Kelleigh's Musical Musings

TSO and Christmas with Canadian Brass

2011-12-31T11:42:00.000-08:00

(tso.ca)

2011 concert attendance concluded with the Toronto Symphony's Christmas Concert. This year it again featured Canadian Brass, conducted by Steven Reineke. Mr. Reineke is always entertaining, but this year wisely took a back seat to allow Canadian Brass members Chuck Daellenbach (tuba, and founding member from 1970) and Brandon Ridenour (trumpet) perform most of the intros. To quote a review from the Toronto Star "no one came to Roy Thomson Hall to hear the Toronto Symphony Orchestra on Wednesday, very fine though they were" which is likely very true. Some of the "very fine" orchestra only and orchestra/choir (the Etobicoke School for the Arts Chorus was also on hand) numbers were "Carol of the Bells", "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm", and Mr. Reineke's chestnut of the season, "The Best Christmas of All" from a 1996 TV movie called Mrs. Santa Claus.

"Carol of the Bells" was an arrangement by David Hamilton which is also on my favourite Christmas CD by the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. You hear so much more though when it's performed live. The beginning had percussionists on two xylophones and the chimes, which sounded awesome and larger dynamic ranges than I recalled from my ISO version. The music for Mrs. Santa Claus was composed by Jerry Herman (of Mame and Hello, Dolly! fame) and starred Angela Landsbury (incidentally she also starred in Mame). "The Best Christmas of All" is a sweet song with a catchy tune, emphasizing the family/being together aspect of the holiday season.

The Men of Canadian Brass (Chris, Achilles, Chuck, Eric, and Brandon) with their
24 caret gold plated instruments
(www.classical963fm.com)

Canadian Brass entered to their signature "Just a Closer Walk with Thee". The three other members making up the group are trombonist Achilles Liarmakopoulos (the newest member), Eric Reed (horn), and Chris Coletti (trumpet). Interesting to note, not one of the current members are actually Canadian. Chuck could be considered honorary having called Toronto home for many, many years, but the rest are from New York, Michigan, Indiana, and Greece! However, all are extremely talented, some hold positions with other orchestras, and are even composer/arrangers. So if they want to promote the "Canadian" name, there will be no complaint from me!

Gene Watts
(canadanbrass.com)

Highlights of the Canadian Brass numbers were Chuck's feature, the melting "Frosty the Snowman", an ensemble piece with the chorus called "The Angel Choir and the Trumpeter" where Chris rocked the piccolo trumpet solos, and "Saints Hallelujah" emphasizing Achilles mellow trombone. Tuesday night founding trombonist Gene Watts, who Achilles met back when he was 10, was in the audience. He was introduced before "Saints" and received a round of audience applause. He's probably the player who most Canadian Brass followers would remember as making it a trombone signature piece.

In the second half the strings were dismissed as Canadian Brass joined forces with the TSO brass section (including trumpet and trombone principal players) to play two arrangements by Stan Kenton. Kenton switched up the big band sound by replacing the saxophones with more brass, and the sounds of "O Holy Night" and "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" were different yet a welcome variation on the traditional. The combined brass sounds was magnificent.

It was a wonderful concert and Canadian Brass picked up at least one new fan, as the friend I went with purchased some of their music. The gentlemen were very generous with their time, signing autographs after the show. They have the best autographs I've seen, each incorporating some aspect of the instrument they play. (photo to come)

Memphis: The Musical

2011-12-28T13:53:00.000-08:00

Fresh from Broadway is the first National Tour of Memphis, which recently made a brief stop in Toronto (so technically it's a North American tour). The story takes place in the 1950's during a time when radio was one more segregated element in the southern USA. I had no idea that "race music" stations were relegated to the edges of the band, typically where the signal was not as high a quality. Mainstream stations may have had a rhythm and blues program, but based on how the musical pokes fun at this program on a white station, they were essentially a joke; not really playing black music.

In the musical, a guy named Huey Calhoun (Bryan Fenkart), who likes black music ends up in the wrong area of town at a black nightclub. He convinces them he likes their music, and isn't interested in anything other than promoting it, well except for Felicia (Felicia Boswell). She's a black singer, and sister of night club owner Delray (Quentin Earl Darrington), with whom Huey falls in love. His promise of getting her singing in the centre of the radio dial is the driving force of the first act. The sudden expansion of black music, now being called rock and roll, onto radio, TV, and the aftermath of the Huey/Felicia relationship is the subject of Act 2.

Felicia Boswell and Bryan Fenkart
(www.mooneyontheatre.com)

The story line is lively, intense, thought provoking, tender and touching all at the same time. We see the change in characters preconceived notions about people, (namely Huey's mother played by Happy McPartlin), who are different and a younger generation that embraces the music and change. It's sad to think that all this happened barely a generation ago. Things don't get as far as a lynching but there's intense opposition to Huey and Felicia being together.

Unfortunately, there isn't a fairy tale ending. Felicia's story has a happier finale than Huey's as she makes a career as a singer in New York. By trying to force too much, too fast change wise in Memphis Huey ends up losing all the progress he made professionally. Although I like to think he gets back on the right track at the end with a little help from old friends.

Huey and cast in final scene
(yipit.com)

The music follows the same mix of emotions. The score (musical as well) won a Tony award in 2010 and is by founding member of Bon Jovi, David Bryan. I particularly liked the upbeat "Everyone Wants to be Black on a Saturday Night", Felicia's heartfelt "Coloured Woman", and the song that eventually makes it on the radio in the centre of the dial "Someday". Maybe I was just in an overly sappy mood, but "Memphis Lives in Me" brought tears to my eyes as everything Huey had falls apart. There wasn't a member of the cast who left you feeling let down with their voice or performance. They are all top notch talents.

Felicia singing live on the radio
(photo by Joan Marcus)

The show has now left Toronto, but should it make a return appearance and you're looking for a mix of catchy music and story with heart, check out Memphis.

Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker

2011-12-28T08:04:00.000-08:00

The current National Ballet of Canada's version of The Nutcracker was created in 1995 by choreographer James Kudelka. I saw this version shortly after it debuted, and wasn't too impressed. The story line has been twisted from what I'd call "the original" (although there have been so many variations, maybe there is no more "original"), and at that point having a party in a barn seemed completely weird and out of place. Now, 17 years later, I figured it was time to give it another shot. Plus who can resist the fantastic Tchaikovsky score performed live?

(national.ballet.ca &
theballetbag.com)

At the Dec. 15 performance the Sugar Plum Fairy was principal dancer Greta Hodgkinson and Peter, a stable boy (aka: cavalier/the Prince in the second act), was Steven McRae. He is a guest artist from The Royal Ballet who also appeared with the National Ballet last season in Alice in Wonderland.

(ontariotravelblog.com)

Prior to the performance was a short skit by a grown up Misha and Marie (the two children replacing Clara and Fritz in this version) who recall the magical Christmas Eve that we, the audience, are about to see. It was a great intro for children to the story (and for people who were expecting "the original").

(thestar.com)

Uncle Nikolai (danced by an unrecognizable Robert Stephen under the beard, hat, and 10lb costume) takes the place of Drosselmeyer, although is just as eccentric a character. His female counterpart is the children's nurse, Baba (Alejandra Perez-Gomez) This couple become a duke and empress in Act 2. Other than some swapping of characters, and relocation to a barn, the party is still the majority of Act 1, followed by the growing Christmas tree and Mouse King fight. What I do miss at the party is the duet of the wind up dancing dolls presented by Drosselmeyer. This versions speciality party dance numbers involve a horse, and another with two bears (one on pointe shoes, the other on roller blades).

(cbc.ca)

Otherwise, the children dance, the adults dance, and Peter dances. In other versions I don't recall Peter being a main part of the party scene. I remember him not really showing up until the Nutcracker magically comes alive when the clock strikes midnight. There were some fun parts I didn't remember: the capture/release of a rat, and snow ball fight come to mind. The mice that crawled out from under the children's beds were adorable.

(national.ballet.ca)

The snowflake waltz which closes Act 1, is one of my favourite scenes. I adore the music, and I love they symmetry of the dancers as they create complex patterns and dance amongst each other. Elena Lobsanova, McGee Maddox, and Aarik Wells were the Snow Queen and her Icicles trio.

Highlights in the second act were the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy (exquisitely executed, although hopping on one foot on pointe has got to be a killer) the Spanish Chocolate, and Arabian Coffee dances. The double pas de deux in Coffee was very well done, there were even double fish lifts. The Trepek involved Peter and there was no Chinese Dance.

Heather Ogden as the Sugar Plum Fairy
(theestar.com)

There was a lively segment involving chefs preparing a feast for Marie and Misha, including leaping over the table, and another adorable piece for the students of the National Ballet School as sheep. In place of a Dewdrop Fairy, a bee started off the Waltz of the Flowers. Peter and the Sugar Plum Fairy fall in love and the resulting pas de deux was lovely. I'd classify it as more traditional in the purpose being to show off the ballerina, but he had plenty of other opportunities to shine.

Empress Baba and Sheep
(national.ballet.ca)

I still prefer the Royal Winnipeg Ballet's Nutcracker and wouldn't want to make this a yearly tradition, but once every 5 or so years, it's worth checking out.

TSO Begins the Season of Tchaikovsky

2011-12-23T18:18:00.000-08:00

Tchaikovsky
(wikipedia.com)

With no real facts to back this up, I'll say that Tchaikovsky's music is performed most often in December. Granted I expect most of those performances are of The Nutcracker. The National Ballet of Canada alone is putting on 26 shows this year. But the Toronto Symphony helped begin the season of Tchaikovsky on Dec. 8 (I saw the Dec. 10 performance) with nary a sugar plum fairy in sight, and a full evening of Tchaikovsky's music. In place of a dancing Cavalier they had the dashing, almost 36 year old (his birthday is Jan. 27, the same day as Mozart), Canadian violinist James Ehnes.

Mr. and Mrs. Ehnes
(www.thestar.com)

Rick Philips hosted a pre-concert chat about the music of the evening and some background on Mr. Ehnes. He started the violin at age 4; his father is a musician and his mother a dancer; his wife is also dancer (so any kids he has are genetically destined to go down an artistic path); he plays the piano, and is a car buff. The owner of two 1979 cars, a Ferrari and Corvette, he decided to teach himself auto mechanics after car repairs became too expensive. His technique to accomplish this was to take apart the Corvette bolt by bolt and put it back together again. As Philips said "Don't you hate people like this?". Perhaps yes, on paper anyway, but after seeing him perform he doesn't come across as having any sort of ego. The music flows out of him and while some of his movements may be intense and not entirely effortless, they're totally invested for the purpose of the music, not added as an extra flamboyance.

The first piece on the program was the polonaise from the opera Eugene Onegin. I was surprised I recognized it. Polonaise is just a dance with a specific rhythm pattern (long, short, short, long, long, long, long) but it was lively and fun. Click here for a link to the scene/dance from the opera.

James and Peter Oundjian backstage on
Jan 2011 Florida tour
(tsoontheroad.files.wordpress.com)

Next was the Violin Concerto in D major (Op. 35), one of the famous ones in the violin repertoire. It received scathing reviews when first debuted. The worst from Hanslick who said the violin was "beaten black and blue", it "stunk", and the slow movement was lyrical before being interrupted by the "bombastic final movement" . Apparently Tchaikovsky could recite the entire review for the rest of his life. Thankfully saner heads have prevailed and it has became a beloved piece, understandably so. It's exciting! A virtuosic show piece that makes no apologies for it.

One of the highlights of the first movement is the cadenza in the middle (which Tchaikovsky actually wrote rather than leaving it up to the soloist), that has lots of double stops at an almost frantic pace. At the end Ehnes looked at his bow and had to pull off broken bow hairs. The piece has a fiddle like sound to it, particularly in the final movement which is reminiscent of a cossack Russian dance. For an insightful discussion on the piece by none other than James Ehnes himself (complete with instrumental demonstrations) check out this link. The audience was on their feet immediately and wouldn't settle without an encore which turned out to be Caprice 16 by Paganini.

tradebit.com

Post intermission things moved onto Symphony #2 in C Minor. Apparently there's a popular joke where a professor asks a class of music students how many symphonies Tchaikovsky wrote. A student in the back row puts up his hand and answers "Three, sir. Numbers 4, 5, and 6." All this to indicate that his other symphonies are not often performed. Number 2 is nicknamed "The Little Russian" since it has a basis in Ukrainian folk song. This is no longer politically correct since the Ukraine is now it's own republic, but there's still historical significance.

The opening begins with a horn solo, excellently performed by TSO principal horn Neil Deland, and there were great clarinet solo/duets with various other wind instruments. The lively fourth movement was my favourite and reminded me at the start of the "1812 Overture", which wouldn't be written for another eight years. There are parts that remind me of his Nutcracker music as well, although that didn't debut for another 10 years after the "1812 Overture". Great composers never throw any ideas away perhaps? It was extremely enjoyable to hear this uncommon symphony performed with such devotion and skill. Looking forward to hearing more of the Tchaikovsky symphonies and concertos featuring Mr. Ehnes. Go Canada!

Mary Poppins: The Musical

2011-12-16T20:20:00.000-08:00

The story of super nanny Mary Poppins has been around since 1934 when P.L. Travers wrote the original book. Since then it has transformed into a Walt Disney movie (1964) starring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke and now a Broadway musical. As a side note, Julie Andrews had not done a movie before Mary Poppins as her career had been on the stage. She was reluctant to take the role. However after losing the part of Eliza Doolittle in the movie version of My Fair Lady to Audrey Hepburn, the role Andrews originated on the stage, she consented. Come Academy Award time her choice was vindicated as she won the best actress Oscar for Mary over Hepburn. The most recent incarnation combines elements from both the movie and the book into a Broadway musical, which is currently on tour in Toronto.

Ashley Brown as Mary

(www.lasplash.com)

I went in to the show with high expectations, particularly for whoever had the role Mary Poppins having heard Ashley Brown (the originator of the role on Broadway) in several other symphony concerts. In this case I was not disappointed, Rachel Wallace was a great Mary. Neither was I unsatisfied with Bert (Nicolas Dromard), George Banks (Laird Mackintosh, who also played the role on Broadway and back in the day was Raoul in the Toronto Phantom of the Opera), Winifred Banks (Elizabeth Broadhurst), or the ensemble. The personalities of the children were much more obnoxious than in the movie. Perhaps this was to further the transition the entire Banks family undergoes. Add a fast speaking tempo and an annoying whine to a high pitch young girls voice, on top of an English accent, and Jane (Annie Baltic) was quite often difficult to understand. I didn't have quite the same problem with Michael (Reese Sebastian Diaz), although he had fewer lines.

17 Cherry Tree Lane interior
(Photo Joan Marcus)

The set (designed by Bob Crowley) for 17 Cherry tree Lane was pretty nifty. It folded open at the front in the fashion of a dolls house and recalled to mind the opening of several Disney fairy tale animated films which used the turning of storybook pages. The front view was the main room, and included a staircase which Mary magically slid up. Turning the house around revealed the kitchen. To move to the nursery the roof lowered to the stage. By maintaining the scale of the house, this was the smallest set and gave the nursery a cramped feel. The advantage was when the action moved to the roof, it opened up a great expanse for the sky, and dancing over rooftops.

Special effects weren't overdone and were positioned to enhance the story, not just act as gimmicks. This included the flying, definitely a necessity in Mary Poppins, but was limited to Mary, kites, and Bert tap dancing across the stage proscenium.

Supercalifragisticexpialidocious (torontosavvy.me)

I would be remiss to not address the music. Most of the Sherman brothers' songs from the movie were included ("Chim Chim Cher-ee", "The Perfect Nanny", "A Spoonful of Sugar", "A Man Has Dreams", "Feed the Birds", "Lets Go Fly a Kite" etc.) although often with altered lyrics to fit different plot situations. "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" for example occurred in a shop of words rather than a sidewalk painting horse race. Enhancements here included the addition of a whole theme which allowed an entire dance number to unfold around the premise of spelling this word with 18 consonants and 16 vowels.

LHS: youtube RHS: Rachel Wallace and Nicolas Dromard as Mary and Bert
(www.toronto.com)

"Step in Time" which had Bert and the chimney sweeps tap dancing over the London rooftops was also retained from the movie to fantastic effect. The beginning slow tempo with silhouetted sweeps against chimneys (especially the one who was balancing on one foot while holding his broom) was eye-catching! Oh, to be able to tap like that.

Laird Mackintosh, Blythe Wilson as

Mr. & Mrs. Banks

(www.thestar.com)

The additions of "Practically Perfect" as a solo for Mary, "Anything Can Happen" and "Being Mrs. Banks" slipped into the theme of the Disney canon as if they'd been there forever. I liked the tighter story line with Mr. and Mrs. Banks having some clear character development in addition to the children. Bert acting as a narrator worked well and gave him some fun moments, like the opening of the second act where he "paints" on the curtain. His character is so sweet (or maybe the actor who plays him is part of the charm as well). At one point Mary gives him a kiss on the cheek. A kiss he returns at the curtain call.

Steffanie Leigh & Nicolas Dromard

(Photo Joan Marcus)

One disappointment was that the orchestra pit was covered :( All that could be seen was the conductor. But that's hardly the reason one goes to a musical, and if this one continues to be as popular as it is, maybe there will be a return visit to Toronto at some point. For an entertaining and enjoyable evening with foot tapping songs and even a message behind the magic, it is practically perfect!

Romeo and Juliet: The Prokofiev Ballet

2011-12-06T19:13:00.000-08:00

Part of the National Ballet of Canada's 60th anniversary season includes a newly choreographed, and hence world premiere, of Romeo and Juliet which I saw on Nov 20, 2011. The choreographer is Alexei Ratmanky and it was enchanting.

My opinion of Prokofiev, based on very limited experience with his music, is that his best work is in ballet, and Romeo and Juliet trumps his score to Cinderella. Maybe if dance was put to Symphony #5 (the only other of his works I've listened to in its entirety) I'd appreciate it more as well.

Heather and McGee as Romeo and Juliet
(national.ballet.ca)

The cast I saw included first soloist McGee Maddox as a buff, sexy Romeo, who lifted his Juliet like a doll. He seems to have a number of lead roles this season (he's also the Prince in the upcoming Nutcracker) so perhaps a principal dancer promotion is in his future. From what I saw, I'd say it's well earned. Heather Ogden is beautiful and portrayed a dainty, naive Juliet. You could believe the character development from the lighthearted playing with Lady Capulet (Joanna Ivey) and her Nurse (Alejandra Perez-Gomez) at the start to the desperately in love and heartbroken women by the finale.

The costumes were of the early Renaissance period with the ladies in long dresses and the men in puffy sleeved, rich fabric short shirt/jackets and leggings. In one of the crowd scenes the women appeared to float across the stage since their feet were hidden and they moved so smoothly. Really an incredible effect!

http://tapeworthy.blogspot.com

I'll just mention a few of dance highlights. In Act 1 Romeo and his friends, Mercutio (Jonathan Renna) and Benvolio (Christopher Stalzer), attempt to sneak into the ball held by the Capulets. The costumes with each leg of their pants a different colour added an element of humour, as did the music. They danced all together, in pairs, and in and around each other, wearing masks of course. Nothing at all sissy about these guys!

The balcony scene pas de deux in Act 2, obviously one of the most famous scenes in any Shakespeare play, was danced as a true partnership. The man's job included more than just showing off the ballerina and included a variety of steps. It was like the choreographer knew which ones would make me think "oh that was so neat, let's see it again" and repeated most of those moments.

Near the beginning of Act 2, where there's a townspeople scene that included dancers credited as Carnival Men. These were 4 guys dressed in black and white and danced to a section of music that had a wicked clarinet part! Apparently it's called "Dance with the Mandolins" Watching the clarinetists in the pit was amazing. It was fast, and short, and so precisely played!

Tybalt

The sword fighting was another highlight. Tybalt was played by principal dancer Jiri Jelinek, and you couldn't ask for a better personification. You could tell he meant business just by the way he strutted across the stage. It took several draws of his sword before I realized there was no sheath, yet just the way he held in by his side in one hand, it looked like it actually was hanging and he was just resting his hand on the hilt. Jonathan Renna also acted his character well. In fact he received a very loud ovation at the end. He was witty and taunting towards Tybalt when fighting, just asking for it! His first death scene was long, drawn out, very stereotypical milking the moment on stage. It completely suited the fact that shortly after he jumped right up again as if to say "rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated". When he was finally killed, it was a less melodramic.

The thrust that kills Tybalt was exceptionally realistic. A bit of the magic was lost in that he could be seen visibly breathing after he was dead. Romeo and Juliet on the other head were completely still when they died. Although they hadn't just danced quite as demanding a scene. I don't recall in the play where they are actually alive at the same time in the vault. I was expecting Romeo to find Juliet, expect that she really was dead, drink poison and die. Then Juliet was to awaken, find him dead and stab herself. However, after Romeo has poisoned himself but before he dies Juliet woke up. Talk about a heart breaking moment when you realize you jumped the gun, could have lived happily ever after, and yet are dying. The poignancy of the moment wasn't lost on the audience.

The final bows begin with Heather and McGee which was a nice touch, reassuring anyone unfamiliar with the story (is there anyone still out there like that?) or any children (there were quite a few in the audience) who might think they were really dead, that all is well.

Juliet's Bedroom scene (national.ballet.ca)

A wonderful afternoon at the ballet was had by all, even if the Four Seasons Centre was quite cold. I think they could do with turning up the heat/down the air conditioning. The draft at my feet left them frigid.

TSO's High Profile Guest Artist

2011-11-30T19:41:00.000-08:00

thestar.com

Lang Lang began a two week stay in Toronto on Nov. 9, where he performed all five Beethoven Piano Concerti linked in concerts with Beethoven symphonies. In addition to his performing, he engaged in outreach concerts and teaching opportunities with many groups of local school children.

I attended the concert which featured Beethoven's Piano Concerto 2, and Symphony 7 on Nov. 17. It was quite an exciting evening, beginning with the first time I've seen Jonathan Crow as concert master since it was first announced at a concert I attended last season. The young, handsome gentlemen are taking over the seating along the edge of the stage. Crow is quite tall and the violin almost seemed small in his hands.

The first piece on the program was "Tibetan Swing" by Bright Sheng a Chinese-American who was in the audience for the Canadian premiere of his work. It started off minimalistic then added groups of instruments until there was a cacophony of sound. I didn't particularly enjoy this part, but preferred when it quieted down again. For me there was too much going on to understand much of anything. The trombones (particularly Gord Wolfe) were fun to watch though. While muted they were engaged in very quick full slide motions, which sounded like ducks quacking at times. Probably not the effect the composer was going for, however he was welcomed up on stage for a series of bows at the conclusion of the piece.

www.whatsonxiamen.com

After a brief break for a stage shift and musician swap, Lang Lang arrived to start off the Beethoven portion of the evening. He has a somewhat flamboyant style, moving with the music and sweeping his arms at times as if joining in the conducting while he waited for the orchestra to finish the introduction. At the moment I don't remember much about the actual piece. The second movement, the Adagio, particularly near the end was sleep inducing, although I'll blame this on my tired state and the lyrical beauty. It was not boring. His pianissimos are remarkably quiet giving him the ability to produce a wide dynamic range without having to pound it out of the piano. The bouncy-ness returned in the 3rd movement, which was followed by an almost full house standing ovation. Although it wasn't an instantaneous jumping of the crowd to their feet. One lady from the audience passed a bouquet of flowers to Lang Lang who kissed her hand in thank you. He then pulled one bloom from the group and presented it to Peter Oundjian. With no end to the applause in sight Lang Lang passed the bouquet to Teng Li (I think), the principal violist, and returned to the piano for an encore. But not before Oundjian attempted to hand him back the single flower. A funny gesture that showed the rapport they have developed over the years. I have no idea what the encore was. I'll guess Liszt because that's what Lang Lang's most recent CD consists of, but it really is a pure guess.

Next up was the real reason I wanted to attend this concert. I'm working at seeing all the Beethoven Symphonies, and this crossed off number 7. Perhaps I said this before, but whatever one I see last becomes my favourite and this was no exception. There's a very energetic "amsterdam" rhythm in the first movement that keeps the piece motoring along. Then the gorgeous yet simple theme in the second movement. Beethoven did a lot with 4 note patterns, case in point Symphony 5, and it created some very memorable and emotional music. The fourth movement was almost a frenzy but held together and built to a brilliant finish. In fact the audience was faster in rising to their feet at the conclusion of the symphony than for the piano concerto! Myself included. I was wide awake again for the trip home humming the first movement theme the whole way.

As an added bonus, there was in intermission chat with principal keyboardist Patricia Krueger. A few interesting tidbits: her favourite instrument to play is the triangle (which she does quite enthusiastically), and the Roy Thomson Hall organ has 5000 pipes!

Toronto Symphony Went Off to See the Wizard

2011-11-05T19:44:00.000-07:00

http://torontoist.com

For this Halloween seasons concert the TSO tried a new approach. Rather than a generic concert with creepy musical pieces, they went all out for an event: a showing of the classic MGM film The Wizard of Oz, with all musical accompaniment provided by the live Toronto Symphony Orchestra. This review is late in the hopes that I could find some pictures elsewhere on the web, as I was without camera. As luck would have it, google came through and as you'll see, there were some very creative people in attendance.

http://chlartists.com

The program would appear to be the brain child of producer John Goberman, who also created the Symphonic Night at the Movies series (which includes Rodgers and Hammerstein at the Movies which opened the National Arts Centre Orchestra's Pops series a few weeks ago). Oz with Orchestra debuted in the summer of 2005 at Wolf Trap with the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) conducted by Emil de Cou. Mr. de Cou was on hand for this concert as well, making his TSO debut. Currently the Music Director for the Pacific Northwest Ballet, he was the associate conductor at the NSO and a former conductor of American Ballet Theatre for eight years each. There's something about conductors who've had experience in ballet, maybe it's the required clarity for that type of job, or maybe it's just the genre of symphonic programs in which I tend to see them, but they're engaging to watch. As an amateur musician who has fun trying to determine time signatures from a conductor's beat pattern, this clarity is particularly welcomed.

