"The Year in Classical And Dance" from New York Magazine

The Big Entrance
The unofficial start of Alan Gilbert's reign at the NY Philharmonic with a free concert in Central Park takes the cake as the most important classical music happening of 2008. While some people (and some players) expressed grief at his replacement of Riccardo Muti who, as we know, lovingly declined the position of music director, his official reign (which starts in September) is guaranteed to be new and exciting. He already expressed some new ideas he has for the Phil: Phil: "a new-music ensemble, a renegotiated balance between contemporary music and traditional repertoire, and the world premiere of a work by composer-in-residence Magnus Lindberg; Messiaen’s Poèmes pour mi, sung by Renée Fleming; and Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique."

The Year in Superlatives
Best Changing of the Guard: City Ballet's New Male Trio
Sean Suozzi, Tyler Angle, and Robert Fairchild are the three new male headliners for the New York City Ballet. Having seen all three I can tell you that these are three thrilling dancers. Sean Souzzi happens to be my favorite of the three, with his "dark romanticism" and gorgeous dancing.
Best Choreographer: Benjamin Millepied
I've only seen him dance (and sing) in Jerome Robbin's West Side Story Suite so I can tell you nothing about his choreography. To experience Millepied's "unique vision" for yourself you can visit the New York City Ballet this spring at the start of its new season.
Best Use of an Unexpected Space: Die Soldaten
This avant-garde opera written by Bernd Alois Zimmermann found an equally obscure home at the drill hall in the Park Avenue Armory. In this extraordinary production has movable bleachers that transport the audience from one scene to another.

The Top Ten Classical Events
10) Youtube Symphony- Global online auditions for an orchestra to play a new work by Tan Dun were launched by Google last week. All auditioners post a video of themselves on Youtube playing the music Google posted. Sounds like I'll be wasting even more hours on Youtube!
9) Tristan und Isolde- That old cursed thing? Apparently New York Magazine thinks it was worth the wait.
8) Alarm Will Sound- I'm not sure I understand it, but apparently this ensemble played an orchestration of a player-piano piece that can not be played by human hands.
7) The Opening of (Le) Poisson Rouge- A new hot spot for "genre hoppers." I'm not sure it's a cross-over club...
6) Brooklyn Rider at the Brooklyn Lyceum- Brooklyn's leading string quartet and Iranian fiddler Kayhan Kalhor displayed "magical logic"during that one night concert, which you can catch on their CD Passport.
5) Peter Grimes- The most disturbing production, in my opinion, of the Met's 2007-2008 season
catches this number 5 spot with Athony Dean Griffey's performances as Peter Grimes.
4) Bernstein at 90- What would a classical countdown be without a little Bernstein love?
3) Jordi Savall & Hespèrion XXI- A unofficial soundtrack to Don Quixote played by a Catalan viola da gamba master and his ensemble, featuring works written during the time of Cervantes.
2) Jeremy Denk at Zankel Hall- Fellow blogger Jeremy Denk performed two rigorous piano works by Ives and Beehtoven and later picked the keys out of his teeth.
1) Doctor Atomic- "Adams’s score overwhelmed the weaknesses in Peter Sellars’s quilted-together libretto." Apparently. The orchestra, led by Alan Gilbert, was the real star of the show. Not that I would know. I didn't the production and I don't possess a true ear for new music.



So, the best the Met could muster was Doctor Atomic, Peter Grimes, and Tristan und Isolde. Well, good for them, it could have been far worse I suppose.


My favorite?
The Worst of the Year:
"Already wheezing during the boom years, New York City Opera suffered a triple trauma when renovations to the State Theater forced the current season's cancellation, fund-raising hit a wall, and incoming general manager Gerard Mortier decided to take his ball and go home. The tragic debacle leaves the company on the brink."
Silly Mortier, NYCO is for Sills!



Happy Listening!!! =)

Anthony Tommasini's "End of the Season Awards" (And Comments on the Met's Financial Situation)

After I held my illustrious (hardly...) End of the Season Awards, Anthony Tommasini followed suit (haha. funny.) After giving us some statistics and dollar signs concerning the Met's supposed "financial woes" Tommasini got to the good stuff and told us what (or who) he liked about this season at the Met.

But as I think back, it is individual performances by singers that stay with me, none more so than the tenor Anthony Dean Griffey’s portrayal of the title role in the Met’s new production of Britten's "Peter Grimes.” Singing with exemplary artistry and raw emotion, Mr. Griffey found his own way into the daunting role of Grimes, fully conveying that reclusive fisherman’s instability and violent streak while revealing the wounded child within. This was an overdue personal triumph for a selfless artist who rose through the ranks of the Met and had been underused until now...

He goes on to mention Natalie Dessay, Susan Graham, Renee Fleming, the cursed "Tristan und Isolde", Juan Diego Florez, and Philip Glass.

He wasn't as mean as me. He didn't talk about "the worst of" the season, like I did. I think that was a smart move, Mr. Tommasini. =)


Happy Listening!! =)

End of the Season Awards!!!!!!

