When a composer and soloist, conductor and orchestra are all at the top of their game, the only result is that audiences rise to their feet. That’s just what happened during Saturday night’s concert of the Albany Symphony Orchestra at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall.

An immediate standing ovation and five solid minutes of applause followed the performance of John Corigliano’s “Conjurer” a concerto for percussionist Evelyn Glennie led by David Alan Miller.

With his typical flair for drama, Corigliano gave a particular mood to each of the three movements and restricted the soloist to three families of percussion instruments — wood, metal and skins. Nevertheless, the wide apron of the stage was crammed full of hardware (as well as two dozen microphones for a recording).  A natural showman, Glennie made the most of it.

But Corigliano’s objective was to write music, not make choreography and he succeeded beautifully.  For most of the 35-minute piece, the orchestra is just strings.  In the opening, they had a slippery sense of pitch in contrast to the hard, defined sounds of marimba and wood blocks.

The strings cast an angelic aura around the haunting and elusive melody of the second movement, which recalled both Bernstein and Barber (no better Americans to steal from).  During the theme’s final iteration, as Glenie was both striking and bowing the vibraphone, the succession of up and down motions resembled the interaction of a sewing machine’s needle and bobbin.

The finale was all drums, though not as loud as expected or feared, and even somehow felt personal to the soloist.  That was one of the composer’s objectives, to keep the piece closer to the tradition of violin concertos than one more long episode of anonymous banging.

Corigliano — a remarkably youthful 73-year old — will be back for a full week in May, when Miller and the ASO will perform another work by him to complete a disc for Naxos.

Having a debut after something by Corigliano seems as unenviable as taking the podium after Bill Clinton.  But after intermission came the premiere of “Travel Lightly,” by Juilliard student Conrad Winslow. It was a scenic, boisterous and bumpy ride with little sense of having a preset itinerary.

Mozart’s Symphony No. 38 “Prague” ended the night. Usually after the ASO has spent most of the night immersed in new works, the classics arrive with unusual heft and vigor. But this time there was accuracy and flair as well.

Originally appeared in the Times Union.

Previously on MyBigGayEars:

John Corigliano: searching for a tune

For singer/songwriter Rufus Wainwright’s return to The Egg in Albany tonight, every audience member gets a close up view.  That’s thanks to the visual component of the concert’s first half, a video creation by Douglas Gordon.

But don’t expect a live action shot of Wainwright on a big screen, like at an arena rock show.

Gordon is an acclaimed artist who works in large scale video formats and he’s created a very long and slow-moving treatment of Wainwright’s eyes, which are lined in heavy black mascara. The video will play on a 30-foot screen for the entire first half of the concert as Wainwright performs the 12 songs from his recent album “All Days Are Nights: Songs for Lulu.” The album’s cover image, of Wainwright’s left eye, is also by Gordon.

“Its kind of like a dinosaur that’s come to the evening and is observing us,” joked Wainwright during a recent interview. “The camera took about 2000 frames a second, so it’s almost looks like it’s not moving.”

The video may be a particularly arty addition to Wainwright’s current world tour, now in its final leg. Yet since the focus is on Wainwright’s eyes — and tears — it’s just another way that the 37 year-old Canadian exposes himself to audiences.

“Songs for Lulu” is a decidedly personal effort. Where his past recordings featured lush arrangements by large teams of collaborators, it’s just Wainwright sitting alone at the piano and singing, as he’ll be doing at The Egg.

And then there’s the lyrics, like this line from “Sad with What I Have”:   “Never met a more un-impressed depressed lad. Blue boy doesn’t have a thing on me.”

Career-wise Wainwright has nothing to whine about, with continual triumphs in both the popular and classical fields. But last January his mother, the folk singer Kate McGarrigle, died from cancer at age 63.  Her declining health and passing affected all of Wainwright’s recent work and may have contributed to his view of the new album as not a collection of singles but a more classical creation. He calls it a song cycle, something more associated with guys like Schubert and Brahms than pop stars like Elton John.

“I never intended it to be a song cycle per se but I realized midway through there was an album of very engaging piano-voice material,” says Wainwright. “It’s the different key changes from song to song, the concentrating on the breath, and getting lost in the material. And that only happens in a song cycle.”

Audiences will be asked to withhold applause between songs, explains Wainwright, in order “to listen to the whole group.”

Wainwright has excerpted some of the material for other purposes though.  The three settings of Shakespeare sonnets were premiered in an orchestral version with the San Francisco Symphony just last month and will be reprised with the Chicago Symphony this coming summer.  For both gigs, Wainwright is the featured vocalist.

Regarding the departure from his own, highly personal lyrics, Wainwright says, “I’ve done a couple of little things here and there and always with fine writers like Shakespeare and William Blake. I’m pretty old school at the moment.”

