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IN Music News THIS WEEK:
MTT, Chapter II
Thrilla from Manila Closes S.F. Season
L'ultima Forza: Luisotti, Anastassov, Stern
Oakland Opera Grant, Peace Through Song Production
James King
A Forgotten Viola Is No Joke
Happy Ending to Hunt Lieberson Story
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By Janos Gereben
MTT a Revolution?
With notable lack of English reserve, Financial Times chief music critic Andrew Clark marked the day after
Thanksgiving by calling Michael Tilson Thomas' career here a "revolution." MTT, Clark wrote, "a former Bernstein protégé
with European experience, succeeded (Herbert) Blomstedt at the San Francisco Symphony and set about transforming the orchestra's
image and programming." In an article about the importance (and frequent neglect) of communication skills, Clark spoke to the
question of balance: "... the new bias towards user-friendly conductors proved to be short-sighted. When Dallas engaged Andrew
Litton, a lively young American who had worked extensively in the U.K., it found he talked well but could not achieve artistic
growth. In Minneapolis, (former San Francisco Symphony music director) Edo de Waart, a dour Dutchman who resented his off-the-podium
duties, was succeeded by Eiji Oue, a brilliant communicator who lacked depth."
Clark paints the new American generation of conductors (David Robertson, Robert Spano, Kent Nagano, Alan Gilbert, and Marin Alsop)
with a broad brush: "All are image-conscious, versatile, and in touch with contemporary America, but none would be the musicians'
first-choice interpreter of Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, or Tchaikovsky, the traditional testing-ground for conductors.
"What everyone has begun to realise is that the Tilson Thomas template is misleading. It was not his American-ness or communication
skills that clicked in San Francisco, but his gayness and adventurousness — a perfect match for the city. Ultimately it is
about 'fit.'" (Local observers would argue that if there is a public figure who does not flaunt his "gayness," it's MTT.)
"Saleability," Clark writes, "is a factor in a way it never was before: The American Symphony Orchestra League now teaches
communication skills. Conductors can no longer opt out of an off-stage duty to build audiences. The old paradigms of U.S. orchestral
life — a European on the podium, a narrow repertoire — are being challenged, and that is healthy. But one paradigm holds
fast whatever the conditions: chemistry. That is what creates inspiring concerts, and that, ultimately, is what sells most tickets
and encourages people to be involved." The full article (subscription required) is at
news.ft.com
MTT, Chapter II Michael Tilson Thomas will receive the Business Arts Council's Cyril Magnin Lifetime Achievement Award on January 27 at a St. Francis Hotel luncheon. He is being honored for "35 years of classical music achievements, as well as his outstanding contributions to the Bay Area arts community," in particular for his work with educational projects. For information about the event, see www.bizarts.org. Others honored by the Council are the de Young Museum administration, Citigroup, David Perry and Associates, New Conservatory Theatre Center, Maurice Kanbar, and Michael Simpson.
Thrilla from Manila Closes S.F. Season In the last two performances of Fidelio in the War Memorial Opera House, including Sunday's season-closer, Thomas Moser was unable to perform the role of Florestan. In stepped the "cover," the standby substitute, whose name doesn't appear in the program. The substitution was so sudden that the Opera couldn't even manage the usual insert sheet, so the tenor — even with a verbal announcement — was somewhat of a mystery. The audience certainly had no idea how to spell his name. He is Filipino tenor Otoniel Gonzaga, a long-time U.S. resident, veteran of 80 roles, with appearances in more than 30 opera houses in Europe. Born in Iloilo City, Gonzaga studied music at the Curtis Institute, where after a year, he won the first prize in the Marian Anderson Voice Competition, and made his debut in the school's production of La Bohème. During a Curtis production of Pagliacci, Gonzaga sang in the chorus, while the male lead of Canio was played by a fellow by the name of Placido Domingo. The two tenors' paths often converged thereafter, Gonzaga covering for Domingo in numerous productions.
 Gonzaga was well received in his difficult San Francisco debut, and a fellow singer in the audience provided this brief critique: "The voice is that of an incredible Verdi baritone, with an odd top past an A-flat. He has all the top tenor notes, they are just a completely different voice." Not the first — or last — of many "baritonish tenors."
