Invitation to the Dance

Conductors Andrew Grams and James Gaffigan have been on my "to see" list since they were both on the NACOcast back in March 2010.  Host Christopher Millard had them pull questions out of a hat to answer.  I'm pretty sure Gaffigan has been to Toronto, I just haven't made it to the concert.  So my task to see them both started on June 22 when Andrew Grams conducted the last series of TSO 2012/2013 season concerts titled Invitation to the Dance.

The concert opened with the title piece by Carl Maria Von Weber.  There's a story that plays out as the cello, being the gentleman, asks the lady, the woodwinds, to dance.  She says maybe, eventually agrees and they dance!  At the conclusion they go their separate ways and fade away.

"Carmen Fantasie" was written for the 1945 Joan Crawford movie Humoresque about a virtuosic violinist.  Sixteen year old Kerson Leong, making his TSO debut, certainly fit the bill.  Based on themes from Bizet's opera Carmen, there's no lack of great content and Leong had the whole orchestra and audience applauding when he finished.

Leong and the TSO (TSO photo)

The first half finished with the always popular "Can-Can" from Offenbach's operetta Orpheus and the Underworld.  I've played an arrangement of this piece and whether listening or playing it has been forever converted in my mind from the words I knew as a child "can can can you do the can-can..." to the Straight No Chaser lyrics from their "Christmas Can-Can", "it's time to do the Christmas can-can if you can't can't dance well that's ok, not going to do the kickline..." etc.  Great song really no matter how you think of it.  One of those tunes guaranteed to stick in your head.

Andrew Grams (musicvinearts.com)

Having been a violinist with the New York City Ballet, Grams said he'd played about 300 performances of The Nutcracker.  Yet he still is able to like Tchaikovsky and conduced a "Suite from The Sleeping Beauty".  It featured the intrduction of the Lilac Fairy, the Waltz (known to me as "Once Upon a Dream" from the Disney version), and the Rose Adagio.

Grams also shared that one of the common questions he's asked is what's his favourite music to conduct?  He said that people expect a young person like himself to say Mahler or Shostakovich.  But he really likes polkas and waltzes because they're the most fun!  He got to have fun and brought the audience along with him as the concert concluded with "On the Beautiful Blue Danube Waltz" by Strauss Jr. and "Radetzky March" by Strauss Sr.

"Radetzky's" was the other reason I wanted to attend this concert.  It was the recessional all through high school for commencement so we played it a lot and I was looking forward to hearing how it should sound.  I wasn't disappointed!  It's one of my favourites.  I had no idea there was a whole audience participation tradition though.  It took a bit to get the hang of the dynamics but finally we followed the conductor and got it right.

In addition to being the season ending for the TSO, it was the last concert for second trombonist William Cross, who is retiring.  He was acknowledged with enthusiastic applause from the audience.

Thanks to the Toronto Symphony for another great season.  See you in September!

MGM at the NAC Completes a Cycle

Ten seasons ago Those Glorious MGM Musicals debuted at the National Arts Centre.  I was in the audience attending my first symphony concert.  The rest, as they say, is history.  Thursday June 20 Jack Everly was back on the podium, at the venue, and with the concert that hooked me.

With each viewing there are different stories and new things to see and hear.  The content of this program was the same as the Naples Philharmonic version, except with a new guy in the song and dance man roll, David Elder replaced Nick Adams.

David Elder
(michaelcassara.net )

David's first number "Steppin' Out With My Baby" was entertaining if not as athletic or high flying as Nick's.  Although I enjoyed David's interpretation of Groucho Marx's "Lydia Oh Lydia" more.  His "Singin' in the Rain" at the end of the program was joyous and always one of my favourites.  The others in the cast were Nick Fitzer, Scott Hogsed, Kathy Voytko, and Dan'yelle Williamson.

Let's see, new stories from Everly this time around were in the introduction to a medley from "Meet Me in St. Louis".  Originally the casting was to be Gene Kelly and June Allison, however when Kelly broke his ankle and the role went to Fred Astaire they re-cast the leading lady as well.   Judy Garland was deemed a better fit for Astaire.

