Wagner in Melbourne

Wagner Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg

Michael Kupfer-Radecky Hans Sachs
Stefan Vinke Walther von Stolzing
Natalie Aroyan Eva
Warwick Fyfe Sixtus Beckmesser

Opera Australia Chorus
Orchestra Victoria
Kasper Holten director
Pietari Inkinen conductor

State Theatre, Melbourne November 2018
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What a pleasure to be back in the State Theatre with its glorious curtain, troubling acoustic echo, and a most satisfying production of Wagner's Meistersinger.

Seen by Wagner as a pair to his Tannhauser, both feature singing competitions with Die Meistersinger receiving extra lashings of German pride and nationalism. The conclusion where Hans Sach (up until that point a sympathetic character) warns all and sundry of the dangers of nasty foreigners jars and the production tried to carve it out by flooding the stage in harshly cold lighting at that point.  Was the idea that it was not really part of the rest of the opera?  That we could leave it to one side?

The set was a monumental marble construction with traditional liveryman garb for the Mastersinger members.  Walther's biker look seemed a bit odd but he is meant to be the outsider, albeit an aristocractic one.

The production was well sung across the board, with Warwick Fyfe's Beckmesser strong in voice and characterisation, and Michael Kupfer-Radecky projecting humanity and doubt as Hans Sachs wrestles with his demons.  It's coup de theatre came at the end with a roundly annoyed Eva storming off stage as Walther (who had promised to run away with her) is convinced to join the mastersingers men's club and respect German tradition.

This was at the end of the glorious 2 hour Third Act, which takes off to a whole other level of musical quality after Acts 1 and 2.  One among so many examples of Wagner's overwhelming artistic genius.

Eva before Walther fails her

The State Theatre's curtain

Alexander Karpeyev debut disc

Russian Emigré Composers

Prokofiev Visions fugitives Op.22 Nos. 1,4,8,9,11,14,15,18,19
Medtner Sonata-Ballade Op. 27
Grechaninov Op. 78/1-2, Op. 61/2,5,6
Rachmaninov Nyne otpushchayeshi from the All-Night Vigil Op. 37
Fragments (1917)
Etude-Tableaux Op. 39/7
Stravinsky Three Movements from Petroushka


Students of this blog will recognize this as the disc of the recital that Alexander Karpeyev toured internationally during 2017, the anniversary of the 1917 Russian revolution.  This original and excellent programme features the composers who left Russia immmediately before or after 1917: Prokofiev, Medtner, Grechaninov, Rachmaninov and Stravinsky.

All the music is chosen to illustrate the ‘final flowering’ of these composers between 1910 and 1919.  After leaving Russia, maintaining a distinctive voice was not easy for any of them.  Each of the émigrés developed their own relationship to Russia after leaving.  Prokofiev returned home permenantly after 15 years living in France and the US.  Medtner settled in London while Grechaninov, Rachmaninov and Stravinsky ended up in the US.  All struggled to maintain their creativity after 1917.

Karpeyev is a Medtner specialist and the Sonate-Ballade Op. 27 grows with each listening.  The Finale is particularly winning with its rich melodic inspiration and glittering ornamentation.  The Grechaninov character pieces are all very well characterized, and the recital reaches the apex of its nostalgia for old Russia with a marvelous rendition of the "Nyne otpushchayeshi" from Rachmaninov’s All-Night Vigil and the Etude-Tableaux Op. 39/7 with – what could be more Russian – its climax of pealing bells.

The piano is in very good shape and the recording in St Bartholomew's Church in Brighton sets the piano at a slight distance in a resonant acoustic.  The airy sound does least favours to the Prokofiev Visions Fugitives.  Coupled with a romantic performance, the result is slightly unfocused.

The famous Stravinsky showpiece from Petroushka is given a dazzling performance, awash with colour and very strongly characterized.  There were many details I’d never heard before and the expressiveness was a welcome contrast to the famous speed-fest version from Maurizio Pollini.  Not that Karpeyev is exactly slow, just that the story-telling which is inherent in this score is given more space to weave its magic.

This recording beautifully captures Karpeyev’s qualities and sound world: virtuosity led by musicality of great poetry and refinement.  A very fine debut with no doubt more to come.  

