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Urban Shocker's Neighbourhood Watch

I've tried, I've really tried, to connect with the music of Mr. Mahler as closely as I've bonded with Mr. Dvorak and Mr. Brahms and Mr. Tchaikovsky ... but I'm not there. Must confess I enjoy the Adagieto but that's about it for me when it comes to the 5th. Why do I keep tuning out from this man's music?

Mendelssohn's Ejijah, with the Amadeus Choir, at the Weston on the night when the lights went out all over town was great. Bloodthirsty and dramatic and even had some black humour. It felt very operatic - I kept imagining stagings as it went along. And Philip Addis ( who replaced Gary Relyea, not sure what happened there ) was superb as Elijah.
 
Urban Shocker said:
I've tried, I've really tried, to connect with the music of Mr. Mahler as closely as I've bonded with Mr. Dvorak and Mr. Brahms and Mr. Tchaikovsky ... but I'm not there. Must confess I enjoy the Adagieto but that's about it for me when it comes to the 5th. Why do I keep tuning out from this man's music?
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Dvorak was a sweetie-pie, Tchaikovsky probably was too, but, well, you know his story; Brahms was part sweetie-pie and part misanthrope .. and Mahler, well, he was a man who became neurotic over his myriad of problems, had the gift of being able to couple his experiences with his world-views into music - a different animal, I'd say.

I love 'em all, and you're entirely forgiven if you don't like Mahler's work, or, at least I think I can find room in my heart to do that. But -- try the first symphony by Mahler, it is an unalloyed joy, it came before most of the storms in his life, I think.
 
Okay, I'll try. Promise.

I wonder how interchange got on at Onegin? He's been strangely silent about it. I'm going on Saturday, and also approach it with some trepidation given the excellence of the Met broadcast.
 
Sorry. Been freakin' busy. Priorities and all... for example, I had to get my Museum Station shots taken and posted to Flickr on "opening" day, or I would have to hang my camera in shame, lose street cred, etc.

I enjoyed Onegin to the extent that I could: I sat through it with a headache the whole time, which incidentally, lasted for about a day and a half. (I hope it's not a toomah. Nah, it's not.)

The set was such a different take on the setting from the Met's set, that both will stand out in my mind a long time. (The Met's leaf-strewn birch forest is still in my head over a year later.) I wish the doors in this one had been sturdier, better set so as to seal when closed: they ended up giving a summer-stock feel to it. The distant view at the back of the stage? Pretty, but seems more idealized Italian than Russian. Onegin as an all-seeing nostalgic at the front of the stage? Distracting and illogical.

The performances? The orchestra continues to thrill (me anyway) in this new house. I am a Brett Polegato fan, but I preferred Dmitri Hvorostovsky's Onegin, and while Giselle Allen was a very good Tatyana, Renee Fleming was a great one. Danill Shtodo was a fine Lensky, but maybe not as memorable as Ramon Vargas. And the list goes on... so while that Met production is a tough act to follow, this COC one was a fine second-best.

42
 
Went on Saturday night, which is 905 Nite - plenty of Russian ice dance judges in the audience shouting bravo for the home team and giving perfect 6's whenever the sub-par Lensky ( Daniil Shtoda ) ended an aria where he'd struggled to be heard above the orchestra.

I found the staging ( not the rather Dali-like off-kilter set, which I quite liked ) to be incredibly irritating. Brett Polegato, fine mime that he is, was an annoying presence as soon as he started skulking around the set. By the time we reached the 'letter scene' his antics totally ruined it for me - Oneging had more stage work in the scene than Tatyana did ( he was even more irritating than that spaced-out twink who followed us around the village on Saturday ). I chatted to my baritone friend when it was all over ( he works for the COC now ) and he agreed.

Also, the clicky-clicky thing with the gun bordered on the unintentionally humourous, like a little kid playing with a toy.

There were a couple of very obvious lighting glitches.

