LINCOLN CENTER

Alice Tully Hall
The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center

Mozart, Mendelssohn & Brahms

Mozart - Sonata in A major for Violin and Piano, K. 526 (1787)
Mendelssohn - Quartet in C minor for Piano, Violin, Viola, and Cello, Op. 1 (1822)
Brahms - Sextet No. 1 in B-flat major for two Violins, Two Violas, and Two Cellos, Op. 18 (1859-60)

Listen to this for a preview of the performance...

We love Alice Tully Hall.  Listening to chamber music allows us to focus not only on the music but also on the performers.  In chamber music, the musicians are not buried and lost in the middle of a large orchestra.

THEATER

Dorothy Strelsin Theater
Twelfth Night or What You Will - Bedlam

Bedlam Theater is a small and very creative theater group that presents shows off Broadway.  Ben Brantley, critic for the New York Times, considers them the premier theater group in New York City.  We will not miss a production by Bedlam.

Today was another surprise and another venue.  The venue, stage, seating, and all, was about the size of a double garage.  Honestly!

The performance space...

There were 5 actors who shared and played all the parts of a major Shakespeare play.  They identified their characters by hats, aprons, and eye wear.

NOW, HERE'S THE KICKER!

We went back tonight to watch the same 5 actors perform the same play with each of the actors playing different parts with the play having an entirely different interpretation.

So, after watching a period version of Twelfth Night at 2:00 PM we returned this evening for a 1920s version of the same play.

The same 5 actors performed the play the second time but they didn't play the same roles as they did in the first performance.  The actors did a great job but the words carried the play.

THEATER REVIEW

Theater Review: Two Stagings, ‘Twelfth Night’

Two versions of a Shakespeare favorite prove that Bedlam Theatre Company is one of the most innovative troupes at work today

By TERRY TEACHOUT

Updated April 2, 2015 10:22 p.m. ET

New York

Bedlam Theatre Company, which specializes in small-scale, no-budget classical revivals that are both radically innovative and winningly playful, has scored yet another success with its double-barreled “Twelfth Night.” Catchily billed as “One Play, Two Ways,” Bedlam’s production of “Twelfth Night; or, What You Will” (to give Shakespeare’s ever-popular comedy its unabridged title) consists of two different versions of the same play, both of them staged by the same director, Eric Tucker, and performed by the same five-person cast, whose members share between them all 12 parts.

Twelfth Night (or What You Will)
What You Will (or Twelfth Night)

Bedlam Theatre Company, Dorothy Strelsin Theatre, Abingdon Theatre Arts Complex,
312 W. 36th St. ($30-$49), 866-811-4111, closes May 2

Two stagings of the same play, performed in rotating repertory. Both versions can be seen in a single day on Saturdays

If this sounds like a gimmick, fear not: Mr. Tucker, who doubles as director and cast member, has come up with a pair of shows whose differences underline the protean essence of Shakespeare’s genius. Version No. 1, “Twelfth Night,” performed in street clothes, is a drunken debauch that strips away much of the laughter—Edmund Lewis plays the preposterous Malvolio totally, terrifyingly straight—while Version No. 2, “What You Will,” is a bright-young-things revel in which the costumes of the white-clad actors are spattered from time to time with what we come to understand is their own hearts’ blood.

Both versions are performed in a grubby 46-seat black-box garment-district theater whose stage (if you want to call it that) is no bigger than the living room of a dirt-cheap New York apartment. That puts you face to face with Andrus Nichols, Susannah Millonzi, Tom O’Keefe and Messrs. Lewis and Tucker, who leap from role to role with exhilarating abandon. I especially like the moment in Version No. 1 when they change characters by flinging their hats at one another. Ms. Millonzi, who caught my eye in Shakespeare & Company’s 2011 “Romeo and Juliet” and the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival’s 2014 “Othello,” is, if possible, even more impressive this time around. She’s one of the most exciting young actors I’ve seen in recent seasons. Everybody in the cast is up to scratch, though, and Mr. Lewis’s two Malvolios—the other one is goofy and effete—couldn’t be more unpredictably unlike one another.

