War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco
Nov 30, HANSEL AND GRETEL

Well, I had a tough time getting my adult friends to see Hansel and Gretel, despite the enticement of a free ticket.  Ironically, these were the same friends who did not think twice about seeing “Cenerentola” or “L’enfant es sortileges” – both children’s fairy tales with nightmarish twists.  In fact, the Olivier award-winning production design by Richard Jones (first seen at the Welsh National Opera) has enough grim and ghoulish elements in it to scare the hell out of small children and leave the adults pondering on its Jungian symbolisms.  The excellent British/Welsh cast included soprano Catrin Wyn-Davies as Gretel, mezzo-soprano Sara Fulgoni as Hansel, Mary Lloyd-Davies as the Mother and tenor Graham Clark as the delightfully wicked Witch.  Baritone David Okerlund was a virile Father with the sensitivity of a lieder singer.  If Adler Fellow Greta Feeney sounded a bit rough as the Sandman/Dew Fairy, it went well with the basic dark theme of the production.  Conductor/Baroque specialist Nicholas McGegan, in a rare foray into the German romantic repertoire, dusted off the romantic excesses of the score and brought out many new details in a brisk, often exhilarating, manner.  The evening prayer in Act Two, with its gossamer texture and shimmering colors, was magical.

Hansel and Gretel will return on January 11, 14, 16, 18., with Donald Runnicles conducting.  Tickets are $24 to $175.  Standing Room $10.  (415) 864-3330.
 

War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco
Dec 1, ALCINA

The ‘adult’ theme continued the following day with Handel’s Alcina, in a psycho-erotic production from Stuttgart by Wieler/Morabito, with sexy, body-clinging costumes by Anna Viebrock that match Handel’s voluptuous score.  Prominent in this production is a giant golden frame which, according to the directors, serves as either a magic mirror to reveal Sorceress Alcina’s kingdom or an ordinary mirror that reflects the human world.  As with most avant-garde, deconstructive stagings that seek to add modern relevance to the highly stilted conventions of the Baroque theatre, this Stuttgart production is ultimately too chic and sleek for its own good, and sinks hopelessly into a morass of hyper-cerebralized kitsch.  The horn players on stage during Ruggiero’s “Sta nell’Ircana”, the shooting dead of Alcina in the end and her miraculous resurrection from the dead, the disuse of chorus (a main feature at the opera’s 1735 London premiere) – all serve to further stylize (and trivialize) the already maligned Baroque conventions, instead of helping their cause.  Thankfully, the original cast from Stuttgart, led by Catherine Naglestad’s smoldering Alcina, were as warm and passionate as the staging was cold and calculating.  Not a natural mistress of the coloratura, Ms. Naglestad impressed with her musicality and intensity.  All her technical frailties were forgotten (and forgiven) when, in Alcina’s “Si, non quella”, Ms. Naglestad poured her heart out in such a torrent of pathos that the stones of the theatre would have shed tears.  As Ruggiero, Alcina’s captive lover, mezzo-soprano Alice Coote sang with the requisite virtuosity (“Sta nell’Ircana”) and poetry (“Verdi prati”).   Helene Schneiderman and Catriona Smith were both vocally solid and pleasing as Bradamente and Morgana, respectively.  An unexpected bonus was the splendid Melisso of David Pittsinger (another fine product of the Merola program), whose deep, rolling bass and effortless execution reminded me of the young Samuel Ramey.  Roy Goodman conducted the scaled-down orchestra with a vivid theatrical flair and Handelian style. 
 

Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles
Dec 4, LES CONTES D'HOFFMANN

