Noodling along

I've just been listening to a disc of a new piece which includes quite a number of tunes. The composer has included familiar hymn tunes but also mixed in some of his own tunes to create an accessible mix. Not everyone can write tunes, reportedly Michael Tippett was at one point interested in writing a full blown musical but was put off by the fact that he would have to write tunes. One of the criticisms levelled at Stephen Sondheim's musicals is that he does not write tunes (or not many of them). I happen to think he does and am very fond of his music. But it must be admitted that his music is rather more complex than that of Lloyd Webber or Richard Rogers.

Somehow, this ability to write tunes is something that is no-longer a prerequisite of a composer, it is something that we lost during the 20th century. Partly this is the influence of serialism, but even non serialist composers suffer from it. After all, Britten wrote beautifully for the voice, but his operas contain very few BIG tunes; somehow he manages to be vocally expressive whilst retaining complexity and still create an approachable result. The problem comes when composers are not geniuses and the results start to sound like semi-atonal noodling.

This is something that instrumentally trained composers often lapse into when writing opera, the results are undeniably effective as a totallity but the individual vocal lines are often uninteresting and can be unnecessarily difficult. At its worst this style sounds like a radio play with backing music rather than a music drama where the drama develops through the music AND the voices.

Of course, what constitutes a tune is also a moot point. I have always been able to write tunes, but it is not something that I can necessarily do to order. Particularly, the desire to write long breathed melodies is frustrated by the music's need to keep fragmenting into smaller components. But even when I think I am being tuneful, there is a danger that others think otherwise. I have long been influenced by gregorian chant and this influence finds its way into much of my vocal writing, even when it is not sacred. The result is that I can happily noodle along with just 3 or 4 different but adjacent pitches. I usually think the results tuneful and expressive. Those of my friends who similarly respond to chant are positive, but
others feel that the results are not particularly tunes, even if the music itself is not difficult.

That is another interesting thing about the multiplicity of styles in today's musical world; to write with recognisable tunes does not necessarily mean that your music is difficult. The converse is also true, but there are few composers working in complex styles who write melodically with tunes. Perhaps that is what we should be aiming for.

Handel at Home

On Friday, the London Handel Festival migrated from its usual venue (St. George's Church, Hanover Square) to the Wigmore Hall for a concert entitled Handel at Home given by the London Handel Players. Flautist Rachel Brown, a string quartet led by Adrian Butterfield with Laurence Cummings on harpsichord, played a programme of Handel's chamber music and music arranged for chamber forces. The programme included the Flute concerto in G minor, HWV 287 (originally thought to have been an oboe concerto), the Violin sonata in D major, two trio sonatas and a selection of arrangements of arias from Solomon, Semele and Alcina.

The arias were all based on the arrangements published by Walsh during Handel's lifetime, but Brown had made adjustments to these adding extra parts and details from other, later arrangements. Of course, Handel's large scale pieces were not far away in the other items in the programme. The fugue theme in the 2nd movement of the Violin sonata was borrowed from Solomon, the first 3 movements of trio sonata Opus 2, No. 3, are related to the overture to Esther and the trio sonata Opus 5, no. 4 includes a Passacaille which was originally intended for Radamisto.

This was an evening of charming and relaxed music making; the players are obviously all familiar with each other and their interplay was natural and musical. Perhaps the only problem was that the aria arrangements did not quite work as the centre piece of the programme. The transcriptions seemed to be only 2nd best, you longed for the real thing.

The audience seemed to be mainly composed of London Handel Festival regulars, all knowledgeable, they responded with delight to the programme. A response that was rather too audible in the case of my neighbours, who laughed audibly at various points in the proceedings, interrupting the flow of the music for me.

