I spent nearly two weeks at Tanglewood, the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s summer home, which brings performers, teachers, and students together, enabling music lovers to experience a wide range of musical activities while enjoying the beautiful surroundings that make this such a beloved place. During my stay in the Berkshires, I also was able to enjoy and appreciate several nearby museums and performing arts institutions.
Many of the events I attended showed off the talents of one-hundred-thirty-three young musicians selected to participate as Tanglewood Music Center (TMC) Fellows in an intensive summer program of advanced study, instructed and mentored by a distinguished faculty of visiting artists and composers and members of the BSO. Most of the Fellows play orchestral instruments, and many will ultimately go on to positions in leading orchestras. However, the ranks of TMC Fellows also include singers, pianists, conductors, composers, and librarians.
Friday, July 5 – The BSO, Andris Nelsons and Gil Shaham – “Opening Night at Tanglewood”
See the link to my review at the end of this article.
Saturday, July 6 – Master Class with Andris Nelsons and Gil Shaham: “The Art of Conducting”
This summer, under the guidance of its Director, Ed Gazouleas, TMC inaugurated a series of workshops on “The Art of Conducting” that not only provides intensive instruction for Conducting Fellows from Andris Nelsons and other TMC faculty, but also gives audience members a glimpse into that pedagogic process. On this afternoon I attended the first of the series in Seiji Ozawa Hall. Nelsons, who has just also become the inaugural ‘Head of Conducting at Tanglewood’, was aided by Gil Shaham in instructing this summer’s two Conducting Fellows in the technique of conducting Dvořák’s Violin Concerto in A-minor, Opus 53.
Na’Zir McFadden is Assistant Conductor and Community Ambassador at the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Finnish-British Ross Jamie Collins has just completed a Dudamel Fellowship with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and has been appointed Conductor-in-Residence of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra. The two took turns at leading Shaham and an orchestra comprised of about forty Instrumental Fellows in the first and second movements of the Dvořák.
Nelsons encouraged McFadden to explore alternative approaches to some passages, and at one point Shaham suggested trying a small, often-used departure from the score. Nelsons coached McFadden on how to help soloist and orchestra anticipate, and thus be ready for, an impending change of tempo. He also noted the importance of taking into account the acoustics of a concert hall, especially how long sounds take to reverberate back to the performers.
Nelsons suggested to Collins that he generally position his arms and shoulders lower and raise the baton higher only when calling for more emphatic or louder playing from the orchestra. Nelsons also noted that conducting styles vary — often from one country to another — as to whether to stress the downbeats or to effectively give a series of upbeats. Both instructors worked with Collins on how conductor and soloist may share the leadership role at various points in a concerto.
In Dvořák’s Adagio, Nelsons encouraged both Fellows to use smaller hand gestures, and he even had McFadden conduct a short passage with his eyes alone! Nelsons warned that holding the baton high during a fermata unduly limits the conductor’s options when the music resumes. Also, he explained, it is often more important for the conductor to use small hand or finger gestures to convey the legato nature of the music or to cue a particular instrument or section, rather than just to mark the tempo.
We in the audience were effectively students along with the two Fellows, as we were able to learn a great deal from Nelsons and Shaham. It will be interesting during the remainder of my Tanglewood stay not only to observe Collins and McFadden on the podium, but also to enjoy a more focused appreciation of Nelsons’s technique when he conducts both the BSO and the TMC Orchestra.
In the evening, I attended a performance of A Tender Thing by Ben Power at the Barrington Stage Company’s St. Germain Stage in Pittsfield, Mass. The play, originally staged by the Royal Shakespeare Company, adapts the Bard’s language from Romeo and Juliet and other works to depict the “star-cross’d lovers” had they lived into old age. However, despite the actors’ excellent articulation of Shakespeare’s words, the play’s concept proved to be more clever than dramatically effective.
Sunday, July 7 – BSO Matinee Concert with Renée Fleming
Today was a doubleheader for me. The BSO’s matinee concert in the Koussevitzky Music Shed was comprised of orchestral and vocal works by Richard Strauss, with Renée Fleming singing songs with orchestra and two soliloquys from Der Rosenkavalier. In the evening, Fellows of the Tanglewood Music Center (TMC) gave a concert of vocal music in the Linde Center’s Studio E.
The music of Richard Strauss is a specialty of Nelsons, and he devoted this afternoon concert entirely to that repertory, drawn mostly from Strauss’s operas. It began with the Symphonic Fantasy from ‘Die Frau ohne Schatten’, in which the composer weaves thematic material from the opera into a sort of tone poem that tracks the opera’s metaphorical plot. Although Strauss employs an orchestra somewhat smaller than the one-hundred-plus players called for by his original operatic score, the sound was robust and richly colorful, with a plethora of fine solo and ensemble playing by the BSO.
