Bagpipes a weapon?

It seems all the influx of foreigners into the country for the Olympics did not make the Chinese completely culturally sensitive. The BBC reports that an amateur bagpiper was nearly arrested for playing near the "Birds nest" stadium when his pipes were mistaken for "some kind of weapon."

Some will say that listening to the bagpipes is a form of aural warfare (I actually like them and once spent an hour trying to make one play at all -- it is not easy!). But maybe we can cut the Chinese a break here ... it is an awfully odd looking instrument with lots of barrel-like drones sticking out of it. 

PSO ad error: The difference between criticism and nitpicking

Thanks to a recent blog post by cartoonist Mike Lynch, we are all made aware of a "glaring" error and "dopey mistake" in a current Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra's ad about its upcoming season. Apparently, the PSO accidental labeled Joshua Bell as a pianist, not a violinist.

And this was worth a blog post? Come on, Mr. Lynch. I am sure you have never made any mistakes in your cartoon copy (actually, cartoonists are famous for doing that).

If you know my writing here, I am far from an apologist for the PSO, but in my coverage of the institution and its performances, I always go by the philosophy that small errors don't concern me -- it's the big picture that counts. And in this case, I think we can cut the understaffed PSO marketing department a break, especially since the rest of the ad is well done. True (constructive) criticism -- not self-serving nitpicking -- might point out that perhaps the PSO could stretch itself a bit for more bold moves in advertising. But the world is hardly going to end because of this small mistake, and it is not as if mistakes don't occur everywhere...

I suggest Mr. Lynch pick on someone like Berkeley Breathed or Garfield...

Pittsburgh Opera announces new Samson

Great condolences to the family of Mark Lundberg, the tenor who died last week. It is a tragedy, especially as he had a large family.

The opera just announced the singer who will take his place in "Samson & Dalila." Here my note that will appear tomorrow in print:

American tenor Frank Porretta will step in as Samson in the Pittsburgh Opera’s production of “Samson & Dalila.” The role was to be sung by Mark Lundberg, who died last week. Porretta, who will make his role debut as Samson, studied at Juilliard and sings in Europe and the United States.

UPDATE 8/25/08:

I just go this fascinating bit from the Pittsburgh Opera's Opera Lady, Beth Parker:

"His father, Frank Porretta, Sr., sang Count Almaviva in The Barber of Seville at Pittsburgh Opera back in January, 1960.

 Also in the cast: Roberta Peters - Rosina and Frank Valentino – Figaro

CMU opera alumni in New York

We are always hearing about the professional success Carnegie Mellon University drama graduates have, but there's plenty of CMU musicians doing well, too. For one, Ricky Ian Gordon, the composer of "The Grapes of Wrath," which the Pittsburgh Opera will produce this fall, spent time at the school, and so did Josh Groben (!)...okay, there are many classical music successes, too, starting with pianist Earl Wild.

Well, just the other day I got an e-mail from a serendipitous meeting of CMU music grads in New York. A new opera company, Opera Omnia, is debuting with a production of Monteverdi's "The Coronation of Poppea" at the old Village Gate on Bleeker Street, now called (hmmm) Le Poisson Rouge.

Singing Lucano is Pittsburgh native Robert Boldin, an up-and-coming  tenor who trained at Carnegie Mellon (BFA there and an masters from Northwestern University). He wrote me to tell me about it, but it turns out I have already heard him sing, but also not in Pittsburgh. He was in the Lyric Opera of Chicago chorus in the "Ring" cycle I saw there in 2005.
 
There are three other Carnegie Mellon alumni involved. Artistic director Crystal Manich (who will also direct the Pittsburgh Opera's upcoming production of "La Boheme" in March, to add to the connections), costume designer Carla Bellisio and lighting designer Evan Purcell.
 
"As we all know Carnegie Mellon grads are everywhere in the arts world, but rarely do you hear about them collaborating and coming together in opera, let alone from four different disciplines with an upstart company," writes Boldin. "The scope of this project was exciting from the start, which is why I got involved. It wasn't until after rehearsals had started that I discovered the CMU connection."

Good luck to them.
 
"Poppea" opens on tomorrow (August 21) and runs through the 27th.

PNME: the final count

Just a few more notes on "Just Out of Reach" as the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble returns from its run of concerts there at the Edinburgh Festival:

PNME was nominated by the press for a Total Theatre Award. The group didn't win, but as executive artistic director Kevin Noe wrote wrote me: "It was an honour [note how Noe how quickly Noe has become Anglicized!] to be nominated at all. It is one of the most prestigious and difficult awards to get. Nevertheless, it means that our contribution to this 2,100 show festival didn't go unnoticed."

