ew
professional choruses have the opportunity of our Master
Chorale members to sing so much contemporary music, given
the popularity of choral music among movie soundtrack
composers. Our near-perfect weather surely lures creative
types to live here. So it should not be much of a surprise
that among local tunesmiths, choral music abounds in both
quality and quantity. Add to that Maestro Grant Gershon’s
own clear preference for musica nuovo, and the table is set
for a delicious, annual concert of the contemporary.
With five of the
six composers actually on hand to receive the plaudits of the
enthusiastic audience, the concert began with a distinctively
festive air.
Henryk Mikolaj
Górecki’s
Lobgesang (Song of Praise) was first up in a premier
performance not heard heretofore in the United States, a pity,
since the work is a gem, employing a wide dynamic canvas of
almost a cappella, polytonal choral beauty, and written in honor
of the 500th Anniversary of Gutenberg’s invention of moveable
type. The inventor’s name was embodied in sound at the end of
the piece. As the chorus sings the final word, “ewig”
(forever) played on a glockenspiel, a beautiful effect worthy of
the moment, and gloriously sung by the Master Chorale.
Steven Stucky’s
“Three New Motets” encompass his settings of three Latin
texts: O Admirabile Commercium, O Sacrum Convivium, and
O Vos Omnes. It was a matter of newish wine in old
bottles though, giving the impression of a composer noting the
commercial success that was Morten Lauridsen’s Magnum
Mysterium of yesteryear, and trying his hand at imitation.
Despite the good effects, one recognizes a form of
quasi-populism that seeks to impress, rather than music that
rises out of the composer’s head and heart. The last half of
O Sacrum Convivium held the greatest interest.
David O’s
much-anticipated “A Map of Los Angeles” in its world
premiere performance was an immediate hit, with not the standard
standing ovation, but one in which the audience leapt to its
collective feet a fraction of a second after the last, fleeting
“dta, dta, dta” in a mighty cheer, the excitement level
bubbling over into intermission. The work is divided into six
segments that flow without break: Introduction (Map II); Los Los
Angeles Angeles (a pun on the two ways the city’s name is
pronounced by the two dominant cultures living here, and
double-punned with a reference to the “Los Angeles Angels of
Anaheim” which was accompanied by notes struck on the chime by a
baseball bat toting Theresa Dimond – hey! a triple-pun!); Bus
Interlude (Map III); The The Tar Tar Pits (another pun on the
double cultural name overlay); Meditation (Map III); and El
Cementerio Evergreen – as respectful a visit to an old cemetery
as the very punny composer could conjure, with the chorus
intoning the last names he found at Evergreen while walking down
the rows of tombstones, alternating Anglo and Latino names in a
rhythmic chant, that began with a Mexican Folk Harp solo played
by Sergio “Checo” Alonzo, accompanied by percussionists using
real bones to provide the underlying tempo.
One wonders,
however, if this composition would ever be sung outside of Los
Los Angeles Angeles (or even Anaheim). Would they sing of LA in
Boston? Would Bay Area audiences break into a chant of “Beat LA!
Beat LA!” were it to be performed there?
Eric Whitacre’s
setting of the Biblical story of David mourning upon hearing of
the death of his son Absalom (II Samuel 18:33), entitled “When
David Heard” is a mannered, if really beautifully sung work.
It is a story that has been set by quite an august list of
composers over the years (Tomkins, Weelkes, East, Gibbons).
Overuse of separated syllables (Ab – sa – lom) tended to become
wearying just as one might expect a final cadence. The Master
Chorale gave this work its rapt attention, producing perhaps the
finest choral singing of the evening.
