On Friday, May 5, I attended two performances both worlds and time apart, each wonderful in its own way. At Kleinhans Music Hall in the morning I heard the first of two BPO concerts with JoAnn Falletta conducting (the concert repeats this Saturday, May 6, at 7:30 pm) with a world premiere, composed in 2023, of a triple concerto for two basses and harp by Cuban-American guitarist and composer Manuel José Lezcano. More on that in a moment.
At the Unitarian Universalist Church of Buffalo in the evening their Music Director and Choir Master Jessie Downs combined local choir members and hired musicians and singers for a brilliant semi-staged performance of DIDO AND AENEAS, an opera composed 340 years ago, that still has legs. More on that after we talk about the BPO.
At Kleinhans Music Hall the concert was (and will be again tonight) billed as “Brahms’ Fourth” with a performance of that work I’ve heard many times before that seemed so fresh. As JoAnn Falletta conducted this 40-minute symphony without a score in front of her (how she does that with so many symphonies I find amazing) I kept wondering why it seemed different. My wife has always liked Brahms because she says that this 19th-century composer, to her, sounds so modern. And then it hit me. After the first half of the concert with works composed in 1941 and 2023 (really!), my ears were in “modern mode” and for the first time, I heard Brahms the way she hears Brahms. And who knows, the orchestra may have been in “modern mode” as well.
The concert opened with the high-energy Four Dances from “Estancia” by Argentine composer Alberto Ginastera (who studied for a while with Aaron Copland – think “Billy the Kid,” “Rodeo” and “Appalachian Spring”) and who had Copland’s ability to take beautiful, lyrical moments (you’ll love the second movement “Wheat Dance” which has a gorgeous violin solo played by BPO Concertmaster Nikki Chooi) mixed with straight ahead pounding South American rhythms. Falletta, a guitarist, is no stranger to South American music and the audience really responded. Modern concert etiquette is to refrain from applause between movements of a work, but you’ll have to sit on your hands to avoid it.
What I was totally not expecting was to enjoy the “Concierto Hispanoamericano for two double basses, harp, and strings” by Manuel José Lezcano who was in the audience and came up on stage for extended applause. No disrespect to the double bass players in the orchestra who are funny clever guys that I really like, including Brett Shurtliffe and Daniel Pendley, but I never liked (until this work) double bass concertos. However, I have been advised to “Never say ‘never;’ just say ‘not yet.’”
A favorite old gag tells of a Peace Corps volunteer in the jungle asking the villagers how things are going. Each person he asks pauses, listens, and then says “Drummer’s still drumming; so far it’s all good.” This repeats until the volunteer asks what terrible thing will happen when the drummer stops. “When drummer stops, then we get bass solo.”
As Mary Poppins sang “A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down” and in this “Concierto” we got more than a spoonful of that sweet harp sound with audience favorite, BPO Principal Harpist Madeline Olsen. That higher-pitched harp chiming against the grumble of the two basses was a perfect recipe, like adding just the right spice to a familiar recipe. It’s a fun work and I promise to never say “I don’t like double bass concertos” again. I’ll say “Once upon a time there was this concert at Kleinhans….”
The concert runs the usual time, a little under two hours with one intermission. It repeats this Saturday night, May 6, at 7:30 pm. Kleinhans Music Hall is at “3 Symphony Circle” Buffalo, 14201 where Porter Avenue, Richmond Avenue, North Street and Wadsworth meet at a traffic circle. Visit www.bpo.org or call 716-885-5000. Full-service bar in the lobby or across the lobby in the Mary Seaton Room. Masks are optional.
On Friday evening I went to the Unitarian Universalist Church of Buffalo at 695 Elmwood Avenue for a magical semi-staged production of the opera DIDO AND AENEAS.
This is a completely sung-through opera in four parts, written by the English Baroque composer Henry Purcell (c. 1659 – 1695). It was written sometime in the 1680s. The story is based in part on Book IV of Virgil’s Aeneid and tells the sad story of the love of Dido, Queen of Carthage, for the Trojan War hero Aeneas, and her despair when he abandons her (“Dido’s Lament” is often sung in recitals and competitions as a solo aria). In his Stage Director’s notes, Alex Huddleston forwards a fascinating theory that the opera is told as a memory of Dido’s sister Belinda, who feels guilty for introducing Dido to Aeneas, even though it was a Sorceress and Witches who convinced Aeneas to abandon Dido. (That sorceress and her hench spirits are a complete fabrication of this opera and do not appear in Virgil’s “Aeneid” at all, but they were an inspired addition.)