Since yesterday marked the end of the Met's 2007-2008 season, I've decided to give out the awards today! I've had to mentally prepare myself for the end of the season. My summers are so bland without any live performances or Sirius Live Broadcasts!
The Bad, The Good, The Sad, The Funny and anything special that happened. Mostly based on what I heard/saw, but I'll put a few others in, too.
We'll start with The Bad:


Worst Acting:
Johan Botha in Otello (*puts head on wall to symbolize extreme sorrow*)

Worst Singing:
(Since this season was so spectacular I will do something I don't usually do and that is take what I heard from other people. I'm sorry for it.)
John MacMaster in Tristan und Isolde (first man to be booed in how many years?)

Worst HD Broadcast:
(for its bad split screen thing, otherwise it was lovely!)
Tristan und Isolde

Most Cursed Production:
Tristan und Isolde


On to The Good:

Best New Production (production only):
La Fille du Regiment
Satyagraha

Best Revival:
Madame Butterfly
Manon Lescaut
Le Nozze di Figaro

Best singing by a male artist:
Juan Diego Florez in La Fille du Regiment
Salvatore Licitra and Dmitri Hvorostovsky in Un Ballo in Maschera
Ramon Vargas in La Boheme
(look I can't just say "everyone.")

Best singing by a female artist (biased):
Renee Fleming in Otello
Anna Netrebko in Romeo et Juliette and Angela Gheorhiu in La Boheme (shocked, aren't you?)
Olga Borodina in Carmen
Natalie Dessay in everything she sang

The Sad:

Most touching performance by a male artist:
Ramon Vargas in La Boheme
Marcello Giordani in Lucia di Lammermoor

Most touching performance by a female artist:
Angela Gheorghiu in La Boheme
Renee Fleming in Otello
Patricia Racette in Madame Butterfly

The Funny:

Funniest moment in an opera:
When the jewelry box fell off the stage during Nozze and hit the celloist on the head
The music lesson, the tank, and pretty much the entire Fille production

The most acrobatic performance:
Marcello Giordani almost falling off the bed during Romeo et Juliette
Anna Netrebko in Romeo and Natalie Dessay in Fille and Lucia
Karita Mattila doing a split in Manon Lescaut

The unexpected:
Marcello Giordani covering for Joseph Kaiser (last minute!) in Romeo (the night I was there!!)
Seeing Peter Gelb in the lobby before Carmen


Other Special Things:

Productions I'm sorry I missed:
Satyagraha
Abduction from the Seraglio
La Traviata
Manon Lescaut

Productions I'm so happy I didn't miss:
La Fille du Regiment
Romeo et Juliette
Madama Butterfly
Lucia di Lammermoor

Highlights of the season:
La Fille du Regiment
Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Salvatore Licitra, and Stephanie Blythe in Ballo
Renee Fleming in Otello
Anna Netrebko in Romeo et Juliette
La Boheme in HD
Diana Damrau. Period.





Oh, the list goes on and on. It's hard enough restricting myself to this many awards. I should have just said "Best Everything: The Met." Really sums it up quite nicely.
I'm sorry I wasted your time with my nonsense, but it feels good to get it off my chest. I good summary of the season, I think. It's too bad I didn't see everything. (I plan to next season. Saving up for Standing Room!!)

This is a hard season to say goodbye to (aren't they all?) because so many wonderful things happened. "There's always next season," I know, but I get so attached! SEE YOU NEXT SEASON!!!


Happy Listening!!! =)
PS. That doesn't mean I won't be posting during the summer!

Ban, What Ban? Matthew Polenzani, THAT Matthew Polenzani? (Plus a "Who's Suing Who")

JDF and Peter Gelb admitted that the bis on Monday was not completely spontaneous. In fact, Peter Gelb had asked our dear Juan Diego weeks ago if he would be willing to do an encore. The rest (while also being history...) is explained in the article. We at Score Desk would also like to note that although the NY Times article says, "Before Monday night the only such occasion had been Luciano Pavarotti's repeating the second-act tenor aria in “Tosca” in 1994, Met officials said." We were not aware that Puccini had made "Vissi D'arte" an alternate for the tenor. Saying otherwise would be supposing that, in fact, the tenor aria they were referring to was in the THIRD act and therefore inferring that they got it wrong. Of course, we would never do anything of the sort.
There's also a video accompanying that article! Have fun watching it over and over!
Bernard Holland (who actually decided to attend the event he was reviewing) wrote this review about Monday's performance. While only briefly touching on the bis, he goes on to talk about tuning, the "drab" production, and Natalie Dessay's gorgeous singing. Ms. Dessay has been sadly neglected in this whole fiasco, so let's give her one unanimous pat on the back for taking it so well. No diva tantrums for this opera star!!!!!


Even after the tragic and heartbreaking death of Beverly Sills, the Beverly Sills Award is alive and well. This years recipient is the ultratalented and award-worthy Matthew Polenzani. After blowing me away in last years "Magic Flute", he captured my heart during a Sirius broadcast during which he was asked what opera character he was most like. To this question he replied, "I am most like Romeo because I have loved like that. Every day my love for my wife grows stronger." Or something to that effect, and he went on for a few minutes in that fashion. Margaret Juntwait hit the nail on the head when she said, "Every woman listening just went 'aaaahh.'" Congratulations to Matthew Polenzani! You deserve every award you get!


