Music News: April 24, 2012

Gockley, Floyd, and the Ring in Houston

San Francisco Opera General Director David Gockley, who previously headed Houston Grand Opera for 33 years, was honored in a big celebration there on Friday. Part of the appreciation was the naming of two main rehearsal rooms after him and composer Carlisle Floyd.

Floyd, who turns 86 on June 11, and Gockley, who will be 69 on July 13, co-founded the Houston Grand Opera Studio program, which is somewhat similar to San Francisco's Merola Opera Program, the nation's oldest. Among Gockley's 33 commissions of American composers were four major works by Floyd: Bilby’s Doll, Willie Stark, The Passion of Jonathan Wade, and Cold Sassy Tree.

Karen Ames, of the eponymous San Francisco consulting firm, former head of public relations for both the San Francisco and Houston opera companies, writes from Houston:

During Gockley's years in Houston, from 1972 until 2005, convinced that America should have its own opera tradition, he led the company in commissioning new works by American composers and staging their world premieres. HGO came to international prominence because of this contribution of new works, challenging productions of repertory staples, and regular appearances by the world’s finest singers.

The evening began in the Carlisle Floyd Room with two Floyd arias — "The Trees on the Mountain," sung by Katie Van Kooten (who was Elisabeth in Maria Stuarda the next evening) and an aria from Susannah by Sam Ramey (the Grand Inquisitor in Don Carlo the night before).

Next we went into the David Gockley Room; the doors are now covered with an original artwork featuring the names of every opera done under his leadership. HGO Artistic and Music Director Patrick Summers [whose career started in the Merola Opera Program] offered a heartfelt tribute to Gockley, singling out as one of Gockley's main accomplishments — his work raising his three lovely children, now adults and all present in the room.

Gockley spoke with a deep emotion, twice choking up (something I have never seen during the hundreds of his presentations I experienced) while talking about the time when he came to Houston with a freshly minted MBA, a failed singing career, and a lot of dreams. He took special satisfaction in helping to distinguish HGO as a truly American opera company.

Houston's Culturemap reported:

In the evening's grand finale, Patrick Summers announced the final presentation as one that is "so important to HGO's future." And with that eight pianos were manned, with Summers in the lead, to fill the rehearsal hall with the stirring strains of "The Ride of the Valkyries" from Richard Wagner's Ring cycle.

HGO and Opera Australia have commissioned a new Ring cycle production that will be presented in Houston during the 2013-2014 season.

Priscilla Salgo

Choral conductor Priscilla Salgo, widow of Sándor Salgo, died last month at her daughter's home in Illinois, where she had been living for the past several years. She was 92.

A memorial service was held Sunday in the Sunnyvale Presbyterian Church where she was choirmaster for 35 years. Overlapping those years, she also conducted choruses for many years at the Carmel Bach Festival, headed by her husband from 1956 on. The couple was responsible for developing a short local event into a nationally recognized celebration of Bach's music, with three weeks of concerts and recitals, and performances of the cantatas and of one of the Passions or the B Minor Mass each year.

The Goerne-Andsnes Apotheosis

Beware of velvety baritones wearing their heart on their sleeve. Suspect star pianists disappearing in the music as humble accompanists. Then there were Matthias Goerne and Leif Ove Andsnes in Herbst Theater Monday night, with a recital to treasure and remember.

When the two embraced, it was no act; they too were genuinely carried away by the magic of the evening. This was Goerne's seventh appearance in Herbst; I heard him five times there, and three times elsewhere — the experience varied between good and excellent. But I never had an inkling that this could happen.

The "this" is difficult to describe. Instead of breath/sound/breath, Goerne breathed music, sustaining musical lines as if he was just breathing. The songs didn't seem to begin or end, they were just there, permeating the air. Glorious high notes, exceptional middle notes, secure low notes — yet the listener was not aware of the difference between them; all effortless and deeply moving. Yes, the singing was over-emotional, but with Andsnes' calming accompaniment and the beauty of the sound, no nitpicking was possible ... not that anyone wanted to "exercise critical faculties." There was only enchantment and the kind of quiet ovation that says: "Let it not end."

