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Tonight was my last evening in Chicago until next fall and we started off with dinner at the Moon Palace, our favorite Chinese restaurant, and then headed through heavy traffic to the Harris Center for a concert by Music of the Baroque.
After parking in the Millennium Garage and going up to the hall, we discovered the concert was actually at St. Michael's church in Old Town! (Read everything on your tickets before you go to the concert!)
St. Michael's Church, Old Town
Somehow David got us up there, found a semi-legal place to park on the street and actually got to the church before the concert started. It had been delayed because of traffic problems, so it all worked out fine. There was a teachers strike going on in mid town which was making traffic a nightmare.
Claudio Monteverdi
Tonight's concert was Music of the Baroque's performance of the Vespers of the Blessed Virgin by Claudio Monteverdi (1610). Monteverdi was the link between music of the Renaissance and that of the Baroque, his composition having elements of both periods.
Jane Glover
Jane Glover conducted the chorus and orchestra with her usual musical verve, The soloists were Yulia Van Doren, soprano, Agnes Zsigovics, soprano, Colin Ainsworthy, tenor, Thomas Cooley, tenor, Patrick Muehleise, tenor, Patrick Keys, bass, and Todd von Felker, bass.
The work was performed without pause, ninety minutes. All performed well, but in this very resonant space the fioratura, especially in the voices, was mushy. The instruments fared better, their articulation coming through neat and clear. Both the soloists and the chorus had very fast, intricate melismas to sing which sometimes resulted in a mushy passage which then resolved into a chord. Monteverdi wrote the work when he was in Mantua and it was first performed in Venice when he became music director at San Marco in 1613. Those acoustics are pretty ripe, too, so maybe that's what it sounded like originally. It was sometimes difficult to sort out the several voices moving quickly at the same time.
I am not that familiar with the work so I can't really criticize the performance except to say that it was good to hear this seldom performed work.
Back in the 1980's, when I was doing research for my book How to Make Your Arm Into a Wet Noodle, A Study of the Teaching Techniques of Theodor Leschetizky, I came across a wonderful quote from a review a Chicago music critic wrote after hearing Fanny Bloomfield Zeisler in a piano recital. Fanny was the star student of Leschetizky and the teacher of my piano teacher, Carolyn Willard.
The jaded critic, who referred to himself as 'the hardened person', had heard many pianists in his career and was not expecting to be impressed by this little woman who strode on stage. As she played composition after composition he found himself becoming emotionally involved in her performance. He felt tears running down his cheeks. What was happening? He tried to find words to express what he was feeling as he listened to this tiny woman perform. Her playing had reduced 'the hardened person' to tears! He finally came to this conclusion:
'She's a Witch!'
But a good witch.
This evening we attended the concert by Music of the Baroque at the Harris Theatre. The program was three Haydn symphonies and the Mozart Serenade # 6 in D major.
Every time I hear Jane Glover conduct I think 'She can't possibly be more musical, more sensitive, more involved than the other times I have heard her.'
But she is!
She is a good witch, just like Fanny.
From her fingers (no baton tonight) flowed everything Haydn and Mozart could possibly ask for in this music. The three symphonies were numbers 6, 7,and 8, titled Le Matin, Le Midi, and Le Soir. The hall was filled with sheer joy. The genius of the composers flew from her expressive hands into the hearts and minds of her virtuosic players. It was a magical performance.
Haydn used to write 'solo' parts in his orchestral works so that Esterhazy would give the soloists extra money. The soloists tonight all certainly deserved a bonus. They were Kathleen Brauer and Sharon Polifrone, violinists, Elizabeth Hagen, violist, Barbara Haftner, 'cellist, Collin Trier, bass, Mary Stolper, flutist, Robert Morgan and Peggy Michel, oboists, William Buchman, bassoon, Robert Johnson and Matthew Oliphant horn, and Douglas Waddell, tympani. Each is a virtuoso in his or her own right and they were exceptional.
But it is the good Witch, Jane Glover who makes the magic. Long may she wave her magic wand!
Last night David and I attended the Music of the Baroque Holiday Brass and Choral concert at St. Michael's church in Old Town.
This is a spectacular building with wonderful acoustics for this type of program: about a two or three second reverb.
The chorus of MOB was conducted by Steven Fox, who is the Artistic Director of New York City's Clarion Orchestra and choir. He did a beautiful job leading this splendid chorus.
The program consisted of a variety of compositions, mostly a capella, ranging from Gregorian Chant to Francis Poulenc and Philip Ledger. The brass ensemble was excellent, though they did get into a bit of trouble in 'Sonata for Four Trombones and Basso Continuo. The tempo they took was just too fast for clear articulation.
The chorus, usually led by Jane Glover, is one of the best I have ever heard, singing with a clear, bright sound that is always on pitch (especially the sopranos, who often sound a bit flat when trying to sing with no or very little vibrato). I especially enjoyed the fact that I could always hear the alto line, which often gets lost en route.
Singers from the choir did the vocal solo work.They included Amanda Koopman, alto, Brendon Marsh,tenor, Susan Nelson, soprano, and Rosalind Lee, soprano. All sang well. I especially like Ms. Lee.
The church itself was a beautiful part of the concert, its American Rococo decoration sparkling and its amazing altarpiece almost stealing the show.
