Opening Night at SPAC, with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Stéphane Denève, with Garrick Ohlsson, Piano, by Michael Miller

Stéphane Denève. Photo Drew Farrell.

Saratoga Performaing Arts Center
Wednesday, August 1  /  8:00 PM

Opening Night

The Philadelphia Orchestra
Stéphane Denève Conductor
Garrick Ohlsson Piano

Tchaikovsky – Piano Concerto No. 1 op. 23, B-Flat minor
Rachmaninoff – Symphony No. 2 op. 27, E minor

The Philadelphia Orchestra’s season at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, a distinguished tradition which has continued since its opening in 1966, began most splendidly with a Tchaikovsky-Rachmaninoff program led by Stéphane Denève with Garrick Ohlsson joining him for Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto. This was my first visit to SPAC, so I’ll have to discuss what I heard in the context of the Center’s remarkable acoustics. Designed to seat 5200 people, the Center is slightly larger than the Music Shed at Tanglewood, but it has a surprisingly intimate feeling to it, as one traverses the grounds and descends the grassy slope, where the picnicking crowd can sit and hear the music very well—without amplification, as far as I could see or hear. It is only when one actually enters the hall and sees the orchestra dwarfed in the two-story space that one realizes just how vast it is.

Read the full review on the Berkshire Review, an International Journal for the Arts!








Robert A. Caro’s The Years of Lyndon Johnson: The Passage of Power by Alan Miller

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I had a professor in architecture school who said that you couldn’t draw up a building properly at 1:100 scale until you had worked out all the details at 1:20. Whether or not this is true for architecture, Robert Caro demonstrates how well such an approach works for writing history. Throughout The Years of Lyndon Johnson, and most particularly in his fourth and latest volume, The Passage of Power, Caro zooms in and out without ever losing the complex whole he has so carefully built up. Immense as Caro’s project is, The Passage of Powerdemonstrates the logic of his decision to extend the project to a fifth volume (he originally planned only three). The first 47 days of the Johnson administration, in which the best version of the man took charge, culminate this volume and are well worth the several hundred pages Caro devotes to them. There will be plenty of space for “ruthlessness, secretiveness, deceit,” the worst aspects of Johnson’s character, in the Years to come.

Read the full review on the Berkshire Review, an international journal of the arts!

The Elephant Man at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, by Michael Miller

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Bradley Cooper and Patricia Clarkson in a scene from The Elephant Man. Photo T Charles Erickson.

The Elephant Man
by Bernard Pomerance
directed by Scott Ellis
Timothy Mackabee, Scenic and Projections Design
Clint Ramos, Costume Design
Philip Rosenberg, Lighting Design
Tom Kochan, Original Music/Co-Sound Design

Cast:
Patricia Clarkson – Mrs. Kendal
Bradley Cooper – John Merrick
Shuler Hensley – Ross/Bishop How/Snork
Scott Lowell – Will/Lord John/Earl
Alessandro Nivola- Frederick Treves
Marguerite Stimpson – Sandwich/Countess/Alexandra
Henry Stram – Carr Gomm/Conductor

For several years now, one of the joys of the Williamstown Theatre Festival has been the revivals of obscure, but cherishable British plays of the 1960′s and 70′s, David Storey’s Home,for example or Simon Gray’s Quartermaine’s Terms, to name two examples. Bernard Pomerance’s The Elephant Man is a late (1979) product of the period, even if it is by no means obscure today, thanks mostly to David Lynch’s remarkable film (1980), and even if it was written by an American.

Read the full review on the Berkshire Review, an International Journal for the Arts!

King Lear at Shakespeare and Company, directed by Rebecca Holderness, with Dennis Krausnick, by Michael Miller

Jonathan Croy, Corinne May, Kevin G. Coleman, Dennis Krausnick, and Kristin Wold in Shakespeare & Co.'s KIng Lear. Photos © 2012 Kevin Sprague.

Jonathan Croy, Corinne May, Kevin G. Coleman, Dennis Krausnick, and Kristin Wold in Shakespeare & Co.’s KIng Lear. Photos © 2012 Kevin Sprague.

King Lear
by William Shakespeare

directed by Rebecca Holderness

Cast:
Dennis Krausnick with Thomas Brazzle, Caroline Calkins, Kevin G. Coleman, Jonathan Croy, Timothy Douglas, Jonathan Epstein, Kelly Galvin, Zoë Laiz, Peter Macklin, Corinna May, James Read, Eric Sirakian, Brendan Sokler, Enrico Spada, Alex Stewart, Bill Watson, Ryan Winkles, Kristin Wold

This impressive production of King Lear presents something of a challenge to the reviewer. The usual procedure of praising the direction, the sets, the costumes, and the acting—all of which deserve high praise—somehow misses the point. Of course, I found the show gripping, and I gained some important insights into the play, but I think what is unique in this production is the process through which the artists created it and the effect this has on what the audience experiences on stage. Of course I wasn’t there during the rehearsals. I can only extrapolate from what I saw and heard, both in the theater and in a few brief conversations with some members of the cast…and blessings on Shakespeare & Company for making these informal chats possible.


