BBC Proms: Here and Now
Wherever you may be, the "here" of the Proms is BBC-3 on the Web. The "now" extends through Sept. 10,
when "Last Night at the Proms" rules in its unruly ways. Listening live is fairly convenient on the West Coast, with webcasts mostly from 11 a.m. PDT, but thanks to Auntie's generosity (and all the Brits paying for it), if you miss something, podcasts are available for seven days after the performance. For instance: Have you missed Sunday's performance of the most gargantuan of great symphonies at the Proms on Sunday? Not to worry, you can still hear 800 singers, 200 players, and four off-stage brass bands perform Symphony No. 1 ("Gothic") by Havergal Brian (1876-1972). Then you can go on to experience his other 31 symphonies, five operas, and many other works. Here's a comment — without full endorsement — on the BBC Web site about this remarkable symphony:
Yesterday's performance of Brian¹s Gothic Symphony was a great experience. It is always interesting to see it being compared with Mahler's 8th symphony. Having listened to both works regularly for almost 50 years, and despite being a convinced Mahlerian all my life, I find the kaleidoscopic nature of Brian's creation retains its freshness far better than Mahler'sThe finale is perhaps the most impressive part of the work: Try listening from just over a minute into it (1:35 to 1:51).work. Indeed I now feel that the 8th is probably the weakest of Mahler's symphonies and very rarely listen to broadcasts of it. Of course the Gothic is not typical Brian but it has been wonderful to be able once again to experience a live performance of this music. Let's hope we can hear it again soon!
Further catching up: Saturday's performance of Rossini's William Tell, with Antonio Pappano conducting the Orchestra and Chorus of the Academy of Santa Cecilia, Rome, is at another podcast.
If it's pianists you want to hear in upcoming Proms, look for Alice Sara Ott, Yuja Wang, Marc-André Hamelin, Angela Hewitt, Stephen Hough, Lang Lang, Maria João Pires, and András Schiff.
Opera? How about Weber's Der Freischütz in the French version, with recitatives by Berlioz? The Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique is conducted by John Eliot Gardiner.
As for the Last Night at the Proms? That offers Peter Maxwell Davies, Bartók, Wagner, Liszt, Chopin, Grainger, Britten, Rodgers, Elgar ...
Parnassus Season in the Making
Stephen Paulson's always-adventurous community orchestra, Symphony Parnassus, once again is thinking big for the next season, mixing new and large and very demanding classical works, while continuing "the
orchestra¹s mission of performing programs which emphasize local composers, artists and soloists." Would but a certain large, professional local orchestra share some of that philosophy, however problematic it may be at the box office. Right from the beginning, at the Nov. 27 concert in Herbst, there is the world premiere of Clarice Assad's Holiday Medley, along with Respighi's rarely heard Botticelli Triptych and the Dvořák Cello Concerto, with Amos Yang, San Francisco Symphony assistant principal cellist as soloist.
The venue shifts to the S.F. Conservatory of Music on Jan. 15 for the rest of the season, to a hall half the size of Herbst, but considerably larger than some of Parnassus' original performance places. The all-French program includes Fauré's Ballade for Piano and Orchestra, Ravel's Concerto for the Left Hand (with pianist Helene Wickett, who is also principal violist of Symphony Parnassus), and Debussy's Images for Orchestra No. 2, "Iberia."
On March 25, short pieces by Copland and Rossini precede the suite from Richard Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier and Howard Hanson's Symphony No. 2, "Romantic."
The season concludes June 10 with the world premiere of Iranian-American composer Sahba Aminakia's Zar for orchestra, Schumann's Piano Concerto in A Minor (with Audrey Vardanega), and Strauss' Also Sprach Zarathustra.
Cornell MacNeil
Famed baritone Cornell MacNeil died Monday in his Virginia home, at age 88. Born in Minneapolis, he first performed in Broadway musicals and sang in the chorus in Radio City Music Hall.
His opera career took off in 1950 when he was cast by Gian Carlo Menotti in the Philadelphia world premiere of The Consul. His New York City Opera debut as Germont in La traviata and his San Francisco Opera debut as Escamillo in Carmen were preliminaries to his career in Italy, and eventually at the Metropolitan Opera, where he gave 642 performances.
His fame stemmed, in part, from performances in title roles of Verdi's Rigoletto, Macbeth, Simon Boccanegra, Nabucco, and Falstaff.
In San Francisco, between 1955 and 1975, MacNeil appeared as Escamillo, Valentin, Silvio, Nabucco, Scarpia, and Carlo Gérard in Andrea Chénier.
Adventurous Programs of a 'Training Orchestra'
Michael Tilson Thomas' other orchestra, Miami's New World Symphony, which he founded in 1988. The New World will have a great season in its new Frank Gehry–designed home, the center of a large campus. "Training," in the headline, is shorthand for the orchestra's mission: "to prepare highly-gifted graduates of
distinguished music programs for leadership roles in orchestras and ensembles around the world." While MTT is heading the centennial season in San Francisco, he will still jet about sufficiently to lead numerous concerts in Miami, while yielding the podium on occasion to guests such as Leonard Slatkin, Osmo Vänskä, James Conlon, Esa-Pekka Salonen (in his Miami debut), and others.
Numerous concerts will be simulcast on a projection wall facing the hall's adjacent park, including programs devoted to the works of Beethoven and short “Discovery” concerts and miniconcerts designed to attract people less familiar with classical music.