In the end, of course, these are Mr. Tucker’s shows, and here as in all of Bedlam’s previous ventures, he proves that he ranks high on the list of America’s most engaging and imaginative stage directors. To present two completely dissimilar stagings of one of Shakespeare’s best-loved plays in rotating repertory is the kind of “obvious” idea that only the most daring of artists would try. A single precedent comes to mind: Paul Taylor’s “Polaris,” in which the same choreography is danced twice in a row, accompanied by two different and sharply contrasting pieces of music. Such trickery would be mere stuntwork in the hands of lesser artists, but when the likes of Mr. Taylor and Mr. Tucker essay it, the results are as irresistible as they are challenging.

THEATER

Two Versions of ‘Twelfth Night’ Coming From Bedlam Theater Troupe

By PATRICK HEALY date published FEBRUARY 4, 2015 9:26 AM date updated

February 4, 2015 9:26 am

“Twelfth Night, Or what you will” is the full name of the dark comedy by Shakespeare that is simply called “Twelfth Night” in most productions, like the hit revival on Broadway last season. And that four-word subtitle will be put to inventive use this spring by Bedlam, the critically acclaimed Off Broadway troupe that recently mounted innovative stagings of “Sense & Sensibility” and “The Seagull.”

Bedlam announced Wednesday that it would present two versions of “Twelfth Night” in repertory. The original Shakespeare script will be used, and both plays will feature the same five actors in the many roles, but the versions will have different thematic emphases, aesthetics, and approaches by the performers to their characters.

“The version we’re calling, ‘Twelfth Night or What You Will’ centers around the theme that love can be difficult and extremely hard, but in the end also very magical and rewarding,” wrote Eric Tucker, the artistic director of Bedlam, in an email. “Our other version, which we’re calling ‘What You Will, or Twelfth Night’ centers around the theme that love is absolutely maddening and doesn’t always turn out ok in the end but it’s a wild ride.”

"Off-Broadway theater company Bedlam will present Shakespeare's Twelfth Night in rotating repertory with itself: Twelfth Night (or What You Will) and What You Will (or Twelfth Night). The productions, which are described as, "one play, two completely different ways," will be presented at the Dorothy Strelsin Theatre beginning March 11. Both productions officially open on March 22.

The casts of both plays will include Edmund Lewis, Andrus Nichols, Eric Tucker, Tom O'Keefe, Susannah Millonzi. The productions will feature costumes by Valerie Bart and lighting design by Les Dickert.

Bedlam is a company committed to the immediacy of the relationship between the actor and the audience. Bedlam creates theater in a flexible, raw space, presenting new writing, contemporary reappraisals of the classics, and small-scale musical theater. Their productions always include the audience. The company believes "that innovative use of space can collapse aesthetic distance and bring the audience into direct contact with the dangers and delicacies of life—inciting laughter and chaos, provoking thought and recreating the thrill of live experience."

Bedlam Presents One Play, Two Ways with TWELFTH NIGHT and WHAT YOU WILL,

The off-Broadway theatre company, BEDLAM, which received critical acclaim and multiple award nominations for its recent productions of Saint Joan and Hamlet, and The Seagull and Sense & Sensibility is presenting Shakespeare's classic comedy Twelfth Night in rotating repertory with itself: Twelfth Night (or What You Will) and What You Will (or Twelfth Night). One play, two completely different ways, with the same five actors, at the Dorothy Strelsin Theatre (312 W 36th Street, NYC) for 8 weeks only. Now in performances, Twelfth Night opens today, March 28 at 2pm, and What You Will opens Sunday, March 29 at 2pm.

"The version we're calling, Twelfth Night (or What You Will) centers around the theme that love can be difficult and extremely hard, but in the end also very magical and rewarding. Our other version, which we're calling What You Will (or Twelfth Night) centers around the theme that love is absolutely maddening and doesn't always turn out ok in the end but it's a wild ride," said Artistic Director Eric Tucker.

