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Urban Shocker's Neighbourhood Watch

Talking of The Messiah - or perhaps not The Messiah - I tuned in schlocky old CFMZ last Sunday night to hear Alexa Petrenko's Sunday Night at the Opera Messiah wallow.

What a hoot! Whoever fitted the music between her recorded introductions programmed entirely different selections. Instead of, say, I know that my redeemer liveth we got something from Showboat! It went on for the entire hour. That isn't the first time it's happened on that station, either. What a sad decline.

I used to watch Sir Malcolm ( who, in my childhood, I took to be one and the same with both Fred Astaire and Jiminy Cricket ... ) on the BBC's Last Night of the Proms in the '60s.
 
Another nice week off.

On Monday morning I had my seasonal flu shot, and in the afternoon the furnace that keeps the Winter Palace warm and toasty was given its six-monthly tune-up. Tuesday, to the free lunchtime concert at the City Room - Jacques Israelievitch and TSO principal cellist Winona Zelenka performed French composers - most notably Revel and Rivier. Wednesday, to Tut at the AGO - surprisingly slight, I thought, though there were a couple of nice little pieces of Amarna art in the earlier gallery along with much lumpy and inelegant statuary. Thursday, spreading joy around town, I noticed my new Canada Goose 'Expedition' jacket ( also warm and toasty ... ) drawing admiring glances. Friday, downsized some of my ceramic collection to a local antique dealer.

This place, which opens on Bloor next year, appears to have some promise. It reminds me of the Design Centre ( the Federal government opened it in 1964 ) that used to be on Bloor ( anyone remember it? ):

http://workshoptoronto.com/content/view/1/2/
 
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My symphony and opera dates during 09/10 season are lopsided into 2010. There were only a few performances in autumn (when I would have appreciated some) while there are perhaps a dozen or more TSO and COC performances for me to attend from now until June ... I will try to arrange things better next season.

The first 2010 performance was all Mozart at TSO last night. It was brilliant work all the way through, but the highlight was the great old chestnut, piano concerto No. 21. Jonathan Biss was the soloist and I think he's absolutely brilliant. Just the right touch, on the light side, elegeant throughout, and the work resides within him. It's always stunning to hear a pianist who can show really good taste like this guy does (this observation comes from a struggling amateur pianist such as moi).

The concert repeats at the Weston if you want to hear it in a really good hall. I'd love to go again but I have other plans.

The program used a very small orchestra, perhaps a quarter of the TSO. I have always felt that Roy Thomson is just too big for the small-forces type of performance (Massey always worked). Oundjian was at his very best conducting the Mozart.

Next season I may do a "pick 5" series with the TSO and buy up seats in the orchestra level. That's where RTH sounds the best. Just a thought.
 
That's exactly what I do. I love it down there - not quite half way back from the stage. Maybe next season we'll be able to throw unwrapped Ricola at one-another?

The COC announce their new season next Wednesday, the TSO a week later.

Up next, for me, Otello on February 6th, Carmen on the 20th ... and Yannick Baby and the Rotterdam Phil. on the 24th.

Then, in April, Sibelius!
 
I'll post my remaining concerts and operas later on today, must run just now.

Did mean to ask what you thought of Jon Terauds' prognostications re. TSO--he is suggesting the current music director's contract won't be renewed past 2012, in favour of a new and youthful conductor. I know you'll settle for nothing less than YNS (don't blame you) while I think it's just plain good sense to renew the musical leadership, that seven-year itch settles in.

A thought: there is the pending visit of Ticciati (28 and cute, and reportedly talented). But I hope they don't do another hastily arranged marriage. That's the TSO's worst habit.
 
Urban Shocker said:
Time for a cutie pie, say I.

The last time we snagged one was in 1965 - Seiji Ozawa was 30.
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Wonderful new opera season announced on Wednesday past. Delicious, in fact. The COC has a lot of class.

TSO season to be announced Wed. 27th Jan ... here's hoping that they'll announce a new music director search, as per Teraud's predictions .... it's definitely time for a change. Oundjian has made a huge contribution (cohesiveness and textured top-notch playing) but his interpreting leaves me wanting, sometimes.
 
No steaming piles of elephant dung on stage. No pyramids. But we get Sondra Radvanovsky as Aida - which more than compensates.

Death in Venice and Nixon in China are two I'm especially looking forward to. But another Magic Flute? Well ... I guess so. There's Orfeo ed Euridice, a favourite of mine, and Adrianne Pieczonka in Ariadne auf Naxos.

And La Cenerentola:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXGpMQp3Lg8&feature=player_embedded#
 
Great opera offerings next season.

