Kaufmann in their next roles.

Manon
Music by Jules Massenet
Libretto by Henre Meilhac and Philippe Gille
After the novel of Antoine-Francois Prevost (a former monk!)
First performed at the Opera-Comique in Paris, 1884
Cast: Natalie Dessay, Jonas Kaufmann, David Cangelosi, Christopher Feigum, Raymond Aceto