The casts feature the original Saint Joan and Hamlet cast of Edmund Lewis, Andrus Nichols, Eric Tucker, Tom O'Keefe, plus Susannah Millonzi.

Twelfth Night (or What You Will) and What You Will (or Twelfth Night) features costumes by Valerie Bart and lighting design by Les Dickert.

Bedlam is a company committed to the immediacy of the relationship between the actor and the audience. With large ideas and modest budgets, Bedlam creates theatre in a flexible, raw space, presenting new writing, contemporary reappraisals of the classics and small-scale musical theatre. Their productions always include the audience. Storytelling is paramount. Bedlam believes that innovative use of space can collapse aesthetic distance and bring the audience into direct contact with the dangers and delicacies of life--inciting laughter and chaos, provoking thought and recreating the thrill of live experience.

LINCOLN CENTER

Avery Fisher Hall
New York Philharmonic

Rehearsal

Rehearsals are much like performances.  Ushers are there and programs are handed out.  The only ones we've attended were conducted by Alan Gilbert.  So, we know his style but not others.

The rehearsal starts promptly at 10:00 AM.  Avery Fisher Hall is about 2/3s full.  There is little talking between Gilbert and the musicians before playing.  They play completely through the piece with no interruptions.  At the end of the piece there is about 5 minutes of discussion and a few minor "play-throughs" of a few areas.

On the way home we rode the subway.  Our car had a school class of young people taking a field trip.  No buses, no cars.  They herd 20+ kids on and off a subway.

PERFORMANCE

J. P. Morgan Library and Museum
Handel's Resurrection Oratorio - Helicon Ensemble

"Perhaps the most dazzling portion of Handel’s output comes from the three formative years he spent in Italy while in his early twenties. These youthful pieces are marked by bold experimentation and delight in virtuosity, and chief amongst these is “La resurrezione.” Written at a time when opera was banned in Rome, it treats sacred themes in a mythical fashion to create a spectacular drama that rivals his greatest staged works."

"Born the same year as Johann Sebastian Bach and Domenico Scarlatti, Handel is regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Baroque era, with works such as Water Music, Music for the Royal Fireworks and Messiah remaining steadfastly popular.^[6] One of his four Coronation Anthems, Zadok the Priest (1727), composed for the coronation of George II of Great Britain, has been performed at every subsequent British coronation, traditionally during the sovereign's anointing. Handel composed more than forty operas in over thirty years, and since the late 1960s, with the revival of baroque music and historically informed musical performance, interest in Handel's operas has grown."

A musical adventure since we know very little of this work.  Great venue for a small ensemble.

LINCOLN CENTER

Metropolitan Opera
Lucia di Lammermoor - Gaetano Donizetti

Start this post by listening to the sextet in Act II...

"New coloratura talent Albina Shagimuratova sings bel canto’s unhinged bride, delivering opera’s most thrilling mad scene. Joseph Calleja is her tragic lover. Mary Zimmerman’s production evokes the moors and castles of Scotland for Donizetti’s melodic journey of love and deception, conducted by Maurizio Benini."

A video promoting the opera...

The famous "mad scene"...

Met Opera: Shagimuratova Goes Brilliantly Mad In 'Lucia di Lammermoor'

Posted: 03/17/2015 12:16 pm EDT Updated: 03/17/2015 2:59 pm EDT

Donizetti may be one of the best things to happen to Sir Walter Scott. And with the return of Lucia di Lammermoor to the Met Opera stage last night, Albina Shagimuratova is one of the best things now going for Donizetti. 

The Russian soprano captivated a first night audience with her bravura performance as the doomed Scottish lass, culminating in a heart-stopping Mad Scene that can take its place among those of the storied singers who have made the role a signature of their virtuosity. 

Donizetti wrote his opera in 1835, with a libretto by Salvadore Cammarano based on Scott's novel The Bride of Lammermoor, and it became an instant success with the character of Lucia Ashton becoming the personification of a woman thwarted in love by a father who demands she marry another against her will in an effort to save the family's fortunes.

