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Snack-sized reviews--Young, Lortie, Vienna Symphony

Snack-sized reviews from recent travels

All seats were sold out for Simone Young, the exciting Australian conductor, and the Vienna Symphony on Sunday, Oct. 25, 2015. No wonder: the Wunderfrau of the podium was leading one of Vienna’s top-flight ensembles in the rarely heard Dante Symphony by Franz Liszt. I managed to buy a ticket from an elderly woman who arrived at Vienna's Konzerthaus, rosy as Homer’s dawn, at the last moment.

The program began with an energetic performance of the Schrumpf-Symphonie by Austrian composer Kurt Schwertsik, but all was quickly overshadowed by the brilliance of Liszt’s transcription of Schubert’s Wanderer Fantasy, eloquently interpreted by Louis Lortie, a pianist who deserves to be more widely known in the States. European audiences truly crave encores, more than do their American counterparts, and Lortie provided a beautiful short work by Liszt, a world of subtlety, variety, depth in a few minutes that passed like a delightful dream.

The Dante Symphony? Meh. This work begins promisingly enough, but drones on and on until it remembers where it is and concludes in a captivating sweep of sound. A great concert overall, though, and while Young has conducted major operatic and symphonic orchestras for decades, I still am amazed every time I see a woman wield the baton. Hurrah for Simone, Marin, Joann, and all the women who now lead orchestras. For women of my generation, it is a miracle, but one long overdue.

Princeton Symphony Orchestra and Koh Soar in Stunning New Work & a Rachmaninoff Favorite

Women’s creativity in music—the theme of the new Princeton Symphony Orchestra season—knows no limits to judge by the concert series’ opener, “Graceful Pairings,” Sept. 27, 2015, in Alexander Hall on the Princeton University campus.

Rossen Milanov, music director, led what many call New Jersey’s finest symphonic ensemble in a remarkable new work by composer Anna Clyne, featuring a stand-out solo performance by the incredible Jennifer Koh, violinist. The Seamstress is basically a two-movement concerto for violin and what I call a “loaded” orchestra: four horns, harp, contrabassoon, and all the regulars.

I usually shy away from programmatic interpretations of music (“It sounds like a train!” and other banal comments come to mind), but this profound work, rich in modulations, textures, rhythmic variety, reminded me of nothing so much as Debussy’s La Mer, impressions of the sea.

This should not surprise, since the first three letters of Clyne’s masterful work are S-E-A. Yes, we can wax programmatic a bit, since the rhythms and patterns of a woman’s needlework wizardry recall the ebb and flow of ocean tides, the rhythm of waves that Matthew Arnold said “Begin, and cease, and then again begin/With tremulous cadence slow.”

Clyne (born in 1980) explains that she wanted to retain an organic sound, but her music says all this with immediacy and eloquence. There is the labor of the seamstress, there is the rhythm, rush, and roar of the sea, and there is also something else, something timeless, organic, but not to be named.

Structurally, the first section of this work sounded to me like a chaconne, a musical form that intersperses variations with a return to the main thematic material. Koh begins the work solo, with a riveting line of pure sonority. Violins sound so wonderful in Richardson Auditorium; you can almost smell the rosin and the fruity oils of the wood. The orchestra then steps in and both instruments (orchestra and solo violin) blend their distinctive sounds through a cascade of variations.

Clyne’s symphonic writing is truly gripping; instead of mild modulations, entire sections of the orchestra seem to drop, like tectonic plates falling in sheets during an earthquake. It is startling, almost like a blow to the chest, but the music rises, and there are healing glissandos that always land on precisely the right note.

Koh’s physical presence also contributed to the beauty of a work which is sometimes serene, other times agitated and uneasy. She wore a pale champagne tinted gown, strapless to reveal muscular shoulders. Her black hair, short, was frequently tossed a la Beatles.