Choruses from Passion 5

"Choruses from Passion" No.5 - Travel Lightly, FifteenB, conductor Paul Ayres, recorded live, February 2008

Next Premiere

Tomorrow, my new verse anthem God be merciful unto us, will be premièred tomorrow. The anthem is a commission for the wedding of a friend and will be performed at the wedding in the church of St. Botolph without Bishopsgate tomorrow. The anthem is written for choir, organ and two soprano soloists and is slightly closer to a strict verse anthem form than my previous anthem. I hope to arrange a public performance of the anthem at a later date.

Oh, do keep up!

About the same time as I found out that we would be missing Thomas Quasthoff at the all Bach concert at the Barbican last week (with Bernarda Fink and the Freiburg Baroque Ensemble), I learned that Sandrine Piau would not be appearing in the forthcoming concert performance of Handel's Flavio (with Christopher Hogwood and the Academy of Ancient Music).

Somehow or other this fact has escaped the notice of the Independent and Michael Church's preview of the Flavio performance at Symphony Hall on Birmingham (on April 15th) is mainly devoted to an interview with Sandrine Piau. Anyone who goes to Birmingham expecting to see her will be disappointed, though the opera still has a very, very good cast.

The Proms!

So the new Proms season has been announced, the first one in which Roger Wright has had some hand. I don't know whether it is because of Wright's involvement or simply because of a happy confluence of anniversaries, but I find that there is much to look forward to in the season.

As might be expected, there is a lot of Vaughan Williams and a lot of Messiaen; in itself a slightly strange confluence, but Wright has not gone all the way and programmed an RVW/Messiaen concert! We are getting 5 RVW symphonies, plus Job and the Piano Concerto (with the wonderful Ashley Wass), in total some 15 works. Andrew Davis is doing the 9th Symphony and A Serenade to Music with an exciting young cast which includes Sarah Tynan as Isabel Baillie (a role taken many years ago by Amanda Roocroft). But we get none of the operas and none of the major choral works; surely the Proms is the ideal place to do Sancta Civitas. Given that other orchestras are doing quite a few RVW symphonies this year, we are getting full exposure to this output without much balancing work.

The Messiaen includes some 17 works including St. Francois d'Assise from Netherlands Opera with Rodney Gilfrey in the title role. Also in the commemoration spot is a goodly handful of music by Stockhausen, just what the proms should be doing. Also, slipped discreetly in to Prom 24 is Dame Ethel Smyth's Concerto for violin and french horn; not, perhaps, her greatest work but nice to have as she was born in 1858.

Rachmaninov and Beethoven seem to be the other composers who get a significant look in this year. Handel is represented by a single work, but it is Belshazzar with Sir Charles Mackerras conduction the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.

Opera is a strong feature this year. We get Monteverdi's L'Incoronazione de Poppea from Glyndebourne, the aforementioned St. Francis, Rimsky Korsakov's Kaschey the immortal (twinned neatly with Firebird from Jurowoski and the LPO, and Janacek's Osud.

Other stray works of interest include Stanford's 2nd Piano concerto from the Ulster Orchestra, Janacek's Glagolitic Mass in Paul Wingfield's reconstruction of his original version with BBC forces conducted by Boulez. And Grace Williams makes a rare Proms performance with her Sea Sketches. Vernon Handley is conducting Nigel Kennedy in the Elgar Violin Concerto, paired with Bax's The Garden of Fand and Andrew Kennedy in Finzi's Intimations of Immortality (one of the essential concerts that one).

The first Sunday is a Folk day, mixing RVW's folk inspired music with much, much else.

In Transposition

Recently I've been listening to a disc of songs where the vocal line is transposed an octave (downwards) from what we normally are used to. Listening to Konrad Jarnot singing Elgar's Sea Pictures made me think, over again, about song in transposition.

If a male singer appropriates female repertoire, or vice versa, the critical comment seems to mainly be about how suitable the appropriation is and how convincing the singer. It is now relatively common place to hear female singers in Schubert's big song cycles and we have even had a man singing Schumann's Frauen Liebe und Leben.