Esa-Pekka
Salonen’s
Two Songs to Poems of Ann Jäderlund (2002): Kyss min mun
(Kiss My Mouth) and Djupt I rummet (Deep in the Room)
stood out from his fellows’ creations in that his compositions
create an unique and authentic choral fabric, instead of chasing
a series of effects, which seems to be the modus operandi of
most living writers. The Salonen songs were interesting, as
deeply emotional as the poetry it contained, and extremely
difficult – probably impossible, in fact, for all but the most
professional choruses to sing. Salonen’s departure from the helm
of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra seems to be such a
loss, but he is in fact leaving so that he can dedicate more
time to composing. In the words of Captain Picard, “Make it so!”
Morten Lauridsen’s
Nocturnes were written for the 2005 Los Angeles National
Convention of the American Choral Directors Association, and in
the scheme of things, followed hard on the heels of the
composer’s hit tune, the aforementioned Magnum Mysterium.
So it was and is no surprise that the Nocturnes resemble that
seminal work not only in style, but also in some content and use
of second interval major chords moderately muddied by the
addition of one dissonant note. One cannot blame a composer for
dipping his pen into the same inkwell as produced a
wealth-producing hit tune, sung in a thousand performances by
high school, university and professional choruses around the
world. One should not walk away from a proven, successful niche
recipe, and Professor Lauridsen did not. He further wrote what
was entitled “Epilogue” performed on this concert for the first
time. If Magnum Mysterium was derivative of recent French
composers, Epilogue was therefore a derivative of a derivative.
To the first inversion chords with one dissonant note, he
inserted a second dissonant note. Some believe he truly needn’t
have bothered.
Given the
overall murkiness of his music, Lauridsen lulls one into a near
sleep-state, a miasmatic slurp of successive hanging chords that
never quite seem to come easily to a cadence, as though the
composer were filling a 10-minute commission with 7 minutes of
inspiration. The most irritating example of this was the second
Nocturn, a setting of James Agee’s poem “Sure on this Shining
Night”. Let’s agree to return to the setting of the same poem by
Samuel Barber. This one breaks no new ground, and goes nowhere,
s l o w l y, interrupted by various dissonant noises
unassociated with the choir’s singing by the composer himself,
seated in Brahmsian splendor at piano.
The
Los Angeles Master Chorale is
truly a chorale of master singers. It is hard to imagine that
any other similar group anywhere in the world could possibly
out-sing them. Not one note was sung on this concert with less
than its full value, perhaps inspired by the presence of the
composers, but more likely because they shared their maestro’s
love for and commitment to the music. Without a doubt, Grant
Gershon has fashioned a world-class ensemble out of one that
always had the potential to be world-class, but until this
evening, had yet to prove itself on every note of every phrase
of every piece of music. This was yet another night that those
who chose to stay home should have attended.
But the beating
heart of this organization is Grant Gershon, who brings
heightened interest to every concert he conducts. Over this
season, we have watched as his grasp of those musical eras and
styles that had earlier escaped his grasp finally began to
mature through study to produce convincing performances of great
works. What continues to be so refreshing is his enthusiasm for
every piece he conducts, and while some may sigh a bit when he
picks up the wireless microphone prior to starting a piece, his
introductions are usually appropriate and informative, and
sometimes riveting.
One could argue
that he might have miscalculated by placing the David O piece at
the end of the first half and the sleep-inducing Lauridsen last,
when for pure joy, the O piece was by far the most popular.
Chorale members
departing as of this concert include Marvin Neumann (36 years’
service), Nancy Von Oeyen (24 years), Bob McCormac (23), Cheryll
Desberg (20), Marian Bodnar (15), Sheila Murphy (13), Hyun Joo
Kim (11), Brent Almond (10), Cindy Martineau (8), Winter Watson
(3), Aaron Roethe (2) and Andrew Klein (1). Thanks from all of
us for your artistry over the years, best wishes for the future,
and keep a song in your heart.
- Reviewed by Douglas Neslund
Related link:
www.lamc.org
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May 10
Paulist Scholars in
Triumph
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PROGRAM: Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco-
Romancero Gitano. Morten Lauridsen- Madrigali, Six “Fire
Songs”. Lauridsen- a cappella Madrigali. Paulist
Scholars, Luke McEndarfer, music director. Corpus
Christi Church, Pacific Palisades.
uke McEndarfer, the
energetic Music Director of the Paulist Scholars,
a chamber choir formed of 14 of the most advanced
singers drawn from the Paulist Choristers of
California, will accept nothing short of excellence.