He’s also increasingly focused on classical forms.  His first opera, “Prima Donna,” premiered at the Manchester International Festival in July 2009 and has also been performed in London and Toronto. The New York City Opera just announced it will mount the piece’s Manhattan debut next spring.

It was originally commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera but Wainwright withdrew the piece in 2008 when the company insisted on an English libretto, instead of the French, and said that a debut production couldn’t be mounted until 2014.

“I’m an impatient pop star,” Wainwright said at the time.  In other reports, Wainwright, who comes from a family of songwriters, complained of the laborious process of crafting libretto, music and orchestration.  The success, though, seems to outweigh the difficulties in his memory.

“Opera’s my main squeeze.  That’s what I’m feeling most comfortable with,” he says. Asked if another one is on the way, he gave a reply both coy and definitive:  “There’s a lot of demand and a lot of negotiating.”

“It’s pretty tough, the classical world,” he says. “It’s a very rigid system.  You have to slip into line in order to make something happen and that can be a great thing but can also be very annoying.  I’ve never played it safe and diving into the classical world is one of those risks.  I enjoy the battle but it has made me appreciate the freedom and creative energy that exists in the pop world.”

Wainwright likens the creation of an opera to the closest experience a man can have to birthing a child. “You have to build every aspect of the production through your head and your hands. And giving birth is pretty painful. In my mind that’s why I love it so much,” he says.

Recalling the early rehearsals of “Prima Donna,” Wainwright realized how much of himself was in the work.

“I was shocked at how sad it was and therefore how sad I was, but not able to access it consciously,” he says. “I stood back and looked at it and thought, boy you’re a pretty depressed guy.”

As Wainwright approaches the first anniversary of his mother’s death next month, his heart is healing and life goes on. Besides a string of professional commitments to keep him distracted, late last month during a concert at Royal Albert Hall, he announced his engagement to long-time boyfriend Jorn Weisbrodt.

“I’m getting happier,” he says. “I definitely see a light at the end of the tunnel and it’s not a train.”

Originally appeared in the Times Union.

GAY EARS ADDENDUM:

Stephen Holden in the New York Times wrote an unusually insightful review of Rufus’ concert Monday night at Carnegie Hall, “The Dark Lady and Judy Garland Play the Muses.” Holden and so many other pop critics usually focus on the lyrics rather than the music, but this review offers a good analysis of the stylistic content of the songs as well as the sometimes problematic qualities of Wainwright’s voice, while also giving a pretty vivid description of the performer’s costumes.  (Curious to see a picture of Rufus in that black dress…anybody?)  But Holden didn’t do his homework about the video, wondering if it’s Rufus’ eye.  And he also refers to the song “Art Teacher” as “a first-person short story about a woman’s lifelong passion for an instructor.”  Gosh, I thought it was a boy’s crush on a male teacher.

During her visit to the Capital Region last month we shared lunch at Jack’s Oyster House in downtown Albany.  I thought the conversation would be  about opera repertoire and casting (and wondered if I’d be out of my league).  In an unexpected role reversal, I was the one being peppered with questions. Zambello wanted to hear about the local economic and culture scene and to learn where else she should go and who else she should talk to in order to build support for Glimmerglass.

“I’m the artistic director but also the associate development director,” she joked.

Beyond fundraising, another priority is building ties to other cultural and civic organizations with the goal of reaching new audiences. For this coming summer, Zambello is setting in place collaborations with regional groups as diverse as the Baseball Hall of Fame, the Fenimore Art Museum and the Ommegang Brewery, all in Cooperstown, as well as the Munson Williams Proctor Arts Institute in Utica and even the local penitentiary (with the notion of getting inmates to help spruce up the grounds).

Opera also came up, of course, but Zambello didn’t give any hint as to what’s in store for future seasons. She said that the programming decisions for her entire three-year contract are in place and that more big name artists can be expected.  The headliner for this coming summer, of course, is Deborah Voigt in “Annie Get Your Gun.” Zambello’s close associations was such major artists was one of the reasons she got the job.

Though Zambello never suggested that the Cooperstown-based company is exactly on the ropes, she conveyed a palpable urgency and determination.  Tight finances, she said, are common throughout the field. “As a director,” she said, “at every company I work at, the question is how to do things better but for less money.”

You can hear more of Zambello’s history and plans for Glimmerglass at the company’s website, which has an audio recording of a talk she gave this summer in Cooperstown.

Photos courtesy Glimmerglass Opera.

For 35 years, Peter Haley has been the Pied Piper of opera in the Capital Region.  As founder of the 400-member Siena Opera Club, he teaches classes on the art form, leads dozens of bus trips every year to performances across the east coast, and organizes European tours.

Preparing for it all means long days immersed in music and logistical details. And Haley doesn’t even get to take the summers off.