Another intriguing aspect of this maestro's work is his position as music consultant to NASA! He's conducted several programs, include a celebration of the 40th anniversary of the moon landing and 20th anniversary of the Hubble telescope launch. Let's bring him back to Toronto with that concert! It would have awe inspiring images to accompany the music.

But let's return to the movie. The Wizard of Oz was released in 1939 starring Judy Garland (Dorothy), Ray Bolger (Scarecrow), Jack Haley (Tin Man), and Burt Lahr (Lion). The stories surrounding this cast are quite interesting. Initially, Shirley Temple may have been considered for Dorothy given her popularity at the time. Bolger was originally to be the Tin Man but wanted the part of Scarecrow having entered vaudeville after being inspired by Fred Stone who he had seen play the character in 1902. He won over the producer with his fluid style and swapped parts with Buddy Ebsen, the original Scarecrow. Unfortunately Ebsen had a severe reaction to the aluminium powder make-up. During application he had breathed it in, and it had coated his lungs. He ended up hospitalized in critical condition and never returned to the film. Enter replacement Jack Haley. Filming continued with the make-up changed to a paste and a layer of white greasepaint applied first to avoid the same problems. Ebsen's voice is actually the one heard in the ensemble songs, as Haley only re-recorded solo numbers and lines in songs.

You don't realize how much music is in a movie until you have the musicians playing the score right in front of you. The songs (by Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg) are obviously what people remember, yet the back score, which can be easily forgettable when watching a movie at home, came alive. Herbert Stothart who was the house composer for MGM wrote it and incorporated themes from the songs as well as classical music. I had never noticed that until the scene when Dorothy was escaping from the witches castle and Mussorgsky's "Night on Bald Mountain" started; very fitting for Halloween. There were occasions when the balance between the movie and the orchestra was off. The sound effects were still part of the movie and the tornado wind drowned out most of the music during the flight to Oz. It was also possible to forget that the musicians were even there, a testament to how much in-sync they were with the movie.

It's been many years since I've watched The Wizard of Oz, and I wasn't prepared for the audiences enthusiastic response. There were cheers for Leo the Lion's roar at the start, Toto's escapes, laughs at the Lollipop Guild (I'd forgotten how campy some lines actually were), boos for the Wicked Witch of the West, and applause following "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". It was also quite a spectacle on a huge screen in HD. The colour after the sepia tones of Kansas totally popped. Whoever decided on the use of colour only in Oz made a fantastic choice.

Costumes were encouraged, and audience and orchestra alike took that to heart. A few of the notable ones follow:

Principal Bass Jeffrey Beecher as the Yellow Brick Road and Assistant Principal Bass Kristen Bruya as the Tin Man.

http://toronto.broadwayworld.com

Bassoonist Sam Banks as the Tin Man, Contrabassoonist Fraser Jackson as Dorothy, and the trombone section with their crazy wigs and tie die shirts.

http://toronto.broadwayworld.com

Cellists Emmanuelle Beaulieu Bergeron as the Poppy Field and Roberta Janzen as Dorothy.

http://toronto.broadwayworld.com

Concertmaster for the evening, Marc-Andre Savoie, in full curly hair lion head piece, violinist Etsuko Kimura as the Wicked Witch complete with green face, and second violin Wendy Rose (I think) as Somewhere Over the Rainbow (the sign on her head says "somewhere").

http://toronto.broadwayworld.com

Tuba player Mark Tetreault was the best member of the Lollipop Guild I saw. Alas, no photo.

Not to be left out, here's a few of the audience costumes (taken from the TSO's photostream on Flickr www.flickr.com/photos/torontosymphonyorchestra)

A group making it a family affair.

A very authentic looking Witch of the West.

Another take on the Yellow Brick Road.

In this era of remakes and updates, sequels and prequels (don't get me wrong I love the music in Wicked!), it was a great experience to return to the ultimate Oz movie in such a great venue!

2011 TSO Pops Season Opener

2011-10-23T06:38:00.000-07:00

Steven Reineke
(tso.ca)

The 2011/2012 season is the 90th Anniversary of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. They opened their season with Christopher Plummer reading Henry V, and the Pops series started on October 4 with some more big names. Conductor Steven Reineke returned to present Hollywood Hits, with guest vocalists Jodi Benson and Hugh Panaro.

(www.bravobroadway.com)

Jodi was the voice of Ariel in Disney's The Little Mermaid 26 years ago, and is still on the job. If Barbie in Toy Story sounds anything like Ariel, it would be because Jodi was the voice of her as well. Her only appearance in a live action movie was as the receptionist Sam in Enchanted (which incidentally featured a few other ladies who voiced Disney Princesses) She also originated the role of Polly in Crazy for You on Broadway, and was nominated for the best actress Tony award.

(thephantomoftheopera.com)

Hugh Panaro's major claim to fame is likely his role as the Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera, which he is currently reprising on Broadway. He is one of the few (depending on where you read it, some say only) performer to have played Raoul AND the Phantom. There is a Toronto connection as well. He was Gaylord Revenal in the controversial production of Show Boat that opened the Toronto Centre for the Performing Arts (before the head honchoes at Livent got in legal trouble) back in 1993.

The concert opened with the 20th Century Fox fanfare, fitting to start off movie music, although the roar of Leo the MGM lion would work as well, before moving into "Hooray for Hollywood". The vocal stars were introduced through "Top Hat, White Tie, and Tails/Steppin Out" (there really is nothing quite like Irving Berlin) as a duet then were showcased in solos. Hugh smoothly, and in classic crooner style sang his way through Porter's "Begin the Beguine" which I just recently learned had words. The piece doesn't have the standard 4 bar phrase format (it is actually 108 bars long rather than the standard 32 bar song form of the time) making it harder to instantly stick in your head the same way a Berlin tune will, for example. However, I've heard it enough now that the melody has become familiar and it's one of those pieces you can always hear something new with each listen. The line in the piece "an orchestra's playing" is always smile inducing when sung with a full orchestra on stage, and this concert was no exception.

Jodi returned for "Over the Rainbow" and I wasn't feeling all that impressed. The light, airy but still rich Ariel voice disappeared as she switched on the belter style and it had too much vibrato on the high end for my taste. Particularly in a song such as this. In fact, the concert as a whole hadn't really impressed me yet.

The following two orchestra pieces changed my mind! I've heard "The Trolley Song" as a solo (classic Judy Garland Meet Me In St. Louis of course), a small ensemble (it was in the first symphony concert I attended "Those Glorious MGM Musicals" with the NAC Orchestra), and a full chorus ("A Chorus of Hits" same orchestra), but I can't recall seeing a strictly orchestral performance before. This one was fantastic, although with the arrangement being by Conrad Salinger there really was no doubt it wouldn't be. There were lots of chimes, and bells, and it had the rich, lush sound he's known for. From my seat I could see the first violin music and talk about some serious runs! It didn't go unnoticed by Mr. Reineke either, as he quipped to the violins after the piece "enough notes in there for you?" They didn't seem to have any problems with it though. Continuing with classic orchestrations, the next was by Robert Russell Bennett, who worked on many Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals, including The Sound of Music. There were melodies in this arrangement not in the movie (perhaps "No Way to Stop It" from the Broadway version) and it was interrupted by audience applause during a switch into the slower "Edelweiss" and "Climb Every Mountain" section (incidentally exactly like the version in this clip, which sounds like a similar arrangement although pretty bad playing when compared to the TSO).

After that I was engaged, and was drawn in even more with Hugh's performance of "Sit Down You're Rocking the Boat". He played Sky Masterson in Guys and Dolls In Concert, and it was fun to see him as Nicely Nicely Johnson. His enthusiasm and theatrics were especially entertaining. Jodi returned with "The Way We Were" by Marvin Hamlish, before they joined forces with Primus: The Amabile Men's Choir to conclude the first half with "Circle of Life". The Lion King was recently re-released in 3-D and was #1 at the box office 2 weeks in a row! Pretty impressive for a re-release. Go Disney :)

Post intermission things were restarted out west with Elmer Bernstein's "Main Title from The Magnificent Seven". This piece was on the program in the first and only concert I saw Erich Kunzel conduct in person and so will always remind me of him. I finally got around to watching the movie this past summer, and it's a classic, but I think made even better because of the music. Orchestral pieces in the second half also included the theme from "the best Hitchcock movie, Hitchcock never wrote" which would be "Charade" and because a Hollywood Hits concert just isn't complete without something by John Williams, his "Raiders March" from Raiders of the Lost Ark. There is only 1 person who has won more Academy Awards than Williams (who has over 40). Walt Disney himself!

But before returning to Disney music though we stopped in Kander and Ebb territory with pieces from Cabaret. Hugh is amazing! He continued to show his versatility by putting on this fantastic accent and announcing in "Wilkommen" style that "Roy Thomson Hall is bee-u-tiful, the TSO is bee-u-tiful, the conductor is bee-u-tiful", which got Steven laughing. In another Judy Garland link, only this time via her daughter, Jodi channeled Liza Minelli for "Cabaret" wearing a pretty stunning red dress.

Combining again they sang a subdued and sweet rendition of "Moon River".

"Moon River" (toronto.broadwayworld.com/
article/Photo-Coverage-Jodi-Benson-and-Hugh-
Panaro-in-Concert-with-the-TSO-20111012)

Having Ariel in person (wearing a fitting mermaid style blue gown), required of course that "Part of Your World" be sung, although Jodi seemed genuinely happy to do it, saying it's a song she loves and doesn't get tired of performing. She even noticed a young girl with a Sebastian (the crab from The Little Mermaid) toy in the audience and commented how sweet it was. I was interested in whether this would be a movie sounding performance or the more grown up Jodi we'd been seeing throughout the evening. It ended up being a bit of both, beginning with the Ariel innocence but growing up as the song progressed. This song was also the source of the most humour for the night and almost started late. After the introductory chatting between Steven and Jodi, he turned around, cued the orchestra, and his baton went flying into the viola section!! The orchestra, true professionals they are, kept right on playing as Jodi started laughing, and someone in the viola section passed his baton back. Jodi made the comment "that's life theatre" and Steven said "it happens" which sent Jodi and the audience into another set of giggles. Amazingly she refocused just in time for her entrance.

The "it happens" moment (toronto.broadwayworld.com as above)

Not to be outdone in the signature song department, Hugh, tieless and looking dashing in a black shirt and jacket (alas I can find no picture from this song), walked out to the opening chords of "The Phantom of the Opera" which segued into "The Music of the Night" (link is to his performance on a CBS news show). I've heard (not all in person) several Phantom's: (Michael Crawford, Colm Wilkinson, Gerald Butler, Ted Keegan, and whoever performed the 4 times I saw the Toronto production), but none had the smooth voice, suave character, versatility in acting, precise diction, pure power, vocal range or dynamics as Hugh Panaro! It was absolutely stunning and concluded with an almost immediate and incredibly well deserved full house standing ovation! I haven't seen that happen mid concert at any that I've attended so far, and I expect it's even more rare at one classified as Pops. There are not enough positive adjectives to describe how awesome it was. If I make my first trip New York while he's still playing The Phantom, that WILL be the Broadway musical I go see!

4th dress similar to this
(www.karianna.us/reviews)

The evening could have ended there, although I'm not sure the audience would have let go without a solo encore, but there was still the real finale to the evening, "You Can't Stop the Beat" from Hairspray. Dressed in her fourth gown of the evening, this one a pastel tie die pattern, Jodi was committed to the dancing. Hugh was a bit more standoff-ish, but by the second encore ("Mamma Mia" then "Dancing Queen") they were trying out some synchronized disco moves.

With a beginning to the season like this, I can't wait for the next Pops event! In case any TSO decision makers ever happen to find this, bring Hugh Panaro back ASAP! I vote for Rags to Ritzes: A Tribute to Irving Berlin :)

Chess: The Musical

2011-10-08T17:36:00.000-07:00

Who would have thought a musical about a board game would be good? I first discovered Chess: The Musical because of a piece from this concert, and found a recording of a concert version from 2008 starring Idina Menzel and Josh Groban. I didn't read the plot synopsis first and it took a few listens to figure out who was who, but I loved the score. At first listen it wasn't hard to hear some of the same type sounds as in Mamma Mia! (Chess is composed by ABBA composers Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus with lyrics by Tim Rice), but after a while it tends to take on its own character and the "everyone ends up happy" ending from Mamma Mia! disappears to the much more somber one of Chess. Anyhow, when it was coming to Toronto after touring the UK and before a possible transfer to London's West End, it was on my "go see" list right away.

In short the story takes place at the World Chess Championships in Merano, Italy and Bangkok, Thailand one year apart. The Russian (Anatoly Sergievsky) and The American (Freddie Trumper) compete, not just at chess, but for the Hungarian, and originally Freddie's second, Florence Vassy. With behind the scenes scheming by Anatoly's compatriot Molokov, and the journalist Walter de Courcy, Anatoly's wife Svetlana arrives adding to the complications. The Arbiter acts as a sort of narrator.

Character positioning in "Deal (No Deal)"
(www.toronto.com)

The best way to classify the set is "multi media" as newspaper headlines, names (possibly of former world chess champions?), and the journalist Walter's (played by James Graeme) reports appear on the backdrop. The raised centre stage platform is completely LED lights lending itself to anything imaginable and providing a cue to different locations. The hotel rooms had full white floors, the Arbiter's solo was funky flashing arrows in red, and a central aisle was created for the arrival of Svetlana. It was put to best use when divided into squares for "Deal (No Deal)" which involves a series of duets between the major players (Molokov and Florence, Florence and Anatoly, Anatoly and Svetlana, Molokov and Walter, Walter and Freddie, link is to the concert version without the squares). Each stood in a square and, depending who they were having a conversation with, they would move to the one that was lit. It was incredibly simple, yet very effective.

Musicians as chess pieces during Molokov and Walter's duet
"Difficult and Dangerous Times" (www.mirvish.com)

As for players, well London casts seem to be something special. The musicians were completely integrated into the play, playing instruments while walking around, sitting at the side, even lying haphazardly across the stage. No hiding in a pit, they represented chess pieces. As the song "The Story of Chess" says "King, and queen and rook. And bishop, knight and pawn...", each was there. The knights even had horses tails. The Black Bishop played clarinet and saxophone, there were a few types of accordions, pawns mostly played strings (it was odd to see cellos playing standing up). The flute player (pawn I think) had one section where she lay down and stood back up again, all while playing. It was kind of funny to see the bass and cello players with their instruments lying on top of them as they played, granted most of that was strumming or pizzicato, but still completely not what they must be used to and as a result quite intriguing to watch.

And the voices...Wow! At times Shona White who played Florence sounded like Idina, but what stamina. The character is on stage almost the entire time, and the majority of the action is through song, this isn't a straight dialogue rich musical. I particularly liked her "Mountain Duet"(concert version again; Duet starts ~ 8:43) with Tam Mutu as Anatoly. He didn't have Josh Groban's distinctiveness but an incredible voice with perhaps even more nuance to it. There was some overacting at the end of "Endgame" where he breaks down and the sobs seemed a bit forced, but other than that he exuded Russian character and completely sold the part. His rendition of "Anthem" to close Act 1 was poignant.

Svetlana and Anatoly
(toronto.broadwayworld.com)

Svetlana was performed by Rebecca Lock and from the first note of her singing "Someone Else's Story" (starting ~ 10:19) when she arrives in the second act, it was heavenly. Her voice was so clear with a sweetness missing from the character of Florence, it instantly drew you in. The different vocal styles complemented each other in the ironic Florence/Svetlana duet "I Know Him So Well" where they sing about how well they know Anatoly yet both have reached completely opposite conclusions about what he needs.

The Arbiter (toronto.broadwayworld.com)

Then of course there is the trumpet playing Arbiter, always walking with slow purpose, somewhat ominously, anywhere he goes, using his instrument for dramatic effect as well as playing. David Erik sported the shirtless, floor length leather jacket with style and ease, showing off a defined if not completely ripped 6-pack. "One Night in Bangkok" has the cast in their skivvies, some showing more than one might want to see.

James Fox as Freddie, the egomaniac American, was easy to develop disdain for. However, when he broke out the guitar and accompanied himself in "Pity the Child" you suddenly were given a different glimpse of the character. Acted out, it's so much easier to feel understanding and sorry for him, than from just a recording.

Freddie and Florence in "Commie Newspapers"
(www.grandtheatre.info)

Apparently Chess has had a rocky history of stage productions, so I highly recommend catching this one before it disappears across the Atlantic again. Even without the stereotypical happy ending, it leaves one with an admiration for the performer and the knowledge that because Florence is a strong character she won't be down for long and will get back in the game, of life, if not chess.

Come Fly Away

2011-08-22T18:57:00.000-07:00

There was a time several years ago when I had been overdosed on Frank Sinatra. It involved a car trip where 50 Sinatra songs were played in a row...even worse they were all classified as "romance" songs. Since then I've slowly been adding some of the classic crooners pieces back into my repertoire. "Come Fly With Me", and "Fly Me to the Moon" never left though, for obvious reasons, they're awesome space songs :) I still typically prefer the upbeat to the slow romantic, but when the musical Come Fly Away, set completely to Frank Sinatra songs with his original vocals, arrived in town, it was not to be missed.

The plot is told completely through dance with choreography by Twyla Tharp, and music via a swing style band at the back of the stage. It follows the romantic relationship stories of 4 couples at a New York nightclub. Beyond that the plot details can pretty much be whatever the viewer puts into it. Reading the wikipedia page I didn't reach the same conclusions about the characters, which is part of the joy of the performing arts in general--they can become what you want them to be. What I would have appreciated was some sort of introduction to the characters names. As it was it took remembering who did what dance and referencing the program to figure out who was who once I got home.

Couple Number 1: The sweet and innocent bartender Marty who falls for Betsy, the shy girl in the frilly pink dress. In real life, Ron Todorowski and Mallauri Esquibel. Some of their highlight numbers are the self conscious, getting to know you feel of "Let's Fall in Love" (another of the Sinatra songs that quickly found it's way back onto my "like" list) and "The Way You Look Tonight/My Funny Valentine" near the end of the show showing how their relationship has matured.

Slim

Chanos

Couple Number 2: The partner swapping Chanos and Slim. Each arrive with someone else, and they end up together as a result of being the last to pair up. Perhaps this is the story I understood the least. Slim was used by other guys to make their girl of choice jealous and Chanos seemed to have the least stage time although some good dance tricks and a kind of sleezy appearance. Both Marielys Molina (Slim) and Matthew Stockwell Dibble (Chanos) were also part of the Broadway cast. Their primary duets were "Yes Sir, That's My Baby", and the reprise of "Makin' Woopee". Chanos showed up in "Body and Soul" with Couple #3, and Slim with Couple #4 in "Learnin' the Blues" and "Let's Face the Music and Dance".

Couple Number 3: The confident pursuit by Sid, of the sleek sophisticated Babe and the partnership most developed story wise. John Selya at 41 years old is muscular and still a prime dancer. He threw girls around, busted out the hip hop as part of "I Like to Lead When I Dance", a sort of challenge dance between Sid and Babe, like a much younger guy. Meredith Miles appeared the most balletic of the stars with her tight French rolled hair, bright red dress and very fluid movements. Other duets they had were the introductory "I've Got a Crush On You", "Witchcraft", and "Teach Me Tonight".

Couple Number 4: A tumultuous relationship between the incredibly hot (and Canadian!) Cody Green as Hank, and the "everyone wants me, so you should too", Kate (played by Laurie Kanyok). Both of them were also in the Broadway cast. This was a love/hate relationship with the must abrupt (maybe hungry would be a better word) style of dancing, showcased so well in the "That's Life" duet! They also danced to "Fly Me to the Moon" as an introduction and Kate's feet hardly touched the ground she was tossed between Hank and the ensemble guys through the entire thing! They go off with other people, I'll say to make the other jealous and then reconcile with "One for My Baby" which I took to just be the last drink/last dance bar closing type song where she's laying it all out there emotionally. Although this is not the take that was seen by another reviewer, who had them as the let's just be friends couple by the end. I guess I'm a sucker for wanting everyone to have a happy ending.

Through the dancing you could see the ballet influence, but definitely with a twist. The show became steamier as the hours in the bar passed, the clothing decreased (although the shirtless guys, totally ripped and oooo...so sexy! were quite enjoyable eye-candy), and the dancing became raunchier. Some of the company dancers really showed off the talent, particularly the men in "I'm Gonna Live 'Til I Die" which had some impressive leaps and spins. Ron Todorowski was particularly acrobatic and even threw a forward handsfree layout flip into his bow at the end.

Solo trombonist and saxophonist on left.

http://www.playbill.com/multimedia/video/4691.html

Of course these reviews are incomplete without some mention of the musicians. The 14 member band consisted of piano, guitar, bass, drums, trumpets, trombones, and a variety of saxes, with the odd flute and clarinet thrown in. "Take Five" was a number for the whole company and showed off the band, particularly one of the sax players with the solo. Also featured in another song was one of the trombonists with a nice mellow, muted solo. They all got to show off their choreography skills with some marching band style horn to the right, now horn to the left, motion.

How a production like this, involving live musicians and a singer 13 years dead, comes together is quite fascinating. According a Globe and Mail article the original Sinatra performance tapes, some from way back in 1957 which had to be baked in an oven to reattach the adhesive, were used and the vocals separated from the musical accompaniment. A click track was then created which allows the conductor to match the time of the musicians to the vocals by listening to metronome type sounds. Today music is pre-recorded and the singer later records the vocals, however Sinatra was in a studio with the live orchestra so they could give and take between them which allows for the excitement of a live performance to come through even now.

The joys of technology combined with swinging music, and energetic dance create an evening experience quite unlike anything else I've seen.

9 to 5: The Musical

2011-07-04T15:15:00.000-07:00

So I know you were thinking the TSO season is over, therefore a summer with no blog posts...wrong! This actually was a bit of a last minute event, but yesterday I saw 9 to 5: The Musical. Based on the 1980 movie of the same name (well minus the "musical" part) starring Dolly Parton, Jane Fonda, and Lily Tomlin, it became a hit and great inspiration for transformation of the workplace to be more hospitable towards women.

The musical version is sensationally enjoyable. The songs, written by Dolly Parton, are varied, some with that hit of country twang, some with it all out celebrated. While the touring cast may not have the huge names of the original Broadway version (it would have been awesome to see Allison Janney as Violet), they have excellent voices and collectively quite an impressive resume, which includes a fair amount of spots on soap operas. No wonder, they're all very pretty people. Dolly herself makes an appearance via video at the start with some background info and again at the end providing an update on how the lives of the characters turned out in the future. Part of the beginning intro was a bit campy, perhaps a few too many references that link back to her, but a descent idea to provide some background for those who haven't seen the movie or a refresher for those who did many, many years ago. The projector didn't work at the end and her image was jerky then disappeared completely while the audio continued and the cast mouthed the words.

Diana as Doralee
(www.gonaples.com)

Diana DeGarmo is probably the most well known of the cast to the general public, having been runner up way back on the third season of American Idol. Since then she's been on Broadway in Hairspray and Hair, and is continuing the "hair" theme by sporting a Dolly Parton blonde wig in this show as the Texan Doralee. At times you'd swear it was Dolly herself who had just spoken, she has her speech down exactly. Never were there any doubts about her vocal skills, and she delivers her single solo "Backwoods Barbie" with a tenderness that makes her endearing. It further emphasizes the boss's sleeziness for having spread the untrue rumours of them having an affair. Oh and check out those heels! A country girls idea of glam indeed :)

Dee as Violet
(www.gonaples.com)

In the role of Violet is Dee Hoty, the widowed mother and no nonsense worker who knows it all and keeps getting passed over for promotion because she's a woman. Continue theme of sleezy boss, adding sexist to the list of transgressions. No stranger to Broadway, Dee has had 3 Tony nominations and was Donna in Mamma Mia. She plays the role straight, and shines in the production "One of the Boys" number.

Wendy and Judy (not Mamie)
(http://mrjcb91.weebly.com)

Mamie as Judy
(http://www.nwadventures.us)

Rounding out the trio of slighted women is Mamie Parris as Judy, the former housewife new on the job because her soon to be ex-husband Dick left her for his secretary. Maybe it's the French twist hairstyle or some of the characters traits or her lovely smooth (yet also powerful as demonstrated in "Get Out and Stay Out") voice, but I could totally see her walking into the roll of Mary Poppins. Must have Disney on the brain, because the long blue nightgown costume for that song could have been right off Wendy in Peter Pan. Incidentally the song was one of my favourites. There's something about those women power songs effectively saying "who needs a man?". One of the best lines of the show was in the final montage regarding Judy's future life. It explained how she remained single, and became a regular on The View talk show after her best selling book, "Life Without Dick"...pun I'm sure intended. ;)

Hart with Judy and Violet
(www.gonaples.com)

While it is a women power show, there are some men worth mentioning as well, more for their skills as performers than characters which is especially true for Joseph Mahowald in his role as the "sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot" boss Franklin Hart, Jr. His other Broadway credits include the title role in Jekyll & Hyde (oh to hear him sing "This is the Moment"!), and Javert in Les Mis. His voice was one of those you could listen to all night.

Jesse (denverpost.com)

An ensemble member who caught my eye was Jesse JP Johnson (who also played Violet's son). He was the most enthusiastic dancer of the bunch, not to mention cute, but then he's one of those former soap stars from One Life to Live so it goes with the territory.

Tinsworthy
(blogto.com)

There was also the Chairman of the Board, Mr. Tinsworthy who looked incredibly like Colonel Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame.

What would one of these posts be without mentioning the happenings in the orchestra pit. In this case "orchestra" is a bit of a misnomer, band is more appropriate. Taking a peak over the railing at intermission I discovered a very complete percussion section, all handled by one guy, 7 different guitars played by two guys, several keyboards, each hooked up to a laptop which looked to be running something like Garage Band which I'm guessing provided the extra string and woodwind sounds. There were also two reed players who each had a clarinet and flute, and between them a bass clarinet, bari and tenor sax. Two trumpets, a trombone, and a bass rounded out the group.

The Women with Dolly Parton (www.gonaples.com)

A little too much down home country charm to be considered a work of theatrical art, but all musicals aren't suppose to be. Not everything ushers in a new era like Oklahoma, so for a fun evening/afternoon at the theatre, this is good one.

