Masterpieces of German opera: "Fidelio" and "Elektra"

Tough nuts to crack, two German operatic masterpieces were presented in recent weeks; a private company, Casa de la Opera, tackled at the Avenida the tall order of Beethoven's sole opera, "Fidelio"; and the Colón at the Coliseo offered Richard Strauss' "Elektra", his most uncompromising work.

The troubled road of "Fidelio" is well known; there was a first version called "Leonora" premiered in 1805 with little success, and then renamed and heavily revised with its definitive appellation, "Fidelio", in 1814. Add to this that he wrote no less than four Overtures , the three "Leonores" and "Fidelio", and you have a panorama of stress and effort. Based on a French libretto by Bouilly inspired by a real life situation, the librettos by Sonnleithner (1805) and Treitschke (1814) keep to the original .The plot has two ideas that were bound to appeal the composer: fidelity and freedom, with undertones of human rights. The subject certainly has relevance nowadays. The composer writes in the Singspiel tradition (sung sections alternate with spoken ones) music of enormous emotional power.

Unfortunately the results of Casa de la Opera's revival weren't good enough. The Orchestra under Giorgio Paganini sounded very insecure, with particularly bad work from the horns, and the conductor doesn't seem comfortable in this repertoire. He followed Mahler's tradition of interpolating the "Leonore No.3" between the First and the Second Tableau of the Second Act. On the other hand, the combined choirs were intense and generally accurate. Martín Palmeri led the "Coro Estable de la Facultad de Derecho de la U.B.A." and the "Coro de la Municipalidad de Vicente López". Although they aren't operatic choirs, they sounded convincing, and it helped that the best of Eduardo Casullo's production was the way he moved the choirs going from the anguish of the First Act to the jubilant and cantata-like Choir of the final tableau.

But the main singers weren't up to par. The worst offender by far was the septuagenarian tenor Ricardo Cassinelli, who substituted vocal line with uncouth shouting and acted hysterically. (It certainly didn't help that the spoken dialogues were in melodramatic Spanish instead of German). It was ill-advised for Adelaida Negri to choose this opera; neither the vocal side nor the dramatic were right in her Leonore. And Alejandro Schijman certainly doesn't have the means to sing Pizarro. The others were better; I rather liked the Rocco of Víctor Castells and that dignified veteran, Gui Gallardo, sang with poise as Don Fernando. Marzelline, the jailer's daughter, was unevenly sung by Andrea Maragno, but she had some good moments. Jaquino, who is in love with her, was correctly sing by Eduardo Ayas.

Producer Casullo opted for an almost bare stage and relied on projections (prepared by Edgardo Beck) of Goya and Piranesi, sometimes apposite to the action but not always. He was wrong in peopling Florestan's jail with other prisoners; Pizarro surely has isolated him. The costumes by Mariela Daga seemed based on the Franco period and were mostly acceptable, aside from Florestan's absurd jacket; he should be in rags.

"Elektra" is Sophocles' tragedy through a Freudian filter in Von Hoffmannsthal admirable (and terrifying) libretto. The 1909 one-act opera by Richard Strauss is probably his most important and surely the most advanced in its musical materials, with tense and dissonant language that meets the moral enormities of the action with music of granitic strength and character.

Elektra may be the most taxing German role; Luana DeVol (debut) , American, has had a long career in German theatres and she has the essentials for this character, the prototype of manic desire for vengeance: a strong voice of wide range and complete command of each musical detail; she lacks the final impact, vocal and theatrical, of a great Elektra, but she is thoroughly professional. The other Elektra, Susan Marie Pierson (debut), also American, is much younger and thinner; her problem: some top notes aren't there; several climactic phrases peaked in ugly squeals, though a lot of what she did was right.

Klytaemnestra's confrontation with Elektra is a unique tragical scene ; the moral and physical decay of the mother needs a great interpreter; the voice can be aged and harsh but it must have heft to hold her own. Graciela Alperyn and Elisabeth Canis were dramatically powerful but there were moments where they were underpowered. Chrysothemis needs an ample and luminous lyric soprano; Eiko Senda was closer to the mark than Virginia Correa Dupuy, very musical but relatively small-voiced. Orest, the executioner of his mother and of Aegisth, was sung firmly by Hernán Iturralde; however, he wasn't expressive enough and looked too elderly. Aegisth is a short part but must be well done; Fernando Chalabe was pretty good, Carlos Bengolea less so .

All the other parts are quite short and I have no space to list them, they were generally well taken. Stefan Lano conducted with symphonic thrust and adequate speeds but the Colón Orchestra was sorely tried by the virtuoso requirements; he tended to cover the singers but the orchestration is indeed very heavy . The Coliseo pit was fully used to hold the big orchestra.

The production by Mario Pontiggia told the story reasonably well, but I disliked Daniela Taiana's costumes, especially Elektra's pants; her stage design was interesting with its two levels (imaginative lighting by Horacio Efron), though it didn't look Mycenaean.

Para el Buenos Aires Herald

Foto: Facundo Basavilbaso

Chamber music: from Classicism to the avantgarde

In recent weeks there were treasurable moments of great chamber music with sensitive and important artists and a range that covered the extremes, Classicism and avantgarde. I will start with quartets, which to my mind represent the purest type of chamber music, a conversation between equals with the exact quantity of players (two violins, viola and cello) to give the discourse an ideal poise and richness.

About 25 years ago the Mozarteum Argentino brought to us a very young and special Quartet, the Hagen, made up of four Austrian brothers (two boys, Lukas and Clemens, and two girls, Angelika and Veronika) of astonishing maturity. Rainer Schmidt took the place of Angelika in 1987, and they have played together ever since. They never deviated from their original aim: to play the great quartets with technical perfection and a deep sense of style. They offered at the Coliseo and for the Mozarteum two concerts with different programmes. The one I heard combined two masterpieces: Schubert's last Quartet (No. 15), much less played than No. 14, "Death and the Maiden", but very close in quality, particularly the fantastic imagination of the spectral middle section of the slow movement, and Shostakovich's Quartet No. 8, his best known due to its autobiographical content and deep drama. Both versions showed the Hagen at the very top of their profession: total concentration, character and instrumental achievement. Beauty and intensity from all four and absolute singlemindedness.

The Spanish Cuarteto Quiroga (named in homage of the violinist Manuel Quiroga) was a pleasant surprise. It is young (born in 2003) , strongly motivated and very professional. The players: violinists Aitor Hevia and Cibrán Sierra, violist Lander Etxebarria and cellist Helena Poggio. Their programme at the Museo Fernández Blanco was very classical: Mozart's Quartet No.16 , K.428 (not quite among the best of the 23 ), the fascinating Quartet No. 3 by Juan Crisóstomo de Arriaga, the shortest-lived genius of musical history (1806-26) and Mendelssohn's Quartet No. 1, op.12, already mature at 20 years old. Encore: the exciting last movement of Haydn's Quartet op.74 No. 3, "The Rider". The players showed admirable qualities : lovely sound, perfect intonation and committed phrasing. Spain is producing real talents in a field that was rarely trod in that country.