That’s because the local opera season is concentrated during the months of July and August.  At the head of the pack is the Lake George Opera at Saratoga, which Haley and his crew call “the home team.” The company launches its 48th season tonight with a new production of “Carmen” and continues on Friday with Donizetti’s “Viva La Mama.” Meanwhile in Cooperstown Glimmerglass Opera’s opening weekend features Puccini’s “Tosca” on Friday and Copland’s “The Tenderland” on Saturday.

Still more opera is ahead at Bard College, Tanglewood, the Arts Center of the Capital Region in Troy and Hubbard Hall in Cambridge and the Seagle Colony on Schroon Lake.

The Siena Opera Club will show up in force for most everything.

“They’re enthusiastic and knowledgeable opera-goers,” says Curtis Tucker, artistic director of the Lake George Opera.  “Peter Haley’s leadership of the organization has been extraordinary. He has made the Siena Opera Club an important group, serving individuals, opera companies near and far, and the art form that we love.”

“Our mission it to put people in front of live opera,” says Haley, 70.

That’s also an apt description of Haley’s life purpose.  He’s had sundry other musical pursuits, including 54 years as a church organist, starting in his teens and continuing at various parishes in the region. But opera’s been his primary focus since at least 1975 when he was recruited to teach an appreciation course in the tiny music department at Siena College in Loudonville.

Haley recalls that when he became a full time faculty member there in 1984, “I was the music department, teaching an intro class, music history and introduction to opera.”  He retired five years ago but continues a pace with the club.

According to Haley, the class in opera was surprisingly popular with undergrads, partly since it met just one night a week but was worth three credits. But it also drew a healthy contingent of adult students from the community.  In 1980, the regulars prevailed on Haley to continue offering monthly seminars and to expand the range of excursions.  Bus rides to the Metropolitan Opera have been happening ever since, sometimes a dozen times a season.

“If you live in the Albany area and are a die hard opera fan, it’s the best deal going,” says Deborah Onslow, former president and general manager of WMHT, who’s been a member for about four years. “It allows me to go to New York and not have to spend the night. Sometimes those operas are so long that there’s no hope of catching the late train back.”

For Met performances, members are dropped off at Lincoln Center at 4 p.m., allowing time for a bit of shopping or site seeing as well as dinner before the 8 p.m. curtain.  After the show, they pile into the buses and arrive back at Siena by 1 or 2 a.m.

Membership in the Siena Opera Club is $25 a year for individuals, $40 for families.  Members can pick and chose which performances they’ll attend.  Met tickets, including transportation, are around $150. The advance seminars are free.

“My only regret is that I didn’t learn about it when it first started,” says Roland Hummel of Brunswick.  “I subscribed to the Met for 20 years and took the train. But it’s best to be with other people interested in opera.”

During his 15 years of membership, Hummel has gone on at least a dozen European tours with the club and is looking forward to trip to Spain in the fall.  Though he’s 91 years old, Hummel is not the oldest active member. That distinction goes to John Cetner, age 102.

“It’s the pure pleasure of listening to good music,” says Cetner, who still attends several performances each year. “And Peter is a gem who uses plane language to describe the plots and singers.”

While the membership tilts toward the grey-haired set, vocal students from local high schools and colleges are regularly taken along to performances for free.  Three years ago a partnership was formed with the Opera Club at Lisha Kill Middle School. It consists of students who give up recess to watch opera on DVD and sometimes tag along on the opera club outings.

“Watching the discussions about opera on the bus is my favorite part,” says Lisha Kill band instructor Karen MacWatters. “Suddenly there’s a bunch of crazy noisy kids and the seniors just light right up.”

Quietly presiding over it all is the benevolent Peter Haley.  Also a former critic for the Times Union, Haley is as discerning and experienced a listener as you’ll find, having seen “La Traviata” more than 50 times. But he mostly keeps his opinions to himself.

“I try to respect where my people are and if they’ve had a great time and I haven’t, why bother to say anything,” he explains.  “Though to my friends I’ll bitch up a storm about a bad performance and just let the blood run.”

Without a hint of condescension, Haley continues: “At midnight after we’ve been through an opera and I’m checking people onto the bus, someone will say ‘Wasn’t that wonderful?’ And I’ll just smile.  My pleasure is making pleasure for other people.”

Originally appeared in Times Union.

Photos: Cindy Schultz, Times Union

Tchaikovsky Spectacular
Albany Symphony Orchestra, David Alan Miller, conductor
with Joshua Roman, cello
Palace Theatre, Albany, NY
April 23, 2010

Spectacular. Advertising copywriters often use that adjective to describe concerts of Tchaikovsky, especially when his 1812 Overture is performed, with or without real cannons.

The Albany Symphony Orchestra’s “Tchaikovsky Spectacular” Friday night at the Palace Theatre didn’t emphasize booming spectacle.  Instead, it earned the critique of spectacular for the outstanding level of musical execution and deep emotional impact.

