Manhattan Trip Report

I spent the weekend in Manhattan. Stayed at the Newton up at 95th and Broadway. Saw the NY Philharmonic Friday night with Deborah Voight singing some R Strauss nicely and the orchestra outdoing themselves on the Mahler 7th Symphony. This symphony still sounds to me like a bunch of disconnected themes, and I own the CD and went to the pre-concert talk which was mostly a discussion of some of the themes and how we've heard them elsewhere before and since. After a long wait on the 104 bus, I finally got 'home' and to sleep for a 3:30 am wake up call in order to attend the Paul Winter Summer Solstice concert at Cathedral of St. John Divine at 4:30 AM. I've now attended the winter and summer concerts both in a Cathedral under renovation. I would like to get the full effect of the open cathedral as day dawns which we did not get the other morning. It was still a great concert. Mr. Winter's musicians are always excellent. Saturday night I did the NYC Ballet with Balanchine's Jewels. This was a beautiful ballet, beautifully danced. The smallish orchestra was led by a as yet unannounced young Asian woman who did a very competent job. I would love to know more about her but I don't even know who she is. The 3 ballets, Emerald, Ruby, Diamond were danced to Faure, Stravinsky, and Tchaikovsky respectively.

Shut Up and Sing

I've never been a huge Dixie Chick fan because I'm not a country music fan, although I appreciate their musicianship and singing ability. But the documentary Shut Up and Sing may make me a fan. They were on the top of the charts till Natalie Maines spoke out, then they were boycotted from radio, THEN they made it to the top of the charts again, swept the Grammys, etc. IN SPITE OF the stupid right wing nut cases that control the airwaves these days. Talk about heroes and patriots. The very best part of this movie to me was when cute little Natalie wrinkled her little pug nose, smiled directly at the camera, and called Bush a dumb fuck. Talk about truthiness. You girls rock.

Umbrellas of Cherbourg

This confection of a movie is an opera and it's high time SOMEONE did it at the Met or on Broadway or in the West End or in Paris or somewhere. The story is so sweet and the music tears at your heart strings like Puccini or Wagner. Someone stage (or movie) an Umbrellas of Cherbourg redo!!

Happy Birthday Barry Manilow!

Today is Barry Manilow's 64th birthday. I wish him all the best and many more years of wonderful music making. I rediscovered Barry when he had a TV special on CBS a few months after 9/11. He brought me back to life, gave me hope, gave me courage, gave me joy. I owe a lot to Barry but I've paid him back pretty well in CDs and videos I've purchased, in addition to joining the fan club and seeing him twice in person, once flying to Las Vegas to do so.

I think he's terribly underrated as a performer and as a musician. Especially as a musician. In the confection of a TV movie that is Copacabana, the bar pianist Tony, played by Barry, plays a collection of lovely songs. These songs became the album 2 AM at Paradise Cafe, for which Barry enlisted some of the greatest jazz musicians of our time and on which he introduced us to the hauntingly beautiful When October Goes.

I have my personal opinions on Clive Davis's influence on Barry. Clive surely made Barry a household name, made him tons and tons of money over the years, but the music Barry turns out under Clive's aegis is fluff, bubblegum, flotsam, jetsam. I hope Barry's star fades (again) soon so Clive loses interest and Barry can go back to making gorgeous albums like Paradise Cafe and Mayflower, even if he doesn't sell very many of them. Maybe he'll find the time to finally get the musical Harmony mounted on Broadway as well.

More on Magic Flute (Salzburg version)

I finally got the second CD of Magic Flute from Netflix. This is Act II and onward. The only Magic Flute I've seen besides this one is the Met shortened version in English last season. The longer version makes a lot more sense and doesn't depend so heavily on the bird man. There is a little trio that Sarastro, Pamina, and Tamino sing toward the end of Act II (before the trials of fire and water) that is exquisite. The trial by fire with everyone's (literally) hair on fire is very dramatic and effective. Wonder how many fire wardens were required offstage. The other thing that's exquisite is the harmony in the finale in the chorus. It's just so triumphant and pulls out all the stops. After about 10 watchings I'm picking up on Sarastro's little attempts to befriend Pamina and her recoiling at his every overture. I've been reading them as 'father/daugher' befriending attempts but that's me reading into it. They could also be lover to lover befriending attempts. There is a lot that is ambiguous about Pape's Sarastro. In the finale the interplay and expressiveness between the Queen of the Night and Sarastro is intriguing. I've decided that Magic Flute is the ultimate child custody drama and in his heart of hearts, Sarastro loves the Queen of the Night.

There's a clip of the finale up at youtube:

Click for "Flute" finale (Salsburg)