The Season Ends with Opera

2011-07-01T12:16:00.000-07:00

The Toronto Symphony Orchestra 2010/2011 Season came to a close on June 26 with a program titled Opera Favourites. I know very little about opera, the only one I have any interest in seeing is Mozart's Magic Flute, but I missed it when the Canadian Opera Company was performing it. There is of course Wagner, and the wonderful Puccini who's works I've heard elsewhere (and incidentally blogged about).

Alasdair Neale (wbhm.org)

And while Puccini might be great without words, to do opera justice requires singers. This role was filled by soprano Leah Crocetto and tenor David Pomeroy. Guest conductor for the final event was Alasdair Neale, making his TSO debut.

There was a nice mix of vocal and orchestra selections with informative introductions by Mr. Neale, and I would welcome his return to the podium. Most of the pieces would start and I'd be thinking...hmm, I'm not sure I know this one, but shortly thereafter would be a common theme and suddenly I'd recognize it. Some of the highlights included what have become the classic, and some may say over done opera pieces. From Puccini "O mio babbino caro" from Gianni Schicchi (which is pronounced in a completely different way from how it's spelled) and the "famous or infamous", as commented by Maestro Neale, "Nesson dorma" from Turandot (seriously there are SO many versions of this, here's one that covers 3 in 1...The 3 Tenors). Over done or not, David Pomeroy sang it amazingly well.

After an orchestra interlude of "Intermezzo" from Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana, both Mr. Pomeroy and Ms. Crocetto joined forces to tell the love story of Pinkerton and Cio-Cio-San in the "Love Duet" from Madame Butterfly. From that single song one would never realize what a heal of a guy Pinkerton actually is. A shame Butterfly loved him so much. But it's opera, these things come with the territory :)

The second half moved back in time to feature the music of Mozart and Verdi, and opened with the wonderful "Overture to The Marriage of Figaro". It continued with the "Dove sono" from the same opera, then "Fuor del mar" from Idomeneo sung by Ms. Crocetto and Mr. Pomeroy respectively. Moving onto Verdi, the segment opened with the "Triumphal March" from Aida, minus the elephants (and chorus that the linked version has, but it showcases the trumpets nicely...well I think there's a rotton note now that I listen to it). Maestro Neale mentioned his desire to have been there at the debut of the the opera. Evidently it must have been a very grand affair. I've played an arrangement of this piece and it is quite fun, especially if you have a great brass section, like the TSO does, led by Andrew McCandless (principal trumpet) and Gordon Wolfe (principal trombone).

Just prior to the quiet finale duet of "Parigi o caro" from La Traviata was the ultimate chauvinist song (according to Mr. Neale) of "La donna e mobile" from Rigoletto. Mr. Pomeroy acted the part very well beginning with a casual lean on the conductors podium. This was a piece I remember from it being on a listening exam in High School. It was much more enjoyable to see live than to listen to on cassette (yep, that's how we were given our listening pieces).

Not to let the audience leave on that quiet, somewhat relaxed note however, the vocalists and orchestra obliged the applause with an upbeat drinking song...which I think was from La Traviata.

It was a nice light end to the season as the audience filled out of the hall and several orchestra members shook others hands, probably wishing them a happy summer.

Thanks to everyone at the TSO for another fantastic season! I'm eagerly anticipating returning to Roy Thomson Hall for next seasons 90th anniversary.

And with that (because I missed posting this in June), Happy Canada Day to everyone!

Last Night of the Proms

2011-06-25T15:06:00.000-07:00

The penultimate concert of the TSO season was a spectacle. Anyone who has said Canadians fall short in the patriotism area when compared to our counterparts south of the border (admittedly I have been one of these), was not in Roy Thomson Hall this past Wednesday evening.

The Last Night of the Proms concert with conductor Bramwell Tovey has been a tradition for I don't know how long, although this is the first year I attended. Unfortunately, Maestro Tovey's mother passed away last weekend, so he had to cancel and return to England. I imagine finding a replacement for a concert like this proves rather tricky. Not only does the conductor need to know British music, they need to connect with the audience in that Pops concerts way, and it would help if they had ties to the country the Proms originated in. Well the TSO struck gold with Maestro Grant Llewellyn, a Welshman (a fact he reminded the audience of regularly throughout the evening) who's bio describes him as "renowned for his exceptional charisma, energy and easy authority in music of all styles and periods", all skills he demonstrated in spades. The subtitle of this years concert was "A Royal Wedding Celebration", for the marriage of Kate and William, the now Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

I know very little about the real Proms in England, except it's a series of concerts on the Promenade, and the last night of the concerts is a more relaxed atmosphere featuring British hits (see here for the wikipedia explanation). The Toronto celebration started before you even entered the hall with the 48th Highlanders of Canada Pipes and Drums bagpipe regiment playing outside. There were also lots of people with flags and sporting fancy hats. I had no idea this was part of the event or I would have gone hat hunting or at least brought the tiny Scottish flag we have by our fireplace.

The concert started with "O Canada", then "God Save the Queen", during which the audience respectfully stood and sang along. Maestro Llewellyn said he had spoken with Bramwell Tovey and had been instructed to ensure we all had a good time, then dove into the Wedding Celebration with Mendelssohn's "Wedding March" from A Midsummer Night's Dream. It's nice to hear there's more to this piece than the usual segment played a weddings.

Next up was the "English Folk Song Suite" by Ralph (pronounced the proper British way as "Rayf") Vaughn Williams. Garnering a laugh from the audience at the proper pronunciation Llewellyn said he didn't know why people found that funny and humourously singled out a lady near the front to explain it to him. She couldn't and he continued by reading the lyrics of the three songs in the suite..."Seventeen Come Sunday", "My Bonny Boy" and "Folk Songs from Somerset". Having recently been introduced to several other pieces by Vaughn Williams, I found these quite a departure, definitely more light hearted, and wonderfully enjoyable.

We then moved onto Scotland, for Hugh S. Roberton's "All in the April Evening". As a reminder again of his background Llewellyn said he felt very comfortable with this piece because it was about sheep, and being a Welshman that was something they have a lot of (linked version is complete with sheep). At this point the 2nd chair violinist handed him a small stuffed sheep. Laughing he took it, looked at it suspiciously and said "he looks a little nervous" before placing the animal behind him on the conductors stand. The 2nd chair cellist then stood up and reached out to pet to sheep. Llewellyn turned around with a somewhat stern "did I say you could touch my sheep?" as the cellist cowered behind his cello. Quickly relenting the Maestro reconsidered with "actually you can have it, it's a ram". This sparked another round of laughter from the audience. Finally able to continue the introduction, the piece is actually about the crucifixion of Christ and is for unaccompanied chorus sung by the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, he turned around to begin and was faced with this ram. Picking it up and looking unsure where to put it, he settled on the floor. After placing it he pointed down as if ordering him to "stay". Not everyone could see this given the position of the flag behind the podium, but it cracked me up again.

The first half concluded with Sir Hubert Parry's "I Was Glad", the song to which Kate Middleton walked down the Westminster Abbey aisle (see link), and a Llewellyn public service announcement that those without flags would feel left out in the second half, so they should go contribute to the TSO education fund by buying one at intermission. Advertising his point, he walked down the red carpet of the stage with a Welsh flag over his shoulder.

TSO stage

Beginning the second half was a piece any graduate is extremely familiar with (as well as any high school band member who's played at commencement), the "Pomp and Circumstance March". During which Will and Kate, wearing their wedding day best, took a stroll down the red carpet performing the royal wave. At their appearance the Choir pulled out green branches to recreate the trees that were in Westminster Abbey for the wedding. With the audience on their feet, the "Royals" led in the singing of "Land of Hope and Glory". They chatted a bit with Llewellyn who congratulated them on their marriage. He then wanted to acknowledge those couples in the audience who had been married (to the same spouse, "call me old fashioned" he said) for more than 50 years. I wasn't expecting very many, but there were a lot! Probably about 15 or so people standing. He increased it to 60 years, and there were still 5 or so on their feet. At 65 he had about 3 couples left, and dedicated the next song, "Love and Marriage" to them.

A short summary of "Excerpts from An Orkney Wedding, with Sunrise" is that it starts with some really bad playing in the strings, gets worse at about 4:30am when the trumpets come in after having had too much to drink, and finally turns pretty when the sun rises. "Songs that Kept Us Going" was prefaced by Llewellyn as "containing songs you may know and want to sing, but don't". Although admitting you can't keep a Welshman from singing he said to be aware that sudden changes may occur and don't annoy your neighbour. Indeed he turned and cued the audience at times, mouthing the words enthusiastically for "White Cliffs of Dover", "Bless Em' All" and "We'll Meet Again".

Apparently there's a Toronto tradition linked to "Fantasia on British Sea Songs" and someone told the new conductor this existed but failed to mention what the tradition was! So as he said anything could happen. And it did! After the introduction he turned to the orchestra to be greeted by an empty principal trumpet chair. The piece starts off with bugle call and couldn't start until Andrew McCandless was found. Suddenly from the back of the hall the trumpet rang out. Facing the orchestra again Llewellyn found concertmaster Etusko Kimura holding what liked like a 1/2 size violin. "The Sailor's Hornpipe" proceeded as she scraped out the medley, hitting sour notes along the way on this tiny violin. She switched back to her usual, as it continued getting faster and faster. Then the choir started the wave! It easily went around the mezzanine level and through the balcony, but due to the horseshoe nature of the hall the main floor seats were pretty much left out. Recognizing this, the conductor led them in their own version at the end of the segment while admonished the balcony levels for being so invested in the wave we failed to speed up our clapping. So we clapped faster as they played the segment again. The next section was to depict women saying goodbye to their sailors and the choir continued their shenanigans by pulling out the handkerchiefs and balling. Another segment began with a clarinet solo, which I was actually hoping to hear, but evidently the choir finds the clarinet a dull instrument as they pulled out every other thing they could to do, including playing string games. I've probably mixed some of these up, but it had the audience in stitches and the conductor going along for the ride. Even some orchestra members seemed to have trouble keeping a straight face. It was all in good fun, and came together in a rousing version of "Rule Britannia" as Kate and William reappeared.

www.instantencore.com

Llewellyn asked what Kate had gotten "her hubby" for his birthday (Prince William's birthday actually was on June 21) and she indicated that perhaps he had missed it but she had played him a song on the French horn, and indeed she had picked her way, in her wedding dress, through the percussion section and slipped into her seat for "Love and Marriage". Impossible to miss. The Maestro indicated it was just the beginning of many more years of horn playing, at which the brass section broke up laughing. I'm thinking I got the joke, but am not going to read too much into it. ;) As it turns out Kate was being portrayed by soprano and TSO utility horn player Erin Cooper-Gay.

gossageartists.com

Baritone Jesse Clark was William.
Facing the audience for a final time they led in the singing of "Jerusalem".

Just when you thought the concert was over, they obliged with an encore of "I'll Be Seeing You", one of my favourite songs which can be done in so many ways to suit any mood (see the Deep Space Nine episode "It's Only a Paper Moon" for example). This version included a recorded message from the then Princess Elizabeth and her sister Princess Margaret on a BBC radio program wishing goodnight to children who were being evacuated from London during the World War. It was a touching ending to an evening filled with fun. It was so much fun in fact that my father, typically not a symphony going guy, wants to go back next year! My much beloved Pops are having wonderful effects.

Orchestra members in the spirit of things

On another note, Frank Morphy the 2nd oboist and TSO member since 1972, appeared during the second half sporting a shirt with the slogan "Retired: Don't Ask Me To Do a Darn Thing". I'm guessing that might have been his final concert, as the TSO now has a 2nd oboe audition notice on their website. Happy retirement!
He wasn't the only one switching attire. Others donned hats, several ladies tiaras, and the previously mentioned 2nd chair violin even had on a veil! It's always awesome when the orchestra gets into a show.

Late Night TSO and Mahler 5

2011-06-18T23:56:00.000-07:00

Wow! Just WOW! For so many reasons.
1. I'm starting this post within minutes of returning home from the concert.
2. The TSO has a new concertmaster.
3. Mahler is epic!

Tonight was the third in a series of concerts featuring Mahler's Symphony 5. As part of the Toronto Luminato festival, tonights was Late Night: Mahler 5 with a 10:30pm start time, and consisted only of the 70ish minute symphony. I'd class it as a casual concert given the orchestra plain black attire. Personally, I think one trombonist took the casual thing too far...a black sweatshirt, really? Not even a terribly nice looking one. The black shirt with jacket favoured my some of the gentlemen is classy, or even the more casual black dress shirt with the cuffs rolled up to the elbows (*sigh* one of my favourite looks on a guy) that bassoonist Sam Banks was sporting is fitting. On the other hand I noticed more fancy dressed audience members than I'd classify as normal. Ok, end wardrobe digression.

Walking into the hall right away something was different. I'll call it mood lighting which tends to only show up at Pops shows. However, lighting was used very effectively throughout the evening. Case in points: The symphony opens with a trumpet fanfare solo, and a spot was placed on Principal trumpet Andrew McCandless. During the slow movement featuring just strings and the harp, the lights on the brass, winds, and percussion were dimmed.

If the lighting wasn't enough to catch your attention, as the orchestra members began to take their seats, where they were sitting would have. The layout had the basses (all 8 of them...told you Mahler was epic!) on the left side of the stage, behind the first violins and cellos which had been moved from their usual stage right position to beside the first violins. The violas were pretty much the same, maybe shifted over slightly, and in the usual cello spot were the second violins. There was also the fact that the score sitting on the conductors stand was about 2 inches thick!

Jonathan Crow (canada.com)

10:30pm arrived, the concertmaster for the evening, Jonathan Crow as per the program, appeared and the orchestra went wild...well as wild as an orchestra gets. It's not uncommon to applaud a guest concertmaster but this foot stomping went beyond the usual. Since this is the 2nd or 3rd guest I've seen this season (beginning with Jonathan Carney for Rhapsody in Blue back in Oct 2010, and a few weeks ago at Rachmaninoff Rhapsody David Bowlin) I anticipated a new hire would be announced shortly for the concertmaster chair which has been open for as long as I've been a regular attendee (so at least 2 years). I didn't expect that "shortly" to be less than a minute. Conductor Peter Oundjian followed Mr. Crow on stage and announced he was the new TSO concertmaster! From a quick search, it would appear he has had quite the career with the Montreal Symphony joining at 19, and becoming concertmaster (the youngest to hold that position in any North American orchestra at the time) at 25 continuing through 2006. Since then he's been more focused on chamber music, but is now the new concertmaster of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra!

As for the actual piece. I said after the season opening Mahler Symphony #2 "The Resurrection" that youtube didn't do Mahler justice. A sentiment which I will strongly echo again! It's just not possible to have the same experience listening to any recording as you get from being in a concert hall filled with people, and an orchestra consisting of 4 trumpets, 3 trombones, 7 French horns, 3 oboes, 3 bassoons, 3 clarinets, the previously mentioned 8 basses, and a percussion section complete with gong, timpani, bass drum, and crash cymbols (just to name a few), and the usual strings.

The first of the five movements is a funeral march, but such a pretty one. The overriding theme, if one must find one, is a journey from darkness to light. Dynamics play a huge part in what I've heard of Mahler. Each movement, save for the fourth slower and string based Adagietto which was a love letter to Mahler's wife Alma, had pianissimo and fortissimo alternations and it made complete sense for the winds to put in ear plugs when the horns let loose, sometimes even raising their bells. Additionally, this was sometimes done by the clarinets, and oboes as well. Given the weight and length of the work I don't even know where to begin at describing sections I loved. I don't remember where they were (for a "real" review of a performance earlier this week, see this). There was a small violin solo part Mr. Crow played, looking forward to seeing him featured more next season, and string pizzicato sections that were fun to watch and added variety. In the Allegro Finale, the switch into a major tonality was thrilling. It really felt like the journey was complete. As described by Herbert von Karajan "...you forget that time has passed...The fantastic finale almost forces you to hold your breath." Somewhere, perhaps in the second movement, there was this great entrance by the brass that actually did have me holding my breath, as well as the Finale.

I have never seen a Toronto audience on their feet so quickly. I'd say it was one step before "leaping to their feet", but it was the fastest and most complete standing ovation I have yet seen. It lasted for 3 sets of bows and acknowledgement of the brass, horn, percussion, and wind sections.

The season is technically not complete, but this is the final concert conducted by Peter Oundjian, the final full classical work, the final performance by the new concertmaster (the program lists current associates sitting first chair for the next few weeks), and I'll venture a guess, the final to feature a full conglomerate of principal players. So what a fitting bookend to a season that started and ended with epic Mahler!

Rachmaninoff and the Impressionists

2011-06-07T19:57:00.000-07:00

The TSO continued its season of mini-festivals with Rachmaninoff and the Impressionists. The purpose of this one being to showcase how musicians who were contemporaries of each other produced quite different music. The evening's program was "The Isle of the Dead" by Rachmaninoff, "Premiere Rhapsodie for Clarinet and Orchestra" by Debussy, Dukas "The Sorcerer's Apprentice", "Les offrandes oubliees" by Olivier Messien, a composer I had not heard of before, and concluded with Rachmaninoff's "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini". A perfect mix of music!

Gabriela Montero
(www.classicfm.co.uk)

The evening was already off to a wonderful start since I had a new companion to go with me who has real bona fide musical knowledge, unlike my limited repertoire, and who has played Debussy and Messiaen works before. Unfortunately our seats were pretty bad for the type of concert. Being off to the ride side when there's a piano piece scheduled is typically never a good thing, but the lid of the grand piano pretty much completely blocked guest soloist Gabriela Montero from view. Additionally in the clarinet concerto, Maestro Peter Oundjian seemed to move the same way as soloist and TSO principal clarinet Joaquin Valdepenas, allowing for only quick glimpses of his finger work.

Maestro Oundjian began the concert with an audience chat as usual, and explained how Rachmaninoff had an obsession with the Dies irae (day of wrath) theme which showed up in both pieces of his on the program. He then asked to borrow the fiddle of assistant concertmaster (David Bowlin, a guest, was sitting first chair) Mark Skazinetsky and played the theme. I've never heard him play before! I know he's doing Bach's Double Violin Concerto next season with Itzhak Perlman, so maybe he's starting to ease into performing again. He played maybe 15 notes, and got a foot stomping ovation from the orchestra, quipping he'd pay for it later.

One of the interesting elements of "The Isle of the Dead" was the meter of 5/8. Quite an different feel it gives to a very moody piece, but I really liked it.

Joaquin Valdepenas
(ca.yamaha.com)

Being an amateur clarinetist I really wanted to closely watch Mr. Valdepenas hands. Alas as mentioned above, this didn't work out to well. What I did see was inspiring, and his tone...sigh...wow! I wish I had a smidgen of the talent. During one run up a scale I audibly sighed, so smooth, so even, so perfect. As for the piece as a whole, I wouldn't class Debussy as one of my favourites but there were lots of unexpected changes and it was 7 minutes of being completely entranced. Even better he returned to his orchestra seat for the second half of the concert. I would love to hear him do Mozart's Clarinet Concerto at some point.

The TSO should be getting good at "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" having played it at the Halloween concert (that review here) earlier this season. However, it was quite different under the baton of Mr. Oundjian. He had complete fun with it! One advantage of my seat was a great view of the conductor. He started it off very slowly, and the first hint at the main theme floated between the clarinet, oboe, and flute passing off so effortlessly that without seeing the musicians it would be hard to pinpoint who was playing. At the start of what I'll call the second section, after the rapid bits and just before the bassoons take over with the full theme, Oundjian again took his time with the short segments. They hung in the air moving the audience to the edge of their seats anticipating what was coming next. The expression on his face showed he was having fun with it. The bassoons (Michael Sweeney and Sam Banks) let loose on the theme with contrabassonist, Fraser Jackson, leaning onto the first intro note when the theme returns near the end giving added emphasis. A wonderful, unhurried, rendition full of play and joyfulness. The musicians seemed into the fun as well, I noticed Pat Krueger going wild with the triangle. I was so swept up in the music that the visions of Mickey Mouse almost disappeared entirely :)

Following the intermission chat with Gary Kulesha (Composer in Residence) and Mark Skazinetsky about Rachmaninoff and his contempories came the somewhat dissonant "Les offrandes oubliees" (The Forgotten Offerings) by Messien. The piece is in three parts beginning with what's labelled as "Very slow, pained, profoundly sad" and is meant to represent Christ's suffering on the cross. Apparently most of Messien's works have religious connotations. The middle section I can only describe as a cacopheny of sound. I noticed principal trombone, Gordon Wolfe, reposition the sound blocker behind the contrabassoonist's head, and I understand why! The description for this segment was "Fast, ferocious, desperate, panting". The final part was strings only, and not even all of them played. Much quieter and depicting "the Bread of Life and of Love" it was stirring and pretty but unfortunately I was starting to hit sensory overload, and found parts repetitive since I really didn't know what to listen for. I can tell when I'm losing concentration because I notice audience noises. I heard a lot of coughing and program shuffling in this last bit. Unfortunate people can't be silent during the quiet parts.

Finally it was time for the showpiece of the evening, "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini". I have great love for this piece and some history. It was on the program of the first classical concert I ever went to. The National Arts Centre Orchestra was playing "Symphonie Fantastique" which was the primary reason I went, and this was the other piece on the program. I don't know who conducted, or who the soloist was, but I know exactly where I sat, who I went with, and that when they got to variation 18 the whole thing clicked as to why it sounded so familiar! Well that and then realizing the dies irae theme was in both pieces explaining the combination in programming. I was not disappointed by the TSO's version this evening either. What I noticed was that I focused more on the orchestra part than the piano, probably because of the lack of visibility of the soloist (although principal violist, Teng Li and another musican who weren't playing the concert came and sat in front of us for this piece, so they must agree they're good orchestra watching seats). Variation 18 was beautiful as it should be.

The audience provided a standing ovation and Gabriela Montero graciously acknowledged the orchestra before taking a seat for an encore. A gifted improvisationalist she requested a theme from the audience and received Gershwin's "Summertime" as a reply. After playing this a few times she completely twisted it into a rich texture providing only brief glimpses back to what it was at the beginning. It was pretty jaw dropping. Then she did it again. Taking the theme of "Hockey Night in Canada" (she had requested something Canadian, and you KNOW that when that request is made "Hockey Night" is going to be thrown out there). The person could not sing it though so one of the violinists played it for her, garnering another round of applause. Ms. Montero ended up only taking a small snippet but that was again twisted and turned into a rich sound completely disguising the original material.

During the end of "Paganini" I noticed a gentleman in the front row taking notes (and here I thought I was the only one who did that). Figuring he was a critic I googled for a concert review when I got home and indeed it was John Terauds of the Toronto Star. For a more "educated" review, his can be found here.

There are now more happy memories to add to the history I have with the "Paganini Rhapsody".

Billy Elliot: The Musical

2011-05-30T19:06:00.000-07:00

Toronto has had its own company of Billy Elliot: The Musical since March 1, 2011. I took the chance to take it in Victoria Day weekend, May 22 to be exact, and it turned out to be a particularly special performance. Just prior to curtain it was announced that the boys who play Billy are carefully selected and train for months prior to appearing. We were in for a significant performance as it was the world premiere of the newest Billy, Ty Forhan. (See here for an article about his thoughts on being Billy)

I had listened to the London cast recording, but purposely avoided seeing the movie or searching for a plot summary as I wanted to truly experience everything first hand. It resulted in quite the emotional experience.

J.P Viernes

Ty Forhan

May 29 I had the opportunity to see the show again from a closer vantage point than my earlier balcony seats, although it was off to the side. At this performance J.P. Viernes was Billy. First off it took some more imagination to fit an Asian boy into the English family portrayed by Armand Schultz as Billy's father and, on the 29th, the blond David Light as older brother Tony. J.P did have the accent down though. Ty's appearance on the other hand would have fit that mix of performers beautifully. His older brother the week before was played by Patrick Mulvey. Acrobatics wise and perhaps for overall quality of dancing (his turns stayed impeccably centred) I'd give the edge to J.P, but at 14, compared to Ty's 12, he's had 2 more years of training. Both had an appealing singing voice that maintained strength though the entire show. Accounting for everything, mostly my personal preference, and maybe because it had the inherent "wow" factor of my first time, I preferred Ty as Billy and Patrick as Tony. Although I appreciated that David seemed to lose the thick British accent on occasion as it made the dialogue easier to understand.

Solidarity
(www.shedoesthecity.com)

Now that the overall comparison is out of the way, I'll mention a few other highlights. There will be further Billy comparisons in how they handled certain dances though, just warning you. The choreography between the miners and police during "Solidarity" was the first moment that made me gasp as they jumped back and forth over batons. The juxtaposition of placing the miners and police against the girls ballet class was striking, making this one of the great ensemble numbers.

Lightening the story after the heaviness of "Solidarity" is "Expressing Yourself" with Michael (a closeted "poof") and Billy. Wearing his sister's clothes, Michael (Dillon Stevens the 22nd, and Jack Broderick the 29th) dresses up Billy in the most horrendous combination of patterned skirt, shirt, and sweater. The idea to have them dance with a dress on a hanger as a partner works amazingly well as does the big finish with the oversized dancing dresses and even a pair of trousers joining in their big performance number.

Having accepted extra dance classes "Born to Boogie", follows the emotional letter song. Emotional songs tend to be quiet, which doesn't help all the people who are trying to clean themselves up after sniffling through it (myself included). The coughs and throat clearings are quite audible after these sections. More with Ty than J.P I noticed the number of times Billy has to change shoes throughout this number. He goes from running shoes to ballet slippers to tap shoes and back to runners for the backflip off the piano (which makes complete sense, I sure wouldn't want to land in ballet slippers or slip in taps). I held my breath during the section with jump ropes. Ty nailed the entire segment, jumping in with Mrs. Wilkinson, and tapping throughout never missing the rope. Unfortunately it didn't go quite as well for J.P, but it didn't detract too much. I image the shoe changing and starting of the jump rope sequence are sections the conductor watches very carefully and is prepared to put in a few bars repeat if needed to give Billy more time to finish.

www.cbc.ca

Leaping right back into the emotionally charged aspect of fights on the picket line and how it affects Billy leads to a very rhythmic (as all tap numbers should to be) "Angry Dance". It begins with Billy in his bedroom which becomes disconnected from the set and spins around centre stage as he throws everything out of it before climbing down and being joined by the miners with plywood boards, and the police with their plastic shields and batons. Power is the best word to describe this as Billy throws himself around and even onto the police shields.