Milanov cut a commanding, but elegant figure at the podium, an image of dignity and grace, with reserved motions and a controlled approach quite different from his stance in the second work on the program, Rachmaninoff’s sumptuous Second Symphony. What a luxurious indulgence it is for audiences to surrender to the power and almost overwhelming beauty of its melodies and sonorities. In this work, Milanov melted into sweeping gestures, embracing and letting go, as though releasing the music from his heart into the pit. A pit is a kind of heart, isn’t it. It’s a long work, almost an hour, but a lively one, with patches of frenzy to offset the lyricism, some splendid percussion work providing the skeleton on which all the lushness drapes.

The last hushed whispers of the end of the third movement: have they ever been captured so eloquently? I thought of the sobs ending the funeral movement of Beethoven’s Eroica, but these final notes were more austere and visceral, a series of fading heart beats culminating in silence.

The fourth movement, in contrast, is almost raucous, wildly captivating, fast and racy. I have seldom seen a conductor enjoy himself and have so much fun as Milanov did in the extended cymbal crash sequence that leads to the conclusion of a highly satisfactory symphony splendidly performed.

The next concert in the series will be “Heartfelt Virtuosity” at 4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 8, preceded by a 3 p.m. talk for ticket holders. See www.PrincetonSymphony.org for more details. (Photo of Maestro Milanov and the orchestra at the conclusion of the concert.)

Czech quartet to perform in Princeton on Oct. 15, 2015

The Pavel Haas String Quartet from the Czech Republic will perform works by Martinu, Dvorak, and Beethoven in concert 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 15, in Alexander Hall on the Princeton University campus.

The program will feature Martinu’s String Quartet No. 3, Dvorak’s String Quartet No. 9 Op. 34, and Beethoven’s Quartet Op. 59, No., 2, one of the Razumovsky quartets. Princeton University Professor Scott Burnham will offer a pre-concert talk, free to all ticketholders, at 7 p.m.

Tickets are available online at princetonuniversityconcerts.org, by phone at 609-258-9220, or in person two hours prior to the concert at the Richardson Auditorium Box Office. (Photo by Marco Borggreve)

Innovation, tradition with a twist of Limón: American Repertory Ballet sails into 2015-16 season

by Linda Holt

Wanted: Performance partners, no experience necessary. Without leaving your seats, engage with professional dance and have an in-person conversation with the arts.

So might a classified ad read for the new season of the American Repertory Ballet (ARB), a community-based professional dance company with an international influence. The Season Premiere is 7:30 p.m. Sept. 25 and 26 in Rider University’s Bart Luedeke Student Center.
“Dance…this art…is really about participation,” explains Douglas Martin, now in his sixth year as artistic director of an organization that includes a professional dance company (also called ARB), a world-class dance school (the Princeton Ballet School), and an educational outreach component (DANCE POWER and On Pointe).

“The audience is in fact 50 percent of the performance,” said Martin. “This is live, exciting art at its best, where the performers draw energy and encouragement from the responses of the audience, while viewers are themselves transported by the creation of living works of art.”

Martin began dancing with the Princeton group 22 years ago, rising to ballet master, and eventually joining the renowned Joffrey Ballet in New York City. In his early years, Martin studied with Dmitri Romanoff at the San Jose Ballet School. Romanoff was the “dharma heir” of greats such as Michel Fokine, who choreographed Petrushka for Stravinsky, Léonide Massine, who choreographed the Rite of Spring.

This season Martin has brought in Sarah Stackhouse, long-time dancer and assistant with José Limón (1908-1972), to stage There is a Time, one of Limón’s most famous choreographies. Stackhouse studied with Limón, who in turn studied with the great Doris Humphrey (1895-1958), providing another example of the importance of lineage and legacy in the creative world. “Our dancers in this major performance are just two dancers away from Doris Humphrey,” Martin noted. During her three week residency with ARB, Stackhouse is coaching today’s ARB dancers to recreate the nuances of Limón’s unique choreography, which was often customized to fit the physical and psychological nature of individual dancers.

There is a Time expresses the themes of a section of the biblical Book of Ecclesiastes which begins, “To everything there is a season… A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted…”

ARB will perform this acclaimed modern dance production, rich with moving images of birth, life, death, and renewal, October 20 through 22 as part of the José Limón Festival at the Joyce Theater in New York City. Even more exciting, the dancers will repeat this performance April 8 in Princeton’s McCarter Theatre.