Fleming gave lovely interpretations of three Strauss songs, the most moving being her touching rendition of ‘Befreit’ (Liberated), superbly expressing the mixed emotions in Richard Dehmel’s poem sung by a man to his dying wife, with each stanza ending ‘O Glück!’ (Happiness!).
The second half began with ‘Traümerei im Kamin’ (Dreaming by the Fireside), one of Strauss’s four orchestral settings of excerpts from his opera Intermezzo, which he based on an incident in his own marriage. In this pensive scene, the principal soprano character (based on Strauss’s wife, Pauline) ruminates on her love for her husband, segueing into an orchestral interlude that depicts her nodding off into dreams. Her vocal interjections are omitted here, but marvelous solos on clarinet and violin intersect to create a rhapsodic atmosphere.
The remainder of the program consisted of music from Der Rosenkavalier. The Marschallin is one of Fleming’s signature roles, and her idiomatic renditions of two soliloquys from Act One evoked memories of several of her performances at the MET. In ‘Da geht es hin . . .’ and then in ‘Die Zeit, die ist ein sonderbar Ding’ the Marschallin reflects on the contrast between her own advancing age and that of her young lover, Octavian. However appropriate that theme may be at this stage of Fleming’s career, she remains, happily, more than capable of bringing out the beauty of Strauss’s music. The program concluded with a delightful performance of a Suite from Der Rosenkavalier featuring virtually all of its best-known themes, from the horn call at the outset of the opera representing the lovemaking of the Marschallin and Octavian to the ‘Presentation of the Rose’ by Octavian to Sophie, the recurring waltz of Baron Ochs, and the final trio in which the Marschallin is reconciled to Octavian and Sophie’s union.
At the concert’s end, Fleming returned to the stage to join the orchestra in an encore, Strauss’s ‘Cäcilie‘.
Sunday, July 7 – TMC Vocal Concert
Sunday evening’s concert in Studio E spotlighted five Vocal Fellows, each ably accompanied by an Instrumental Fellow — four playing piano, and one a harp. Soprano Temple Hammen showed off her lovely voice in four settings by Charles Ives of German and French language texts, accompanied by Rachel Sohn. Mezzo-soprano Carmen Edano followed with a superbly polished performance of Debussy’s Trois chansons de Bilitis in which she communicated the texts not only vocally, but with expressive gestures — for example, touching her lips at the word “lèvres” in ‘La flute de Pan’. Amber Ginni Scher was her excellent accompanist. Tenor Yinghui He gave quite interesting renditions of six songs by Nadia Boulanger. His voice is appealing, his treatment of varying tempos and of climactic and anticlimactic moments excellent, and his sense of humor delightful in the last song, ‘Les lilas son ten folie’. Seoyon Susanna MacDonald offered idiomatic accompaniments.
Tenor Evan Katsefes gave a gripping performance of Britten’s Canticle V: The Death of St. Narcissus, Opus 89. This is a challenging work, but Katsefes was up to the task, partnering with harpist Yoonsu Cha to bring out the brilliance of Britten’s setting of T. S. Eliot’s poetry. Voice and harp combined to illustrate the textual references to Narcissus as a “dancer before God” and to depict the twisting branches and tangled roots of the tree he thought he had become. Katsefes’s diction and intonation were excellent, unfailingly communicating both words and music. Soprano Emily Rocha and pianist William Shi ended the program with Adela Maddison’s ‘Cinq mélodies sur les poèmes d’Edmond Haraucourt’. Rocha’s beautiful voice, terrific phrasing and clear elocution brought the French language texts to fluent life.
Monday, July 8 – TMC Orchestra
In this concert in the Shed the TMC Orchestra performed works by Dvořák, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and Shostakovich. Dvořák’s Carnival Overture was ably led by Ross Jamie Collins, and Na’Zir McFadden conducted Coleridge-Taylor’s Ballade in A-minor. Nelsons led an exciting performance of Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony.
In the Dvořák, Collins drew excellent and idiomatic playing from the Fellows. He was noticeably more relaxed than he had been at Saturday’s “Art of Conducting” workshop, and his technique clearly reflected Nelsons’s teaching, raising the baton high only for specific emphatic effect. McFadden’s conducting of Coleridge-Taylor’s Ballade brought out its jaunty rhythms and delicate lyricism, as well as moments of sweeping grandeur. Perhaps influenced by Saturday’s lesson, his left-hand movements were subtly expressive, and achieved responsive playing.