From Orlando Florida, operatic soprano Claire Tendle brought a sweet soprano voice to the role of Dido while Cassidy Dixon, playing Dido’s sister Belinda, matched her in both voice and appearance. They really did look like sisters (not always the case in operatic productions). Buffalo’s own Brandon Mecklenburg (a SUNY Fredonia) brought his rich baritone to the role of Aeneas.
Three of the “baddies” in the opera (and you know they’re bad because they wear black lipstick) were the Sorceress (Helen Lowry) and her two hench persons (listed as First Witch and Second Witch) Beth White and Mariam Dishunts) with the fourth being the shape-shifting “Spirit in the form of the god Mercury” sung by UU Choir tenor section leader Lia Allen, who obviously relished the role. Every performer says it’s more fun to play “bad” than “good.”
What we are used to with both singers and instrumentalists since the 19th century is a lot of vibrato in both voice and performance. But that is NOT how things were done in the Baroque era. (It always drives me nuts when Handel’s oratorio “Messiah” is sung with bel canto technique.) Here, Music Director Jessie Downs came up with a nice compromise that was easy on the ears but more “historically informed” than we often get. THANK YOU DR. DOWNS!
I’ll admit what I really wanted to hear was the “Baroque” orchestra and they were spot on. Afterwards, I spoke with Kate Schuldiner who played an instrument called the viola da gamba that looks like a small bass (it’s actually from the viol, not the violin family), is played between the legs (“da gamba”) like a cello, but has six strings, not four, and has frets, like a lute. You don’t see them used in modern orchestras but when combined with the harpsichord (Charles Sierzchula) – the signature sound of the Baroque era – it really takes you back to the time of Purcell.
Sitting next to Schuldiner was Glenna Curren playing a modern cello, but in the old style, without a lot of vibrato. I asked why both a cello and a viola da gamba and Schuldiner told me that when it’s serious music as sung by Dido, Belinda, or Aeneas then she plays. When it’s more upbeat music involving villagers and sailors, then the cellist plays. That combination of a lower instrument plus a harpsichord is called “continuo” and, just like a modern jazz combo of bass, piano, and singer it’s the basic building block of Baroque operas and oratorios.
I asked Schuldiner if it was hard for the other string players to kill the vibrato and she said that no, they were all very experienced in this style, and that’s why they were hired. They were Boel Gidholm, Mary Riccardi, and Aika Ito playing Violin I, Violin II, and Viola.
That opera was one night only, but going forward the UUCB (Unitarian Universalist Church of Buffalo) has “Casual Concerts” planned for every third Saturday of the month starting at 2 pm.
Do you still want to “go for Baroque?”
There will be another Baroque opera soon, not at the UUCB but at Asbury Hall (popularly known as “Babeville”) when the Buffalo Chamber Players present George Frideric Handel’s “little opera” ACIS AND GALATEA on Thursday, June 15, 2023 at 7:30 pm. Free parking is available in the Asbury Hall parking lot or along Delaware Avenue. General admission tickets are $25, $5 for students, and free for those 18 and under. For tickets and information, please visit the BCP website www.buffalochamberplayers.org/.
The Buffalo Chamber Players have presented chamber operas in the past and they always get great players, many of whose “day jobs” are with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, so this will be worth your while.
Two weeks before that, Buffalo Opera Unlimited will present two modern-day (mid-twentieth century) one-act operas by Gian Carlo Menotti: THE MEDIUM and THE TELEPHONE. Both will be performed each night at The Warren Enters Theatre at Buffalo State University (note not the usual Rockwell Hall). The two dates for these operas are Friday, June 2nd at 7:30 pm and Saturday, June 3rd at 5:00 pm. For details visit www.buffalooperaunlimited.org.
Lead image: BPO L-R Madeline Olsen, Daniel Pendley, Brett Shurtliffe, composer Jose Lezcano