The program was unusual, adventurous, satisfying: Mahler and Shostakovich songs interspersed, creating a mood and an atmosphere in which nothing mattered, not even Goerne's surprising instances of mumbling his native German, while doing just fine with the Russian text.

A single mood, yes, but big and right variations in the sound between "Wo die schönen Trompeten blasen," "Wenn dein Mütterlein," and "Urlicht." Shostakovich's "Morning," "Separation," and "Night" were more monotonous, rightly so considering the nature of the text.

But overall, there were those waves of utterly gorgeous sound, deep feelings (no matter where worn), and brilliant execution. Attention Saint Paul, Kalamazoo, and Detroit: check the tour schedule, and do not miss this musical blessing.

Reklamí Spot Ceské Filharmonie

The above means "Commercial for the Czech Philharmonic," but if you watch it, no translation will do it justice. Would love to see MTT's band match it.

San Francisco's own Czech Charlie (Cockey) notes that the line about "classy as it seems" has more to it than it seems. "Classical music" in Czech is "vážná hudba" where hudba means music and vážná means serious — "serious music," so the the double entendre in the slogan is "Not everything has to be as serious as it seems."

Celebrating Opera Past for the Benefit of Opera Future

It should be shown regularly, but A Life in Opera: In the Shadow of the Stars is a rare sight these days. (My own copy is on a VHS tape, sigh.) Winner of an Academy Award 20 years ago, the documentary by Allie Light and Irving Saraf is a masterpiece, dwells deep into the lives of several members of the San Francisco Opera Chorus.

One of the singers is Sigmund Seigel, a board member of West Edge Opera, and honoree of an important fundraiser for the company on May 6, from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. in the Marsh Arts Center. Tickets for this event are available at several levels:

• $25 includes film screening, recital, and cash bar.
• $75 includes all of the above, plus a commemorative Star pin, preferred seating, wine and hors d’oeuvres, and a DVD of the film signed by one of the featured singers (maybe I will replace the VHS, now that there are no longer machines to play tapes on).
• $175 includes all of the above, plus dinner with Seigel at Berkeley’s Revival Restaurant following the reception.
• Event Sponsors, at $500, will receive all benefits, plus special recognition as a Sponsor. A portion of each ticket price is tax-deductible, and proceeds will benefit the programs of West Edge Opera.

A nonprofit performing arts organization, West Edge Opera (formerly Berkeley Opera) was founded in 1979 by Richard Goodman. Jonathan Khuner led the company from 1994-2009, when Mark Streshinsky joined him as artistic director. The company presents opera as "lively, compelling musical theater that fuses music and drama to delight, move, and challenge its audiences, while remaining accessible, affordable, and engaging." Operas each season are chosen from three different musical eras.

Robert Bruce and the Sound of Silents

Three important and rare 1920s silent film classics will be screened in San Jose, with live piano accompaniment by composer Robert Bruce. The schedule: May 17, It, with Clara Bow (who, of course, became the "It Girl"); May 18, F.W. Murnau’s Faust; May 19, silent shorts by Buster Keaton.

The price of admission must have seemed "real money" at the time these were first-run features, but certainly are affordable today: $15 for each program or $38 for all three. The venue is San Jose's Trinity Cathedral, at 81 N. 2nd Street.

Bruce says the films are projected using a digital format and LCD projector onto a large screen at the front of the church. "The churches, halls, performing arts centers or other venues I use to present these programs are, in part, selected for the quality of the piano they have in-house. The projection equipment is also very high-quality."

It is 1927 romantic comedy about a shop girl who sets her sights on the handsome and wealthy boss of the department store where she works. Cover your eyes if you don't like spoilers: It has a happy — if not politically correct — ending. The film's fascinating history included some three decades of being lost, until a nitrate copy was found in Prague in the 1960s. In 2001, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, according to the criteria of being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

Whence the name? At the end of the film, shop girl Betty Lou Spence (Bow) and handsome capitalist Cyrus Waltham Jr. (Antonio Moreno) reconcile on the anchor of the yacht, with the first two letters of the ship's name, Itola, between them. Now you're ready for advanced film trivia quiz.