New Year’s Resolutions
By: Frank Cadenhead
It was just the second day of the new year that good news arrived. A new scientific study indicates that being a few pounds overweight has little or no effect on your general health. That was Resolution No. 1. I did not read the entire report, not exactly wanting to hear the definition of “a few extra pounds.” Nevertheless, more vegetables will surely be on the plate this year.
The fourth day of 2013 provided quick satisfaction of Resolution No. 2, “Hear More Wagner.” At Salle Pleyel, the former director of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France (1984-2000), Marek Janowski, was in town to play with his former colleagues two all-Wagner concerts. This one started with the Flying Dutchman Overture and the Preludes to Acts One and Three of Lohengrin. Continuing with Act Three, Janowski was joined by Chorus of Radio France for the Scene One “Treulich geführt ziehet dahin.” Scene Two was with the Elsa of Annette Dasch who I heard in that role in Bayreuth at the end of August. She again was moving and engaging as was Stephen Gould, her admirable Lohengrin.
The second half included the the Overture and Venusberg Music from Tannhäuser (the “Paris Version,” naturally). The chorus had already quit their place behind the orchestra and contributed their bit for the Venusberg Music from what sounded, from where I was sitting, like inside their bus on the way home. With the overture to Tristan und Isolde the orchestra and conductor finally completely gelled and the performance was passionate and intense The choice of Violeta Urmana to sing the Liebestod from Tristan was a bit odd since she is not known as a Wagnerian and must be approaching the twilight of her career. She seemed hard pressed to get through this assignment.
All broadcast concerts, like this one, usually two every day, remain available on the France Musique site for 30 days. You still have a few days to hear an all-Ravel program by the Orchestre de Paris from Pleyel on December 19. It was originally scheduled for Pierre Boulez but, due to his persistent eye problems, was given to young Mikko Franck, 33. It was the second time in as many months he has rode to the rescue in Paris and again garnered rave reviews. Mezzo Nora Gubisch was there to help.
http://sites.radiofrance.fr/francemusique/concerts/
On January 6th there was “Verdi” Resolution (No. 3). The La Traviata from Brussel’s La Monnaie, seen and available for streaming on the internet, should be avoided for those with a weak constitution: the focus on the degenerate was keen. This viewer found it clearly presented, well performed, and a strong finger in the eye of conventional expectations. The resulting commotion caused the company to post comments from several directors on the subject of artistic freedom of expression. The website for the La Traviata is part of the European-wide television channel Arte. This German-French endeavor puts the accent on arts and more serious programming although the website, liveweb.arte.tv, might have performances available which were actually never broadcast on television. I cannot be sure that this program does not have country restrictions which would block it in the US. There are, I have heard, ways around these blocks and other media, like YouTube, might have picked up some of these programs.
The classical music on Arte Live Web is here: http://liveweb.arte.tv/fr/cat/Classique/
Along with the Traviata, you can catch up with the impressive current vocal state of tenor José Cura who sings in both Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci in an engaging production from the Opéra Royal de Wallonie in Belgium’s city of Liège. This is part of a campaign of higher visibility for that company and shows off the passionate baton of their music director, Paolo Arrivabeni. There a reams of other treasures with a bit of poking around. The French musician’s unions do not pose problems when concerts are broadcast and streamed on the web and consequently the range and variety of French offerings on the internet is impressive. Here are a few other website which you might be able to access. The commercial website Medici.tv is available everywhere, has a wide choice always and the French site Citedelamusiquelive.tv has examples of concerts given at the Cite de la Musique and Salle Pleyel. You can find the all-Ravel concert of Mikko Franck in a video format there too.
Important, innovative and respected opera houses like Belgium and Munich have taken to streaming live productions and many remain available for some time after the event. My initial contact with people from Medici.tv was about sevenyears ago when they began presenting most of the important events from the Verbier Festival on their site. The current technology requires no special lighting, the cameras on stage can be placed discreetly and are now often remote controlled, needing fewer – or no – cameramen on stage. Did the festival worry about giving away their product for free? The festival’s manager was not concerned: “Since they started, our web traffic has double,” she said.
What this means for the average music lover is that not only sound but visual images of operas and concerts are available to be viewed on the internet from anywhere in the world. This kind of extraordinary access, much of it free, is, for me, one of the top music stories of our era.
Tags: Annette Dasch, Jose Cura, Marek Janowski, mikko franck, Paolo Arrivabeni, Stephen Gould
Related posts
Tags: Annette Dasch, Jose Cura, Marek Janowski, mikko franck, Paolo Arrivabeni, Stephen Gould