Thank you Julian!

 It's so nice to have smart 'cellist friends. This answers the questions I posed in yesterday's blog. Thank you Julian Muller! You are the best! Here is his email to me:

Julian Muller

Dear Herb,

I read your blog post and a few things come to mind. I think that the lack of vibrato could be part of the intonation problems. In regards to the pitch sounding flat I not not sure whether they used Baroque tuning. Modern tuning is A at 440-442 and there is an average consensus in Baroque ensembles who try and adhere to certain performance practice of the baroque time period that the A is around 415. I am not sure whether they did this in the concert you went to or not. In regards to the squeaks etc. That probably just comes from slightly improper technique. They were most likely using baroque instruments, which use gut strings and these are very difficult to play on and to project a big sound. In our modern era we have emphasized a bigger sound with our modern instruments and steel strings and I think this mentality may subconsciously enter into baroque playing at times. These instruments are very difficult to play and the touch of the left hand on the strings has to be very light as well, so these could be issues for intonation and pure sound. I hope this answers some of your questions, its kind of difficult for me to assess the extent of your questions without hearing the concert itself but I hope this clears some things up!

All the best,

Julian

Go for Baroque

This afternoon I heard an interesting concert of Baroque 'cello music in the wonderful Music Barn that David and Dominique Low have erected on their estate in Norfolk, CT.

The concert was performed by students of Phoebe Carrai,who teaches at the Juilliard School and at the Longy School of Music in Cambridge.





The performers were Ms. Carrai,Oliver Weston, Sarah Stone, Dara Bloom, Alexander Nichols, and Caroline Nicolas. They are certainly a talented young group of musicians en route to careers in Baroque music.

The undoubted star of the afternoon was harpsichordist Kristian Bezuidenbout, an incredibly gifted musician whose playing has the sensitivity, musicianship, and technical facility of my own harpsichord teacher, Gustav Leonhardt, who was called by one music critic "The greatest keyboard player in the world'. Any keyboard! Mr. Bezuidenbout is right up there with Gustav!



Mr. Bezuidenbout played the  E Minor Set of Louis Couperin and the fiendishly difficult Toccata in D Minor for harpsichord by J.S, Bach. His playing left me, and most of the audience breathless.

The fine harpsichord used today was on loan from my friend Carl Dudash, who builds these instruments iin his workshop in Norfolk.

The rest of the program included works by Domenico Gabrielli, Francesco Gemminiani, and Josef Myslivecek.

All of the players performed with musicality and assurance.

I have a few questions about Baroque 'cello technique. I have performed with several fine 'cellists and viola da gambists. I'm sure the technique is different with each instrument and for the period from which one is choosing the repertoire. I am not sure how to explain the squeaks and brief high pitches, that I occasionally heard, that had nothing to do with the composition being played. The high pitches sounded like unintentional harmonics, where the finger is not fully depressed on the string. Occasionally I was bothered with intonation, which I know can be tricky on any 'cello. I chalk this up to the fact that the Baroque 'cello is played with little or no vibrato. As with early music singers who sing without vibrato, this can cause the pitch to sound flat. Also it was chilly in the room so cold fingers could have something to do with this.

I'm only guessing at this since I do not play the 'cello myself, but having performed with Scott Kluksdahl (who is one of the teachers of today's Oliver Weston') and with the wonderful Julian Muller (who is a part of the Ferris Burtis Foundation), these extraneous sounds need an explanation.

I've already written to Julian about this.

Thanks to the Lows for bringing music like this to their wonderful concert hall in the Litchfield Hills! 

With friends like this....

Last night Ellen, Barbara, David and I saw Barrington Stage's production of Arthur Miller's adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's An Enemy of the People. I can't remember if I saw the 1950 presentation of this but I know I read the Ibsen play at some time.
Arthur Miller
Ibsen wrote the play in 1882. It concerns a town in Norway where the town doctor discovers that the 'healing springs', that attract crowds of sick people to the area, have been polluted by the waste from a factory owned by his wife's father. He plans to publish an article in the local paper about this and the fact that the waters are toxic. This would potentially make a huge difference in the town's prosperity which relies heavily on ill people coming for the waters. At first he has support from the editors of the local newspaper, but as time goes by they, and everyone else in the town turn against him and try to make him write that he was mistaken about the poisoning of the waters so the business of the town will not be affected. In the end he and his family are ostracized, with stones being thrown through  their windows and death threats.
Henrik Ibsen

In Arthur Miller's 1950 adaptation, as presented last night, I found myself strangely unable to feel involved in the drama. The original cast included the likes of Frederick March, Florence Eldrige, and Rod Steiger. That's a pretty strong set of actors to follow.

