May 22 2009
After a 25 plus hour day of travel with 4 flight changes and one run in with the swine flu (a 747 that came from America to Tokyo had a positive case and they had to get us a new plane for the flight back. the press was there and hazmat teams and everything) we made it to Pitt airport last night. Next week I will do some more follow up blogs with more pictures and also a round up of reviews from the Asian press.
Time to sleep?!
May 19 2009
The Pittsburgh Symphony got a warm welcome in its hotel here in Kaohsuing (Cow -Shung), Taiwan, and then headed out eat and shop.
But later the next day, it headed to the Kaohsuing Main Stadium, also called Long Teng, or "Flying Dragon" because of how it curves on its open end. I am running out of time now, so I will write more now, but her are some photos of the PSO performing at the main stadium, with principal trumpeter George Vosburgh on the left/below.
UPDATE: The concert went extremely well. Better than I expected considering the hasty rehearsal. The fireworks were on cue with the cannon shots in "1812" and the choirs sounded great in Beethoven Nine. The PSO really played the heck out of the pogram even though the musicians were really hot. When they are published, I will add the review and another color piece (on violinist Huei-Sheng Kao) here.
By the way, on this tour, the PSO became the first orchestra to fly directly from China to Taiwan. Before the restrictions were recently lifted, you had to first fly to Hong Kong, becuase the two countries were really at odds with each other.
For now, it is time to fly home for a well-deserved rest!
Kaohsuing puts out the welcome mat:
May 17 2009
That would be Shanghai, although it wasn't always known by such an elegant and flattering name.
On the left is the Oriental Arts Center. It was designed by the same architect firm as the Beijing Egg -- Paul Andreu Architects -- and in fact looks a bit like the Egg opened up -- same glass panel material. In any case, both are stunning from the outside. The PSO played a concert in Shanghai Saturday night that might still have them talking:
Crowd in Shanghai didn't want PSO to stop the music
Actually, my lede originally was meant to reflect my immediate thought at this concert when the crowd wouldn't let the PSO off: the PSO got Shanghaied!
But we didn't want to bring up old stereotypes in print, so we altered it. Either way, it was fascinating to see such a robust reaction to a concert -- these music lovers (with far fewer Chinese tourists than in Beijing) -- knew they couldn't just come next week to see the PSO like we can in Pittsburgh, and they were determined to squeeze a little more out of them.
In addition to the fantastic architecture of the Oriental Arts Center, the hall was staffed by ushers in traditional dress. Clarinetist Thomas Thompson was kind enough to let me take a photo of him with one backstage. She was actually quite tall, and had to bend a bit for the shots, but what a gorgeous dress:
By the way, that last encore I wrote about of Brahms' "Hungarian Rhapsody No. 5" is so wonderfully crafted by Honeck, even if in that case he didn't have the percussion or trombones on stage (because they weren't needed for that program). He does such fantastic little phrasings that bring a piece alive artistically that I have heard 1,000 times before. It makes me a bit sad that the PSO already recently recorded the Brahms symphonies and Hungarian Dances with conductor Marek Janowski because that probably means Honeck's Brahms will have to be put off and probably won't be recorded. It is too bad because he clearly has amazing things to say with Brahms, like he has with most of the Viennese canon he has conducted so far.
The next day, I followed some PSO musicians, who also teach at Carnegie Mellon University's School of Music, for some master classes at Shanghai Conservatory. It's an experience I will write about later in a bigger piece on the phenomenon of classical music in China. Suffice it to say, the level of playing at the school here is high.
But these PSO'ers (and there were several others who did this in Beijing and Shanghai) deserve credit for taking time from their personal time-off in China to give free master classes to the students here. What an invaluable experience for the students, and let me tell you, they learned a lot!
Clarinetist Michael Rusinek gave five years-worth of training to a young clarinetist in his masterclass, and her expressive abilities grew with every comment. Horn player William Caballero had a larger class, organized by his longtime friend, Xiaoming Han, a horn professor at Shanghai Conservatory and an international player.
Caballero was "blown" away by the talent, but just the same he offered needed advice to the young musicians, sometimes as simple as moving the stands of three musicians playing a horn trio closer together and showing the lead horn player how to better start the piece.
Pitt, Duquense and CMU all have music students from China, but CMU actively takes recruiting trips here for students, and I can see why. These master classes might just bring a brilliant student to CMU's School of Music. But even if they don't, it is a wonderful gift of cultural exchange by these and other PSO musicians.
P.S. The Post-Gazette got this wonderful e-mail the day after the first Beijing concert at the Egg, and I thought I would pass it on:
Comments:
Saw the Pittsburgh Symphony in Beijing tonight. It was terrific....two encores. If it were up to the ticketholders we still would be there.
You are lucky to have such a great orchestra in your city.
Sandy K.