"Merry Christmas, Maggie Thatcher" is a twist on the traditional greeting to say the least :) Interesting the word "merry" is used, since in Briton the expression is "Happy Christmas". Billy's dad, shows he does have a soft side, and is still dealing with sorrowful emotions as well during "Deep Into the Ground". Armand Schultz does a great acting and singing job through the entire show. He is able to express a lot of emotion with few words.

a2view.wordpress.com

The ballet duet to Swan Lake between Billy and his older self (Samuel Pergande who's trained with multiple ballet companies) was a highlight. What a role for a kid! You get to sing, dance, and fly! I mean who could ask for anything more and they're only 12-14. How do you follow that career wise? Ty had a more dreamlike feel to his interpretation while J.P (and older Billy) were grinning throughout making it more about the pure joy of dancing. Here the more refined acro aspect of J.P showed through in the cartwheels over chairs. Initially I was thinking this was probably one of the few times a pit orchestra played Swan Lake, however being able to see the conductor on the 29th revealed it's a recording they dance to since he remained seated the whole piece. It's unfortunate pit orchestras have been reduced to the size where they are incapable of producing the grandiose sound Swan Lake requires.

The "show stopping" number opening night was quite likely "Electricity", Billy's big solo number. It's no wonder they alternate between 4 or 5 Billy's, it's such a full role! The disembodied voices at the audition add an extra "scary factor" to how auditions would be. Again Ty and J.P seemed to approach this differently, well the beginning part anyway. Ty started out with an angry feeling, he spit out the words in reply to the "how does it feel when you dance?" question. This makes sense to me, it had an honesty of "you've just repremanded me, are being sugary sweet in asking the question, and now you want me to explain something I don't understand". Alternatively J.P emphasized the "I don't really know" aspect without the same element of frustration and anger. Both boy's dancing was extremely impressive.

Spoiler Alert!

The ending when Billy is getting ready to leave for the Royal Ballet school with the entire town behind him, even though the strike is over and the minors have lost everything, is the second major tear jurking moment. Particularly at the second viewing, I noticed that when Billy and his dad are packing the suitcase, his dad is teaching him how to fold the clothes. Something small, simple, and otherwise insignificant that adds a whole other dimension to the layers of feelings. He totally loves his son, and really is supportive of his dancing. The minors singing while descending into the mine with the clattering of the cage stirs all kinds of thoughts I won't go into but it's a good thing they bring everyone back for a more upbeat finale or people would be leaving in tears.

That concludes the performance aspect comments. In other notes, I continue to find the sets in productions I've seen recently so versatile. Here with the extra piece for Billy's room removed, his house becomes the community centre, and an extra side segment with a mirror and closet creates Michael's room. With everything moved out and a brick wall at the back the stage becomes the streets, or with a black background it's a mine entrance. A fancy curtain and bare stage create the theatre for the Royal Ballet auditions. Of particular interest was the complete reversal of a fence that let the audience change sides from the miners shouting at those crossing the picket line, to the scabs doing the crossing, without leaving their seats. I was surprised at the amount of swearing, especially in a show children will see. It is about miners after all, not fishermen, but evidently bad language transcends occupation.

I'm not sure I'd second the advertisement quote of "if you only see one musical this summer, make sure it's Billy Elliot" with as much enthusiasm as they do, but not knowing of any other high quality musicals on the current calender, it is definitely work checking out. And if you're at all prone to tears, remember the tissues!

A Night at the Cotton Club

2011-05-23T11:06:00.000-07:00

May 17 the Toronto Symphony travelled back in time with a concert that was the pastiche of the 1920's and 30's when swing was king and the Cotton Club was the place to be. Guest conductor Jeff Tyzik led guest artists Byron Stripling, Carmen Bradford, and Ted Louis Levy along with an interesting orchestra combination in A Night at the Cotton Club.

Dave Young
(daveyoung.ca)

The Toronto Symphony itself was pared down to a smattering of strings taking up the left side of the stage with the basses on a raised platform at the back. I'd say this isn't a location the basses are accustomed to given the very careful way they climbed the 4 or so steps with their expensive instruments. A grand piano was placed centre stage and the right side was filled with a big band consisting of two French horns, a tuba (played by TSO regular Mark Tetreault I believe), several trombones, trumpets, and a full front row of saxes, with one alto player doubling a clarinet. The lead trumpeter was fantastic although I can't recall his name. John Johnson was the sax/clarinetist and Dave Young the plucking jazz bassist by the drum set who never stopped! I expect the remainder were from the jazz world as well.

John Johnson
(thelivemusicreport.com)

With this set up it was fascinating to see the dichotomy between the jazz and classical worlds. More noticeable at the beginning of the evening, the jazz side moved with the music, tapped feet, nodded heads, and swayed bodies. In contrast the classical side was more subdued in their movements. There's a different kind of sway and a less pronounced joy in the genre. And feet tapping? Why that seems to be a no no, at least in any concert with classical repertoire. By the end of the evening though, several violinists were tapping their feet and some more smiling faces emerged. I don't doubt the TSO musicans have great respect for other styles of music and performers as there was often enthusiastic bow waving for soloists, it just takes them some time to get into it. Indeed by the time Byron Stripling was calling for audience participation in a "Cotton Club Medley" the orchestra joined in singing the "highdee highdee highdee ho's" with more conviction than I've seen before. Ted Levy mentioned how they were clapping with their feet in rehearsal and had them join in the dancing from their chairs.

jazzartsgroup.org

The guest artists were all extremely talented and had great camaraderie amongst themselves. I got the impression Byron and Carmen had worked together before and their vocals blended well. Carmen was actually the last singer hired by Count Basie himself, and was a favourite of Ella Fitzgerald. Her rendition of "Stormy Weather", popularized by another Cotton Club-er, Lena Horne, was particularly moving.

Grand Rapids Press

Byron's trumpet skills are stupendous and he flipped between singing and playing so effortlessly. He even joined the big band section "sitting in" for one of the numbers as he said he'd never had the opportunity to play with strings before. While this can't be the case given the other symphony orchestras he's guested with, it was a nice touch.

Ted Levy added humourous showmanship to the evening with his flamboyant tap dancing, singing, and joking around with Byron as they "instructed" each other in the art of having flow and how to perform jazz. Ted did a tap dance segment from his chair which instantly made me think of the fabulous Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor "Sitting Dance".

vancouversymphony.ca

The evening really had the feel of being in the type of place I imagine the Cotton Club was. There could have been a bit less of "thanks for being here at the Cotton Club" which began each guests initial speaking segment, but by the end everyone was having a good time and if tsoundcheck tickets had of been posted for the next evenings show, I probably would have gone again!

Another Taste of France

2011-05-07T17:22:00.000-07:00

The afternoon of May 1 the Toronto Symphony dove into another program featuring the music of French composers titled French Romance. Guest conductor for the concert was a first timer with the TSO, Guillermo Figueroa, and returning after her debut in 2009 was guest violinist Caroline Goulding. I would welcome the opportunity to see them both again.

Maestro Figueroa gave background to each of the pieces and composers, and conducted the entire concert without a score! Some of the background tidbits included:
- The best Spanish music was written by the French until the Spanish composers caught up
- France didn't have the history of famous composers that the Germans or Austrians did with Berlioz being the first famous French composer.
- Debussy was the first impressionist and wrote music that was light and airy. He didn't particularly like Wagner's style whereas Chausson did like him and merged some of the Wagner chromaticism with the French style.
- The chromatics at the start of "Poeme" are reminisent of Tristan and Isolde. I haven't heard it, so I'll take his word on that.
- Alas Chausson liked to ride his bicycle and took a tumble one day, hitting his head and proceeded to die at 44 years of age.

The concert opened with "Le crosaire Overture" by Hector Berlioz, followed by "Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun" by Claude Debussy. This definitely had a light airy feel to it with lovely solos by the principal flute, and lots of harp as well.

TSO website

Ernest Chausson's "Poeme for Violin and Orchestra" featured Caroline Goulding playing a 1720 Stradivarius in her first of 2 pieces. Apparently this is an important piece in the violinist repertoire. The chromatic sounds were soothing, and having just had the lightness of Prelude, I was getting drowsy. Closing my eyes and just letting the music wash over, I could have drifted off to sleep. To borrow a line from Vivaldi's Ring of Mystery, at times the violin seemed to be crying. Caroline looks younger than her program picture, and is apparently still a teenager attending Curtis, but what a skilled violinist. She sparkled both in her flowing red dress, and in her playing.

The conclusion of the first half woke me up again with Berlioz's "Rakoczy March" from The Damnation of Faust. It's a recycling of a Hungarian Dance Berlioz had previously written, and hence was loved for in Hungary. In the opera he had Faust end up in Hungary just so he could include the march.

Bizet's Carmen is always a crowd pleaser and it was again as the orchestra opened the second half with "Suite No. 1 from Carmen". Love those castanets! There were no piano parts in the concert, but principal keyboardist was making the triangle sing from the percussion side of the stage. It was fun to watch the bassoons in part IV: Les dragons d'Alcala. They have the best facial expressions when making leaps or short articulations. There were nice oboe, flute, and clarinet solos throughout. I hadn't seen the young lady clarinetist before but I wish I had her tone quality! The conductor acknowledged the oboe and flute players at the end, but alas, not the clarinet.

Caroline returned for "Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso" (linked performance by legendary Itzhak Perlman) by Camille Saint-Saens and blew me away. I'd say others in the audience were as well, as she received a standing ovation when she finished. The concertmaster seemed to be right with her at times when he wasn't playing. He's probably been in her position and looked like he was silently supporting her. I was surprised to actually recognize parts of the piece, but it's awesome. Lively, sharp and in complete contrast to the flowing Chausson.

gillermofigueroa.com

The rousing finish to the afternoon came with another Saint-Saens piece, "Bacchanale" from Samson and Delilah. The timpanist got a work out with the big wacks at the end. As the story in the opera goes this portion takes place in the temple of Dagon and his followers perform this exotic and frantic dance. I think Maestro Figueros was referring to this piece, although I expect it applies equally to Carmen, when he said that you had to have a ballet in the opera, especially in Paris. The male patrons who gave alot of money, showed up just for the third act so they could watch the ballerinas. No ballet, no patrons, no money.

A different twist on France than the TSO's previous version, with some awe inspiring talent. Great job!

Broadway's Leading Men Reprise

2011-04-23T10:40:00.000-07:00

Jack's back! I expect it's not unplanned that Maestro Everly avoids Canada during the winter months. Technically Indianapolis (where he spends December conducting Yuletide Celebration) and Baltimore (which had a February Pops concert) aren't exactly "southern" states, and this past year Indianapolis had snow before Toronto, but I know if I had the chance to visit regions south of the Mason-Dixon line (he's also Principal Pops Conductor of the Naples Philharmonic in Florida), I'd pick January-February to do that over May-June.

Ben Crawford
(dripbook.com)

But it's April, the beginning of spring, and hence a return of Jack to the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, accompanied by the cast of Broadway's Leading Men. I was quite excited when the NAC website posted the official program and it had Ben Crawford listed rather than the artist previously announced. With that I decided to take in the April 9 performance.

Brynn O'Malley
(Broadway World)

Additionally, I figured Brynn O'Malley wouldn't be sick twice, so "Love Duets" would be included. And really the music is so great, it's totally worth seeing twice! (for the first time review go here).

Heath Calvert
(heathcalvert.com)

Indeed "Love Duets" was included and featured 7 different pieces. Not quite the "875 romantic songs" promised in the tongue in cheek intro, but exquisitely performed by cast. Heath Calvert proved here he's the epitome of the romantic leading man, and his voice melded so well in the duets with Brynn. These included "People Will Say We're in Love" from Oklahoma! and "All I Ask of You" from The Phantom of the Opera. Even Jacob Clemente (taking a week off from Billy Elliot on Broadway to do the Ottawa series of concerts) got in on the action with a solo performance of "Thank Heaven for Little Girls" from Gigi. There's something about giving a song to a performer for the soul purpose of taking it out of context that adds humor and somehow works with the audience.

Jacob Clemente
(friendsofbilly.com)

In case you didn't read the previous post, Jacob is 13, and the song was originally sung by Maurice Chevalier at the age of 70. This tactic was used earlier, with equal effect, when Jacob sang "Summer Nights" from Grease in the "Leading Men Medley".

Highlights of these concerts are what I've dubbed "Everly Interludes". These would be the times when Jack faces the audience to introduce the pieces, or even to promote the upcoming season. The promotion always occurs this time of year, and he has this half serious/half sarcastic way of reminding everyone that "we love subscriptions. Individual tickets are nice, but we love subscriptions". His description of next season (prefaced by a smiling "It's going to be great! Of course you haven't heard me say that before?") included the finale which is "featuring the music of ABBA". This triggered an instant "Oooooo" from the audience. And just because it was so good, he said it again, and on cue was rewarded with an even stronger "Oooooo". His response? "You're so easy" :)

I don't know if there was a different audience vibe, or the evening was going better personally, but Jack was much more talkative than in Naples. Following "Seventy-Six Trombones" he announced it was National Trombone Week (turns out it actually was when I Googled it afterwards) and the trombone section waved their slides in acknowledgement of audience applause. Jack proceeded in a bit of a deadpan voice and, glancing at the viola section, said that "next week is International Viola Week, so we'll all be celebrating that". In keeping with violas being the brunt of most orchestral jokes (could someone tell me why?) there was little audience reaction and we went from being "so easy" to a "tough room".

Ted Keegan
(phantomlasvegas.com)

The other great part of "Everly Interludes" is the music history that just pours out. I always learn something interesting. For example I didn't know that Oliver! was included in David Merrick's many Broadway production credits. Or that the "West Side Story Overture" (which was now part of the real program, not a last minute substitute as in Naples) was actually Leonard Bernstein's original but in out of town pre-Broadway tryouts Jerome Robbins (director and choreographer and one of the original idea men for an updated Romeo and Juliet story) decided that the show shouldn't open with a traditional overture, and it was dropped. Bernstein's friend Maurice Peress gave it a symphonic treatment.
Personally I love the arrangement. It leaves out the over done "Maria" and since that song is already included in this program as a solo for Ted Keegan, it was nice to not have it revisited in the "Overture".

Searching for songs afterwards led me to some new places this time. There were a few pieces I didn't know from the medleys and on this hearing scribbled down enough of the words that internet searches proved helpful. This highlights another aspect of Jack Everly concerts that are intriguing. The music is not a rehash of what everyone knows. The songs I didn't recognize turned out to be "Anthem" from Chess, "Muddy Water" from Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, "Wait Till You See Her" from By Jupiter, and "My Heart is so Full of You" from The Most Happy Fella. A rather eclectic group. Chess is from the same composers as Mamma Mia! (ie: former ABBA members) with lyrics by Tim Rice and was created in the early 1980's. The song is actually about the character's homeland of Russia, yet out of context with no background knowledge I thought it was about a girl, and that context fits too. Big River, also from the 1980's, has a much lighter storyline and from youtube searches seems to have quite a history in amateur productions. Jumping back in time, By Jupiter was the last full length work by Rodgers and Hart, making its Broadway debut in 1942 starring Ray Bolger (best known these days as the Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz). Between these two time frames came Frank Loesser's The Most Happy Fella, which has enjoyed several revivals since the 1956 beginnings. I've since listened, several times, to the 2008 in concert recording of Chess, featuring Idina Menzel and Josh Groban, and am now interested in seeing the production when the London cast comes to Toronto for the 2011-12 Mirvish season. So it's all connected.

I couldn't completely leave the NAC orchestra out of a review, and they continued to be amazing throughout the evening.
Sitting where I was limited my view of those in the back, and in this regard they tended to slip further to the back of my mind when another performer was involved, which typically doesn't happen when I can see more of them. In their stand out orchestra only pieces however, it was an opportunity to really listen and pick out what instruments were featured, like the horn solo in West Side Story. Whoever was sitting on the end seat in the 2nd row of violas (from checking bios with pictures on the NAC website, I think it was David Thies-Thompson) was quite enjoyable to watch. He seemed to be having a good time along with concertmaster Yosuke Kawasaki who was almost out of his chair on several occasions. The beginning of the "Les Miserables Medley" had so much going on it sounded like the orchestra wasn't together at times. No one (that I could see anyway) had a worried expression flash across their face, so I'll put it down to delay of sound reaching me, and my lack of knowledge :). Thanks to all the gracious performers for another wonderful evening at the NAC!

A Celtic Celebration or Cape Breton Ceilidh

2011-04-11T18:04:00.000-07:00

Cape Breton Island (www.mccullagh.org)

My TSO week rounded out with a Pops concert on April 5 featuring guest conductor John Morris Russell (JMR for short, and newly named conductor of the Cincinnati Pops) and guest artists the Barra MacNeils! When first announced it was titled A Celtic Celebration, which somehow in the weeks leading up to the performance was renamed to Cape Breton Ceilidh. Maybe they were hoping to capture more interest and sell more seats, since there were lots empty on Tuesday evening. I always find it disappointing to look around the hall and see sections with only half a dozen people (the right Parterre for example). The TSO is a phenomenal group, and true Pops concerts draw a different crowd, but that crowd is suppose to just be different not fewer. Hopefully the Wed. performance produced closer to a full house.

The set up for the orchestra was different. There was a piano between the violins and the conductor and a fewer number of strings in general. This made for salutes from JMR towards concertmaster Mark Skazinetsky in recognition of the orchestra rather than the traditional handshake. I had trouble getting into this concert. The opening "Fantasy on Scottish Melodies" didn't have enough lively melodies to get me instantly engaged. It was well played but didn't radiate energy to me via the music. JMR was a bundle of energy throughout the evening and it got better at the end of the first half.

Two of the Barra MacNeils added their vocals to the more upbeat "An Irish Party in 3rd Class" from Titanic. The classic "Londonderry Air" or with a twist of French as JMR's son apparently calls it "London Derriere" (also commonly known as "O Danny Boy") was played beautifully, but is another slow, soothing piece. Maybe to try and inject some life into the audience (or maybe just me), the "Irish Medley Sing Along" featuring "MacNamara's Band", "My Wild Irish Rose", "Sweet Rosie O'Grady", "Harrigan", and "When Irish Eyes are Smiling", came next. The singing wasn't very audible from my seat. Maybe the other attendees were like me and didn't know most of the tunes, or had forgotten them since St. Patrick's Day. One does wonder if this concert could have been programmed a bit closer to that day to cash in a bit more on the theme. The highlight for me in the medley was "The Irish Washerwoman" instrumental. JMR descended the podium, danced a wild jig that made me worry for his balance, and this theme and energy got me involved.

A re-orchestrated version of "Simple Gifts: A Celtic Dance" making it's world premiere, followed and featured the Gilchrist Canavan Irish Dancers. Made famous by Michael Flatley and Lord of the Dance this was a good closing to the shorter than normal first half.

The second half featured the Barra MacNeils. There is no doubt they are a very talented family covering the piano, fiddle, accordion, guitar, flute, some sort of small bagpipe type thing, percussion, and throwing in vocals and even step dancing for good measure! Again it seemed to take a while for the audience to be drawn in. The first attempts at having them clap along fizzled shortly after it started. Maybe it was the laid back Cape Breton personality and introductions to pieces that weren't terribly engaging that took a while for the audience to connect with. Although the the one that involved one of the brothers practicing his Gaelic and having someone reply in kind was entertaining. Highlights of their set for me were "Longest Day" written by one of the MacNeils about the summer solstice, "Caledonia" beautifully sung by Lucy, "Puirt-a-beul" (aka: Mouth Music) and the final "Step Dance Medley" where 4 of the siblings got in on the dancing action along with a reprise by the Irish Dancers. Even JMR was featured in that piece, playing the spoons :) By the end they had the audience, and me, with them.

What Makes it Great?

2011-04-07T17:44:00.000-07:00

The second in my week of TSO evenings was What Makes it Great? Beethoven Symphony 1. Part of the Exposed Concert series, the concert takes a piece of music, dissects it in the first half by taking the audience inside the music, and then the orchestra performs the full piece in the second half. The whole idea I think is incredible, there's always so much going on in music that I wonder what I'm missing. This idea is obviously something that guest conductor Rob Kapilow believes in, and his enthusiasm is infectious. Interestingly enough, the latest (March 29, 2011) NACOcast interview is with him! I'm an avid follower of the NACOcast, although a bit behind at the moment. When I first saw that a new episode was posted, the name of the interviewee didn't mean anything. However, when I saw it again today, it clicked and I listened right away. His insights and ability to throw out quotations is impressive.

As for the concert, things were somewhat different as soon as you walked into the hall. The usual conductors podium was a larger platform with a keyboard set up off to the side. The orchestra was also noticeably smaller than Wednesday night, given that Beethoven didn't have as much to work with. The only percussion used is the timpani and since trumpets didn't have valves when Symphony 1 was written their note range was limited, so they are used sparingly.

www.robkapilow.com

Mr. Kapilow (having listened to the NACOcast, he doesn't like the title "maestro"), walked out on stage to standard applause and quickly began an introduction to himself and Beethoven. He has a rapid fire way of speaking, and the difficulty of keeping up with note taking were I a student in his lecture hall struck me. He never slowed down and everything he demonstrated had meaning. One quotation (courtesy of his former composition teacher Nadia Boulanger) that would be repeated multiple times throughout the evening was, "A genius can not help but be original. Therefore a genius need only attempt to imitate to be original." Given that this was Beethoven's first symphony, there's some throw back to Haydn tendencies that audiences of 1800 would have recognized. But in Beethoven's genius, he can't help but be original through the imitation.

Beethoven was about what an idea could become, rather than what it currently was and his ideas and developments are laid out on top of the music, not hidden. Mr. Kapilow described this as Beethoven's music "becoming, not being". He explained the history of what audiences would have expected to hear at the debut of the symphony by incorporating his own "boring" segments of music for the purpose of counteracting the surprises in what Beethoven actually wrote. He made everything completely understandable and easy to follow for a general audience, while not alienating those with more musical background. Quite honestly, I don't think I stopped smiling the entire evening.

The decomposition started with the third movement, technically a scherzo given the tempo, but called a Minuet and Trio in homage to the Haydn and Mozart symphonies which came before. He took the first few bars, a theme of 4 notes (hmm, seems like a theme with Beethoven, opening of Symphony 5 anyone?), and demonstrated how Beethoven condensed it naming the rhythms "short long, short long, short short short short long" so everyone totally "got it".

Another example of condensation, is in the second movement; the second violins start with fugue type theme, then cellos take over with 6 notes, followed by the basses playing only the first 4 notes. But now it's determined to not be a fugue but has developed to a full theme.

The evening was not without humour either. The first movement begins with two chords (not in C major, the key of the piece, incidentally) which sounds like an ending. Indeed the orchestra played the 2 chords, stood up and bowed :) The start of the fourth movement has the strings playing a scale, adding an extra note each time which Mr. Kapilow explained as them searching for the right note but not being able to find it. The cellos (ok, technically celli) then try to "help" in the search.

These are just small demonstrations that I recall, hopefully correctly. As enthralled as I was with the presentation, most examples have slipped through the recesses of my mind already. Too much information...I should have taken notes :)

To close, I leave you with this thought from Mr. Kapilow, there's a great difference between hearing and listening. To make classical music exciting, "all you have to do listen".

TSO Goes to France

2011-04-02T13:17:00.000-07:00

This concert, on March 30, marked the start of 3 trips to the TSO in 1 week. They programmed a lot of good stuff all together this week. Officially titled Thibaudet Plays Liszt, the program was almost exclusively music by French composers (except for Liszt who was born in Hungary) and featured French pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, and conductor Stephane Deneve.

Opening with a lesser known work by Paul Dukas (of "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" fame) "La Peri, poeme danse" is a ballet and was the final score Dukas wrote. It had light airy moments, lots of trembling strings, and frantic sections. Frantic and fast were recurring themes of the evening. However, the beginning of this piece threw me for a loop because I recognized it! The opening brass fanfare is used in the Walt Disney World "Impressions de France" music from EPCOT which I have heard many, many times. I went back and found the fanfare buried about 7 minutes in. So now I know one of the composers used in the compilation. For an interesting fanfare performance check this out.

Next Maestro Deneve introduced "The Shining One", a piece written for Jean-Yves Thibaudet by Guillaume Connesson, which apparently captures Mr. Thibaudet's style of playing. Technically a contemporary work, in that Mr. Connesson is still living, still I really liked it! Maybe "new" music is growing on me. Anyhow, the title is from a superhuman character in the fantasy novel The Moon Pool from 1912 written by Abraham Merritt who was "the [American] equivalent of our own Jules Verne" according to Connesson. Indeed there were times throughout that it had a very sci-fi feel to it. Maybe that's why I liked it. The thought crossed my mind that it might fit into Sci-fi Spectacular quite well.

A quick side note about the performers. My first thought when Maestro Deneve appeared was that he looked like Penn Jillette (not just with the hair but his stature as well), the outspoken magician from Penn and Teller. Although his personality when he spoke seemed the exact opposite. Obviously well liked by the orchestra, he was engaging to watch even if his hair was somewhat distracting (it's now even longer than in the photo). He's the current music director of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, a post which TSO music director Peter Oundjian will fill beginning next season.

Mr. Thibaudet walked out on stage in a slim cut suit, and pointy shoes (what can I say, my seat was on the main floor, I was at shoe level) and all promo photos of him I've seen do not do him justice. They seem so somber, yet he was smiling and seemed genuinely happy to be there, giving the Maestro a hug after his performances and acknowledging the orchestra. For comparison, on the left is the picture in the program, and on the right one I found with a quick google search. Personally, I think the right is much more flattering.

