Recent Concerts

Andreas Scholl.  On Friday evening, Andreas Scholl gave a recital at the Harvard Musical Association, with his wife accompanying him on the piano. The program was the same as one he gave in New York on December 8 at Alice Tully Hall. One of the pieces he performed was Schubert's "Death and the Maiden." Here is a recording he made a few months ago. (Spoiler — I recommend listening before reading further.) What makes this especially interesting is that he uses his baritone voice for the second stanza, Death's reply to the maiden. It was very effective, not only because the different range is appropriate, but also because hearing his lower voice was so unexpected.

Here's a review of the New York performance. Here's another (with the reviewer unaware that Mr. Scholl was to give a private recital in Boston six days later). I'm not sure of the capacity of Alice Tully Hall, but the Marsh Room at the HMA holds about 100 people, so I'm sure ours was more intimate. And afterwards, we were able to gather downstairs for chocolates, macaroons, and sparkling rosé wine and chat with the artists (I myself didn't, because I couldn't think of anything to say, but other people did).

I liked the recital, but I think the Times reviewer may be right that Scholl's voice is more suited to baroque, or maybe it's just that I like countertenors better opera, because, good as he was, I couldn't get fully engaged. Here are some recordings of him in opera
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asBIeYlkJzo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_631iPcGo0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cI9nDGOfoOg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yk8QZsKAuMI

and in solo recital (including some pieces he sang for us)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpVonMf8DYM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je_w3DEad8M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ym1kWj1TwkU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3REIVlo2Ss
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6db38XPIyOE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tN5PmR3_XBQ

You can decide what you like, if anything. (BTW, you can get the idea on most of these without listening all the way through.)

Bach Christmas Oratorio.  Sunday afternoon I went to the Handel and Haydn Society's presentation of Parts 1, 2, and 6 of the Christmas Oratorio. Their earlier performance got a mixed review in the Boston Globe. I hadn't read the review before I went on Sunday, and I didn't find anything really wrong with the performance — maybe a couple of points where it wasn't quite as vigorous as I would have liked, but overall I was quite satisfied.

Here's a link to the whole oratorio, performed by vocal soloists, the Monteverdi Choir, and English Baroque Soloists conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner in Weimar in 1999. I don't recommend listening to the whole thing all at once. You can do something similar to how it was originally heard if you listen to the first part on Christmas Day, second on December 26, third on the 27th, fourth on New Year's Day, fifth on January 2, and sixth on January 6. Or you can approximate my experience by listening to the first and second parts, taking a twenty minute intermission, and then listening to part 6. You can find other performances on videos: the whole oratorio, individual cantatas, and specific numbers. My favorite is this one from the first part, here sung by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. (BTW, the Gardiner version, with Dietrich Henschel takes 4:20, while Kurt Thomas and Fischer-Dieskau take 5:10. I somewhat prefer Henschel/Gardiner, largely because I don't care for Fischer-Dieskau's near staccato on multi-note syllables.)

New Year's Concert etc.

If you missed the live performance of the Vienna Philharmonic's 2011 New Year's Day Concert (or even if you didn't), you can hear it over WCRB on Sunday, January 2, at 3:00 p.m., "Boston Time."

Also I was wrong to assume that the entire Bach Christmas Oratorio would be given last weekend. They only played the first three parts, leaving the final three for this weekend, I suppose. But I haven't been listening carefully enough to find out exactly when they will present (have presented) them. My best guess is that Part 5 or 6 will be presented sometime between 10:00 and 11:00 a.m. on Sunday, January 2.

Christmas Radio/Webstream

December 24 at 10:00 a.m. Boston Time ( = 3:00 p.m. England Time) WCRB will give a live broadcast/stream of the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols from Kings College Cambridge. So if you have no other source for it, you can listen there.

And then in the evening, at 8:00 Boston time, they'll present the Handel & Haydn's performance of Messiah, recorded earlier this month in Symphony Hall.

Finally, Bach's Christmas Oratorio will be broadcast/streamed in a recording by the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra under Ricardo Chailly. It seems it will be done in three installments: Friday at 3:00 p.m.; Saturday at 10:00 a.m.; and Sunday at 10:00 a.m.

Merry Christmas!

Beethoven/BSO, January 3, 2010; Belated Bach

     I just got the program guide for next month's offerings on WGBH and WCRB, and I see that WCRB's Sunday Concert at 3:00 p.m. Boston Time (= Eastern Standard, lol) on January 3 is a rebroadcast of one of last October's performances of Beethoven's symphonies Nos. 3 and 4. The Boston Globe critic was not thrilled; but it's Beethoven and a good orchestra, and even though the 4th is my least favorite Beethoven symphony, I liked the concert I attended. So I recommend giving a listen to the webstream via the link I posted above.

     This just in: when I tested the link above, I saw on the home page that tonight they're rebroadcasting the Beethoven 6th and 7th, under the baton of Lorin Maazel, in a performance (or composite of performances) given in late October. You can catch the stream at 8:00 p.m. EST this evening, December 26. Again, the Globe critic wasn't satisfied, but I enjoyed it.

     This is also the time for Bach's Christmas Oratorio — six cantatas for six days of the Christmas season. I'm a day late recommending that you listen to them, since the parts are designated for the first, second, and third days of Christmas (yesterday, today, and tomorrow as and where I write), for New Year's day, the following Sunday, and Epiphany (January 6 in the traditional calendar). They're worth listening to, even all at once, but probably better if you spread them out.

     Here's a video of the opening chorus of the first part , the part for the Christmas Day. And an older video (slightly out of sync) of my favorite number, the bass aria, "Grosser Herr, O starker König."  You can compare the qucker tempo and natural trumpet version with John Elliot Gardiner (same performance as the opening chorus I linked) if you want. YouTube gives a link. I actually prefer the Gardiner performance, but I wanted to give a sample of a slightly different performance style; and Fischer-Dieskau is one of the great baritones of the 20th century. I won't try to find videos of the whole thing, but I'm sure you can find most, if not all, of it if you want to. And I'm sure there are audio recordings available for downloading. I have three complete sets on vinyl discs, one led by Karl Richter, one led by Nikolaus Harnoncourt, and one featuring the Regensburger Domspatzen. Any of them that you can find would be worth listening to IMO.