Read the full review on the Berkshire Review, an International Journal for the Arts!


Gluck, Hummel and Haydn Concertos with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra and Keyed Trumpeter Gabriele Cassone by Andrew Miller

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Keyed Trumpet in G by Gebrüder Hoyer, Vienna, ca. 1835, in the National Music Museum of the University of South Dakota.

“Dazzling Virtuoso”
City Recital Hall, Angel Place, Sydney: 25 July, 2012
plays in Melbourne on 29 July at 5 PM, and in Sydney on 1 and 3 August at 7 PM and 4 August at 2 PM and 7PM.
A concert recording is to be broadcast on ABC Classic FM on 31 July 1PM (Australian Eastern Standard Time).

The Australian Brandenburg Orchestra
Paul Dyer – Artistic Director and fortepiano

Gabriele Cassone – keyed trumpets

Haydn – Symphony no. 94 in G major “Surprise”
Haydn – Trumpet concerto in E flat major Hob VIIe:1
Gluck – Larghetto and Allegro ma non Troppo from the ballet Don Juan Wq. 52
Hummel -Trumpet concerto in E major S 49, WoO 1

The first three programs of the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra this year have made a nice historical progression from the late Baroque of Vivaldi, to that of central Europe and England with Bach, Zelenka and Handel, now to the late classical period. The fortepiano has come out to replace the harpsichord and the orchestra grown with thicker string sections and clarinets to bring us Haydn and the Italian trumpet virtuoso Gabriele Cassone. For the Haydn G major Symphony, the so-called “Surprise,” Paul Dyer conducts from behind the fortepiano bench, and lays chords oftentimes too while using his body and shoulders to conduct. Though we can catch at times some of the period reproduction fortepiano’s beautiful sonorities, it is too large a hall really to do it justice and often it gets swallowed in the orchestra, but no matter, that is not its purpose here, though it does make a slight difference in color. What is important is that with the larger (late) classical orchestra, the conductor is necessary and conductorly music-making is readily audible here. With more dynamic possibilities from the backed-up strings, and timpani, and opportunities to use them thanks to Haydn (not to mention Gluck!) — and Maestro Dyer (though he never gives himself the label “conductor”) does know how to use it — the orchestra adapts naturally and readily to the new-sounding late 18th century palate. The strings have more solidity, they are still clear, very precise, with guest concertmaster Madeleine Easton leading them with her beautiful playing, but with more structure, polished but with a fine texture by virtue of the gut strings and the varied shapes and sizes of the violins. The orchestra is set up with cellos on the left next to the first violins, and basses, violas and second violins on the right, horns on the back left, trumpets (natural baroque ones) on the back right with the woodwinds in between.

Read the full review on the Berkshire review, an international journal for the arts!

A Singer’s Notes by Keith Kibler 52: Bastille Day, and Fabulous Fellows

Shakespeare & Company’s Bastille Day Performance of Molière’s Tartuffe. Photo Kevin Sprague.

These last weeks there was French music everywhere. An excellent program of alternating Debussy and Messiaen songs at Tanglewood with the Tanglewood Fellows, William Bolcom and Joan Morris at Mohawk Trail Concerts, and a Bastille Day performance of Tartuffe the Imposter at Shakespeare and Company. A lot of ink has been spilled describing, defining, perhaps destroying what is called “French style.” Bad pedagogy of this sort tries to get you to do something less than what you would normally do with a phrase if it were not French music. There is much pontificating about accuracy in the pronouncing of the language. French singers that I have known seem much more concerned with the flow of the language and the connectedness of it. Because a piece of music is easy on the ear does not mean it is less affecting for the heart. All of the performances listed above showed me that this is true. They followed what I would call the “Boulez” idea—how he said that French music is strong, in Debussy’s case, frequently violent—not some kind of shaded, half-felt thing. Very possibly the best exemplar of this is Joan Morris, ably partnered at the piano by her husband William Bolcom. Mr. Bolcom studied with Darius Milhaud, and Ms. Morris sang some Milhaud songs in the same way that she sang old American songs, some from Tin Pan Alley. What was that way? It was buoyancy, it was poignancy; she took the songs seriously, even if they were jaunty. She is an excellent example of a singer who makes no arrogant distinction between  a great classical song and a great popular song. There is nothing “artsy” about her French, or her singing. It just comes out like a terrific speech which can, at a moment’s notice, move us deeply. This would be my model for excellent Gallic music-making.


