Tales from the Symphonic Strip

What happens in Vegas, may stay in Vegas, but what happens at the symphony gets blogged about!  This past March 31 and April 1 were phenomenal, days I won't soon forget.  Why you ask?  I enjoyed "Pops Goes Vegas" with the TSO, not once, but three times.  Yes, it really is that good a show!

The stage was set with a Vegas theme, including a sign and plant which proved to be interactive.

Mr. Everly proved to be his usual, engaging self, interacting with the audience right away as he silently called for the stage hand to remove the previously mentioned plant.  At a groan from the audience, he turned and said "oh no, nothing tacky in these hallowed halls", before giving a jumping upbeat to the orchestra and displaying the back of his characteristic white jacket, however it was no longer plain white.  Instead "VEGAS" appeared in red lights and what looked like fiber optic stars sparkled around it and down the sleeves.  Great start to the glitz and glamour of the evening.
The jacket lasted through the Overture and "Las Vegas" (which it's taken me all week to discover is from an unproduced musical by Jerry Herman of Hello Dolly fame called Miss Spectacular).  The non-powered white jacket was delivered by one of the show girls (because it wouldn't be Vegas without them) and Mr. Everly changed without skipping a beat and started into a brief history of Las Vegas.  Apparently it started as a railway town which required entertainment for the workers and so there was "legalized gambling, legalized alcohol, and [glances at showgirls]...well lets just say lots of things were legalized." ;)

The vocalists were all top quality.  Allison Briner even took a break from her current Broadway role in Mamma Mia! to do the show.  Scott Beck was very easy to listen to and on the eyes, while Joe Cassidy from a distance resembled Rodney McKay from Stargate.  But he could sing and channeled Frank Sinatra for a wonderful arrangement (courtesy of Fred Barton) of "I Gotta Be Me/My Way".  The two songs intertwined amazingly well.

The highlight performer though had to be Martin Preston as Liberace (haha, Mr. Everly introduced like that too, with the "famous for"'s and drum rolls).  He dazzled quite literally.  The first costume even contained Swarovski crystals and apparently weighed 35 lbs.  The mannerisms and even some of his opening talk were right from Liberace himself.  Then there was the piano playing...wow!  From Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto #1, I'll Be Seeing You, Beer Barrel Polka, to audience requests (even mine of Rhapsody in Blue and then I Got Rhythm in the evening because no one else was suggesting anything), Liberace played it all.  He even debuted a piece that hadn't been played by anyone else with the Toronto Symphony, the classic "Chopsticks".  But it turned into a pretty impressive theme and variations version.

The orchestra was by no means overlooked.  For that big band sound there were additional musicians particularly for the trumpets, trombones, and saxophones.  They shone in an original orchestration (also by Barton who had worked with Coleman) of "Big Spender" from the Cy Coleman musical, Sweet Charity, "New York, New York", and throughout the whole evening.  It was a real pleasure to see several musicians appear to really be enjoying themselves (the principal violin and cello specifically).  The evening had all the segments of Vegas from a tribute to the top stars (such as Sinatra, etc) to the lounge acts designed to keep people in the casinos at all times.  To represent the declining talent lounge aspect Mr. Everly made a deadpan introduction "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the final 3am show at the Last Call Lounge.  Now here they are...Joe and Ally" which started a skit/song/dance act telling the story of the turbulent relationship between the married couple Joe and Ally.  My guess is this is a take off of Steve Lawrence and Edyie Gorme.  Allison's impersonations of Barbra Streisand, Liza Minelli, Bernadette Peters, Charo, Cher, and Ethel Merman were played for laughs and succeeded.  At each performance, Ethel especially, got a big reaction from the audience and even bow wavings and stomps from the orchestra!  A few times Mr. Everly even had to rein in a chuckle before continuing with the next introduction.  All of that makes the night feel personal, like you're not just watching a detached group of people, but that they're enjoying the moment as well.

