Ira Gershwin's was George's brother and frequent collaborator. They were undoubtedly one of the most successful songwriting teams of all time. But after George's death Ira wrote the words for musicals and songs by other composers. He collaborated on the 1941 musical Lady in the Dark with Kurt Weill. One of the most memorable songs from the show is "My Ship" sung here by Dawn Upshaw.
This past season the Los Angeles Philharmonic and its music director, Gustavo Dudamel, began presenting some of their concerts in movie theatres around the world. The concerts were generally good and the presentation often imaginative but the state of the art is to be found in Berlin not Los Angeles. The Berlin Philharmonic makes most of its concerts available via streaming and they are wonderful. The video quality and direction are just head and shoulders above the competition. So too is the audio quality. And the energy and virtuosity of the Berlin Philharmonic is palpable. The contrast with the LA Phil movie theatre events is even more pronounced when the same conductor is involved. I would much rather watch Dudamel in Berlin. In the scherzo movement from Prokofiev's Fifth Symphony Dudamel is in his element and the players respond with vibrant playing.
The wonderful British baritone Sir Thomas Allen is in Toronto this week, to give a recital - which I heard last night - and to give a masterclass this morning at 10 a.m. at Walter Hall, Faculty of Music, University of Toronto. A truly consummate singer of the first rank, Sir Thomas made his debut in 1969 and 42 year later continues to charm audiences around the world. A great exponent of the song literature, Sir Thomas gave a wonderful recital last night of Schumann's Dichterliebe followed by groups of Schubert, Peter Warlock, Michael Head, and Frank Bridge. At 67, the voice is still in marvelous condition, and last evening, he chose his repertoire carefully and there were no compromises. As an encore, he sang a melancholy, deeply felt September Song. As if that's not enough of a surprise, his second and last encore was, are you ready - Cole Porter's Miss Otis Regrets! A great lieder singer letting his hair down in a truly wonderful interpretation of these American standards. I do hope some of you will make it to his masterclass - I can listen to him all day! Here is a 6-part interview Sir Thomas gave two years ago - enjoy!
A few weeks ago I visited Lorin Maazel's Castleton Festival in Virginia. Maazel and his wife Dietlinde had a vision about starting a music festival on their own farm. And after a few years of development the Castleton Festival has become a major event. It features opera, concerts and chamber music and features some of the most talented young people on the planet.
My video this week is actually a slide show comprised of photographs taken by my wife Marita at Castleton. You'll see shots of the facilities and rehearsals and some of what can be seen at almost any working farm, including Castleton. And the zebra? Well, your guess is as good as mine.
Martin Flowerman Retires From the Cleveland Orchestra
Martin Flowerman is one of the last remaining members of the Cleveland Orchestra from the days when George Szell was its music director. This week week he announced his retirement. Flowerman was a member of the bass section of the orchestra under Szell, Maazel, Dohnanyi and Welser-Most.
Flowerman was known to be an excellent musician but he was also a legendary raconteur. He has recently begun putting some of his stories on video. Here is one of them from the series "Marty's Memories." It involves that familiar smiling rogue who appears on side streets in strange cities and lures naive foreigners into trouble.
Jonas Kaufmann Sings "La dolcissima effigie" and "L'animo ho stanca" from Adriana Lecouvrerur
July 23 marks the birthday of Italian verismo composer Francesco Cilea (July 23 1866 - Nov. 20 1950). Of the five operas he composed, only Adriana Lecouvreur is regularly performed. Cilea was a celebrated melodist. This is particularly true of Adriana Lecouvreur - the main characters (Adriana, Maurizio, and Principessa di Bouillon and to a lesser extent the baritone Michonnet) all have wonderful music to sing. Here is an audio excerpt of German tenor sensation Jonas Kaufmann singing two short arias "La dolcissima effifie" and "L'animo ho stanca." from a live performance at Covent Garden last December. The Adriana is Angela Gheorghiu. Kaufmann sings the arias with virile tone and marvelous mezza voce.
Back in the 1960s a little-known Harvard mathematician named Tom Lehrer amused himself and his friends with satirical songs he composed and performed. Lehrer developed a cult following that continues to the present day. Lehrer himself is now 83 and has long since retired from both teaching and performing but his songs live on.
Lehrer was born in New York, studied mathematics and went on to teach at Harvard and MIT. He moved to California in 1972 and taught at the University of California at Santa Cruz for nearly 30 years.
Many of his songs are political and some reflect his pervasive black humour. The song "Pollution" remains relevant today. Lehrer gave few live performances and hated touring but in 1967 he went to Oslo for some concerts. This video was recorded at one of them and is now available on DVD.
This past week violinist Josef Suk passed away at the age of 81. He was a great violinist in his own right but he also had a stellar pedigree. His grandfather was the composer Josef Suk and the elder Suk had married Dvorak's daughter. This means that the violinist was the great grandson of Antonin Dvorak.
Suk was a highly-respected violinist and conductor in his native Czechoslovakia and developed a major international career as well. He made his American debut playing the Dvorak Violin Concerto with George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra in 1964. In our video Suk is seen playing the slow movement from this concerto with Vaclav Neumann and the Czech Philharmonic.
Suk made numerous recordings of all the major concertos and solo pieces for his instrument. He also devoted much of his time to chamber music. He formed a trio with pianist Julius Katchen and cellist Janos Starker and together they recorded a wide repertoire for Decca. With Katchen he also recorded the complete Brahms sonatas.