The plot is a simple one. Lucia has fallen in love with Edgardo di Ravenswood, who is the mortal enemy of her father, Enrico Ashton di Lammermoor. Lucia and Edgardo plight their secret troth, but Enrico forges a letter from Edgardo saying he has fallen in love with somebody else, and Lucia reluctantly agrees to marry Arturo, her father's choice. This turn of events drives Lucia to a complete mental meltdown and it all ends in bloody murder, death and suicide.

The opera, with some of the most beautiful and dramatic music of the Romantic era, became so familiar to 19th-century Europe that several novelists alluded to it in their work. Flaubert has Emma Bovary attend a performance of Lucia in Madame Bovary, and Tolstoy wrote a description of a performance in Anna Karenina.

The roster of sopranos who have sung Lucia to stake their claim to bel canto credentials is long -- Pons, Melba, Callas and Sutherland to name just a few from the past, and more recently at the Met, Natalie Dessay, Diana Damrau and Anna Netrebko.

Shagimuratova can join the list. She is apprehensive in her opening aria "Regnava nel silenzio" as she recounts seeing the ghost of a woman who was murdered near the fountain where she waits to meet Edgardo. Then when her thoughts turn to Edgardo, she beams and sings like a woman in love, full of joy and with silvery runs in "Quando, rapito in estasi.”

The role is a demanding one, especially in the Mad Scene, a long passage of vocal dexterity that is one of the most liltingly lovely yet desperate pieces of music in all opera. Shagimuratova, singing in only her second role at the Met, hits every note squarely with ringing brilliance, and with only a solo flute for accompaniment, exquisitely played by Stefan Ragnar Hoskuldsson, evokes all the pathos of a deranged mind struggling with an ill-fated love.

The Met has assembled an excellent all-round cast for this round of performances of Lucia, which will be repeated seven more times this season. The tenor Joseph Calleja carried on in the role of Edgardo, though an announcement at the beginning said he had been suffering from the flu. There was indeed some strain in Calleja's opening act duet with Shagimuratova ("Ah! Verranno a te sull'aure") but he became vocally stronger as the evening went on.

By the third act, Calleja's voice had regained its brightness and the back-to-back arias in the final scene -- "Tombe degli avi miei" and "Fra poco a me ricovero" -- were wonderfully moving and tragic.

The Italian baritone Luca Salsi, also in only his second Met appearance, was splendid as Enrico. From the opening "Cruda, funesta smania" his rich powerful voice conveyed a man enraged yet one used to commanding and having his way. When he and Calleja face off at the end of Act 2, they circle each other like snarling dogs in their rousing duet. And the English basso Alastair Miles was excellent as Raimondo, the Lammermoor chaplain and Lucia's tutor.

Maurizio Benini conducted the Met Orchestra in a well-paced reading of the score. If the overture began with a certain deliberateness of foreboding, Benini proceeded at almost a gallop as the manhunt of the opening scene gets under way and the tempo throughout remained in step with the action onstage.

Mary Zimmerman's 2007 production, which moves the story to the 19th century, still conjures the bleakness of the wild and barren Scottish countryside, though there's not a kilt in sight. She actually brings the ghost in Lucia's story onstage, slowly wandering around the set before disappearing in the fountain, a theatrical addition that can be distracting to audience and soprano alike. But the grand staircase with a minstrel in the final act gives Lucia a spectacularly dramatic entrance for the Mad Scene.

LINCOLN CENTER

Metropolitan Opera

National Council Grand Finals

This is our 3rd year to attend the National Finals.  It is always a hoot! The singers are all wonderful, the venue is filled, and the audience keeps score of the singers in their programs.  After each singer the house buzzes with conversations and the singers are evaluated.  It is a competition.

Today was no exception.  All the singers were good and all the songs they sang were "showstoppers."

At the end, though, something special happened.  We came to New York to find those transcendental moments during which it is evident that we're experiencing something really special.  That happened this afternoon.

While the judges were tallying their results, a performing member of the Metropolitan Opera fills that time with some singing.  This afternoon, Angela Meade sang two operatic "candysticks"; "Casta Diva" from Norma by Bellini and "Ebbed? Ne Sandro lantern" from "La Wally" by Catalani.  The music was amazingly beautiful and the human voice was why we moved to New York.

