Ohio often yields itself to many surprises, and creative and artistic ingenuity thrives among the endless agricultural fields and the industrial smoke-stacks dotting the horizon. In this same vein, Cleveland, rated by Travel+Leisure magazine as second best to New York for its classical music scene, impresses with its ensembles, music schools and theater. With cohorts Oberlin, Akron and Wooster, Ohio flourishes with the energy that musicians crave, allowing college students to experience exceptional opera without having to travel to New York or Vienna. This is why it was possible, within two weeks in March, to experience two extraordinary performances of Mozart operas La Clemenza di Tito at Oberlin and Don Giovanni at Cleveland’s Severance Hall.
When the Oberlin Opera Theater presented La Clemenza di Tito at Hall Auditorium, I was impressed. The production showcased Oberlin Conservatory voice majors’ breadth of dedication and mastery, confirming why many Oberlin singers have enjoyed successful careers after graduation. Although La Clemenza’s story is set during the reign of the Roman Empire, the Oberlin Opera Theater used a modern set, costuming and props to communicate its message. This type of contemporary approach is very popular among today’s opera companies, as directors striving for historical accuracy often lose the depth and strength of an opera’s intended message. A modern adaptation, however, allows audiences to relate more convincingly and easily to its characters — indeed, just this month the Met set Strauss’s Capriccio in the 1920s rather than the 1770s.
Don Giovanni at Severance Hall followed a similar path. Featuring 2011 Musical America award winner for Vocalist of the Year Simon Keenlyside as Giovanni, with the Zürich Opera and the Cleveland Orchestra under Franz Welser-Möst, the production transported Mad Men to the Severance stage. Giovanni, opera’s famous casanova, was outfitted in a velvet waist-jacket while other male cast members wore simple, clean-cut suit-jackets. This crucial detail provided a more convenient reference point, allowing the audience to grasp the fullest extent of Giovanni’s seductive nature. Using elements of Severance Hall that could only be seen during a Cleveland Orchestra concert, the simplistic staging helped Don Giovanni become what Welser-Möst calls “a story that can happen here and now.”
At the heart of opera is its historically European roots, from La Scala in Italy to the Opéra national de Paris and London’s Convent Garden. Cleveland’s Severance Hall, however, is not too dissimilar to these exotic locations. According to Welser-Möst, the reason why he waited a year to allow Giovanni to be performed at Severance is because “Cleveland deserves the best”: this is also why he waited for the best baritone in the business, Simon Keenlyside, to become available to take center-stage as Mozart’s Don Juan.
In addition to his turn as Giovanni at Severance, Keenlyside has also appeared at La Scala, the Vienna State Opera and London’s Royal Opera House as well as collaborating alongside Europe’s prominent orchestras — the Berlin Philharmonic, the London Symphony Orchestra and the Vienna Philharmonic. Given Keenlyside’s extensive list of accomplishments, we can be proud to claim that America saw him perform Giovanni for the first time in Cleveland, Ohio.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Ambrose...Ambrose...oh Ambrose
Yes. This is Ambrose Akinmusire -- jazz trumpeter/believer in life.
This past Saturday (along with the Cleveland Thyagaraja Festival), I had an opportunity to experience the Ambrose Akinmusire Quintet along with my friend, other friends, and the rest of the Oberlin students and/or various stragglers who could fit into the the Cat and the Cream at around 8 o'clock that evening. It was a Saturday-to-remember especially in collaboration with cohort experiences, discoveries, and revelations garnered earlier that day. Not only was I able to soak-up the wealth of beauty and magnificence living in Carnatic music, but I could witness a leader in today's jazz world. Crucial and poignant it was indeed.
Recently raved about in a NY Times' April issue, Ambrose brought his expertise and the expertise of his colleagues (Harish Raghavan - bass, Walter Smith III -- tenor sax, Sam Harris -- piano, and Justin Brown -- drums) to Oberlin. Students were provided a taste of his music as well as received a masterclass of his take on life as a musician, improvisation, and the crucial demands of an ensemble player.
