Music News
Sondheim at the Symphony
In Buddy’s eyes
I don’t get older.
So life is ducky
And time goes flying
And I’m so lucky
I feel like crying
From Michael Morgan’s thundering, Wagnerian-sized orchestra to Tami Dahbura’s whisper-quiet, heartbreaking delivery of “In Buddy’s Eyes,” the Sunday matinee of Follies in Oakland’s ornate Paramount Theatre was an affair to remember. The large, enthusiastic audience responded with waves of applause at this American Masterworks Series concert — yet another successful example of Morgan’s consistent advocacy for American music.
Next to Passion, A Little Night Music, Pacific Overtures, and Sweeney Todd, Follies is Stephen Sondheim’s most “operatic” musical. It’s hard to say what differentiates the dramma per musica of opera from the play-with-music of a musical, but if we accept Sondheim’s own (questionable) dictum — that the venue determines the genre — those named above, and other Sondheims as well, qualify as “operas,” having been performed by opera companies.
Last weekend, Morgan and the Oakland East Bay Symphony rendered the genre dispute quite immaterial by performing Follies in an enhanced concert version at the Paramount (a former movie palace similar in time to the follies theaters), and doing a fabulous job of it.
Produced by Frédéric Boulay, the show featured the showgirls (actually, show ladies) in spectacular costumes, an extra-large orchestra, a chorus from the Berkeley Broadway Singers, and guest stars galore. The reunion of old Follies dancers and their beaus — with each other and with their young selves — unfolded in a devoted, loving production, with Sondheim’s second-most-romantic music (after A Little Night Music), and hilarious, psychologically brilliant text getting their due.
Rita Moreno, 76 (the 1961 West Side Story Anita), sang “Broadway Baby” with zest and panache; Val Diamond delivered “I’m Still Here” with the expected power, albeit lacking the crescendo that gives the song its special bite; Melody Moore showed off her operatic prowess in “One More Kiss” (in duet with Debbra Lambert, an excellent last-minute replacement for Sheri Greenawald). Sharon McNight was hilarious in “Ah, Paris!” and Trente Morant opened and closed the show with the grand music accompanying the parade of “Beautiful Girls,” hitting the demanding high notes with ease.
Rita Moreno Sings “Broadway Baby”
Photo by Pat Johnson
First among equals in the uniformly excellent group of the other soloists, Dahbura stood out with her exquisite musical sensibility and chameleonlike ability to shift from role to role. I have lost count of Follies productions seen and heard since the show’s 1971 premiere, but Dahbura’s Sally — and her “In Buddy’s Eyes,” the loving ballad about living lovelessly — was the most moving of them all. Then, when she brought the house down in “Could I Leave You?” Dahbura was every inch of the hard-as-nails Phyllis, rather than the vulnerable Sally. And, when she sang “The Story of Lucy and Jessie,” musically and dramatically, Dahbura was completely another character again.
In what may well be the first such realization of the work, Morgan — in his own introductory words — “spread the role of Sally” among several singers because “she has so much good music and I had so many fine singers.” (Surprised by the applause for the announcement, as was I, Morgan scored some serious laughter with the ad-lib: “Ah, a hand for democracy!”) And so, Sally’s “Don’t Look at Me” and “Losing My Mind” went to Darla Wigginton; “Too Many Mornings” and “Buddy’s Blues” to Katy Stephan.
Greg Zema was one Ben, in “The Road You Didn’t Take,” Clark Sterling another, performing “Too Many Mornings” and the show’s only problem number (one that’s just impossible to make work), “Live, Laugh, Love.” Christian Nova sang Buddy’s “The Right Girl,” Ben Jones took the show-stopping “Buddy’s Blues.” Oakland Ballet veteran stars Joy Gim and Joral Schmalle performed the “Bolero d’Amore.” An exciting newcomer, Mindy Lym, sang the young Phyllis in ensembles.
Michael Morgan
Morgan successfully straddled the Broadway/opera dichotomy, giving the work a varied interpretation, ranging from the grandiose (skirting the overloud through the combination of the large orchestra and amplification) to the intimate. Diction was superb all around, making supertitles virtually unnecessary, but still welcome.
It’s curious how Sondheim, accused wantonly of “being unable to write a melody,” kept failing on Broadway during the years of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s reign of syrupy Puccini imitations. But today, he is heard by just about everybody as a great and accessible contemporary American composer. The highly varied audience at the Paramount seemed to hum (quietly) through it all.
Katy Stephan
Photo by Eliot Khuner
Tonight’s the Night
If you can get away tonight (Tuesday) and make it to Herbst Theatre, do it, come hell or high water. At 7:30 p.m., part two of San Francisco Performances’ The Russian Piano will begin, reuniting (from Monday night) the extraordinary musical tag-team of pianist Garrick Ohlsson and lecturer Robert Greenberg.