I could go on with way more details of the show, but I've probably raved enough.  This was a friend of mine's first introduction to the symphony and she's interested in going to more Pops shows next season.  So Maestro, as you mentioned in your closing remarks, I agree there's nothing like live music and I'm trying to do my part in expanding the audience.  Hope to see more people at the symphony!

March Music Month continues with a Spanish Flare

March 25th it was back to the TSO for an evening of Joaquin's and Hector.  The program featured Joaquin Turina's "La Oracion del torero" otherwise known as "The Bullfighter's Prayer", Joaquin Rodrigo's "Concierto de Aranjuez", and "Symphonie Fantastique" by Hector Berlioz.

I was prepared for Symphonie Fantastique, having even gone to the basement the night before and dug out my grade 12 music notes to re-familiarize myself with the story line.  Yes, I know you're all thinking...what? she has grade 12 music notes?!?  What can I say?  I'm a bit of a pack-rat.  I even found all the clarinet test pieces I played that year.  I need to try playing those again to see if I've gotten any better...but I digress.  I knew the Symphonie story involved the artist drugging himself with opium in an attempt to commit suicide but not quite getting there, and that the main theme represented "his beloved" and was characterized by an idee fixe.  But the beginning movements I had forgotten about, so it was nice to read my rather short synopsis of "Reveries and Passions", "A Ball", and "In the Country", the first three movements.  "The March to the Scaffold" is where my memory started kicking in, since this is where he dreams he's killed his beloved and is executed.  "Dream of the Witches' Sabbath" has the idee fixe return but morphed in a grotesque way.  I believe Berlioz used the word grotesque himself for describing it, and so that has continued ever since in any description I've read.

Before the concert Rick Phillips had a Pre-Concert Chat, where he described what I mentioned above, as well as the first 2 pieces of the evening.  He read Berlioz's own descriptions of each movement which was really neat to hear.  The first movement introduces the beloved theme about 5 minutes in.  The whole symphony is slightly autobiographical since Berlioz was infatuated with an actress (apparently to the point of stalking her) and eventually married her, although it wasn't really a happy marriage and they continued their separate lives.  Then in the second movement you hear snatches of the idee fixe as if the artist was capturing glimpses of his beloved across a room.  He's all alone in the third movement, which takes place in the country, and is quite a pretty reflection at times.

This piece uses a large orchestra, maybe that's part of why I like it so much.  The stage was full!

There were 2 sets of timpani, 8 basses, 2 huge bass drums (one played by the principal keyboardist, so it was neat to see her playing a different instrument), 4 bassoons, 2 harps, 4 horns, 3 trombones, 2 tubas, plus the other brass, woodwinds and strings.

Great symphony all around with a bit of everything.  It tells a story, contains a theme you can follow and notice how it changes, there's some very pastoral type sections reminiscent of Beethoven's 6th Symphony (it was written 3 years after his death and was quite ahead of his time), unique playing techniques with the string players using the wooden side of their bows to hit the strings, and great power.

The first two pieces were also really good.  "The Bullfighter's Prayer" was just for the strings, and the "Concierto de Aranjuez" for solo classical guitar and a small orchestra.  The soloist was Pepe Romero, making his TSO debut, part of the famous Romeros Quartet which initially was his father and 3 sons, although members have since changed, but are still all from the Romero's family.  The second movement of the Concierto was instantly recognizable, having been used in various other venues.  But that's what's so great about going to the symphony, you get to hear the whole thing, and discover that the famous section is just the tip of the ice burg to a great piece of music.

The conductor for the evening was Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos.  An older gentlemen obviously well versed in this music since he used a score only for the "Concierto".  He first guested with the TSO in 1970!  So quite a range from first time performer to veteran.

Mysterioso! So much to say.