From the light-hearted to the sublime

An integral part of Princeton and surrounding communities for 61 years, the American Repertory Ballet is launching its Season Premiere Sept. 25 and 26 with a fresh program that embraces three forms of dance: classical, neo-classical, and modern.

“The three ballets in the Season Premiere are in different styles,” Martin noted during an interview at APB’s spacious studios at the Princeton Shopping Center. “One of the things I did in the Joffrey Ballet was to the show the audience the diversity of the company. It’s quite impressive that we do such varied, diverse repertoire whether it’s classical, 20th century, or very contemporary. Our company prides itself in being able to represent those three styles in a very true fashion. It’s not like we’re a modern company trying to do ballet. We want you to see the ballet and feel like you are seeing a top-notch ballet company, and same for the other styles.”

The Season Premiere program features:
• Martin’s lyrical choreography, Ephemeral Possessions, set to Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings (“Dance is ephemeral, fleeting,” noted Martin. “When it is over, all we have are memories”);
• Kirk Peterson’s Glazunov Variations, set to the music of Glazunov for the classical ballet, Raymonda; and
• ARB Resident Choreographer Mary Barton’s light-hearted Straight Up with a Twist, set to music by contemporary folk music composer Kaila Flexer.

“It’s wonderful music,” said Martin. “Three years ago, she came over and performed it with her band. It has Klezmer, gypsy airs, all sorts of things..lots of fun.”

By design, ARB will perform the same program 10 days later at the Union County Performing Arts Center’s Hamilton Stage in Rahway. “We’re truly a repertory company, and that’s a dying breed because companies can’t tour anymore,” Martin said. “The community concert series money (that once sustained these groups) is now gone. Fortunately, our ‘misfortune’ in not having a home theater to live in allows us to perform all over and to offer our ballets in different settings over the years.”

And then there’s Nutcracker

The ballet most associated with ARB and the Princeton Ballet School is Nutcracker. “We’re talking about a real five-week season of Nutcrackers during November and December,” Martin said. “It’s such a wonderful family tradition that has been embraced by people of many diverse cultures and religious backgrounds. In fact, it’s so widely loved and part of the winter holidays, many people don’t even realize it’s a ballet, and that’s fine: just enjoy!”
Choreographed by Martin, this year’s production also will include the original party scene, choreographed by company founder Audrée Estey. Nutcracker will be offered at McCarter Theatre in Princeton on Wednesday, Nov. 25, at 7 p.m.; Friday , Nov. 27, at 2 and 5:30 p.m.; and Saturday, Nov. 28, at 1 and 4:30 p.m. The company also will offer its first Sensory Friendly performance of Nutcracker for children and adults with special needs on Sunday, Nov. 22 at 1 p.m., at UCPAC in Newark. Additional ARB performances of Nutcracker will be held in other New Jersey locations between Nov. 21 and Dec. 20.

ARB’s ambitious program continues in the New Year with A Midsummer Night’s Dream March 18 and 19 in Branchburg; Spring into Dance, April 1, in Rahway; Masters of Dance and Music, featuring There is a Time choreographed by José Limón, April 8, in McCarter Theatre; and Echoes of Russian Ballet, April 15, in the State Theatre in New Brunswick.


Dancing for life and to be alive

Concurrent with the professional dance company, the Princeton Ballet School continues to offer classes to children and adults of all ages, “from morning to night,” Martin said. “Don’t be surprised to hear that a 70-year-old friend is taking classes here, either for enjoyment or to experience the thrill of a walk-on part in one of our productions.” Classes include classical ballet but also modern and contemporary forms, all celebrating the ABS philosophy of art as a face-to-face conversation among people.

“Involved audiences are half the equation,” said Martin. “When we are here, the dancers are simply working and taking direction. But when the audience is present, it’s quite extraordinary. There’s that moment when the audience gasps or breaks into applause: then, there is a communication with the dancers that is pure magic.

“Television is fine,” he said, “it will be there. But turn it off. Go out and participate in other people’s lives. Help make this living art happen. It’s about communicating your relationship in person to people. The world is getting so computerized, people think they are communicating on Facebook! You need live conversation. With the performing arts, you know you are alive and living in the moment.”