May 15 2009
In case you missed them in the paper or online, here are my reviews of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra at the National Centre for the Performing Arts in downtown Beijing. Actually, I will be adding them as they are published, with some fun photos, too, as I have the time:
Chinese get a charge out of PSO's powerful Beethoven
After slow start, PSO recovers with Mahler
Violinists Kate and Jeremy Black on the Great Wall, with Kate sporting the local look (OK, not so common these days!)
Yes, the Great Wall really did get that steep, as PSO violist Stephanie Tretick and PSO personnel manager, Kelvin Hill demonstr
ate!
The Temple of Heaven is one of the most photographed buildings in the world, and you can see why!
May 15 2009
Music director Manfred Honeck is looking to instill a measure of the Viennese style of playing when the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra performs common practice repertoire from that city (from Haydn to Richard Strauss).
It's a work in progress, as many of the sounds Honeck is searching for are subtle and not what American players are used to, especially the string players. But the strings already sound amazing with the amount timbre and texture (driven by Honeck's vibrato and bowing techniques) they have mastered so far, and it's not even been a full season yet with Honeck at the helm. I can't wait until his ideas reach their full potential.
But when it comes to the trumpets, there's an easier road for the musicians -- get the instruments played in Vienna! That's instead of the piston valve trumpets you are used to seeing (both are methods of lengthening or shortening the tubing to change pitch).
The PSO already has rotary valve trumpets, but they were made by a German company. But last year, PSO trumpeter Charles Lirette (also the group's crack photographer) bought a new rotary valve trumpet from a Viennese manufacturer named Schagerl. He was so impressed by how much easier he was able to attain the timbre and phrasing Honeck has been asking for that he convinced the PSO to buy them for the entire trumpet section. They still have to work on phrasing, texture and the like, but it sure helps to have these instruments for the timbre.
On tour here in Beijing, Lirette showed me the beautiful instrument, and knowing now to listen closely to it, I could tell a more mellow and graceful tone. Or at least I thought I could tell that, perhaps it was in my head, but I think I could tell a difference. Either way, anything that brings the orchestra psychologically and musically closer to Honeck's concepts is a good thing for the PSO, as it is obviously paying off with brilliant performances of the Viennese canon this season.
Here's a couple of nice photos Lirette took of his Schagerl.
May 14 2009
Forget space, we saw the Great Wall of China from our airplane about 20,000 feet in the air as we descending into Beijing. All that did was make us want to get close to the feat of engineering even more so.
On the Pittsburgh Symphony's day off, nearly half the orchestra boarded a bus to a lesser-known stretch of the wall at Juyong Guan. It is an especially fortified defense of a valley, and we essentially did a loop on the wall as twice covered the low area to protect agains Mongol invaders on horseback. It was a small part of the 3,000-4,000 Great Wall (there is debate on exactly how long it is), but it tired most of us out. Thankfully, the crowds here were almost non-existant, so we could all go at our own pace and enjoy the experience.
At times, you felt like you were climbing a wall yourself just walking on the steep and uneven stairs, but that didn't stop your intrepid (and out of shape) critic from doing interviews which I hope to post here shortly (if I can send these big files past the Great Fire Wall of China).
PSO oboist Cynthia DeAlmeida is in awe of the Wall
PSO Bass Clarinetist Richard Page talks about how the Great Wall was defended.
May 13 2009
At the heart of Beijing lies the Forbidden City, the long-time residence of the emperors of China and a must-upon-must see for visitors from China and abroad. In fact there were far more Chinese tourist there than Westerners -- it and the nearby Tian'anmen Square reminded me of Washington, D.C. as a place that citizens feel is crucial to visit for national pride and connection to the past.
Over the Pittsburgh Symphony's stay here in Beijing, most of the musicians traveled to the Forbidden City, even if they had done so on that earlier trip in 1987. More of the 800 buildings and 8,000 rooms of the lavish complex finished in 1420 in the Ming Dynasty are open than were before.
While the sheer size of the Forbidden City is hard to fathom even when you are there, its orderly layout makes it quite easy to organize in your mind and to navigate. I and PSO violist Stephanie Tretick and staff member Nicolle Philipp took the advice of tour books and the hotel concierge to enter not from the main South entrance (the one with the huge portrait of Chairman Mao) but from the north entrance, known as the Gate of the Divine Warrior. It was the right choice as we didn't face the hordes of early morning visitors until about midway through and then they passed us by.
The neatest part about the layout is the ornate marble walkway/carriage way runs through the middle of the City, bifurcating it. Only the emperors could walk or be transported on this road, and it was more than a bit spooky to think just how quickly I would have been chopped up had I been caught standing on the path as I did several times (had I gotten into the City in the first place, considering it was off limits to all but the emperor, some officials, concubines, family and eunuchs!). Actually, most of the pathway is off limits, but there are stretches that the marble has been removed and you can stand on the road.
It also was crazy to think I have seen more of China than the emperors did, since they mostly stayed in the palace structure. But more on this later and other PSO activity on its day off in Beijing (including a trip to the Great Wall). I am going with the PSO to its first rehearsal in the National Performing Centre -the Egg (the sightseeing is over...time to work!). I will blog further and file my review/report of the first concert soon.