It sounds like PNME was definitely noticed, and here is the latest review to show it, from FringeReview

The original post on PNME reviews follows:

The Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble is over halfway through its run of performances of its "theater of music" piece, "Just Out Of Reach" at the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland. Here are a few quotes from reviews it has received.

The Scotsman:

"Narcissus’ lament having fallen in love, as a punishment, with his own image in the
River Styx is one of the highlights, a booming baritone capturing the sadness and
loneliness of the moment. Slightly repetitive in places and slow in pace, this is not
necessarily for everyone, but lovers of Greek mythology and classical music will
more than enjoy the sweeping score and haunting beauty which lie at the heart of
this music-led theatre piece."

ThreeWeeks:

"Despite its setting in the Underworld, ‘Just Out Of Reach’ has a strangely soothing effect; fear and obsession are tempered by a five-piece band and the lilting American voices of the strong cast ... With emotive song and dance, the cast relay mystery and yearning, but for us the significance of the piece is just out of reach."

Fest Magazine:

"The Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble can’t do it all, but they
can do a lot. Making their Fringe début, the group have
produced a show of remarkable versatility that highlights their
extraordinary individual talents. Just Out of Reach is an aural
and a visual delight. Incorporating mime, live score, dance and
comedy, it as an ambitious performance that, at times, both
challenges and enthrals its audience...
This is an elaborate work that may not be to everyone’s tastes,
but even if your existential and classics knowledge is zero, the
beauty of the music performed here and the sheer quality of
the individual performances is utterly convincing. If you want a
show that is both strikingly original and genuinely
entertaining, then you could do much worse than Just Out of
Reach."

Broadway Baby:

A multi-talented ensemble present, through music, song and
dance, the stories of Tantalus, Narcissus and Sisyphus, three men
sentenced to eternal frustration for offending the gods.
Kevin Noe, Matthew Romantini and Robert Frankenberry are fantastically cast as the three prisoners of the
underworld. Frankenberry expresses Narcissus’s plight through song, showcasing a magnificent voice, and Romantini portrays Tantalus through exquisite choreography. However, Noe, playing Sisyphus as a lovable goof, is the main reason to see this show; his roles as both host and contestant in the underworld game-show Melodious Diagnosious are hilarious and one cannot help but fall for him when he performs a number with a ventriloquist’s dummy. Unfortunately, David Skidmore as the Camus-quoting Keeper comes across as obnoxiously affected, partly but not entirely because he is the youngest cast member. While the production as a whole is luxuriously stylish and all elements are blended beautifully, it is let down by a self-indulgent and over-emphasised script."

Ben Franklin finally a published composer

Rare Books Library

Kenneth Sarch, right, talks to "Ben Franklin" (Ralph Archbold) at the opening of the new wing in of Rare Books Library in Harrisburg, on Oct 3, 2006. His arrangement of Benjamin Franklin's String Quartetto was performed by the Mansfield University Student String Quartet.

 

Here's a nice update on a story I reported in 2006.

Kenneth Sarch, a professor at Mansfield University, concertmaster of the Williamsport Symphony and a conductor, arranged what he argues is a string quartet written by Benjamin Franklin around 1778 while he was living in Paris. Not only is a music composition by a founding father news (and adds further legend to just how versatile Franklin's skills were), but the work is singular, says Sarch in a release:

 "The instrumentation - three violins and cello - was not standard in the eighteenth century nor were the unusual directions given to retune all the open strings of each instrument to provide 16 different open string pitches. To play this five movement dance suite, players have to bow only open strings to create melody and harmony without left hand fingering - like a handbell choir of strings!"

Last month, Ludwig Masters Music Publications released Sarch's arrangement of three movements of Franklin's Quartetto for String Orchestra.

There is still doubt whether Franklin did write the work, which was discovered in 1945 in the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris ascribed to him. "There is no mention of the Quartetto in his writing or correspondence and the manuscript is not in Franklin's handwriting," says Sarch. "However, there is nothing like it in the entire literature and I have no doubt that Franklin did compose this work to fulfill a challenge to add to his many interests and intellectual pursuits. Franklin penned a drinking song in his youth, published music, improved the Glass Harmonica (for which Mozart and Gluck wrote) and wrote an essay on the esthetics of music."

Either way, it is a strange work. Listen to it through links on my original story.

PSO to Lucerne

It was great news to hear recently that the Pittsburgh Symphony is going back to the Lucerne Festival, as well as working on a European tour with music director Manfred Honeck at the helm. When the orchestra decided against a tour there during a contract year in 2005, it seemed as if it might never get back. The Cleveland Orchestra stepped in for a very successful three-year stint. Now, the tables turned, as the PSO is going back because the San Francisco Symphony canceled an appearance.