The Symphony No. 6 “Pathetique” was a tour de force for massed forces that burst to life in the glittering waltz and climaxed in the striding march. As always, that third movement was so convincing as a grand finale that much of the audience broke into applause. But the heart of the piece was still to come in the wrenching final Adagio.  At its conclusion, when conductor David Alan Miller left the podium, he looked flushed and somber. He was also drenched, though it was hard to tell if it was just from sweat, or maybe a few tears were mixed in to the flow.

For the first time in memory, Miller walked amongst the orchestra, thanking and congratulating his players while the audience cheered.

Through the symphony’s many mood swings, there was a consistent and admirable attention to subtle levels of dynamics and clarity of textures.  To get there must have taken study and discipline in rehearsal, but everything came off fluid and organic.

Equally satisfying yet a world away in sentiment was the light and frothy Rococo Variations, featuring the 26 year-old cellist Joshua Roman. Though a flirtatious presence, with a sly grin and darting, mischievous eyes, he was no mere showboat. Roman’s playing was lean and exacting, yet delivered with an off the cuff ease.  His combination of charming personality and utter musicality should take him far.

The concert opened with a handsome performance of the March Slave followed by the final movement of the Orchestral Suite No. 3. The latter, structured as a series of variations, is a kind of catalog of Tchaikovsky’s trademark gestures and brilliant orchestration techniques. A highlight of the performance was a solo by concertmaster Jill Levy that began with startling muscle and verve before easing into a lyric serenade.

One of her most recent collaborations is with heavy metal guitarist Steve Vai, better known for his work with Frank Zappa, David Lee Roth and Whitesnake.  Isbin says that the two will eventually record together but for now, she’s riding on the success of her disc “Journey to the New World,” which was released a year ago and last month won Isbin her second Grammy Award.

For much of “Journey to the New World” Isbin performs with violinist and composer Mark O’Connor and the two will appear together on Sunday afternoon at The Egg. The concert will feature solo sets from each artist, and they will also perform two duets written by O’Connor — a new arrangement of his hit “Appalachian Waltz” and “Strings and Threads,” the suite which concludes Isbin’s recent disc.

“He’s a very sweet, wonderful and generous person and it’s a pleasure to call him a friend.  We enjoy traveling together and have a very warm collaboration,” says Isbin. “It’s especially fun to do that last movement of ‘Strings and Threads,’ since it’s different each time with Mark improvising while I do the chord chart.”

Also on Isbin’s recent disc and an expected part of Sunday’s program is a tribute to Joan Baez, a lifelong hero of Isbin’s.   Almost 10 years ago Isbin commissioned John Duarte, a British composer and guitarist who died in 2004, to write the “Joan Baez  Suite.” It includes such now-standard fair as “The House of the Rising Son” and “Where Have All the Flowers Gone.”

More recently that Isbin worked with the real Joan Baez, not just her songbook.  After giving a hearty blessing to the piece by Duarte, Baez agreed to sing a couple of additional songs on Isbin’s disc “Journey to the New World.”

“Our first rehearsal was extraordinary,” recalls Isbin. “She came to my home in New York and asked me to play for her before we began. So I sat down about 4 feet from her and when I was done she had tears streaming down her face.”

Isbin’s selections that afternoon included some Spanish pieces that Baez remembered from childhood, when her dad played recordings of Segovia. “It was a poignant meeting of the souls since her music has inspired me for so many years,” says Isbin.

Last November Isbin had a slightly more grandiose audience when she performed at the White House.  It was actually more than just a one-evening, in-and-out concert. Isbin was one of four classical musicians who spent a full day in the building, giving classes for local students followed by a matinee concert.  After that was done, they went back to their Washington hotels to dress up for the evening’s formal concert in the East Room. (Apparently there are no dressing rooms for visiting artists in the presidential residence.)

Nevertheless, says Isbin, “We practically moved in, since we were also there the previous night to rehearse.  It was very elaborate with multiple bomb-sniffing dogs each time we were going in and out.  I kept hoping the dog wouldn’t drool on my guitar.”

During the evening’s concert, Isbin performed a few Latin American selections and a duet with violinist Joshua Bell, which was their first collaboration.  She also had a few moments with the President. But it wasn’t their first encounter.

Isbin says they met in 2005 at a memorial for Chicago philanthropist Irving Harris, at which Isbin performed.  Out on the sidewalk afterward, Isbin spotted Illinois’ newest senator, went up to him and introduced herself.  She recalls that Obama complimented her on the performance and said, “I wish you’d do something like that for me sometime.”

After her performance at the White House, he paid her another compliment, “He told me that one of his daughters is interested in studying the guitar. So maybe I inspired someone to go in that direction.”

(March 11, 2010, Times Union, Albany, NY)

Only in classical music could the borrowing and crosspollination of musical styles be such big and controversial thing. But “crossover” is a sometimes suspect, though often profitable category for artists and projects that blend popular and classical material.