Back to the performance, oh wait, it's time for intermission. Typically a dull time of the evening, but tonight William Littler was chatting in the lobby with Canadian composer Gary Kulesha on the subject of contemporary music. A few of this thoughts, which follow, made a lot of sense to me. Since recordings have become so prevalent, people have come to like what they know, and aren't always willing to take a risk on something new. He said that people don't "get" contemporary music on a first hearing, so there needs to be something in there that will make them want to hear it again. Heck, I have that problem with classical and even pops music sometimes! I previously blogged about not particularly liking Frank Loesser on first hearing. But it contained something that made me listen again, and it's amazing what can grow on a person. Additionally he gave permission to not like new music. People often feel they should like it when it's ok to say, I didn't really enjoy that. When asked about how players respond to new works, Mr. Kulesha catagorized it this way: 5-10% of an orchestra will love playing new music, 20-30% will absolutely despise it, and the rest are professionals and will just play it. However, he also brought out that playing new works makes players better. Apparently the TSO typically plays slightly behind the beat of the conductor, yet in new works can have razor sharp precision and be right on top of it.

Post intermission was "Totentanz for Piano and Orchestra". With the main Dies irae (Day of Wrath) theme running through it and lots of keyboard gymnastics to watch, I quite enjoy this piece. It was performed at the TSO's Halloween concert as well and was one of the main reasons I wanted to come to this concert, to hear it again by a well known pianist.

The evening concluded with "La tragedie de Salome" by Florent Schmitt. Originally written as a ballet and limited to the 20 member pit orchestra, when Schmitt had the opportunity it 1910 to expand it using full orchestral colours, he did so; also shortening the score by half to create the current symphonic poem which he dedicated to Stravinsky. Stravinsky quite liked the work, echoing parts in his "Rite of Spring".

It has some of the frantic and fanatic elements mentioned earlier, but also great contrasts. Played in two movements, the first ended with such power that there was some applause. Considering some pieces with movements don't pause between them, I was wondering if it was the conclusion as well. Without fully turning around Maestro Deneve held up 2 fingers indicating that there was still another part to go. He didn't seem upset, some orchestra members looked amused, and it did lighten up the mood a bit before settling into the conclusion.

"Everything is Beautiful at the Ballet"

2011-03-26T19:46:00.000-07:00

Piotr and Sonia Rodriguez
(from National Ballet of Canada website)

March 9 was the opening of the National Ballet of Canada's newly re-staged version of Don Quixote. Based on the Cervantes novel (which also inspired The Man of La Mancha) and set to a bubbly, high flying score by Ludwig Minkus it was a thoroughly enjoyable evening! Having recently watched A Chorus Line, the title of this post is a line that came to mind several times throughout the night.

Prior to all ballets at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts is a ballet talk. The one for this series of performances was hosted by ballet master and Don Quixote re-stager, Lindsay Fischer. I've attended his talks before, and find them very insightful and preparatory for the following ballet. This evenings was no exception. He always has some interesting insight into the human spirit. He candidly admitted to having started the book prior to a previous production, never finishing it, but forged through when Karen Kain asked him to create some new dances for this version. Near the end he discussed how ballet is great at demonstrating relationships but not so good at expressing text. As a result there is a fair amount of mime. He gave us a quick primer demonstrating "I love you", "married" and one of Don Quixote's lines of "I am a seeker after nobility, and beauty, and piety. But you don't find those women very often." Just standing there talking, he could be anyone, but as soon as he moved his arms in demonstration there was no doubt he was a dancer! Talk about fluidity! Full talk linked here.

I was wondering if I would understand the story, but even without the talk or reading the plot summary in the program, I needn't have worried. The story line was quite easily followed through the dancing which was amazing.

Piotr and Greta (from Toronto Star)

The principal dancers for the evening were Greta Hodgkinson as Kitri and Piotr Stanczyk as Basilio the barber. Basilio was scheduled to be performed by Guillaume Cote making his debut in the role. When the announcement was made about the change prior to the performance there were audible groans and disappointed noises from the audience. Admittedly I was looking forward to a debut performance, but really enjoyed Piotr's.

I was sitting in Ring 3, in a single chair off to the side which turned out to be an awesome location. I could see into the orchestra pit, had a great view of David Briskin conducting (who also on occasion uses a sweeping beats 3-4, maybe it's a ballet conductor thing), and the clarinetist Max Christie (who had some lovely solos in Act 2). Mr. Christie even managed to roll out his wrists while still playing. I couldn't see who was in the concertmaster seat, but the program has Benjamin Bowman listed as being on leave and Akemi Mercer as the guest concertmaster. Mr. Bowman was just announced as concert master last season, and suddenly he's on leave? After being blown away by his performance in the ballet I attended last season (that blog is here), I was hoping to see him again.

Piotr from 2006 production
(from National Ballet of Canada website)

As for the actual dancing, well I'm certainly no expert, but I was impressed with the dancers sense of rhythm which they demonstrated through claps and snaps in addition to dance. There's a scene were Don Quixote thinks a windmill is a gypsy and attacks it. The windmill wasn't terribly convincing with big palm branches for blades. The pyrotechnics after he knocks the blades off with his spear were cool though. This then leads into Don Quixote's dream sequence where he imagines his love Dulcinea looks like Kitri who dances with wood nymphs (it's ballet, you must suspend belief). This scene reminded me of the "Waltz of the Snowflakes" from The Nutcracker. The dancers were all in white stiff tutus and the style seemed similar, very pretty and dream like so the point was made.

The ballet had all the elements of a good story, acting, music, and energetic dancing by all parties. I'm looking forward to attending more ballets.

Electronica Meets Orchestra

2011-03-12T04:59:00.000-08:00

March 5 was the second of three concerts in the 7th season of the Toronto Symphony's New Creations Festival.

Essentially works by composers who aren't dead. Given my previous experience with contemporary music I was skeptical I'd enjoy this. But John Adams, who's name I've come across in various other orchestra calenders and arts critics reviews, was conducting (his TSO conducting debut) and one of his own works was included, so I figured, why not try something new? The performance included 3 pieces: "Torque" by Gary Kulesha (a prominent Canadian composer), "Liquid Interface" (Canadian Premiere) by Mason Bates and "City Noir" (Canadian Premiere and TSO co-commission) by John Adams.

The first that hit me when I walked into the hall, was the amount of stuff on the stage! I've never seen so many percussion instruments! There were about 5 different xylophones, glockenspiels, vibraphones etc. Most interesting were a big white drum like what you'd put ballots in to mix them up for a draw (used in "Liquid Interface" which may be classified as a wind machine) and a little room of pot lids. Ok, well not really but that's what it looked like (see photo). Also 2 harps, and by the end of the evening 6 French horns, 4 clarinets, and 4 trumpets.

Pardon my poor grammar, but for my enjoyment factor 2 out of 3 ain't bad. Being a casual concert, there was a host, in this case TSO Music Director Peter Oundjian, who introduced the pieces, which is especially nice to have for contemporary items. He mentioned Mr. Kulesha's passion for fast cars (a Porsche Carrera specifically), and "Torque" growing out of that. Indeed in the program notes the composer admits that the "image of rapidly rotating wheels (or tires) was in my mind throughout the writing of the work. This may or may not have had something to do with the fact that I was shopping for a new car during the creation of this composition. And it may or may not be related to the fact that I acquired a very fast car halfway through the writing process...", that car no doubt being the Porsche. I really liked this piece! Indeed the image of a car existed throughout and I was thinking it would fit in well with the Disney Hollywood Studios stunt car show.

Mason Bates (TSO website)

Next the "electronica" for the evening appeared. If all contemporary pieces were like "Liquid Interface" I think I could say I like contemporary music. Things with a clear theme really help. In this case, that theme was water. But as composer Mason Bates said in his description of the piece the temperature continues to rise throughout so you get water in all forms, not just liquid. Mr. Bates, located between the strings and percussion, added the electronic bits, often with a techno type beat, via a laptop and large keypad. It started with ice and real sounds of Glaciers Calving (also the name of the first movement). Conductor John Adams had an ear piece for this first movement and when asked by Peter Oundjian afterwards said it was a click track for precision. "Scherzo Liquido", the second movement, had electronic water droplet sounds and if I recall correctly ran right into the third and fourth movements. "Crescent City" included hurricane, thunderstorm, and ocean parts which "relaxes into a kind of balmy, greenhouse paradise where we end the symphony in "On the Wannsee"" (from composers program notes) which featured ambient dock sounds recorded on Lake Wannsee. The symphony concluded with the water evaporating. Throughout there were snippets of melody that could be followed which I particularly enjoyed. What I've heard previously in contemporary music is the use of random beats and rhythmic contortions to drive the piece, giving one the idea a pretty melody is dead. I'm glad that's not he case. The percussionists, particularly Mr. Rudolph (who also played a mean washboard) and the other mallet keyboard players, got a workout with 4 mallets quickly moving all over the keys. Quite exciting to watch.

John Adams (johnadamscomposer.com)

After a quick musician change with additional horns, and several principal musicians arriving (such as oboe, trombone, trumpet, and French horn) there was a short chat between Mr. Oundjian and Mr. Adams about the creation of the piece. Apparently "City Noir" was commissioned for the first concert by the LA Philharmonics new music director, Gustavo Dudamel. So Mr. Adams combined the Los Angeles hollywood feel and his enjoyment of noir films into a piece that he said is similar to a movie score but without the breaks that usually come for the dialogue just when the score is getting interesting (for an interview with him about the piece go here). I'd say interesting is a good word for it. It followed more closely the rhythmic drive I mentioned before at points which tends to be when I get distracted. Perhaps a noir movie accompanying it would have helped me. There were well executed solos by a guest saxophonist, Timothy McAllister and principal musicians Andrew McCandless (trumpet) and Gordon Wolfe (trombone). I also enjoyed watching Adams as a conductor. His beat patterns were mostly easy to follow and there was no lack of energy or enthusiasm from him. At the conclusion of the piece the musicians eagerly joined in the applause which I tend to use as a gauge for how well they liked the person on the podium. I'd say he was a welcome guest conductor and indeed Mr. Oundjian had said previously that the orchestra had enjoyed rehearsals and hoped he would come back again soon.

As a first time attendee to the New Creations festival, I look forward to reading more about what next years might have in store.

PS: I came across this as well. The TSO got great reviews in the New York Times!

Winter Escape with the Naples Philharmonic Orchestra

2011-03-06T19:50:00.000-08:00

February 22 I had the opportunity to experience yet another orchestra. Knowing I was going to be escaping the cold weather at home and heading for the warm climate of Florida I planned ahead and discovered that the Naples Philharmonic was performing Broadway's Leading Men, conducted by none other than their Principal Pops Conductor Jack Everly! How perfect is that? Warm weather and what's guaranteed to be an enjoyable show.

Outdoor Box Office

A short note about The Philharmonic Centre for the Arts, which is both an art museum and the concert hall for the orchestra. It's an intriguing place. The first thing that hit me was free parking! Something you never have in Toronto! Second to that was the outdoor box office. It's amazing what gets done in warm climates that I would never even consider!

Inside there were a few rooms with sculptures to peruse, alas no picture taking was allowed so the art images are from the Phil's website.

The best pieces (in my totally unqualified to judge opinion) were on the stairs going up to balcony level. They were musical in nature and one was titled "Symphony for the Deaf" and was a mass of various instruments.

The somewhat creepy Sentinels were in the lobby rather than outside in the garden area (maybe they get taken in for the winter).

The Sentinels

The funky red chandelier by Chihuly reminded me of Medusa and hung in the area above some other sculptures.

Chihuly Red

Our seats were in one of the side boxes. Hayes Hall is carpeted in lush forest green, and each box only has 8 seats. There's a rather exclusive feeling associated with opening the heavy full door (no curtains here) from the hall into the box. The seats were decently comfortable as well. The box directly across the theatre from ours had only 2 people but other than the back edges of the orchestra seating it appeared to be a fairly full house. The orchestra seemed rather squished on the stage and I'd put the average age as quite young. It was nice to see a strong female contingent particularly in the woodwind and brass sections.

The performance opened with a signature Everly arranged "Overture" which included, among others, themes from "If I Were a Rich Man" played by concert master Glenn Basham, "Where Is the Life That Late I Led", "Ol' Man River", and "The Impossible Dream". The overture itself covered over 5 different musicals. The following four pieces introduced each of the leading men vocalists. Jacob Clemente, the 13 year old current Broadway Billy Eliot, sang and tap danced through "When I Get My Name in Lights" from The Boy From Oz; Ted Keegan, a former Broadway Phantom, sang "Maria" from West Side Story; Heath Calvert, another Broadway veteran, gave a well sung but rather plain rendition of "This is the Moment" from Jekyll and Hyde; and Ben Crawford (same one mentioned in previous Yuletide post) wowed the crowd as Prof. Harold Hill announcing "Ya Got Trouble" from The Music Man. Perhaps I was underwhelmed by "This is the Moment" because I had read reviews of Ashley Brown's Broadway with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra from the weekend before which had Ben Crawford's rendition garnering an ovation. So I was expecting him to also perform it here. However, I don't think either of the other gentleman could have put across "Ya Got Trouble" in quite the same excellent fashion.

The orchestra was featured playing "Selections from Oliver" before the leading lady, in the person of Brynn O'Malley, took the stage in a nod to Julie Andrews with "Le Jazz Hot" from Victor-Victoria.

Closing the first half was the other Everly arrangement of the evening, "Leading Men Medley". He has this amazing ability to cover the best parts of a song and fit them all together so well that you hardly notice the transitions between them. Out of the 10 songs covered there were only 2 I didn't recognize. The orchestra introduction was "Luck Be a Lady" which led to "Guys and Dolls" sung by Ted, Ben, and Heath. Following was "Oh What a Beautiful Morning" and "I Have Dreamed" before Jacob joined them in a leather jacket singing "Summer Nights" from Grease. The song has some interesting chuckle moments coming from a 13 year old. A mini John Travolta he's not, I'd say his dancing is superior to singing, but he's still got a huge career ahead of him. Ben took over with "Some Enchanted Evening" which HAS to have bass singer for the song to have weight (for example), and it was perfect. Camelot and My Fair Lady were featured through "If Ever I Would Leave You" and "On the Street Where You Live" before they finished together with a vocal of "The Impossible Dream". Talk about a great closing to the first half.

Intermission was interesting. Typically nothing happens on stage. The odd musician may remain and practice some parts, and the librarian swaps out the music on the conductors podium, but that's about it. There was much more activity this evening however. Two gentlemen (presumably at least one was the librarian) placed a green notice and piece of music on each stand. My own wild speculation abounded, but really the only reason for adding more music to an already full concert is that something is being replaced. Indeed after "Seventy-Six Trombones" highlighting the brass section particularly, Jack turned to the audience and all was explained. Brynn was very much under the weather and unable to perform the "Love Duet Medley" (she would return for the finale), so to feature the orchestra and since no leading men concert would be complete without West Side Story they were going to replace it with the "Overture to West Side Story" (played much better than this link, but I believe it was a very similar arrangement). He continued with, "the orchestra has not rehearsed this. See you at the end". Unrehearsed or not, they must have been familiar with the music because Jack did not slow it down. In fact it was one of his most lively conducted numbers of the night! The transitions between sections of the piece may not have been as clean or tight as they could be and I'm not sure if all the percussion was bang on (although with the off beats it's hard to tell at the best of times), but there was a lovely horn solo in "Somewhere". Given the extremely energetic "mambo" shouts from the orchestra the enthusiasm from the podium paid off. Jack's breathlessness at the end was well deserved.

Jacob continued to demonstrate his dancing skills in "All I Need is the Girl" from Gypsy, before Ted tapped back into his Phantom days performing, as described by Jack, "the most romantic song from the musical". I really liked the arrangement which began with the imposing instrumental "The Phantom of the Opera" as Ted walked out slowly to centre stage before it softened into "Music of the Night". It's been a long time since I've seen the Phantom, yet his rendition took me back. All the nuances were there right down to the wrist motion at the "close your eyes and surrender" line. "Selections from La Cage aux Folles" was inexplicably dropped, yet the musical was still represented with Ben's "I Am What I Am" rendition. *sigh* he has a voice one could happily listen to all night.

The evening of great music concluded with the powerhouse from Les Miserables. A medley of "Look Down"and "At the End of the Day", as part of the orchestral intro; "On My Own" exquisitely sung by Brynn, I would never have been able to tell she wasn't felling well; "Stars" (one of my favourite lines in the whole musical is "and so it has been, and so it's written on the doorway to paradise that those who falter and those who fall must pay the price", I just love the melody there) where Ben got to return to his Javert understudy days; Ted matched Brynn with a poignent "Bring Him Home"; and the entire cast and a 14 voice male chorus joined in for the powerful "One More Day" and "Do You Hear the People Sing?" finale. I wonder if this will be part of the Do You Hear the People Sing? concert celebrating the music of Boublil and Schonberg which Jack's debuting with several orchestras (NACO and Baltimore so far) for the 2011/12 season? If so, it's definitely worth going to see.

Broadway's Leading Men is also making a stop next month in Ottawa with the NAC orchestra. It is however going to lack Ben Crawford. But hopefully will include a healthy Brynn and some great love songs. So GO!

NAC Broadway Across Canada: CATS

2011-02-27T19:26:00.000-08:00

From Feb. 8-13 the North American touring production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats stopped in Ottawa at the National Arts Centre. First performed in London in May 1981, and moving to Broadway in 1982, a film version was made in 1998, and since 2003 it's been on tour. Talk about a long history, and one filled with award winning highlights. In 1983 it won 7 Tony's. Most of which make sense, but "best book" I'm not so sure about.

We just made it to our amazing seats (row E, right in the centre) as the lights were dimming (thank you Winterlude road closures), but we made it! I went with a dancer friend, and my conclusion is it's a dancers show. She found the choreography a bit repetitive and not as interesting as previous versions, but agreed the acrobatics were mostly impressive, especially for a touring production where a lot of the performers would have a musical theatre background rather than be purely trained dancers. The music is obviously good, although they hid the minimalist orchestra (~6 musicians on keyboards, guitar, bass and drums) behind the stage, and I do like a richer orchestra sound with real strings. The make-up was fantastic, as was the ability of the performers to stay completely in character with decidedly feline motions.

"The Naming of Cats" was tricky to understand at times, given that about 27 people are saying the same thing at the same time, which diction wise is a challenge. But overall the singing was extremely well done. It's one of the first times I've understood the verse of "Memory", so kudos to Kathryn Holtkamp. "The Jellicle Ball" is probably my favourite piece music wise, although I also like "Macavity" and "Mr. Mistoffelees". The Rum Tum Tugger character was over the top, which I suppose is the point, and Matthew Taylor's characterization I'd say was a complete combination of Mick Jagger and Elvis Presley.

The changing of the set for the pirate play within a play of "Growltiger's Last Stand" was well done. As was the spaceship light type thing which descended during the overture and reappeared to take Grizabella to wherever she gets "reborn". Although I found its similarity to a UFO perhaps too amusing. The lighting throughout was a highlight actually; from the flashing "eyes" during the overture, to the Christmas type strands they had running from the lower boxes to the stage. I also had to chuckle at the the flying tire and the "a cat is not a dog" line in the finale, which the actors were singing in all seriousness yet seems so obvious.

Overall, I wouldn't claim it as my favourite show, but I had an enjoyable evening even if the plot is a bit sketchy, and I'm glad I took the opportunity to see the performance. The score does come alive when accompanied by the action on stage. Additionally, by considering the plot in segments, some of which don't have all that much to do with an overarching story of Grizabella being accepted, it was quite entertaining, and isn't that the point of a musical?

NAC Orchestra at Roy Thomson Hall

2011-02-26T12:36:00.000-08:00

The annual trip for the National Arts Centre Orchestra, under the direction of Pinkus Zukerman, to Toronto was Feb. 5 where they performed an almost all Beethoven program. The pieces performed were Peter Paul Koprowski's "In Memoriam Karol Szymanowski", and the Beethoven's: "Symphony Number 2", and Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat Major "Emperor". Jonathan Biss was the guest pianist.

Personally I went for the Beethoven Symphony, and that really was the piece I enjoyed most of the evening. I did appreciate the introductions by CBC Radio personality Eric Friesen, and Maestro Zukerman was enthusiastic and personable in a way I had not expected.

The first piece demonstrated the composer's protest against war and oppression. Being written in 1963, I classify it as modern music, which is an area I'm still working to appreciate. It had its moments, but was not my cup of tea.

Then the Beethoven! The introduction by Mr.'s Friesen and Zukerman were enthusiastic and engaging. Asking for Maestro Zukerman's take on the piece, Eric (and the audience) were treated to a quick demonstration of why the fourth bar (apparently typically the weakest) was the strongest, as he cued the orchestra and the strings played from the start to about bar 5. Looking to reference something at the end, Mr. Zukerman had to look at the music of concertmaster Yosuke Kawasaki, since the conductor music stand was empty. He conducted without a score, so it's obviously a piece he knows well. An interesting side note, they brought their own conductors podium, complete with what in Southam Hall is complementary red carpeting. Given Roy Thomson Hall's primarily wood and beige tones, it was an interesting, but not completely out of place, accent.

The section I know best of Beethoven's 2nd is the opening of the fourth movement. This contains the "back flip" theme, so named by Rick Phillips in his pre-concert chat. It is used as the theme for the NACOcast, so I found it quite fitting it was the NAC orchestra performing the piece. I believe the host of the podcast, Christopher Millard, was indeed playing first bassoon. But in addition to the familiar theme, I quite enjoyed the entire symphony.

Some of the names I know

At intermission while chatting with the girl next to me, who had also come alone, I learned she was there for the final piece, the "Emperor" piano concerto. She mentioned that her piano professor had said she needed more power to play Beethoven, and personally she preferred playing Mozart. I'd have to say power was not a problem from the young guest artist. Jonathan Biss comes from a very musical family and it turns out that Mr. Zukerman knew both his parents before they were married. Some of the tunes throughout the concerto had a passing familiarity to them, but nothing really jumped out at me. The second movement is beautiful and I can see why it could be used as a funeral song.

Post concert there was a group playing in the lobby for the "after party". They were quite enjoyable, although completely different from the classical music just experienced. It was a great evening, even if I didn't see Christopher Millard at said party to tell him how much I enjoy his podcasts. I can tick another Beethoven Symphony off my list as well. I'm not sure I have a favourite, the latest one I've heard seems to hold that position for a while.

Thanks for coming to Toronto NACO, hope to see you again next year!

Mozart @ 255

2011-02-05T13:55:00.000-08:00

Since at least 2005 the Toronto Symphony has been celebrating the month of Mozart's birthday with a Mozart festival, numbered based on what would have been his age. This year I attended the last show of the series on Jan. 30 entitled Mozart's World. The orchestra was set up differently from the usual layout. The first violins were in the usual place, but the seconds sat on the opposite side of the stage facing them. Beside the 1st's were the cellos, and then the violas beside the 2nd's with the basses behind the cellos. I'm guessing with was the typical layout in Mozart's day? Bassoons, clarinets, horns, minimal brass and percussion rounded out the rest of the orchestra, coming and going as called for by the pieces.

The concert opened with the overture to Les Horaces, an opera by Salieri! Certainly part of Mozart's world, although as it turns out not as detrimental to Mozart as things like the movie Amadeus would have one believe. For some great back story on Mozart and Salieri check out the Jan. 17, 2011 NACOcast episode. As conductor Peter Oundjian said at the end of the overture "so you've now heard a public performance of music by Salieri. It's really quite good. The rest of the opera wasn't so we stopped here".

The afternoon also included one of Mozart's most famous pieces "Eine Kleine Nechtmusik", the "D major Concerto for Double Bass" by Johann Baptist Vanhal performed by principal double bassist Jeffrey Beecher, and Mozart's "Concerto in C major for Oboe", performed by principal oboist Sarah Jeffrey. The performance concluded with Haydn's Symphony 8, "Le Soir". I really enjoyed hearing the other 3 movements to "Eine Kleine", the opening Allegro is so familiar that it's easy to forget there's a Romance, Menuetto and Rondo which follow.

courtesy Silk Road Project site

The double bass concerto was awesome! The music was very relaxing yet not sleep inducing. Being in a lower range it didn't carry the way a flute can soar over the orchestra but the balance was well executed in that the orchestra didn't over power the solo and let Jeffrey shine. Who knew the bass had the range that it did? At times it seemed more in the range of the cello, and even higher when he was playing at the very end of the finger board. I believe there was a cadenza at the end of each movement and he really demonstrated what an excellent bass player can do with the instrument. It's a shame it's not used virtuosically (if that's even a word) more often.

William Littler, a journalist with the Toronto Star, hosted an intermission chat with Jeffrey in the lobby. Peter Oundjian had mentioned he, as a violinist, looked at the bass like driving a city bus around a Formula 1 track. Jeffrey modified this to how he thought of it more as a Hummer. When asked why these bass pieces aren't performed more often, he slightly insulted previous bass players by saying perhaps they didn't gain as much skill as they could have on the instrument to be able to perform some of the concertos written. Of which I think he said there are only three; two by Vanhal and one by someone else. His bass is from 1690 and the owners can be traced all the way back to its origins. If he has to travel, he drives with the bass or it gets its own seat on the airplane. Understandably, something that valuable does not get put in checked luggage. Since the TSO just returned from touring Florida, I wonder if he borrowed an instrument or took his? I always enjoy seeing musicians outside of the stage lights, and Jeffrey demonstrated his amiable nature while discussing his work with YoYo Ma's Silk Road Ensemble and his teaching job. Thanks to him for taking the time to share with the audience more about himself and bass playing.

courtesy TSO

After intermission Sarah Jeffrey showed off her beauty as well as that of the oboe. She looked very pretty in a long black dress. One would never know she had a 3 month old baby (she's married to a French horn player) unless Peter Oundjian had mentioned it. I've often considered the difference between the oboe and clarinet to be the more nasal sound of the oboe compared to the hollowness of the clarinet. However, in higher ranges and in the hands of a real professional the nasal goes away and it can have a more flute like quality. Her cadenzas were also impressive.

I don't recall hearing a full Haydn symphony before. In fact all I know about Haydn was that he wrote a ton of them and a friend of mine did a project on him in grade 9 music. She actually attended this concert with me, but couldn't remember much about Haydn either. I enjoyed "Le Soir" and need to look up the other symphonies Peter mentioned, "Le Matin" and "Le Midi". Again the balance between the orchestra was well executed. There were violin (1st and 2nd), cello, and bass solos at various points, and all could be heard clearly. The final movement, "The Storm", really sounded like one. I'm glad it stayed in the hall and we didn't walk out to thunder, lightning or snow!