Additional opening events include “Meet the Dancers” as part of the On Pointe series, 5:15 p.m. Sept. 23; an Open House Dress Rehearsal, 4:30 p.m. Sept. 24; and the State of the Art Address, 6 p.m. Sept. 24, all at Rider University’s Bart Luedeke Center in Lawrenceville, N.J., free of charge and open to the public.

Further information on the ARB Fall and Winter Season, including Nutcracker ticket information, may be obtained at www.ARBallet.org .

Princeton Festival triumphs with dazzling production of The Marriage of Figaro

Review in 6/18/15 issue of TimeOff, the cultural magazine of the Princeton Packet newspaper:

'The Marriage of Figaro' The Princeton Festival marries slapstick with the sublime with Mozart’s opera

By Linda Holt

Laugh, cry, laugh until you cry: The Princeton Festival is ringing in summer with The Marriage of Figaro (Le Nozze di Figaro), Mozart’s great comic opera, in a dazzling and delightful production at McCarter Theatre.

Under the baton of conductor and the festival’s artistic director Richard Tang Yuk, and with direction by Steven LaCosse, some of Mozart’s most beloved music takes flight thanks to spirited performances by a cast of world-class singers and an orchestra to match. The scandalous escapades of an assortment of characters, lovable rascals all, unfold seamlessly, as though the performers had worked as an ensemble for many years. This production looks as gorgeous as it sounds thanks to elegant sets by Peter Dean Beck, evocative lighting by Norman Coates, and eye-appealing costumes, works of art in themselves, managed by Marie Miller.

Last year, McCarter Theatre presented the play by Beaumarchais upon which Mozart’s opera is based. Both versions were highly controversial in their day (the 1780s) for, among other things, depicting the triumph of wily servants over their master, something perceived as a threat to the social order. A somewhat risqué subtext gives the tale a modern sensibility. There are no ecclesiastical or government authorities weighing in on moral decisions. Love itself and basic human decency, grounded in reason, ultimately prevail over the darker forces of lust and domination.

The twists and turns of an increasingly hilarious plot involve the lecherous Count (Sean Anderson) who hopes to bed his wife’s chambermaid Susanna (Haeran Hong) on the eve of her marriage to his servant, Figaro (Jonathan Lasch). Susanna and the Countess (Katherine Whyte) plot to out the Count’s plan, embarrass him, and return him to the arms of his beautiful, long-suffering wife, allowing Susanna and Figaro to marry without incident.

Other characters adding spunk and richness to this nuanced drama include the love-besotted page, Cherubino, played by a soprano in male costume (Cassandra Zoé Velasco). Things take a more contemporary turn as in one scene, the Countess and Susanna attempt to pass off the protesting lad as a member of the female staff, resulting in some Victor Victoria-esque humor.

All well and good for a fun-filled tale of intrigue, slapstick, and wit. But it’s the music that makes The Marriage, a work still fresh and bright after more than 200 years. Mozart seems to have breathed out the entire score in one celestial breath. Exciting overture to duet to aria to quartet and beyond: the solos, ensembles, and even the graceful recitatives flood the listener in one harmonious inundation of sound and feeling. Even novice opera goers whisper, “Ah, I know that song,” or “Where have I heard that before?” much as people on the streets of Vienna in 1786 hummed and whistled the tunes on their way to work. And, indeed, I challenge anyone attending this production not to be humming the tunes the next day.

Fortunately, in this production, all the singers are up to the challenge of articulating these melodies in the most expressive, enjoyable, and memorable style. But in opera, the singing cannot be separated from acting and dance (using the broad sense of dance as moving purposefully and expressively on stage).

As Figaro, Mr. Lasch expresses all the character’s qualities convincingly: humor, strength, determination, wit, deviousness, devotion. His resonant baritone voice can be brash, graceful, insinuating, as it is in the Act I aria, “Se vuol ballare, Signor Contino.” (If, dear Count, you feel like dancing). With a clever touch, Act III moves directly to Act IV against a black curtain, as Figaro tiptoes into the garden, bewailing the fickleness of women. “Don’t you agree?” he asks the male members of the audience. “These fickle ladies are all about you!” And at this the theater lights rise briefly so gentlemen in the audience can look around and see for themselves.