Lucerne is the premier festival perhaps in the world for visiting American orchestras, and the prestige that comes with it makes touring there a priority -- really an at-all-costs priority for an orchestra such as the PSO that counts its high status in Europe (where many think it is the best American orchestra) as a major calling card. So, congrats to the PSO for going back, and to the Hillmans whose new tour fund will help get the PSO there.

Speaking of donors for tours, check this out: The Minnesota Orchestra's recently announced European tour in 2009 with Josh Bell will be "fully funded by a private donor." Wow. The Minnesota orchestra isn't going to podunk places, either: it is hitting the Musikverein, the Berlin Philharmonie, the Barbican and more. I am not in the gossip circles there anymore (I was a student and critic in the Twin Cities in the 1990s), so I don't know who the donor is, but what a shot in the arm that is -- tours are very expense things, as Philly knows...

PNME reviews from Scotland

The Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble is over halfway through its run of performances of its "theater of music" piece, "Just Out Of Reach" at the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland. Here are a few quotes from reviews it has received.

The Scotsman:

"Narcissus’ lament having fallen in love, as a punishment, with his own image in the
River Styx is one of the highlights, a booming baritone capturing the sadness and
loneliness of the moment. Slightly repetitive in places and slow in pace, this is not
necessarily for everyone, but lovers of Greek mythology and classical music will
more than enjoy the sweeping score and haunting beauty which lie at the heart of
this music-led theatre piece."

ThreeWeeks:

"Despite its setting in the Underworld, ‘Just Out Of Reach’ has a strangely soothing effect; fear and obsession are tempered by a five-piece band and the lilting American voices of the strong cast ... With emotive song and dance, the cast relay mystery and yearning, but for us the significance of the piece is just out of reach."

Fest Magazine:

"The Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble can’t do it all, but they
can do a lot. Making their Fringe début, the group have
produced a show of remarkable versatility that highlights their
extraordinary individual talents. Just Out of Reach is an aural
and a visual delight. Incorporating mime, live score, dance and
comedy, it as an ambitious performance that, at times, both
challenges and enthrals its audience...
This is an elaborate work that may not be to everyone’s tastes,
but even if your existential and classics knowledge is zero, the
beauty of the music performed here and the sheer quality of
the individual performances is utterly convincing. If you want a
show that is both strikingly original and genuinely
entertaining, then you could do much worse than Just Out of
Reach."

Broadway Baby:

A multi-talented ensemble present, through music, song and
dance, the stories of Tantalus, Narcissus and Sisyphus, three men
sentenced to eternal frustration for offending the gods.
Kevin Noe, Matthew Romantini and Robert Frankenberry are fantastically cast as the three prisoners of the
underworld. Frankenberry expresses Narcissus’s plight through song, showcasing a magnificent voice, and Romantini portrays Tantalus through exquisite choreography. However, Noe, playing Sisyphus as a lovable goof, is the main reason to see this show; his roles as both host and contestant in the underworld game-show Melodious Diagnosious are hilarious and one cannot help but fall for him when he performs a number with a ventriloquist’s dummy. Unfortunately, David Skidmore as the Camus-quoting Keeper comes across as obnoxiously affected, partly but not entirely because he is the youngest cast member. While the production as a whole is luxuriously stylish and all elements are blended beautifully, it is let down by a self-indulgent and over-emphasised script."

Kids music -- Letting the 'Secret' out

Since I have young children, I am always on the look-out for compromise CDs to play in the car.

What I mean by "compromise" is music that my kids like and that I like -- or rather that I don't hate.

There is a good deal of bad children's music out there, especially newly written tunes and poorly played classical music. With the latter, even if the concepts for the CDs are creative or educational, the actual performances can just grate, as if they were all sight-read in a rushed recording session.  "Beethoven's Wig," "The Mozart Effect" and "Baby Einstein" are prime suspects, but Disney's "Little Einsteins" and various compilations made by major classical labels using their own catalogs are better. In contrast, traditional music and nursery rhymes find many excellent advocates (our favorite artist lately is the talented Susie Tallman).

Of course, I am not above suffering through mediocre music if my kids like it -- I leave the music criticism at work. But why suffer if there are some great discs we both enjoy? So I am always searching for new discs that fit this bill. Leaving aside new interpretations of traditional and classical music for the moment, let me point out some new tunes we recently discovered that we all love.

