NY Philharmonic head begins season of adventure

by Dwight Casimere

Photo by Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images North America

New York-New York Philharmonic Music Director Alan Gilbert opened his second season with a program that showcased the strengths of his orchestra and provided the framework for a virtuoso performance by one the music world’s most enduring and beloved soloists.

Itzhak Perlman played Felix Mendelssohn’s Concerto in E minor for Violin and Orchestra with Perlman providing the delicious treat of playing the original cadenzas, written by Mendelssohn and adapted by violinist Ferdinand David, for whom the piece was originally written.

The program opened with a sparkling rendition of Richard Strauss’ landmark tone poem, Don Juan. From the bracing opening bars, Gilbert was in full command. The urgent tempo was tempered by Gilbert’s skilled control; pulling back at just the right moment to allow the solo bars of the first violin to sing forth with uncommon sweetness. What followed was a lush flowing of romantic lyricism in which one theme seemed to melt into the next. Woodwinds sighed as French horns punctuated the transition from opening theme to crescendo then on to the ensuing recapitulation.

I recently saw a presentation of this work under the baton of Michael Tilson Thomas with his New World Symphony in Miami, in which scenes from the 1948 Errol Flynn movie, The Adventures of Don Juan, played on a screen at the back of the stage while the orchestra performed. It was interesting to note how perfectly the music dovetailed with the action on screen although neither had been written with that intent. How prescient of Mendelssohn to visualize the dramatic import of his music.

Itzhak Perlman is a force of nature on the concert stage. His boundless energy and impeccable technique make for a formidable combination that not only captures the ear but brings insight to the music. His playing is like watching a fireworks display on the Fourth. Although I have heard the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto many times, I have never heard it quite like this. It was played with an urgency that made it seem that it had been written expressly for Perlman that very day with the ink still drying on the manuscript pages. In his playing of the difficult triple stops near the end of the cadenzas, he went beyond blazing technique to cut to the soul of the music, thus elevating the listening experience. This was music-making at its best!

Gilbert rounded out the program with the works of two modern composers who each, in their own way, reflected the same innovative spirit of Strauss while incorporating groundbreaking musical ideas of the past; Henri Dutilleux’s Metaboles, composed in the early 1960s and Paul Hindemith’s Symphonic Metamorphosis of Themes of Carl Maria von Weber composed during the early 1940s.

First of all, let me admit that I absolutely LOVE the music of Carl Maria von Weber. Of all of the great composers, he is the most neglected on the current concert stage. It still puzzles me how a composer with such fluid expression and cohesiveness of ideas could escape under the radar of music lovers today. The fact that one of the most influential composers of the 20^th Century chose to create an homage to his body of work should tell you all you need to know about this early creative genius.

This was the piece in which Gilbert & Company truly sparkled.
His interpretation bristled with energy. The various sections, woodwinds, horns, percussion and the occasional sweeping glissando of the harp created a vortex that propelled the piece to its thoughtful conclusion. The use of little heard percussion instruments, such as tenor drum, tam-tam, tubular bells and wood block added to the dimension and texture of the work.

Alan Gilbert is showing his propensity for the daring that challenges listeners to go beyond their preconceived notions of what constitutes Classical music. It is a music that knows no boundaries and is only limited by the amount of exposure audiences have to it. I am certain that over the course of his second season, Gilbert will rectify that problem.

Met Hoffmann explores complex love quadrangle

by Dwight Casimere

Photos by Marty Sohl/Metropolitan Opera

New York—After a stupendous Opening Night Gala performance of a new production of Richard Wagner’s Das Rheingold, the Metropolitan Opera forged into the second night of its opening week for the 2010-11 season with a scintillating production of Jacque Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann (The Tales of Hoffmann). This is the Met’s 250^th performance of this masterpiece.

Originally premiered in Paris in 1881, the work is modern in every way, with a challenging score and an equally demanding story line. It also features daring music that at once showcases and tortures its singers and musicians. The opera is presented in French with English titles that, at the Met, are located within a tiny screen on the back of the seat in front of you.