Rattle says farewell to Berlin

Jörg Widmann: Tanz auf dem Vulkan (UK premiere)
Lutosławski: Symphony No.3
Brahms: Symphony No.1

Berliner Philharmoniker 
Simon Rattle conductor

31 May 2018, Royal Festival Hall, London *************
In 2018, Simon Rattle's tenure at the helm of the Berliner Philharmoniker comes to a close,  Rattle heads to the London Symphony Orchestra and Russian conductor Kirill Petrenko takes his place in Berlin. 

The last London concert for Rattle and the Berliners was a snap-shot of his life in Berlin.  Admirably championing newer music while accommodating the traditional core repertoire of this famous orchestra in intelligent if not life-changing interpretations.

No sooner had the orchestra finished tuning when it launched into a jazzy theme and on rushed Rattle with stagey expressions of annoyance.  Then the "proper" music was started.  Only at the end does the jazzy music return and conductor walk off stage while the orchestra finishes.  All nicely done in this short new work from Jörg Widmann: Tanz auf dem Vulkan ("Dance on the Volcano").

Then it was the Polish composer Witold Lutoslawski's Third Symphony, premiered in 1983.  It is a very fine work structured around a repeated motif with clear references to the famous opening of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony.  This returns to divide up the sections of the 30 minute piece, many of which thrillingly use "aleatory" writing where the players have freedom to play their sections at their own speeds.  It all culminates in an almost tonal climax of considerable emotion.  The performance was of great poise, clarity and virtuosity.

Johannes Brahms

And then to Brahms, his first symphony certainly not his best but whose outer movements pack a great emotional punch.  From the start the refinement of the orchestral sound was glorious, the strings very weighty and built from the double basses up in classic Brahmsian fashion.  Were the strings a little too numerous?  Perhaps at times they seemed to overpower the woodwind.  And then there was a developing concern that it was all a little rounded and cultured, albeit in a super-refined way. 


But no, we had simply been set up for the coda, the whole concert waiting for the final minutes when we were taken to another level and treated to a truly extraordinary sound: blended, bronzed and with seemingly infinite reserves of tonal depth and sonority.  It was engulfing, uplifting and more than a little awe-inspiring.  Thank you Berliner Philharmoniker.

Sinon Rattle and the Berliner Philharmoniker

Evgeny Kissin hammers the Hammerklavier

Beethoven Sonata No 29 in B flat Hammerklavier

Rachmaninov Preludes;

Op 23 Nos 1-7

Op 32 Nos 10, 12 & 13

Evgeny Kissin, piano
29 March 2018, Barbican Hall, London
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No-one ever accused Evgeny Kissin of understatement.  His technique is prodigious, his dynamic range a match for the largest of halls, and his piano most definitely has hammers.  Indeed for all the obvious wonders to expect, I approached this latest recital with some trepidation.  When last heard at the Barbican, Kissin murdered a couple of Beethoven sonatas with an unremittingly aggressive attack and unclear structural command.

What was painful on that occasion turned out considerably better in the Hammerklavier.  This 50 minute sonata exercised Beethoven for a year and is written with such scale and ambition that any performance is an event.  It carries great dangers of fatigue for performer and listener alike.  I have heard many performances where the overwhelming impression on reaching the fugal finale was that the pianist had made all their expressive points and was just trying to survive to the end.

So let it be said that in Kissin's hands the finale of the Hammerklavier was the pinnacle of the evening and quite unforgettable.  I have never heard such definition and projection in recital.  It was an extraordinary intellectual feat from this pianist.

Earlier on, Kissin’s fantasy-like approach to Beethoven interpretation worked well in this monumental yet strange work.  Kissin treated the epic 20 minute slow movement with sustained emotion and care, but was content to take a more episodic approach to the first two movements. Structurally, Kissin is not one of the masters, but his matter-of-fact but highly cultured approach to phrasing was most effective.  

With Rachmaninov Preludes for the second half Kissin was on home territory.  His approach to each was focused and technically dazzling.  Yet, surprisingly, he did not seem entirely inside this music and the group did not add up to something more than its parts.  And of course there were many encores for a increasingly enthusiastic audience.  Amongst offerings of Scriabin, Tchaikovsky and more Rachmaninov, most arresting was Kissin’s own jazz-flecked Toccata.

Evgeny Kissin

Argerich, Maisky and Jansen at the Barbican

Beethoven Cello Sonata No 5 in G minor, Op 5 No 2

Shostakovich Piano Trio No 2 in E minor, Op 67
Schumann Violin Sonata No 1 in A minor, Op 105
Mendelssohn Piano Trio No 1 in D minor, Op 49

Janine Jansen violin

Mischa Maisky cello

Martha Argerich piano

Barbican Hall, London, 6 February 2018

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Mischa Maisky and Martha Argerich

For an artist who enjoys performing chamber music so much, London’s opportunities to hear the great Martha Argerich outside concertos are surprisingly rare.  So a packed Barbican Hall awaited this concert with much interest. 