Two of its best exponents, guitarist Sharon Isbin and violinist Mark O’Connor, appeared together Sunday afternoon at The Egg in Albany.

What makes them such an interesting pairing is that they come to the middle ground from opposites sides of the tracks. Isbin has excelled with Bach and the Spanish staples of the guitar repertoire and commissioned imaginative new concertos for the instrument. O’Connor is both composer and performer and his roots as an old time fiddler show through in practically every phrase. They share an impeccable technique and a taste for modest adventure.

The pair’s current tour follows on the success of their CD, “Journey to the New World,” that recently received a Grammy. It included O’Connor’s “Strings and Threads,” a suite of original airs and dances that ended the concert. They also teamed up for “Appalachian Waltz,” O’Connor’s tuneful and reverent hit from the early 90s.

But they were really at their best performing alone, each offering short sets during both halves of the program.

Isbin began with some Spanish material, meticulous but flavorful. After intermission she performed the “Joan Baez” Suite” by John Duarte. It touched on about a dozen folk songs, including “House of the Rising Sun,” which was given a fresh but cloudy harmonization, and “Where Have All the Flowers Gone.” A bit of “Taps,” played on hushed harmonics, was inserted into the latter, as if to reinforce its wartime message. It was all delicate and lovely, but Baez’s magic isn’t so much her material, but her voice’s unavoidable edge and presence — qualities that were missing from the homage.

O’Connor’s off the cuff, good ole boy presence makes it easy to overlook his unique gifts. Yet in the first half, he delivered with a country inflection a series of solos that were wandering, questing and demanding. He eased off after intermission, playing a series of folk songs, like “O Susannah” and “When the Saints Go Marching In.”

O’Connor spent the weekend in Albany introducing violin students to his new method of instruction based on various American material. A couple of times he pointed out to the violin students in the audience when he was playing an instrument with an alternative tuning.

(March 15, 2010, Times Union, Albany, NY)

Previously on MyBigGayEars:

Sharon Isbin at the White House (12/09)

Sharon Isbin’s Musical Journey (6/09)

Ten years ago pianist Christopher O’Riley needed something to play

“There’s a crosspollination of listening in the younger generation of music lovers, with enthusiasms for all kinds of genres. That’s just the norm with them,” says O’Riley, 54. As just one example, he recalls “a Juilliard violinist talking about jazz and what a good he was having with music, where he wasn’t having to dot every i and cross every t.”

Riley says that the original conception of “From the Top” was to highlight young musicians of every stripe, not just classical, but the strict formats of public radio stations made that an unworkable concept.  Slipping in pop music, played by the show’s genial host at the piano, seems to be his way of keeping some link to the rest of the musical universe.

It didn’t take that long for O’Riley’s new endeavors to find their way onto disc.  The all-Radio Head collection “True Love Waits” was released on Sony in 2003. And as O’Riley has expanded his prevue to include other figures from alternative rock, including Nick Drake and Elliott Smith, the new discs keep coming.  His fifth and most recent title, “Out of My Hands,” is the first to feature a variety, with original treatments of Tori Amos, Nirvana, Pink Floyd, R.E.M. and others.

O’Riley has also published a number of his transcriptions — or “reimaginings” as he likes to call them.  Two songbooks and a number of PDF downloads are available for purchase through his Web site (http://www.christopheroriley.com).

“They are rather faithful as transcriptions to the form and format of the original material, but aside from that in terms of invoking the technological and instrumental colors there’s a lot of original thought,” he explains. “There are a lot of people buying them but they’re almost impossible to play really.”

While always welcoming recommendations of new pop and rock acts to check out — he’s especially taken by the Lady Gaga video “Bad Romance” — O’Riley has hardly abandoned the classical repertoire. His Sunday afternoon program will be a liberal mixture of material from both sides of his career.

“It’s going to be an amalgam. I’ve got the idea of not formatting the program so strictly and just announcing it all from the stage,” he says. “There will probably be some new arrangements that I’ve come up with in the last few months, and some new classical enthusiasms.” As examples of the later, he cites a current fondness Debussy and Scriabin, the Russian Galina Ustvolskay who died in 2006 and the 39-year old British composer Thomas Ades.

Drawing connections between new and old has become a particular fascination.  A series of three concerts last season at Miller Theatre in New York paired rock and classical artists.

One evening featured Shostakovich and Radio Head.  “They both mastered the art of irony in music, Shostakovich out of necessity and Radio Head out of desire.  In their song “No Surprises,” the lyrics are all suicidal, and it’s juxtaposed against really pretty music, while Shostakovich always has texts and subtexts.”  Robert Schumann and Elliott Smith were paired together because of a common mania, while Nick Drake and Debussy just shared a fondness for Paris.

Perhaps even more satisfying to O’Riley than bringing together such extreme types of music has been bringing together different kinds of listeners.  Success with that came early in the history of “From the Top.”  Recalls the pianist, “My announcer would say, ‘That was Christopher O’Riley playing Radio Head.’ And we would get emails asking, ‘Who is this Mr. Head and how can we get more of his music?’”