There are scenes in the opera that are absolutely sublime. Yet there are times when the story descends into crude reality, contrasting laugh-out-loud humor with parts that are just downright weird. The opera can be confusing to those who aren’t familiar with it because much of what we see on stage are events that unfold in Hoffmann’s mind. His identity splinters into several characters; some good, some evil. None are benign. Events play out both in the real time of the present and in the reflected memory of the past. Somehow it all comes together seamlessly in the skilled hands of Tony Award-winning Director Bartlett Sher and Conductor Patrick Fournillier in his Metropolitan Opera debut.

The top-flight cast left nothing to be desired. Singers scaled the heights of Offenbach’s loftily ambitious score. Even those that occasional stumbled on an errant loose rock or slippery slope along the way managed to reach the pinnacle of performance. Each performed at their personal best. Tenor Giuseppe Filianoti, who will also play the Duke the following night in the Met’s Rigoletto, proved to be a superlative tenor, capable of making Offenbach’s fiendishly difficult passages sound as if they were written expressly for his vocal range.

Russian soprano Hibla Gerzmava, is in her Met debut as Antonia.

After a stunning entrance in the opening aria of Act II, “Elle fui, la tourterelle,” which is set against an ethereal backdrop, her voice became a bit fragile in the upper register as she strained to reach some of the higher notes.

Albanian Mezzo-soprano Enkelejda Shkosa as Giulietta absolutely nailed a series of difficult trills in the love duet of Act III, “O Dieu! De quelle ivresse.” Paired with Filianoti’s creamy tenor, theirs was the type of performance that opera patrons pay the big bucks to see.

Earlier in the opera, soprano Anna Christy knocked it out of the park in her acrobatic singing role as Olympia, the robotic doll who is Hoffman’s first love interest. Mezzo soprano Kate Lindsey turned in an overall satisfying vocal performance in dual roles as Hoffman’s ‘ace boon ’ Nicklausse and The Muse.

The two male cast members, Bass Idler Abdrazakov as the Four Villains and tenor Joel Sorensen as the Four Servants, got a real workout in their multiple roles, but proved more than equal to the tasks. The costumes were an achievement worthy of an award and stood out as lead performers themselves as did the imaginative set design.

Dance and movement are as much a part of Hoffmann as the music and the choreographic team deserves as much applause and ovation as the performers. As always, Chorus Master Donald Palumbo did a brilliant job.

The sight of scantily clad bods on the Met stage has become almost old hat, so the oh-so-many boobs in pasties during the Act III party scene barely raised an eyebrow. The orchestra and chorus nicely performed the familiar lilting theme, “Amis, l’amour tendre et reveur,” with its cautionary lyric mocking the pleasures of the flesh.

Sadly, Les Contes d’Hoffmann turned out to be Offenbach’s swan song. He died before he had even completed the manuscript. One gets the feeling, however, that the composer poured everything he had into this wide-ranging work, even investing his own psyche into the tortured creative soul of his protagonist.

From an historical standpoint, Hoffmann is Offenbach’s last will and testament. In crafting what would become the final work of his career, Offenbach had hoped to reinvent himself as a serious composer by departing from his norm of lyrical theatre. Where his earlier works may have been light and satirical, Hoffmann was dark and sardonic. In many ways, it reflected the burgeoning modernity of his time.

Les Contes d’Hoffmann is not for the feint of heart or those with a short attention span. Characters emerge and disappear only to resurrect themselves in entirely different guises. The music, too, is dense, with melodies and orchestrations shifting in timbre and mood, starting with child-like nursery rhymes that descend into a disturbing miasma of contrasting tonal colors and asymmetrical rhythms. It’s a long sit, but the reward is the opportunity to witness a thoroughly engrossing evening of opera. A number of less-hardy souls left after the first act. What a pity. I found myself happy that I had stayed and wanting more.

Wynton Marsalis opens NY Philharmonic season with 'swinging' US premiere

Story and photos by Dwight Casimere

New York City—After a cursory orchestral reading of the Star Spangled Banner, which found this blogger bravely singing along, even if slightly out of tune, New York Philharmonic Music Director Alan Gilbert forged ahead with the season Opening Night business at hand; the US premiere of Jazz at Lincoln Center Music Director Wynton Marsalis’ Swing Symphony.