Now my objections, my questioning do not relate to sex but to vocal tessitura, (I'd be quite happy to hear a counter-tenor in Frauen Liebe und Leben or a low contralto/tenor singing Schubert at pitch). My question is related to what the composer actually wrote. When writing songs myself, I have always been concerned about the piano part obscuring the voice, or vice versa, and also it supporting the voice as necessary. I find that when you simply transpose the vocal part up (or down) you completely alter the relationship between the vocal line and the piano part.

Perhaps Schubert or Schumann did not mind this, after all Schubert sang his own songs to his friends. But most song writers take a great deal of care with their songs and I feel that we transpose the vocal parts in a willy-nilly fashion which may not always be suitable. There are moments in the new Sea Pictures where the voice descends to depths which mean that he is barely supported by the piano; a distinctive effect which may not have been what Elgar wanted.

Now most composers are keen to encourage performance so Schumann, Schubert et all might have been entirely happy for this process to happen, if it brought more performances. But surely there is a beau ideal at which we ought to be aiming and that when commentating on a performance which alters the balance between vocal line and piano, we ought to at least comment that this may not be what the composer ideally wanted.

Bernada Fink and Freiburg Baroque Orchestra

Is it the Barbican which has bad luck, or is it me? Thomas Quasthoff was ill, so Saturday's concert at the Barbican had to be re-designed. In the event Bernada Fink sang 2 Bach cantatas and the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra played Bach's Concerto for Violin and Oboe and his Suite No. 2

Fink and the ensemble opened with the cantata "Geist und Seele wird verwirret" BWV 35. Bach's cantatas make slightly odd concert works. They are, admittedly, wonderful works but they are designed for liturgical use. Handel's cantatas were generally written for concert performance and as such have a structural design which reflects this, including usually some sort of rousing finale. Bach has no need, nor interest, in rousing finales as his aims are all related to the sacred aspects of the text. This means that with BWV 35 and with BWV 170, the conclusion of the cantata was a little down beat.

Fink was an admirable soloist, firm of voice, generous and warm of tone, clear expressive German and she was accompanied sympathetically by the conductorless Freiburg group.

The group make a virtue of collegiality, but this does not always pay complete dividends. The performance of Bach's Suite No. 2 included some lovely sprung rhythms and infectious tempi; but I would have liked the flute to be a little more spot-lit. Too often he shadowed the 1st violins in a way which was rather too discreet for my taste. Only in the final movement, the Badinerie, did he come into the spotlight.

The second half opened with the Sinfonia from BWV 209. This was followed by the Concerto for Violin and Oboe with Anne Katharina Schreiber violin and Katharina Arfken oboe, both regular members of the ensemble. Again the issues of collegiality came to the fore. Schreiber's solo violin line, though supremely played, was just a little too discreet. Arfken's admirable oboe tone cut through the textures and was radiantly in charge, but Schreiber seem to play 2nd fiddle rather than the pair being equals. Perhaps I am too attuned to hearing this music on modern instruments and the fault lies not with the players but with my ears.

Fink returned for the final scheduled item, Cantata BWV 170, in another fine performance. Such was the audience enthusiasm that she returned for an encore.

Choruses from Passion 4

"Choruses from Passion" No.4 - If you should die, FifteenB, conductor Paul Ayres, recorded live, February 2008

Choruses from Passion 3

"Choruses from Passion" No.3 - This was the night, FifteenB, conductor Paul Ayres, recorded live, February 2008

April Fool

Music Web International always does a number of spoof reviews for April Fools Day, mine was one of them this year, (link)

Review of Macbeth

My review of Chelsea Opera Group's performance of Verdi's original, 1847 version of Macbeth is here, on Music and Vision.

Choruses from Passion 2

"Choruses from Passion" No.2 - If this were your final day on earth, FifteenB, conductor Paul Ayres, recorded live, February 2008

Choruses from Passion 1

"Choruses from Passion" No.1 - Let us Prepare for Death, FifteenB, conductor Paul Ayres, recorded live, February 2008

The first of my posts from February's FifteenB concert at St. Peter's Eaton Square.