May 12 2009
The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra arrived in Beijing this morning -- that is this morning Pittsburgh time, for us it was yesterday. Actually it is quite easy to figure out what time it is in China from Pittsburgh: it is exactly 12 hours ahead, so all you do is switch the a.m. and p.m. on your clock, always rounding to the next day!
The international flight was easy, although some of the musicians had longer connections than others and another twist was that as soon as we got to stunning Beijing Airport (left), we were screened for the swine flu. The Chinese authorities, it seems, were more than ready to quarantine the entire 747 if need be to stop the infection. After filing out a questionnaire (that included the drolly put question: "in the last week have you had any contact with pig?") we walked past slick infrared scanners that identified our temperatures as we walked and put them on a monitor in sci-fi fashion. If your avatar signature was green, you went through, if yellow; you were briefly questioned; if you showed up red, you were pulled into a tent. One musician got the latter treatment, but came out just fine. We all passed the first test of this tour.
Today is an off day in Beijing, which most of the musicians will use to get their bearings, their instruments and their chops going after a long (16-20 hour) day of flying. Then many of us will travel to a section of the Great Wall of China, which we could see from the plane on the way in. I know you can see the wall from space, but it was pretty amazing from the 15,000 ft or so we were at when we passed over it. Can't wait to climb it today.
May 08 2009
By Robert Croan
Post-Gazette Senior Editor
When Vivica Genaux was honored at Pittsburgh Opera’s 2008 Maecenas gala, the Alaskan-born mezzo-soprano accepted the Renaissance Award but did not perform because of a sudden onset of laryngitis. In compensation, the singer most generously offered an entire recital to benefit the company, Wednesday evening at the Opera’s headquarters in the Strip District. She went so far as to bring in at her own expense the Spanish accompanist Carlos de Aragon, who had performed the program with her previously in Europe.
It was a delightful event, the audience seated at tables set up in the recital hall for a dinner to follow, the program a quirky combination of 19th-century Andalusian and Neapolitan music, put together by Aragon with the flimsy but intriguing connection of some stylistic similarities in the indigenous music of the two locales. The highly intelligent singer has even translated Aragon’s program notes from their earlier concerts.
No matter whether or not the musicological assertions are real. Genaux is an irresistible performer, and her singing – along with Aragon’s virtuoso pianism – was most appealing, and she added to the atmosphere of affability by prefacing each group with offhand verbal descriptions from the stage.
Genaux is in Pittsburgh this week to sing the title role in Rossini’s “The Italian Girl in Algiers,” one of Pittsburgh Opera’s most entertaining productions, and Wednesday’s program included one Rossini song, a plaintive lament about an Andlusian widow. It also included pieces by Manuel Garcia and Pauline Viardot-Garcia, singer-composers who were Rossini’s contemporaries, with whom Genaux feels a particular affinity.
More familiar offerings included Iradier’s “La paloma” and Di Capua’s “Maria, Mari” – the latter usually the property of tenors but sounding no less appropriate in Genaux’s very individual rendition. Best of all was her last number, Gimenez’s Zapateado – a wild tarantella that was a favorite of Conchita Supervia, a great Spanish mezzo of the past to whom Genaux’s vibrant vocalism bears a striking resemblance.
May 01 2009
Most of the time, I think, people read reviews of concerts as if they are clinical and based on pure, reasoned thought that was made over a long stretch of time. But the fact is, emotion is a major factor, esp. when we write reviews right after the fact (which is the case for me whether or not they make the next day's paper).
Actually, I think a good review needs to have emotional reaction and content in it. This is not musicology, it is criticism; we are not analyzing a score but reacting to a performance.
Emotion certainly flowed yesterday, when I wrote after an astoundly good concert at Heinz Hall by the Pittsburgh Symphony under Manfred Honeck (pictured). I was both moved and pumped up by it and I think it showed up in the review.
Please register and tell me your thoughts on any of the weekend's concerts...
P.S. It seems that Honeck emerged the victor in a battle at the State Opera of Stuttgart, where he is general music director. In his debut with an Wagner opera (yes, first anywhere), with Wagner's "Lohengrin" in March, the chorus, Honeck and others really didn't like French director Stanislas Nordey’s production. They specifically decried how it forced the chorus to sit on stage in awkward places and I think for most of the production. The chorus and Honeck protested to the point that Nordley withdrew. Here is the presser. I was going to get this out earlier, but then just figured to wait until Honeck was in town:
"Due to irreconcilable differences between director [Nordey] and General Music Director [Honeck], however, Stanislas Nordey withdrew his name from the production on
Monday, March 23. The premiere will therefore be staged according to a
directorial concept of Stanislas Nordey. The differences were mostly
based on a disagreement of how the choir should be placed on stage and
the thus resulting sound situation."
Good for Honeck to stand up for his troops and art in this regietheater situation.