MTT will lead concerts in a more traditional vein, such as R. Strauss' Till Eulenspiegel¹s Merry Pranks and Brahms' Symphony No. 1, but then it'll all go to high gear with works such as these:
- Lee, Sukkot Through Orion's Nebula
- Aho, Minea
- McTee, Double Play
- Benjamin, Palimpsests I and II
- Ligeti, Mysteries of the Macabre
- Vivier, Lonely Child
- Lindberg, EXPO
- Messiaen, Turangalîla Symphony
Jewish Film Festival Highlights
Music of all sorts, literature, and art are in focus at the 31st San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, running July 21 through Aug. 8.
Topics include the staging of a Viennese operetta by war prisoners on their way to a concentration camp; a film based on David Grossman's novel; the great Yiddish writer Sholem Aleichem; a documentary about architect Eric Mendelsohn; and the affecting journey of cantors to perform in various Polish venues, including the Warsaw Opera House.
In Another Lifetime (2010, 94 min.) — This film depicts Hungarian-Jewish war prisoners being sent to the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp, and pausing on their way in a village, as the S.S. becomes disorganized in the final days of the war. An opera singer from Budapest organizes an impromptu performance of the Strauss operetta Wiener Blut (3:45 p.m., July 26, Castro Theater; 8:30 p.m. Aug. 3, JCC-SF).
Intimate Grammar (Israel, 2010, 110 minutes) — Nir Bergman's adaptation of David Grossman's novel is the story of a 1960s Jerusalem teenager's difficult life in a dysfunctional family, and his psychological–physical resistance to growing up and becoming like his parents (6:30 p.m., July 31, JCC-SF).
Sholem Aleichem: Laughing in the Darkness (U.S., 2011, 93 minutes) — The author of stories that became the hit musical Fiddler on the Roof was instrumental in transforming Yiddish from an ancient, insulated vernacular into a contemporary literary language. Called the "Jewish Mark Twain," Aleichem memorably chronicled lives in East European shtetls in the late 19th century (1:30 p.m., July 26, Castro — free screening).
Incessant Visions (Israel, 2011, 70 minutes) — Self-educated architect Erich Mendelsohn learned his craft in the trenches of the Russian front in World War I. He returned to Germany, and built some of the prominent buildings in Berlin, but fled the Nazis, first to Israel, then to New York, and later to San Francisco, where his works include the Maimonides Hospital. He died here in 1953 (3:15 p.m., July 28, Castro).
100 Voices: A Journey Home (U.S., 2010, 91 minutes) — Poland, one of the birthplaces of cantorial music, was also one of the deadliest countries for Jews during the Holocaust. In 2009, a group of famous cantors toured the country, giving joint concerts with local singers and musicians, including the Nozyk Synagogue (the only one in the country to survive the war) and the Warsaw Opera House. Directors are Danny Gold and Matthew Asner, son of actor Ed Asner (8:15 p.m., July 28, Castro).
100 Voices will be shown on the festival's closing night at the Castro Theater, following live performances by cantors Nathan Lam and Marcus Feldman from the film, and local Hazzanot (cantors) Roslyn Barak and Sharon Bernstein, accompanied by the theater's Mighty Wurlitzer.
WuHan Speaks of Music@Menlo on KZSU
Pianist Wu Han, Music@Menlo's artistic director (along with cellist David Finckel), will talk about this year's festival today from 5 to 7 p.m. on Stanford University's KZSU 90.1 FM, the program also being streamed live.Wu Han will be interviewed by Gary Lemco on the Music Treasury program to discuss the upcoming ninth season of the Music@Menlo Festival, "Through Brahms," July 22–Aug. 13. Musical excerpts include:
Brahms: Fugue from Handel Variations, Op. 24 (R. Serkin)
Beethoven: Presto from Kreutzer Sonata, Op. 47 (Sussmann/Han)
Rachmaninov: Prelude No. 4 in D Major from Op. 23 (A. Bax)
Mendelssohn: Scherzo from Piano Trio No. 1 in D Minor, Op. 49 (Pressler/Drucker/Finckel)
Brahms: Horn Trio in E-flat Major, Op. 40: "Adagio Mesto" (Vermuelen/Fleezanis/D. Han)
Brahms: Sextet No. 2 in G Major, Op. 36 (Keefe/Fleezanis/Francis/Largess/Kirschbaum/Finckel)
Big Grant to San José's ZERO1
The National Endowment for the Arts has given one of its top $250,000 Our Town grants to the City of San José Office of Cultural Affairs Public Art Program and ZER01: The Art and Technology Network. The two organizations will match the NEA grant "to promote and enhance downtown San José's livability and
arts engagement through the initiation of Silicon Valley Inside/Out — which will wed the creativity of the technology and cultural sectors to create a mash-up that will help downtown San José define the look and feel of the 'Capital of Silicon Valley.'" Congratulations, but my hope is that some of the money will be invested in replacing formalistic machine language in announcements. To continue:
Our Town, says the NEA, is "the latest investment in creative placemaking, through which partners from both public and private sectors come together to strategically shape the social, physical, and economic character of a neighborhood, town, city, or region around arts and cultural activities." NEA Chair Rocco Landesman further elaborated: "Communities across our country are using smart design and leveraging the arts to enhance quality of life and promote their distinctive identities. In this time of great economic upheaval, Our Town provides communities an opportunity to reignite their economies."