He is willing to work as hard as is necessary to bring
his young choristers to a state of performability that
is the equal of the finest children’s choirs on the
globe. His patience and determination paid rich
dividends Saturday night in the somewhat wallowy
acoustics of Pacific Palisades’ Corpus Christi Church,
as his Scholars put an emphatic exclamation point on
their already fine reputation.
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Aided by professional
basses, tenors and altos from the Los Angeles Master
Chorale, McEndarfer chose Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s
Romancero Gitano and Morten Lauridsen’s
Madrigali: Six “Fire Songs” on Italian Renaissance
Poems. The former featured the guitar artistry of
Professor James Smith of USC, and his amazing
protégé, Sungmin Shin. The two played as one,
with an uncanny sense of matching each other to the
extent that it was actually difficult to detect which
player was playing what.
For the young
singers, this outing was definitely not just another
unison assignment for the seven boys and six girls (one
girl apparently was ill). Both works, plus the lovely
and catchy folk tune arrangement of “Dirait-on”
from Lauridsen’s Les Chansons des Roses, but in
an unique guitar version premiered this evening,
required frequent divisi singing.
The monumental number
of hours required to bring this choral concert to such
exquisite fruition is a tribute to the dedication of the
director, the children, and the parents, who must have a
clear understanding of the high goals that come with
Scholar membership in order to make their child
available for many hours of intensive practice,
including memorization of several of the most demanding
movements in Spanish, Italian and French that required
the young singers to glue their eyes and attention on
the conductor or risk singing an unwanted solo.
The content of each
piece on the program was interesting, varied, and in
excellent taste. There were soloists in the Romancero
Gitano: young soprano Monica Sullivan, and
professional singers Amy Fogerson, alto,
Daniel Chaney, tenor, and Michael Freed,
baritone. Mr. Chaney especially impressed with a bright,
ringing tone and impassioned involvement in the text.
Lauridsen’s a
cappella Madrigali deserve far more exposure,
and are much more exciting and authentic than some of
his more somber and celebrated sacred works. Tiresome
elements of predictability and ennui do not exist in the
Madrigali. These are fully formed and paced, each
with its own distinctive character. Only in the last
movement, “Se per Havervi, Oime” does the forward
momentum and interest stall, dim and linger a bit too
long. One would hope to hear more performances of this
string of musical pearls.
An extra treat was
offered the smallish audience in the form of two guitar
duets based on the poetry of Federico Garcia Lorca
and Vladimir Bobri.
- Reviewed by Douglas Neslund
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May 15
L.A. Phil- Peter Serkin
plays Messiaen |
PROGRAM: Olivier Messiaen: Petites
esquisses d’oiseaux (for solo piano). Messiaen- Oiseaux
exotiques. Beethoven- Symphony No. 3, "Eroica" in E-Flat Major.
Los Angeles Philharmonic. Christoph von Dohnányi, conductor.
Peter Serkin, piano
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mong the many famous birds in classical
music – the firebird (Stravinsky), the forest bird (“Siegfried”
by Wagner), the falcon (“Die Frau” by Strauss), the
woodbird (“L’Allegro pensieroso è moderato” by
Handel), to name only a few – Olivier Messiaen’s Oiseaux
exotiques (Exotic birds, 1956) is probably
the least known, in part because of its composer’s own
exotic, minimalist musical language (Stockhausen and Boulez
are his famous deciples). |
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But last Thursday evening, the L.A. audience were treated to
a slew of bird ‘songs without words’, as it were, by
Messiaen, performed by another major figure in 20th-Century
music, pianist Peter Serkin.