A co-commission with the New York Philharmonic, Berlin and Los Angeles Philharmonics, and the Barbican, London, the work is a wide-ranging musical travelogue through the history of American Jazz, particularly swing. It is a working musician’s view of the music from its roots as the illegitimate love-child of an enslaved African mother and a reluctant Euro-American father, through the back rooms of the Speakeasy's and Tin Pan Alley, to the basement cabaret's of New York's East 53rd Street and the Village to the Latin barrios of New York and Los Angeles and concluding with the sophisticated quasi-classical musings of Duke Ellington, Gunther Schuller, Gil Evans, Duke Pearson and others of the mid-to-late 20^th Century orchestral jazz movement.

This is the music that came kicking and screaming from its cultural womb at the dawn of the 20^th Century as portrayed in Marsalis’ raucous, highly percussive opening movement. Recalling the ragged beat of Eubie Blake and Scott Joplin and the searing solos of Louis Armstrong and Sidney Bechet, Gilbert, Marsalis and company traced the path of those first awkward steps to the present day.

Listening to Marsalis’ opening solo, played from the first trumpet chair, directly in front of Gilbert’s left hand in the second row of the orchestra, one is reminded that this is the music that transformed itself into the stomp of marching feet in Selma and which spawned the Civil Rights Movement. It was later converted to Hip Hop and became the soundtrack to the tidal wave of change that swept the nation’s first African American President into the Oval Office. (There were rumors that President Obama might attend the Opening Night concert, due to his recent arrival in New York City for the opening of the UN General Assembly, but there were no K-9s or Secret Service in evidence, sniffing around the Lincoln Center Plaza fountain to give any indication that he might materialize).

The rather lengthy musical excursion through Midwestern Moods, the Be Bop era of Manhattan and the Latin Jazz movement spawned by Tito Puente, the Escovido family and their disciples on both coasts and the intimations of classically-tinged orchestral jazz of the 70s through 90s and the burgeoning steps of free jazz, all made a well-stated case for the preeminence of this most American of music forms.

The final movement revealed moments that seemed ripped directly from the pages of Duke Ellington’s Black and Tan Suite, there were even intimations of Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite. Yet, there was careful reflection back to the days of Tommy Dorsey and an homage to the pre World War Two swing era, with a trombone solo that dripped with the longing of a soldier’s homesick love letters. Moments later, a lush baritone sax solo resurrected the spirit of Coleman Hawkins and the Basie era.

In his Swing Symphony, Marsalis was only exploring one aspect of jazz, the Swing movement, but his final solo, which let rip with some inventive riffs that leaped and soared to the rafters, sent a clear message that this is just the first chapter in a long musical biography.

McCoy Tyner Triumphs in Charlie Parker Tribute in Harlem

Story and photos by Dwight Casimere

New York-As jazz piano legend McCoy Tyner was escorted to the stage by his brother for the headlining performance of the Charlie Parker Jazz Festival at Harlem’s Marcus Garvey Park, he appeared a bit tentative and feeble. A nearby drum consortium, apparently staging their own loud protest against the public intrusion on their ‘turf’ threatened to drown out the performance, as they had done the preceding musical acts, but that notion was quickly dispelled as Tyner unleashed the first notes from the Steinway keyboard. As he played his signature ‘hit’ “Blues on the Corner” he proved to be as thunderous and as commanding a presence as he was during his days as the lead pianist for the legendary John Coltrane quartet and subsequent global triumphs as a solo headlining act. “I’ve been fortunate in that my music has taken me across the world,” Tyner intoned to the crowd, to thunderous applause. As he launched into an hour-long recital that spanned his personal musical universe, he displayed the pianistic genius that recalled not only the piano greats of jazz, such as Bud Powell and Thelonius Monk, but also other modern musical giants from other genres. His use of modal scales and unorthodox chordal structures puts him more in the league of modern classical greats such as Stravinsky, Schoenberg and Bartok. At 71 years old, he is revered as a jazz icon with few peers. As a piano phenomenon, he stands alone. To this day, there has not been another performer to equal the breadth and scope of his Herculean powers at the piano.