Looking forward to Mozart@256!

Christmas with the TSO

2010-12-31T15:37:00.000-08:00

The calender year ended on a fitting note with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra's Christmas Concert. The program was included in the same book as the one for Messiah, so I was anxiously awaiting this for about a week. It included some of my favourites, so with just a quick glance I knew it was going to be good. At the beginning of Dec. I remember saying that I hoped something from The Polar Express would be included in one of the several Christmas concerts I've attended. Well it took until the last one, but "Believe" made the TSO program. Fitting I suppose since the guest artist this year was tenor Mike Eldred, although I really was hoping for the orchestral suite from the movie.

Steven Reineke returned as conductor in what is perhaps going to become standard for these concerts. He mentioned he'll be back next year with Canadian Brass. Lots of his arrangements were used as well. On another note, there was more festive attire on stage than decorations around Roy Thomson Hall. The lobby had 3 hanging wreaths and that was it! Their decorators need to visit the ISO :)

On stage there were two lit trees, red and green spotlighting and the orchestra which had multiple members liven things up by wearing red or green, Santa hats (more on that later), and funky Christmas ties. Award winners in the tie area were principal cellist Joseph Johnson with what looked like Santa and principal trombone Gordon Wolfe with reindeer. One of the trumpeters had French horns on his tie, and one oboist had a bright red sweater. There were likely more, but those were who I noticed. Oh I almost forgot, the winner of the most sparkly tie was definitely Maestro Reineke. His tie had a stripe of glitter down the centre that shimmered in the lights. Even Mike Eldred commented on it and Steven replied he was helping out the Canadian economy by purchasing it (Thanks Steven!).

Anyway, on with the musical part of our program. The "Holiday Overture" started with a series of Christmas song quotes that went by too fast to really pick them out. A longer version of "Hannukah, O Hannukah" was very recognizable though. Through the concert I felt sorry for the percussionist who got saddled with the long strand of sleigh bells, they looked heavy and tiring after a while. Yet he never got off the beat!

"It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" led into "Winter Medley" which included at least "Winter Weather", "Winter Wonderland" and "Let in Snow". There wasn't a part for the string bass section in this one, but they were bopping along. It's nice to see musicians enjoying the music.

The next two songs I'd never heard before. The first was "Christmas 'Round the World" and the second "Give Your Love for Christmas". Steven introduced "Give Your Love" which he found in the New York Pops library and has Google and Wiki searched but can't find where it's from. I would have thought being associated with 4 orchestras one of the librarians would be able to track down some info on it. It's a pretty song with a nice message and the chorus sang it beautifully. After spending some time doing Google and public library catalogue searches of my own I've come to conclude "Christmas 'Round the World" is rarely recorded and only Mike seems to have done it. For all I know, it could have been written for him. It's on his Christmas CD "Let it Begin" and is a great song! Sort of a smooth jazz type feel. Check out itunes or here for a preview .

Flipping back to the orchestra, they played what I've come to consider my favourite orchestral version of "Winter Wonderland". It's a rather over played song this time of year, yet this arrangement by Ralph Hermann has a great beat, doesn't drag, incorporates different styles (the standard full orchestra with lots of brass, some light weight flute runs, pizzicato strings, and finishes with a march), and just isn't boring! It's also on the Yuletide Celebration CD by the ISO :)

Mike then read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" accompanied by the orchestra performing Randol Bass' setting. I really like the main theme in the music, it reminds me of something you might hear at Disney. A band version with minimal strings is here. One of the best parts is the timpani at the line "down the chimney St. Nicolas came with a bound". In fact just as a piece of music without the narration I think it would be quite enjoyable.

The first half concluded with a piece I first heard on AccuHolidays performed by the Cincinnati Pops, "Little Bolero Boy" (a sampling of their version can be found here). At the time, I recognized the mixing of "The Little Drummer Boy" and Ravel's "Bolero" but didn't know it had it's own distinct name. I figured it was just a different "Drummer Boy" arrangement. Anyhow, the piece was being introduced by Steven when suddenly the percussion section transformed themselves from straight-laced musicians to festive overload! The sleigh bells guy I mentioned earlier had on a full Santa beard with his Santa hat, and the snare drum player had dawned a Santa hat, with reindeer antlers and a blinking red Rudolph nose! Steven turned around ready to start, faced this, and had to relax, chuckle and get his bearings again. He then said to the audience it was featuring "Rudolph on the snare drum". Had I known then what I know now I would have gotten a much bigger kick out of that comment. It turns out the principal percussionist's, and incidentally snare drum player, name is John Rudolph! :) Anyhow, the piece is great, and I don't know how Steven managed to get through it with the blinking red nose staring back at him, especially since it didn't blink in time!

The second half began with one of my favourite songs, "We Need a Little Christmas". In fact a few nights ago I watched Mame, the movie this song is from, for the first time, . I think Angela Lansbury would do (and likely did on Broadway) a better job of the title character than Lucille Ball, but it was enjoyable. Mike returned for "Silver Bells" and added a nice prelude verse. Unfortunately I can't remember any of it to try to find it again, but it was a pretty and fitting addition.

The definitive version of "Sleigh Ride" by Leroy Anderson featured just the orchestra again. I LOVE the bass line part in this! This version is by the Boston Pops conducted by John Williams. The good bass part starts about 1:53. A different take on "Jingle Bell Rock" was performed as well. It started with a trio of phenomenal solos by the clarinet, trumpet and trombone players who stood up and let loose.

Things then quieted down with the orchestra taking a break while Mike sang the Nat King Cole standard "Cradle in Bethlehem" accompanied by Tony (I didn't catch the last name) on solo guitar. It was lovely. Soft and sweet, reminiscent of the Yuletide Celebration encore. Evidently no Christmas concert is complete (especially with a tenor or soprano guesting) without "O Holy Night". But I was glad that "The Christmas Song aka Chestnut's Roasting on an Open Fire" was NOT on the program. I've heard it all over this year, and the break was nice.

Another composition by Randol Bass titled "Glory to God" (obviously a full orchestra version was done rather than just the piano in the linked clip), which was another new one for me, preceded the "Christmas Sing Along". It's great fun singing with a full orchestra! Continuing with the more sacred theme, the pieces included "O Come All Ye Faithful", "Hark the Harold Angels Sing", "Joy to the World" and concluded with "Silent Night". Steven wished everyone peace and love for the holidays and the concert almost ended on this very quiet, almost reflective note. But a quick rousing chorus of "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" was thrown in, and I left the hall singing.

If you weren't in a festive spirit after these 2 hours, then you really are Scrooge, because what more could you ask for than great Christmas music on Dec. 23rd :)

Toronto's Biggest Messiah

2010-12-29T16:59:00.000-08:00

My Christmas music season continued back in Toronto on Dec. 16 with the world premiere (I was at the real thing this time, the first concert) of Sir Andrew Davis' (the TSO Conductor Laureate) new orchestration of Handel's Messiah. Since there really is no quintessential version of The Messiah and Handel himself changed it several times, likely based on what instrumentalists and soloists were available at the time, this is another in a sequence of expansions. However, it's one I particularly like! I think last year it was marketed as "Toronto's Favourite Messiah", but with the new larger orchestra and the rather subjective nature of calling it the "favourite", I'd say "biggest" is pretty hard to argue with.

In his program notes Maestro Davis, who also conducted, says his "aim has been to keep Handel's notes, harmonies, and style intact, but to make use of all the colours available from the modern symphony orchestra to underline the mood and meaning of the individual movements." I for one love the fuller sound of the brass and woodwinds.

There were times when the added percussion didn't exactly seem to fit. A few small cymbal rolls that were suppose to symbolize the fluttering of angels wings were odd sounding.

The trumpet solos and duets by Andrew McCandless and the other trumpeter soared as they played from the balcony above the choir beside the organ console. The extra orchestral sound and the 152 voice choir gave a powerful feel to the "Hallelujah Chorus" that I felt was lacking the last time I saw the TSO perform Messiah. There was also an awesome clarinet solo by Joaquin Valdepenas at the start of "I know that my Redeemer liveth" to start Part 3. The second clarinetist was a guy I haven't seen before. He looked really young, maybe a member of the Youth Orchestra?

For a more professional review I will point you to the one from the Toronto Star. I hope this gets recorded soon. I haven't purchased a full version of Messiah, and I think this one is a keeper.

Yuletide Celebration Part 4: Aftershocks

2010-12-25T17:51:00.000-08:00

After getting back to the hotel after the evening show I went on the computer and downloaded the pictures I'd taken. They turned out pretty well, as you've seen samples of so far. I also checked out the ISO blog thinking that maybe I'd post my first Yuletide memory for the contest which I thought ended at midnight Dec. 4. Turns out it ended 5 pm Dec. 3. But I figured what the heck, I'd submit a short post anyway, more to say "Thanks for a great show" than to really enter the contest. The results of my post can be found here.

I didn't think much more about it. I left Indy the next day after the matinee and a day later, after changing routes home because of the snow forecast, arrived home. Unpacking my computer, I noticed a new ISO blog post announcing the winner of the contest - the post was my first choice as well, "Yuletide Quarrels Being Won by a Child". But Jessica Di Santo (Communications Director who was in charge of picking the winning selection) had also listed several honourable mentions. I completely missed it the first time I scanned the list, then actually read what she'd written. My post was listed! I think my jaw literally dropped. I must have re-read the post about 10 times to make sure that even with a typo in my name, the link was to my post, all the details fit, and it really was me she was talking about.

The honourable mention prize was a Yuletide Celebration poster autographed by none other than Jack Everly and Sandi Patty! In my opinion this is was better than first prize :) I received an email from Jessica the next day which confirmed my post was selected and she mailed the poster on Dec. 8.

I've been anxiously checking the mail every day since then. Alas, 2 weeks later it still hadn't arrived and I gave up hope of it coming in time for Christmas.

Last night after returning home from visiting friends, I was handed a gift to open. I was tired and unless it was new pajamas I wasn't all that interested in opening anything until the morning. It was a long package, definitely not pajamas, and kind of tube like. I pulled off some of the paper and noticed a mailing type barcode sticker, and then an address label with the ISO logo at the top! All drowsiness quickly disappeared, and I extracted the tube from the wrapping and then the poster from the tube. It had arrived Christmas Eve day when I was at work.

You know ISO mailings have this ability to come at the ultimate times. The Yuletide Celebration CD I received last year arrived Dec. 1, just in time to kick off my official Christmas music listening season. And now, the poster arrives in the nick of time for Christmas Day. Amazing!

Thanks again to everyone at the ISO and I am now exclaiming as I sign-off out of sight "Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!"

Yuletide Celebration Part 3: The Show

2010-12-23T20:49:00.000-08:00

The actual concert begin with an invitation to "Join us on an exciting Holiday Adventure"...which may have been a tad cheesy but hey, why not?

The curtain rose revealing the orchestra fairly far back on the stage via the use of raisers with the brass section and timpani in a balcony of sorts. (picture from 2004 production)

ISO photo via Daniel Rodriguez site

Maestro Jack Everly looking very classy decked out in tails, and then Sandi Patty appeared in a gorgeous gown (one interview mentioned 10 dress changes, I could spend ages just describing them, if I remembered all the details, alas no picture taking allowed. But there were red, green, red with white fur trim-for White Christmas of course-, blue, and perhaps a few more) to open with "Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee" accompanied by the remainder of the company.

Next was a song I feel is not Christmas (even if technically it does mention sleigh bells), Rodgers and Hammerstien's "My Favourite Things" from The Sound of Music. I was prepared to just enjoy it anyway when after the first few lines the lyrics changed to list Yuletide Celebration favourite things! No more "girls in white dresses" but flying reindeer puppets and dancing Santa's. It would be awesome of someone would post this version's lyrics.

This led extremely well into a montage segment of clips from past Yuletide shows. The orchestra begin playing John William's, "Somewhere in My Memory" from Home Alone as a screen lowered and the Yuletide singers appeared. Previous specialty acts (Tony Hoard and Rory, Martin Preston as Liberace-both appearing in Baltimore's Holiday Spectacular this year), past hosts (Maureen McGovern-2009, Sylvia McNair-2003, Daniel Rodriguez-2004), and former conductors (Keith Lockhart 1992-93) were shown. Well deserved applause began when a photo of Jack appeared listing him as conductor since 1994 (16 years, wow!), and continued for Sandi's photo listing the 5 years she's hosted. Alas, the evening audience seemed more appreciative than the next day matinee where this illicited no applause :( The lyrics of the song though are a perfect fit for this years show which includes magicians in addition to music "...Christmas joys all around me...all of the music, all of the magic"

"Some Children See Him" with Sandi and Company was next. Aside from being pretty, I honestly don't remember much about it this piece. The linked version is closest rendition to the ISO's I could find on youtube.

The orchestra then took centre stage with "Here We Come a Caroling". It was the same version that's on the Yuletide Celebration CD and it was really fun to see it performed live when I'm so familiar with the arrangement. I was bopping along from my seat :)

One of the highlights of the concert was "We Three Kings" performed by the Yuletide Gentlemen. This was absolutely incredible! Seven guys in tuxedos walked out at an angle from each side of the stage and started singing. 14 voices all together, nothing fancy, just straight forward power. The verses were done by 3 bass soloists. Two I'm able to pick out of the program by their pictures (Mark Gilgallon and Andrew Nolen) but I'm not sure who the third is (I'll guess Ben Crawford, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong).

Andrew, Ben and Mark

The third one also did the "I Love a Piano" solo in "White Christmas" (keep reading there will be lots more details on that). Anyway, by the end when they lined up at the front of the stage and, completely synchronized, turned first to one side of the audience, then the other, finishing with a final step apart of their feet (a simple move that worked so well to emphasize the rich arrangement), the audience had begun a rousing round of applause. A bit of a show stopper. There really is no other word for it than powerful!

Perhaps because one can only take so much seriousness, some light-heartedness followed with "Shopper's Lament" and the Yuletide Ladies.

All bordered pics from interview with Mike Runyan

Sung to the tune of Tchaikovsky's "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" the ladies lamented Christmas shopping, children's pestering, injuries in the Colt's starting line up, and something about the Dunkin Donuts always being known as Rosalyn's. Being an out-of-towner, I figured not comprehending only one Indy joke was pretty good.

Les and Dazzle, the guest act of the year, are a father-daughter magic team. Les plays it straight and Dazzle is extremely enthusiastic would perhaps be a way of describing it. They were introduced by Jack who referred to Dazzle by saying "well she's just glad to be part of the act". They were featured in Mysterioso as well, and did exactly the same magic tricks. Considering they were probably my least favourite part of the show (primarily because I'd seen the act before), I was glad the accompanying music was at least a Christmas medley.

Quite a good one in fact with a quick quote from "You're a Mean One Mister Grinch", and more complete versions of "Rudolph", "Most Wonderful Time of the Year", "Up on the Housetop" and I'm sure lots more. The ball-balancing-on-handkerchief section near the end of the act, which is a bit of "my ball's bigger than your ball" competition between the two of them, was to a re-worked version of "That Old Black Magic" that included Yuletide lyrics. The arrangement was by Wayne Barker, who's done other things for Jack and Symphonic Pops Consortium shows (actually a neat article is here about his work on She Loves Me over the summer), and if he wrote the lyrics too he's even more talented than I thought (again would love to read these again. Post someone?).

It's said that you can tell a good writer by the transitions between thoughts, well if you extend that to telling a good show by the transitions between the numbers, this one excelled. The strip closet, with curtains in red and white to resemble a stocking, had Dazzle replaced with none other than a tap dancing Santa. This introduced what closes every Yuletide Celebration Act I (well at least all ones I've heard about) The "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" tap dancing Santa's with their Rockette style kick line. Dazzle even got into the line, and demonstrated she can really dance! Check out this clip from a few years ago for a taste of the dancing Santas (no Santatizer this year, but once that finishes, the tap dancing takes over). As an aside: This story from Jack about the Santa-tizer creation was written up in the program.

And with that it was suddenly intermission. The first half flew by!

Since it's something apparently one has to do, I had gotten a sampling of the cookies available for an intermission snack.
No they weren't all eaten, one actually made it all the way home in it's entirety. My conclusion: it's hard to go wrong with sugar cookies and gingerbread and I'll agree it's definitely part of the whole Yuletide experience.

Act II began with a recorded "Welcome Back" message from Jack, giving an intro to the world premiere (well I would have seen the 2nd and 3rd performances, but I suppose this Yuletide series of concerts are the world premieres) of his (Fred Barton is also credited as arranger) "A Tribute to Irving Berlin's White Christmas". Indeed it is true, that no holiday season is complete without at least one viewing of the iconic film. The curtain rose on the orchestra and Jack sporting the red Santa version of the tails jacket. It's great fun to see everyone involved in the festive spirit :) The 15 min or so mini-version of the movie and musical that followed was all the fun with none of the will they/won't they aspect from the story (although in 1954 Hollywood musicals, does the guy ever not get the girl? so maybe there never really was any "won't they"). The key musical upbeat numbers were all included beginning with "Happy Holiday" and "Snow, Snow, Snow" both with the whole company. Then the same dark haired guy from "We Three Kings" came out and sang the opening verse to "I Love a Piano". I read somewhere, perhaps in a biography on Irving Berlin, that he wrote it so the word piano would be over two syllables rather than three (ie: pia-no, not pi-an-o). Personally I prefer the three, and that was how it was sung here. Dancing ladies then joined him with little white grand piano props, and a male tap dancer did a great job with his dance solo.

Maintaining the dance theme, "The Best Things Happen While You're Dancing" came next. It began with Sandi serenading a couple who did some foxtrot style dancing. Then the orchestra demonstrated their skill at cohesiveness while conductor-less as Jack left his spot on the podium, extended his arm to Sandi, and showed that dancing is also on his list of many talents! He looked quite comfortable during his turn around the floor, I'd say easily surpassing Bing Crosby with gracefulness, as they moved very smoothly together. After returning to his traditional place, he flipped a few score pages and picked up as if there had never been a dancing interlude.

No White Christmas compilation would be complete with "Sisters" and it wasn't forgotten here as Sandi and all the ladies flipped around the feathers. I wonder if the same orchestration was used for this as for the version that appeared in Irving Berlin: Ragtime to Ritzes.

A lovely solo by Sandi of "Count Your Blessings" followed before the production number style finale. The whole company joined in for "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm" which led into five singers performing the often skipped verse of "White Christmas". Sandi then returned, wearing the red dress with white fur trimming from all the promo photos, for the chorus as the snow machines on stage and in the audience started whirring!

The line that popped into my head was Bob Wallace saying to Phil Davis at the end of the movie as they're opening the doors at the back of the stage/barn "you made it snow in here pal". The audience was invited to join in the singing at the end and it was easy to imagine being right in the movie! My opinion: a very, very successful world premiere!

A change of pace followed with Sandi introducing the return of the Wurlitzer organ, which after undergoing a 5 year refurbishment, rejoined the Yuletide concert last year. I saw both Donna Parker (evening show) and Martin Ellis (next day matinee) have the organist honours performing "Nutcracker Fantasy", a medley of songs from, you guessed it, Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker. I believe I recognized sections from the Overture, March, Trepek, Coffee, Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, and Waltz of the Flowers, although there were probably more. Martin wore a vest fully covered in glittering Christmas items. Very festive!

The curtain closed again while the organ console was moved off stage and Sandi introduced the only piece to be performed at every single Yuletide Celebration, "'Twas the Night Before Christmas". While there is music to the entire poem (see previously mentioned CD), she spoke the text unaccompanied until Ma and Pa "sprang from their beds to see what was the matter".

Not a great image, but only one I could find

The whole cast, including bears as toy soldiers, a panda, and a gingerbread man, were involved in acting out the story, and the reindeer pulling Santa's sleigh were walked down the main aisle by puppeteers. Puppet Santa became real after sliding down the chimney. He smoked his pipe and pulled presents out of his sack, before "laying his finger aside of his nose, and giving a nod, up the chimney he rose". Everyone waved as puppet Santa and reindeer "flew" down the opposite main aisle. All of a sudden a moon dropped out of the wings and a shadow of Santa's sleigh and reindeer was passed in front of it. I chuckled to myself as the same comment about full moons and set designs entered my mind :)

"All I Want for Christmas Is You" which followed, allowed the cast to let loose with the singing and dancing. The two female soloist's belted out their parts with high energy and it was a great "wake up audience, the show's not over" moment.

Another chance of pace followed with one of my favourite acts of the evening. Mike Runyan is the ISO librarian and has been credited as an arranger in programs of several concerts I've attended in the past. I remembered reading on an ISO blog post by one of the orchestra members that he played the harmonica so I was quite interested to see what "A Cowboy Harmonica Christmas" would bring about.

from Lou's IBJ Blog

In short it was charming. Mike started with a semi-mournful sounding "There's No Place Like Home for the Holidays" accompanied by the orchestra, complete with the "clip-clop" of horses hooves. He transitioned to "Rudolph" and with Dazzle's help, kept finding new harmonicas of all different sizes in a box, although I think she "helped" make one disappear.

There were quotes from the "Orange Blossom Special" (which was awesome!), Up on the Housetop (on a teeny-tiny harmonica), the first line of "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" (so fast you'd almost miss it), and "Holly Jolly Christmas". The music and schtick never stopped and it was incredibly fun to watch.

The concert concluded with a return to the serious and reminder of the true meaning of the season. Sandi Patty and company performed "One God" (the link is an extremely long compilation version but has some nice NASA Earth pictures),

which had a neat "Wonder as I Wander" melody quote at the end before heading into the classic "O Holy Night". This link is to the real thing (although not the shows I was at), hopefully it stays posted for a while. Perhaps a bit intense, but an impressive performance.

There was polite applause as the singers and dancers took their bows, and an immediate standing ovation when Sandi walked back on stage. The orchestra got a rousing applause too, which was certainly warranted! Obviously expecting this, there was an encore :) After everyone was re-seated, Sandi thanked Duke Energy, the title sponsor who must have put up a lot of money to fund the show, and promoted live music by saying everything we'd heard was completely performed live, even off stage vocals weren't pre-recorded. Maybe that's why I love symphonic music so much, what you see is what you're getting, nothing added, nothing taken away, and you get the true sense of how talented the musicians and performers are.

She continued my saying that not everyone will make it home for Christmas but they'll be there in spirit (a subtle reminder of all the deployed members of the armed forces) and she and Mike Runyan performed a very poignant version of "I'll Be Home for Christmas". I agree completely with Lou's view that the combination of performers, instruments and arrangement transcended expectations.

So with a final "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" and a re-appearance of Santa to say he'll see everyone on Christmas Eve, the 25th Anniversary Yuletide Celebration performance was complete.

The whole concert was classy (save for Dazzle's dress at the end :) , see above picture) and the music fresh, nothing felt like a re-hash of an old, well worn Christmas carol. There was a great balance in the variety of elements, nothing too much over the top, and always first rate quality. I'm so glad I went, and while it may not become tradition (I'll see what/who ends up on the program for next year before making that decision), my first Yuletide could not have started with a better version.

Congrats to everyone involved and thank you for making this a wonderful experience for everyone in attendance!

Yuletide Celebration Part 2: Arrival

2010-12-09T20:28:00.000-08:00

Prior to actually getting to Indy, a stop was made to visit a friend in Illinois. I had checked the forecast and was anticipating 40% chance of rain (but really hoping for none, because nothing ruins a Christmas feeling like rain). Imagine my surprise at waking up the day of the show (Dec. 4) to 6 inches of SNOW!

Still having to drive the 2 hours into Indianapolis made this a bit of a worry, but that quickly faded after a quick morning trip out and finding the roads were in pretty good shape. We arrived in good time and I started doing downtown parking lot research. Google maps is awesome for this, especially street view so you can see exactly where the entrances are.

I picked a parking garage that had a cheap rate according to some site about parking in the city, and figured out how to get there. We arrived early and found it was even cheaper than on the website! The ISO has a deal with the lot for $3 parking! How great is that! The trick being that all the spots up until about the 4th level are reserved. I'm pretty sure this is where all the people who work at the Hilbert Circle Theatre park. I'll guess this includes musicians and others. There's also this handy little walkway from the garage to a back door of the theatre with music notes etched in the concrete!

It was too early to go in yet plus it was night and Monument Circle was all lit up with the worlds largest Christmas tree, so I took pictures and froze. But there was snow, and Christmas lights, and horse drawn carriages, and Nutcrackers and Toy Soldiers in place of regular boring concrete posts, so it was worth it!

As one of the guide books said "Stop and take a picture of the Circle, everyone else does", and indeed there were lots of people out taking pictures, and walking around. I'm not surprised there were several ISO "Best Yuletide Memory" Blog posts about marriage proposals occurring here. It's pretty impressive.

The doors to the foyer of the theatre were open so we entered to escape the cold and ended up having a wonderful conversation with the security guard. He's retired, works there part time, and is originally from Nashville, TN. I wish I had gotten his name, he was so pleasant. We chatted about the concert and somehow it came up that Samuel Banks who played with the ISO for 5 years is now second bassoonist with the Toronto Symphony, and he remembered him!

The foyer was decorated with huge wreaths and you could see beyond the glass doors into the theatre lobby, but when you actually went in, there was a WOW feeling.

First a massive decorated Christmas tree, and the garlands hanging from the railings, a quartet singing Christmas carols, reindeer and a Christmas tree mingling with the people. I had fun just watching from the upper level, looking down at all the people taking pictures by the tree, all the little girls in their best dresses. I noticed two sisters, twirling around as their skirts spun out to make a bell...aww I remember those days.

On the main floor you can actually see right into the theatre. The walls are solid only half way up, then it's glass. Great place to work, you can enjoy the show no matter where you are!

We found our seats without a problem. As part of the castle set though there was a curtain, so no watching the orchestra saunter in, as they tend to do, although you could hear them warming up. Just a note: that bar does mess with your view if you're on the aisle. But otherwise great seats. You could even see the numbers on the stage (I believe there were 14 of them) as markers.