For many years, Argerich partnered with Mischa Maisky, Gidon Kremer and Yuri Bashmet in the chamber repertoire.  Here, Maisky and Argerich were joined by Dutch violinist Janine Jansen, herself a leading soloist of a younger generation.  

Janine Jansen

Maisky is as well known a figure for cellists as Argerich is for pianists.  An extraordinary life story includes growing up in Latvia, being taught by two giants of the instrument: Mstitslav Rostropovich and Gregor Piatigorsky, imprisonment in the Soviet Union after his sister left to Israel, release after several years and a splendid career.  His musical style is big and romantic and his dress style more than a little 70s Frank Zappa eccentric with split flares and flamboyant blouse tops.   

A night of many musical splendours was guaranteed with artists of this calibre, to what extent it gelled was an open question.  The Shostakovich was the biggest triumph, its mechanistic savagery, sadness and eerie harmonics extraordinarily intense in the hands of these masters.  Elsewhere Jansen and Argerich did not seem fully aligned in the Schumann and Maisky’s broad musicianship was put quite in the shade by Argerich’s phenomenal dispatch of the piano part in the Beethoven. 

Argerich was, as ever, a wonder.  The vitality and musicality of all she did was life-enhancing and of overwhelming intensity.  Her piano sang, rested, flashed and darted.  Beside her Maisky could seem lead footed.  But Jansen has a creamy, close vibrato and projected effortlessly in the large hall.  She gave every impression of being able to match Argerich’s quicksilver moods with her violin.  

With time this trio could really build rapport.  As it stands, it felt that Argerich was holding court, Maisky was fixed in zen-like calm, and Jansen was obviously the new comer.  Certainly she was not helped by Argerich’s bluff approach once the music stopped.  Each time the three walked off stage was a minor comic masterpiece; Jansen trying to defer, Argerich stopping and starting, Maisky meandering and staying out of it. 

Maisky and Argerich in earlier days

Tosca

Puccini: Tosca

Floria Tosca: Adrianne Pieczonka

Mario Cavaradossi: Joseph Calleja

Baron Scarpia: Gerald Finley

Spoletta: Aled Hall

Cesare Angelotti: Simon Shibambu

Sacristan: Jeremy White

Sciarrone: Jihoon Kim 

 

Royal Opera Chorus 

Orchestra of the Royal Opera House

Dan Ettinger conductor 

 

7 February 2017, Royal Opera House Covent Garden (live broadcast)

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This featured some fine singing from Calleja in particular and an impressively strong characterisation of Tosca from Pieczonka in an otherwise tradiitional production.  But in the cinema the orchestra was projected so forward as to overwhelm the singers and deafen the audience.  When the clarinet solo in e lucevan le stelle drowns out out Cavadorossi, it is time to complain. 

Primary colours Verdi

Verdi: Rigoletto

Duke of Mantua Michael Fabiano
Rigoletto Dimitri Platanias
Gilda Lucy Crowe

Royal Opera Chorus
Royal Opera Orchestra
Director David McVicar
Revival Director Justin Way
Conductor Alexander Joel

16 January 2018, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden
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The plot of Rigoletto is not the last word in subtlety, nor much of a standard bearer for sexual equality.  And Justin Way's approach to the latest revival of David McVicar's Royal Opera production offered no escape.  The Duke of Mantua's court was a lurid place of debasement and sexual exploitation, providing maximum contrast with the innocence of Gilda fresh from her convent.  The sense of dread for her safety was very effectively underlined.  But later her subsequent acceptance and protection of the Duke in all his flaws made little dramatic sense given his plainly horrific behaviour.

Verdi's music is a non-stop delight, clearly one of his most successful scores.  The singing on the whole did not live up to its subtlety.  Dimitri Platanias's Rigoletto was a hugely impressive physical, menacing performance, entirely capable of revenge.  But vocally he projected the more sensitive aspects of the role less successfully.  Lucy Crowe's Gilda had vocal control, but was not fully inside the role. In Caro nome there was no sense of a girl's breathless anxiety, more a singer focusing on her vocal technique.   Michael Fabiano's Duke was by contrast very fine throughout, with a gleaming tone and great command of the stage.