Tyner’s performance was a compendium of his long and groundbreaking solo career. The force of his creative genius made the incessant annoyance of the drummers a mere apostrophe to the masterful musical thesis he composed to the delight of his attentive audience.

Wynton Marsalis Debuts "Louis" at Chicago Symphony Center

Photos

1. Anthony Coleman as a young Louis Armstrong

2.Wynton Marsalis

3. Louis, himself

Chicago-LOUIS, Daniel Pritzker's film homage to Louis Armstrong, Charlie Chaplin and the birth of jazz had its world premiere at Symphony Center. Directed and co-written by Chicago native Pritzker, the film tells the story of the impoverished six-year-old Armstrong, whose dreams of playing the trumpet are intertwined with the grand bordellos, gangs and the corrupt underworld of 1907 New Orleans.

A modern reimagining of an early silent film, LOUIS was photographed by Academy Award-winning cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond in color in order to approximate the grain and texture of old time black-and-white film.

The biggest difference between Pritzker's film and actual silents is music: Instead of a lone piano or organ, LOUIS had glorious, live accompaniment by Wynton Marsalis and his 11 piece jazz ensemble. Wynton's jazz alternated with pianist Cecile Licad playing music by Louis Moreau Gottschalk, Chopin and others. Marsalis, an executive producer, scored the film. Andy Farber was the conductor. Branford Marsalis plays the orphanage director who gives Louis his first real trumpet and first gig (in the institution's marching band).

Anthony Coleman stars as Louis. Jackie Earle Haley, in a Chaplin homage, plays the corrupt politician with more than a passing interest in a brothel. Shanti Lowry is the beautiful prostitute who captivates both the politician and young Louis.

Dance is another of the stars of LOUIS. Choreographer Hinton Battle brilliantly incorporates modern and African dance, classical ballet and even point work in his tapestry. Dan Moore's creative costumes make "ladies of the night" look like an exotic ballet ensemble.

In addition to Chicago LOUIS has live dates in Detroit, Washington DC, Philadelphia and New York (Harlem's Apollo Theater).

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Brown's Hotel. London: Crossroads to luxury, history and culture

Travel With Dwight The Wine Doctor-London

Story and photos by Dwight Casimere

London is my absolute favorite city. There is no place that has such an air of mystery and excitement. Almost everywhere you walk, you see something that reminds you of its glorious past and at the same time, reminds you that the city is at the cutting edge of Western culture. Music, literature, the arts, food, fashion, all have their nexus there. Standing in Piccadilly Circus or on St. James Street, one becomes instantly aware that they are standing at the heart of the world’s cultural center.

There is no better time to plan a trip to this great city. With summer’s joys now a memory and the kids back in school, now is the time to look forward to a fall or Mid-Winter Holiday in the heart of London. For the culturally minded, London’s theatre, dance and music scene are in full swing. Any city that has five resident symphony orchestras certainly qualifies as a required destination.

Wimbledon and the British Open may have come and gone, but there is no shortage of diversions for the sports enthusiast. The 38^th Ryder’ Cup takes place at the Celtic Manor in Newport, South Wales October 1-3. Team Captain Corey Pavin is lining up his top picks and hints that Tiger Woods is still high on his list to make the cut, in spite of poor play on the PGA Tour.

Don’t forget world-famous Harrods and its legendary Winter Sale set once again during December and January. There's no better place to get in the Holiday spirit than London and a shopping spree at Harrods is the ultimate experience!

Brown’s Hotel, in the heart of Central London in Mayfair, is within walking distance to virtually all that London has to offer. It is the quintessential English experience and has been rated the best hotel in London.

History and luxury meet at Brown’s Hotel. The hotel’s back-story reads like a Somerset Maugham novel. James and Sarah Brown, the couple who had been valet and maid to Lord and Lady Byron, founded the hotel in 1837. At the time, it was London’s first hotel where patrons could rent rooms by the night. Prior to that, flats were rented by the month or people would rent rooms at boarding houses or above taverns (remember the movie ‘Tom Jones?). The Browns saw a need for something more.

