Ranting about Samson and Delila

I attended yesterday's dress rehearsal of Samson and Delila at the Geneva Grand Théatre. This was below what this place has produced in the past.

French dignitary conductor Michel Plasson's tempis were slow and untheatrical and his beat was quite imprecise. This is indeed a dress rehearsal but the overall level was not where the OSR normally played. I was really sorry for the poor Mezzo Malgorzata Walewska who did as fine a job as it is possible in the circumstances. 

The producer Patrick Kinmonth joins the huge group of people who have designed costumes and scenery and cannot graduate as producers. His main concept was to stage Samson at the time where the work was written. Nothing wrong with the idea but Personen Regie was inexistant and the overall scenes were confused and without real meaning.

As always, the Geneva chorus comes out strongly. Let us not forget that the beginning of the work allows them to sing some of the finest music in the piece. But the highlight was Latvian Tenor
Aleksandrs Antonenko. He is the strongest dramatic tenor I have heard since say a Domingo. The tone is big yet there are no tensions. His phrasing is musical and his stage presence quite effective. Catch him whenever you can and let us hope he does not oversing.

The Kurtags in Paris ...

The video will be available until Jan 23, 2013. This is a marvelous testimony. Thanks to the cité de la musique for giving us this concert.

Duo Márta et György Kurtág : Johann Sebastian Bach, György Kurtág, concert enregistré à la Cité de la musique le 22 septembre 2012

Concert diffusé sur citedelamusiquelive.tv

Take your time and enjoy every sip.

Hans Werner Henze

Passed away at today.

I attended in Salzbourg the Dress Rehearsal of his opera l'Upupa which has been preserved on DVD. The composer was there, a little stiff but dignified. He said a few words to thank the musicians. The music was fresh and ensembles sparkling like what you find in some of Richard Strauss's works. Well, he might not have liked the comparison but ...

A couple of years ago in Geneva, Janowski conducted his 9th Symphony with the OSR. No doubt there was a clear intention to write such a dark work for his "9" Symphony as if this could help to distance from the Germanic art. But in the end, it was a very Germanic work, full of ambition and attempting to rewrite the entire world in music.

Autumn season sale

Arturo Toscanini's belongings will be auctioned at Sothebys while the OSR is selling second-hand instruments flightcases.

Just wondering if there are still markets for these ?

Article on Paris's forthcoming Philarmonie

I am not alone in having very strong doubts on the upcoming Paris Philarmonie, a ranting theme which has been recurrent in these pages, see here and here..

Concertonet's founder Philippe Herlin has expressed a similar view on his blog which includes latest figures on cost overruns.

This comes at a time when both US Presidential candidates are clashing over the role of the state. The challenger of the current president has actually stated he would cut state funding for arts which he believes not the be the sort of activity a state should sponsor.

The French situation raises another question: would art be better off, ie shielded away from blatant mistakes such as this unnecessary Philarmonie project if the state were not to intervene ?

Has there been some precedents, has there been a case when civil servants could be associated with an artistic breakthrough, ... ?

Have you heard of Heino Eller ?

He is an Estonian composer who taught the likes of Tubin and Pärt. I was not aware of him until I heard his 3 symphonies on a radio broadcast.

These are strong works, superbly orchestrated and with a genuine sense of drama.

Unsurprisingly, he has a good wikipedia page which is linked to another page from the Estonian music center here.

His symphonies have not been recorded so let me know if you are interested. This is a major composer.

James Levine to resume conducting

Music-lovers of the world, but mostly from New York, rejoice, James Levine is due to come back to the Met on the 2013 - 2014 season for 3 runs of Berg's Wozzeck, Mozart's Cosi fan Tutte and Verdi's Falstaff. No Gargantuan Wagnerian evening but three masterpieces, the Wozzeck being one where he is second to none, actually, all three.

He will also be at Carnegie Hall on May 19 for a Sunday afternoon Met Matinee concert. His concert should include Beethoven's fourth Piano Concerto with E Kissin as soloist but also and mostly Sibelius's 4th Symphony.

Please, do not change the program, I just grabbed one of the last ticket ...