(March 4, 2010, Times Union, Albany, NY)

Best known as the host of the radio program “From the Top,” pianist Christopher O’Riley has a distinctive ringing sound at the keyboard and a knack for choosing repertoire that shows off his light, transparent touch.  That he’s become a specialist in making and playing transcriptions of alternative rock songs — especially by the band Radio Head — is really just an added cool factor.  Like a dancer who ends up doing most of his own choreography, O’Riley knows his strengths so well that he may as well also be the one to set the notes.

This realization came about two-thirds of the way through his Sunday afternoon recital at The Egg in Albany when he played the “Ondine” movement from Ravel’s “Gaspard de la nuit.”  Its floating textures were given a shimmering, crystalline elegance — and felt surprisingly similar to much of the other material on the program, whether it was by Nirvana, Pink Floyd or Tori Amos.

A rock song in one of O’Riley’s “re-imaginings,” as he calls them, typically hides the melody amidst a gentle turbulence of hazy, broken chords, a rumbling bass and pearlescent dabs in the treble.  Like most rock songs, they have almost no beginning or end but are instead a slice in time from a continuous pulsing wave.

They also appear devilishly tricky to play. Among the most impressive was Radio Head’s “Like Spinning Plates,” which could have been called an etude for the left hand.

Though wrong notes were practically impossible to detect, except for occasional winces on O’Riley’s face, this was no mere improvising.  For everything but the Ravel, which was performed by memory, O’Riley read music from the screen of an adapted laptop computer that rested on the grand piano in place of its music stand.  He controlled the movement of the images on the screen using a foot control placed to the left of the piano’s pedals.

In a nod to the sound of pop but mostly in compensation for the dry and noisy hall, the piano was amplified and given some extra reverb.

In between a generous sampling of Radio Head came Nirvana’s “Heart Shaped Box,” Portishead’s “The Rip,” and Tears for Fears’ “Mad World.”  There was also a movement of Scarlatti, Chopin’s Barcarole, and Thomas Ades’ “Darkness Visible,” a dramatic homage to John Dowland.  A voracious consumer of music, O’Riley also included “Here and Now,” by 17-year old Vermont composer Tim Woos, who appeared on “From the Top” just a few weeks ago.

(March 8, 2010,Times Union, Albany, NY)

]]> http://mybiggayears.com/archives/preview-review-christopher-oriley-in-albany/feed/ 1 http://mybiggayears.com/archives/concert-review-patti-lupone-and-mandy-patinkin-2610-schenectady/ http://mybiggayears.com/archives/concert-review-patti-lupone-and-mandy-patinkin-2610-schenectady/#comments Mon, 08 Feb 2010 08:00:54 +0000 jody http://mybiggayears.com/?p=997 SCHENECTADY – It was 30 years ago that Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin opened in the Broadway production of “Evita,” and earned Tony Awards for their efforts.  With their reunion tour that arrived at Proctors Theatre on Saturday night, they could have coasted through some chestnuts and reminisced about the good old days and still probably have sent the near capacity crowd home plenty happy.

But that wouldn’t have been enough for these still ambitious performers.  Instead, with music director and accompanist Paul Ford they crafted a seamless evening of scenes — dramatic, comic and manic — laced with snippets of more than two dozen Broadway songs, mostly by Sondheim and Rodgers and Hammerstein.

They began by spitting out the dense lyrics of “Another Hundred People,” and soon settled into an abridged version of dialogue and songs from “South Pacific.”  After Patinkin’s character proposed marriage, LuPone reverted back to Sondheim with “Not Getting Married Today,” which was then interspersed with his lesser known “Loving You” from “Passion.”  And with that it was clear that this would not be a concert of neatly packaged songs delivered in front of the piano.  For most of the evening they segued rapidly from one number to another and there was no chit chat.

“April in Paris” was followed by the humorous “April in Fairbanks,” which was then followed by elaborate bit of choreography by Ann Reinking. They performed it sitting on black office chairs and ended with belly flops and quick rolling exits to opposite wings of the stage.

Then LuPone closed the first half with “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina,” belting it out at the edge of the stage, arms raised in her iconic pose.  She returned after intermission with another one of the show’s few solos, “Everything’s Coming Up Roses.”

Though Patinkin doesn’t have such signature songs, he made a grand tour de force comedy out of “The God-Why-Don’t-You-Love-Me Blues.” The second half also featured more understated medleys of song and dialogue from “Merrily We Roll Along” and “Carousel.”

The voices of both artists have aged over the years. LuPone’s is reedy in the midrange, while Patinkin is more of a robust baritone than the light tenor of earlier days.  But their lung capacity and general energy was still darned impressive.

