Wagneriana, a Publication of the Boston Wagner Society

Wagneriana Summer 2013 Volume 10, Number 2 Die Frist ist um, und abermals vers strichen Sind sieben Jahr! — Der fliegende Holländer From the President We had a very exciting spring season. On May 6 Jay Hunter Morris traveled to Boston especially to talk to members of the Boston Wagner Society and the larger public. In his Q&A with Ron Della Chiesa, he was In This Issue most candid, generous, and warmhearted, winning the audience’s love and ■■ From the admiration. He spoke of the challenges of performing arduous Wagnerian President 1 roles, as well as its great rewards. His four-year-old son, Cooper Jack, drew numbers from a hat (kindly donated for the occasion by Web ■■ Daniele Gatti and Master Thomas Kwei) for a lottery. The lottery items consisted of signed the BSO Triumph in an All-Wagner photographs and posters, which Morris had generously brought with him. Concert 2 His wife, Meg Morris, was also present at the event, which took place at the beautiful College Club. ■■ Musical Values On May 11 we presented a fabulous concert, followed by a question- Triumph in the BLO’s Flying and-answer session moderated by Ron Della Chiesa. Titled “Highlights Dutchman 4 from Wagner’s Ring Cycle” (later redubbed “Around the Ring in 80 Minutes” by our ever creative Music Advisor Jeffrey Brody), the concert ■■ The Nibelungen included excerpts from each of the four Ring operas. Soprano Joanna Ring 6 Porackova, Heldentenor Alan Schneider, Contralto Marion Dry, Bass- ■■ Spring 2013 Baritone Greer Grimsley, French Hornist Kevin Owen, and Pianist Jeffrey Events 14 Brody were the performers. Old South Church rang out with beautiful music making. Grimsley, who sang for the Boston Wagner Society for the first time, was a wonder to behold. His is a voice for the ages. He performed Wotan’s Farewell with great power, beauty, and drama, as well as flawless diction. Porackova and Schneider sang the second half of Act 1 of Die Walküre with drive and drama. Porackova’s Brünnhilde was moving and expressive. Schneider, who is at the beginning of his Wagnerian career, sang this role from memory for the first time, and we commend him for his heroic effort. Dry’s musicianship was impeccable (Erda and Continued on back page REVIEW between Gatti and his players. Gatti prefers to seat first and second violins as one large group on his left, Daniele Gatti and the BSO rather than having firsts on his left and seconds on Triumph in an All-Wagner his right. In much of this music, particularly in the Concert more complex textures of the mature works, this lack of antiphonal violin sound, which is built into the March 21, 22, 23, and 26, 2013; Boston composition, proved to be somewhat frustrating. By Symphony Orchestra; cond. Daniele Gatti; contrast, Levine’s antiphonal seating really brought excerpts from Götterdämmerung, Tannhäuser, home delightful sonorities, with the violins spread out widely across the stage. Not all conductors prefer Parsifal, Lohengrin, and Tristan und Isolde, with this seating, alas. (Incidentally, only in the Bayreuth Mezzo-Soprano Michelle De Young Festival pit does one find first violins seated on the After luxuriating in three SiriusXM broadcasts conductor’s right and the seconds on his left, the of the Metropolitan Opera’s recent Parsifal led by reverse of what is done all over the world. This is as Daniele Gatti, and after seeing this astonishing prescribed by Wagner himself.) Instead of using the production in-house and twice in the movie theater, standard Felix Mottl concert ending, Maestro Gatti I expected great things from the BSO’s contribu- performed all of the Rhine journey up to the very tion to the Wagner bicentennial under the direc- final bar of the Prologue. One ardently wished that tion of Maestro Gatti. I am delighted to report that he had continued into the first act ofGötterdämmer - all expectations were handsomely met by Maestro ung. Instead, Gatti found an ingenious, if somewhat Gatti and the superb collection of players collectively startling, link to the “Death of Siegfried” and the known as the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Wag- subsequent funeral processional music. The orches- nerians both near and far had been looking forward tra, even though at the time it was without a per- to this concert with the keenest interest since it was manent music director, remained in a class by itself. announced last year, all the more so after Gatti’s The BSO plays operatic music fairly infrequently, recent triumph with Parsifal at the Met. My observa- and yet one would never suspect that this is not some tions here are based not only on the Saturday eve- high-class opera house pit band; such was the perfec- ning performance (March 23), but also on the Inter- tion of ensemble and sheer clarity and balance, not to