The Arditti Quartet has long been distinguished by its championing of the avantgarde; in an earlier visit they showed enormous technical aptitude and conviction . Their return was at the Coliseo in the incongruous setting of the International Theatre Festival (they are strictly musical). The audience was rather sparse. The current players are: Irvine Arditti and Ashot Sarkissjan, violins; Ralf Ehlers, viola; and Lucas Fels, cello. The programme was exclusively for those who enjoy the latest avantgarde (not my case): the Quartet by the Britisher James Clarke (born 1957), Quartet No. 5 by Pascal Dusapin (born 1955), "Tetras" by Iannis Xenakis (1922-2001), Quartet No. 3 by Brian Ferneyhough (born 1943, father of the so-called "new complexity") and Quartet No. 3, "Grido", by Helmut Lachenmann (born 1935). The scores were written between 2001 and 2006, except for "Tetras" (1983). With no exception the music seemed to me deliberately aggressive and unpleasant, with no sense of a new and viable dialectic; rather , an apology of ugliness. I felt discomfiture at the feeling I had of a dead end. The commitment of the players was evident but not even their technical prowess convinced me.

Two quintets made me very happy in their local debut. Nuova Harmonia at the Coliseo presented the Quintetto dell'Academia Chigiana and the Mozarteum in their Midday Concerts brought us the Ensemble instrumental de Granada at the Gran Rex.. A point to remember: the Italian group comes from the same famous Siennese institution that gave name to the Quintetto Chigiano fifty years ago, but that ensemble was for piano and strings (with Sergio Lorenzi) whilst the current group is made up of two violins, two violas and cello. (Also, there was a Sestetto Chigiano for strings). The current Quintetto has a very special characteristic: it combines professors and pupils. The lady violinists are students of Salvatore Accardo, beautiful and splendidly accomplished: Laura Marzadori and Francesca Dego. Veteran violist Bruno Giuranna, a founder of I Musici, sits next to his student, Daniel Palmizio. And the very talented cellist Antonio Meneses, who has visited us as a soloist, completes this first-rate ensemble where different generations see eye to eye on all technical and stylistic matters. The programme was short but challenging: Mozart's Quintet No. 2 (he wrote 6), K.515, in radiant C major; and Brahms' dense Quintet No.2, op.111. More Mozart as encore: the Minuet from Quintet No. 1, K.174. Their playing was cohesive, clean and expressive, and again the country of opera shows that it can also produce first-rate chamber ensembles.

The Granada Ensemble is really a sextet but this time it played Schubert's marvelous Quintet D. 956, written for two violins (Peter Thomas and Atsuko Nerishii), viola (Germán Clavijo) and two cellos (Orlando Theuler and Juan Pérez de Albéniz). Thomas used to play with Argentine violist Tomás Tichauer and he was also here as soloist with orchestra. This cosmopolitan Granada group showed that it had the measure of Schubert's masterpiece and it played with much care and musicality . It is gratifying to observe that Latin groups can understand so well Germanic styles.

Para el Buenos Aires Herald

The wonderful paths of Baroque music

This musical season is one of the best I can remember concerning Baroque music. Its paths are indeed wonderful and we've had interpreters that communicate that wonder. Nuova Harmonia presented at the Coliseo the local debut of the Orchestra Barocca di Venezia with the great violin virtuoso Giuliano Carmignola (heard in a previous year) , whilst Pilar Golf presented that astonishing group, La Barroca del Suquía, led by another admirable violinist, Manfredo Kraemer.

The Venetian group paid homage to the greatest Italian composer of that period's instrumental music, Antonio Vivaldi; most of his production was written for the admirably accomplished girls of Venice's Ospedale della Pietá. Special bonus: most of the chosen concerti are little-known and proved fascinating. Family troubles impeded the trip to BA of the founder and director of the Venetian group, Andrea Marcon, but he had prepared them very well, for the conductorless orchestra played with unanimity and richness of expression. It is a prime historicist ensemble: gut strings, little vibrato, intense phrasing, quick tempi, fierce rhythm. Carmignola is an audacious player with strong personality; he gave us astonishing feats of fast playing with abrupt accents and there was always a sense of the dramatic. He did Vivaldi's Concerti RV 190 (rare and ample), RV 278 (in E minor) and RV 331 (G minor) and Tartini's expressive Concerto D 96. The players without Carmignola performed Vivaldi's Concerti for strings (no soloist) RV 114, 156 and 127 and Symphony RV 146. The three encores: more Vivaldi.

La Barroca del Suquía, named after the river that goes through Córdoba, is a shining example of what can be obtained with discipline and hard work under a true specialist, Manfredo Kraemer. He is a world-class historicist violinist with ample European career, but in a way what he has done in Córdoba (where he was born) is even more important: he has moulded a talented ensemble that could play in Europe with the same standing of other groups of this type. The programme started and finished with Vivaldi's greatest opus: "L'estro armonico" (Op.3); we heard Concerti grossi Nos. 3 and 10 (in the latter the quality of the four violinists was unequal . Two other works are standard repertoire: J.S.Bach's Concerto for two violins and Handel's Concerto grosso op.6 No.2. There were two worthwhile rarities: Concerto grosso No.9 by Charles Avison (based on sonatas by D. Scarlatti) and Francesco Durante's fascinating Concerto "per quartetto" No. 8, "La Pazzia" ("Madness"); indeed its first movement is so extravagant that it justifies the title. A curious Telemann piece, "The Moscovites" (from one of his incredibly numerous suites), was the encore and almost sounded twentieth century. The ensemble played very well and Kraemer was his usual admirable self, always intense and involved.

Another concert at Pilar Golf offered vocal and instrumental music of the Italian Baroque with an outfit called I Febiarmonici made up of two Chilean singers (soprano Pilar Aguilera, debut, and tenor Jaime Caicompai) and three Argentine players (Miguel de Olaso, archlute; Manuel de Olaso, harpsichord and organ; and Juan Manuel Quintana, viola da gamba and direction). The programme was very interesting: in the First Part, fragments from Monteverdi's operas "Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria" and "L'incoronazione di Poppea" plus one of his madrigals ("Zeffiro torna"), toccatas by Kapsberger for lute and by Frescobaldi for harpsichord, and songs by Tarquinio Merula and Luigi Rossi; in the Second Part, a lute piece by Gianoncelli; a beautiful cantata, "Eraclito amoroso", by Barbara Strozzi; a Pasquini Prelude played on the organ; a duet by Agostino Steffani, a Sonata by Domenico Gabrielli for gamba and continuo ; and a duet by Handel, "Caro autor di mia doglia". The players were uniformly excellent but the singers impressed more for good style rather than vocal quality.

I was rather disappointed by the debut at the Coliseo for the Mozarteum of La Capilla Real de Madrid under the Argentine Oscar Gershensohn. The First Part gave us J.S.Bach's Easter Oratorio stripped for some reason of its Prelude and Adagio and Handel's "Foundling Hospital Anthem" without its Overture ( we were told that there was some mechanical difficulty in the organ). The Second Part held some interest for it offered Spanish Baroque, still little known: the "Missa brevis de Palacio" by Francesco Corselli, and a selection from the zarzuela "Ifigenia en Tracia" by José de Nebra, where tragedy is mixed incongruously with two comical duets by characters called Mochila and Cofieta. The encore was two fragments from Bach's Cantata No.34. The results were uneven; on the instrumental side there were gross fluffs from the trumpets, though a lot was correct; on the solo vocal parts the quality was rather poor; I will only mention the best of the group, tenor Marcus Ullmann. The Chorus was generally good. Gershenson is well oriented but rather opaque in his phrasing. The interpretations lacked involvement and dynamism.