The TMC Fellows played superbly in the Nelsons-led Shostakovich. The strings excelled in the opening Moderato movement, with the viola section especially noteworthy, and there were fine solo contributions from violinist Katia Tesarczyk, pianist Shaoai Ashley Zhang, Andrei Caval on clarinet and Kelley Osterberg on oboe. The Allegretto, a sarcastic scherzo, featured a wide range of timbres, with Peter Ecklund’s bassoon and Chaoyang Jing’s contrabassoon notable at the low end and Tesarczyk’s violin and Elizabeth McCormack’s flute soaring high above. The TMC strings were outstanding in the intensely emotional Largo, and the full orchestra, with Jeremy D. Sreejayan’s timpani and the brass and percussion sections most prominent, made the Finale a tour de force.
Tuesday, July 9
With no concerts scheduled at Tanglewood, I took the opportunity to visit the Clark Art Institute in nearby Williamstown for this summer’s special exhibitions of paintings by Guillaume Lethière and art glass from the Corning Museum of Glass. Always rewarding is my annual visit to the Institute’s permanent collection, with its many works by Renoir and other impressionist painters as well as American artists including Winslow Homer, John Singer Sargent and Frederic Remington.
Wednesday, July 10 – Open Workshop with Nicole Cabell
In an afternoon masterclass in Studio E, soprano Nicole Cabell worked with four TMC Vocal Fellows, part of the interplay between Fellows and visiting experts that is a central focus of Tanglewood’s educational program. The repertory for this class consisted of three selections from Windows, Five Songs of Love, written and composed by Alan Louis Smith, and a folksong performed in Smith’s arrangement. Michael Gandalfi, head of the TMC composition program, introduced the class with a fond remembrance of Smith, a longtime member of the TMC faculty, who passed away last year.
Cabell focused on soprano Temple Hammen’s dynamics, syllabic accents and security of high notes in Smith’s ‘Heart Windows’. Her coaching helped mezzo-soprano Madelin Morales transform her rendition of ‘I Sing You to Sleep — Lullaby’, sung to a dying dear one, into a heart-breaking farewell that literally brought the audience to tears. It was a truly unforgettable moment! Seoyon Susanna MacDonald was the excellent accompanist for both Hammen and Morales.
Soprano Sophie Thompson, with William Shi at the piano, infused the touching ‘When You Carry Me to the Stars’ with passion, increasing the variety of colorations of her long notes in response to Cabell’s suggestions. Last, but by no means least, was baritone John Arlievsky’s marvelous rendition of the American folksong ‘How Can I Keep from Singing?’ in an arrangement that Smith dedicated to his TMC faculty colleague Stephanie Blythe (for whom Nicole Cabell is substituting today). Cabell worked with Arlievsky on using gestures and movement to express character and context, distinguishing, for example, between singing to a friend and ruminating introspectively. She even had Arlievsky focus on his posture and expression during Shaoi Ashley Zhang’s lovely piano postlude. I look forward to hearing Arlievsky again.
In the evening, I took in a performance at Shakespeare and Company in Lenox of A Body of Water, an interesting play by Lee Blessing, well performed by a trio of actors.
Thursday, July 11 – Master Class with Dima Slobodeniouk: “The Art of Conducting”
Na’Zir McFadden and Ross Jamie Collins led excerpts from Brahms’s First and Sibelius’s Third Symphonies, Slobodeniouk focused less on baton technique than had Nelsons and more on the ways that a conductor can formulate an interpretation of the music and then communicate it to the orchestra. Although he thus placed greater emphasis on “Why” than on “How”, he did offer a number of “How-to” tips: how to vary an upbeat in order to get a different sound; how to prepare the players for an impending crescendo; and how to use exaggeration when wanting something specific from the orchestra. String players from the New Fromm Quartet, comprised of recent TMC alumni, together with pianists Eric Sedgwick and Thomas Weaver, were brilliant at simulating the full orchestra, the players responding with agility and accuracy to the frequent stops and starts during the lesson.
In the evening, I drove some fifteen miles to Becket, Mass. to take in a dance program by Le Ballet de Geneve at Jacob’s Pillow.
Friday, July 12 – Interview with Mikko Nissinen: “George Balanchine — Stravinsky’s American Muse”
As a prelude to this evening’s performance with the BSO by the Boston Ballet of George Balanchine’s ballet Apollo, set to a score by Igor Stravinsky, the company’s Artistic Director, Mikko Nissinen was interviewed in Studio E by Norton Owen, Director of Preservation at the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival. Owen was filling in on short notice when Balanchine biographer Jennifer Homans, took ill.