The final piece in the opening half was a "Hollywood Hit Parade" medley which featured "You Stepped Out a Dream" from Ziegfeld Girl; "Easy to Love" which I'm familiar with from Anything Goes, however was introduced in the musical Born to Dance and allowed the orchestra to show their skills free from vocal additions; "Wonderful Day" from Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, "Most Unusual Day" from A Date with Judy; "San Francisco" which was sung by the choir and from the movie by the same name; "Be My Love" from The Toast of New Orleans, was the first song sung by Nick in a powerful tenor voice; "Get Happy" from Summer Stock the Garland classic, was again performed beautifully by Dan'yelle.  It concluded with "Sing Hallelujah" from Hallelujah! and had costuming direct from patriotic America, by design or not I don't know (the ladies wore lovely red and blue ball gowns while the gentlemen were dashing in black tuxes).  It wasn't quite the "360 hits" mentioned in Everly's intro, but it covered a lot of the wonderful classics.

Peter Webster
(nac-cna.ca)

Following Kathy and Dan'yelle's "Can't Help Lovin' That Man" duet, Jack took a moment to say how fitting a piece that was because a 41 year veteran of the orchestra was retiring.  Violist Peter Webster was coaxed to his feet to take a bow while the audience enthusiastically recognized him for his contributions.

The "That's Entertainment" encore, is perhaps a piece that's growing a bit thin with entertainers.  Jack started by saying how it was Kathy's favourite song so they had to include it in the program.  Meanwhile she's motioning that it's not her favourite at all.  I enjoyed it for the conclusion of "Hip Hooray, the Canadian way..."  It was a nice touch.

With that a cycle of sorts has been completed for me, going back to the same show having spent a wonderful 10 seasons of experiencing all orchestras have to offer.  I have no intentions of stopped now, there's always much more to hear!  Many thanks to the orchestra and program who started it all.

High and Low Guest Artists

On June 6 the TSO performed a concert titled Joshua Bell and Edgar Meyer, artists who play instruments at opposite ends of the sonic spectrum.  My reasons for wanting to go were to hear (in no particular order):
-  the acclaimed Bell who I'd heard about, including the busking in the Washington DC subway story
- "Appalachian Spring" because I like the piece and haven't ever heard a great recording of it
-  "Pines of Rome" because I heard the name of the composer, Respighi, mentioned in an interview and turns out this is one of his famous pieces.
The heart of the concert, according to the program, was the "Concerto for Violin and Double Bass" composed by bassist Meyer with Bell in mind.

The evening opened with "Appalachian Spring".  It was "wow" for me.  Soft and soaring in all the right spots.  The layering at the start of the strings and the winds was spot on.  I've never heard it clearly before because recordings are always so quiet I have to turn up the volume and then when the dynamic changes and the tempo picks up it blows you away, and not in a good way.  The balance live was perfect.  Associate Principal clarinet Yao Guang Zhai seemed to have a good time with the solos and I love that the "Simple Gifts" melody appears in the clarinet first.  In fact there were notable clarinet parts in every piece.

Bell and Meyer during the concerto (TSO photo)

The concerto followed with Meyer adding a bit of a casual flair to the evening dressed in shirt sleeves rolled to the elbows, bow tie and suspenders.  There was some dissonance in the piece, but enough to peak interest as to where it was going to go, and most often satisfactorily resolved.  I particularly liked the melodic theme and rhythmic drive in movements 1 and 3, named "Quarter Note = 135" and "Half Note = 80" respectively.  The theme from the third particularly got into your head and I heard people humming the theme at intermission.  Meyer's bass looked smaller than the others in the orchestra and had an extended finger board on one side allowing him to get to the upper end of the basses 6 octaves and into the register of Bell's violin part.  The middle movement was more reflective, fitting in that it was a memorial to a student they both knew at Curtis.

Post intermission Joshua Bell got his solo chance to dazzle in "Tzigane, rapsodie de concert for Violin and Orchestra" by Ravel.  Honestly all I know of Ravel is "Bolero".  This was completely different and Bell demonstrated his very impressive skills elegantly.

Finally, "The Pines of Rome".  Honestly I was expecting to recognize more.  I've had the same

problem with recordings of this as with "Appalachian Spring" since there is such dynamic contrast.  It involves a large orchestra; there were 8 basses, 3 trombones and 3 trumpets on stage plus another 2 of each above the choir loft.  There's something about a huge brass sound that's thrilling, particularly when it builds like the final movement "The Pines of the Appian Way".  I could have sat through the entire concert again right away.