Finally, Robert Levin came back and offered the Second Part of Bach's "The Well-tempered clavier" (he had done the First Part in an earlier season) for the Bach Academy at the Museo de Arte Decorativo. He is a great instrumentalist with total command , though I was sorry that he played piano rather than harpsichord, and I found unnecessary his own contributions as a composer, short interludes between pairs of Bach Preludes and Fugues. But he is certainly a first-rate Bachian.

Para el Buenos Aires Herald

Contrasting operas at BAL and Juventus

The Avenida Theatre is the home of rivalling private opera companies, Buenos Aires Lírica (BAL) and Juventus Lyrica. In recent weeks the former chose a well-known bel canto work, Donizetti's "L'elisir d'amore"; the latter offered a Ravel double bill, "L'enfant et les sortileges" and "L'heure espagnole".

Frankly, there's so much Donizetti to choose from that doesn't get staged and should be that I was sorry BAL had opted for the sure thing, for "L'elisir d'amore" has been staged several times in recent years by various companies. On the other hand, BAL came from two tough challenges, "Rodelinda" and "The Flying Dutchman", so maybe they needed something simpler. The piece is charming and relatively easy to put on.

There were two factors that interested me: in his time Dante Ranieri was our best specialist of the "tenore di grazia" repertoire and he was a first-rate Nemorino. The years have passed and now he has embarked in a conducting career. I'm happy to say that he emerged from the trial with flying colors. His tempi were slow and pauses between musical fragments were excessive, but he breathed with the singers and he elicited from the orchestra the most melting sounds.

The other matter of interest was the debut of two Chilean singers. I found tenor Luis Olivares a bit green though promising; the voice is sweet though he doesn't have a personal sound, and his musical instincts are mostly right. Not much of an actor, but then very few tenors are . He gained confidence as the opera progressed and offered a nice account of his aria. Patricia Cifuentes was Adina and she too got better gradually ; the voice is bright and unvaried though accurate. She was kittenish rather than charming, but Adina's character does have its bad points .

Although Fernando Santiago's voice had too much vibrato in the first minutes of Dulcamara's big number, he managed to tame it, and his charlatan was as should be, larger than life and quite funny; he knows how to act with the words, which he articulates with true precision. I was sorry to hear Emilio Estévez overtaxed by Belcore's music; his high register seems to be undergoing a bad patch. His acting was exaggerated but I put that at the door of the producer. Gisela Barok was an agreeable Giannetta. The Choir under Juan Casasbellas sounded natural and sincere and entered into the spirit of the action.

Claudio Gallardou is our local specialist in "commedia dell'arte", which is all very well if he does Goldoni's "Arlecchino", but "L'elisir" has nothing to do with that tradition, so the constant appearance of a troupe of commedia dell'arte featuring himself is certainly arbitrary, except when they do work as stage servers. I accept that we were never bored but that's not enough justification. On the other hand the action proceeded smoothly, even if he had a field day ridiculing the sargent. The costumes of María Clara Beitía were quite off the mark in two specific cases: Belcore dressed as a Renaissance noble, not as a nineteenth century sargent; and Dulcamara looking like a Turk; presumably Gallardou wanted them that way for producers are the head of a team and designers respond to his concept. The stage designs of Gastón Joubert were rather conventional and some could be moved around.

The Ravel double bill by Juventus Lyrica was quite welcome as a good idea, but infortunately they committed the same grievous mistake of their previous staging of "L'enfant et les sortileges": reducing the original marvelous orchestration to just three instruments just won't do and puts this revival out of court. And it isn't intellectually honest not publicizing this fact and not mentioning the author of the arrangement, which is quite poor. The piece is magical, Ravel at his best, but I couldn't enjoy it this way. Ana D'Anna, the producer, was also stage designer, and her daughter María Jaunarena designed the costumes. Some of the fantastic events were imaginative , others went awry, and the key scene of the fight in the garden was badly handled. The French was mediocre from all concerned, but I liked the singing of Cecilia Pastawski (the Child), Fernando Radó and Florencia Machado . Others were acceptable, no more.

Matters were much improved in "L'heure espagnole", a comedy by Franc-Nohain about Concepción, who employs the hour of the title (her husband has left to attend the official clock of the village) to have a weekly encounter with her lovers; alas, both are out of sorts that day, the poet Gonzalve and the pompous Don Inigo , so she prefers the robust Ramiro, a mule driver waiting for the return of Torquemada, the husband, who will fix his clock.. Ravel's music is witty and charming.The piece was last seen at the Colón in 1975, so the revival was very welcome, and here D'Anna was on much safer ground, both in her pleasant stage design and in the evolutions of the singers, who moreover were quite adept at playing their characters. It was a good cast, with Eugenia Fuente very comfortable in her juicy part, Santiago Burgi as a mellifluous Gonzalve, Fernando Grassi as an excellent Ramiro, Mario De Salvo as Inigo and Hernán Sánchez Arteaga as Torquemada. Emiliano Greizenstein conducted well a responsive orchestra; Ravel's orchestration was a bit reduced but it wasn't bothersome.

Para el Buenos Aires Herald

Two centuries of French opera

In recent weeks French opera has been given pride of place by our opera companies. The genre was born in Italy in 1600 with Peri's "Euridice" (Florence) and soon had a masterpiece to show, Monteverdi's "Orfeo" (Mantova). One of his disciples, Francesco Cavalli, brought opera to France during Mazarin's regency. Soon after, a Florentine, Jean-Baptiste Lully (gallicized) wrote in French for Louis XIV's court and founded the "opéra-ballet", a mixed genre responding to the desires of the King, who was an excellent dancer. During the seventeenth century one composer represented the highest quality of the Rococo period: Jean-Baptiste Rameau. It was he, in his "lyric tragedies", that showed the way to Christoph W. Gluck, the German who had reformed opera with his "Orfeo ed Euridice" premiered in Vienna in 1762 . He adapted that work to the French taste as "Orphée et Eurydice" but he also produced such talented scores as "Armide", "Alceste" and two operas dealing with the same heroine: "Iphigénie en Aulide" and "Iphigénie en Tauride". The latter is probably his best opera and was written in 1779; the Colón presented it with great quality in 1964 with Crespin and in 1994 with Montague.

Marcelo Birman with his Compañía de las Luces has done yeoman work in bringing to our public admirable French operas by Lully ("Armide") and Rameau ("Castor et Pollux"). Last year he offered "Les Danaides" by Salieri (which proved the stature of a maligned composer) and now at the same venue, the Museo de Arte Decorativo, he presented a semistaged "Iphigénie en Tauride" which I don't hesitate to call a triumph. By now the cohesion and technical accomplishment of the orchestra following historicist lines and the intensity and freshness of a committed young choir are a tribute to Birman's talent as a conductor, and his stylish phrasing shows the influence of the specialised studies he did in Paris. His Gluck was urgent and dramatic, with strong attacks and accents. This "Iphigenia" shows the protagonist transported by divine intervention from Aulis, where she was about to be sacrificed by her father, to Tauris (Crimea), where she has to deal with the tyrant Thoas.