Figaro is sometimes portrayed as a scamp, but Mr. Lasch offers a much richer interpretation, lifting him above the role of vaudeville protagonist into a higher level of understanding, without sacrificing humor or wit. Like other members of this cast, Mr. Lasch is master of the stage, striding confidently, cowering behind a chair, or engaging in a few graceful dance steps as called for.

As Susanna, Ms. Hong conveys the freshness of youth, with a clear, silvery voice, especially evident in the haunting aria, “Deh vieni” in Act IV. There is a warm physicality in the way she and the other characters move and relate to each other that brings authenticity and — above and beyond the farcical elements of the opera — wins our empathy and trust.

One of the great ovations on opening night went to Katherine Whyte as the dignified Countess following her breathtaking interpretation of “Dove sono i bei moment” (Where are the lovely moments of sweetness and pleasure?) in Act IV (for the dramatic lead into the aria, the orchestra deserves kudos as well). Her husband is seducing her chambermaid, they are setting a trap to ensnare him, but will it have the effect the two women desire? Where indeed have the lovely moments gone in their storybook romance?

Sean Anderson is imposing, overbearing, and ultimately contrite as the Count, a role with great demands on the singer as a musician and performer. It seems cruel not to single out each singer and the vibrant chorus for special mention. Zoé Velasco’s Cherubino was especially noteworthy, a spritely, nimble, and charming performance, physically as well as vocally. This opera has a superabundance of baritones and sopranos, making it interesting to compare the different qualities of voices in each category. Zoé Velasco’s voice has a beguiling warmth conducive to boyish declarations of love.

Other major players, who join together in the final great ensemble of Act IV, include Kathryn Kasovec as Marcellina, an older servant who wishes to steal Figaro from Susanna; Ricardo Lugo as Bartolo; David Kellett as Don Basilio, two scheming professionals; Paul An as the troublemaker Antonio, played with spot-on vaudeville élan; Vincent DiPeri as Don Curzio. And let me mention a small but significant contribution: a bright young operatic star, Jessica Beebe, as Barbarina, Antonio’s daughter, who stole hearts with the only aria in the minor mode, L’ho perduta, me meschina — (I’ve lost it, poor me). To bring such authenticity and expression to a small part signifies a great talent. Hoping to hear more good things about this soprano in the years ahead. There is, of course, one glaring negative to this production of The Marriage of Figaro: only two more performances remain. Those will be held on consecutive Sundays, at 3 p.m. on June 21 and 28 in McCarter Theatre as part of the Festival’s program of summertime concerts. This has been an opera well worth waiting for, and not to be missed.

Photo by Jessi Franko: Jonathan Lasch in The Princeton Festival’s production of The Marriage of Figaro.

The Marriage of Figaro continues at McCarter Theatre, June 21 and June 28, 3 p.m. For tickets and information, go to www.princetonfestival.com or call 609-258-2787.

International Journal publishes "Beethoven the Philosopher"

My paper, "Beethoven the Philosopher: A Reflection," appears in the June 2015 edition of Philosophy Pathways electronic newsletter: http://www.philosophypathways.com/newsletter/issue194.html As summarized by editor, Richard Grego,
"The first essay on 'Beethoven the Philosopher' by Dr Linda Brown Holt
looks at the little-known but surprisingly pervasive influence of
German Enlightenment and Idealist philosophies on the artistic
development of Ludwig Von Beethoven's work at the turn of the 18th/
19th centuries. While Beethoven's musical transition from exemplar of
classicism to pioneer of the romantic style is well known, the
possible role that contemporaneous philosophical themes like freedom
and potentiality ---- characteristic of the romantic era ethos -- may
have played in inspiring this transition is little-examined and
largely unappreciated in the history of ideas. The essay establishes
a philosophical genealogy suggesting that this philosophical trend,
through the legacy of prominent professors at the university where
Beethoven studied philosophy, may have exerted a significant
formative influence on Beethoven's psychology and work.