The only adornments on the stage were a couple dozen randomly placed floor lamps with exposed bulbs. They brought to mind the “ghost light” that resides in every major theater and also the long and still thriving career of these valuable American artists.

Originally appeared in the Times Union.

]]> http://mybiggayears.com/archives/concert-review-patti-lupone-and-mandy-patinkin-2610-schenectady/feed/ 0 http://mybiggayears.com/archives/concert-reviews-12510/ http://mybiggayears.com/archives/concert-reviews-12510/#comments Mon, 25 Jan 2010 17:54:19 +0000 jody http://mybiggayears.com/?p=900 Except for my ears, there’s nothing gay here (at least as far as I know). These are my reviews for the Times Union (Albany, NY) from last weekend. I’ve decided to start posting more of this sort of thing, since these assignments are what can keep me from providing more original content on here.

Daniel Bernard Roumain & The Mission

January 22, 2010, The Egg, Albany

Daniel Bernard Roumain, also known as DBR, is a composer with ample classical chops, but he also knows how to improvise — and not just with notes. He turned his long-scheduled return to The Egg on Friday night into a benefit for the victims of the earthquake in Haiti, which is where his own family roots lie. His opening violin solo was a kind of theme and variations on the country’s national anthem.

The musical heart of the program remained mostly in tact, a series of string quartets written in honor of civil rights leaders. During one lengthy movement, a striding tribute to Adam Clayton Powell and Harlem style, Roumain didn’t have to read the vibe of the room to know that the crowd was down with the music. They’d started calling out their appreciation, as at a gospel service. Immediately Roumain brought the audience into the performance, leading them in finger snaps of increasing rhythmic complexity.

A few minutes further into the piece, a telephone sang out in the hall and Roumain halted the quartet. He’d warned us that something might happen during the piece, but a phone call?

Through the speaker system, Roumain conducted a conversation with two American friends who recently arrived in Haiti, asking them to describe in detail the situation and how they’re getting by. If the musical program was curtailed for a while to make time for the dialogue, no one seemed to mind and members of the local Haitian community were allowed to ask a few questions.

Roumain’s series of Civil Rights Portraits features five quartets and portions of four were performed. The music is post-minimal with most sections consisting of a perpetual rhythmic motion. Much of it might feel pretty stagnant when played by a traditional quartet, politely seated on stage. But Romain’s amplified band — the SQ Unit, he calls them — swayed their bodies, grinded their bows and made it all rather gritty and gripping. Their encore of free improvisation was full of daring and personality.

Roumain, 38, is one of the most prominent of the new generation of composers who don’t hide offstage. He’s a dynamic emcee and showman, who sometimes scratches the violin like it’s a turntable. Also part preacher and music instructor, he brings a so-called classical concert to life like nobody else can. Cheers to The Egg for bringing him here regularly.

Mahler’s Fifth Symphony

Albany Symphony Orchestra, Benjamin Zander, guest conductor

Saturday January 23, Palace Theatre, Albany

If Benjamin Zander wasn’t already friends with half of the Capital Region by the time he led the Albany Symphony Orchestra on Saturday night, it wasn’t for lack of trying. The Boston conductor had a string of public appearances throughout the week, starting with a well attended talk on leadership Monday night at the Massry Center.  It all culminated with Saturday’s concert in the Palace Theatre featuring Mahler’s Fifth Symphony.

A prescient depiction of modern angst, the Fifth dates from 1902 and is cast in five movements that stretch well more than an hour in length.  Eight-three players were on stage for the performance.

To heighten the effect of Mahler’s stormy vision, Zander began the program with a lilting picture of old Europe in the form of Johann Strauss’ Emperor Waltzes.  He used plenty of rubato, with most passages either racing along or almost dragging.  Though the music was intimate, Zander’s gestures were huge. Since he stands at least six feet tall, the crowd in the balcony could have probably followed along easily.

As if wiping away the exuberant life of his earlier symphonies, Mahler begins the Fifth with a desolate cry from the trumpet.  Eric Berlin handled it and many more solos with aplomb

The first two movements are a near constant tug of war between romanticism and modernity.  Imagine a joyous song accompanied by the march of soldiers.  Yet Zander’s interpretation seemed to accentuate the tender, such as the cello section’s smooth composure during a descending melody in the second movement.

The central Scherzo was most arresting when the strings played pizzicato, followed by a number of solos from the woodwinds and brass. The passage culminated with one of Mahler’s most obvious allusions to the waltz, which prompted a brief return of Zander’s grand beat. He nearly touched the ceiling.  Also memorable in the Scherzo was the sustained and full bodied playing of first horn William Hughes.

The string choir was all heart in the gentle Adagietto, with a delicate underpinning from harpist Lynette Wardle. When the music faded to nothing, the thrilling ride of the finale commenced immediately.  The string of climaxes included a series of descending chords from the mighty brass.