Today marks 1 week since I saw "Mysterioso: Music, Magic, Mayham, and Mirth" with the National Arts Centre Orchestra, conducted by the wonderful Jack Everly, in Ottawa. Since then I've made notes, thought about it often, read others blog, discovered some background info, googled some of the magic tricks, and am still debating what sort of things I should write here. There's several options given the breadth of the program, I mean the Maestro himself described it as a "laundry list"!

But a rather classy laundry list it turned out to be. Considering strictly the entertainment aspect, it's probably one of the best shows I've attended. One of the first things I did when I got back to my computer was try to find where it was being performed again and if there was some way I could get there. Alas, there's nothing coming up. It debuted in Indianapolis last season, played in Baltimore the week before Ottawa, is planned for Edmonton in October, and Toronto is a big question mark since they don't have Mr. Everly scheduled for next season (gasp! No idea what they were thinking! But I'll probably have more on that next week). Anyhow, the conclusion I came to for what to write was to try and focus on smaller elements that haven't been mentioned in other blogs without giving away too much of the show. Bear with me, here goes. If you'd like some more details on the show's creation and specific acts (with pictures!) here's a great article that appeared in Magic Magazine.

As always the concert was filled with great arrangements and medleys. The "Mysterioso Overture" started with something I recognized and yet totally can't place. Of course I promptly forgot the melody so I haven't a hope of finding out what it was. "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" was also featured along with either the theme song from "Bewitched" or "I Dream of Jeannie".

The "Mysterioso Entr'acte" arranged by Everly, contained the other one. The "Entr'acte" was great! Among others, it contained "Substitutiary Locomotion" from Bedknobs and Broomsticks, a theme from Harry Potter, "Bibbidi, Bobbidi, Boo" from Cinderella, "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" from Mary Poppins, the "Adam's Family" theme complete with orchestra snaps, and "Ghostbusters" including Mr. Everly turning to the audience, providing the narration, and pausing for the shouting of "Ghostbusters" in answer to "Who you gonna call?"

Another main orchestral piece of the evening was the "Spellbound Concerto". This is rather eerie sounding, but then what else is to be expected from something from an Alfred Hitchcock movie? It was enhanced by the playing of a theremin, which was really cool to see played live. A very, very unique sound is created without every actually touching either of the two antennas. One controls the pitch and the other the volume.

The more serious magic of Joseph Gabriel and his scarves to doves, doves to scarves (made all the more amazing when I read he had to use local birds since his weren't allowed to cross the border), cards into and out of thin air act , moved onto the hypnosis of an "audience member".

This person was the winner of "an experience", and she certainly entertained the rest of us. The "winner" was asked some of her favourite singers and then to sing a song, something perhaps from her childhood. She thought about this for a while and picked "The Sound of Music". The result reminded me of the theme from the old Mastercard commercials.

My take on that ad for the moment that followed:

Gasoline to Ottawa (round trip) - $60

Ticket to the NAC - $12.50

Look on Jack Everly's face when she turned to the orchestra after picking "The Sound of Music" and asked "Do you know that one?" - PRICELESS!

His expression was a perfect "are you kidding me?" and after a long pause he finally said, "yes but I think more importantly our pianist knows that one" and the piano started in with the opening chords.

They (Everly, Joseph Gabriel and the "audience member") demonstrated they're pretty good actors but once the singing under hypnosis started it didn't take long to figure out that the "audience member" was Christina Bianco who impersonated the vocal and performance stylings of Celine Dion, Bernadette Peters, Barbra Streisand, Judy Garland, Leanne Rimes, and Renee Fleming with amazing accuracy. She returned as herself in the second half to perform "It's Magic", "Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered", "Neverland" from Peter Pan and "Defying Gravity" from Wicked. Some interesting trivia, Peter Pan starring Mary Martin was broadcast live on NBC in 1955, the first of this type of broadcast. This prompted Rodgers and Hammerstein II to be asked to create a musical for TV. They created Cinderalla which was shown live in 1957 on CBS starring Julie Andrews. They signed with CBS instead of NBC since CBS had already arranged for Julie Andrews and they wanted to work with her.