At the outset, Nissinen mentioned some key Balanchine maxims, such as the oxymoronic “I want you to hear the dance and see the music,” as well as the importance for dancers to learn the power of understatement. Much of the conversation focused on Apollo, which will be performed tonight with the BSO’s strings playing Stravinsky’s neoclassical score. Premiered in 1928, Apollo is the earliest Balanchine ballet for which his choreography is extant. Nissinen lamented that he never got to dance the title role himself, but recounted differences in how it was treated by various leading figures at New York City Ballet, including Jacques d’Amboise, Edward Villella and Peter Martins, as well as by such great dancers as Rudolf Nureyev and Mikhail Baryshnikov. Perhaps the most significant variance among productions of the ballet has been the inclusion or exclusion of the ballet’s opening ‘Birth of Apollo’ scene (which will not be included in tonight’s performance).
Nissinen provided some fascinating insights into how he approaches programming and casting as the company’s Artistic Director. He stated that developing a ballet company’s comfort with a particular repertory is a long-term process that must be accomplished in stages. He noted that he has refrained from programming some Balanchine masterpieces — Liebeslieder Walzer and Davidsbündlertänze for example — because he is not confident of measuring up to his memories of great performances by such dancers as Violette Verdy, Suzanne Farrell, Patricia McBride and Ib Andersen. He also spoke about making casting choices that match dance partners in height and physique, but noted that these efforts can be frustrated by unforeseen circumstances, such as the ankle injury that has sidelined the dancer originally chosen as Terpsichore for tonight’s performance, resulting in a slight height mismatch in the ballet’s principal pas de deux.
Nissinen invited the audience to visit Boston Ballet’s “UNO” — a pop-up spherical structure temporarily installed on the Tanglewood grounds, offering an immersive experience viewing excerpts from several of their productions. After the interview, I visited the sphere and enjoyed its 360-degree perspective that simulated being on the stage amidst the dancers.
Friday, July 12 – BSO Concert with Boston Ballet — Balanchine’s Apollo and Rimsky-Korsakoff’s Scheherazade
This concert began with George Balanchine’s ballet Apollo, performed at the front of the Koussevitzky Music Shed’s stage by dancers from Boston Ballet, accompanied by Andris Nelsons and the BSO strings excellently playing Stravinsky’s Apollon musagète. However, owing to the Shed’s lack of a rake, many in the audience had their sightlines partially obstructed by the heads in front of them, although those seated further from the stage had the benefit of large video screens.
Patrick Yocum gave a striking portrayal of the titular leader of the muses, beginning with Apollo’s windmill-like rotations of one arm while the other holds the lute with which he has been presented just after being born (the birth process not being portrayed in this production, however). After Apollo’s initial variation, he watched variations danced by three muses: Calliope, muse of poetry and rhythm, danced by Kaitlyn Casey to music in the Alexandrine rhythm of French poetry; Polyhymnia, personifying mime, danced by Chisako Oga; and Terpsichore, representing gesture and eloquent movement, by Ji Young Chae. In Apollo’s second variation he selects Terpsichore, with whom he joins in an extended pas de deux. Their intricate yet delicate movements were the highlight of the ballet. After a coda, the apotheosis depicts Apollo leading the muses to Parnassus.
After intermission, the Orchestra gave a touching musical tribute to the recently deceased Joyce Linde, a BSO board member whose philanthropy was instrumental in creating the Tanglewood Learning Institute. For ‘The Swan’ from Saint-Saëns’s Carnival of the Animals, Yo-Yo Ma was seated unobtrusively in the midst of the cello section.
The concert ended with a sweepingly romantic traversal of Rimsky-Korsakoff’s Scheherazade. Its extensive and rapturous violin solos make this piece an ideal vehicle for showing off an orchestra’s concertmaster, so it was the obvious choice for the auspicious debut of Nathan Cole in his new role as BSO concertmaster. He did not disappoint!
Saturday, July 13 – BSO Concert with Works by Carlos Simon and Duke Ellington and Yuja Wang playing Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto
Warmth from Other Suns by Carlos Simon, who will occupy the BSO’s Inaugural Composer Chair this Fall, began its life as a string quartet and was expanded by the composer into the string orchestra version performed here by Andris Nelsons and the BSO. In remarks prior to the performance, Simon spoke of being inspired by the ‘Great Migration’ of Black Americans from the ‘Jim-Crow’ South to cities in the North and the West Coast in the decades following World War II. In the work’s tripartite structure, he explained, ‘Rays of Light’ suggests hope, ‘Flight’ describes the scariness of traveling North, often by night, and ‘Settle’ represents the feeling of being home. An agitated figure pervades all three segments but takes on different characters in each one, intensifying in the middle movement and becoming calm in the finale. The BSO strings played the work with both delicacy and intensity.