A lovely evening in Old Town, an elegant neighborhood of the Windy City. Driving home along Lake Shore Drive, seeing all the twinkling Christmas lights that seem to decorate every shrub and tree in front of elegant apartment buildings, was a beautiful end to a very enjoyable evening that began with an excellent meal in China Town's Moon Palace!
Stop me if you have heard me say this before, but Jane Glover is the finest conductor on the musical scene today. In my youth I sang under Stokowski, Metropolis, Shaw, Elaine Brown, the lot. She is right up there with the greats.
Tonight she led Music of the Baroque in Handel's Judas Maccabaeus. The soloists were Yulia Van Doren, soprano, Meg Bragle, mezzo-soprano, Thomas Cooley, tenor, and Eric Owens, bass.
Meg Bragle
Thomas Cooley
Of the four I liked Ms. Bragle and Mr. Cooley the best. She sang with a lovely legato line and executed the runs easily and musically. He also sang well but had to resort to falsetto for the high 'A's in 'Sound an alarm.
Years ago I was doing an adjudication at Syracuse University when a young tenor did exactly the same thing. He spoke to me afterwards and I told him' 'Never schedule an aria for an audition unless you own all the notes.' Falsetto high 'A's in that piece just sound like you are wimping out. His runs were very well sung and the rest of his singing was excellent.
Yulia Van Doren 
Eric Owens
I have heard both Ms. Van Doren and Mr. Owens previously. Her voice seems to have grown since the last time I heard her. She still does chirpy things on high notes, but she has improved. I heard him in Otello at Glimmerglass this summer. That is obvious a better role for him. Tonight his voice sounded very covered and his runs were almost indecipherable.
The chorus and orchestra, as always, were wonderful. They performed with clarity and energy.
Both soloists and chorus could use a session with Madeleine Marshall's Singer's Guide to English Diction. Final consonants were seldom sung,especially the voiceless ones. I tried just listening through Part 1, without looking at the text, to no avail. By Part 2 I had to get out the specs and follow the words in the program.
I would much rather just watch Jane Glover conduct, which I really mostly did anyway. Watching her supple, musical gestures, you hardly needed to hear the music. Somehow, she is the music!
Two concerts. One Sunday, one Monday.
Two conductors: two very different results.
Yesterday we heard the St.Matthew Passion. The main point the conductor seemed to be making was a sharp downbeat, no matter what was going on musically. As a result, several times the ensemble got away from him. He also tended to push tempi, which added to the confusion. It was a disappointment.
Today- two words- Jane Glover!
This woman is a magician. Her every movement tells her troops what the music is about and they respond with glee.
Tonight, at Music of the Baroque, she led the orchestra in an incredible performance of Mozart's Symphony #31 and Haydn's Symphony # 103. They were each performed in a way I think the composers would applaud. Brilliantly. Every musical nuance was realized by the orchestra. Every motion she makes has its own musical meaning, which they get.
She also led them, along with the brilliant English pianist Imogen Cooper, who has the same musical approach to performance as Ms. Glover, in Beethoven's Piano Concerto # 2. She has technique to burn and a great emotional connection to the work.
It was a breath-taking way to end my winter sojourn in Chicago. Tomorrow I fly back to Rood Hill Farm and snow, I fear.
It's been a great winter!
Tonight David and I saw a concert by Music of the Baroque. It was conducted by Jane Glover. This woman never makes a gesture that does not have musical meaning. It is as if she has completely digested whatever work she is conducting and transmits it through her hands and fingers directly into the minds and instruments of her orchestra. If I didn't know better, I would say it is magic.
Well, maybe it is. I have never seen a conductor express a score as beautifully as this woman. She is the very best.
Tonight she led the orchestra in Concerto Grosso in C Major (Alexander's Feast), and the Symphony No. 34 in C Major by Mozart. The orchestra follows her slightest gesture with apparent delight, producing fabulous music. The music dances in her hands.
The soloist tonight was soprano Susanna Phillips- or 'Diva! Susanna Phillips', as she was billed in the program.
I don't think so.
The voice was not particularly beautiful. Her coloratura worked well in the higher registers but disappeared when she went into the middle and lower parts of her voice. She had high notes, but they were often pushed and sometimes off pitch. She let out one yelp at the end of the Mozart Concert aria that made me jump. The audience seemed to feel that she was wonderful, so I guess I'm just a picky old voice teacher.
She opened with several arias and recitatives from Giulio Cesare of Handel. Then sang the Scena di Berenice by Haydn, ending with the Concert aria "Bella mi fiamma' of Mozart. That's where the yelp happened.
I had worked the Berenice with Lorraine years ago and she performed it with the Boston Symphony. The work was just in too low a tessitura for Ms. Phillips. She couldn't begin to bring it off. Lorraine was a Mezzo-soprano and Ms. Phillips is a soprano. Two very different voices, both in range and musical ability. There was no contest.
I wish I could convince lady singers to stop wearing strapless gowns when then perform. They are very beautiful, but with the corseting required to hold the dress up, they make it impossible to get a low breath. I think that this may have had something to do with her vocal problems tonight. Get a dress that flows and allows you to take a deep singing breath. Trust me, you will sing a lot more easily and beautifully.
She also changed dresses for the second part of the program, both very pretty. Both very tight in the waist. One fuschia and one blue. I thought sopranos only changed gowns in mid-concert when the voice had fled. Oh well...
But the night was really Jane Glover's. She is simply the best!