Andrea Rost as Antonia and Samuel Ramey as Dr. Miracle		Sumi Jo as Olympia

If the San Francisco Opera’s predominantly Teutonic lineup of artists since the recent takeover by the former Stuttgart general director can smack of partisan bias at times, the Los Angeles Opera still enjoys a hit parade of international artists, thanks to the drawing power of Placido Domingo as the company’s new Artistic Director.  But as everyone knows in this or any business, favoritism is inevitable.  Therefore, we have Mr. Domingo’s ex-spouse Marta as director/producer who, if I may say so, gives a credible staging of Jacques Offenbach’s Les Contes d'Hoffmann.  The surrealistic, supernatural tale of love and obsession plays out in handsome, atmospheric sets and costumes, aided by Alan Burrett’s superb lighting effects (the flashing eyes in the Olympia scene, the shimmering night sky in the Giulietta scene, the statue of Antonia’s mother magically coming to life, etc.)   Michael Kaye’s urtext edition runs to three-plus hours, containing much new music not heard in the traditional Choudens/Opera-Comique version.  Thanks to Emmanuel Villaume’s alert and idiomatic conducting, the hours seemed like minutes.  Mezzo-soprano Elizabeth Batton sang an impassioned Nicklausse/Muse.  Bass Samuel Ramey, currently enjoying the Indian summer of his career in mainly character roles, was cameleon-like in the four roles of Lindorf, Coppelius, Dappertutto and Dr. Miracle and rendered an eloquent account of the Diamond aria.  French tenor Marcus Maddock sang the tortured artist Hoffmann with a burnished tone that hinted of mania in his dramatic encounter with Antonia.  Playing Hoffmann’s three ill-fated lovers were Korean soprano Sumi Jo, a porcelain doll of an Olympia, both in her physique and her crystalline execution of runs and trills;  Yugoslavian mezzo-soprano Milena Kitic’s alluring Giulietta; and Hungarian soprano Andrea Rost’s intensely passionate Antonia.  Ms. Rost is a gifted actress whose every physical gesture and verbal inflection carry meanings that go to the core of the music.  Her return to Los Angeles in the spring as Mozart’s Donna Anna is most eagerly awaited.  Rounding off this colorful Hoffmann cast were Robert Tear as Spalanzani, John Atkins as Schlemil, Louis Lebherz as Crespel, and Cynthia Jansen as Antonia’s mother.

Les Contes d’Hoffmann plays at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion through Dec. 21.  Tickets are $15 to $170.  (213) 365-3500
 

Civic Auditorium, Pasadena
Dec 14, Pasadena Symphony
Howard Shelly, piano

The works on this eclectic program span three centuries.  The latest, a twentieth-century composition by Peter Schickele of the P.D.Q. Bach fame, is Concerto for Chamber Orchestra – whose colorful orchestration and pungent, folksy rhythm recall the similarly named Concerto for Orchestra by Béla Bartók.  Schickele apparently delighted in writing for the wind instruments, as evidenced in the work’s many intriguing novel effects for the winds (music box effect with flute and pizzicato strings, for instance).  As always, the Pasadena winds excelled, and the trumpets never sounded more mellow and sweet as they did in the Concerto’s nocturnal interlude.

Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini provided a showcase for Britain’s premier pianist Howard Shelley.  Mr. Shelly’s keyboard manner was fleet and elegant, and his phrasing unflappably aristocratic, even in the most harrowing bravura passages.   From the flourishes of the opening bars, the pianist immediately captured the mercurial spirit of the piece, and promptly went off on a fantastical flight of glittering scales, double-octaves, and cadenzas that left one breathless.  Mr. Shelly received outstanding support from conductor Jorge Mester.  Together, they created quite a frisson in the grand romantic episode, helped by the lush Pasadena strings.  Now, perhaps Pasadena should invite Mr. Shelly to preside over next year’s Rachmaninov International Piano Competitions. 

The Symphony No. 41 in C-major, K. 551 belongs to the amazing triumvirate of symphonies that Mozart completed in the summer of 1788.  By incorporating comic-opera themes into the serious framework of a symphony, Mozart is (again) showing the duality of his nature.  Just as he had done by turning Da Ponte’s satirical comic libretto of Cosi Fan Tutte into a masterpiece of genuine human drama, with the C-major symphony Mozart acknowleged his own mischievous nature and showed his serious side at the same time.  Conductor Mester led a vital, refreshing account of the symphony, capturing perfectly its ‘Jovian’ spirit and its many shades of emotions.  At this point, perhaps I should forego analyzing what is essentially unanalyzable – the divine mystery of Mozart’s music.  We can understand the utter simplicity; we can also understand, with some effort, the immense technical skill with which its elaborate fabric is woven.  What remains puzzling in the end is how any human being could manage to combine these two opposites into such a perfectly balanced work of art.  The more I know my Mozart, the more I believe that his was the most perfect human/musical mind that this world has ever seen.

This concert will be broadcast on K-Mozart, 105.1FM on December 29, 2002
 

All reviewes by Truman C. Wang

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