On Monday night, the always hilarious and illuminating Greenberg commentary, interspersed with Ohlsson’s effortless and powerful performance, dispensed with Rachmaninov (including the “It” Prelude in C-sharp Minor, which for 40 years haunted the composer. The audience clamored for yet another performance of it, but the two just began on Scriabin. Ohlsson played five études and Piano Sonatas No. 2 and 5 in the pauses between Greenberg’s laudatory and condemnatory remarks, the latter including a comparison to Michael Jackson.
On the program tonight: Scriabin’s Two Poems, Preludes Op. 74, Piano Sonata No. 10, and Three Études, Op. 65. And, expect Greenberg to sharpen his fangs for Prokofiev, whose Piano Sonata No. 2 (the four-movement Opus 14), Three Pieces, Op. 59; and Suggestion diabolique will be on the musical menu.
Sounds of Aleph-Bet at the Contemporary
Among the first exhibits at the new Contemporary Jewish Museum: John Zorn’s Aleph-Bet Project — the MacArthur Fellow is serving as curator, and commissioning sound and music based on letters of the Hebrew alphabet.
The Contemporary, Nearing Completion
Photo by Bruce Damonte
The venue for the project is in the Contemporary’s “cube,” which has a 65-foot ceiling, walls converging at striking angles, and 36 diamond-shaped windows providing the light. The structure channels the Hebrew yud, the letter used in writing the name of Adonai or God (or, properly, G-d). The official name for the cube is the Stephen and Maribelle Leavitt “Yud” Gallery.
San Francisco’s newest museum, a bold structure by Daniel Libeskind, is opening on June 8, in the block between Market Street and Yerba Buena Gardens.
John Zorn
Zorn, 54, is best known for integration of jazz, klezmer, improvised, and contemporary music. His sound project aims at linking the alphabetic symbols found throughout Libeskind’s architecture with the new museum’s mission of “rethinking tradition.” Zorn’s mandate is to assist musicians as they embrace the Kabbalistic principle that the ancient Hebrew alphabet is a spiritual tool full of hidden meaning and harmony. During the run of the project, each participating composer will be invited to perform their music live at the museum.
Participating musicans include Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson, Erik Friedlander, David Greenberger, Z’EV, Terry Riley, Alvin Curran, Christina Kubisch, Marina Rosenfeld, Rez Mesinai, and Jewlia.
Inside the Yud Gallery
Conservatory Graduating Class, Season Highlights
San Francisco Conservatory of Music, producing the largest graduating class this week in its 90-year history, is also making plans for its next season of public performances. Awarding an honorary degree of Doctor of Music to flutist Paula Robison, the Conservatory will graduate 147 students at its Concert Hall commencement on May 23. The new alumni-to-be will either join the ranks of 142 former graduates who are now members of 11 Bay Area orchestras, including the San Francisco Symphony, or they will venture further afield, around the world, where Conservatory graduates are active.
Just a few of the famous alumni: conductor/pianist Jeffrey Kahane, soprano Catherine Naglestad, pianist Robin Sutherland, cellist Hai-Ye Ni, violinist Krista Benion Feeney, and guitarist David Tanenbaum.
Even before the school year is over, plans are being made for 2008-2009, including a new BluePrint new music series, directed by Nicole Paiement. The subject is social awareness and change, and titled The Urgency of Now. The series begins at an Oct. 18 concert, with Ives’ War Song March, John Harbison’s Abu Ghraib, and the West Coast premiere of Bright Sheng’s Postcards. On Nov. 15 there is the premiere of a work commissioned by the Conservatory, alumna Alexandra Vrebalov’s Transparent Walls, along with Requies Ranarum by Santa Cruz composer Phil Collins, Young-Shin Choi’s Seek and Destroy, and Giya Kancheli’s Exil, with text from Psalm No. 23.
The BluePrint season concludes March 7, with a program of George Crumb’s Ancient Voices of Children, Terry Riley’s Y Bolanzero for guitar ensemble, Andrew Imbrie’s From Time to Time, as well as a commissioned work on antiwar protest songs by Conservatory faculty composer David Garner.
For more information about Conservatory plans, stay tuned for the next issue of Music News.
David Garner
Dance On, My Heart
The San Francisco Girls Chorus is concluding its 29th anniversary home season with the program “Dance On, My Heart” on May 30 at Berkeley’s Congregational Church, and on May 31 at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Concert Hall. Artistic Director Susan McMane conducts the concerts, which feature guest artists from ODC/Dance and hammered dulcimer artist Malcolm Dalglish. The program includes music from the Middle Ages to more recent times, including works by Janika Vandervelde, Malcolm Dalglish, Zoltán Kodály, Stephen Paulus, George Gershwin, Robert Schumann, and others.
S.F. Girls Chorus
Ballet San Jose to China
Flying on a private 747 — loaned by Fry Electronics and renamed for the dance company — Ballet San José has left for China and a month-long tour of Shanghai, Hangzhou, Dongguan, Shenzhen, Wuhan, Beijing, Shenyang, and Ningbo. Programs include Carmina Burana, The Firebird, Serenade, and Swan Lake.
