| (no subject) |
[Nov. 25th, 2009|04:17 pm] |
The Newkirk B/Q station is about 9 months into a three-year plaza/station/track reconstruction project. This basement window on the Manhattan-bound side must have been boarded over, because I'd never noticed it before a couple months ago. (I'd noticed that there were windows, of course, but there wasn't anything of great note about them.) |
|
|
| (no subject) |
[Nov. 23rd, 2009|01:06 pm] |
Kepler is coming. Meanwhile, another from the photo backlog. |
|
|
| Philadelphia Mahler 7 |
[Nov. 19th, 2009|11:50 pm] |
Tonight, a curious Mahler 7th from Eschenbach and the Philadelphia. It was scheduled for a couple seasons ago and got bumped for some reason (at one time I knew the details, but they're gone now) until now, after Eschenbach's tenure is over. But he returned to complete his cycle of all of the symphonies.
On the whole, it was a slow, deliberate Mahler 7. I'm not sure it's the "right" way to do it, but it's certainly an interesting way. Particularly in the 2nd and 4th movements, the "Nachtmusik" movements, there are sinuous, twisting themes and counterthemes I'm not sure I've heard highlighted quite the same way before. But in making the focus moment-to-moment he seemed to overlook the greater structure. There's probably something in taking it as a journey of discovery, not telegraphing what's ahead so there's a sense of something new around each corner, but again I'm not sure tossing out structural awareness entirely is the way to go.
Nonetheless, it was well worth a listen and aside from a just a couple glaring clams it was outstandingly played. |
|
|
| Happy Halloween |
[Nov. 18th, 2009|04:32 pm] |
The photo backlog begins to trickle out. |
|
|
| From the House of the Dead |
[Nov. 17th, 2009|12:10 am] |
Although I know I've heard Janacek's From the House of the Dead before, I was surprised tonight at how gorgeous the music is. The subject is a pretty grim one--it's based on Dostoevsky's quasi-autobiographical novel about a prison camp in Siberia--but musically and dramatically it's not a grim take on it. Not that it's all sunshine and lollipops, but Janacek's aim, as director Patrice Chéreau notes, is to underline the human side of the story rather than the inhuman one.
The curtain (well, a neutral-colored flat) rises on an empty courtyard surrounded by three gray walls. As the orchestra prelude ends, light and prisoners gradually filter in and the walls which seemed solid have shown that they're not. Throughout the opera's 100 minutes (there are three acts, but it's performed all in one stretch in this production) they contract in sections, recede and even split open. It's a solid yet unsettled setting for an ensemble of settled yet unsettled people. Few, if any, of them have any real hope of ever leaving, yet they're not broken, mostly not in danger of it, although they're closer to that edge than "normal."
No doubt somewhere someone's carping about yet another monochromatic modern opera production, and why can't set and costume designers use something other than a million shades of gray and brown. But there's judiciously used color and white on the stage, and really all the color comes from the music. It's not an opera about a prison camp, it's an opera about the people of the prison camp; the camp may be gray, but the people aren't.
Conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen, in his first Met engagement like director Chéreau, drew a very fine performance from the Met Orchestra in their first time out with this opera--the first Met performance of it was just last week. It's not a long opera, and not as thorny-modern as some pieces they've dispached with ease, but it's still a big bear of a score and they demonstrate once again why they're one of the best American orchestras under the stage or on it. Vocally it's also an excellent performance. It's very much an ensemble piece, with a large array of not-too-big parts. (Peter Mattei is being promoted as the "star," and his Act III narration is doubtless the lengthiest solo, but it's not the usual sort of star part.)
Highly recommended. Five more performances over the next three weeks. It's not scheduled for the HD movie theatre series, likely because the production is already on DVD from the Aix-en-Provence Festival, one of the four co-producers with the Met. |
|
|
| One more, and miscellany. |
[Nov. 12th, 2009|02:43 pm] |
Music by Philip Glass
Glass' latest opera, Kepler is coming to BAM next week, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. $20 Balcony tickets are abundantly available. I'm planning on going Saturday night, probably with A&J and ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) anarchy_lime. Anybody else want to come along?