Within the first minutes of the performance, I was engrossed. Continuing to fascinate me, jazz music involves "sounds" rather than "pitches" to indicate musical phrasing and voice within improvisation (though, most prevalent in trumpeters and sax players). A sax player might blow air into the horn in a way that the instrument becomes over-burdened and produces an ugly, yet cool sound. However, at the same time, theses "raw" sounds conveys the naturalness and realness of the player. Upon hearing this, I imagine the vulnerability of the human voice and how it is subject to "cracking" on certain notes and such which somehow connects you more closely with your audience on a type of deeper level. Trumpeters have this "rawness" especially.
Ambrose's style is indulgent in this technique, and the overall effect is impressive which does not surprise me. After all in the master-class which took place post-performance, he divulged the secret to his success as a musician: finding "voice" requires active involvement in life rather than just shedding (i.e. "practicing") alone.
Monday, May 2, 2011
the Cleveland Thyagaraja Festival -- Beautiful, Wonderful, and (oh so) Exuberant
This past Saturday, a friend and I had a unique and absolutely rare opportunity to experience The Cleveland Thyagaraja Festival.
Celebrating the ancient and beautiful art of Indian Carnatic music, the Festival is a resplendent representation of music that I found to be genuinely pure, natural, and all together breathtaking.
This video features one of the four singers we saw on Sat. Her name is Nisha Rajagopalan, and she was overall my favorite. The video, too, gives you a tiny perspective into Carnatic music.
The art is beyond centuries old, and in experiencing it, I was also astonished to distinguish the modern influences applied to Carnatic music versus the indigenous ones (particularly the violin which was added after the British occupation of India). Seeing and hearing this, I came to a distinct realization of the impact of cultural exchange and history -- a feeling which was so awesome and surreal.
Here is an example.
What appears to me to be majestic and magnificent about this music is its focus around the voice and the attempts of each instrument to replicate and support it. Especially noticeable is the violin's role. As a firm believer of the violin being the closest instrument to the human voice, I felt that Saturday's performances further validated this fact.
Why is Carnatic music so focused around the voice? The answer is that the music's tradition is steeped in divine origin -- the lyrics are based off of ancient texts dedicated to Indian (or Hindu) deities. Some lyrics specifically reference epic tales such as Ramayana and Mahabharata.
Not only was the music exquisite, but the performers' formal Indian attire was alluring and elegant. Humility and grace were woven into every aspect of each performance. The musicians never stood while performing and only sat with legs crossed in respect to the words contained in the music they were about to share.
A world easily forgotten by a vast majority of people today, Carnatic music is a stunning and fascinating treasure waiting for anyone who is ready to embrace it.
Two weeks in March I forgot to mention -- Opera in Ohio does not fail to please
Roger Mastroianni Cleveland Orchestra's Don Giovanni Puts Metropolitan Opera To Shame
April 5, 2011
Mainstream Music's Delightful Guardian: The Wire Primers
In 2009, The Wire (Britain's informative magazine covering all things avant-garde from hip-hop, contemporary classical music, electronic music, post-rock, and jazz) published a collection of articles called The Wire Primers: A Guide to Modern Music to supply what Alex Ross could not cover in his The Rest is Noise.
But first, let me explain "the Primer." Originally intended as a listening guide to Karlheinz Stockhausen's music, "the Primer" serves as a supplement of reasons for today’s music consumer to buy and indulge in "modern" music. Within each supplement contains the title of the suggested artist, then a brief introduction (which usually lasts 3 or 4 paragraph and explains the writer's take on the artist), and a list of the artist's recordings which contains a synopsis of each CD, LP, cassette, etc. All together, this concept is what really drives the Wire’s focus.
An array of authorities on today's music, like Ben Ratliff of the NY Times and Louise Gray, author of the No-Nonsense Guide to World Music, have contributed to the Wire's first collection of "Primers" which serve as the publication's expert opinion on 20th/21st centuries’ most significant artists.
On behalf of the Wire, something as informative as The Wire Primers is smart and sensical since "the Primer" itself is one of the Wire's most interesting facets, which is why (while walking past the numerous volumes of books in the Oberlin Conservatory's library) I was genuinely compelled to randomly grab it on a night of intense studying. Its silvery, metallic cover donned with a collage of (well, I honestly don’t know what, but it's so cool). Honestly, why wouldn’t anybody want this? (I was seriously considering reading it that very same night rather than doing the much necessary work haunting me at home.)