Without a stage, mingling with the orchestra, the singers communicated the tragedy through meaningful gesture , and they sang from memory (so did the choir). Ana Moraitis' voice has grown a lot and she made a moving protagonist. Sergio Carlevaris as Orestes was impressive; his voice is huge and he has an authentic dramatic presence. However, he should beware of exaggeration. Pablo Pollitzer (Pylades) on the contrary was small-voiced but very stylish. Alejandro Meerapfel was a forthright Thoas and Ana Santorelli put in relief Diana's intervention. The small parts were in the picture.

To my mind there was no need for a revival (by the Colón at the Coliseo) of Massenet's "Werther", for Buenos Aires Lírica offered it with López Manzitti two seasons ago in a reasonably good staging. Unfortunately the producer Louis Désiré (also stage and costume designer) presented a distorted view of the libretto. The four acts take place in the same black unit set of a big room in trapeze shape, although the first two are supposed to take place outdoors . To mention just a few of the solecisms the audience had to endure: at the beginning we are shown Charlotte's mother in her death bed (she is not a part in the libretto) and seconds later the mourning children sing joyously a Christmas carol prepared by their father the Bailiff; in many places during the course of the opera the singers eavesdrop on each other hearing what according to the words they shouldn't; a child is terrorised by Werther who arbitrarily gives the boy his ideas on death; there's an absolutely gratuitous sex act between Charlotte and Albert, her husband, who moreover is made lame for this production; and at the end a clone actor is dying in Werther's bed whilst the protagonist sings a few paces away. The added projections weren't unpleasant but seemed unnecessary. However, I rather liked the period costumes of Goethe's time.

The singers gamely tried to adapt themselves to such absurd treatment of their roles and Werther was interpreted for the first time in his career by the talented American tenor Jonathan Boyd , who sang Britten last year here. Although a bit uncomfortable in the highest register, the voice is beautiful and poetic, handled with much musicality, and he looks personable. He was the only reason to present "Werther", when there's so much interesting Massenet waiting in the wings for a revival or premiere. His Charlotte was Mariana Rewerski, whose voice took a long time to warm up; she is young, beautiful and a good musician, but her voice lacks a definite color. Graciela Oddone was a nice Sophie and Luciano Garay a competent Albert. Ariel Cazes, Gabriel Renaud and Leonardo Estévez completed honorably the cast.

Very good marks to the Colón's Children's Choir under Valdo Sciammarella and a valuable operatic debut here by conductor Arturo Diemecke, well known through his concerts with the Philharmonic. He showed himself in full command , with a sense of give-and-take with the singers and with an adequate sound from the Colón Orchestra plus an excellent saxophone player. Diemecke showed himself a man of the theatre, which doesn't surprise me for he is quite histrionic as a symphonic conductor.

Para el Buenos Aires Herald

Ars Hungarica: a fit homage to Kodály

For years Ars Hungarica has done stalwart work helping the public to know the rich musical heritage of Hungary. As its Artistic Director, Sylvia Leidemann has applied her multiple talents as interpreter (conducting and playing) and musicologist (numerous study trips have had as a result the resurrection of valuable old scores) to the cause of her ancestors' music. In recent years there have been landmarks such as the recording of "Harmonia Coelestis" by Prince Esterházy or the premiere of some Liszt Masses. Dr. Miklós Székessy has been a conscientious and firm President of the institution.

In a further sense Ars Hungarica has shown amplitude of spirit: it has collaborated with the Embassies of various European countries (with, of course, the support of the Hungarian Embassy) so as to give joint panoramas of their musical art, not only with frontier countries such as Romania but also remoter ones such as Finland (with whom Hungary however shares a linguistic group). This year they presented a conspectus of sixteenth-seventeenth century Polish music and eighteenth-century Hungarian music at the ideal venue of the Museo de Arte Decorativo's main hall, warm and beautiful. About 50 artists were led by Leidemann with her usual care, knowledge and intensity, and they included the Chamber Choir of Ars Hungarica, the Choir of the Argentine/Polish Association, the Rosario Baroque Orchestra, a group of vocal soloists featuring sopranos Marcela Sotelano and Silvina Sadoly and some invited players, notably the Hungarian trumpetist Gábor Hegyi.

From Poland we heard works from Mikolaj Gomulka (1535-91), some sincere and simple psalms (choir, trombones and cornetto); Marcin Mielczewski (1590-1651), a canzona on the Giovanni Gabrieli mold for 2 violins, dulzian (a soft-timbred old type of oboe) and continuo, and a splendid Psalm 112 ("Laudate pueri Dominum"), for six vocal soloists, six-part choir, trombones, dulzian, strings and continuo; and Damian Stachowicz (1658-99), expressive "Litaniae de Beata Virgine" for vocal quartet, choir, trumpets, strings and continuo, and a brilliant hymn, "Veni Consolator", for soprano (Sadoly), trumpet (Hegyi) and continuo (the latter a particularly good performance). From Hungary, fragments from the only extant work of Johann Patzelt (whose dates are unknown), his school opera for a Jesuitic school "Castor et Pollux" (in latin), from 1743, nice Baroque music; and finally, from Benedikt Istvanffy (1733-78) , the offertory "Veni Sancte Spiritus"

crowned by a vigorous Alleluia, typical Classicist sacred music. The interpretative level was generally high, apart from some blemishes of intonation.

A very different but even more important concert was the homage to Zoltan Kodály which took place at the Auditorio de Belgrano commemorating the 125^th anniversary of his birth. Although Béla Bartók is better known and certainly the greater composer (an absolutely essential personality of powerful originality and influence), Kodály is also very important and still underappreciated here. Under the auspices of the Hungarian Ministry of Culture and Education and the International Kodály Society Foundation, the occasion allowed the hearers to have a useful and valuable cross-section of the creator's work in several genres. Kodály joined his friend Bartók in the painstaking field recollection at the beginning of the twentieth century of hundreds upon hundreds of recordings done with cumbersome equipment of the true Magyar folklore in song and dance, thus setting at rest the erroneous identification of Gypsy Hungarian music with the authentic folk idiom of the country. Much of this material was eventually harmonized by them in wonderful examples of adaptation to academic language keeping the original flavor. Kodály was also a seminal figure as a teacher, and his choral music is extensive and fundamental for the growth of different types of choirs in Hungary.

The programme started with three choruses by the reinforced Ars Hungarica Choir, who was in fine fettle, accurate and intense. The funny and fast "The gypsy eats curd", "The peacock takes flight" (on which Kodály based his admirable "Variations on the peacock song" for orchestra), a poetic, refined piece; and the variegated "Scenes from the Mátra region", quite difficult in its contrasts.

Then, a series of pieces sung by tenor Jószef Csák, from the Budapest Opera, a veteran artist of vast experience . He certainly knows the style although the voice is rather hard. He was accompanied rather dully by Daniel Trufero. We heard two songs transcribed from folk material, a song from the folk opera "The knitting room " ("Székelyfonó"), and two from the opera "Háry János", "Recruitment" and "Toast", both full of character.

The First Part closed with the adventurous Sonata for cello and piano, well played by pianist Lucas Urdampilleta but rather weakly by cellist Martín Devoto.

The Orchestra of Ars Hungarica numbered 45 and was generally good and enthusiastic . Apart from a bad horn croak, the playing in the "Dances from Galánta" was full of charm and rhythm under the idiomatic conducting of Sylvia Leidemann. Unfortunately Hungary lost big chunks of its historic territory after World War I, among them Galánta, currently a part of Slovakia.