net-streamed recording I made of that performance speak of intensity of expression. On Saturday eve- and the Tuesday evening (March 26) performance. ning Gatti built up a shattering climax, and on Tues- Maestro Gatti opened his program with “Dawn day evening this was even more in evidence. Not and Siegfried’s Rhine Journey,” followed without a surprisingly, with the winds and brass in full cry, break by the “Death of Siegfried” and “Siegfried’s the strings were eclipsed, as they always are in works Funeral Music.” From the softest notes of the almost with heavy scoring. (Strauss, Mahler, and Bruckner imperceptible opening to the first triumphant E-flat- are also excellent at demolishing at times an entire major statement of the Siegfried motive in the brass string section.) On Saturday evening Gatti and the it was immediately apparent that the local band is orchestra received a thunderous ovation following a in every way on a par with the estimable Levine- profoundly respectful and moving silence. It was as created ensemble at Lincoln Center. Throughout if nobody in the audience wanted to break the spell. the concert it was clear that the BSO were enjoying As is often the case, the BSO’s first-desk winds and the sounds they were producing, a fact not terri- brass were particularly eloquent in all the exposed bly obvious when they offer an American or world solo work. James Sommerville played the offstage premiere. Moreover, there was much good chemistry Siegfried “Ruf” to perfection, although Gatti and – 2 – the orchestra tended to cover up the final ascending few pitch problems high notes. Gatti’s music making was so compelling were more evident on Tuesday evening that he made me think that, yes, on Tuesday.) Again, there is Wagner and then there is everybody else, the audience did not with only Gustav Mahler coming close. Alas, some burst into applause truly boorish patron in the first balcony was so car- as soon as the music ried away that he started to applaud wildly as soon as stopped. the sound stopped, thereby breaking the spell. Had After De Young’s the maestro thought of this possibility, he might have beautiful account given the final cutoff with his hands still held high of Kundry, Gatti in the air, motionless, followed by an extremely slow offered a superb descent; this is standard procedure—to avoid break- Lohengrin Prelude, Michelle De Young ing the spell prematurely in works that end quietly Act 1. This work (the endings of Mahler’s sixth and ninth come to should not be heard in performance by some com- mind immediately, and also the end of Das Lied von munity orchestra. How spoiled we are these days to der Erde. These works are classic illustrations of the have so many recordings by great orchestras! How music still going on for quite some time in the mind many people realize that this prelude makes a fre- of sensitive performers and audiences, even though quent appearance in standard audition excerpt books the sound has ceased). for string players? The quality of a string section is Following the intermission, Gatti offered a splen- immediately apparent. Woe to those players who lack did Tannhäuser Overture. A razor-sharp ensemble, a secure grasp of harmonics! And more woe to the impeccable tuning, and ravishing solo winds made conductor who cannot achieve balance and clarity for a most gripping account of this well-known con- here. Gatti and his highly skilled players dispatched cert piece. The playing was every bit as astonishing this without the slightest difficulty; indeed, they as the touchstone 1986 Symphony Hall performance made music. The pacing inexorably led to the one by the Berlin Philharmonic under the direction of true climax. And again we enjoyed a respectful, the then current BSO music director [Seiji Ozawa], almost meditative, silence before the applause. who subbed for an ailing Herbert von Karajan, his To close the evening, Gatti and De Young per- mentor. The novelty of the evening was provided by formed the Tristan Prelude and Liebestod. What a the lovely performance of Mezzo-Soprano Michelle pleasure it was to see Gatti take seriously the rests that De Young, who sang an eloquent “Ich sah das Kind” separate the opening few phrases of the Prelude, all of (Parsifal), preceded by a few pages of music before which are of unequal duration; most conductors sim- this monologue. De Young offered a most finished, ply leave the precise duration of these pauses to the polished, and beautiful sound throughout and great whim of the moment. (One of the rare exceptions to intensity of expression. Surprisingly, Gatti’s tempi this free-spirited technique was the account by Bern- here were not at all as somnolent as in his Met per- stein in his one and only complete Wagner recording.) formance only a few weeks earlier.

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