What struck me about the whole thing was everyone was in a good mood. From those mingling in the lobby to people climbing over others to get to their seats. No one seemed stressed or upset, and were chatting and waving to people they recognized. With all the children around I don't recall hearing anyone even wimper, never mind cry. Amazing atmosphere! Definitely everyone had a high dose of Christmas spirit.

The programs were another marvel. No 4 paper pages in the middle of a standard booklet here! A full glossy, THICK (111 pages in fact) book, over half of which is dedicated to Yuletide, from both memories and photos from past performances, to notes from Jack Everly about his new "White Christmas" creation.

The "White Christmas" themed display in the lobby was from his personal collection and included original posters from the movie,

a signed poster from the Broadway cast of the musical,

Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney, and Danny Kaye dolls (wonder what happened to Vera-Ellen?),

and the first page of the score, signed by himself and Fred Barton who was also involved in the arranging. I doubt it lasts very long, but 4 bars in the clarinet part goes to B flat concert with no sharps or flats...I like this :)

With that we've run out of time...the shows about to start!

Yuletide Celebration Part 1: The Anticipation

2010-12-07T20:04:00.000-08:00

I'm not entirely sure when my desire to see the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra's Yuletide Celebration concert started, but it's been at least several years, and intensified when last year on Dec. 1 the Yuletide Celebration CD arrived. I think I listened to it once at day the entire month! It hasn't been taken off my ipod since, and during a couple of sweltering days through the summer I would listen to "The 12 Days of Christmas" and "Baby It's Cold Outside" and mentally escape to the snow :)

For a few years I've been doing the math based on Yuletide being mentioned in NACO program books as part of Jack Everly's bio, for what year would be the 25th and since all I had to work with was usually something like "now a 23 year tradition", and I think it remained that for 2 seasons in a row, I was never entirely sure if my math was right. So this year when it was being promoted all over the ISO site as the 25th Anniversary I knew it was going to be a great time to attend, especially with Sandi Patty hosting, and set about making it happen.

Months ago actually I did some preliminary research: Google mapping, hotel checking, forecast guessing, and CAA travel book reading about the city (which I then put in such a safe place I can't find it). When tickets went on sale I decided the first weekend in December was the best choice weather wise in hopes that winter wouldn't have arrived too strongly yet. Then came Hilbert Circle Theatre research: seating maps viewing, Google image searches for inside the theatre, posted on a blog of someone who'd been to a recent concert, and finally emailed the ISO directly with a few questions. In the end I chose seats in the second row of the Dress Circle off to the left side (facing the stage). So tickets purchased, all that was left was waiting, sort of. It was an exciting day when the tickets arrived in the mail, but solidified that I still had all the other details to work out.

This post was going to be made prior to leaving for the USA but things got pushed to the last week and with researching hotels again, working extra hours to make up for the days away, planning what to take, and how to get there, it's a few days afterwards. But oh well.

One of the best things actually was following the ISO Blog. They started a contest for posting your favourite Yuletide Celebration memories sometime around the beginning of November. I learned about all the things you have to do when you go to the concert--take a picture by the Christmas tree, have a sugar or ginger bread cookie with milk or cider at intermission, watch for the flying reindeer during "The Night Before Christmas", wait for the Tap Dancing Santa's which always close Act 1, check out the world's largest Christmas Tree in Monument Circle, get all dressed up and have a fantastic time! The best post in my opinion (which incidentally ended up winning the contest) was "Yuletide Quarrels Being Won By a Child".

So with tickets purchased, plans for where to stay made, a CAA Trip Tik in hand, downtown Indianapolis maps printed, ipod loaded with Christmas music it was time to go!

Stay tuned for Part 2.

Beethoven at his Pleasant Best

2010-12-06T19:14:00.000-08:00

Since I'm behind again, the Yuletide Celebration posts that will follow this one are sure to be long, and this was short concert, here's the highlights.

Who:
The Toronto Symphony Orchestra Afterworks Concert
Nicholas McGegan conducting
Tom Allen hosting

What:

courtesy of TSO

Camille Saint-Saens-Cello Concerto #1 in A minor, performed by new principal cellist Joseph Johnson.
In a brief chat with the host following his performance he mentioned this is a piece most cellists start with, and indeed when he asked the cello section how many had begun with it, all raised their bows. It hasn't been done with the TSO in 15 years, but is a very beautiful piece of music. Mr. Johnson is starting to grow on me, and I do like how he seems happy at the end of a performance and smiles! The orchestra gave him (and the guest conductor) a rousing applause when he finished, so they obviously liked them both.

Beethoven-Symphony #8 in F major
The very personable conductor and host gave some background on this piece prior to playing it and the orchestra even played snippets from each of the 4 movements. I really like that, since the jokes that only serious musicians and students of Beethoven might get, are made accessible to the general music lover. Turns out there are lots in this piece.

The first movement begins with no introduction, it's right into the first theme, and ends rather abruptly with a restatement of the tune, but that's it. Unlike the final movement which has several false endings. You think he's ramping up for a big finale, and suddenly the tune reappears and he plays with it a bit more. Apparently the recapitulation is almost as long as the main statement in that movement.

The second movement is shortest and jokes about the recently invented metronome. The woodwinds have this incessant "tick" throughout, and I'm sure are very glad it's less than 4 minutes long. As described by Bramwell Tovey in his CBC podcast on this symphony the break in of the double basses gives the feeling "oh turn this darn thing off". The third movement is Beethoven's final ode to a minuet and trio with a hard French horn part, but a really nice mix of it with the clarinet, and whatever other instrument makes up the trio. I was too busy watching the clarinet to notice :)

When:
Nov 24 (see I told you I was behind :) )

Where:
As usual, Roy Thomson Hall

Why:
I'm working on seeing all of Beethoven's symphonies performed. There are 9 and I've now seen 3 (#5-with the famous "da da da duh" opening, #6-the Pastoral, and now #8-short, pleasant, concise, and funny!)

How:
tsoundcheck, is there any better way?

Back to the Ballet with Cinderella

2010-11-27T13:02:00.000-08:00

Other than The Nutcracker, I don't think I've been to a full ballet with sets (which for the ball were sort of art deco style), fancy costumes (kind of flapper/1920's with white pointe shoe versions of Dorothy's ruby slippers), and a whole 2 hour story telling experience.

Sonia Rodriguez as Cinderella (all photos from National Ballet of Canada website)

That changed Nov. 18 when I took advantage of the National Ballet of Canada's DanceBreak program and ended up with Ring 3 seats to Cinderella. In a surprise twist to the evening, Sonia Rodriguez danced the part of Cinderella. I've wanted to see her perform for a while, so that was a great switch. When I was on a Sergei Prokofiev kick a while back, I listened to the score and didn't particularly like it, but seeing the dance and watching the music being played completely changed my perspective. The conductor for the evening was Martin West, a guest conductor from the San Francisco ballet. Unfortunately I couldn't really see through heads to watch him very much. Additionally I wasn't able to spot the new concertmaster Benjamin Bowman. After seeing him perform last season as a guest soloist, I was hoping to see him again, but he didn't seem to be there. The clarinetist though was amazing! I had a great view of him, and will assume it was principal Max Christie. There are so many clarinet solo type lines throughout the score and his tone, clarity and speed was perfect. Ohhh to be able to play like that!

We arrived just in time for the pre-ballet chat with Ballet Master Lindsay Fischer. His explanation provided more depth to the story than I ever thought possible. While still a fairy tale, at the hands of choerographer James Kudelka it has become so much more. Some may consider what Lindsay said reading too much into a simple story, but I like it! Cinderella has become more than just a nice girl who doesn't do anything and ends up getting a fancy, rich life with a prince. Instead she remembers what it's like to be loved, and shares that love with other around her. Even after being tormented by the stepsisters and ending up on the floor crying, she offers hospitality to the old women (aka: Fairy Godmother) who can barely bend over. A reminder that with all our problems, there's someone with more, so be grateful for what we do have and share it.

The stepsisters are not portrayed in drag as other productions sometimes have them, but maintain a self-centered attitude, unwilling to expand their horizons to anyone else. I agree with Lindsay that it's better to chuckle at their comical ways recognizing the humour in having done similar things ourselves, rather than laughing at them, which makes us no better than how they treat Cinderella. For example, when learning to dance (some funny moments, particularly in odd looking lifts with the dance instructor prior to the ball) or trying to attract the attention of a particular guy (they have great solos at the ball with their escorts trying to prevent them from throwing themselves at the Prince).

At the Ball

Lindsay also brought out the theme of conformity, that today people want to conform to what society says is best, keeping up with the Jones, and getting their 15 minutes of fame. All the ball attendees (particularly the stepsisters) are quite eager to pose for the photographer at the beginning of the ball in Act II. The awkward movements, particularly of the men, gives a mechanical feel. Indicating these people aren't the real thing, they're putting on what they think society wants so they can get ahead but aren't being true to themselves. Outward beauty is the goal, rather than the inward beauty Cinderella has that extends out from her touching others. Indeed as the garden fairies return near the end of the ball (prior to the Prince and Cinderella's pas de deux I think) they have fans and the "fake" attendees get blown away in the wind, leaving Cinderella and the Prince. A reason was also proposed for why the Fairy Godmother tells Cinderella to leave the ball by midnight. That being, if you stay too long amongst people who value only the material things, if can affect you as well, hence the reminder of midnight to not be negatively influenced by these people, but stay true to yourself.

Guillaume Cote as the Prince

In the end, the Prince goes around the world (which is a phenomenal sequence of dances with the Prince and his aides against a blue sky and white cloud background, where they meet individuals from various places - a Spanish dancer, a Japanese girl in a kimono, even an Amelia Earhart take off) trying to find Cinderella, and eventually finds her in his own backyard. They reject the wealth and fame the world has to offer, content with the simplicities of a small wedding and life. James Kudelka is quoted in the program about his creation saying, "...the ballet [shows] the possibility of creating a new and intimate world that has nothing to do with being rich and famous. That's why it's not about the Prince elevating Cinderella to glory, as in traditional versions. In a way, she elevates him." Here's hoping that being open to new experiences and sharing with those around us will result in everyone meeting their special someone. (PS: to whoever my someone is, I'm still waiting to meet you :) )

TSO at the Weston

2010-11-24T19:49:00.000-08:00

Way back on Nov. 14 (hence this will be a whirlwind review since I'm 3 concerts behind) I continued what is turning into a real music month by attending a Toronto Symphony concert in a new location with a new friend. Several times throughout the season the TSO vacates Roy Thomson Hall in favour of the George Weston Recital Hall at the Toronto Centre for the Arts. While paying the parking meter I ran into a few musicians actually. I would have expected parking to be provided for them, but they were parking on the street and paying like the rest of us. tsoundcheck tickets aren't usually offered for concerts at the Weston, but I guess they had a lot of empty seats, so we were able to attend for the cheap rate :) Our seats were on the floor level however, and near the front which limits what you are able to see of the actual orchestra. The stage is smaller and the musicians seemed a bit squished in places, but they were able to squeeze in a piano at centre stage for Dvorak's "Piano Concerto in G Minor".

The program opened with Glinka's lively "Overture to Rusian and Lyudmila" (a really fast version is linked here) then the piano concerto performed by Natasha Paremski. She played Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto #2 last season (May 2009) with guest conductor Xian Zhang, as a blonde and now is looking just as pretty as a brunette. But that's beside the point, boy can she play! All I know of Dvorak's is the "New World Symphony" (#9 I believe), and Peter Oundjian mentioned in his introduction that part was quoted in the concerto, I tried hard, but not knowing what part to listen to, I clearly missed hearing the quote.

Next came an odd piece. A cello concerto written by Witold Lutoslawski in 1969/70. I'd say I'm still working on furthering my appreciation of music from the classical and romantic eras and haven't expanded to contemproary yet because I didn't like it. There was practically non-existent melody, lots of dissonance, and conflict. That's the point actually. The composer wrote "The relationship [between soloist and orchestra] is one of conflict...the orchestra provides the element of intervention, interruption, even disruption." My favourite part was the all out brass interruption section. Not pretty but forceful. Colin Carr was the guest cellist, and he called this work one of the best pieces not just for cello but ever. Well, I'm glad he has an appreciation for it, but it was lost on me. He was extremely energetic in his playing however, going so far as to knock the first row violins music off the stand. Good thing it was at the very end and they had finished playing.

Lastly was what I had wanted to attend for...Stravinsky's "Suite from The Firebird". Only discovering at the NACO Gotta Dance concert a few weeks ago that The Firebird was a ballet (I don't know what I thought it was before, but I've recognized some of the themes for a while, as they tend to crop up in various places. Fantasia and TSO Halloween concerts for example. Oh and of course youtube. Here are parts you may recognize) I was quite looking forward to this. I wasn't disappointed, although it would have been more thrilling to be able to have a view of the full orchestra not just the front rows. I have since listened to the full ballet music and it's all great! Obviously the themes in the Suite are most recognizable, but I love the intensity and the beauty of the various sections. Since it's a ballet it's a given there's a Prince, and he rescues Princesses with the help of this bird. It's ballet, plots are what they will be, it's all about the music anyway :) and this ended the concert on a high note!

NACO Off to a Dancing Start

2010-11-21T13:21:00.000-08:00

Gotta Dance opened the NAC Orchestra Pops season on Nov. 4-6. I'm sure this program has evolved and variations are done different places but back in 2000 Gotta Dance was also part of the season, in what could have been one of Maestro Everly's first performances with the NAC Orchestra. Anyway, the orchestra and now Principal Pops conductor Jack Everly got a strong welcome by the audience as they began with what I've come to expect and adore at these events, an original Jack Everly arrangement titled to match the program as the "Gotta Dance Prelude". I picked out "Shall We Dance" from the King and I, "Hernando's Hideaway" from The Pajama Game, and "I Could Have Danced All Night" from My Fair Lady.

Next came the first set of ballet music from two of Tchaikovsky's (lol, just noticed they typo'd his name in the program!) ballets: the very famous "Sleeping Beauty Waltz" (of which a vocal version is in Disney's movie and "A Chorus of Hits"), and the "White Swan" pas de deux from Swan Lake. This was Tchaikovsky's first ballet and was a failure in it's first staging partially because the score was considered too symphonic! Making it perfect for a symphony orchestra :) Jack (side note: I have an enormous amount of respect and admiration for Mr. Everly, but for the sake of brevity and having heard him introduce himself as "Jack" I'm going to start using that for these posts recognizing that we're really not that familiar and no disrespect is intended) did a brief summary of the plot preceding the pas de deux where the Prince ("there's always a Prince") goes hunting at night. At night...hunting...bows and arrows...good thing no one requires ballets to be plausible. However, there was a full moon and evidently "set and lighting designers love a full moon" (considering he also studied set design in university, I'd say he has the knowledge to know). Enter Patrick Lavoie and Jillian Vanstone, artists with the National Ballet of Canada, who performed the pas de deux exquisitely. My dance friend attended with me, so I take her word on this! Personally I think they deserved more rousing applause, but people seemed to prefer the still to come Lombard Twins. The "Berceuse (or Lullaby) and Finale" from Stravinsky's Firebird were part of the second half. It appeared that Jack didn't look at a score for most of the ballet pieces, which isn't surprising given the 14 years he spent focused on that repertoire.

The stage techies then came out and "rolled up the lake" (the flooring that had been put down for the ballet dancers) getting heckled by Jack that it was taking them so long, as he described the plot of The Band Wagon. There's so much back story that could be discussed to set up "Dancing in the Dark" though that the stage techies could have taken ages. The movie version starred Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse, (which is great, I highly recommend it!), while Fred and his sister Adele starred in the original Broadway musical. Jack mentioned the autobiographical nature of the movie and Astaire's life and the original movie orchestration (which they used!) by the amazing Conrad Salinger at MGM who gave everything he did a distinct sound. From reading Astaire's autobiography I also remember him being worried that Charisse was too tall for him as a dance partner, although with the park bench and deep knee bends used through the actual dance in the movie, it was rather hard to tell.

Next things switched from the orchestra to the "song and dance man". Jack mentioned Dick Van Dyke as one of the last in a long line featuring the greats like Donald O'Connor (one of my favourites) and Gene Kelly (who he actually almost forgot to include). Stephanie Cadman and Mark Cassius took on the rolls of Albert and Rosie (on Broadway played by Van Dyke and Chita Rivera) to perform "Put on a Happy Face" from Bye Bye Birdie. Quite likely the Broadway original was better than the movie version, although Van Dyke did reprise his role and made the movie watchable. Mark Cassius was cheery enough and succeeded in drawing his lady and the audience into the song. He was also very pleasant and considerate when I met him in the lobby after the show (thanks to him and Stephanie for their autographs!). Stephanie also returned in white tie and tails during the second half for a tap solo to "Shakin' the Blues Away", incorporating such quick turns she shook her hair loose of it's pins.

Dancing continued tango style with ballroom dancers Nikolai Pilipenchuk and Natalia Skorikova (who've been on Dancing with the Stars) performing to Porter's "Begin the Beguine". Not having looked at the program just before the show and having forgotten this piece was on it, I spent the time marvelling at their dancing while trying to figure out what the song was! Finally at intermission I was able to stop wracking my brain. In the second half, they put their acting skills to further use in the more serious "Libertango" by Astor Piazzolla (linked to the YoYo Ma version, did you know he made a whole CD of Piazolla's music? It's a good listen).

The Lombard Twins combination of what I'd call tap/hip hop/popping seemed to be the top audience pleaser. They performed to "Escualo" in the first half and "Chant and Fugue" in the second, both by Piazzolla. Concertmaster Yosuke Kawasaki had his work cut out for him with all the violin solos throughout the evening and shed his jacket for what seemed a pretty demanding roll in "Escualo" which I'd say he executed beautifully.

The orchestra took centre stage again with a suite from "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue" from Rodgers and Hart's 1930's production On Your Toes. I'm familiar with this from it being featured in the Rodgers and Hart biopic Words and Music which had Gene Kelly (who also re-choreographed the ballet for the movie and changed the ending to have the dance hall girl and hoofer get shot) and Vera-Ellen dancing the rolls. Check it out.

Post intermission was another Everly arrangement of "Big Band Dance Hits". The beginning seemed to quote "Everything's Coming Up Roses" from Gypsy and the wonderful "In the Mood" also featured prominently. The orchestra even got to shout something out in the middle, which from my own experience and from having asked the conductor himself, is often a challenge to get them to do. They seemed to embrace it though, but I couldn't make out what was actually said.

"Jellicle Ball" from Andrew Lloyd Webber's long long running show Cats was included in the program as well. From Jack's slightly cynical introduction I'd say he isn't a big fan of the musical, referring to how there's "always a touring production of those pussycats somewhere". However, he conducted the piece with his usual enthusiasm and energy, and while there may be a non-existent plot (honestly I've never seen the show, however I listened to a full cast recording the week following the concert and wasn't that impressed. Maybe it needs the context of the performance, but I'd tend to agree with reviewer Mark Andrew Lawrence "Happily the finale arrived and we are told (finally) what the point of this show is: "A cat is not a dog." I lost three hours of my life to learn that???" --full review here) the "Jellicle Ball" is a fun piece of music.

The concert concluded with "Lord of the Dance" a fantastic piece with full orchestra! The O'hare Irish Dancers and students from the Sue Fay Healy School of Irish Dance provided the lively soft and hard shoe step dancing.

Post concert, the conductor and most of the guest dancers were kind enough to chat and sign autographs in the lobby. Judging by the number of people waiting to share a quick word I'd say Jack is extremely well liked it Ottawa. It was an honour to speak briefly with him and many thanks for the autograph etc. as well! It made my night :D

Halloween with the TSO

2010-11-12T16:50:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the second in my series of belated blogs. This is for the Toronto Symphony Creepy Classics Concert (wonderful alliteration isn't it?) which I actually attended ON Halloween. Talk about appropriate. This concert was the debut of conductor Alastair Willis with the TSO, who has a delightful accent no doubt gained from having lived (or perhaps still living) in England, although he was born in the USA. The music was of course superb, but what I really loved was that the orchestra was in costume, including the conductor as Dracula. And some of them got really into it! Alas I didn't take my camera and multiple Google images searches isn't revealing anything, but I will mention some of the best. Then move on to the actual music.

Probably the most elaborate, and certainly what got the most applause was the trumpet section who appeared in full KISS regalia, complete with black leather, white faces and shaggy hair looking quite like the original (pictured).
It was rather difficult to tell exactly who they were under the make-up, but I'll guess they were the four trumpeters in the program (Andrew McCandless, Barton Woomert, James Gardiner, and James Spragg).

There were several clowns, a werewolf in the cello section, and a genie, new dad (in bathrobe with towel over his shoulder and toting around a doll), and blue spiked headpiece adorned the French horns. The tuba player was the Tooth Fairy complete with white tutu and dental pliers for extraction. I believe the entire double bass section was in costume. Jeffrey Beecher hobbled across the stage as an old man with glasses, white hair, a multi-footed cane with tennis balls on the bottom and balloons. Having never seen the movie, I'm not sure, but maybe he was the old man from the movie Up. He tied the balloons to the top of his bass and they stayed there the whole concert. I noticed him actually smiling at the end during the audience applause and he's usually rather serious looking. I guess it's hard to be serious in costume. They all seemed to be having fun with it, taking pictures with other orchestra members like the new assistant principal bass, Kristen Bruya who looked like a white cloud with a spider on her head. Teng Li (the principal violist) was a yellow bird and even had a little beak. She "crowed" the arrival of morning at the end of Saint-Saens "Danse macabre" where concert master Mark Skazinetsky, who was dressed as a devil, played the solo violin parts representing "Death". Interestingly enough the harp (played by a mad scientist) which was to strike midnight at the beginning, struck 13...mistake or just having fun with a Halloween type number? Given that the Maestro had mentioned the piece started at midnight, I expect most people were counting and caught that slip, if it was one. After the piece, Alastair asked Mark how he liked playing Death. Mark replied it was hot work and he needed a shower. At which point the orchestra burst in with the music from the shower scene in Psycho. Previously they had also played "Prelude" from the movie and in that introduction it was mentioned how originally Hitchcock had wanted silence for the scene but after hearing Bernard Herrmann's music (the entire score of the film uses only the string sections), agreed it was much scarier with it. So it was fitting that the little snippet made the concert somewhere.

Some of the other music included was Bach's "Toccata" from Toccata and Fugue in D Minor played by organist Patricia Kruegar (wearing a pointy witches hat). It was the first time I'd heard the big organ in Roy Thomson Hall, which was really neat. One of my favourites The Sorcerer's Apprentice was included as well and one of the percussionists was in a red robe sporting the Mickey Mouse sorcerer's hat, complete with ears.
I never noticed how the melody jumps from clarinet to oboe to flute before, and of course the bassoons have the most recognizable part that thanks to Disney brings to mind marching broomsticks. Speaking of bassoons, Sam Banks (previously mentioned here) was wearing a straw hat and had cock-eyed picture frame over his face and shoulders, almost like it had been broken over his head. I'm not sure I understood the exact look he was going for, but I really liked how he got the picture frame to be in that position.

The contrabassoonist was dressed as Franz Lizst who, if he weren't dead, would be 200 years old next year. Apparently he was a bit of a rock star in his day and would slowly pull off his white gloves finger by finger then throw them on the floor before playing, causing women to faint. The young pianist Todd Yaniw entered the stage wearing white gloves and did as Lizst would have, although from what I could tell there was no fainting. He then played Lizst's Totentanz for Piano and Orchestra, essentially 17 mins of variations on the Dies Irae, but he played so well it was an enjoyable 17 minutes.

I quite liked Alastair Willis as a conductor and communicator with the audience. Some of his stories seemed geared to the younger members of the audience, but he was informative about the music and enjoyable to watch throughout. Prior to several pieces he picked out key parts (for example, the clarinet solo theme of the beloved in "March to the Scaffold", and the section that represents the guy loosing his head and it rolling into the basket), and had the orchestra play them so when they performed the whole piece you could pick out the themes. I've never caught the head rolling part before although I've heard Symphonie Fantastique several times.

The lighting department did well creating the mood throughout the concert. The stage went dark for the pieces that started at midnight and slowly brightened over the piece as dawn approached. The program concluded with an encore beginning and ending in the light unlike most of the others, John William's "Hedwig's Theme" from Harry Potter. It was a fitting ending to an enjoyable afternoon of great "creepy" music. Happy Halloween!

TSO Pops Season Beginnings

2010-11-10T19:43:00.000-08:00

Almost a month late with this review, and behind by 3 concerts as of this past weekend, so I will try to keep it short. But there was so much good stuff that happened this day!

Way back on Oct. 19 the Toronto Symphony opened it's Pops season with Steven Reineke guest conducting Broadway Divas! Side note: when this concert was originally advertised I believe the title was Wicked Divas which makes sense given that the two soloists, debuting with the TSO, previously played the leads in Wicked on Broadway, although not at the same time. Julia Murney was Elphaba , while Jennifer Laura Thompson was Glinda.

What was especially fun for me, was getting the chance to see an open rehearsal the afternoon of the show. It's the first Pops open rehearsal the TSO has done and I hope there are more to come. It amazes me that with one run through they put the whole show together and they never went over any part more than twice. Often it was just transitions and some of the beginnings that were repeated. With just a few comments from the conductor, the second time the orchestra played the section you could hear the changes right away, obviously signs of true professionals. In the concert that evening it was great to be able to pick out the parts they'd gone over and they sounded even better. The vocalists were pros too. You'd never had known at the performance that Jennifer wasn't feeling well and they cut out a bar at the end of "I Could Have Danced All Night" to make it easier to hold that final high note.

Before they'd begin a piece Steven would pass along some instructions or make sure things had been corrected in the parts. For example, in one piece all the B's in the bass part were suppose to be C's, and from what I gathered from musician replies, that had been corrected. After they played through the piece, usually continuously, he didn't stop in the middle very often, there were sometimes questions. A few that I recall involved someone asking something very specific about their part in the opening "Overture to Gypsy", and Steven's replying being he was conducting off the piano score, so couldn't really tell them (and here I thought only the small orchestra I play with had that problem). His reply to a question from the drummer about what he really wanted the rhythm to be was particularly funny since Steven told him "don't play what I wrote" in a piece he had arranged. The percussion section seemed to get the most direction and/or questions from the podium, often about what equipment they had to work with or whether they had all the parts when Steven would notice something missing. For example, the timpani player ended up playing the shaker in "Conga" to cover things off. One piece that I can't recall any comments on other than, "thanks for humouring me by going through that" was "Selections from Carmen". I expect that's a piece that appears semi-regularly on light classics concerts, so wasn't at all new to the orchestra.