Who's Suing Who? (And For What?)
The Rosenblatt Recital Series is suing Erwin Schrott of Schrebko (aka. Anna's baby's daddy) because of his breach of contract for the second year in a row. He cancelled his recital (scheduled for June 11th) for unknown reasons, to the fury of Mr. Rosenblatt. He had this to say to the barihunk Schrott:

"For our audience to be treated with such gross unprofessionalism and disrespect
by Mr Schrott, on two occasions, is something that shouldn’t be
tolerated.
“This is a regrettable situation, but for the reputation of my
Series I cannot allow artists, with no lawful excuse, to renege on their
contractual commitments.
"In the seven years I’ve been running our recital
series I have been impressed time and again by the dedication of singers to
their art and their public. Singers such as Mr Schrott give opera a bad name and
a reputation for not caring for the people that pay to hear them sing.
“I am
disgusted by Mr Schrott’s callous disregard to his contractual obligations. His
behaviour is cowardly and I can only wonder if he has the guts to appear on a
London concert platform as this is the second time he’s backed out of appearing
here.”

Ouch.... I'd be angry too, but this is a full on RANT! Hey, that's my job!!!



Happy Listening!!! =)

Wagner Makes Me Bang My Head Against the Prompters Box

Well, not me, but Gary Lehman.

At the beginning of the third act of Tristan und Isolde Mr. Lehman was laying on a pallet. It slowly to quickly slide down the severely raked Met stage. His head slammed audibly onto the prompter's box. The audience "gasped, and some screamed," says SarahB who was there last night. Mr. Lehman's costars and some stage managers ran to his rescue and, after helping him stand, escorted him off stage. The curtain closed and after ten minutes an announcement was made that Gary Lehman was feeling better and wished to restart the scene. Needless to say, he got a large ovation at the end of the night. What a trooper!
Note: Deborah Voigt was the Isolde last night.







This is quite a bit worse than the incident at the Figaro this year. Simon Keenlyside (the Count) was throwing things off of the Countess's desk and one of the objects proceeded to roll right off the stage and bonk a cellist right in the head. She left at the end of the act and didn't return the rest of the performance. Ouch.





I want to see the HD transmission more than ever. Lord knows what will happen then!!!





Happy Listening!! =)

End of the Season Awards!

The end of the Metropolitan Opera season is not official until the fat lady sings... I mean, until we give out the awards. =) We give the awards to the good and the bad, the monstrosities and the muses, any one who did something special this season.


Worst acting:
Winner: Richard Margison

Worst singing:
Winner: Andrea Gruber in both Tosca and Turandot
Runner Up: women of the Met Chorus in some of the broadcasts
Third Place: Richard Margison

Best acting:
Winner: Renee Fleming in Eugene Onegin
Runner Up: Dmitri Hvorostovsky in Eugene Onegin
Third Place: Anna Netrebko in I Puritani

Opera with the best singing:
Winner: Il Barbiere di Siviglia
Runner Up: Eugene Onegin
Thrid Place: Die Zauberflote

Best singing by a male artist:
Winners: Rene Pape (sarastro) and Juan Diego Florez (almaviva)
Runners up: Dmitri Hvorostovsky (onegin) and David Daniels (cesare)

Most touching performance by a female artist:
Winner: Barbara Frittoli in Sour Angelica
Runner Up: Elene Evseeva in Boheme
Third Place: Liping Zhang as Liu in Turandot

Most touching performance by a male artist:
Winner: Ramon Vargas as Lenski in Onegin
Runner up: Marcello Giordani in Boheme
Third Place: Florez in Barbiere

Best Saturday Matinee Broadcast:
Winner: Eugene Onegin
Runner Up: I Puritani
Thrid Place: Il Barbiere di Siviglia
Fourth Place: Die Agyptische Helena

Worst Saturday Matinee Broadcast
Winners: Turandot (with Margison and Gruber) and La Boheme (everyone must have been sick)

Broadcast I would most like to hear again:
Winner: Jenufa with Karita Mattila
Runner up: Don Carlo
Third Place: Il Trittico

Best new production
Winner: Il Barbiere di Siviglia (singing and staging you could die for)
Runners Up: Madama Butterfly and Il Trittico

Opera I'm most sorry I missed:
Winner: La Traviata
Runners Up: Andrea Chenier, CR/Pagliacci

Operas I'm glad I went to:
Winner: Die Zauberflote
Runners up: Turandot (Sunnegardh) and Tosca (they're taking down that production soon!)

Highlights of the Year:
Rene Pape's Sarastro
James Morris's Scarpia
Juan Diego in Barbiere
Joyce DiDonato in Barbiere
Hvorostovsky and Fleming in Onegin
Anna Netrebko in Puritani
Domingo in First Emperor (even if the opera did pretty much stink)
La Gioconda (who knows when well see that again!)


Overall this season was fantastic. I'm going to miss this season so much! This was my first season at the Met Opera and I'm really happy it was. Bravi Tutti!