Yuja Wang joined the BSO to give Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto an outstanding performance. Following Wang’s poetic introductory passage, the orchestra’s sighing response, despite its harmonic distance from the piano’s just-heard G-major key, established a delicately balanced connection with the soloist that continued as the Allegro moderato’s harmonic and rhythmic permutations unfolded. Wang opted for the longer and more dramatic of Beethoven’s two cadenzas, and gave it a brilliant reading, ending with her piano continuing to sing out sweetly along with the orchestra before the anticipated harmonic resolution finally arrived.
In the Andante con moto, the piano’s entry follows the strings’ brief, dark opening statement. Wang and Nelsons sustained the tension, alternating and interrupting each other with shorter and shorter phrases. That pattern was finally broken by Wang’s succession of trills, runs and arpeggios. In the Finale, with its vivace tempo and timbres brightened by the addition of trumpets and timpani, Wang and the BSO bounced the Rondo theme back and forth. Wang offered two encores: Mendelssohn’s Song Without Words Opus 67/2, and the final movement of Prokofiev’s Piano Sonata No.7
The concert concluded with two works by Duke Ellington that blend classical and jazz influences. Three Black Kings, Ellington’s final composition, was completed by his son, Mercer Ellington, and orchestrated by Luther Henderson. It is in three movements: ‘King of the Magi’, which evokes percussive African music to celebrate the biblical King Balthazar; ‘King Solomon’, bookending a jazzy central dance with lyrical passages that feature violin, oboe and harp; and the Gospel-influenced ‘Martin Luther King’, which pays tribute to the assassinated Black civil rights leader. The performance brought out the varied moods of the music, ranging from stately and somber to exuberant, and featuring brilliant clarinet riffs from William R. Hudgins.
Harlem (originally titled A Tone Parallel to Harlem), is Ellington’s reflection on the many aspects of that New York district, including the traditions of its various populations and the sounds and pace of street life in its residential and business neighborhoods. Commissioned by the NBC Symphony Orchestra in 1950 as part of a project that never came to fruition, Ellington produced a score orchestrated for “big band”, turning to Luther Henderson to create an arrangement for orchestra. A note accompanying the original publication of the big band score stated: “Although this piece bears more than a few parallels to classical music, never forget that this is jazz of the highest order, and that it should always be swinging as hard as possible.” My perception, based on this evening’s excellent performance, is that despite Henderson’s including five saxophones and a drum kit, Harlem has been transformed into a primarily symphonic work with jazz influences.
Sunday, July 14 – BSO Matinee Concert with Augustin Hadelich playing Prokofiev
Before taking my seat for this afternoon’s BSO concert I visited the Tappan House near the Shed to take in fascinating exhibits on the history of Tanglewood and the legacies of Serge Koussevitzky and Seiji Ozawa. I also paused to enjoy the beautiful views of the Berkshires from the Tanglewood site.
The concert began with Sarah Kirkland Snider’s Forward Into Light, composed as part of the New York Philharmonic’s “Project 19” commemorating the centennial of the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, guaranteeing women the right to vote. In a brief talk preceding the performance, the composer noted that she was inspired by the bravery of suffragette leaders and the importance of their interpersonal relationships in attaining their ultimate success. She even incorporated into the music a quotation of ‘The March of the Women’, the anthem of the suffragette movement. The work initially juxtaposes rising violin figures and the oddly rhythmic harp with a lyrical theme on the violas, but soon gives way to a complex panoply of voices, including a huge array of wind and percussion instruments, with a gentle woodwind choir leading into a soft ending.
Augustin Hadelich played Prokofiev’s Second Violin Concerto. He brought out the lyricism of the opening solo that begins the Allegro moderato, following it with virtuosic rollicking passagework and, after an orchestral interlude, a lovely dialogue between his melancholic violin and the woodwinds. Navigating changing tempos and harmonies, Hadelich exchanged ideas with the violas and then accelerated with intricate figurations. as the winds interjected and the cellos and basses offered pizzicato accompaniment. Led by Julianne Mulvey’s bassoon, the winds played a jaunty tune, as William R. Hudgins contributed rising and falling figures on clarinet, with the movement ending on two pizzicato notes.
Hadelich’s 1744 Guarneri del Gesù instrument sang out sweetly above persistent pizzicato strings with the Andante assai’s opening theme, later swaying in an increased tempo before taking up the bassoon’s invitation to slow to a walk. A lovely orchestral coda, reminiscent of the opening theme, brought the movement to a gentle close. Hadelich dug into the violin vigorously, infusing the closing movement with humor as his solo line bounced along with the bass drum, snare drum, triangle, and chattering castanets, then accelerated wildly toward the final drumbeat. Hadelich’s encore was his own arrangement, rife with dazzling pyrotechnics, of the iconic bluegrass fiddle tune, ‘Orange Blossom Special’.