"Conga" however, quite likely was new. Before they played it at the rehearsal the principal trombone, Gordon Wolfe, asked how badly they had to play it before Steven would take it off the program. He laughed and jokingly said they'd better watch it, it was his arrangement and everyone loves the Conga! After watching the first try of it, particularly the trombone part that had some pretty rapid slide work going on, I can understand his comment. It sounded a bit rough the first time through, but got better as they worked on sections and that night in performance it sounded great!

Following the open rehearsal there was a Q&A session with second bassoonist Samuel Banks who joined the orchestra in 2009. He was very personable, and answered questions on how he started on the bassoon (was bored with the bass clarinet), how the orchestra prepared for the concert (they got the music about a week in advance, the bassoon part was fairly straightforward with lots of written in metronome markings so he practiced with those), and how he feels about Pops concerts (he enjoys the genre, gets a chance to swing, and isn't about making a statement as a jazz musician just to present great music). Previously he played with the Indianapolis Symphony for 5 years and after finding that out I had to ask if he was on my favourite Christmas CD (which I've started listening to already) but he just missed the ISO Yuletide Celebration recording beginning with the orchestra the fall after they recorded it that summer. Too bad, it's fantastic, and I bet it was a lot of fun to be part of the creation process.

Several hours later, it was time for the performance! So now a few notes about that. It opened with an interesting arrangement of the "Overture from Gypsy". Personally I prefer the original Jule Styne version beginning with the cymbal crash and timpani roll, although according to the liner notes of "Everything's Coming Up Roses" those elements aren't actually in the score. The orchestra had lots of opportunity to show their skills with "Carmen", "Ragtime", "Conga" (which sounded awesome! no need to even consider pulling it from the program), another Reineke arrangement "I Hear a Symphony: Symphonic Sounds of Diana Ross" obviously an assortment of songs made famous by her including "Stop! In the Name of Love", and Concertmaster Mark Skazinetsky was featured in "Over the Rainbow".

The Divas engaged in minimal bad diva behaviour but had fun with each other and the audience. Julia performed a funny rendition of "Ring Them Bells" originally written for Liza Minnelli and Jennifer soared over the high notes in "Think of Me" from the Phantom of the Opera. The program concluded with them each channelling their Wicked rolls for "Popular" and "Defying Gravity" then coming together in "For Good". An interesting choice for the end of the concert in that it's a quiet showstopper not a huge orchestral big bang type. Even the encore "I Will Never Leave You" from Side Show (which I'd never heard of until reading the linked wiki article. It's cool it helped the career of Hugh Panaro-previously blogged about here and here), is a quieter song, although fitting given what it followed.

If anyone from the TSO happens to read this, thanks for a great opening to the Pops season, and I hope the first Pops open rehearsal was a success from your perspective and more will be planned for next year.

Night of American Music

2010-10-16T12:34:00.000-07:00

The Oct. 9 concert titled Rhapsody in Blue included two pieces from Samual Barber, the "Overture to Candide" by Bernstein and the title piece featuring guest pianist Jon Kimura Parker who apparently has been guesting with the TSO for 25 years. The evening began with a great pre-concert chat by Rick Philips where we found out how Gershwin came to write "Rhapsody in Blue" as well as some stories about Barber and Bernstein.

"Overture to Candide" was a rousing start to the evening. From the choir loft seats it's great fun to watch the conductor. I'd never seen the string players have to pull stray hairs off their bows before, but there were a few who did after this piece. There was also a guest concertmaster, Jonathan Carney. He's the regular concertmaster of the Baltimore Symphony. An interesting note, the BSO's Pops season opened Oct. 7, and why anyone would want to miss Maestro Everly and Gotta Dance is beyond me, but then I'm not a trained musician, mearly a fun loving amateur. Mr. Carney's style seemed a little flamboyent to me, at least more than I usually recall seeing from the other TSO associate and assistant concertmasters.

Next up was "Symphony #1" by Barber. Maestro Oundjian introduced this piece (I do love how there's talking in casual concerts!) and mentioned it's rarely performed because people don't quite know how to program it. After hearing it, I've decided I'm not a fan. It's interesting I suppose, but it didn't really resonate with me. The evening's concert was dedicated to a cousin of the Oundjian family, making the very famous Barber piece, "Adagio for Strings" especially poignant. No one could ever accuse Mr. Oundjian of being stoic on the podium, he feels what he's conducting, and while I often have trouble finding a downbeat, the orchestra produces beautiful music with his leading. At one point he made a gesture that looked as if he was drawing a bow across a violin. It's not hard to tell that is his instrument. There's one very pregnant pause in the piece and the audience was told that in a previous concert some people had thought the piece was over and started clapping, however he felt sure that wouldn't happen tonight. And indeed, with that reminder, it didn't.

The program concluded with the much more upbeat "Rhapsody in Blue" by George Gershwin. This piece was named by Ira and originally was going to be "American Rhapsody", however with other names around like "Study in Gray", it became "Rhapsody in Blue". Gershwin was asked to compose the piece by Paul Whiteman for a concert called An Experiment in Modern Music in 1924. He hadn't been working on it and with 5 weeks left, on a trip to Boston for out of town tryouts for a musical, he developed the piece. Gershwin wrote a piece for 2 pianos. The second piano part became the orchestration. Apparently Gershwin was mostly self taught and asked Ravel and Stravinsky if he could study music with them. Ravel's response was "why would you want to be a B class Ravel when you can be an A Class Gershwin?". Stravinsky asked how much money he made, and when Gershwin laid out a 6 digit figure, Stravinsky said "I should be studying with you".

Now back to the actual performance of the piece. Peter Oundjian introduced Jon Kimura Parker and explained they attended Julliard at the same time, but only met at their graduation ceremony (their guest speaker was Aaron Copland and neither were really paying attention) since they were seated beside each other. Not a lot of names come between "Ou" and "Pa" so the alphabet brought them together. They joked around a bit, mentioned the glissando in the clarinet at the start of the piece and how when the clarinetist slid it for the first time (it wasn't originally written that way) it was liked and since then the clarinet player pretty much does what he likes that sounds good. At this the oboe player looked like he was laughing and the clarinetist gave a quick shake of his head. However, it sounded really cool, and is something I'm going to have to read about how to do, this may make runs a lot easier ;)

There was an instant standing ovation at the conclusion of the piece. For an encore Mr. Parker took the microphone and said "when you play with an orchestra you've got to have...", sat down and started playing "I've Got Rhythm". After being presented with flowers, and there still being a standing ovation, he went back in time, but stayed in the same country, concluding the evening with "Solace" by Scott Joplin.

New TSO Season

2010-10-09T13:12:00.000-07:00

The Toronto Symphony Orchestra opened their 2010-2011 season with a bang--Mahler's "Resurrection Symphony". Since 2011 is the 100th anniversary of Gustav Mahler's death, his works are showing up on the schedules for a lot of orchestras I follow. For example, Baltimore opened with Symphony 7 and has 4 other pieces planned for the season. The NAC Orchestra is doing Mahler's 4th Symphony near the end of the season, but it's still there. Indianapolis has Mahler's 5th in a few weeks, and if I kept looking maybe I could find all 10 of the symphonies somewhere.

Prior to Sept. 25 when I attended the TSO concert, I'd heard OF Mahler, but never actually HEARD Mahler. I don't know why I waited so long! As usual if I'm attending something new I look for it on Youtube. I found a version conducted by Leonard Bernstein, a famous conductor, so I figured it was a pretty good rendition. Once the symphony started (the orchestra began with "O Canada", both verses, I didn't know it had 2 verses! Must be a season opening thing because I've never seen them play that before) I quickly discovered Youtube does not do Mahler justice, well it probably doesn't do a lot justice, but definitely not Mahler!

From the opening notes I was entranced. I think my mouth was hanging open for parts of it and there was so much to take in visually. There was no getting drowsy in this program. The melody passed to various instruments and never got lost for me, the balance between everything was incredible even with a huge orchestra. Symphony 2 is scored for a lot of what I'd consider extras to a typical orchestra complement (such as 4 clarinets, 2 E-flat clarinets, 4 oboes, 4 bassoons, 2 harps, etc. and 10 HORNS - which was incredible). At a few points the clarinets and horns even pointed their bells up. Is that a Mahler thing? Did he write to do that in the music?

The offstage playing of horns and percussion in the fifth movement was interesting. According to the program notes by Don Anderson, "The first part of the concluding movement is emotionally uncertain, haunted by the evocative echoes of off-stage horns and whispered, fragmentary allusions to the Dies irae (Day of Wrath)". I'd agree with the haunting aspect for sure, especially since it follows this touching mezzo-soprano solo "Urlicht" (Primeval Light), which I liked more than the vocal parts in the final movement.

The local library is now hunting for their recording of Mahler 2 since it's not on the shelf and I'm anxious to hear it again. If only I had free flights anywhere in North America, I would make that list of which orchestras were doing what and maybe hear all 10 symphonies in a season. Alas, some dreams don't come true.

But attending more TSO concerts does. Tonight is a much lighter subject with "Rhapsody in Blue". I can't wait. More soon.

Musical Trip to the South Pacific

2010-08-21T14:40:00.000-07:00

One enchanting, and very hot, humid south Pacific style, afternoon was spent at the Four Season Centre last week taking in the first Broadway revival of South Pacific. It's the only Canadian stop for the touring production of the show that started at the Lincoln Center in New York. Incidentally, that run closes tomorrow. As an added bonus, Thursday night the Lincoln Center production was the subject of "Live from Lincoln Center" on PBS. So since I got to see two different casts, in the same show, days apart, hence there will be a bit of comparison to follow.

To start with we had great seats--first row of the raised rear orchestra level, so no heads in the way. Although, there was no view of the actual orchestra which was too bad since at 26 members it's now considered large for a Broadway show. There was a low register clarinet part during Liat's dance in "Happy Talk" that sounded tricky and fun at the same time...if only I could have seen the score and the person playing. I believe PBS mentioned the Lincoln Center orchestra is 30 members and the stage there is really cool, it retracts to expose the pit for the overture and entr'acte, then extends covering most of the pit for the show.

The music is of course by the well established Rodgers and Hammerstein, presented in the original orchestrations, and everyone's voice was amazing! Carmen Cusack as Nurse Nellie Forbush had a delightful Little Rock accent (well presumably, I've never been to Arkansas) and a great spunky energy as she "Wash[ed] That Man Right Outa [Her] Hair", was a "Cockeyed Optimist", and in love with "A Wonderful Guy".

It's been a while since I've seen the movie, and maybe there it comes a lot later, but I was surprised that "Some Enchanted Evening" was in the opening scene. But what a way to start off a show! Jason Howard as Emile de Becque was phenomenal! His opera background showed and his voice made me sigh, relax, and soak it all in. Just gorgeous to listen to and what I think an Emile should look like, more so than the Lincoln Center counterpart. It was in a biography on Ethel Merman where I first heard that the turning point song in the second act is referred to as the "11 o'clock song", a hold over from when performances started at 8:30pm and the song would appear around 11pm. I'd say in South Pacific it's "This Nearly Was Mine" and Howard brought the house down. It didn't quite stop the show but I imagine if you put his same performance back in 1949 when the original opened, it would have. Anderson Davis played Lt. Joseph Cable and in addition to a great voice, showed off his totally ripped abs!

At times Bloody Mary seemed over the top, pushing a bit too hard in the acting portion, although "Bali Ha'i" and "Happy Talk" were sung with an appropriate tone. I preferred the Toronto cast to the Lincoln Center one where it seemed like several characters (Luther Billis for example) had an extra forcefulness which came across to me as over acting. The shouting got tiring and monotonous after a while, whereas the mix in Toronto was well executed. Luther, played by Matthew Saldivar, was funny, charming, and the kind of ham everyone loves as "Honey Bun".

South Pacific is definitely worth seeing before it sails away into the Bali Ha'i sunset.

Jersey Boys

2010-07-19T15:38:00.000-07:00

Thanks to some wonderful deals, my musical escapades around town haven't stopped for the summer! Last week I was able to enjoy Jersey Boys: The Story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons at the Toronto Centre for the Arts. Yet another example of a theatre that has changed names, I remember when this place was the North York Centre for the Performing Arts. Back in 1993 I saw Show Boat there which opened the theatre prior to starting it's Broadway run. Until Jersey Boys arrived, Show Boat was the longest running show at 88 weeks. Jersey Boys is now into it's second year and just announced it's closing on August 22. Our seats were near the back in the centre orchestra section, but were really good. It's not that large a theatre and even the back row probably had a good view.

Unlike Mamma Mia! I didn't go into this knowing all the music. In fact all I knew of it was the snippets of "Sherry" and "O What a Night" that are played in the TV ads. I recognized several others as the performance went on and really enjoyed it. We had the understudies for the characters of Tommy DeVito and Nick Massi, (Grant Tilly and Matt Cassidy respectively) but I don't see how the originals could be any better. These guys are all very talented. Other than Frankie (Jeff Madden), they play instruments (guitar for Tommy, bass for Nick and keyboards for Bob Gaudio, played by Quinn Vanantwerp) in addition to the singing and dancing. All their voices are great and meld very well together.

I liked how the story was told as a personal narrative with each character taking their turn at explaining how the events unfolded to bring the group, which over time when through a multitude of names, from Jersey to the big time. Presumably, the personalities are somewhat accurate for each character: Tommy getting into trouble with money, Frankie having family problems and even losing a daughter to drugs, Nick quitting just when things were starting to turn around, and Bob being the song writer and still honouring the business agreement he made with Frankie on a handshake. The ending where each character described their current life (unfortunately Nick has died), was also very well done. You think it might end on a sad note, but then they all come back to do one last song and people leave humming.

The last 3/4 I liked the best, since the beginning seemed to rush through a lot of segments of songs without much focus. The set was effective too with an overhead catwalk adding an additional level for entrances and exits, as well as a place for the trumpet, trombone, and saxes to play during one of the hit numbers (which of course I now can't remember). During the preface to one song, which Bob wrote specifically for Frankie, they showed how it took some serious selling to the record company and radio stations to get it played. Through the whole segment the name of the song wasn't mentioned. Just when you'd expect someone to say the name the scene would switch to Bob trying to convince someone new to agree to play it. Finally it's "play the song already", which was exactly how I felt, since they were giving this unknown piece such a big build up. The song ended up being "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You" which was well deserving of the tension.

Other songs I ended up having the "they did that?" reaction to were "Earth Angel", "Walk Like a Man", and "Working My Way Back to You". If deals are still available, I may get a chance to see this one again before it leaves. Only 1 month left, if you haven't been...GO!

Independence Day Celebration

2010-07-15T11:21:00.000-07:00

Cross it off the Bucket List! Ok, I don't actually have a hard copy Bucket List, but I managed to pull together a whirlwind trip to Washington DC to see the 30th Anniversary of the "Capitol Fourth" concert LIVE. I've grown up watching the PBS show and have wanted to see it in person for ages. Plus the last, and only, time I toured around Washington DC was about 8 years ago, and I wanted to go back with a new knowledge base and see the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum again.

Having gained some unexpected time-off, in 3 days I arranged accompaniment, accommodation, directions, maps of downtown and the Metro subway system, and a very rough plan. I even found the prohibited items list for the Capitol Hill lawn (good thing since I would have taken my umbrella for shade and ended up losing it) and discovered a great piece of info...there was a dress rehearsal open to the public the night before the show! Never one to turn down seeing what was sure to be a great concert more than once I added that to the list of things to do. Now onto the concert.

The magnitude of things was certainly what I expected. The Capitol Building is huge, and very impressive in any light. Being there extra early for the real show we got to take pictures as the sun was setting and it's very pretty.

We were standing at the base of it for the dress rehearsal (the centre lawn had been opened at 3pm and filled by 5pm), and it was a good spot. Thankfully I had remembered my binoculars, and you could see the stage and narration hut quite well, even if the performers were small. The added bonus of attending the concert this year was not only that it was the 30th Anniversary, but also the first "Capitol Fourth" that my favourite, Jack Everly, was conducting. He's replaced Erich Kunzel who had conducted the National Symphony Orchestra in this and the Memorial Day concert for the last 20 years. I'm probably bias, but I think they made an excellent choice and he did a wonderful job.

Funny things happen in rehearsal and with professionals I guess it's no exception. First Gladys Knight and Darius Rucker weren't there, so they had stand-ins who lip-synced to the songs they were going to sing. The Darius Rucker guy (seen in photo) was really quite entertaining and the stand-in fiddle player was very energetic in his air fiddle playing. Jimmy Smits hosted, and after introducing the people who weren't there tongue-in-cheek, he was especially sincere with the introductions of David Archuleta, Lang Lang and Reba McEntire since they actually were performing. Lang Lang's intro included some background on one of the pieces that didn't make the final concert. At the rehearsal his first piece was "the theme from a movie starring Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour called Somewhere in Time. Also known as Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini Variation 18" [my paraphrase]. After stumbling over "Rachmaninov" and having the audience say it with him, Jimmy said he'd just refer to it as "the theme from Somewhere in Time" which is what he did the next day. During the end of the rehearsal with the orchestra playing the "1812 Overture" and a few other marches, they showed fireworks from previous years on the large screen, but they had the real cannon fire!

July 4 was hot, full sun, with not a cloud in the sky, and we arrived just as they opened the security line at about 2:45pm. The concert started at 8pm, so yes a long afternoon waiting. However, it really didn't seem that long. When we arrived the real Darius Rucker was practicing, there were always people milling around on stage, and watching the lawn fill in, as well as the people who picked spots on the Capitol Building steps (the poor people, the steps were in full sun and they had 5 hours to wait!), eliminated the bore factor. Plus I had the fun of constructing my own lean-to for shade using chairs, a sheet, and clothes pins. The fence we sat in front of helped immensely. What do you think? Do I get my Girl Scout badge? :) Hehe, interestingly enough the book I was reading is visible in this photo. A biography of Irving Berlin, one of America's great songwriters who's "God Bless America" has probably been in this concert for all 30 years.

The real concert was worth the wait. It started with David Archuleta singing "The Star Spangled Banner", then Gladys Knight did her set of songs, followed by a taped history segment with NSO background music, and the real Darius Rucker in the mid-lawn stage. Watching what actually happens on the stage preparation wise that you never see on TV was really neat. There's all the instrument additions and removals (the drum set for the back-up bands and the grand piano for example), plus the orchestra and chorus relaxing. Well not exactly relaxing, but the chorus got to sit, and the Maestro removed his jacket at every opportunity, it must have been brutally hot up there. The orchestra was featured in the overture to the musical "George M" which included Cohan songs such as "Yankee Doodle Dandy", "Mary's a Grand Old Name" and "Grand Old Flag". It was a crowd pleaser, as was Lang Lang's performance of Horowitz's "Variations on the Stars and Stripes". Really there was nothing to say after him but WOW, even the orchestra was applauding. There was a nice tribute to Erich Kunzel by John Schneider singing "When the Saints Go Marching In" and the Marine Drum and Bugle Corps played the "Washington Post March". This was by the fountain of the Capitol Building which was hidden behind walls of people so we couldn't see it except on the large screens, but they sounded good.

Reba McEntire played two of her popular songs, then was awarded the National Artistic Achievement Award. Patriotism took over as she sang "God Bless America" and the fireworks started. Unfortunately trees were in our way since we were on the side of the centre lawn. People had started leaving as soon as she was given the award and I wondered why, the concert wasn't over and they'd sat there all afternoon! Turns out they were going around to the other side of the trees to get a good view of the Washington Monument since the fireworks originated behind it. With the emptying out of people though I was able to move up closer and watch the orchestra during the "1812 Overture" and the two marches they played at the very end which is when the following picture was taken. One I think was a much longer version of the "Washington Post March" the Marines had done. The musicians use clothes pins to attach the music to the stand so it doesn't blow away. I don't there there was enough of a breeze to cause that, but better to be safe than sorry!

The fireworks were pretty amazing, they just never stopped! The display certainly goes much longer than you get to see on TV, and you never get to hear the full orchestra at the end either, they usually cut the broadcast off shortly after the "1812 Overture".

The concert and just July 4 in Washington DC was a great thing to be able to experience. I've now done the Canadian and American capital bashes. They are very different, but both fun. I didn't hear an official crowd estimate for this July 4, but previously I'd heard something like 500,000 people attend. Everyone we chatted with was friendly, and it really is fun to sing along to the US National Anthem and God Bless America, and the other patriotic songs that are great pieces of music, but are rarely heard (and understandably so) north of the 49th parallel. But for one day, I got to be an honorary American!

Day of Firsts with Ballet and Bruckner

2010-06-20T18:18:00.000-07:00

Thursday was a great day! I was able to enjoy an afternoon and evening of culture :) There is nothing better than taking advantage of the deals offered to young adults in the city of Toronto and my entire day cost less than one full price ticket to either the National Ballet of Canada or the Toronto Symphony. For all you other young folk out there check out DanceBreak and tsoundcheck.

So lets start with the ballet. What caught my attention was West Side Story, which is why I wanted to go. Other than The Nutcracker I've never been to the ballet, and quite honestly I don't much care for the National Ballet's current version of The Nutcracker, and find the Royal Winnipeg's much more entertaining. But I digress. Since this was my first experience, I did a bit of research. Primarily this consisted of reading the ballet notes online and listening to the music. The other two ballets on the program were a new commission by Finnish choreographer Jorma Elo called Pur ti Miro and Jerome Robbin's Opus 19/The Dreamer. Pur ti Miro is set to Beethoven's "Violin Concerto in D, movement III: Rondo", and "Consecration of the House Overture", while "Pur ti Miro" is from "L'incoronazion di Poppea" (The Coronation of Poppea), an opera by Claudio Monteverdi. The Beethoven pieces were easy enough to find on youtube (versions of the concerto by Itzhak Perlman as well as a rather young Pinkus Zukerman and the Overture), and are quite lyrical and lovely to listen to by themselves. I particularly like the joyous aspect of Perlman's performance.

Opus 19/The Dreamer is danced to another violin concerto in D major, this one by Sergei Prokofiev (who incidentally also wrote the music for the ballets Romeo and Juliet and Cinderella). I found this on a CD from the library and honestly did not like it at all. The ballet notes described the piece as a "brilliant concerto...dissonant, bittersweet, [an] oddly compelling work with its blend of romanticism and modernity". Well I got the dissonant part, but not the compelling. So I was expecting to enjoy at least the music in the first ballet and of course Bernstein's score to West Side Story.

I picked a seat in the front row, since I've never sat in the front row of any performance, and I wanted to be able to see the orchestra. Well I needn't have worried about the second part because the pit at the Four Seasons Centre is more in front of the stage than under it making for a wonderful view from the audience. At times there was far too much going on to take it all in with the dancers, orchestra, conductor, and even singers, providing visuals. Through my research I also found out there was a pre-ballet talk about the various works and I'm very glad I went. Ballet Master, Lindsay Fischer provided insight into the choreography, story lines, and artists through a very engaging and heart felt talk.

The surprise of my experience was how something can completely change when you put movement to it. I thoroughly enjoyed Opus 19/The Dreamer. The violin soloist, Benjamin Bowman, was phenomenal in both Pur ti Miro and Opus 19. So, I would probably have had a new appreciation for Prokofiev's piece just with that; however, add the abstract story of the ballet and it was incredible. The music and movement fit so well that it all came alive! Abstract or not I understood more of the searching and yearning to fit in showcased in Opus 19, than I did the more narrative story of Nero, the emperor, and Poppea, his mistress, in Pur ti Miro. Granted the pas de deux between Tanya Howard and Jiri Jelinek was beautiful and the lifts throughout were breathtaking, but I didn't feel like she really loved him. Maybe she didn't and that's the point, but he looked at her loving, while she looked at him almost with distain.

West Side Story was fun, and lively and everything it should be. The conductor, David Briskin, was enjoyable to watch, sang along at parts and at times had a similar beat style to my favourite conductor :) One dancer fell in "The Prologue" as the guys were skidding across the stage, although he was up again so quickly you almost had to second guess if it actually happened. I imagine that's a very shocking experience for a dancer. A nice job was done of singing and acting "America" by Jordana Damec as Anita and Stephanie Hutchison as Rosalia. These dancers are obviously very multi-talented!

Several hours later, the evening began at Roy Thomson Hall for what was originally marketed as Yannick and Yundi. Yundi, a Chinese pianist who recently won the Warsaw Chopin competition was to play Chopin's "Piano Concerto No. 1 in E Minor", with Yannick Nezet-Seguin conducting. The evening was completed with Bruckner's 9th Symphony. Unfortunately, Mr. Nezet-Seguin (who I was looking forward to seeing) was unable to make it due to scheduling conflicts, so with 9 days notice another French-Canadian conductor Jean-Marie Zeitouni, stepped in. He conducted "The Messiah" this past Christmas.

This was also my first experience with Bruckner. I've heard various interviews which give the impression he is the epitome of classical music, and while technically I'm working backwards by hearing his final, unfinished symphony first, might as well start with the one that would showcase all his experience.

There was a fair amount of dynamic contrast and the piece progressed at a lively tempo, so it certainly wasn't boring. Near the ending there were repetitive notes in the strings and horns which got a little dry though. The sound from the four French horns sounded so much louder than usual, which I assumed was because I was sitting in the choir loft directly above them (great place to watch the conductor from and Mr. Zeitouni was very expressive making it quite entertaining). Then when leaving I noticed there were four other horns sitting behind them! No wonder the principal clarinet (side note: he appeared to use a synthetic reed) put in an ear plug when the volume increased. It was also neat to see that of the full stand of mallets/sticks laid out the timpani player used at least 4 different sets.

In conclusion, I think I like Bruckner and will go searching for his other symphonies. Unfortunately, both the TSO and National Ballet seasons are drawing to a close, so for the summer months this blog might expand more to CD/movie reviews. Stay tuned!