Surprise, its Canadian! (They always do everything better, don't they?) The label is The Secret Mountain. We have been listing to some French Canadian music on a disc called "Let the Good Times Rouler" and some silly music on a CD called "A Treasure in My Garden" (originally a DVD)  Both have a song on them written by Gilles Vigneault that should become an instant kids classic: "Barati, baratin" or in a loose translation, "Scuttlebutt, What a Nut." Here is a 30-sec clip of it in English:

"Scuttlebutt, What a Nut"

 and in French:

"Barati, baratin"

And a typical verse (in translation):

This is Mister Look at That

He says he's an acrobat

Thinks that he is full of grace

Till he falls flat on his face

Scuttlebutt, what a nut, big net

Needs a net in his backyard

How can you not love that?! The whole song is hilarious and catchy. Vigneault shows a considerable ability to be silly and musically substantive in the rest of "Treasure," too, and the musicians of Hart-Rouge who perform have just the right, light touch. 

Let the Good Times Rouler" is a real party disc, no matter if you don't know what they are saying (as I don't)! I recommend both, and recommend checking out more of The Secret Mountain's catalog.

Now, back to "adult" (and classical) music...

Chopin's heart does not lie in his music

Rather, it lies in a jar, it seems. That is the most shocking part of this story from last month (catching up from vacation), not that it outlines the latest example of the recent obsession by scientists to figure out exactly why a composer died. I visited his grave in Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris, but I never realized his heart was not there! Anyway, here is the article on the controversy surrounding Chopin's heart:

 Poles Deny DNA Testing on Chopin's Heart
By Vanessa Gera
Associated Press
July 28, 2008


WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Like a religious relic, the heart of composer Frederic Chopin rests in a Warsaw church, untouched since it was preserved in alcohol after his death in 1849 at age 39. And that's how the Polish government wants to keep it.

Scientists want to remove the heart for DNA tests to see if Chopin actually died from cystic fibrosis and not tuberculosis as his death certificate stated. But the government says that's not a good reason to disturb the remains of a revered native son.

The heart lies in a jar sealed inside a pillar at Warsaw's Holy Cross Church — and the only time it has been removed was for safekeeping during World War II.

Before it was returned in 1951, a doctor examined the heart and found it perfectly preserved in an alcohol that many think is cognac. Chopin died in France, where his body is buried, but he asked that his heart be sent to his homeland.

Cystic fibrosis, an incurable genetic disease, was not discovered until many decades after Chopin's death, and the scientists who want to examine the heart say many of his symptoms match that illness, including respiratory infections, recurrent fevers, delayed puberty and infertility.

A spokeswoman for the Culture Ministry, Iwona Radziszewska, told The Associated Press on Thursday that ministry officials consulted experts and decided that "this was neither the time to give approval, nor was it justified by the potential knowledge to be gained."

One of the experts consulted, the head of the National Frederic Chopin Institute in Warsaw, Grzegorz Michalski, argued the scientists failed to demonstrate that they had sufficient expertise carrying out such DNA tests or that the chances of success were high.

He said the "dominant view" of Chopin experts "is that the proposed research is going to serve first and foremost to satisfy the curiosity of the project's authors," while offering no "new knowledge that would have a meaningful impact on the assessment of the figure and work of Chopin."

One of the scientists seeking to do the tests, geneticist Michal Witt, acknowledged that DNA testing might not prove whether Chopin was afflicted with cystic fibrosis or not.

Part of the uncertainty, he said, comes from not knowing what condition the heart is in after so many years in alcohol. But he said his team was made up of experts, including forensic molecular biologist Tadeusz Dobosz, fully capable of carrying out the study.

Witt believes authorities rejected the testing because of the relic-like status of the heart of Chopin, who isclaimed as one of Poland's greatest treasures.

"I'm sure that played a major role, and it's understandable," Witt said.

Chopin was born in 1810 in Zelazowa Wola, a village near Warsaw, to a Polish mother and French father. From an early age, he suffered frail health and nasal and lung infections typical of cystic fibrosis. He was so weak at times that he had to be carried off stage after concerts, and in his later years he taught piano while lying down.

Witt co-authored a paper in the Journal of Applied Genetics citing other symptoms indicating the possibility of cystic fibrosis. At age 22, Chopin complained facial hair wouldn't grow on one side of his face, a sign of delayed puberty. He also never fathered any children despite sexual relations with several women, including a famous relationship with the French writer George Sand, a mother of two children by her husband.

Though Chopin's death certificate says he died of "tuberculosis of the lungs and the larynx," the doctor who treated him, Jean Cruveilhier, said the death was caused "by a disease not previously encountered," according to historical documents cited by Witt in his paper.

Witt believes it is of more than just academic interest to investigate whether Chopin died of cystic fibrosis.

"It matters for those who are affected with cystic fibrosis, and with any other debilitating chronic disorder," he said. "Can you believe what message you send saying that you might become a genius even if you have a disorder like that? And it is a question worth answering if possible."

Associated Press writer Zuzia Danielski contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press