Originally, Oiseaux exotiques
was to have been performed with pianist Pierre-Laurent
Aimard. But illness, and fortuitous luck, intervened to
give us Serkins, who had performed the work in its Los
Angeles premiere some 25 years prior (in 1973). Together
with 19 percussion, wind and brass players from the L.A.
Phil, Serkin and conductor Christoph von Dohnányi gave an
alert, scintillating rendering of the Hindu grackle, Chinese
liothrix, American wood thrush, Virginia cardinal, bobolink,
Carolina mockingbird, Indian shama, Baltimore oriole, for a
total of some 60 exotic birds within six cadenzas).
The bird fanciers in the audience were
rejoiced also to hear Messiaen’s Petites esquisses
d’oiseaux (Little sketches of birds, 1985) for
solo piano, in which the robin plays in the midst of the
blackbird, song thrush and skylark (a birdy rondeaux,
if you will). Throughout these six miniature sketches,
Serkin played with a delightful mixture of spontaneity and
intellectual acuity. For some forty minutes, the Douglas
fir forest that is the Disney Concert Hall was transformed
into an fancy aviary by a world-class pianist.
The extramusical stimulus for
Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 (“Eroica”) in E-flat Major
was a bird of a whole different feather. It was Napoleon
Bonaparte, the ‘savior of Europe’ who received the initial
dedication, but whose name was promptly scratched by
Beethoven as soon as he had declared himself Emperor. The
symphony’s ‘heroic’ qualities remain, however, in the
ferocious E-flat major opening chords, the fiery scherzo and
the profundity of the ‘funeral’ march. It is a watershed
work that marks the beginning of Beethoven’s second period.
Maestro Christoph von Dohnányi
definitely went for the big, heroic sound, giving an urgent
and propulsive reading of the symphony, in which every
sforzando was stressed and every forte attacked
with vehemence. His moment of glory came during the
adagio, where the funeral march theme, first heard in
the luxuriously rich lower strings, slowly rose up to the
celestial sphere of soft, silken violins like the soul of a
departed hero. It was playing of great beauty and nobility
the likes of which I had seldom heard from the L.A. Phil
strings.
- Reviewed by Truman C. Wang
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May 17
L.A. Opera - TOSCA |
Classical Voice: L.A.
Opera "Tosca" Review
L.A. Times:
L.A. Opera accessorizes 'Tosca' revival with Maria Callas'
jewelry
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May 18
L.A. Master Chorale-
Great Opera Choruses
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PROGRAM: Ricky Ian Gordon/Michael Korie-
The Grapes of Wrath Choral Concert Suite (world premiere).
Giuseppe Verdi- "Anvil Chorus" from Il Trovatore. Giacomo
Puccini- "Humming Chorus" from Madama Butterfly.
Verdi- “Va pensiero” from Nabucco. Pietro Mascagni- "Easter
Hymn" from Cavalleria rusticana. Verdi- "Rataplan"
from La Forza del Destino. Mussorgsky- Coronation Scene from
Boris Godunov.
Grant Gershon, conductor. Guest artists: Elizabeth
Bishop, soprano; Brian Leerhuber, baritone; Kim Josephson,
baritone. 120-voice Los Angeles Master Chorale with
orchestra
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here is
a lineage of operas and musicals including the later
operas of Verdi, Berg’s Wozzeck, and Claude-Michel
Schönberg’s Les Misérables, as a type of musical theater
that use the theme of revolution or revolt to form the
structure of a story about people in desperate situations
who rise up against tyranny, royalty or at least “the
rich” as seen from the protagonists’ perspective. John
Steinbeck’s landmark novel, The Grapes of Wrath, traded
peripherally in this market, although “the rich” railed at
by the characters in his story were only deemed so because
they had arrived in California prior to the newly-arrived
migrants, owned land and understandably resented the
intrusion of thousands of “Okies” from their hopeless,
dustbowl origins.