West Side Story With Orchestra

Getting in on the movie of the year (several orchestras have had it on the program recently), and following up on the successful Oz with Orchestra from last season, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra played the score to West Side Story live, accompanied by the movie, at the end of May.  For me the movie was indeed secondary.  I don't much care for the plot (what can I say, I'm a sucker for happy endings), but adore the music!  The dancing is worth watching too.

50 years after it's debut in 1961 MGM released a restored, high definition print of the film.  It's pretty stunning.  I watched an older DVD not that long ago and didn't notice some things, but the colours just popped out in the HD version.  Of course watching it on a huge screen above the orchestra might have helped too.

High flying Jets  (MGM photo)

The tech behind the concert is impressive as well.  A sound technology developed by Audionamix was "taught" to distinguish between the orchestral score and all the other sounds in the movie.  The score was removed and everything else (vocals, sound effects etc.) remained.

But there was a problem with the score.  Namely there wasn't one.  The original musical arrangements for the film were lost.  Research uncovered papers from the original orchestrator Sid Ramin, conductor/music director Johnny Green, director Robert Wise and producer Walter Mirisch that were used to piece together a new score.

Then of course the conductor needs some indications of what should happen when in order to keep everything synchronized.    In addition to a click-track, in fact the orchestra wore single ear headphones for the concert, conductor Steven Reineke had a monitor playing the movie with timing indications superimposed.  Quite simply these were bars that moved across the screen.  I found myself watching that more often than the big screen.  From what I could determine the white bars and flashes were a steady beat, a green bar was start, red for stop, and magenta bars for tempo changes.

TSO pre concert

Regardless of how it's heard, the music is the best part of West Side Story.  But there really is something special when it's played by a live orchestra.  Unfortunately I couldn't see the brass section because of the screen, and there's so many good brass parts.  Nothing I heard though indicated any problems.  In fact the French horn solo at the end of the opening credits and to close the first half, was spot on.   The percussion was certainly on top of things as well.  I imagine the rhythms in the mambo section of "Dance at the Gym" aren't easy at the best of times but when it has to be spot on with the film, it seems it would be an extra challenge.  That piece and "America" are probably my favourites from the movie and they were perfect to my ears, as was the whole evening.  It was touching and a testament to how much the audience enjoyed the concert that they cheered for Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, and others in the credits.

Next year they're doing Casablanca.  Stay tuned.

TSO and Photo Choreography

I made the notes on this concert ages ago and realized I never actually posted them.  So without further ado, on April 17th the TSO and guest artist Gil Shaham were featured in a program called My Homeland.  

I've loved "The Moldau" (a movement of "Ma Vlast" or "My Fatherland") since having to study Smetana and program music in high school.  Funny how dissecting music doesn't ruin my enjoyment of it in the same way as dissecting literature.  When the TSO put "Ma Vlast" on the program I jumped at the chance to hear "The Moldau" as it should be played and the rest of the work in its entirety.

Gil Shaham
(credit: Christian Steiner)

The concert opened with Mozart's "Turkish Violin Concerto No. 5".  Gil Shaham had entertaining facial expressions and sometimes seemed to be playing directly to conductor Peter Oundjian. When Mr. Shaham was not playing he looked like he could have been dancing to the music in his head.  The smiling, friendly personally he displayed was very fitting for the quick light dance style piece.  It was a shame that after the first movement we had to wait so long for the late comers to find their seats.  Oundjian even commented "there's some lovely seats up here" and pointed to a few in the front row.  I recognized more of the music than I thought I would and it's probably my favourite of the violin concertos I've heard.

Prague (www.gooverseas.com)

Recognizing more than I expected happened with "Ma Vlast" as well.  There was what some people would call a gimmick to the performance.  Two gentleman, James Westwater and Nicholas Bardonnay spent June and October in the Czech Republic taking photos and then fit them to the music.  The end result was pretty astounding and they coined the term "photo choreography" to describe it.  While the orchestra played, the images were projected on three screens above them.  The images weren't meant to tell the same story that Smetana's program music was, but just match/create moods and feelings.

I loved and recognized the opening movement titled "The High Castle".  This was paired with images of what I imagine was Prague, as well as castles and forts on green hills against a gorgeous blue sky.