Shostakovich Suite: Found and Lost
An amazing thing about Shostakovich’s 1974 Suite on Verses of Michelango is how rarely this huge, gripping homage to Mussorgsky and Mahler is performed. As a practical programming consideration, it would be the perfect pair for Mussorgsky’s Songs and Dances of Death.
Saturday’s performance at Herbst Theatre was most likely the local premiere for this extraordinary song cycle. (See review.) Featuring baritone Matthias Goerne and pianist Alexander Schmalcz, the San Francisco Performances concert looked promising, but it turned into a partial disappointment.
There was wonderful singing, but it all came from Schmalcz, whose splendid pianism served the music, not the performer. On the other hand, Goerne reveled in his own voice and made mush of the work. With his nose in the score; with a diction not worth the name; without clear phrasing; and an unvariegated, almost monotonous performance of a rich, varied, dynamic cycle, Goerne struck out as never before in his many appearances here.
Michelangelo’s text, in Abram Efros’ Russian translation, speaks of life and death, love and anger, truth and immortality. But it all sounded the same, both in diction and phrasing. Schmalcz’s brilliant piano carried all the impact of words and music — a rare accomplishment, considering he had to perform the role of orchestra, which Shostakovich had in mind for the work. (Nearing the end of his life, the composer was unable to turn the 40-minute cycle into his planned Symphony No. 16.)
As for Goerne (of whom I’ve only spoken well in the past), when he sang of morning’s joy or night’s deadly relief, words and music sounded the same. We heard the savage power of “Truth” and “Wrath,” the anguish of “Parting” and “Night,” the lyricism of “Morning” and “Love” from the piano, not the singer. The concert served as an important reminder of great, neglected music, and of the fallibility of an artist who has neglected to learn the music, the text, and who substituted voice for singing.
Alexander Schmalcz
Merola 2008
Twenty-three singers, five apprentice coaches and one apprentice stage director have been chosen for the 51st season of the Merola Opera Program, which takes place in San Francisco June 2 through Aug. 16. They will participate in productions of Britten’s Albert Herring and Mozart’s Don Giovanni, as well as in a series of individual and joint recitals.
Merola faculty includes pianists Steven Blier, Martin Katz, Warren Jones, and Malcolm Martineau; sopranos Jane Eaglen, Carol Vaness and Evelyn Lear; mezzo soprano Dorothy Byrne; tenor Vinson Cole; and bass Eric Halfvarson, among others. Participants will also receive training in operatic repertory, foreign languages, diction, acting, and stage movement.
The 2008 Merola Opera Program artist roster:
- Apprentice Stage Director:
Jimmy Smith (Rumson, NJ) - Apprentice Coaches:
Dennis Doubin (Moscow, RUS)
Eileen Downey (Grand Ledge, MI)
Alan Hamilton (Houston, TX)
Carl Pantle (Oakley, CA)
Allen Perriello (Gibsonia, PA) - Sopranos:
Kate Crist (Agency, IA)
Leah Crocetto (Adrian, MI)
Rena Harms (Santa Fe, NM)
Joelle Harvey (Richburg, NY)
Amanda Majeski (Gurnee, IL)
Ellen Wieser (Winnipeg, Manitoba, CAN) - Mezzo-Sopranos:
Nicole Birkland (Moorland, IA)
Natasha Florez (Los Angeles, CA)
Renee Tatum (Carlsbad, CA) - Tenors:
Rene Barbera (San Antonio, TX)
David Lomeli (LOMELI, Monterrey, Nuevo León, MEX)
Tyler S. Nelson (Salt Lake City, UT)
Nathaniel Peake (Humble, TX)
James Benjamin Rodgers (Blenheim, Marlborough, NZ) - Baritones:
Younjoo An (Seoul, KOR)
Eugene Chan (Rohnert Park, CA)
Austin Kness (Cedar Rapids, IA)
Darren Perry (Frederick, MD)
David W. Pershall (Temple, TX) - Bass-Baritones:
Adam Cioffari (Columbus, OH)
Carlos Monzon (Guadalajara, MEX) - Basses:
Benjamin LeClair (Royal, IA)
Ben Wager (Havertown, PA)
The Chairman and Donizetti
Pocket Opera’s performance of Donizetti’s Don Pasquale on May 24 at the Legion of Honor will offer an unprecedented alternative to the normal preopera introduction by Music Director Donald Pippin. Instead, the speaker will be Dana Gioia, chairman of the National Endowment of the Arts and a fan of Pocket Opera. A poet, businessman, music critic, and Stanford MBA, Gioia has bypassed his own organization to initiate a project — without NEA grants — to encourage U.S. troops and their families to write about their wartime experience. This resulted in an anthology titled Operation Homecoming. He followed this up by bringing opera and musical theater companies to perform at 39 military bases in the U.S. The Pocket Opera, going strong after 30 years, is in the midst of its seven-production season.
Dana Gioia
Janos Gereben (janosg@gmail.com) is a regular contributor to San Francisco Classical Voice.
©2008 By Janos Gereben, all rights reserved.