SSブログ

Alsop & Baltimore Symphony delivered delightful Verdi Requiem [音楽時評]

旧聞に属しますが,女流指揮者のトップに立つMarin Alsop 指揮のBaltimore Symphony Orchestra がWashington D.C. 公演で,Verdi Requiem を好演し,4人のソリストに注文を残しながらも,たいへん高い評価,totting up everything, this was one of the best Requiem performances we’ve had in recent seasons. という評価を受けていましたので,追加してご報告しておきます.

1月の内に行われたNational Philharmonic の同じ曲の演奏も引き合いにして,one of the best Requiem performances we’ve had in recent seasons.というのですから,特筆に値すると思い.少し古い記事をあえてご紹介しました.

内容は,どうぞご自由にご渉猟下さい.

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra delivers delightful Verdi Requiem

Verdi’s stunning Requiem is one of classical music’s great crowd-pleasers, heard somewhere in the area at least annually. The Music Center at Strathmore offered different performances less than a month apart, by the National Philharmonic and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra; the latter, on Saturday evening, drew a full house.

The performance under Marin Alsop was taut and efficient, offering many pleasures. The BSO was, for once, at full strength (they’ve often sent down something approaching a skeleton crew) and played very impressively for the most part. The soft brass chords that close the “Dies irae” and “Libera me” were beautifully controlled, and the woodwinds were colorful, well-tuned and expressive throughout. The cellos handled the treacherous “Offertorio” opening with aplomb, if not perfectly on pitch.

A successful Requiem requires, above all, four soloists who can soar and emote like opera singers one moment and blend like a cappella choristers the next. Such a balance is very rarely achieved and wasn’t here. The “Pie Jesu Domine” quartet was a mess, and the “Lux aeterna” trio only a little better.

But there were some shining solo moments, particularly from soprano Angela Meade, whose projection and ability to change the color of the voice in any register set her apart. Bass Alfred Walker, while offering a less varied sound, also delivered a stream of compelling, tenebrous beauty with firm rhythm. Mezzo Eve Gigliotti had power aplenty, but the sound lacked focus in her lower register and she often swallowed her consonants. Richard Clement’s tenor was lovely when singing softly in the middle register, but elsewhere sounded uncomfortable.

The Washington Chorus, under Julian Wachner, delivered impressive singing; slightly coarse in the opening “Te decet hymnus,” but well-controlled in the “Dies irae” and whiplike in the closing fugue. Alsop’s direction was clear and unfussy, and she had care for balances throughout. She does not dig deeply into the music, and faster sections were played more for sizzle than for steak. But totting up everything, this was one of the best Requiem performances we’ve had in recent seasons.


nice!(1)  コメント(0)  トラックバック(0) 
共通テーマ:音楽

オランダで文化予算カット [音楽時評]

EU圏の各国が,財政赤字はGDPの3%以内という厳しい財政規律に答えるべく,いっせいに財政削減に迫られていることはギリシャの今なお続く危機的状況のニュースなどでご承知のことと思います.                        ちなみに日本はなんと実にGDPの180%もの財政赤字,国債残高を抱え,なお近く特例国債法案などを成立させて国債発行しようとしているのですから,呆れたモノですが,それを控えて,国債の利回りを0.77%に引き上げたことは周知の事実です.

Proposed changes will put pressure on much-loved companies as the Netherlands's musical-haven status comes under threat.

Dutch music is under threat, from its orchestras to its opera houses, its new music ensembles to its small-scale touring outfits. Late last year, there was the cartoon-like extremity of the culture cuts proposed by Geert Wilders. (Wilders wanted the €800m arts budget cut to just €200m). Arts and education ministers have now come up with revised plans, reducing the overall culture spend to €600m in return for raising VAT on concert tickets from 6% to 19% – proposals which will be debated and voted on by the Dutch parliament a week today.

最初は€800m arts budget cut to just €200mだったのが, reducing the overall culture spend to €600m in return for raising VAT on concert tickets from 6% to 19% – proposals which will be debated and voted on by the Dutch parliament a week today. とカットは €600m にとどめるけれども,代わりに raising VAT on concert tickets from 6% to 19% というのですから,なかなか大変です.

しかし,有名どころにはカットは小さくするようで,only minimal cuts to the Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Dutch National Ballet and Netherlands Opera, and the rest of Dutch culture taking the biggest hits. と弱いところに大きなカットが及ぶようです.

The idea is, presumably, that people won't notice too much if the nation's biggest institutions keep on trucking while other, smaller organisations go to the wall. But the most threatened institutions aren't exactly small beer. The Nationale Reisopera is the Netherlands's touring opera company, which is – or rather was – putting on a complete Ring cycle in instalments before the Wagner centenary in 2013. They'll get away with a Götterdämmerung next year, but plans for performing the whole cycle in a single season have been abandoned.

イギリスとの比較をしていますが,There's a lesson for our own coalition government there too, but in the Netherlands there's even less philanthropy than there is here, with such institutions as the Reisopera funded by the state to the tune of 85%. Quality, repertoire and reach aside, there's another huge benefit of that state funding: the top ticket price for a normal Reisopera show is €50. Even if you need your Wagner fix, you'll still only pay €75. "The only way I could do a show like the Ring in the future would be to charge Covent Garden prices," Mostart says. This would make opera precisely the elitist art form the right wing of the Dutch coalition government seems to think it is, reaching fewer people as the prices rise and thus mattering less.

the Dutch radio performing groups (who you often hear on Radio 3 thanks to the agreements of the European Broadcasting Union). Their budgets come from a different pot, but the effect is the same. A proposed 55% reduction to the Netherlands Broadcasting Music Centre (NBMC) would mean the amalgamation of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic (which plays the Proms this year) and Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, in addition to the probable loss of the Metropole Orchestra, its jazz and light music combo, and the centre's education and library resources, as well as the loss of 200 musicians and administrators. The effect would be devastating for Dutch and international musical life. Both orchestras are among the most adventurous anywhere in the world.