To say Brown’s Hotel was a hit is an understatement. Queen Victoria dined there occasionally and, over the years, the world’s glitterati and literati found their way to its doorstep, Winston Churchill, Presidents Franklin and Theodore Roosevelt. Agatha Christie found inspiration there for one of her novels, “At Bertram’s Hotel.”

Brown’s Hotel is not without its own place in history. “These are the rooms where Alexander Graham Bell tested one his new inventions, the first electromagnetic telephone .” a hotel spokesperson told me prior to a sumptuous breakfast of smoked salmon and baked shrimp omelet in the English Tea Room, which also offers one of the most famous afternoon teas in all of London. It was voted “Top London Afternoon Tea” by The Tea Guild.

Bell had brought a handmade model of his telephone with him during a whirlwind tour of Europe with his new bride, Mabel Hubbard, turning his year-long honeymoon into a working holiday. While in England, he also demonstrated the device to Queen Victoria at Osbourne Place, her home on the Isle of Wight. She called the device “most extraordinary.”

Brown’s Hotel has been a source of innovation from day one. Besides being London’s first hotel, it was also the first to have it’s own restaurant. When the Ford family bought it in 1859, they modernized the hotel with en suite bathtubs, electric lights and elevators, making it among the first buildings to have those amenities.

Of all the changes at the hotel, the on-site restaurant had the most dramatic social impact. Prior to it’s opening, guests rented individual suites and dined privately. The restaurant became a place to mix and mingle with others of like stature and quickly became a place to see and be seen. It may very well have been the place where the concept behind the word ‘celebrity’ was fashioned.

Browns’ Hotel is composed of a series of interconnected townhouses that are distinct in character. No two suites are the same and each has a distinct décor.

Brown’s Hotel is currently offering a unique opportunity to families to visit London and experience all that the hotel has to offer. It’s called “its A Family Affair” and what better way to treat the family to time together in the heart of London. Must-see attractions such as Buckingham Palace, the Tate Museums, theatres, shopping, Hyde Park and Green Park, are all just steps away. Guests are entitled to use all of the spa facilities, which include complimentary use of the hotel’s fully equipped gymnasium, featuring the latest Technogym cardiovascular equipment. The gym is open 24-hours a day. The Spa is open daily from 9:30am to 8pm and offers guests a wide range of pampering treatments, including a selection of the most coveted advanced health and beauty treatments available, including three private therapy rooms that provide an ideal place to unwind, relax and indulge.

The package also includes a full English Breakfast for two adults and two children. If you’ve never had an English Breakfast, you’re in for a real surprise! The groaning sideboard features everything from a selection of hot and cold cereals to the famous ‘banger’ sausages and a parade of cured meats and smoked fish leading into omelets and other egg dishes, baked mushrooms, parsley potatoes, baked tomatoes, an assortment of cheeses and fruits and every type of tea or juice imaginable and some of the best coffee to be had anywhere with delicious cream, jams and butter and that only in England treasure, ‘clotted cream.’ I think I’ve just talked myself into another visit. I’ll see you there!

Herbie Hancock at Chicago Symphony Center:The Imagine Project

by Dwight Casimere

Those who witnessed Jazz at Symphony Center’s Special Concert with pianist Herbie Hancock and “the Imagine Project” watched a genius at work. The Grammy and Oscar-winning pianist, who hails from Chicago’s South Side, began his career as a child prodigy when he played with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the tender age of 11. He went on to make music history as a member of the legendary Miles Davis Quintet from the years 1963 through 1968 when he was still in his early 20s. The recordings from that landmark collaboration with Wayne Shorter (tenor sax), Tony Williams (drums) and Davis on trumpet remain some of the seminal moments in Modern Jazz history, resulting in such groundbreaking recordings as ESP, Nefertiti and Sorcerer. Those recordings, in remastered form, remain to this day some of the most purchased albums in jazz history. Following his stint with Davis, he went on to a brilliant solo career, conquering, not only the concert stage, but the worlds of television and film as well, culminating in his Oscar-winning score for the film “ ‘Round Midnight”, in which he also played a pivotal role as an actor.