Another thing with the staging - there was very little interaction at times between Onegin and Tatyana in the final scene, Onegin especially was in his own little world.

Seeing new interpretations is part of the joy of going to see well-known works, but this one really didn't work for me. I did, however, like the little touch of having the dance crowd at the post-shooting ball moving about the stage in a slow-march.

With the exception of Lensky, I thought the singing was very strong. And the orchestra were wonderful. And the acoustics are perfect.

Nobody famous when I breezed through the Fancy Lounge.
 
On Sunday from 9 am until 6 pm - between household chores, the laundry, and getting in groceries - I listened to most of CBC Radio 2's broadcast of all nine Beethoven symphonies, which Bramwell Tovey and the Vancouver Symphony performed recently. The VSO will perform at Roy Thomson Hall in May 2009 - Shosty 5 and Prelude a l'apres-midi d'un faune. I've heard Tovey conduct the TSO a couple of times and enjoyed both very much. His on-air talks linking the Beethoven symphonies were very informative. It'll be interseting to compare his Shosty 5 with the sublime performance my man Yannick conducted with the TSO in 2004.
 
Urban Shocker said:
Seeing new interpretations is part of the joy of going to see well-known works, but this one really didn't work for me.
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I see that I have much to look forward to on Tuesday night.

Urban Shocker said:
Nobody famous when I breezed through the Fancy Lounge.
Click to expand...

Like I said, I'll be there Tuesday. ;)

Urban Shocker said:
I've heard Tovey conduct the TSO a couple of times and enjoyed both very much.
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Tovey is one conductor whose work I just don't like. His live efforts seem to always come up dull and bland, to my ears anyway. But I do like YNS, very much!
 
What a Topsy-Tovey world.

You say Oundjian and I say Tovey,
You say Mahler and I say Dvorak,
Oundjian, Tovey, Mahler, Dvorak,
Let's call the whole thing off ...
 
Can't call it off, US, they NEED us.. these philistines. Strength in numbers I say... we have to light the way.

For we
Know we
Need each other so
We'd better call the calling-off off​

(One of my faves! We do agree on something).
 
Eh! Tony! How was Onegin?

I thought the guy who sang Figaro on Saturday - Rodion Pogossov - was wonderful. Great voice, roguish stage presence, good connection to the audience - he reminded me of Harpo Marx at times. The woman who sang Rosina had strong lungs, but I didn't think her voice was very well modulated - sometimes it went places that quite alarmed me. Also, she looked a bit long in the tooth for the role. And Almaviva's voice faded at the end, so he wasn't at his best that night either.

The band, as ever, sounded lovely.

The set wobbled alarmingly at times - the walls especially.
 
Hi,

Despite all the bad and middling press the Onegin got, I rather enjoyed it, if mostly for Brett Polegatto's voice and stage presence. He was really on, on the night I went. There were some times when I just had to close my eyes, however, and just enjoy the music that was offered up. As far as criticisms go I sort of agree with what's been written here, I have nothing to add.

Onegin is a favourite of mine and I am a huge admirer of Tchaikovsky's work in general.

I'm glad you enjoyed the Rossini. I'm looking forward to it.

I had a glorious time at the TSO's New Creations concert, featuring Olivier Messaien's Turangalila Symphony, on the Wednesday, the day after the opera. That was one amazing night out. The TSO has become top flight, a truly smashing orchestra. I need to hear 'new' music now and then to get outside the box, as it were. I like their New Creations Festival. The hall was 100%. The patrons really raised the roof at the end of that concert, in a way I've actually never seen before.
 
Tony: Yes, the thrill of the new. I intend to hear the Esprit Orchestra one day, but haven't got round to it. Have you been to any of their concerts?

Anyone here going to Idomineo?
 
Great show.

Measha, as Elettra, tore the place up in her mad scene.

The rest of the cast were uniformly good.

The pretty dancing boys in tights, and the baroque sets, were a joy to behold.

One of the best things I've been to in a while.
 
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