Soprano Karita Mattila Sings Tove in Schoenberg's Gurrelieder
Today marks the 60th anniversary of the death of Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg (September 13, 1874 - July 13, 1951) The leader of the Second Viennese School which also includes such luminaries as Alban Berg, Anton Webern and Alexander Zemlinsky, Schoenberg was best known as a pioneer and exponent of 12-tone or serialism in his composition. But in his early career, he composed in the tradition of the late Romantic idiom, as evidenced in such works as Verlarte Nacht and Gurrelieder. These pieces are known for their expanded tonality as well as the strong affinity for a lush, ultra-Romantic sensibility. Here is Finnish soprano Karita Mattila singing the role of Tove in Gurrelieder, a sort of secular cantata. It comes from a London Proms performance back in 1994. Sir Andrew Davis, who seems to have great affinity for these massive choral pieces, brings out the full lyricism of the work. There is no denying that the harmonic language harkens back to the past rather than forward-looking as typical of the later Schoenberg compositions. Mattila's cool, tightly controlled vibrato is lovely in this music, although the low notes give her some trouble. It is well worth watching the rest of this massive work available on Youtube.
Joyce El-Khoury Sings Puccini at the Castleton Festival
Rising young Canadian soprano Joyce El-Khoury appeared in Toronto last week with Lorin Maazel and the Castleton Festival Orchestra at the BlackCreek Festival. She was one of the soloists in Mendelssohn's Incidental Music for a Midsummer Night's Dream. She has quickly become one of Maazel's favourite singers. This summer she is singing Mimi in the Castleton Festival's production of Puccini's La Boheme, and the reviews have been outstanding. In this video she sings "Senza mamma" from Puccini's Suor Angelica with Maazel in the pit, at last year's Castleton Festival.
The Castleton Festival was started in 2009 by Lorin Maazel and his wife Dietlinde at their farm in Virginia as a training opportunity for young singers and musicians. It has quickly grown into an important international festival. For more about the Castleton Festival visit their website at www.castletonfestival.org.
Lorin Maazel was in Toronto last week leading his Castleton Festival Orchestra at the new BlackCreek Festival. It was a terrific concert and demonstrated that at the age of 81 Maazel is still one of the world's great conductors. He'll be back at the BlackCreek Festival again later this summer for concerts with the Castleton Festival Orchestra (Porgy and Bess and Carmen) and the London Symphony (Beethoven 9th, Pictures at an Exhibition, etc).
In this video Maazel conducts the Bavarian Radio Symphony (Munich) in the last movement from Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra. This video is a good example of Maazel's superior technical skills. It is also a colourful and exciting performance.
Russian mezzo Elena Obraztsova Sings "Acerba volutta" from Adriana Lecouvreur
On Thursday July 7 the great Russian mezzo Elena Obraztsova turns 72. She was born in Leningrad (St. Petersburg) in 1939, and studied at the Rostov music school and later at the Leningrad Conservatory. She won several important singing competitions and was invited to join the Bolshoi Opera, where she made her operatic debut as Marina in Boris Godunov in 1964. In addition to Marina, she was a noted Carmen, Dalila, Santuzza, Eboli, and Amneris, to name a few of her two dozen operatic roles. She made a huge splash at the Metropolitan Opera in the mid 1970's. Obraztsova continued to sing into the 1990's, gradually migrating to character roles like the Countess in Pique Dame. Today, she teaches at the Bolshoi and is a sought after teacher for masterclasses and as an adjudicator in vocal competitions. In its prime, the Obraztsova mezzo was huge, used impressively if not very subtly and has a very distinctive sound once heard never forgotten. Her vocal production was rather veiled and her vowels idiosyncratic, and she has an immense chest register that opera fans either loved or hated. But there is no denying that she was a great singer. Here is an example of Obraztsova at her verismo best, in Principessa di Bouillon's aria from Adriana Lecouvreur. This performance took place in Tokyo in 1980. Her out-sized personality was perfect for this role. Happy Birthday Elena Obraztsova!
Three Wartime Refugees and Their Contributions to Music in Canada: Blume, Newmark and Kraemer
During the early days of the Second World War a number of people from German-speaking countries found themselves in England. They were treated as possible threats to the Allied countries, rounded up and placed in internment camps. Many of them were later transferred to camps in Canada where they remained for many months or years until their status could be determined. After being released from these camps many of these people settled in Canada and went on to make major contributions to the country. Among them were Eric Koch, Helmut Blume, John Newmark and Franz Kraemer.
Eric Koch (1919-) studied to be a lawyer at Cambridge and at the University of Toronto but made his career in broadcasting with the CBC. He has also written several books about his experiences as a refugee. More recently, he has recorded a series of video talks in which he speaks about the war years. This is one of them. Helmut Blume (1914-1998) also was a CBC broadcaster but he was primarily a faculty member in the Department of Music at McGill. John Newmark (1904-1991) was a gifted pianist who became well-known as Maureen Forrester's accompanist. Franz Kraemer (1914-1999) produced music and opera programmes for CBC Television. Later, he organized concerts at the St. Lawrence Centre in Toronto, and later still headed the music section of the Canada Council. I didn't know Blume or Newmark - except by reputation - but I did have the pleasure of knowing Franz Kraemer very well. In fact, I succeeded him as music director of Toronto Arts Productions. He made an enormous contribution to music in Canada. His television productions were pioneering efforts and his encouragement of Canadian composers and performers was remarkable.
During the 1940s Canada was still in the early stages of its cultural development. World War II brought terrible suffering to millions but by chance more than by design Canada was greatly enriched by the many talented refugees from Germany and Austria who ended up here. Their contributions should not be forgotten.
Paul E. Robinson
For more about Eric Koch visit his website at www.erickoch.ca.
La Scena Musicale's award-winning website SCENA.org has been a world leader of classical music and arts news since 1996. Today's Classical Music Video Blog is our video pick of the day.
Read the press release at http://bit.ly/LSMPRVidBlog . Submit your favourite video to todaysvideo@lascena.org.