A human standing alone on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera House with a full orchestra is a setting for fear, anticipation, and wonder.  Angela Meade filled a very big space with nothing but her voice.  It was wonderful.

This is not Angela Meade but it is Rene Fleming singing from La Wally...

Rene Fleming again singing "Casta Diva."

"The Met’s annual National Council Grand Finals Concert allows several of the finest young singers in the U.S. and Canada to impress some of the world’s most perceptive judges of talent, and, hopefully, to embark on major careers. The soprano Angela Meade, one of the most renowned of the recent winners, will host the event and also sing; Fabio Luisi, the company’s principal conductor, is on the podium."

"Some of today's greatest singers got their start in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, including Renée Fleming, Susan Graham, Thomas Hampson, Stephanie Blythe, Ben Heppner, Patricia Racette, Samuel Ramey, Deborah Voigt and Frederica von Stade."

"The Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions is an annual singing competition sponsored by the Metropolitan Opera. Established in 1954, its purpose is to discover, assist, promote, and develop young opera singers. The competition is held in four stages: Districts, Regional, Semi-Final, and Final competitions. Each stage is judged by a panel of representatives from the Metropolitan Opera. There are a total of 14 regional competitions within the United States and Canada and 41 district competitions within each region. Winners from the district competition compete in Regionals, and then the winners of regionals are awarded a trip to New York City where they compete on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera in the National Semi-Final Competition. Approximately 10 semi-finalists are chosen to compete in the final competition, 5 of which are awarded a grand prize of $15,000 and the remainder of which are awarded $5,000."

Met Competition Features Nation’s Top Opera Talent

The winners of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, left to right, Reginald Smith Jr, Marina Costa-Jackson, Nicholas Brownlee, Virginie Verrez and Joseph Dennis on Sunday. 

By Pia Catton

March 22, 2015 9:23 p.m. ET

Some of opera’s rising stars performed in a career-making concert on Sunday: the Metropolitan Opera’s National Council Auditions, a competition that helped launch international stars such as Renée Fleming, Susan Graham and Thomas Hampson.

Out of nine finalists, five won individual cash prizes of $15,000. The competition is structured to award as many as five winners, though in some years fewer awards are given.

The 2015 winners are: Joseph Dennis, tenor, 30 years old; Virginie Verrez, mezzo-soprano, 26; Nicholas Brownlee, bass-baritone, 25; Marina Costa-Jackson, soprano, 27; and Reginald Smith Jr., baritone, 26.

Each of the nine finalists took the stage twice, singing alone onstage accompanied by the Met orchestra led by principal conductor Fabio Luisi.

Their work ranged from popular arias, such as Mr. Brownlee’s rendition of “Madamina, il catalogo è questo” from Mozart’s “Don Giovanni,” to rarities such as Mr. Smith’s performance of “Oh, Lawd Jesus, heah my prayer” from Louis Gruenberg’s “The Emperor Jones,” which premiered at the Met in 1933 and hasn’t been performed there since 1934.

“It was appreciated by the orchestra,” said Mr. Luisi, who led the musicians in learning the work for this occasion.

Arias last only a few minutes, but those few minutes on the Met stage have the potential to be life-changing. Mr. Smith said what calmed him was seeing Mr. Luisi in the pit. “He’s a relaxing conductor. You see him there smiling.”

To reach this level, the singers had previously won regional and district competitions, then came to New York for a semifinal round last Sunday that was closed to the public. 

Finalists were chosen by a panel of opera experts from the Met and other companies.

On Sunday, each finalist sang two arias onstage, then, while the judges deliberated, the audience was treated to a performance by 2007 winner Angela Meade, whose career trajectory is something any young star could envy. 

After the National Council performances, she was asked to cover, or understudy, at the Met—and when the lead soprano fell ill, Ms. Meade made her professional operatic debut at the Met in Verdi’s “Ernani.” 