The concert ended with what is probably Kodály's greatest score, the "Psalmus Hungaricus", tragic and with a profound national feeling. It is based on David's Psalm 55 as adapted in the sixteenth century by Mihály Vég Kecskeméti. Written in 1923, full of grief and rebellion, it was offered with true conviction by Csák, the choir and orchestra, all led with fervor and high attainment by Leidemann.

Para el Buenos Aires Herald

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Europe sends three admirable orchestras

These recent weeks have been a blessing for the amateur of symphony orchestras. No less than three have visited us from Europe and all gave deep satisfaction. It's no surprise that two of them could be heard at the Mozarteum Argentino , for they have a stunning record of distinguished foreign orchestras through the decades. Another valuable institution , Nuova Harmonia, shared one of the orchestras and presented another.

There was a wonderful debut concert by the Symphonica Toscanini under its founder, now 77-year-old Lorin Maazel, still fit and as usual a wizard of orchestral sonorities, as he demonstrated in his many visits with orchestras from the USA , France , Italy and Austria. The sense of the tour was to pay homage to Toscanini in the 50^th anniversary of his death, and also because the 11-year-old Maazel, a prodigy, astonished the old master with his precocious conducting talent back in 1941. The Orchestra is very young; it was born on the 1^st of May 2006; and enormous: 200 players alternate ; 109 came to BA. They have as antecedent the Toscanini Philharmonic, and their city of residence is Rome. The concert was non-subscription.

The programme was marvelous, a synthesis of Maazel's most apposite repertoire. Roussel's Second Suite from "Bacchus et Ariane", the Dance of the Seven Veils and the final scene from Richard Strauss' "Salome" and two Respighi masterpieces: "Fountains of Rome" and "Fountains of Rome". Fantastically colorful material done ideally by an extremely professional orchestra and a maestro who is always at his very best in this sort of music, with his uncanny ear for transparence and picturesqueness. And with the added pleasure of hearing Nancy Gustafson in her long-delayed debut ; thrice she was announced by the Colón, the first time singing the same Salome scene, and thrice she cancelled due to disagreements. A singer of immense versatility, she doesn't have the clarion voice of a Nilsson but the timbre is good and the volume acceptable, and these rather neutral assets are compensated by an acute musical and dramatic intelligence that gave us a believable Salome even without the stage action.I disagreed with the idea of having an offstage voice (Salo Pasik) telling the plot with melodramatic exaggeration to the audience. Supertitles broke off minutes before the end.

The other concert by the Toscanini was for Nuova Harmonia and I couldn't hear it; it seemed less interesting, with Beethoven's Fifth, repetition of "Pines of Rome" and two Italian overtures. It replaced the cancelled visit of the Verdi Symphony Orchestra.

For both subscription series the Mozarteum presented the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester under Philippe Jordan in two different programmes with baritone Thomas Hampson ; all made their local debuts; it was one of the greatest occasions of the year.The Orchestra was founded by Claudio Abbado in 1986 in Vienna, who remains its Musical Director, and it is considered the best European youth organism. The players range from 18 to 26-years-old and there's a goodly proportion of girls. I couldn't hear the first concert, all-Mahler : a selection of his early songs and the Sixth Symphony. But the second was roundly splendid. Two of the greatest symphonic scores (among my personal favorites) were chosen by the conductor and had performances of superlative quality: Richard Strauss' "Death and Transfiguration" and Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring". Immensely difficult music in deep contrast to each other (the strongest Postromanticism and the twentieth-century purest monument to rhythm), the orchestra showed extraordinary accuracy and enthusiasm under the guidance of the brilliant young conductor, certainly one of the best of his generation. The results were electrifying all the way.

But there was a further attraction, the belated debut of Hampson, one of the best lyric baritones of his generation (he is close to 50) along with Skovhus and Hvorostovsky, who were heard in BA years ago. Hampson's voice is very beautiful, even poetical, and he uses it with high intelligence and refinement. He sang four of the five Rueckert Lieder (why not all five?), enchanting in "Ich atmet' eine linden Duft", deeply dramatic in "Um Mitternacht" and almost metaphysical in "Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen". He also did two early songs in the fine orchestrations by Luciano Berio (probably premieres): "Ich ging mit Lust" from "Des Knaben Wunderhorn" and "Erinnerung" , text by Richard Leander; his "pianissimi" in the former were perfect.

I was pleasantly surprised by the return visit of the "Sinfónica de Euskadi" (Nuova Harmonia) who had been here in 2000 under its conductor Gilbert Varga, a Londoner of Hungarian extraction. Their return showed the orchestra in fine shape and very cosmopolitan in its composition (plenty of Slavs along, naturally, Basque players and from other places) and Varga a most proficient conductor. Their traversal of Shostakovich's desolate and turbulent Tenth Symphony had impact, accuracy and tensile strength, with very good playing from all sectors and intelligent, controlled conducting.

There was a further motive for joy: Bruno Gelber gave his best performance in years solving the difficulties of Rachmaninov's redoubtable Third Concerto with thorough professionalism. The Orchestra lacked some fine points, though. The programme was completed by Francisco Madina's short suite "Orreaga", which means "Roncesvalles"; I felt little sense of history in the pleasant enough music. Encores: a delicate Guridi piece, "Amorosa" (from "Ten Basque Melodies") and Dvorák's Slavonic Dance op. 46 No. 1.

Para el Buenos Aires Herald

The reign of the song recital

Since the beginning of historical times the human voice has been the most sensitive of instruments. Any concert season provides a rich panorama of composers and interpreters that have honored the expressive possibilities of the voice, and so it is in 2007. Herewith a selection with ups and downs of what I heard in recent weeks.

I will start with a true rarity, the recital at AMIJAI of the very talented Argentine countertenor Franco Fagioli accompanied by the guitarist Pablo González Jazey. I have never before heard that particular combination of sound, and the chosen repertoire was a premiere: original works and arrangements by Mauro Giuliani (1781-1829), well-known to guitarists through his three Concerti but also, as transpired on this occasion, a sensitive writer for the voice in the tradition of Italian bel canto. We heard the "Six ariette" op.95 on poems of the famous eighteenth-century librettist Pietro Metastasio, nice music mostly, with one of them in the minor mode showing an attractive refinement; and the "Six cavatine" op.39, going through many moods similar to those of the bel canto operas. And also arrangements by Giuliani of pieces by composers such as Cimarosa and Mayr (and of Rossini as an encore, the famous "Di tanti palpiti" from "Tancredi"). All very melodic and ornamented, quite difficult to sing and with skillful accompaniments.

Fagioli is having a brilliant European career, with main roles in Baroque operas led by illustrious specialists. Logical enough, for he is the possessor of a most beautiful voice with a wide register that encompasses contralto and soprano tones, and he uses it with consumate command of the most arduous florid lines and an appealing dramatic sense. Everything was finely sung and I especially enjoyed the minor mode song referred to above and the virtuoso display of "Di tanti palpiti". The guitarist, born in Tucumán, was absolutely impeccable, his very clear technique abetted by a natural sense of phrasing and perfect ensemble with the singer.

