Vocal and Choral

Jake Heggie – Moby-Dick
Morris; Costello; Smith; Lemalu; Trevigne; San Francisco Opera; Patrick Summers
EuroArts 2059658

The only lingering question about Moby-Dick as an opera is: why did it take so long to happen? The epic tale, characters and intensity of emotions — they all are perfectly operatic in scope. Deconstructing the linearity of the story was the right approach to the sprawling novel, suggested by Heggie’s collaborator Terrence McNally. (McNally, who was the librettist for Heggie’s Dead Man Walking began this project but had to back out and the libretto was completed by Gene Scheer). Paraphrasing the immortal first line of the novel as, “You may call me Ishmael ...” for the closing line was another stroke of genius. The rest relies on Heggie’s brilliant, neo-romantic score, with its delightfully unanticipated musical quotations from Poulenc and Debussy and all-male vocal score (save for the “in-trousers” role of Pip). In this production, the demonic Captain Ahab (Jay Hunter Morris) demonstrates considerable hubris early on — “I’d strike at the sun if it’d burned me.” His relentless pursuit of the whale, leading to a loss of humanity and almost complete annihilation, is set in stark relief by Starbuck (Morgan Smith), the moral centre of the opera. Stephen Costello as Greenhorn (Ishmael) imbues the music with a sense of foreboding and fear. The production values are truly spectacular — inventive use of digital projections (with a tip of the hat to our own Robert Lepage), beautiful sets and creative lighting make for an immensely watchable 140 minutes. Finally, the direction for video by Frank Zamacona is of a calibre rarely seen on operatic DVDs. All in all, Moby-Dick is a solid new entry in the standard repertoire and this production is a must-have for watching at home.

Philip Glass – The Perfect American
Purves; Pittsinger; Kaasch; Kelly; McLaughlin; Teatro Real Madrid; Dennis Russell Davies
Opus Arte OA1117D

The 20+ operas of Philip Glass for the most part astonish and intimidate in equal measure. These works of genius are cerebral affairs – relying heavily on subtle symbolism, full abstraction and an expounding on the minimalist musical idiom. In short, they are usually not for the uninitiated. Fear not opera lovers, The Perfect American is what I would describe as Philip Glass in his “verismo” period. It is a shockingly traditional opera, devoid of abstract concepts, telling the story of the last months in the life of Walt Disney. The work relents in the use of minimalism for the sake of a more John Adams-like approach to melodic structures and simple arias and duets. All that does not mean this is Glass-lite. There is still the tremendous discipline and intellectual rigour that we so value in his work.

The story is essentially a deconstruction of Disney, who is revealed to be a reactionary, union-crushing opponent of human and civil rights. He is tangled in a relentless pursuit of commercialism and profit – and, when faced with terminal illness, the pursuit of cryogenic immortality. So what would make him an operatic protagonist? Well, the very dream of Disney’s, to create a machine to replace all his “ungrateful communist workers,” is what destroyed Disney’s world. Generic, computer-generated cartoons have long replaced painstakingly hand-painted cells and have destroyed the pastoral, naively idealistic America seemingly constructed by his studios. It may be glib to say that the transformation of Hannah Montana into Miley Cyrus was the death knell to Disneyland, but this finally turned Walt Disney into an anachronistic, even tragic figure – worthy of an opera.

Trobairitz
Shannon Mercer; La Nef
Analekta AN 2 9846

Troubadours and trobairitz were active in medieval Provence. The troubadours were men; they were generally not of high birth and in their compositions they sang the praises of noble ladies. By contrast, trobairitz were nobly born women who sang the praises of troubadours. Although a number of their poems have been preserved, there is only one composition that has both words and music: A Chantar by the Comtessa de Día.

A Chantar is not on this disc. Instead the director, Seán Dagher, has taken a number of extant texts and composed new music for them. Their sound world is closer to that of a folk-music group like Milladoiro than that of early music groups like Sequentia or Hesperion XX. No texts are included but they can be found on the Analekta website. An oddity is that, while the titles of songs are given in Occitan and in French and English translations, the texts are in Occitan only. That limits their usefulness. Another oddity is that the names of the (presumed) poets are not included.

The instrumental ensembles are tight and the music is attractive if not particularly memorable. The glory of the disc is in the singing of Shannon Mercer. Mercer is perhaps best known as an early music singer (for Analekta she has recorded Francesca Caccini and traditional Welsh music) but she also sings contemporary music (in a recent Soundstreams concert she performed Arvo Pärt and James Rolfe). Her singing on this disc is very fine: expressive, technically assured and with wonderful intonation.