The orchestra struck up "S'Wonderful, S'Marvelous" to start the comedy magic of Les and Dazzle. Highlights of their act had to be the strip closet and the disappearing duck. That's right, we went from doves to a duck. I wonder if it was allowed into Canada or borrowed like the doves?

Intermission provided a

n opportunity to enjoying the theming of the stage. Big posters hung above the orchestra featuring the magicians of the evening as well as some classics from previous eras (The Great Leon-grandfather to Les Arnold, and Harry Houdini to name two).

There was even one titled "Back by Popular Demand: Maestro Jack Everly, The Magician of Music, Mystery, and Mirth". Created from what appears to be a modified promo photo (courtesy of the BSO website), although they made him look almost sinister by adding shadowing to his face.

However, leaving out the "magic" part didn't keep him out of the less musical yet still magical, portions of the evening. "The Great Everly" demonstrated his magical "feet" by first making his right, then left foot disappear. The set up was perfect and so there were calls of "both feet" from the audience, and sure enough, he complied. Not the most jaw dropping magic of the evening, but a neat interlude. The gravity defying cuing of the string sections was also pretty impressive (for pictures see the Magic article mentioned above).

Personally I really liked the "William Tear Overture". Complications of the English language allow this to mean either William is crying or being torn up into pieces. I read it as the first, which made no sense until the act started. Joseph Gabriel tip-toed onto the stage, snuck up to the podium, and snatched the score. Les appeared and a tug of war with the sheet music, which was now unfurled across the stage, began. The orchestra continued as Maestro Everly left the podium and walked across the stage following the music and cuing the musicians as he went. However, the score tore in half. The result was a pause of the music while he went from one half to the other. Eventually, the sheets were all ripped up, and he gave up and walked off while the orchestra played various parts of the Overture at the wrong time and in the wrong place (which must be rather hard to do when you're used to performing it properly). Thankfully Dazzle appeared with a glue bottle and magically the score suddenly reverted back to it's previous attached state in time for the orchestra to finish the piece together. I suppose this was more situational magic that was musically entertaining if not leaving you with the "wow" awe factor, but I enjoyed it.

That "wow" factor was initially established by Joseph Gabriel, added to by Les and Dazzle, but solidified by the quick change artists David and Dania who closed the show. They left you with the "how did they do that?" dumbstruck look on your face as she changed dresses before your eyes in seconds. Amazing. A quick youtube search will find videos of their performances on America's Got Talent a few years ago.

It was a fantastically entertaining evening. The magic ranged from the simple to complex, although always well executed without getting cheesy and the NACO was showcased which is always great. Next up for the pops segment of Symphonic March Madness "Pops Goes Vegas" with the TSO!

The Start of March Music Month

I'm very excited about this month! There are lots of things going on in my music circles and it all started last night with the Toronto Symphony.

Since the tsoundcheck program is so awesome, and reasonably priced, I decided to take in a concert program of elements I was not familiar with. The concert consisted of Sibelius' Suite from King Kristian II, Grieg's Piano Concerto in A Minor, a Chorale by Magnus Lindburg, and the backbone of the evening, Elgar's "Enigma" Variations. My first step was to find some youtube versions of the Piano Concerto, and the Enigma Variations. Discovering that I at least recognized the opening theme of the concerto, and the famous "Nimrod" variation, I got tickets without really knowing what else to expect.

As usual, live music beats any recording, well that's my opinion. There's something to be said for watching the music being made. Overall, the evening was filled with lyrical melodies and lots of moments where it was nice to just close your eyes and let the sound sweep over you. I really enjoyed King Kristian II which had lots of full string sounds. Having played some simple arrangements of Grieg's dances, it was nice to hear the Piano Concerto, his only significant large-scale composition (according to the program notes). The soloist, Lars Vogt, was animated and an excellent musician.