Also at AMIJAI, there was a fine recital by one of our best sopranos, Carla Filipcic-Holm, admirably accompanied by pianist Silvia Kersenbaum, a great solo player that seems to find the world of song quite congenial. There were in the programme two rarities, songs by Clara Wieck (Schumann's wife) written in her husband's style and an intense one, "In the garden of my father", by Alma Mahler , along with Schumann's cycle "Frauenliebe und Leben" ("Love and life of women"), three Grieg songs in German translations and Ravel's "Scheherazade", that exquisite cycle of Oriental evocation. Encores: "Alfonsina y el mar", the famous song by Ariel Ramírez and Félix Luna (the latter was in the audience) and more Grieg ("A Swan"). The soprano was in full form and I would make no distinction between interpretations, for everything was carefully considered and communicated, with her lovely timbre very well handled. I would only add that she surprised me in Ravel, for she is German-oriented but found the proper style .

A very special recital was offered at the Museo Fernández Blanco by soprano Sylvie Robert accompanied with admirable accuracy by Andrea García : an all-Webern programme! It may seem difficult for the listener, but in fact I found it refreshing and interesting. The ten songs of youth (probably a premiere) are still Late Romantic, whilst the four opuses chosen are atonal (op.3 and 4,on Stefan George, 1909 , and op.12 on varied texts from writers such as Strindberg and Goethe) and with a gradual concentration of the musical elements, or twelve-tone ("Three Lieder on poems by Hildegard Jone", op.25). The surprise for those who may feel that Webern is of forbidding complication was how well he writes for the voice. And the communicative musicality of Sylvie Robert made it quite convincing. Ans she is versatile too, witness her unexpected encore, a picaresque song from Messager's operetta "L'amour masqué" done with great charm.

Another special recital was offered by baritone Víctor Torres accompanied by lutenist Igor Herzog at the Jockey Club for Ars Nobilis. The First Part was dedicated to great Elizabethan composers: songs by John Dowland and lute pieces by William Byrd. The Second Part featured some beautiful Purcell pieces for voice and lute and as contrast, leaving England, lute scores by Ennemond Gaultier, a French composer. Although the baritone wasn't in his best voice, he displayed his honest , expressive art in what is a new field for him; his English was good. Herzog is a true virtuoso and played Renaissance lute in the First Part and Baroque lute in the Second.

La Bella Música in an intimate hall of the Sofitel presented baritone Burkhard Von Puttkamer, who payed a return visit to BA and tackled the arduous Schubert cycle "Die Winterreise" ("The Winter Voyage") accompanied by Philip Mayers, an Australian (debut). In 2006 I felt that the baritone had little voice but showed good taste and musical professionalism; in 2007 I thought that the enormous interpretative and vocal challenge was too much for his means, although again he knew the music well and had fine intonation; but this music is for a bigger, darker voice and for an artist capable of delving the ultimate depths. I was happier with the pianist's clean traversal of the 24 Lieder, though with too little insight on the dramatic significance of some Schubertian figurations.

For Buenos Aires Herald

The Argentino's solid season

La Plata's Teatro Argentino is having a good, solid season. This is something to celebrate for three reasons: a) its status as second opera theatre of the country weighs heavily in a year in which the Colón is impaired by its dependence on other theatres; b) it had a labor conflict last year that laid waste the first half of the year; c) a further conflict, this time with the Chorus, menaced the performances of "Carmen", but it was solved in the eleventh hour.

Those who still don't know the Argentino's new theatre may well be impressed when they visit it: it may be modern-ugly as a building, but the main hall, named Alberto Ginastera, is quite big (about 2.200 capacity) : seven levels, harmonious colors, an immense stage. It does have some ergonomic and acoustical problems, but still it is an important venue, one that seems to demand first-rate programming. The Argentino is fully integrated, with valuable production facilities, and it offers three different seasons at the Ginastera: opera, ballet and symphonic concerts. And there are also valuable concerts and stage performances at the smaller Piazzolla hall. So, now that with the roadway you go from Palermo to the Argentino in exactly one hour, there are plenty of "portenos" that find it worth their time to follow the activities of this theatre. And the Platenses are going to their theatre in droves.

Earlier in the season I wrote about their satisfactory revival of Bellini's "Norma". Two other standards followed and were quite successful, as I know from colleagues, but I decided not to go because casts were identical to those of performances that I reviewed for the Herald in recent seasons: Puccini's "Madama Butterfly" featured as the protagonists those of last year's Luna Park run : Eiko Senda and Gustavo López Manzitti; and Verdi's "La Traviata" repeated the three principals of the Argentino's 2005 revival: Paula Almerares, Carlos Vittori and Luis Gaeta.

Bizet's "Carmen" has been done often in recent years so there was no need for it, but it always draws huge audiences and the theatre was packed on the Sunday I went. Reinaldo Censabella, the Argentino's Artistic Director, was quite candid when I objected the hackneyed programming in a press conference: "I want full houses"; well, he got them. One of the good things about Censabella's tenure is that he has called back conductors and producers that were Artistic Directors in other periods, which is only fair, a rather scarce quality in our official theatres.

There was one bit of bad luck: Kate Aldrich, who had been an interesting Dulcinée in Massenet's "Don Quichotte" at the Colón, was to make her Argentino debut as Carmen, but she cancelled and went on to replace Veselina Kassarova at the Salzburg Festival. So the first cast Carmen was Virginia Correa Dupuy . I have great respect for this singer but I don't count this interpretation as one of her best. In purely vocal terms, she lacked decibels and richness of timbre; as an interpretation, too many discontinuities in the phrasing and an artificial stance in her gestures diminished the final result, although of course there were many moments of good singing.

Luis Lima came out of retirement to offer a deeply involved and dramatic Don José, though with "verista" excesses, especially in the final scene. His voice sounded big, raw and harsh and I had the feeling that he might be amplified. María José Siri had too much vibrato as Micaela, but she gave intensity to a very weak role. Emilio Estévez , a tall burly Escamillo, was uncomfortable in the high register though otherwise did well. Curiously enough, the best results were in the minor parts: the two smugglers were sung and expressed convincingly by Gabriel Renaud and Sebastián Sorarrain; Carmen's friends were voiced accurately by Ana Laura Menéndez (notwithstanding a touch of stridency) and Mónica Sardi; and both Zuniga and Morales were sung with firmness by Mario de Salvo and Norberto Marcos. Rather poor French from all the cast. I didn't hear the second cast (Alicia Cecotti and Gustavo López Manzitti were the protagonists). The Chorus under Sergio Giai proved again its outstanding vocal quality and acted with true involvement, although due to the conflict they had little rehearsal. The Children's Choir under Mónica Dagorret was fresh and appealing. And Perusso conducted an orthodox and clean interpretation well abetted by the Orchestra. A bit more passion would have been welcome.

Daniel Suárez Marzal, the producer, has lived and worked in Seville for a long period; this gives him an authenticity of feeling that is a definite plus. He asked his stage designer Jorge Ferrari to give him a unit set adaptable to different places; basically a big tilted platform for dancers and choristers and a wide curved staircase that permitted the placement of other members of the chorus and gave perspective to the music; it worked well in the First Act city square and in the outer view of the bullfight arena in the Fourth Act, less so in the Second Act tavern and not at all in the Third Act mountain pass. A lot of the stage action was convincing although there were some mistakes. The choreography by Omar Saravia was "ethnic" and somewhat repetitive. Ferrari's costumes emphasized black as an omen of tragedy. In all, this was a very acceptable "Carmen".