As for the current culture season, after a large drought, lots of operas and concerts to look forward to in the next two months:

Tues Feb 2nd Opera Carmen

Fri Feb 12th, concert with Royal Conservatory Orchestra at Koerner Hall, Johannes Debus conducts

Tues Feb 16 Opera Otello

Sat Feb 20th TSO Verdi Requiem (Noseda conducts, can't wait, this could be the concert of the season)

Thurs Mar 11th TSO Elgar's Enigma Variations Ticciati conducts

Thurs Mar 25 TSO Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique Rafael Fruhbeck de Burghos conducts
 
Where are you sitting at the naughtily-designed Koerner - will you penetrate deep within the hall? I haven't been back since the Nuit Blanche opening. I've no excuse, really, since they've programmed such a wide range of concerts.

Got an invitation to a mid-April ROM Currelly Society talk about the Terra Cotta Warriors. I think the show opens June 26th, but it hasn't been announced yet. After those dull little scraps of parchment at the bottom of ill-lit display cases we could do with a real blockbuster - something to feast our eyes on rather than just say we saw. I'd have liked a bit more Tut stuff at the AGO, and less obvious filler, but it was worthwhile enough.
 
Urban Shocker said:
Where are you sitting at the naughtily-designed Koerner - will you penetrate deep within the hall?
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UT Member TonyV prefers not to penetrate too deeply within said hall. Orchestra seating, row L, approximately two-thirds of the way back of the hall. This locale should allow us to fully sense the acoustics.
 
Got my 10/11 TSO subscription in the mail today.

No Yannick ( for the first time since 2004, I think ), and no touring bands.

Plenty of Oundjian-conducted concerts ( I book my season around him ... ) but some guest conductors I haven't heard before.

I'll probably go with the bare minimum of:

* Jukka-Pekka Saraste - Sibelius Violin Concerto, Shostakovich's 4th ( Oct. 14th /16th ).

* Thomas Dausgaard - Bruckner's 4th, Mozart's Piano concerto No. 6 ( Oct. 27th/28th ).

* Nicholas McGegan - Beethoven's 8th, Saint-Saens Cello Concerto No. 1 ( Nov. 24th ).

* Eri Klas - Brahm's Violin Concerto, Dvorak's 8th, Arvo Part's Collage sur B-A-C-H ( Feb. 16th/19th ).

* James Conlon - Beethoven's Eroica ( April 9th ).

There's also Barber, Mahler's Resurrection and a John Adams TSO co-commission - but they're Oundjian-conducted, and the orchestra hasn't achieved full liftoff whenever I've heard him conduct.
 
Urban Shocker said:
Got my 10/11 TSO subscription in the mail today.

No Yannick ( for the first time since 2004, I think ), and no touring bands.

Plenty of Oundjian-conducted concerts ( I book my season around him ... ) but some guest conductors I haven't heard before.

I'll probably go with the bare minimum of:

* Jukka-Pekka Saraste - Sibelius Violin Concerto, Shostakovich's 4th ( Oct. 14th /16th ).

* Thomas Dausgaard - Bruckner's 4th, Mozart's Piano concerto No. 6 ( Oct. 27th/28th ).

* Nicholas McGegan - Beethoven's 8th, Saint-Saens Cello Concerto No. 1 ( Nov. 24th ).

* Eri Klas - Brahm's Violin Concerto, Dvorak's 8th, Arvo Part's Collage sur B-A-C-H ( Feb. 16th/19th ).

* James Conlon - Beethoven's Eroica ( April 9th ).

There's also Barber, Mahler's Resurrection and a John Adams TSO co-commission - but they're Oundjian-conducted, and the orchestra hasn't achieved full liftoff whenever I've heard him conduct.
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I think that I actually don't agree with you about Oundjian. He excels at Mahler, Vaughan-Williams, Shostakovich, etc. Full swell with these composers and in, for example, Tchaikovsky, is never a problem for him. It's frequently his Beethoven and Mozart interpreting that bugs me; mail-ins, strictly that. I still wonder if they'll renew his contract after 2012. I think change is good ...

I note that the season is bookended by Mahler. The 2nd to open the season, the 5th to close it. I have a Mahlerholic friend who has really liked P.O's work with this composer. I'll take the 2nd, and skip the 5th. Other selections? I haven't looked that deeply just yet.

There are several great guest conductors. The debut of Vasily Petrenko should be quite interesting. He is said to be an intense conductor, and he is presently heating things up in Liverpool. I take pleasure in seeing a couple of repeats (Dausgaard and Boreyko especially) and in the Toronto debut of James Conlon.
 
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Yes, Oundjian has an affinity for Vaughan Williams - he conducted the 4th Symphony ( the TSO rarely seems to do anything else of his, sadly. I'd love to hear In The Fen Country or his Antarctic Symphony ... ) a few years ago and it was the best I've heard him conduct. Agree about Mozart and Beethoven - and I've sat through some Haydn that was dull as dishwater, too.

So, Tony, you'll be hearing Rinat Shaham's Carmen on the 2nd. Mine's Anita Rachvelishvili on the 20th. Reminds me of the Battle of the Carmens between ice princess Katarina Witt and Debi Thomas at the '88 Olympics.
 
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