Along the way there were moments to quibble about — an out of tune tympani in the opening movement, a sour tuba solo near the end of the second, and a vague and weary line from a horn near the end. But the larger perspective was Zander outlining a picture of the piece that a talented and dedicated orchestra filled in with both vivid color and deep sentiment.

Brentano String Quartet plays Beethoven

Sunday January 24, 2010, Union College Concert Series, Schenectady

Whether a listener or a performer, everyone in classical music must address the works of Beethoven. But the Brentano String Quartet has a special obligation because it’s named for Antonie Brentano, who scholars believe was Beethoven’s unrequited love interest, his “immortal beloved.”

On Sunday afternoon, for the Brentano’s second solo engagement at the Union College Concert Series, the group stepped up to the challenge with an all-Beethoven program. It was obvious that the material was hardly new to them. Though its members are youthful looking, the Brentano has been around for 18 years already and it couldn’t have earned its many awards and accolades without having a firm grip on Beethoven. From start to finish, they played with a polished sound and impeccable ensemble.

The three quartets at hand date from Beethoven’s early, middle and late periods and were offered in chronological order.  It was an immersive listening experience that got deeper, though surprisingly less interesting, as things progressed.

The String Quartet No. 1 in F Major, Op. 18 No. 1 has more than a few touches of Hadyn and Mozart, yet the Brentano brought out the romantic side.  After starting with some beautiful unison trills, the opening Allegro became quite forceful, almost explosive. Then the Adagio was so meditative that the writing seemed a little incoherent, even listless. The spell wore off soon enough as the material turned increasingly grave. The Scherzo had an admirable articulation and bounce but the final Allegro, with Beethoven’s return to classical gestures, rattled on a bit.

Even more free form was the String Quartet No. 9 in C Major, Op. 59, No. 3 “Rasumovsky.”  In his program notes, founder and first violinist Mark Steinberg described it as feeling “at sea.” The piece really came to life in the spare Andante, when a curvaceous rather Eastern melody got passed around for solos.  Cellist Nina Maria Lee had a fun walking bass figure and throughout the afternoon she added more low register support than most quartets have.

After intermission came the Quartet No. 12 in E-flat major, Op. 127.  It’s the first of the so-called late quartets, yet it’s not the late late kind that got into such weird harmonies and forms. It actually turned out to be the most cohesive writing of the afternoon, and one was reminded that E-flat is one mellow key, popular for lullabyes.  As the sun was setting and the piece droned on, it felt good that duties to Beethoven were nearing completion.

]]> http://mybiggayears.com/archives/concert-reviews-12510/feed/ 0 http://mybiggayears.com/archives/review-margaret-cho-at-the-egg-92609/ http://mybiggayears.com/archives/review-margaret-cho-at-the-egg-92609/#comments Sun, 27 Sep 2009 13:16:06 +0000 jody http://mybiggayears.com/?p=377 Is Margaret Cho not getting it enough? Because she sure talks about it an awful lot. Sex that is.

When she walked on stage of the Swyer Theatre in The Egg on Saturday night in Albany, she got down on her knees to discuss — and demonstrate — the difficulty of maintaining proper ergonomics when pleasing a man.  Intimate acts and private body parts continued to be the overarching theme of the night.  For an anatomy lesson a loose and drooping microphone cord became a prop. It was often hysterical, especially when her malleable face punctuated the one-liners.

For the capacity crowd of devoted fans, none of it could have been shocking or unexpected. Cho built her reputation on being blatant, but her single-mindedness felt new.  She’s been married since 2003 and in a recent interview said that it was an exclusive relationship. So one wonders if all that talk of messing around with men and women alike was distant memories, pure imagination or wishful thinking.

Cho’s routine only briefly touched on some other familiar themes — such as her Korean ethnicity and her clueless but loveable mother — that have given her acts more heft and poignancy in the past.  She did speak of being mistaken for other semi-famous Asian women. Her response: “No I’m the one from Grey’s Anatomy.”

Actually, she’s the one from “Drop Dead Diva,” currently running on Lifetime.  Explaining how each episode lately has a female guest star popular with gays, she boosted, “We’re the Gay Pride Edition of the Love Boat.”

Cho’s newest material is original songs, mostly ballads with sweet tunes and raunchy lyrics.  Her singing voice is unexpectedly soft, even lovely. As for the guitar playing, it’s rudimentary strumming, but as she said, if Madonna can do it, how hard can it be?

Two opening acts were surprisingly good. Ian Harvey wasted no time in coming out as a female to male transsexual who likes girls and told of learning to deal with passes from gay men.  Aided by an array of wigs, John Roberts gave a rapid-fire series of impersonations of familiar but annoying archetypes from contemporary life — the vegan lesbian, the gay pride mom, the coked-up comedian.

Harvey and Roberts joined Cho for some final songs, including a tender dialogue between a dog and his owner.  And Cho finally gave one of her best bits, impersonating her mom and for the first time with a wig and granny glasses.

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