Para el Buenos Aires Herald

Zukerman and Goerner: highlights of the season

Music lovers hear every year a number of good concerts along with mediocre ones. A few are outside the norm: or downright bad or exceptional. In the latter category, never abundant, I place the Zukerman Chamber Players and Argentine pianist Nelson Goerner, both at AMIJAI, a venue that this year is offering highlights of the season, along with less exalted occasions.

Pinchas Zukerman has visited us often during his long career, as violin virtuoso, chamber player or conductor of the St Paul Chamber Orchestra. Apart from his purely technical accomplishment, Zukerman has always been deeply musical, an artist and artisan, a master of easy but compelling dialogue with his fellow players, always very well chosen. At 59 he's as good as ever and still has the knack of finding quality collaborators, witness the wonderful results of the first concert of the Zukerman Chamber Players (I couldn't attend their other concert). The same characteristics prevailed in the three attractive scores they played: a consistently admirable technique blended with a natural sense of style and an evident pleasure in playing together, true conversations in music.

Zukerman and a talented lady cellist, Amanda Forsyth, started the session with Kodály's fascinating Duo , a prickly piece of considerable modernism, perhaps the composer's point of greatest affinity with his friend Bartók; both players were full of character. Then, one of the two best String Quintets by Mozart (two violins, two violas, cello), K. 593, a past master of this medium, where one could appreciate the excellent work of the other players: Jessica Linnebach (violin), Jethro Marks and Ashan Pillai (violas). The same group gave us Dvorák's Quintet op.97, a sterling work rarely heard. The encore was the charming second movement of Mendelssohn's Quintet op.87.

I have long held the opinion that Nelson Goerner is the best Argentine pianist of his generation; both the recital I'm about to comment and his appearance with orchestra playing Beethoven's Concerto No.3 (on which I will soon write) were stunning affirmations of artistry in a superior level. Even the programme testified to the player's astonishing versatility, avoiding the hackneyed but giving us worthwhile music by great composers. He started with Janácek's only Sonata, a two-movement score of dramatic intensity, the composer's reaction to an act of political repression: the two pieces are called "Presentment" and "Death" . The second work was Schumann's "Humoreske", less known than other series of micropieces by this composer but an original and fresh score of many moods, magisterially exposed by the player.

The piano music of Franz Liszt is both innovative and rhetorical; the player must have the big guns to play it accurately (always a feat in this composer) but also the style to go beyond the technical hurdles and find the poetry in the scores; this was ideally encompassed by Goerner's performances of the stirring Ballad No. 2 and of four "Transcendental Etudes" of terrifying difficulty. I have very seldom heard blind octaves at speed played flawlessly as in this instance, but the deeper sense of the music was always there at well. The pleasure was prolonged in the encores, two impeccably done Chopin pieces: Nocturne No. 8 and the "Revolutionary" Etude. What a pity that the audience was too sparse .

On a less exalted level but very good by any standard were two Midday Concerts, the free series the Mozarteum offers at the Gran Rex. The Moreno-Capelli Duo has been for decades an exemplar of fine four-hand playing; Héctor Moreno and Norberto Capelli are Argentine but reside in Florence. Both have accomplished techniques and finely honed taste. Their interesting programme started with an intimate Schubert score, "Divertissement a l'hongroise", perhaps overlong for its material; they followed with the "War Pages" by Alfredo Casella, frankly descriptive music , and finally offered a good transcription by Liszt of his own tone poem "The Preludes", played with virtuosity.

The Sarastro Quartet resides in Winterthur, Switzerland; the sage priest of Mozart's "Magic Flute" was chosen for the ensemble's name. They are refined players with a beautiful intimate sound hard to appreciate in the vast expanses of the Gran Rex. They feature unfamiliar music stressing contemporary Swiss composers but also an Argentine, Constantino Gaito, whose two quartets they recorded for the Tradition label. Their unconventional programme started with an early Mozart Quartet (No.4, K.157), followed with Fabian Mueller's Quartet, a Swiss born in 1964, and ended with Gaito's Quartet No. 1. Mueller's score is tonal and melodic, well-written and expressive, whilst Gaito's 1916 work manages to steer clear of the prevalent folkloric stance of his time and gives us well-argued and pleasant music. The encore was Puccini's lovely "Chrysanthemums". All was played with distinction. The Sarastro also gave two concerts for the Festival of Encuentros de Música Contemporánea, which I couldn't attend.

Finally, the Stanislas Quartet from Nancy , France. The venue was the concert hall of the National Conservatorium López Buchardo, where they gave a master class earlier in the afternoon. It is a solid, serious ensemble, more at ease in Ravel's only Quartet than in Beethoven's last, No. 16. They included an interesting item; Guy-Ropartz (1864-1955) was a distinguished composer resident in Nancy in the interwar period and is rarely programmed nowadays, which made the audition of his Quartet No. 5 useful as information; fortunately it proved to be good music well worth the listener's time.

Para el Buenos Aires Herald

Wagner and zarzuela: the amazing range of the lyric theatre

Our two main private opera companies proceeded with their seasons at the Avenida with as opposite a pair of creations as can be imagined. Buenos Aires Lírica (BAL) took a giant step by offering a Wagner opera for the first time in their trajectory, whilst Juventus Lyrica incorporated a zarzuela, also a first for them. In their very different ways, both ventures fell on the positive side. BAL chose well, for "Der fliegende Hollaender" ("The Flying Dutchman") is more amenable to the resources of the company than any other of the ten Wagnerian mature works . It was a bold step and it proved a successful one. Juventus , on the other hand, offered Amadeo Vives' "Dona Francisquita", following the vote of their subscribers ; by accepting the majority view in three of their four 2007 choices Juventus has relinquished the right of the artistic direction to define a repertoire, and I can't agree. An enlightened programming policy can never be based on polls. Nevertheless, the zarzuela was agreeably served and I spent a pleasant night, though not a stimulating one.

"The Flying Dutchman" (1843) is a Romantic opera in which Richard Wagner transcends the influences of Weber ("Der Freischuetz") and Marschner ("Hans Heiling") and finds a style of his own. It is amazingly advanced in some parts ( the Dutchman's monologue, the Choir of the damned sailors) but is also conventionally melodic in the steps trodden by such German composers as Lortzing or Kreutzer , incorporating folksy and straightforward tunes on the choruses of Norwegian sailors and weavers.

I was among those who disagreed strongly with the Colón's production by Suárez Marzal on the Kuitca settings, so I longed for a return to sane concepts and good tradition. I do have some reservations, but the BAL staging had some relevant points. It was the work of an artist who made his local debut on this occasion: Fabian Von Matt, who studied here and in Vienna, and has been assistant producer in the Luebeck "Ring". He solved well the apparition of the phantom ship (effective red lights from Eli Sirlin) and he understood the psychology of the main characters. However, he introduced an extraneous element , an Angel, who intrudes at various instances and is instrumental in the redemptive close ; but even with the charming appearance of actress María José Iglesias, it felt superfluous. There were wrong details, such as giving poor Erik, a hunter, the black sleeves of an office boy. The Norwegian setting was respected, though transposed to the early 20^th century . The settings by Pilar Camps (apart from the damned ship) were rather poor, especially the panels with waves. Sofía Di Nunzio's clothes were mostly adequate, although I found not only Erik's sleeves wrong but also the Dutchman's attire didn't feel right. In Von Matt's work the final minutes were the weakest.