"The Moldau" was my favourite and fittingly the photos were mostly of water.  At one climax just

The Moldau (www.hberlioz.com)

before the section in the music where the river starts to flow through the city and the melody changes, the somewhat suspensful music was paired with photos of a group of people in various canoes and kayaks going down some rough water beside a water fall.  Some people made it, some capsized but it fit the music absolutely perfectly!

The movement "Sarka" or "A Princess" was paired with images of churches and cathedrals, all very regal looking.  Prior to the performance when Oundjian described the piece, he gave the most details about this section which he admitted to liking very much.  It's the story of a girl who hates all men (at which point he quipped "nothing really changes does it").  She poisons them all and they start falling asleep, "starting with the second bassoon".  Sure enough in the music there were a final series of calls that started with the bassoon so perhaps that's what he was talking about.

The images for an "Encampment" took on a darker tone moving to World War Two and opening with a picture of a swastika.  There were historical pictures from a concentration camp with the more graphic being held in slight shadow, never coming into perfect focus but getting the point across without needing to be.  The music switches abruptly between dark and light and to counter the darkness were images of peace.  One was even of a wall with John Lennon's picture and hearts.

This isn't the first piece that has been paired with images by Westwater and Bardonnay.  I didn't think that it detracted from the music, and it wasn't hard to focus on the orchestra and not watch the pictures.  However, that isn't the same opinion held by others.  "Ma Vlast" with photo choreography was a co-commission and had its debut in Scotland with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.  This is a review of that performance where the photo aspect is lambasted in the comments, 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2013/mar/24/rsno-oundjian-review

All I can say is experience it yourself before making a judgement.  I'm glad I found the review after I'd already seen the performance.

Off to See the Wizard

Back in November 2012, the Canadian public voted on who they wanted for the lead in a new Andrew Lloyd Webber production of The Wizard of Oz.  Over a series of weeks people tuned in to Over the Rainbow on CBC to watch the very talented cast of Canadian young ladies compete for the job.  In the end Danielle Wade came out victorious.  A few weeks ago I went to see the show.

I didn't have super high expectations having gotten a ho hum review from a friend, but I was quite impressed and really enjoyed it.  To begin, Danielle was a fantastic Dorothy, her voice is lovely and she brings the right mix of young girl trying to find her place in the world combined with the courage to handle her time in Oz.  At times I was even reminded of Judy Garland.  Sure Danielle probably has lots more to learn when it comes to acting, but what she knows works well in the role.  Her attempt to walk across the stage during the tornado was very well done, you'd really think she was facing a wall of wind.

Danielle as Dorothy in Kanses
(www.facebook.com/CBCOverTheRainbow)

I have high praise for the music aspect as well.  Webber didn't take anything major out that would be expected by fans of the movie (well ok "If I Were King of the Forest" could be considered major by some, but it was never my favourite song so I really didn't miss it), and the additional music and songs fit the style as well.  The biggest new song would be the finale in Oz "Already Home", however I particularly liked what they did with Dorothy's meeting of Professor Marvel.

Cedric Smith as Prof. Marvel
(toronto.broadwayworld.com)

His song, "Wonders of the World" was witty and who knew Cedric Smith (known to me from his years as Alec King on Road to Avonlea) could sing?  The small orchestra in the pit couldn't duplicate the lushness of the original MGM orchestrations but they held their own giving a larger sound than expected for only 12 players.  Their names were listed in the program and it was cool to see the French Horn player was Erin Cooper-Gay, who often can be seen as an extra musician in the horn row of the Toronto Symphony.

The opening scenes in Kansas could have been slow and dull, but the under current of "Nobody Understands Me" where Dorothy laments her life and Toto's fate if Miss Gulch gets him, the farm hands try to get a generator (that looks like Maurice's invention from Beauty and the Beast), started, and Uncle Henry and Aunt Em worry about the chicks, kept things moving along at a good pace.  The use of technology for the tornado was impressive.  When the projected image of the funnel cloud filled the stage and items were shown swirling along for the ride then "hitting" the stage, they bounced back up!  Someone thought to incorporate some physics!  It added a certain degree of realism rather than having the items just disappear above or below the projector sight lines.

The farm hands Hunk, Hickory, and Zeke who would become the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion in
Oz had hints in their Kansas lines of what was to come.  They were vague enough to not give anything away for people who weren't familiar with the movie, but were a smooth way of slipping in that little something extra for people who knew.

