"La Traviata" at the Met

Act II from the Met Opera Franco Ziffirelli "La Traviata

Metropolitan Opera. New York City. April 24, 2010. Saturday night’s performance at the Metropolitan Opera of Verdi’s “La Traviata,” was sterling. I’ve seen this opera more times than I’ve attended any other opera, and some time ago, I said I wouldn’t easily go again. However, recently I’ve seen a lot of unfamiliar operas (e.g., Armida, The First Emperor, Julius Caesar, Thais, The Pearl Fisher) and I yearned for a familiar warhorse. When I learned that the Met was reviving its elaborate Franco Zeffirelli production, and with a stellar cast, and that I was in New York at the same time, I couldn’t resist. It was a good decision. I reveled in hearing gorgeous familiar arias and singers of transcendent beauty. Hei-Kyung Hong, the Korean soprano, was ravishing both in looks and voice; the six foot five inch tall James Valenti from nearby Summit, NJ, making his Met debut this season, was a dashing Alfredo with a tenor voice which should endow him with a big career; and the veteran Thomas Hampson gave the impressive performance we’ve come to expected from him. Next season, the Met will have a new production of La Traviata by Willy Decker. Zeffirelli’s luxurious sets and costumes will be replaced by a nearly blank stage and the action and dress updated to modern times. Zeffirelli and I have been fossilized.

Maurizio Pollini’s Aristocratic Piano Recital

Carnegie Hall. April 18, 2010. While aristocratic is a word more properly describing a former age, there are still some contemporary aristocratic pianists around, and Maurizio Pollini must surely head the list in the tradition of, say, Artur Rubinstein. You can sense it immediately as he approaches the piano, a sense that a patrician is about to invite you to a few minutes grace with musical royalty. A hush goes over the audience, polite applause, but certainly not the screaming reception usually given one of today’s media-enhanced piano superstars. Indeed, Pollini has a job to do---make beautiful music---and on Sunday afternoon, he didn’t waste any time in beginning this all-Chopin recital with the two nocturnes of opus 27, performances, which were characterized by infinite control and understated elegance.

The complete 24 preludes followed, each played with a sensitivity to the mood of the music, changing as required, no two preludes sounding the same. There was no “Pollini” sound and the fluidity of the playing was a marvel to behold. I would have preferred if Pollini had paused a little between each prelude, in the sense that a good meal requires a period of digestion, but these mostly short pieces, could, I guess, be digested quickly. In lesser hands, some of these short pieces can sound trivial, but when a master like Pollini examines them, they become as meaningful and beautiful as Chopin’s longer works.

At age 68, Pollini apparently has unlimited energy and, after the intermission, he quickly seated himself to begin a virtuosi second half. The well-known Ballade No. 1 and Scherzo No. 1 were brilliantly played with long lines developed into arching sonorities. It was in the Opus 25 etudes that Pollini exhibited his flawless command of the keyboard. As often as I’ve heard these works, I’ve never heard them played better technically, but more importantly, more beautifully. If anyone doubted it before, Pollini proved once again that he is a titan of the keyboard.

The enthusiasm of the audience was rewarded by three encores: a fiery but not overwrought Étude in C minor (Op. 10, No. 12, “Revolutionary”); a simply beautiful but not syrupy Mazurka in C (Op. 33, No. 3); and an exciting Scherzo No. 3, which, by that time, had exhausted the audience, although I have no doubt that Pollini could have gone on longer.


The Program
CHOPIN Two Nocturnes, Op. 27
CHOPIN 24 Preludes, Op. 28
CHOPIN Ballade No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 23
CHOPIN Scherzo No. 1
CHOPIN Etude in A-flat Major, Op. 25, No. 1, "Aeolian Harp"
CHOPIN Etude in F Minor, Op. 25, No. 2
CHOPIN Etude in F Major, Op. 25, No. 3, "Cartwheel"
CHOPIN Etude in A Minor, Op. 25, No. 4
CHOPIN Etude in C-sharp Minor, Op. 25, No. 7, "Cello"
CHOPIN Etude in B Minor, Op. 25, No. 10
CHOPIN Etude in A Minor, Op. 25, No. 11, "Winter Wind"
CHOPIN Etude in C Minor, Op. 25, No. 12, "Ocean"

Encores:

CHOPIN Etude in C Minor, Op. 10, No. 12, "Revolutionary"
CHOPIN Mazurka in C Major, Op. 33, No. 3
CHOPIN Scherzo No. 3

Conductor’s Father Rescues Rossini

Bangkok, Thailand. April 2, 2010. Somtow Sucharikul, Thailand’s eminent classical musical personality, has a knack for programming classical music firsts for Thailand, and for this we can be thankful, especially because the works he selects are not often played elsewhere as well. In this tradition, he discovered a Rossini rarity, the Petite Messe Solenelle, and with chorus and orchestra, Kh. Somtow showed how much we’ve all been missing. Using the Catholic Latin Mass as his text, Rossini wrote a gorgeous piece of music. The Latin Mass has inspired composers as diverse as Beethoven (Missa Solemnis), Verdi (Requiem) and Leonard Bernstein (Mass), and in Rossini’s formulation, the music is suitably reverential without being worshipful or liturgical; parts could just as well appear in a Rossini opera.

There were, however, a few problems with the performance. Although the Siam Philharmonic Orchestra was appropriately not at its full complement, it still overpowered the singers at times. Rossini originally scored the Petite Messe Solenelle, for two pianos and organ, which is the version I have on CD, which allows the chorus and soloists to be better heard. The soloists in Friday’s performance at the Thai Cultural Center, were somewhat weak, with the exception of the Thai countertenor, Jak Cholvijarn, who gave a stunning performance in the Agnus Dei section, and the tenor Antoine Garth, who has a powerful oratorio voice. Kh. Somtow provided the leadership and inspiration to make this a beautiful evening of musical pleasure.

After the performance, Kh. Somtow related to the audience that this performance almost didn’t take place, and that his father, by a quick trip to the bank, rescued the event. This bought the audience to its feet in the only standing ovation of the evening, as flowers were presented to Kh. Somtow’s father.