I think Miller should have left the time period of the play where Ibsen put it; in the 1880's. It is very difficult to change periods with certain theatre works and make them viable. I remember a production of Carmen where Lorraine sang the title role where the smugglers in Act 2 were a motorcycle gang in black leather jackets. It didn't work either.

Last night's cast, directed by Julianne Boyd, attempted to wring every drop of drama out of Miller's work, but, for me at least, I could not feel involved.

Characters

This afternoon I saw a delightfully whimsical one man show entitled Character Man, written and acted by Jim Brochu.

Having seen Mr. Brochu do his show Zero Hour, based on the life and art of Zero Mostel, and doing it to the nines, I pretty much knew I was in for an interesting afternoon at Barrington Stage 2.

I was not disappointed. 

Mr. Brochu grew up selling Orange Ade in the backs of Broadway theatres while getting to know many actors who were, as the title suggests, 'Character Men'. Some years ago a vocal student of mine in New Jersey who was getting started in the theatre world of New York City told me that he was advised 'Wait until you're 40. You are a character actor. That's when you will come into your own.' He has been teaching theatre in a high school in the south for many years and acting, as a character man, I'm sure, every chance he gets.

This is the same thing Mr. Brochu was told. Wait until you're 40.

In the meantime he had the opportunity to meet many actors including some great character men. Zero Mostel, Jack Gilford, Sid Silvers, Jimmy Cagney, to mention a few. He had some great quotes from some of the greats: Bert Lahr, on entering the Player's Club and being asked 'How are you today, Burt?' Burt answered 'Talented!'

Mr. Brochu's father, a very handsome man, who was on Wall street, dated Joan Crawford for several years. Mr. Brochu and others encouraged them to get married.  'What could be nicer than having Joan Crawford for your mother?' he asked (with a wink).

Mr. Brochu has played a number of character men on the stage including the Cyril Ritchard role of Sir in The Roar of the Greasepaint, the Smell of the Crowd. he was the winner of the New York Drama Critic's Award, the Helen Hayes Award, the Los Angeles Ovation Award, the Carbonell Award for 'Best Actor in a Play' for his performances in Zero Hour. 

I must say it sometimes brought tears to my eyes as he spoke about these many wonderful actors, all of whom I had seen on Broadway in the days when I saw everything that was playing there. Theatrically, those were the good old days!

Good show! 

Finn---igan's Wake

In sixty-some years of theatre-going on and off Broadway, and even WAY off Broadway, I have seldom left a play or a piece of musical theatre in the middle of the show.

Years ago John and I walked out in the middle of Les Miz  in Boston, which was driving us crazy, and tonight David and I left Celebrating the Music of William Finn at the intermission at Barrington Stage. In both cases we were tired of being assaulted by endless noise and pathetic lyrics. Had I seen Mr. Finn's Romance in Hard Times, which I reviewed last week, before buying the tickets for tonight's show, I would have skipped it. Too late. I bought the tickets before we saw Romance.

Tonight's excerpts from his various shows, two of which earned Tony Awards, was simply more of the same. Mr. Finn seems to like loud, shrill voices, who then are amplified to the point of pain, singing his autobiographical lyrics, which are not that interesting to begin with, or that well set to music.

I'm sorry to have to carp about these points, but suffice it to say this is the last musical of his I plan to suffer through.

To make matters worse, our dinner tonight at Spice Dragon, which is usually quite good, was a mess. It turns out that they are closing tomorrow night while the upstairs of the building is being reconstructed and they were out of various menu items as well as our favorite cocktail ingredients.

This was David's farewell outing before heading to Chicago next week.

Oh well....

I hope Victor Hugo gets royalties from Les Miz. If he stops rolling over in his grave, that is.