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Michael
Korie of Teaneck, New Jersey, developed a libretto from the
Steinbeck novel, and gave his neighbor and friend Ricky Ian
Gordon the challenge of setting the libretto to music. In
preparing for performance of the new opera, it was deemed
necessary to cut some of the work, despite the authors’
conviction that the cut items were of high quality. Thus, a
smaller, but still substantial crosscut of discarded
material morphed into a Choral Concert Suite for chorus,
orchestra and soloists representing characters appearing in
the opera.
The Los
Angeles Master Chorale, conducted by its intrepid maestro,
Grant Gershon, stepped bravely into the breach with a
premiere performance that was at once exhilarating and
challenging, both in sound and word, with a distinctive
Broadway show patina heightened by the use of soloists cum
microphones, hardly necessary in an acoustically live venue
like the Walt Disney Concert Hall. One rather strongly
suspects that miking also had the effect of altering the
vocal output of all the soloists with shrill, high-end
decibels overpowering any possible acoustical balance, a
sonic distortion ultimately laid at the feet of the Disney
Hall sound engineer.
At least
one soloist, tenor Daniel Chaney, must have been
aware of or heard the distortion, and in the frequent and
brief contributions of his character, stepped to the side,
or at least sang away from his microphone. Baritone Steve
Pence should have done the same, as his normally
overtone-rich voice lost much of its quality. The other
soloists chose to sing directly into theirs, with varying
results. Elizabeth Bishop brought vocal weight to her
various solos and excelled in the higher ranges, but with
the lower notes disappearing into the orchestral
accompaniment. Brian Leerhuber was one who would have
benefited from stepping away from his micro, but his
familiarity with the role of Tom Joad provided an
authenticity and self-assuredness that others lacked. Kim
Josephson, as Uncle John, revealed adequate weight and
depth in his role. Risa Larson and Winter Watson,
Chorale members both, were not well served by the amplified
sound system. Ms. Larson, who has been featured in two prior
Master Chorale concerts this season, occasionally sounded
shrill, while Ms. Winter, who returned after intermission to
represent Mascagni’s Santuzza, sounded lightweight, but
received a rock star’s response from an enthusiastic
audience.
The
Steinbeck text source is murky on socio-political matters,
but unrelentingly in-your-face in its portrayal of the
migrant workers’ near-hopeless condition. For instance, one
entire movement of the Choral Concert Suite deals with the
stillborn child of a young woman named Rosasharn, performed
by Ms. Larson, and a mighty outcry of grief and anger from
the chorus over “Little Dead Moses”:
“Go down, little dead Moses!
Float down the tide, the risin’ river.
Show ev’ry town the true price of silence.
A quiet violence, a pall over this land …
…
Wash up on the riverbanks,
Fix ‘em in the eye.
Ask ‘em all who done this, an’ why?”
Not at all
inadvertent is a reference to building a fence to keep the
migrants out of fruit orchards, where excess fruit was
burned instead of being given to the starving unemployed.
Might this be a reference to a certain contemporary fence
located between Calexico and Mexicali?
On the
other hand, the movement entitled “Dios Te Salve”
sensitively sung by the women of the Master Chorale, is a
beautiful prayer that deserves to be heard, perhaps as a
stand-alone work.
The
singing of the full 120-voice Master Chorale and the playing
of the large Barry Socher-led orchestra were magnificent.
With a large aggregation of top-drawer instrumentalists, the
Master Chorale sang from the choral banks above the concert
stage, affording patrons sitting in the lower tiers of seats
with a spectacular, unblemished wall of sound. It was
glorious.
After
intermission, the Master Chorale returned to deliver a
sterling series of operatic hits, with solo contributions by
Ms. Bishop, Ms. Winter, Mr. Leerhuber and Mr. Josephson, in
varying degrees of success.
One could
scarcely imagine the above music being heard in such
magnificence in any opera house in the world, given the
generous size of the performing entities, coupled with the
obvious mastery of such music by our Master Chorale and its
excellent orchestra.
- Reviewed by Douglas Neslund
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