Despite some controversy I uncovered (protesting its gross generalizations especially in regards towards its section titled “Avant-Rock"), The Wire Primers is certainly a wonderful beginners manual to the world of modern music. That is why, for a person like me with training in classical music theory and performance, it is perfect, and an ideal work to be sitting on the shelves of Oberlin Conservatory’s library, because after all for most students there, “Modern music” is an unfortunate acquaintance briefly encountered in a music history 100-level course.
James Ehnes Conquers Stravinsky and the Masters of Lyricism
James Ehnes Has Some Professional Fun
April 29, 2011
Hailed as “the Jascha Heifetz of our day” by Canada’s Globe and Mail, Ehnes, a native Canadian, reserves the right to “have fun” with audiences worldwide. With a Grammy, Gramophone and six Canadian Juno awards under his belt, Ehnes has recorded Paganini’s 24 Caprices (violin e?tudes that display Ehnes’s technical brilliance and thoughtful musicality), as well as a plethora of other complex pieces, including all five of Mozart’s violin concertos. With this vast and all-encompassing repertoire, none of the audience members present in Finney Chapel should have doubted Ehnes’s ability to command the expansive program he performed this past Tuesday, featuring — among others — Igor Stravinsky’s Suite Italienne, Evard Grieg’s Sonata No. 3 in C minor and the obscure Mozart Sonata No. 20 in C major, K 303.
Ehnes began the night with his rendition of Stravinky’s Suite Italienne, an interesting choice due to its only partial focus on the capabilities of a violinist’s technique. Instead, Suite Italienne focuses on the violinist’s ability to convey Stravinky’s rhythmical stamp in the bow hand while maintaining flawless tone and phrasing. Suite Italienne ultimately served as an ideal piece to start the evening, decreeing Ehnes’ sound as natural, conditioned and powerful.
Suite’s placid and balanced classical motifs careened into capriciousness with the program’s next piece — Grieg’s Sonata No. 3 in C minor — which vacillates between phrases of passion, the questioning of these ardent feelings and the truthful conviction in them. Inspired by a home visit by the alluring 20 year-old violinist Teresina Tua, Grieg’s Sonata No. 3 was his final chamber work and sonata for violin.
Even amidst the emotional torrent of the piece, Weiss followed and listened to Ehnes with stunning precision. His accompaniment was honest, providing immeasurable stability for Ehnes’s frenetic playing, and his phrasing was concise, emphasizing the thoughtful and appropriate arrival points of the music.
The last two pieces of the program modeled after the same type of pattern presented in the first half, with an immensely dramatic work providing a counter-balance to a lighter-natured one. The Mozart Sonata No. 20 — which Ehnes referred to as a “sorbet cleansing the palate” — contained only two movements: Adagio, Molto Allegro and Tempo di Menuetto. Serving as a portal into the life of the 22 year-old Mozart — the age at which he composed the sonata — the piece was innocent and cute, lacking the blemishes of the bleak realities of Mozart’s later life. The light-hearted Mozart piece was then capped off with the Saint-Saens’ Sonata No. 1 in D minor which ends on a surprisingly jocular major chord.
As “the Heifetz of our day,” Ehnes certainly lives up to the reputation of his predecessor; however, unlike Heifetz (who was criticized for his cold, detached playing), Ehnes’s playing fully embodies the phrasing and tonal spectrum of a piece. Simply mastering violin technique is not his first priority. Rather, his playing serves as a bridge between the past and the present, producing a unique sound that is both modern and traditional.
Friday, April 15, 2011
Hello Cleveland! Viva la Revolucion!
All over the U.S., Canada, and Europe -- from Toronto, Montreal, Detroit, D.C., Portland, Seattle, Philly, South Florida, Houston, Pittsburgh, Berlin, Amsterdam, and even Cincinnati, bars and cafés will play host to chamber music. Yes, that's right. Out from the feathery cobwebs, starchy collars and powdered wigs (not that I mind powdered wigs seeing as how Mozart and Marie Antoinette were creators of ones I particularly dig) arrives classical music for a generation in the here and now.
