Ptorchwood Ptales & Ptimely Pthoughts

This is at least the third time I've seen Puccini's Tosca in the last 20 years and it remains one of my favorite operas.

Tosca is not your typical opera heroine.  No boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back, girl dies of consumption here. Its more a jealous girl (Tosca) tries to save lover (Cavaradossi) from the chief of police (Scarpia) by promising sexual favors in exchange for her lover's life.  Instead she kills Scarpia, witnesses her lover's execution and commits suicide as the police close in on her capture.

Tosca is a strong and determined character who is at turns, jealous, loyal, cunning, and naive. Sung by Deborah Voigt (of Wagner fame) the emotions of Tosca as she transforms from naive, pious, lover to avenging angel were well acted.  Her vocals were adequate but a bit too powerful and not as nimble as the part demands.

Likewise, Vladimir Galouzine in the role of Cavaradossi moved well in the role, but I found his voice a bit stiff.  He did hit the notes accurately and made the vocal leaps well, but his voice, like Voigt's seemed a little too heavy for the part.

The standout performance was James Morris in the role of Scarpia.  He sang beautifully and managed to avoid the caricature of mustache, twirling bad guy that Scarpia sometimes devolves into.  His Scarpia was by turns, suave, falsely empathetic and truly sinister.

The orchestra under the direction of Sir Andrew Davis performed brilliantly.

My only criticism of this performance is the use of the tired, old (45+ years old I think)) Franco Zefferelli sets.
Dark and gloomy beyond belief, its time these old warhorses were retired. 

( But please lets avoid the debacle the The Met had with their opening of Tosca. http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/sep/22/tosca-metropolitan-opera-review.  Even more spartan sets? Please no.  And frankly, I'll take my Tosca without the fellatio, thank you very much.  As the Guardian points out, Scarpia is the embodiment of repressed sexuality, not the expression of sexuality gone wild). 

With the beautiful score and very good acting, the somewhat heavy-handed vocal performances by Voigt and Galouzine only marginally reduced my enjoyment of the opera.  Next time, let's try voices known for Italian opera and new, brighter sets.  


Posted with comments at the Opera Community: http://community.livejournal.com/opera/325364.html

I saw two fabulous performances this weekend.  Gounod's Faust at the Lyric Opera and Richie Havens at The Old Town School of Folk Music on Sunday.

It must be almost ten years since I last saw this production of Faust, and it was as magical this time around as when I first saw it.  Faust is one of those stories that has been reinterpreted on stage, in opera, and literature many times. The story is simple enough...man sells his soul to the devil in exchange for youth and a beautiful innocent woman (Marguerite).  Faust gets his wish; the young women is corrupted, the devil wins (sometimes) or the woman is redeemed but Faust isn't or both are redeemed.

A few standouts from this performance:

Ana Maria Martinez as Marguerite - a voice as pure as an angel.  When I first starting going to opera 20+ years ago, many of the Big Name sopranos of the day appeared at Lyric.  I was often disappointed that many seemed shrill or a bit flat or really pushing to hit high or low notes.  Ana Maria Martinez represents one of the best of a new generation of singers.  Her voice is strong but very nimble, she makes difficult passages sound effortless. No vocal breaks or unevennness; smooth throughout her vocal range. 

Rene Pape as Mephistopheles - an excellent solid performance.  There's usually a signature line for Mephistopheles; in this opera its a series of descending laughs, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, that go right to the bottom of the bass range.   Samuel Ramay owned all the 'devil' roles at Lyric for many years, and while Rene Pape does a good job, his voice is not as rich as Ramay's.  His stage presence is as good and his acting ability is a bit better than Ramay. 

The Lyric Orchestra - Conductor Sir Andrew Davis, Lyric's music director for the last nine years once again makes the music sparkle. This orchestra has improved markedly since Sir Davis took over.  No more playing over the singers, no more rushing through the score, the music beautifully supports the singers rather than overwhelming them.

Stage Direction - there were some nice touches.  The crucifix in the church turning upside down when Mephistopheles appears is effectively creepy.  But my favorite moment was at the beginning of Act IV, Scene III when the soldiers return from battle and are singing a triumphal march (cause its great to be a warrior and kill people).  At the same time officers are folding flags and handing them to the distraught widows and mothers and sweethearts of the soldiers who did not return from the battle.  The juxtaposition of the music and the little tableau being acted out was heartbreaking.

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So tonight I saw Richie Havens in concert along with Harry Manx.  At almost 70, Richie can stll strum a guitar faster than just about anybody and his voice is still intact.   He stayed mostly with signature songs including All Along the Watchtower, Here comes the Sun, Freedom, and Maggie's Farm.  Old Town has a large cadre of former hippie and hippie wannabes, and his performance was enthusiastically received.

The real suprise was his opening act - Harry Manx who has performed on Haven's last two CDs.  Hailing from Canada, his music is a striking combination of smooth electric blues (reminiscent of Mark Knopler) and classic Indian rajas.  He plays a mohan veena, an instrument used in classical Indian music that looks like really a bizarre slide guitar.  His voice sounds a bit like Bruce Springsteen and he did a credible cover of "I'm on Fire."  He plays almost all his guitars slide style and uses a recorded rhythm track with his songs. 

To say that the crowd went wild, might be an understatement. 

Check him out - http://www.harrymanx.com/main.html
Unfortunately, the track playing is not one that has the mohan veena on it, but if you go to http://www.dogmycatrecords.ca you can sample some tracks there. 

That's what I've always loved about Old Town School, they serve up the classic performers, but manage to book musicians that can surprise and delight - anything from Tuvan throat singers to Native American flute to French Celtic Music. 

I will try to catch up on previous performaces seen this month - Tosca, Arthur Miller's All my Sons and Animal Crackers based on the Marx brother musical/movie of the same name.

Two more plays next week - too much to do, too little time!

Posted with comments at the Opera Community: http://community.livejournal.com/opera/324618.htmlPosted with comments at the Folkfans Community: http://community.livejournal.com/folkfans/325460.html