On Sunday, Ms. Meade performed “Ebben?…Ne andrò lontana” from Catalani’s “La Wally” and “Casta Diva” from Bellini’s “Norma.”

“Even after eight years, that took me right back to the same place,” she told the audience after singing.

Now in its 62nd year, the National Council Auditions are designed to identify exceptional singers, but also to create a pipeline of talent for the Met Opera. 

The performance was as well-attended as most operas, and patrons packed the reception to meet the singers and seek autographs. 

After the performance, the winners and finalists—Jared Bybee, baritone, 28; Allegra De Vita, mezzo-soprano, 25; Kathryn Henry, soprano, 22; and Deniz Uzun, mezzo-soprano, 26—were toasted by Met general manager Peter Gelb.

Asked what she might do with her prize money, Ms. Verrez cited the high cost of training and auditioning: “I owe a lot of money to my mother.”

Below shows something interesting.  The Metropolitan Opera joins the wheelchair community with the Cocktail Bar.

The ushers help all patrons using assistance to their seats and then removes their devices to the lobby during the performance.  It's at that point that the wheelchairs, walkers, and cocktails become one.

LINCOLN CENTER

Alice Tully Hall
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center

Intimate Expressions: Schubert & Schnittke

"Robert Schumann wrote that 'One glance at Schubert’s Trio—and the troubles of our human existence disappear and all the world is fresh and bright again.' Three outstanding musicians perform this radiant trio, alongside Schubert’s melodic Violin Fantasy and Schnittke’s riveting Cello Sonata."

Schubert - Fantasy in C major for Violin and Piano, D. 934, Op. 159 (1827)
Schnittke - Sonata No. 1 for Cello and Piano (1978)
Schubert - Trio No. 1 in B-flat major for Piano, Violin, and Cello, D. 898,Op. 99 (1827)

Juho Pohjonen - Piano
Benjamin Beilman - Violin
Jan Vogler - Cello

Here's a teaser for the program...

RECITAL

Carnegie Hall
Piotr Anderszewski

Bach - French Overture in B Minor, BWV 831
Schumann - Novelette in F-sharp Minor, Op. 21, No. 8
Schumann - Fantasy in C Major, Op. 17
Bach - English Suite No. 3 in G Minor, BWV 808

“It can be hard not to wax hyperbolic when confronted with the pianist Piotr Anderszewski's sensitive touch and potent imagination,” declared The New York Times. Known for his individuality and fresh interpretations, Anderszewski is renowned for his musical intellect and thoughtful approach. The Guardiansaid, “The tone and touch of Anderszewski's playing are so seductive that it is easy to forget how classically correct a musician he is.”

"Carnegie Hall presents a recital by pianist Piotr Anderszewski tonight, March 19 at 8:00 p.m. in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage. Schumann's Novelette in F-sharp Minor, Op. 21, No. 8 and two works by J.S. Bach -- French Overture in B Minor, BWV 831, and English Suite No. 3 in G Minor, BWV 808 -- replace previously announced works by Beethoven, Bartók, and Schumann. Schumann's Fantasy in C Major, Op. 17 remains on the program."

"Mr. Anderszewski is regarded as one of the outstanding musicians of his generation. In the 2014-2015 season, he can be heard in recital at Vienna's Konzerthaus and Amsterdam's Concertgebouw. His orchestral engagements include appearances with the London Symphony Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra, and Vienna Symphony Orchestra, as well as three appearances in Bamberg as part of a residency with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra. Additional highlights include a series of recitals with baritone Matthias Goerne in Vienna, Berlin, and London."

MUSI

Review: Piotr Anderszewski Goes for Dim Lights and Intimacy at Carnegie Hall

By ANTHONY TOMMASINIMARCH 20, 2015

Photo

Piotr Anderszewski performing at Carnegie Hall on Thursday.

 Credit

In “Unquiet Traveler,” a revealing 2008 documentary that follows the great pianist Piotr Anderszewski on a tour through his native Poland, this powerfully individual artist speaks of the “extreme loneliness” of a recital, of the “heroism” but also of the “cruelty involved.”