Verdi
Anna Netrebko; Orchestra Teatro Regio Torino; Gianandrea Noseda
Deutsche Grammophon 4791052

The Verdi Album
Jonas Kaufmann; Orchestra dell’Opera di Parma; Pier Giorgio Morandi
Sony Classical 88765492042

Domingo/Verdi
Placido Domingo; Orquestra do la Comunitat Valenciana; Pablo Heras-Casado
Sony 88883733122

The music of Verdi, nearly 200 years on is still the litmus test of opera singers of the 21st century.

It is something to be graduated to, something that reveals the true mettle of contenders and something that strikes fear in the hearts of those singers. Let’s call it a rite of passage for the vocalists. One of the reasons, but by no means the only one, is the fact that Verdi always wrote for the divas (and divos) of the day — singers blessed with that extra high E, smoother coloratura and a more dramatic glissando. Unlike the masters of Bel Canto, there was nothing superfluous in Verdi’s writing, no extra trills to enhance the experience. Instead, the full vocal range was exploited and the dramatic range of the performers was used to the fullest effect. These days, the Verdi repertoire is not only the most consistently performed on the world stage, but also what separates the wheat from the chaff. When it comes to the female voice, Verdi demands a full soprano, somewhere between the lyric and dramatic, and as for tenors, well, they need to be “helden tenors” with power to spare.

The current reigning diva of the Met, Anna Netrebko, having wrestled the mantle from Angela Gheorghiu, has finally released her first Verdi album. The thoughtful selections, from Macbeth to Giovanna d’Arco, Don Carlo and Il Trovatore, take her voice through some major hoops, showing the growing confidence of the Russian soprano. She truly is the “prima donna assoluta” however much one may hate such superficial judgments. In perfect command of her voice, Netrebko does justice to all her predecessors, Verdi’s favourite divas: Erminia Frezzolini, Marianna Barbieri-Nini, Rosina Penco and Sophie Cruvelli. A graduation from the lighter Puccini and verismo roles bodes well for the soprano’s future both at the Met and in the recording studio.

Jonas Kaufmann, surely the brightest star of the new generation of tenors, comes to the music of Verdi from a point of reverence. His lovely voice, so effective in his native tongue in the renditions of Schubert, Mahler and Mozart, at first seems intimidated by the Verdi repertoire. The culprit, I presume, is his knowledge of Verdi’s arias in German at first, making a transition to Italian that much more difficult. Fortunately once he gets through his initial jitters he proves once again that he is the one to watch, exuding both confidence and the bravado necessary to dominate the stage in Verdi productions of the future.

Placido Domingo could have easily succumbed to the “superstar syndrome” so readily embodied by the late Luciano Pavarotti: sing it all, sing it badly (or at least too long) and damn the torpedoes. Instead, Domingo carefully observes the changes to his voice over the decades, moving his repertoire down his range, tackling the baritone with some tenor flourishes. Not having heard him live in over five years, I cannot vouch for this voice outside the recording studio, but here it sounds as though Domingo is in full control of his abilities, beautifully navigating the treacherous waters of Verdi’s writing. He may be the lion in winter, but his roar still sends shivers down the spine.

The good news in all this is that the music of Verdi has a most competent cast of characters, both young and old, beautifully bringing the music of the Italian master to our ears on the 200th anniversary of his birth!

Stephen Chatman –
Magnificat: Songs of Reflection
UBC University Singers; Graeme Langager; UBC Symphony Orchestra;
Jonathan Girard
Centrediscs CMCCD 19313

Students at UBC are fortunate to have one of Canada’s most popular choral composers close at hand. Stephen Chatman, multiple JUNO nominee and a Member of the Order of Canada, is Professor and Chair of Composition at the UBC School of Music. In this recording, the UBC University Singers and Symphony Orchestra begin with his setting of the Magnificat, a work commissioned in 2010 by the Vancouver Chamber Choir. Chatman begins the piece with the traditional Latin text, and then sets the following sections in the six official languages of the Vancouver Winter Olympics: French, Spanish, German, Chinese, Russian and English. The 40-voice choir handles the linguistic transitions well and there are some wonderful changes of cultural idiom for the orchestra. A fourth year student (at the time of recording), soloist Bahareh Poureslami manages the voice of Mary with lovely expressiveness ranging from tender anticipation to soaring joy and divine rapture.

Following with a collection of “songs of reflection” the choir performs (sans orchestra) Chatman’s settings of contemplative poetry by Christina Rossetti, Sara Teasdale and Walt Whitman, as well as two from FitzGerald’s Rubaiyat and John McCrae’s In Flanders Fields. Themes of love, loss and longing, followed by transcendence and peace, find tender expression through skilful composition and artful nuance in the choir’s performance.