The Imagine Project is a “compilation in motion” of his wide-ranging career and includes musicians from 11 countries who speak 7 languages. On this night, the aggregation was a sextet, including guitarist Lionel Loueke from Benin, Africa, bassist Pino Palladino from Wales. Vocalist/violinist Kristina Train from Savannah, Georgia by way of New York City; drummer Vinnie Colaiuta from L.A. by way of Pennsylvania and fellow pianist and vocalist Greg Phillinganes from Detroit. A cadre of absent members, a drum troupe and singers from Central Africa and a quartet of guitarists from Northern Africa whom Hancock described as “dudes in long, flowing robes, Arab headdress who ride camels and play like James Brown”, joined the group via computer hard-drive audio tracks.




After some preliminary warm-up solos from drummer Claiuta and guitarist Loueke, Hancock strode casually on stage to thunderous applause and got things moving with his upbeat “Cantaloupe Island.”

At 70 years old, Hancock remains a protean force on the keyboard. His fluid melodic line and lyrical improvisation defy the basic laws of harmonic gravity.He, at times, shifts effortlessly between Chopin-like fingerings and hard-bop chord configurations and then glides into rock and soul exclamations that elicit rhythmic hand-clapping from the audience, making them part of the musical ensemble. His sense of timing is impeccable, knowing just when to hold back to allow the thundering Elvin Jones-inspired drum lines of Colaiuta to ring through or the tantalizing guitar riffs of Loueke to dance off the loudspeakers.

At one inspired moment, Hancock reached for a guitar-like keyboard contraption, called the Keytar, and began playing it while striding across the stage like a Rock Star. Some imaginative interplay between he and the guitarist added further spice.

The most poignant moment of the evening came when vocalist Train launched into the John Lennon classic “Imagine”, which is a musical touchstone for Hancock’s current project. Train, with her rich, lyrical contralto voice, hovered somewhere between the heartfelt soulfulness of Angela Bofill and the bright lyricism of Phoebe Snow. She combined that with a touch of the jazz sensibility of frequent Hancock collaborator and close friend Joni Mitchell. The accompanying recorded tracks of Hancock’s African collaborators made for a spine-chilling finale to the moving song.

Hancock then began playing some classically inspired musings on the piano that made me begin to stir in my seat until the notes began to weave a tapestry that revealed the beginning strains of his mega-hit “Maiden Voyage.”

Another tune that spoke volumes about the thinking behind “The Imagine Project” was Peter Gabriel’s composition “Don’t Give Up’ (which Gabriel sang at South African President Nelson Mandela’s 70th birthday tribute at Wembley Stadium in London), sung with the fervor of a spiritual by Train. The added vocal tracks from an African chorus, singing in the South African Xhosa ‘click’ language, brought the song to a hushed conclusion that bordered on reverence.

Hancock obliged the audience with a somewhat off-tempo version of “Watermelon Man” that didn’t quite fill the bill for me. Sometimes things just can’t be made different for the sake of difference.

Things quickly got back on track with a delightful intermingling of the West African band Tinariwen’s “Tamitant Tilay” interspersed with Bob Marley’s “Exodus”.

Hancock then introduced Train again to sing a ravishing solo of Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come”, which Hancock explained was inspired by Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A’ Changin'.” Hancock also pointed out that Cook’s murder shortly before the song’s release made it an eerie prophecy of his impending doom. Things brightened once again with the funky “Chameleon” with a few audience members rising from their seats to clap and dance in time to the music.

I have some Cuban friends in Miami who practice the Shango religion of West Africa. At family feasts, they routinely set an empty ‘place’ at the table for their ancestors. There were several empty seats at the rear of the hall on this concert night. I wonder if Hancock reserved a few of them for his musical forebears, Miles, Monk and 'Trane. Their spirits were certainly evident during this magical performance.