Recent CD Review

My review of the Choir of the 21st Century's striking new version of Philip Glass's Another Look at Harmony, Part 3 is here, on MusicWeb International.
A striking new sound to Glass’s familiar world ...

On Saturday we went to the Queen Elizabeth Hall for the Chelsea Opera Group's performance of Verdi's Macbeth, in the original 1847 version. A review will appear in due course.

Then on Sunday it was off to the Barbican where the LSO, under their Principal Guest Conductor Daniel Harding performed Britten's Spring Symphony and Prokofiev's 2nd Violin Concerto. Victoria Mullova was the soloist in the Prokofiev. She was a fiery and impassioned soloist, with a tougher and rather less upholstered tone than some performers, the result perhaps knocked some of the romantic corners off the work. Surprisingly she played from the music, but placed her stand sideways to the stage so that it did not impede the audience's view of her. Though she was turning the pages, she did not seem to be referring to them much.

In the 2nd half the orchestra were joined by Susan Gritton, Sarah Connolly and Mark Padmore, the LSO chorus and the Tiffin Boys Choir. The stage became very, very full, this was another one of those concerts which ideally would not take place in the Barbican at all but in a larger hall such as the Royal Festival Hall. The Tiffin Boys Choir were placed at one side of the stage, not a particularly advantageous position and this told, in the final movement of the Spring Symphony their singing of Summer is i'cumin in, did not carry as well as it ought. Vocal honours were relatively even but the palm must go to Sarah Connolly for a beautifully controlled rendition of Out on the Lawn. Mark Padmore was wonderfully impassioned and managed to not sound like Peter Pears, which is always an advantage. Susan Gritton was glorious, but I felt that the soprano soloist seems under used in this work. The chorus were on fine form and sang brilliantly, though in the louder moments their tone tended to get a little hard, perhaps the result of trying a little too much.

It was a long time since I have heard the work and this was possibly the first time that I have heard it live. I found it magical and engrossing, and I even got to hear a cow horn.

Recent CD Review

My review of the disc dedicated to the music of Robert Parsons is here, on MusicWeb International.
Enthusiasm, lively vividness and fine musicality ...

Next season at Covent Garden (2)

Perhaps one of the most interesting pieces of casting in the 2008/09 season is the appearance of Alfie Boe as the young servant in Elektra. Now this appearance might simply be the result of a stray piece of contracting left over from years back, but I presume not. In which case it would seem to signal an intention on Boe's part of developing his career as an opera singer. Since his appearances in Baz Luhrmann's La Boheme on Broadway, Boe has rather developed the more cross-over side of his career, though he has continued to perform stage roles (and will be singing in The Merry Widow at the Coliseum this year). What the small role in Elektra seems to show, is that he wants to take his voice in directions additional to the matinee idol role; more power to his elbow.
The title role in the opera will be sung by Susan Bullock (Hurrah), Chrysothemis by Anne Schwanevilms and Jane Henschel is Klytemnestra, so that whilst I was not overly enamoured of the production I can see that we will be wanting to re-visit it.

Amongst the other revivals, some highlights of the casting; Diana Damrau will be singing Adina (L'Elisir d'Amore), Joyce di Donato and Simon Keenlyside will sing in Il Barbiere di Siviglia (definitely a pairing to look out for); Renee Fleming makes an appearance as Violetta and Tosca comes back with Deborah Voigt, Marcello Giordani and Bryn Terfel.
None of the above makes me sick with desire, but it does represent some interesting, and worthwhile casting.

Joyce di Donato is also singing Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni) sharing the role with Emma Bell, and Ian Bostridge as Don Ottavio. With Sir Charles Mackerras and Antonio Pappano sharing the conducting, Simon Keenlyside and Kyle Ketelson sharing the title role and Rebecca Evans as Zerlina these revivals of Don Giovanni look promising indeed.