With the Wizard
(www.thespec.com)

As for the vocal talents of Mike Jackson (Tin Man), Jamie McKnight (Scarecrow), and Lee MacDougall (Lion), they were impressive in their "If I Only Had a Brain/Heart/Nerve" solos, and had decent mannerisms for their characters, although I doubt anyone can reproduce the rubber-ness of Ray Bolger.  I particularly liked that they gave the Tin Man tap shoes.

Ensemble in Emerald City
(www.hipurbangirl.com)

Another area where thought was evident was the costuming.  By dressing the ensemble of Munchkins in high waisted, puffy dresses or pants with flat shoes it shortened their appearance, especially once Dorothy was in heels and beside the statuesque Robin Evan Willis as Glinda the good witch.  Switching tactics for Emerald City, the same people appeared to grow instantly by giving the ladies heels and lower waisted dresses and jackets.

There was the required flying by the monkeys and witches with mostly hidden cables.  Dorothy got in on the action with her capture by said monkeys, and the harnessing was smooth and hidden with enough other action on the stage that attention was not focused on her awaiting the take-off.

The set for the Wicked Witch of the West's castle wasn't my favourite.  The door to Oz was more

Wicked Witch
(toronto.broadwayworld.com)

imposing than the scaffolding like tower Dorothy was locked in.  Lisa Horner did a fine job with her  additional solo song "Red Shoe Blues".

There will forever be comparisons between the MGM movie and any recreations of The Wizard of Oz story, but I think this one works well with the combination of old and new brought to life by a great Canadian cast!

The Music of James Bond

Bond through the years
(www.torontovka.com)

Conductor John Morris Russell, another of my favourites, returned to the Toronto Symphony this past week bringing with him the original scores from some of the best music in the 23 James Bond movies.  Composed by various people such as John Barry, Monty Norman, David Arnold, and even John McCartney, the person who really gave Bond his sound was someone not nearly as well known, arranger Nic Raine.  It was those arrangements the TSO brilliantly performed, and appeared to have an enjoyable time doing it.  

The night opened with the "James Bond Main Theme" before

Capathia Jenkins
(broadwayworld.com)

moving on to some of the hits from the Sean Connery era.  Guest vocalist Ron Bohmer made his TSO debut singing "Thunderball" to great effect.  Capathia Jenkins followed with "For Your Eyes Only", also her debut performance.  She has a gorgeous sultry voice that totally suited the James Bond style.  I think that was my favourite vocal song of the evening, although Bohmer's "From Russia With Love" was a close second.  Both singers, but especially Jenkins, seemed so pleased with the audience reaction and generously indicated their thanks to the audience and orchestra.

As usual the orchestra was not left out.  They played a short suite from Dr. No, complete with a recorded voice over of the most famous line in movie history (according to Conductor Russell), "martini, shaken not stirred".  

Mrs. Peel

Opening the second half was a series of orchestral selections featuring guest saxophonist John Johnson and brassy solos by trumpeter James Gardiner.  It started with the "Soul Bossa Nova" better known as the theme from Austin Powers, then moved to the piece that started the spy-fi genre, the "Peter Gunn Theme".  Russell broke in to continue the history and stories he was providing between pieces to discuss the appeal a character named Mrs. Peel, who "wore leather and kicked butt", had for a young boy growing up in Ohio.  The orchestra followed with the theme from the TV series The Avengers.  

Ron Bohmer
(www.imdb.com)

Also included were Mission Impossible with it's identifying 5/4 time, the Pink Panther, and the theme from Shaft where Bohmer reappeared in his own leathers.

Moving on to more recent Bond movies, Jenkins sounded just like Adele singing "Skyfall" then switched to Gladys Knight for "Licence to Kill".  "The Look of Love" from the original Casino Royale had Russell get in on the non conducting action to join Jenkins for a classy slow dance.  Bohmer returned a final time to sing "You Know My Name" from the Daniel Craig as Bond version of Casino Royale.

Of course one couldn't leave until perhaps the most popular Bond song, made famous with the Shirley Bassey vocals but left as an orchestral encore piece, was played.  The evening was brought to a final close with "Goldfinger"!

Check out a photo of the TSO in rehearsal

TSO rehearsal with Maestro Russell (www.680news.com)

and a pre-show interview Maestro Russell gave with 680 news here: http://www.680news.com/2013/04/02/interview-john-morris-russell-guest-conductor-for-the-toronto-symphony-orchestra/