The piece that seemed an opposite to the others was the Chorale (after J.S. Bach "Es ist genug"). Now I know nothing of the original Bach, having never heard it, but this piece seemed to lack the lovely melodies found in the rest of the evening. Indeed the composer of the work says "I have always considered my music as non-melodic, in the sense that melody arose out of the harmonies which I never though of as having a tonal quality. In Chorale I have my harmonies, but suddenly there is a melody on top." It was different.

The highlight for me in the Enigma Variations, was "Nimrod", although I really liked the 10th variation as well. According to the program notes, it represents a "charming young girl with an unfortunate stammer". I will need to listen to the whole thing again, and probably repeatedly, to completely appreciate all the other great parts. The 14 variations are all based on elements of Elgar's life, the first being his wife, the last himself, and in between there's a sea voyage, country squire, 18th century house, even a friend's bulldog.

Next up it's back to Ottawa Pops with Mysterioso: Music, Magic, Mayham, and Mirth...talk about throwing it all in there! Can't wait!

Concordia's Spring Season

Tonight marked the second concert of Concordia Pops spring season. The music is a nice mix, although I am partial to the lighter stuff of the second half which includes Highlights from The Sound of Music and My Fair Lady, a nice Jerome Kern medley, and Belle of the Ball by Leroy Anderson (composer of Sleigh Ride). Belle of the Ball needs a bit more work, but it's being pulled out of the performance list, so reprieve!

The first half starts with John William's Olympic Fanfare written for the Los Angeles Games in 1984. The first clarinet part matches the trumpet fanfare line and is fun to play. Alas, it doesn't come close to the version played at the Vancouver closing ceremonies, we take it a bit slower. By the way, anyone know if that was the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra that played at the opening and closing ceremonies?

The pieces then move into a few dances, specifically Slavonic by Dvorak, and Norwegian by Grieg. These make me sweat as there's some exposed clarinet parts, but my confidence is growing with each performance. I've discovered swabbing at the midpoint of the concert though really helps get the gurgle out. Sleeper's Wake by Bach is one of those flowing really pretty songs that doesn't require staccato articulation. Since I'm still working on getting that aspect cleaner, this is a good thing. Other than some fingerings that need conversion to autopilot (great analogy put forth in a recent NACOcast "Practice Makes Perfect" between flight and practicing), it gets played fairly well. Except when I miss my cues (sorry Mr. Conductor!).

Week off next week since it's March Break, but must not lose motivation to practice or the autopilot will never be engaged!

From 2010 Back to 1950

My 2010 concert year began in Ottawa with a wonderful trip back in time to 1950 through a performance of "Guys and Dolls: In Concert". The always fantastic Maestro Jack Everly led the NACO, four main vocalists, about a dozen gamblers, a few Salvation Army Mission folk, and the Hot Box Girls in a musical performance that I'll characterize as the Broadway show minus the sets. There were costumes, and dialogue from binders (although most of the actors referenced them only occasionally), and music! A lit up "Pops" sign, two large dice, and chairs provided tables and props as needed. Honestly, you didn't miss sets, the rest of it was so good. If I didn't already like the score the show would have gone a long way to changing that. I love being able to watch the orchestra and conductor on stage. In this case I wish that I had multiple sets of eyes to be able to focus on everything at the same time.

Kristen Plumley as Sarah Brown was beautiful. Her voice is so clear and she acted the part really well. Her part in Sci-Fi Spectacular last season, with I believe it was only a single solo song, really didn't do her justice. She also blended nicely with Hugh Panaro's Sky Masterson. In my opinion much better, in all regards, than Marlon Brando's movie version. I was excitedly waiting to hear him do "Luck Be a Lady" rather than wishing it was Frank Sinatra, and he did a great job! Gary Beach as Nathan Detroit, and Megan Lawrence as Miss Adelaide were also excellent. "Adelaide's Lament" is one of my favourite pieces and Megan's performance was full of charm, and very realistic sneezes!