The musical side was quite strong. Homero Pérez –Miranda (a Cuban living in Chile) was a properly saturnine and haunted Dutchman, singing firmly (although lacking weight in low notes) and projecting the words with dramatic sense. Mónica Ferracani, an attractive blonde tall Argentine soprano with an important trajectory, was an impressive Senta, musically sound and sung with generous voice; it is her first Wagner and she surmounted with ease the challenge. Perfect is the word for Hernán Iturralde as Daland the mariner: his years at Stuttgart surely tell in the quality of his style and the voice is exactly the needed type. The others were some cuts below: Enrique Folger as an overheated Erik, Marta Cullerés with a frayed voice though used with authority, and Santiago Burgi on the other hand ingratiating bur rather green as the Steersman. The Choirs under Juan Casasbellas gradually found their feet (it didn't help that they were constantly knocked about by the producer); they were enthusiastic but raw. The Orchestra under Guillermo Brizzio's knowledgeable conducting was disciplined and correct, though the pit is much too small for the Wagnerian orchestra and the brass felt stifled.

"Dona Francisquita" is one of the two most often staged "zarzuelas grandes" (the other is, of course, "Luisa Fernanda" by Moreno Torroba). It is certainly the best work of Amadeo Vives. Written in 1923, it comes from the last brilliant period of the genre, the Spanish form of operetta. There are popular touches incorporating the "rondalla", an instrumental group based on guitars; a bad mistake of the production was to mime them on the stage whilst the sound came from the pit. But the staging by Oscar Barney Finn was pleasant and it boasted nice stage settings by Emilio Basaldúa, a tasteful orgy of decorative fans. Mini Zuccheri designed agreeable period costumes.

There were two casts, I saw the first. Fabiola Masino was too mincing and strident in the title role, though professional; Gerardo Marandino sang with some beauty and was well abetted by Pablo Skrt as his sidekick Cardona. Susanna Moncayo as Aurora combined uneasily operatic and popular voice projection. Good work from Alberto Jáuregui Lorda and Marta Cullerés as the aging couple and some young voices were heard to advantage in bit parts (Sebastián Russo, Iván Maier). The Choir under Miguel Pesce was in the picture, the dance led by José Zartmann with Mabel Espert was convincing and the orchestral side was well attended to by conductor Susana Frangi.

Para el Buenos Aires Herald

About pianists and chamber groups

Piano recitals aren't as abundant nowadays as they were three or four decades ago and the country's devaluation certainly hasn't helped in recent years, for the big names are quite expensive, but we do get some valuable visitors. Such is the case of the French artist Alexandre Tharaud, who was invited back by Festivales Musicales after his successful local debut last year. His task this time was very interesting: the complete traversal in two sessions of Maurice Ravel's creations for solo piano. I don't recall such a project being performed in recent years by any pianist, local or visitor, and it certainly is worthwhile. There were even two, perhaps three, premieres. And Tharaud has recorded the lot, so his concerts were promising. I could only hear the first, at the Coliseo, and I think Festivales has made a good choice.

In his piano music Ravel is at times Neoclassical ("Menuet antique", "Le tombeau de Couperin") but his most important music is Impressionist: "Jeux d'eau", "Miroirs". And his masterpiece, "Gaspard de la Nuit", is Impressionist in "Ondine" but Expressionist in "Scarbo". There's no end to his harmonic inventiveness and sometimes the music is devilishly difficult, taking the Lisztian grand manner as a starting point for adventurous forays into shimmering transparencies.

Tharaud is a typical pianist of our times: he has acquired a splendid technique and he can surmount any hurdle, but he doesn't get the equilibrium that famous Ravelians of yore knew how to obtain: Walter Gieseking, Monique Haas, Marguerite Long. He is at times too brusque ("Scarbo"); but he does obtain splendid coloristic hues and is certainly very professional. Some commented unfavorably that he read from scores, when habitually solo players know the music by heart, but I felt that it was just an "aide mémoire" and it didn't bother me, for it didn't affect his firm playing.

The concert I heard started with four short pieces, including the "Grotesque Serenade", his first piano work (1892-3), which may have been a premiere. Then, what is certainly one: "La parade", 1896, a curious quilt of waltzes, marches and a mazurka written for an intended ballet , and the disconcerting thing is that there seems to be a strong Satie influence (unique in Ravel's production). To close the First Part, those admirable "Valses nobles et sentimentales" evoking loosely Schubert but clearly Ravelian in its mix of Neoclassical and Impressionist; they were played with elegance and accuracy.

The Second Part started with the charming "Pavane pour une infante défunte" and closed with "Gaspard de la nuit", where I especially liked "Ondine". I disliked , however, the encores: an unnecessary Bach-Busoni Prelude and a fast and percussive piece by Rameau played too harshly. But the main thing was accomplished with distinction: a splendid panorama of Ravel's genius.

Chopiniana is a series of piano concerts taking as reference Chopin's music and organized by Martha Noguera. Thanks to her initiative our city has heard many valuable artists in recent years. In 2007 there will be two series; the first has started at a new venue, the hall "Los Jardines" at the Panamericano Hotel. It proved to have decent acoustics ; the seats are comfortable and the place looks nice. Curiously enough, the initial presentation included no Chopin, although the chosen composers were great admirers of the Polish composer: Schumann and Grieg. The player was Daniel Levy, a 60-year-old Argentine with a big European career and many recordings . He too read from the scores. Also, he expatiated at length on the music, which perhaps had some logic in this case for there was no hand programme: the pieces were announced by Noguera.

Levy chose no less than 21 of Grieg's vast amount of "Lyric Pieces", which seems too much of a good thing; probably a round dozen would have been enough to extend proper homage to the Norwegian composer , whose centenary of his death is being commemorated in 2007. From Schumann, his "Children's Scenes" op.15 showed Levy at his poorest level: excessive "rubati", a plethora of unmarked arpeggios, lack of rhythmic pulse, no regard to specificied dynamics and attacks that were too massive and harsh. Some pleasant moments didn't compensate. But although there were faults in Grieg (exaggerated rhythms, a shortage of delicate evocation) the pieces were generally well played and chosen. More Schumann to conclude: the "Intermezzo" from "Viennese Carnival" in a rather wild performance and the First Novellette, to my mind much better played than the other Schumann scores. The encore was a short Prelude by Scriabin.

Nuova Harmonia presented at the Coliseo the debut of the David Trio, founded recently (in 2004) . Two players are Italian: pianist Claudio Trovajoli and violinist Daniele Pascoletti; the cellist Philipp Von Steinaecker probably isn't. Their integration is very good and in their best moments the results were impressive. However, there was an excess of incisiveness in the violin and the high-lying harmonics of the cello in Shostakovich were flawed. The pianist was a tower of strength throughout. Haydn's Hob XV.14 had an interesting performance, with added ornaments and cadenzas, but the players seemed to go too far at some junctures. The splendid Shostakovich Trio op.67 had its gripping moments, and the artists found their full form in Brahms' marvelous Trio No.1, op.8 but later revised. The encore was a fine performance of the last movement from Dvorák's "Dumky" Trio.

Para el Buenos Aires Herald

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