Founded in 2006 at the Revolution Cafe in the Mission District of San Francisco, Classical Revolution features recently graduated artists from music schools such as Oberlin Conservatory, San Francisco Conservatory, Juilliard, and Rice University. "To present concerts involving both traditional and modern approaches while engaging the neighborhood by offering chamber music performances in highly accessible venues and collaborating with local musicians and artists from various styles and backgrounds" -- its mission statement.
Since its creation, it has continually spread. Who would have ever thought that venue choice alone could have such an immense impact on as high of an art form as classical music? (Music in general, or any form of "self-expression," in my opinion, is high art. Yet many people consider "classical music" as the highest form of self-expression for the music world. So, I say this in regards to those traditional folks.) Classical Revolution makes classical music "cool" and accessible to the audiences culturally conditioned to receive pop, hip-hop, rap, and all forms of rock.
Since its creation, it has continually spread. Who would have ever thought that venue choice alone could have such an immense impact on as high of an art form as classical music? (Music in general, or any form of "self-expression," in my opinion, is high art. Yet many people consider "classical music" as the highest form of self-expression for the music world. So, I say this in regards to those traditional folks.) Classical Revolution makes classical music "cool" and accessible to the audiences culturally conditioned to receive pop, hip-hop, rap, and all forms of rock.
So, go check it out. It will be fine, fab, fantastic, and all of the hip and pimpley-hyperboles one can muster. It's at the Happy Dog on W. 58th & Detroit, Gordon Sq.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Blurring Musical Boundaries
While rifling through the Strings January 2011 issue, I came across an intriguing article. Today’s burgeoning, fool-proof classical music is sustained in its ability to cross-over genre-defining boundaries. Titled “Unconventional Wisdom,” the author, Jeremy Kurtz, celebrated the fact that modern string players no longer need to embrace ideas of endless, rote preparation of orchestral excerpts in finding an acceptable paying gig. Instead, fully equipped with electricity, James Page, Robert Plant, Bill Munroe and His Bluegrass Boys, associates Mozart, Stravinsky, and Bach, classical musicians can really bring it with the concept of well-roundedness (not just preparedness) as vital organs in their repertoire.
Kurtz interviewed three bassists: Louis Levitt of the Sybarite5, Peter Seymour of Project Trio, and Paul Kowert of the Punch Brothers -- three ensembles that encompass the idea of crossing-over genre barriers. Because chamber music repertoire yields a barren amount of quintet literature including a bass part, these three bassists solved the issue and concocted, along with the other musicians in their ensembles, a formula: engage modern audiences and claim sanctuary for the desperate chamber musician bassist.
According to Louis Levitt of Sybarite5, after preparing a program for one performance that included Dvorak and Led Zeppelin’s “Babe, I’m Going to Leave You,” audience members, intent on hearing standard chamber music repertoire, were impressed with Sybarite5’s Led Zeppelin arrangement. The secret behind this phenomenon? Listing on the program “James Page and Robert Plant” as the piece’s composers instead of “Led Zeppelin.” Audience members were asking Levitt, “James Page and Robert Plant -- how come I’ve never heard of them? Where can I hear more of their music? Do you have any recordings?”
At the essence of any notable piece of music -- whether it be classical, jazz, funk, rock, or pop -- remains a constant message: its relation and message to the audience. Levitt himself says, “If you take the music seriously and present it in a serious way, the audience takes it seriously.” So, with his advice, I believe that today’s classical music lovers can succumb to the idea of accepting strictly American-cultivated music which is being added to the austere “European” artform of Western Classical Music. American rock musicians (or even jazz, blues, and country artists who invented rock with their influences) can present “serious” music because truly they communicate so well with audiences today. So, does it matter the medium used to connect listeners to what any performer is trying to say? I believe the answer is no. After all, like modern art which is devoid of strict mediums, music too can communicate incredible messages.
Take Punch Brother's Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 for instance,
Or Project Trio's version of a Bach Bourée à la Jethro Tull.
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