Those comments came to mind in the summer of 2009, when I heard Mr. Anderszewski play a late-night recital at the Kaplan Penthouse, a program pairing a partita and an English suite by Bach. In this intimate, informal space, Mr. Anderszewski seemed not to be bravely grappling with loneliness but sharing his music amid friends.

On Thursday night, Mr. Anderszewski appeared on a big, exposed stage: Carnegie Hall. Yet, for this program of works by Bach and Schumann, he tried, it seemed, to make the space feel intimate. During performances, the house lights were kept dim enough that you could not read the titles of the movements in the pieces. Only a narrow overhead light made him visible. The implicit message seemed: What did it matter whether he was playing the Gavotte I or the Passepied II movement during Bach’s French Overture in B minor, a remarkable 35-minute work? We were invited to listen in the moment and let Mr. Anderszewski take us through this music.

His sensitive performances also fostered intimacy. Even the unusual choice and ordering of the program countered the typical notion of a concert pianist come to dazzle us. One of the two Schumann works he played was the towering Fantasy in C (Op. 17). But having begun with Bach, he ended with Bach, the English Suite No. 3 in G minor, not, as most pianists would have, the Schumann Fantasy.

In performing Bach’s French Overture (written for the harpsichord) on the piano, Mr. Anderszewski made full use of the modern instrument’s sustaining richness and capacity for shadings. Still, he often played rolled chords and scurrying passages with a slightly metallic gloss and textural lightness that intriguingly evoked the sound of the harpsichord. He brought infectious, rhythmic vitality to his playing in the dance movements. Does Mr. Anderszewski know how to dance a gavotte? He must.

Schumann lived in awe of Beethoven. But the other composer who hovered over his work was Bach. Mr. Anderszewski surely wanted that connection to come through on this program. You almost never hear Schumann’s Novelette in F sharp minor (Op, 21, No. 8), the last piece of a piano suite from 1838. This 11-minute episodic work is like a suite in itself, full of lyrical bursts and swirling passagework broken up with feisty dance episodes. Mr. Anderszewski conveyed the music’s teeming Romanticism while also revealing internal Bachian complexities.

His account of the Fantasy de-emphasized the monumental qualities of Schumann’s three-movement score to bring out its poetic, yearning explorations. Even the march movement was intricate and intimate.

After his vibrant account of the Bach English Suite (one of three he has recorded for his latest Warner Classics CD), he played encores: three Hungarian folk songs by Bartok, then the first three of Beethoven’s Six Bagatelles (Op. 126). That he did not announce the encores suggested he hoped the audience would just listen. That they did.

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PERFORMANCE

Merkin Hall
New York Festival of Song: Brava Italia

Chelsea Morris, soprano
Julia Dawson, mezzo-soprano
Alec Carlson, tenor
Shea Owens, baritone
Steven Blier, Michael Barrett and Christopher Reynolds, piano

"Five young artists will take the audience on an exploration of Italian song, from the lyricism of the Romantic era into the sophisticated tone poems of the verismo era, paired with a wide array of music by Italian-Americans. The program includes songs, arias and ensemble pieces by Giuseppe Verdi, Gioacchino Rossini, Ildebrando Pizzetti, Ferruccio Busoni, Alfredo Catalani, John Musto, John Corigliano, Dominick Argento and Harry Warren (the composer of 42nd Street, born Salvatore Guaragna)."

Hearing the way these singers use the human voice is amazing.  Last Thursday evening we went to a small recital of members of our choir at Marble Collegiate.  Our choir is filled with wonderful, performing, traveling singers.  They are all really good.  One mezzo soprano sang in about 5 styles with 5 different voices.  She sang as a pop singer, a Blue Grass singer,  a few other styles, and as an opera singer.  It is amazing the power that is produced when these trained singers kick it into their opera voice.  There is nothing else like it.

It was a full evening of Bel Canto singing.  It was pretty, beautiful, and fun.

The Merkin Hall is a small venue and the acoustics are good.

Interestingly, three of the four singers trained in Houston, Texas at Rice University.