しかし,議会の審議に希望をつないでいて,When the budgets are debated in parliament next Monday, Mostart and Kok both hope that internal tensions within the coalition and an opposition united against the cuts will lead to a softening of the blow and a fairer swinging of the financial axe. If the Reisopera had €6m to play with it could still exist as a company, and if the Broadcasting Centre could wangle another €8m, the orchestras could all survive as independent entities.

Whatever the case, the idea of the Netherlands as a place with one of the most visionary and innovative environments for the arts is under threat this week. As Mostart says, "the loss of smaller companies who support younger artists and young composers is even more worrying than what's happening at the bigger companies. They are the breeding ground for the future of music." What happens next will shape a generation in the Netherlands – and we'll all be the poorer if the cuts go ahead as planned. という締めくくりの文面は,どうもイギリスの連立与党で起こりそうなことに,あらかじめ反論を展開しているように読み取れます.

ご参考までに,,,

Dutch courage needed in face of classical music funding cuts

Proposed changes will put pressure on much-loved companies as the Netherlands's musical-haven status comes under threat.

The Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra
Strung up ... the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, which could be amalgamated with the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra. Photo: Simon Van Boxtel

The Netherlands. Land of tulips, windmills, deep-fried cheesy treats and one of the world's most enviable music scenes. Although not all of them for much longer – and I'm not talking about the windmills. Dutch music is under threat, from its orchestras to its opera houses, its new music ensembles to its small-scale touring outfits. Late last year, there was the cartoon-like extremity of the culture cuts proposed by Geert Wilders. (Wilders wanted the €800m arts budget cut to just €200m). Arts and education ministers have now come up with revised plans, reducing the overall culture spend to €600m in return for raising VAT on concert tickets from 6% to 19% – proposals which will be debated and voted on by the Dutch parliament a week today.

Oh frabjous day! Er, not quite. In a cackhanded strategy that the British government seems to want to emulate, the big boys of Dutch culture currently get off pretty much scot-free, with only minimal cuts to the Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Dutch National Ballet and Netherlands Opera, and the rest of Dutch culture taking the biggest hits. The idea is, presumably, that people won't notice too much if the nation's biggest institutions keep on trucking while other, smaller organisations go to the wall. But the most threatened institutions aren't exactly small beer. The Nationale Reisopera is the Netherlands's touring opera company, which is – or rather was – putting on a complete Ring cycle in instalments before the Wagner centenary in 2013. They'll get away with a Götterdämmerung next year, but plans for performing the whole cycle in a single season have been abandoned.

The Reisopera is having to stomach a 60% cut in its funding, which will come into force at the start of 2013. "I will have to dismantle my company completely and build up a production unit instead," the company's Intendant, Guus Mostart, told me. "We won't bear any resemblance to the Nationale Reisopera as it is as the moment. We'll tour to fewer cities, put on fewer productions necessarily of lower quality. We should probably change the name, since we can't guarantee what the company will look like in the future."

Mostart – who had decided to leave his job in 2013 before news of the cuts – understands the need for greater private investment, but you can't just foist a completely new funding model on the arts without first creating a culture of corporate giving.

There's a lesson for our own coalition government there too, but in the Netherlands there's even less philanthropy than there is here, with such institutions as the Reisopera funded by the state to the tune of 85%. Quality, repertoire and reach aside, there's another huge benefit of that state funding: the top ticket price for a normal Reisopera show is €50. Even if you need your Wagner fix, you'll still only pay €75. "The only way I could do a show like the Ring in the future would be to charge Covent Garden prices," Mostart says. This would make opera precisely the elitist art form the right wing of the Dutch coalition government seems to think it is, reaching fewer people as the prices rise and thus mattering less.

It's a similarly self-fulfilling prophecy of cultural irrelevancy at work in the settlement for the Dutch radio performing groups (who you often hear on Radio 3 thanks to the agreements of the European Broadcasting Union). Their budgets come from a different pot, but the effect is the same. A proposed 55% reduction to the Netherlands Broadcasting Music Centre (NBMC) would mean the amalgamation of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic (which plays the Proms this year) and Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, in addition to the probable loss of the Metropole Orchestra, its jazz and light music combo, and the centre's education and library resources, as well as the loss of 200 musicians and administrators. The effect would be devastating for Dutch and international musical life. Both orchestras are among the most adventurous anywhere in the world, commissioning and playing new music that simply wouldn't exist without them. Anton Kok, the NBMC's general manager, says he plans a lawsuit again Marja van Bijsterveldt, the culture minister, because of inconsistencies in arguments she used last year to support her plans.

But there could be a glimmer of – well, not hope exactly, but at least some kind of amelioration. When the budgets are debated in parliament next Monday, Mostart and Kok both hope that internal tensions within the coalition and an opposition united against the cuts will lead to a softening of the blow and a fairer swinging of the financial axe. If the Reisopera had €6m to play with it could still exist as a company, and if the Broadcasting Centre could wangle another €8m, the orchestras could all survive as independent entities.

Whatever the case, the idea of the Netherlands as a place with one of the most visionary and innovative environments for the arts is under threat this week. As Mostart says, "the loss of smaller companies who support younger artists and young composers is even more worrying than what's happening at the bigger companies. They are the breeding ground for the future of music." What happens next will shape a generation in the Netherlands – and we'll all be the poorer if the cuts go ahead as planned.


nice!(0)  コメント(0)  トラックバック(0) 
共通テーマ:音楽

この広告は前回の更新から一定期間経過したブログに表示されています。更新すると自動で解除されます。