The concert concluded with a stirring reading of Dvořák’s majestic Seventh Symphony. Nelsons brought out the contrast between the Allegro moderato’s grand but rather dark opening theme and the brighter passages that featured Elizabeth Klein on flute taking the lead with a sunny melodic line, her trills resembling birdsong. As the movement progressed, the brass and strings powerfully recalled the initial dark mood, and a pair of horns had the last, drawn-out rendition of the main theme, winding down to a sighing, anticlimactic finish. The lyrical and expansive Poco adagio was decorated with fine contributions from horns and winds, including their gorgeous serenade to close the movement.
In the Scherzo, a Czech furiant, the dancing strings created a bright and airy mood, with Nelsons deftly managing competing, overlapping rhythms. In the ethereal Trio, the winds and horn excelled, and Klein’s flute and the violins showed off rapid runs before a rather complicated transition back to the Scherzo theme. The Finale returned to a more serious atmosphere, its opening theme contrasted by a lyrical second melody, beautifully voiced by the strings and propelled powerfully forward aided by principals Richard Sebring on horn and Timothy Genis on timpani. In the development section, the bassoons and clarinets introduced the first of two delightful, quirky-rhythmed wind interludes based on the initial theme. The music grew in intensity with the recapitulation of the strings’ lyrical theme leading the way into Nelsons’s drive to the triumphant peroration.
Sunday, July 14 – TMC Vocal Recital — “From Spain to the Americas: A Journey Through the Spanish Language”
This Sunday evening concert in Studio E by Vocal and Piano Fellows was one of the highlights of my Tanglewood visit. Five Vocal and four Piano Fellows collaborated on a program that traced the history of music in the Spanish language from pre-sixteenth century “Sephardic Traditions” through the emergence of “Young Spain” and a later period of “Spanish Nationalism”, and then surveyed music in the Spanish-speaking countries in the Americas. In all, some sixteen different composers were represented. The program was created under the guidance of TMC Faculty Member Javier Arrebola.
The performers entered together and took seats facing the piano from either side of the stage, stepping forward at their respective turns to perform. Mezzo-soprano Madelin Morales led off the evening with a moving a cappella rendition of a traditional Sephardic melody ‘La guirnalda de rosas’ (The wreath of roses), followed by an early twentieth century setting by Alberto Hemsi of another traditional text and a lovely Sephardic-influenced song by contemporary composer Ofer Ben-Amots, ‘Yo kon amor’ (I, in Love). In the latter two songs, Joseph Vasconi’s playing of the extensive piano solo passages was outstanding.
Morales was joined by soprano Rachel Doehring Jackson, tenor Nathaniel Bear and baritone John Arlievsky for a glorious a cappella performance of Tomás Luis de Victoria’s four-part motet, ‘O magnum mysterium’. Jackson and Vasconi then collaborated marvelously on three songs by Joaquin Rodrigo. The first two — ‘¿Con qué la lavaré?’ and ‘Romancillo’ — were tinged with regrets, while the text of the third, ‘Pastorcito santo’ (Holy Little Shepherd), a poem by the Spanish Golden Age writer Lope de Vega, was somewhat more upbeat. Jackson’s lustrous soprano voice along with her evident warmth and charm brought these songs vividly to life.
The concert’s transition to the period of Spanish nationalism began with a piano four-hands rendition of Manuel de Falla’s ‘Danza Española’ from his opera La Vida Breve, brilliantly performed by Piano Fellows William Shi and Zhaoyuan Qin. Soprano Sophie Thompson, accompanied by Shi, sang four songs from the first half of the twentieth century, one each by Joaquin Turina and Enrique Granados, and two by Fernando Obradors. Thompson’s vocalizations and interpretive gestures superbly communicated the texts, especially so in Granados’s ‘El majo discreto’ and Obradors’ ‘El molondró’ both of which speak humorously about rather awkward and outwardly unattractive characters.
For the second half of the concert, featuring Spanish-influenced music from the Americas, tables set with coffee cups and decorated with books were situated in front of the performers’ seats, suggesting, perhaps, a café in Havana or Buenos Aires. To begin, Shi and Qin shared the keyboard again in a four-hands arrangement of Astor Piazzolla’s ‘Bordel 1900’ from his Histoire du Tango, with Qin also providing idiomatic percussive slaps on the body of the piano.
