It’s Not Just Me
December 13, 2008
The estimable Peter G. Davis has written, not just a rave review, but a just analysis of the aforementioned Later the Same Evening. Unfortunately, you need a subscription to Musical America (or an obliging friend who’s provided with one) to read it.
Now, however, comes Mark Adamo, a master of lucid criticism and pellucid prose, with his own evaluation, freely available to the commonwealth of the World Wide Web.
In case you’re coming late to the party, here’s an NPR feature on the piece.
UPDATE: The New York Times chimes in, however faintly.
John Musto’s LATER THE SAME EVENING
December 11, 2008
Last night in New York I had the privilege of witnessing one of those sensational musical-theatrical moments. Since I wrote the program notes for the event, and have other sympathies both personal and professional with various principals, I am hardly a disinterested observer. But the assembled luminaries and intelligent followers of the art seemed remarkably united in a community that, as the libretto said, “laughs together, weeps together … and then goes out into the night again.” And, since the New York Times critic assigned to the event came down with the ‘flu’ at the last minute and couldn’t come, I thought I’d do my compensatory bit by posting my own non-evaluative account of this work, written before last night’s New York premiere:
Few could have anticipated the kind or degree of interest and excitement that crackled through a wing of the National Gallery of Art on that summer morning in 2006. A press conference had been called to announce something utterly unprecedented in the illustrious history of the institution. As one of the Gallery’s prominent patrons said to me with a conspicuous overflow of joy: “We’re causing an opera!” — which they were in fact doing, in collusion with the fine opera program at the University of Maryland and its elegant Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center.
Read the rest of this entry »
A New American Opera
December 9, 2008
This week sees the New York premiere of an American opera based on the works of an American painter. Sound intriguing? I’ve made a little Web site about it.
A Critic at the Steinway
November 30, 2008
While there seems to be plenty of interest in the influence of bel canto singing on the piano manner of Chopin (the meters for this site reporting that this and this are two of the most-linked-to entries in the ten-month history of RogerEvansOnline), Anthony Tommasini’s video posted today on the New York Times site makes an equally interesting point about a sort of pre-bel-canto in Bach.
His highlighting Bach’s use of a “catchy tune” in the accompaniment, to empower a more wandering soprano melody, is an excellent example of using a simple principle and homely, jargon-free words to make an important point about musical form. It’s not every day that we see that in the daily press.
The Web Talks Back
November 20, 2008
There’s a new program that analyses the writing on blogs. Feeding this one into it produced the following result:
The analysis indicates that the author of http://rogerevansonline.com is of the type:
INTP – The Thinkers
The logical and analytical type. They are especialy attuned to difficult creative and intellectual challenges and always look for something more complex to dig into. They are great at finding subtle connections between things and imagine far-reaching implications.
They enjoy working with complex things using a lot of concepts and imaginative models of reality. Since they are not very good at seeing and understanding the needs of other people, they might come across as arrogant, impatient and insensitive to people that need some time to understand what they are talking about.
What it gives with one hand it takes with the other!
Then the Good News
November 10, 2008
A faithful correspondent admonishes me that, since I have been presenting bad news from opryland (forgive me: I’ve just returned from Nashville; I of course mean the world of opera), I should give some of the good news that is current. Anne Midgette has written, with an affection that is clear-eyed and discriminating, an account of a magnificent National Endowment for the Arts event last week.
And here the Endowment has given us superb video clips surrounding the celebration. I commend them to you. May we all learn from the venerable artists who speak so inspiringly here.
When It Rains, It Pours
November 7, 2008
Just as the New York City Opera puts out its dismal news, this comes from Washington:
Today, the Executive Committee of Washington National Opera made a very difficult but important decision. At the recommendation of our General Director Plácido Domingo, the Committee has agreed to postpone the Ring cycle scheduled for next season. In light of the economic downturn and the extraordinary expenses associated with mounting the Ring, it became evident to all of us that WNO needed to make this choice to ensure our financial health for this and future seasons, and to ensure that WNO continues to produce opera of the highest quality. I know this will be disappointing to many of you who have worked so hard to make this possible and looked forward to the performances, but we believe that this is the only fiscally responsible decision for our company. We believe it will save us $5.0 million next year. At the same time, our artistic staff has been able to create an alternate 2009-10 season that will be artistically excellent and financially viable. While our titles are still being finalized, we expect to offer six fully staged productions as well as two concert performances of Götterdämmerung.
It is with sorrow that I report word from inside the New York City Opera that Gerard Mortier will not in fact take over the company’s direction. Even his detractors (of whom I was not one) cannot see this backward step at such a late date as good news.
RogerEvansOnline.com 