Hard times a'comin'

My late, dear friend, mentor, and boss at St.Paul's Chapel, Columbia years ago, Searle Wright, used to say: "Sing good! If you can't sing good, sing loud!!"

Well, tonight the cast of Romance in Hard Times at Barrington Stage 2 certainly sang loud!

The musical by William Finn with a book by Rachel Sheinkin was originally written and performed in 1989 at the Public Theatre in New York. It was one of Joseph Papp's Theatre Laboratory presentations and ran for three weeks.

The current production seems to be in the progress of being re-written by Mr. Finn. In fact, one of the characters is 'The Composer', who is re-writing the play as it goes along. We were told that the cast had learned 32 pages of new material today.

I'm afraid it needs more than thirty-two new pages to be a success. The almost non-existant plot concerns a woman who refuses to deliver the child she is pregnant with until there is a better future. Since this takes place in the depression of the thirties, it looks like it will be an elephantine pregnancy. 

A number of out of work people gather in a soup  kitchen and lament their fate. The father of the baby is mute and will not speak until he gets work. He finally gets sent to jail. He escapes. Eleanor Roosevelt appears in a tasteless parody of that fine lady to try to save the day.

Need I say more?

Well, I guess I have to. Mr. Finn seems to devise text that is un-settable and then attempts to set it to music. There is a lot of repetition of phrases. At several dramatic high points the musical monolog goes on for too long with no advancement of the already stalled plot. The end is just as gloomy as the beginning.

In case you haven't noticed by now, I didn't like the show.

The cast, David Benoit, Lance Fletke, Alan H. Green, Desmond Green, Matthew Gregory, Gabriel Kadian, Anne Kanengeiser, Theresa Kloos, Alix Korey (who we saw several weeks ago in a poor imitation of  Ethel Merman), Andrea Leach, Michael Mandell, Jordana McMahon, Christina Acosta Robinson, Aaron Serotsky, and Ross Yoder all seem like talented actors with what could be good 'theatre' voices. But either the director or the composer must have told them to 'Give it all you've got!' Which they did.

Unfortunately.

Auld lang syne

Last night David and I attended a very fine concert by the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra of San Francisco at the Yale Norfolk Chamber Music Festival in Norfolk, CT. It turned out to be a trip down memory lane for me.

The orchestra, conducted with great joy and enthusiasm by Sir Nicholas McGegan, presented works by Handel, Corelli, and Rameau, played with flare and a great knowledge of the Baroque style. 

Celine Ricci, soprano, and Robin Blaze, countertenor, were the singers in excerpts from Handel's Teseo. Both demonstrated great flexibility and a good sense of style.

The 'Memory Lane' part came at the beautiful post-concert party hosted at the incredible home of David Low and his wife in Norfolk. First of all, David had sung in John Ferris's Harvard Choir some years ago and kindly included us in the festivities following the concert.

Secondly I had a long talk with a woman who had been a friend of Lorraine's from the San Francisco Bay area. We recalled hearing Lorraine sing the title role in Handel's Xerxes at the Los Angeles Opera years ago and I told her that, in addition to Lorraine's marvelous singing, I was blown away by the singing of Brian Azawa, the countertenor. This was unusual for me since the first thing that comes to my mind when I hear most countertenors is 'Why are you doing that?' Brian sounded like Helen Trauble.

In my salad days in New York City, I often performed with Russell Oberlin, probably the first great American countertenor. Russell sang 98% of the time in true voice, unlike most of that ilk, who spend most of the time singing falsetto. He could sing to tenor F above high C in true voice. Leonard Bernstein often had him sing the alto solo parts in Messiah, among other works. He and I, with Frances Blaisdell, the marvelous flutist, did a number of concerts together featuring a cycle written for us by Louie White.

Later, when I was teaching at Harvard, I had a tenor-countertenor study with me who could do the same thing. Most of his very high range was sung in true voice. We also performed the alto arias from Messiah as well as the Louie White pieces. Louie was also a very dear friend of mine to compound the 'Memory' thing.

To top it all, I had a conversation with Sir Nicholas at the party and we spoke about the many times Lorraine had sung with him and of works they had recorded together.

All of this is to say I had a wonderful evening!