In this half of the program, Arlievsky was particularly impressive in two songs accompanied by Shi: ‘Xavier Montsalvatge’s “Cuba dentro de un piano’ (Cuba Inside a Piano) and Piazzolla’s ‘Jacinto Chiciana’. Arlievsky not only has a pleasing and expressive baritone voice, but also excels as a storyteller. In the milonga-rhythmed Piazzolla song, he began seated on a barstool, rising for the spoken third stanza, and sitting again for the final passages, his gestures completing his enigmatic portrayal of the title character with a long-held final note. Arlievsky also joined in two beautiful duets by Argentine composer Manuel Gómez Carillo, each accompanied by pianist Craig Daffron Jordan. In ‘Huainito’ Arlievsky and Morales sang touchingly as a pair of lamenting doves whose wings had been clipped, and he and Jackson joined in the coquettish duet ‘Bailecito cantando’ in which a repeated refrain addresses “my little dove”.
With Qin at the piano, tenor Nathaniel Bear gave ardent readings of ‘Estrellita’ by Mexican composer Manuel Ponce, ‘Yarivi’ by Ecuadorian Gerardo Guevara, and ‘Pampamapa’ by Carlos Guastavino from Argentina. Bear’s voice has a thrilling quality that only a tenor can attain, and power enough for an opera house. He was at his best, however, in gentler passages that were still more than sufficient to fill this smaller venue and bring out the emotional content of his romantic subject matter. In the lovely duet ‘Tropilla de estrellas’ (Troop of Stars) by Argentine composer Ángel Lasala, Bear’s tenor and Thompson’s soprano were in perfect balance. As the song ended, Thompson walked away and pointed heavenward toward the stars about which they had been singing. Jordan was their fine accompanist.
Before the final song, in which all five vocalists took part, Shi and Qin returned to the piano for an exciting traversal of Piazzolla’s ‘Libertango’, displaying brilliant technique and musicianship. Then, with Jordan at the piano, each of the singers stepped forward to sing one stanza of Violeta Para’s ‘Gracias a la Vida’, all five joining together to repeat its opening line: “Gracias a la vida, que me ha dado tanto” (Thanks to life, which has given me so much.) — an appropriate way to end this delightful evening! I hope to have the opportunity to observe these singers and the other Vocal Fellows as their promising careers unfold.
Monday, July 15 – Master Class with Andris Nelsons and TMC Conducting and Vocal Fellows: “The Art of Conducting”
This was a busy day for this year’s Conducting Fellows. An afternoon masterclass to conducting opera was led by Andris Nelsons and featured excellent singing of Mozart arias by Vocal Fellows. As in the preceding “Art of Conducting” session, a string quartet and two pianos simulated the full orchestra. Both Fellows also had a conducting assignment with the TMC Orchestra in an evening concert.
Although Nelsons focused primarily on fine points of conducting technique, he had the singers describe their characters and the plot situations in which their arias are set, emphasizing the importance of understanding such context in expressing their respective arias’ texts. All four Vocal Fellows gave excellent renditions of their arias. With Collins conducting, soprano Emily Rocha was a radiant Pamina in ‘Ach ich füls’ from Die Zauberflöte, and Yingui He showed off a tenor voice and stylistic intelligence perfect for the role of Tamino in ‘Dies Bildnis ist bezaubernd schön’ from the same opera. Then, when McFadden took the podium to conduct arias from Le nozze di Figaro, mezzo-soprano Carmen Edano convincingly inhabited the character of Cherubino in a superb performance of ‘Voi che sapete’, and baritone Holden James Turner gave an equally polished account of the Count’s recitative and aria, ‘Hai già vinta la causa’. I hope someday to see and hear all of these impressive singers on opera stages.
Monday, July 15 – TMC Orchestra with Dima Slobodeniouk and TMC Conducting Fellows
This TMC Orchestra concert in Ozawa Hall was my fifth and final opportunity to observe this summer’s Conducting Fellows. The concert began with Collins leading a performance of Julia Perry’s Study for Orchestra, ably managing the work’s varied, sometimes syncopated, rhythms, drawing excellent playing from all of the string sections while allowing the colors of the other Instrumental Fellows’ fine playing to shine through. Quincy Erickson’s excellent trumpet solo launched the work’s energetic opening passage, after which a lyrical section was introduced by Jacob Cruz on flute, echoed by Kelly Osterberg’s oboe, Andrei Caval’s clarinet and London Faiye Stovall on horn, then soon followed by Marissa Weston’s lovely violin solo. After rhythmic interjections by timpani and xylophone, Erickson’s trumpet soared above a crescendo by slashing strings. Toward the finish, Amber Ginni Scherer contributed fine solos on both celesta and piano.