Sospiro: Alessandro Grandi –
Complete Arias, 1626
Bud Roach
Musica Omnia mo0506
musicaomnia.org

Grandi’s songs were highly popular in Venice in the 1620s. Here they are played as they would have been — for solo voice and instrument. In this case, tenor Bud Roach accompanies himself on the five-course Spanish guitar that created real competition for both lute and theorbo. From the start, Roach interprets a much-maligned genre by combining a sensuous set of lyrics with the strumming technique (in Italian, stile battuto) offered by the Spanish guitar of that period. He brings a real vigour and animation to this CD.

It is always tempting to associate this genre with a lovesick young man describing his anguish over unfulfilled love. From track two alone, Grandi’s young man laments the pain he feels from Chloris, Lilla, Flora and a whole host of nymphs! For a really sensuous approach, listen to the lyrics of È si grave‘I tormento, the anguish of the words accompanied by expressive yet measured guitar accompaniment. And for those who are totally disillusioned, you are not alone — Sotto aspetto ridente warns of “a hidden, deadly poison. Don’t believe in Love!”

Roach displays his own vocal versatility in songs such as Consenti pur e ti pieghi, which tests his higher ranges. His skill with the baroque guitar needs no further comment. Quite simply, this is a comprehensive rendition of Grandi’s multi-faceted arias, which demand and receive a multi-faceted performance from Roach. He himself acknowledges his inspiration from one of the very greatest period-performance musicians, the much-loved James Tyler, whose research into the earliest guitars has proved invaluable in bringing this genre to modern audiences.

Handel – Orlando
Owen Willets; Karina Gauvin;
Allyson McHardy; Amanda Forsythe; Nathan Berg; Pacific Baroque Orchestra; Alexander Weimann
ATMA ACD22678

Handel – Alessandro
Max Emanuel Cencic; Julia Lezhneva; Karina Gauvin; Xavier Sabata;
Armonia Atenea; City of Athens Choir; George Petrou
Decca 4784699

Ariosto’s early 16th century epic, Orlando Furioso, has been a real quarry for opera composers and their librettists. The earliest was by Giulio Caccini, in 1625, and altogether more than 90 operas have been based on Ariosto. Handel composed three: Orlando in 1733 and Ariodante and Alcina both in 1735. In Orlando two important roles were added to what Ariosto had provided: the shepherdess Dorinda first appeared in a 1711 opera with music by Domenico Scarlatti (the music is now lost), while the wise and benevolent magician Zoroastro, a Sarastro figure, is essentially Handel’s invention.

The orchestra on the CDs of Orlando is the Vancouver-based Pacific Baroque Orchestra. It includes several musicians familiar to Toronto audiences: the violinists Chantal Rémillard and Linda Melsted and the lutenist Sylvain Bergeron. The quality of their playing is matched by the quality of the singing. Several of the singers are Canadian: the soprano Karina Gauvin, the mezzo Allyson McHardy and the bass-baritone Nathan Berg. There is also a fine performance of the shepherdess Dorinda by the American soprano Amanda Forsythe. Orlando is sung by the young English countertenor Owen Willetts; he is a revelation. I have some reservations about the casting of Berg as Zoroastro. Although Berg is an accomplished singer, the role could do with a deeper bass. It was written for the famous Antonio Montagnana and, among modern singers, David Thomas comes closest to capturing the qualities Montagnana must have had. Thomas can be heard in the complete recording of the opera conducted by Christopher Hogwood and also in the Harmonia Mundi recital record (no longer available), Arias for Montagnana.

The earlier opera, Alessandro (Alexander the Great), is sometimes seen as heroic, whereas Orlando has been labelled magical. Both labels are misleading. In Orlando Handel is more concerned with exploring Orlando’s madness and the interactions between the characters than with Alcina’s magical world. AlthoughAlessandroopens in a suitably martial manner, much of the rest of the opera focuses on the way Alessandro is torn between two women and on the rivalry between them. That rivalry mirrors that of the singers for whom the parts were written, Francesca Cuzzoni and Faustina Bordoni, “the Rival Queens.” On this recording their parts are very well taken by Karina Gauvin (as the Scythian princess Lisaura) and Julia Lezhneva (as Rossane, Alessandro’s captive). It also features two superb countertenors, Max Emanuel Cencic as Alessandro and Xavier Sabata as the Indian King Tassile. I would recommend both recordings to anyone interested in Handel or baroque opera.

Concert Note: Isabel Bayrakdarian will impersonate both Rival Queens in a series of concerts with Tafelmusik April 9 to 13.