John Sclesinger's Les Contes d'Hoffmann is coming back, with Rolando Villazon in the title role. But the press release makes no mention of the edition being used, so I presume that we are going to get the old traditional version with sung recitative. I think I'll keep this on ice until we get a re-thought musical edition, perhaps they should let Sir Charles Mackerras take charge of a revival.

Anna Netrebko scheduled to sing Giulietta in I Capuletti e i Montecchi, lets hope she does appear.

Anne Schwanewilms crops up again as Elsa, with Johan Botha in the title role of Lohengrin and Petra Lang as Ortrud - another revival to keep an eye on. Semyon Bychkov conducts.

In the new productions, La Calisto will see Sally Matthews, Veronique Gens, Guy de Mey, Dominique Visse and Lawrence Zazzo performing, sounds like a production worth hearing for the cast alone, especially when galvanised by producer David Alden.
And Dido and Aeneas will feature Sarah Connolly, Sara Fulgoni and Lucy Crowe, quite a cast.

Next year at Covent Garden (1)

The Royal Opera House have released details of their 2008/2009 season. It is full of interesting things, but only a few that make me really go wow.

In the main house there are 8 new productions. Of these 4 have appeared elsewhere first - La Calisto (Munich 2005), Matilde de Shabran (Pesaro 2004), Die Tote Stadt (Salzburg 2004) and Dido and Aeneas (Milan 2006). As you can see from the dates, none of the productions is in the first flush of youth, but it is an interesting way of getting new repertoire into the system. La Calisto comes in a production by David Alden, his first at Covent Garden, which is something. Die tote Stadt is frankly one of those operas which it is interesting to encounter occasionally but I can't see it become a staple of the house's repertoire (now I'll be proved wrong). Similarly, Matilde de Shabran which needs the right singers, notably Juan Diego Florez in the lead male role.

Of the other productions, Christoph Loy's Lulu is a co-production with Madrid and the remainder are Covent Garden's Own. Wayne MacGregor gets to create Acis and Galatea to go with Dido (a neat pairing, killing 2 centenaries in one and getting Covent Garden out of the tedium of doing another boring Opera Seria). Leiser and Caurier are doing a new Hansel and Gretel, notable for having Ana Silja as the Witch, Alice Coote as Handel and Elizabeth Connell as Mother. Though being as it is double cast, I'm not quite sure who is singing with whom. Silja is sharing the role of the Witch with Ann Murray (her husband, Philip Langridge recently did the role in New York, not at the same pitch I hasten to add). There is also a new Flying Dutchman with Bryn Terfel in the title role, producer Tim Albury. In another interesting pairing veteran conductor Sir Colin Davis is being paired with Robin Ticciati, a dynamic young 20 year old. I can see I'll have to sample more than one performance.

Of this latter, I can't raise too much enthusiasm. I am rather keen to see the Korngold, but have a vague feeling that reviews of Decker's original production were not too positive. Similarly I am very keen to see the Rossini and welcome it even though I know we'll only get the one opportunity, it is unlikely to be revived.

Also new is a production of Benjamin Britten's Beggars Opera at the Linbury Theatre. This is definitely more of a curiosity than a thing to look forward to. Very much a notch on the bedpost, one of the Britten operas that I've not seen.

Even more tempting is the fact that The Opera Group and London Sinfonietta will be presenting the UK premiere of George Benjamin's Into the Little Hill - and about time too! It will be given as a double bill with Birtwistle's Down by the Greenwood Side. Still in contemporary vein, the ROH and the Britten Sinfonia will give the first fully staged performances of James MacMillan's Parthenogenesis - Katie Mitchell will direct (hurrah).
So, a moderate amount to look forward to in the new productions. I'll come back to the revivals later this week.

Further to my previous post, Patty over at oboeinsight.com thinks I should have been harsher. I think I agree with her! Read her post here