Leonard Bernstein’s Suite from On the Waterfront is overtly programmatic, tracing the characters and plot of the Elia Kazan-directed film for which Bernstein composed his only film score. After a resonant horn solo by Dena Levy representing Terry, the central character portrayed by Marlon Brando, McFadden visibly threw himself into the music as it turned violent, portraying the crime-ridden environment in which longshoremen worked. His conducting successfully brought out the shifting actions and emotions called for by Bernstein’s scenario, including: an intense love scene in which Elizabeth McCormack on flute and Yoonsu Cha on harp excelled; an elaboration of Terry’s theme by the full orchestra; and another violent episode. The Suite ended with a climactic depiction of the badly battered Terry making his way to the docks in defiance of the corrupt union leaders.
Having previously attended Dima Slobodeniouk’s session mentoring the two Conducting Fellows, I was most interested in observing his own technique on the podium for two Stravinsky works, Symphonies of Wind Instruments, and Symphony in Three Movements. In the first of these, Slobodeniouk’s gestures were generally square, which evoked rather precise playing from the ensemble comprised of twenty-four wind instruments. The range of timbres was quite fascinating, including excellent contributions from Aram Mun on alto flute, Kelley Osterberg on cor anglais, and Peter Ecklund and Daniel McCarty on bassoon and contrabassoon, respectively.
The full TMC Orchestra was back for Symphony in Three Movements, in which textures were much denser and rhythms more varied. One passage is highly reminiscent of the pounding strings in the composer’s Le sacre du printemps; another is a military march. Slobodeniouk’s gestures and body movements were correspondingly broader and more flexible than in the previous work. The orchestra once again responded with excellent playing. Highlights included: a dialogue between Joseph Vasconi’s piano and Ryan Clever’s flute in the first movement; the interplay between woodwinds and bouncy strings in the Andante middle movement; and excellent solos from McCarty’s contrabassoon, Vasconi’s piano and Gracie Potter’s trombone in the finale, in which Slobodeniouk all but broke into dance on the podium.
Tuesday, July 16
With no classical concerts scheduled at Tanglewood, I enjoyed humor-themed exhibitions at the Norman Rockwell Museum in nearby Stockbridge. “What, Me Worry? The Art & Humor of MAD Magazine” brought back fond memories from my childhood and teen years, and “Norman Rockwell: Illustrating Humor” included images both familiar and new to me. In the evening, I was back at Shakespeare and Company, this time for a hilarious and cleverly staged performance of ‘The Comedy of Errors.’
Wednesday, July 17 – TLI Open Workshop with William Christie — “The Arias of George Frideric Handel”
This afternoon workshop in Studio E was led by William Christie, the renowned harpsichordist, conductor and founder and Music Director of Les Arts Florissants, an ensemble of singers and instrumentalists on period instruments specializing in baroque repertoire. In this session he tutored four Vocal Fellows on the arias of Handel, but his teaching extended as much to the instrumentalists accompanying them — three Piano Fellows playing harpsichord and string players of the New Fromm Quartet, comprised of recent TMC alumni. Among his tips to the string players on performing Handel’s music: “use lots of bow,” “use lots of vibrato,” and “when in doubt, play legato.” He also coached the keyboard accompanists on improvising continuo ornamentation.
The repertory for this session consisted of arias from four different Handel operas: ‘As with rosy steps the morn’ from Theodora, sung by mezzo-soprano Anna Maria Vacca, accompanied by Amber Ginmi Scherer; ‘Svegliatevi nel core’ from Giulio Cesare performed by mezzo-soprano Maddelin Morales with Seoyon Susanna MacDonald on harpsichord; ‘Waft her, angels’ from Jephtha, sung by tenor Evan Katsefes with Schere as his accompanist; and ‘Endless pleasure’ from Semele, performed by soprano Rachel Doehring Jackson with Zhaoyuan Qin at the keyboard. Happily, despite Christie’s many tutorial interruptions, all four pairs of performers had an opportunity for an uninterrupted traversal of their respective arias. Their performances all reflected beauty of voice, keen musicianship and thorough preparation.
Working with the Vocal Fellows, Christie discussed bel canto style, the structure of Handel’s da capo arias, and the difference between recitative and aria singing. Christie lamented most present-day performers’ lack of familiarity with biblical and classical mythological sources on which much repertory is based. He also stressed the need for singers to communicate their stylistic preferences to the accompanying instrumentalists.
Wednesday, July 17 – Yuja Wang in Recital — Music of Shostakovich, Barber and Chopin
My 2024 Tanglewood Experience ended with a brilliant piano recital by Yuja Wang, see below.
This year’s visit to Tanglewood has once again deepened my appreciation of how the future of music is shaped by succeeding generations of musicians collaborating with one another under the mentorship of BSO members and visiting faculty. My stay here also reinforced my regard for the Berkshire region of Massachusetts as both a rich cultural resource, and a place of natural beauty, particularly in the summer months.
· Boston Symphony Orchestra www.bso.org Yuja Wang in Recital
· Opening Night at Tanglewood
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