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Question of the Week
The Question for this week is:
What are your feelings about opera productions that relocate the drama to a time or place very different from the one envisioned by the composer?
To respond, please click here: www.sfcv.org/question
These are reader responses to last week's Question of the Week:
"What rarely-performed piece of music would you most like to hear in a live performance, and why?"
Bob Baron, Millbrae:
Gioachino Rossini's Messa Di Gloria. One of my favorite choral sacred music compositions. I have never heard it performed live.
Jonathan Dorsch, San Francisco:
My dream production is very specific. After attending the Mathias Goerne "Schubertiade" in SF, I would opt for Goerne's Wozzeck in the production of the Royal Opera House in London. I've heard Wozzeck live a few times but Goerne seems the perfect Wozzeck and the ROH production, from all accounts, was stunning with Goerne.
Michelle Dulak, San Rafael:
I think I would choose Hindemith's late chamber opera, The Long Christmas Dinner. Partly because two composer friends of mine (of very different tastes otherwise, and neither particularly nuts about Hindemith) had seen it staged and independently said it was marvelous. One, I think, had heard a Bay Area performance somewhere in the 80s. In the absence of a recording, I can only hope someone decides to stage another one!
Elisabeth Eliassen, Alameda:
Alfred Schnittke's a cappella Choir Concerto. I have not yet heard the most persuasive recording of this fabulous and challenging 40 minutes of vocal settings of mystical texts of 9th century Armenian St. Gregory of Narek. I believe it likely that the piece needs to be heard live in order to allow the full force of the texture and harmonic development to flower in the ear.
Marvin Freid, Larkspur:
Berlioz' Les Troyens. Probably the greatest of rarely performed operas.
Ruth C. Jacobs, San Francisco:
Beethoven's Christ on the Mount of Olives, because it is a little-known work by a well-known composer; fortunately we will have the opportunity to hear it performed by Philharmonia Baroque. Bizet's Les Pecheurs des Perles, if for no other reason than the exquisite tenor-baritone duet.
Jannie Lo, San Francisco:
'Preludes for Piano' by Messiaen, because it seems like few people, if any, are familiar with them around here, and they are such amazing, colorful short pieces!
Thomas Ream, San Martin, CA:
Hans Pfitzner's Die Rose vom Liebesgarten. I believe Mahler conducted the premiere, and the first act was considered to be more beautiful than the first act of Die Walkure — who wouldn't want to hear this!
Paul Serre, San Francisco:
"Les espaces acoustiques" by Gerard Grisey. I heard the entire
cycle at radio france about 10 years ago. It was a revelation for me, an
amateur musician, to hear such a powerful and original work even if that
particular performance was a little uneven. Before that, I had often stayed
away from contemporary music mainly because most of what I had heard was was
either silly, academic (a.k.a. fear of originality) or neo-quelque chose
slush. I thoroughly enjoyed the sfcmp's excellent performance of "vortex
temporum". Perhaps they will perform the first 2 or 3 pieces from "les
espace acoustiques" sometime soon.
Dan Shea, Madison, WI:
I nominate Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius, which blew me away when I heard it for the first time ever, last June by the Chicago SO — a BIG piece for chorus, three soloists and organ, filled with melody and words worth attending to. Two of our soloists were especially fine: alto Anna Larsson and tenor Robert Gambill.
Peter Shearer, Toronto, Canada:
I would love to hear Bizet's Te Deum. As far as I can determine,
this piece may never have been done publicly or privately in North America.
In fact I would be willing to bet that most North American musical directors
are not even aware that Bizet wrote a Te Deum.
This piece used to be available in at least two versions on vinyl disk.
Later other versions were made available on CD, but all such releases have
long since disappeared from the catalogue.
The music itself is glorious and would have made excellent march music to
some of the 'Roman spectacle' movies of the late 1950's. Obviously, this
musical style is not to everyone's taste; but, of all the Te Deums I've
heard, this is the only one that makes me believe I'm listening to choir of
Angels addressing God.
Albert Vizinho, Fremont:
I would very much like to hear a live performance of Monteverdi´s Orfeo.
John Ward, Schenectady, N.Y.:
Paul Dukas' La Peri. It begins with a fanfare that is probably the best short work for brass that has been written. The fanfare seems to be as far as live performance goes however. For example, a recent concert of the SF Symphony played the fanfare but that was all. It appears that this is a common practice in concerts elsewhere also.Considering that Dukas destroyed much of his work, we are left only with The Sorcerer's Apprentice, the Symphony in C and La Peri as his major orchestral works. The first we hear often, the other two seldom. La Peri is a gorgeous work, full of color that evokes the fairy subject. I think it should be included more often in the repertoire.
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