L'Ultima Forza: Luisotti, Anastassov, Stern San Francisco Opera's La Forza del Destino concluded its run Saturday with a truly memorable performance. Everyone in the large cast did well, but there were three outstanding artists who made the near-capacity audience in the War Memorial very happy indeed. Nicola Luisotti, whose conducting debut here three weeks ago set the premiere on fire, slowed down a bit, and let up slightly in intensity, but he led a performance of precision and beauty, reaching a "heavenly" peak in the Act 1 Madonna of the Angels scene, with a veritable perfection of balance, tempo, and dynamics. The interaction of orchestra, men's chorus, and Leonora (Andrea Gruber in excellent if not completely consistent form) created a heartwrenching impact. Orlin Anastassov's Father Guardiano is for the ages: the 29-year-old Bulgarian bass has a gloriously natural way of singing, assuasive music — warm, mellow, bright — is just pouring out of him, effortlessly, enchantingly. And, once again, concertmaster Kay Stern "sang" the best Leonora I ever heard, her solo of the opera's great theme filling the house with uncanny, crystalline beauty. Add to the Luisotti-Anastassov-Stern trio Roland Aeschlimann's bizarre but grand sets and Andrea Schmidt-Futterer's rainbow costumes (in black and white, that is), and that was more than sufficient unto the night. Jill Grove's Preziosilla and Željko Lucic's Don Carlo were good as ever, Vladimir Kuzmenko's still-uncomfortable Don Alvaro sounded at least acceptable this time, and the Opera Chorus (especially the men, when ordained) was often at its best. Given this truly good night, it may sound strange, but there is some relief in seeing Forza go, certain not to come back for many years, if ever. Even with a seasoned opera fan's split brain of focusing on music and disregarding idiotic plots, Forza is just galling, more and more over the years. It's amazing that no one in the audience ever screams at Leonora in the first scene to stop stalling or her father will eventually hear the tenor, however weak the voice may be. All the ensuing unpleasantness could be avoided, saving four hours of grotesque suffering. Surely Verdi could have used the music somewhere else.
Oakland Opera Grant, Peace Through Song Production Oakland Opera Theater has received a grant from the American Music Center's Aaron Copland Fund for Contemporary Musical Performance Ensembles. The company will use the grant in support of the upcoming (May 2006) production of Anthony Davis' X: the Life and Times of Malcolm X. The company's current project is a weekend-long presentation of Peace Through Song, Dec. 2-4, in the Oakland Metro. The program consists of antiwar music by 20th century composers, including the full concert verson of Kurt Weill's Johnny Johnson and excerpts from Robert Kurka's The Good Soldier Schweik. See http://www.oaklandopera.org.
James King in Memoriam Kansas-born James King, who became one of the world's leading tenors, died last week at age 80. He won acclaim first in 1961, in the role of Cavaradossi in Florence; his last public performance came in 2000, at Indiana University, where he was a professor of music. A Wagner specialist for more than two decades, King sang in the world's major opera houses, and gave 113 performances at the Metropolitan Opera. His San Francisco career started in 1961, with a Spring Opera appearance as Don José, followed by an Ariadne auf Naxos Bacchus and Fidelio Florestan in 1969, concluding many appearances in 1991, as Aegisth in Elektra.
A Forgotten Viola Is No Joke In last week's item about the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble's Dec. 1 and 5 concerts, The Violas in Our Lives, we omitted to mention a world premiere: Kurt Ericson's Self Portrait #43 for two violas and piano. It joins the already listed program of George Benjamin's Viola, Viola, Yu-Hui Chang's Perplexing Sorrow, and Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 6. See www.chambermusicpartn.org.
Happy Ending to Hunt Lieberson Story Last week we reported here questions asked in the opera world about Lorraine Hunt Lieberson's health, after many cancellations, including an important assignment in San Francisco's Doctor Atomic. "Looking radiant and sounding wonderful," according to a review, Lorraine Hunt appeared with the Boston Symphony over the weekend, singing both in that city and in New York Monday night, to great acclaim. The many local admirers of the San Francisco-born mezzo can take comfort in reading about her "comeback," in www.nytimes.com and www.boston.com (payment required for the latter).
(Janos Gereben, a regular contributor to www.sfcv.org, is arts editor of the
Post Newspaper Group. His e-mail address is janosg@gmail.com.)
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