A different kind of BAM:
And for naylandblake, 316 E 59th St in the city's 1940ish tax photo, from tomorrow's Times:
 |
|
|
| About that Rosenkavalier |
[Nov. 10th, 2009|04:09 pm] |
I don't usually leave performance posts this long--I forget what I wanted to say and any backlog greater than one generally just gets lost. But it hasn't been a busy month, and Rosenkavalier hasn't faded much.
This was my second time seeing it at the Met. I missed the last revival, in 2005 (we had tickets but I gave mine up for Spamalot), but saw the previous one, in 2000. The Robert O'Hearn production, which was new in 1969 (!), is gorgeous. The Marschallin's bedroom for Act I is grand and ornate, as is the stunning foyer of the Faninals' home for Act II. Both fill the stage (most of it; there's a false proscenium that saves them from using the whole stage) well and are filled well by the action. Act III, set in a dingy inn, isn't so gorgeous, a bit more Toad Hall (in the Baron Ochs' Wild Ride sense), with shadows and angles and light not quite what they seem. Appropriate for the action of the act, if not for the glorious music that closes the opera.
Offstage, I've usually thought the comic bits somewhat expendable except for the great music they'd take with them. Seeing it again, though, underlined how much it's really a comedy with a love story wound through it, rather than a love story with some comic bits. That says quite a lot for Kristinn Sigmundsson's Ochs, the bumpkin country baron cousin, since he was contending with Renée Fleming and Susan Graham as the Marschallin and Octavian--two big names in roles for which they're highly esteemed. And Miah Persson, who'd made her house debut not quite a week earlier, rounded out the principals with some superb singing as Sophie.
Anyway, as I said at the time, you should go. Yes, it's long (starts at 7:30, ends at midnight), but well worth it. And it'll be in movie theatres in January, so you don't even have to go to the opera house or pay $275 for a great view. (The $25 view at the Met is quite good and offers the best sound anyway, even if I didn't know the Act II set had a ceiling.)
 |
|
|
| Sing |
[Nov. 10th, 2009|01:00 pm] |
Sesame Street first aired 40 years ago today. The clips will stop soon, I promise...although every time I go to grab the next one to post I find two more. |
|
|
| Pulled the lever. |
[Nov. 7th, 2009|05:10 pm] |
Quick snap before I started voting. It didn't occur to me until I looked at it again just now that I didn't make use of any of the lines shown (Democratic, Republican, Independence, Conservative). |
|
|
| Beethoven, Mozart, Zemlinsky |
[Nov. 6th, 2009|01:27 pm] |
Last night was the first of our Philharmonic series. Since Neeme Järvi had stepped in for scheduled conductor Vladimir Jurowski, Beethoven stepped in for Matthias Pintscher. And I was surprisingly glad. I've heard the Creatures of Prometheus Overture before, but it's pretty out of the way Beethoven and I couldn't say I've heard it a lot. So it was unexpectedly lovely, and came off extremely well from both conductor and orchestra. I don't know how often Järvi programs it, but the Playbill says the Philharmonic hasn't since 1994. Maybe unfamiliarity got it some extra rehearsal time, but it didn't sound at all like a late substitution or a score they hadn't seen in a while.
Mozart's Symphony no. 38 following it was a bit less precise--not detrimentally so, just slightly fuzzy. Attractive, nicely done, not particularly essential.
The evening's feature was Zemlinsky's Lyric Symphony, seven poems by Rabindranath Tagore in German translation, with alternating baritone and soprano soloists. It's another piece I've heard but not enough to claim any real familiarity. It's a very big, very thick piece from 1922, well to the outer edges of Romanticism. Thomas Hampson was his usual outstanding self in the baritone songs; Hillevi Martinpelto seemed a little off or unsuited in the soprano songs.
Our subscription seats are in the third tier boxes fairly close to the stage. The view is only so-so, but the sound is strikingly non-sucky. Last night was very sparsely attended in all sections of the hall; hopefully the weekend repeats will play to bigger houses. If you're looking for some culture this weekend, I'd recommend it.
Edit 11/7: un-mixed the conductors |
|
|
| navigation |
| [ |
viewing |
| |
most recent entries |
] |
| [ |
go |
| |
earlier |
] |
| |
|
|