The supporting cast of gamblers are not to be left out. Nicely Nicely Johnson (Eddie Glen) did a great job of "Sit Down You're Rockin' the Boat". This wasn't one of my initial favourite songs, although it has grown on me. It did emphasize one of the small problems of the evening. The balance between orchestra, chorus, and soloist's wasn't always quite right. For example, one line wasn't able to be heard because the chorus volume overpowered him. The lyrics by Frank Loesser in all the songs are just so good it's a shame to miss any. A few times Big Jule's mike didn't get turned on until about a sentence or so into his narration. On the positive side, special kudos go to the gambler who in "Guys and Dolls" had the line "When a guy wears tails with the front gleaming white, who the hell do you think he's tickling pink on Saturday night", what a voice!

I like to be slightly blown away by the orchestra, not to the point of them overpowering the vocalists, but in the upbeat orchestral sections (such as parts of the overture) I could have had a bit more volume. Unfortunately, the two orchestral pieces from the 1992 Broadway revival recording (which is how I came to love the music), "Havana" and "The Crapshooters Dance" were pretty much left out. I can only assume they were in the original Broadway version as well. Short segments were heard during narrations/prop re-arragement but it would have been great to have them left in their entirety. Given that it's an "in concert" performance and the music is playing a key role, having a few orchestra numbers to show off the NAC orchestra, particularly the larger brass section, wouldn't have been out of line.

None of that though detracted from a very enjoyable evening. It had occurred to me that having Maestro Everly get in on the action by introducing the Hot Box numbers as if he was the conductor in the night club, might work well. But Big Jule did that part as well.

I'll be keeping my eyes out to see if this ends up on any other orchestral schedules for the upcoming seasons, I'd go see it again in a heartbeat! Speaking of which...all you other orchestras out there--time to announce your 2010/2011 season, Toronto's beaten you all :)

Christmas with the TSO

This is a belated and hopefully short review of two great concerts in one week. First the traditional Christmas favourite "Handel's Messiah" to which I took a first time symphony attendee. Hopefully she enjoyed the experience and will want to go again. I'm always looking for new people to join the fun :)

I had rather high expectations having seen the NACO version several times, and the TSO did not disappoint! The soloists were wonderful! The soprano, Shannon Mercer, had an exceptionally clear voice. Admittedly I was briefly distracted by the tenor, Colin Balz

er's, resemblance to Voyager's Doctor. Although note I was sitting in practically the last row on the floor so from that distance there was a resemblance, perhaps closer not so much, but he also had a lovely voice.

The balance between orchestra, soloists, and chorus seemed excellent and while I would have liked more punch from the Hallelujah Chorus, it was beautiful if not "knock your socks off" forceful. The brass, which showed up for a solo from the organ level, did look like they dozed through the second half when they joined the orchestra after the intermission, but Andrew McCandless came alive when it counted for the trumpet solo near the end, it had punch!

Two nights later I was back again for "Christmas with the Canadian Brass". I think I found my secon

d favourite conductor at this concert! John Morris Russell was lively, had a good repour with the audience and told a neat personal story about how the favourite record his family had was by the Canadian Brass. This story served as their intro following several strictly orchestral pieces.

The whole show was great, even lacking some TSO principal players (I noticed the clarinet, bass, and trumpet were missing). The smaller chorus, but much larger orchestra gave the Hallelujah Chorus the strength I'd desired previously.

When Canadian Brass joined the orchestra they added their own degree of showmanship. I'd never seen them perform before but they were great, with entertaining intros to pieces, jokes about themselves and a "melting" tuba player/Frosty. They had unique as well as beautiful arrangements, even a piece with them and the big band brass of the TSO. It was all a delightful way to get into the Christmas spirit, in case by the 23rd of December, you weren't already there! :)