Read the full article on the Berkshire Review, an International Journal for the Arts!


Making Sense of Three Modern Classics by Larry Wallach

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For music to make sense, the performer has to be able to display its structure, discover its rhetorical gestures, and properly inflect its musical expression. The performer has to have the understanding, emotional sympathy, and musical ability to do all this. Two of the canonical twentieth century works on this program have offered serious challenges to both performers and audiences: are they arbitrarily constructed to shock and confuse us, or do they make sense? Despite the fact that they continue to raise such questions, both works have become relatively familiar in recent years, and are accepted as modern classics. Arkivmusic.com lists sixteen recordings of the Ives and nine of the Schoenberg; they turn up regularly on orchestral programs. Have audiences gotten to the point where they truly understand these pieces as presented? Have they caught up with Ives and Schoenberg? I think the answer is “not quite.” These remain challenging works, and the extent of the performers’ comprehension remains the critical factor. How well did the TMC Orchestra do under its two conductors? Let’s take each work separately.

Read the full review on the Berkshire Review, an international journal of the arts!

The Famous Five Play Brahms: The Tinalley String Quartet Plays with Kristian Chong by Andrew Miller

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The Tinalley String Quartet.

“As dreams are made on”
Sydney Opera House, Utzon Room: 23 July 2012

The Tinalley String Quartet
Adam Chalabi – violin
Lerida Delbridge – violin
Justin Williams – viola
Michelle Wood – cello

Webern – Langsamer Satz
Schumann – String Quartet in A minor, opus 41 no. 1
Brahms – Piano Quintet in F minor, opus 34
Kristian Chong – piano

In this the last performance of this program, the Tinalley String Quartet with their usual polish and serious, concentrated approach dipped into distant points in, without any futile attempt to span, romantic chamber music. The all minor key pieces each stood out distinctly by virtue of the composers’ individual emotional and intellectual language, while comfortably yoked together under the Tinalley’s distinctive voice. The subtler sense of humor, perhaps broader range of experience held in Brahms’ music made a very satisfying conclusion to the evening fitting so well the group’s very human tone — warm, but well-rounded and very clear, though at the same time they have a certain relaxed attitude, coloring the group tone as fits the music and their idea of the whole, rather than scrabbling for fleeting spectacle, which makes the performance very memorable. Kristian Chong, the invited pianist, got along very well with the group. Managing to get a remarkably sultry tone out of his Steinway, he seemed to expand the existing coloring of the group for that grand Brahms’ quintet, contributing as much oscuro as chiaro. No multiple-source fluorescent globes here. In the more individualistic writing which brings out each five of the players at some point, each showed an unforced and personal expression yet were always aware of the quintet as an expressive instrument in which their individual thoughts would fly on, the larger group picking up and carrying on the curve of their solo line.

Read the full review on the Berkshire Review, an international journal for the arts!

Michael Francis Conducts the San Francisco Symphony in "My Classic Americana," With Pianist Charlie Albright in His San Francisco Debut by Steven Kruger


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Michael Francis. Photo: Chris Christodoulou

Davies Hall, San Francisco
The San Francisco Symphony
Thursday, July 19, 2012

Michael Francis – conductor
Copland – Appalachian Spring
Gershwin – Rhapsody in Blue
Charlie Albright – piano

Bernstein – Symphonic Dances from West Side Story
Copland – Four Dance Episodes from Rodeo

It’s silly season again at the San Francisco Symphony! A quick report from the front. And a debut teaser for later. Do we have a new Horowitz?

In perfect weather, with no need for a sylvan retreat, we San Franciscans simply shine a colored spotlight on the Davies Hall organ pipes in July, and Presto, music becomes festive! “My Classic Americana” is one of several programs containing well-known works Michael Francis has been leading this summer, with super zest and limited rehearsal. At times he’s got us clapping along in such good spirits, we might as well be at the Albert Hall Proms. The young Englishman has now conducted several summer seasons in San Francisco and is a great hit with our audience, bringing just the right touch of knowing wit, uncomplicated musicality, good spirits and schoolboy snark to the proceedings.

Read the full review on the Berkshire Review an international journal for the arts!

Seven Ways to Improve the Tour de France by Alan Miller

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I wouldn’t go so far as the three-time world-champion Óscar Friere, who reckons that the Tour de France is “the most boring race of the year” — has he ever watched the Tour of Qatar? — but this year’s race did make me wonder how many more like it the old institution can take. Institutionalization is the Tour’s great burden, or at least its double-edged sword. For the casual fan it is the ‘race of record,’ cycling itself. Those who follow the sport more closely understand that while the Tour is undeniably the most competitive, and therefore the most prestigious, among the three Grand Tours of Italy, France and Spain, it often not the most interesting.

Read all seven suggestions on the Berkshire Review, an international journal of the arts!