Juilliard Orchestra Performs at Lincoln Center

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Reviews

Published on Friday, 08 April 2022 17:14

Written by Jack Angstreich

Barbara Hannigan with the Juilliard Orchestra. Photo by Steve Sherman.

At Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, on the evening of Thursday, March 31st, I was privileged to attend a terrific concert presented by the excellent musicians of the Juilliard Orchestra under the assured direction of the esteemed and attractive soprano, Barbara Hannigan, a 2021-22 Creative Associate of the ensemble.

The program opened brilliantly with a marvelous reading of the magnificent Symphony No. 26, “Lamentatione,” of Franz Joseph Haydn, a composer in whose music the conductor has had an abiding interest. In this work, the influence of the Baroque style is much stronger than in his later, more familiar symphonies. The opening Allegro is stirring, while the ensuing Adagio has an almost elegiac quality, and the concluding Menuet is unusually weighty for a dance-movement.

An extraordinary soprano, Nicoletta Berry, then took the stage for an impressive performance of the mysterious, powerful, and unexpectedly dramatic Lonely Child of 1980 by the acclaimed French Canadian composer, Claude Vivier. I found the work surprisingly accessible despite the author’s serialist affinities—Hannigan has had an enduring commitment to modernist and contemporary music.

After an intermission, the event resumed with an arresting account of Haydn’s outstanding “Representation of Chaos”—the prelude to his celebrated oratorio, The Creation—which has an awesome, thrilling character even as it has a slow tempo. In an unexpected and innovatory move, this was followed without a pause by an exquisite rendering of Ferruccio Busoni’s haunting, enigmatic Berceuse élégiaque.

The evening ended stunningly with an exalting version of Claude Debussy’s sublimely beautiful, sumptuous, and ethereal La damoiselle élue, an early cantata that contributed to fulfilling an obligation acquired by winning the Prix de Rome, and based on an adaptation of a text by the great English poet and Pre-Raphaelite painter, Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Two outstanding singers joined the ensemble—soprano, Seonwoo Lee and mezzo-soprano, Maggie Reneé—along with the admirable Musica Sacra chorus under the distinguished direction of Kent Tritle.

Michael Feinstein Serenades a Century of Love Songs

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Reviews

Published on Friday, 08 April 2022 14:46

Written by Jack Angstreich

Michael Feinstein at the piano. Photo by Richard Termine.

On the evening of Wednesday, April 6th, I was fortunate to attend the annual Standard Time with Michael Feinstein concert at Zankel Hall—this iteration was titled “A Century of Romance: 100 Years of Love Songs.” He received superb support from his jazz trio: Tedd Firth on piano, David Finck on bass, and Mark McLean on drums.

The program opened charmingly with the classic “At Long Last Love” by Cole Porter from his 1938 show, You Never Know, where it was introduced by the inimitable Clifton Webb. (Peter Bogdanovich borrowed the title for his ill-fated musical comedy film of 1975, a work that has been recently reevaluated.) He followed this with the delightful "It All Depends on You" from 1926, with music by Ray Henderson and lyrics by Buddy G. DeSylva and Lew Brown, a song recorded by Ruth Etting among many others. He then performed a wonderful mash-up of two songs by the great Sammy Fain—author of Doris Day’s transcendent “Secret Love”—from his 1938 musical, Right this Way: the lovely “I Can Dream, Can't I?” and the ever popular “I’ll Be Seeing You.”

The singer then invited an up-and-coming musical theatre student, Sadie Fridley, to the stage, where she delivered a marvelous version of another hit, “A Fine Romance” by Jerome Kern, with lyrics by Dorothy Fields, which was written for the terrific George Stevens film, Swing Time, from 1936, where it was introduced indelibly by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Feinstein returned for another mash-up, here of two songs by the masterful Victor Young: “When I Fall in Love” which was written for the 1952 Tay Garnett film, One Minute to Zero, recorded by many, including, notably, Nat King Cole; and, the perennial, “My Foolish Heart,” composed for 1949 Mark Robson film of the same title—surprisingly a work that was defended—on non-auteurist grounds—by Andrew Sarris.

Feinstein then invited the terrific Catherine Russell to take the stage as his special guest of the evening. Her set began delightfully with “Love is Just Around the Corner,” a lovely song with lyrics by Leo Robin that was written for the 1934 Frank Tuttle film, Here is My Heart, where it was introduced by Bing Crosby. With “What a Difference a Day Makes,” the 1934 Maria Grever song originally written in Spanish, the singer evoked the immortal Dinah Washington, who later made what is now the most famous recording. One of the most beautiful songs of the evening was “My Ideal,” from 1930, by Richard Whiting with lyrics by Leo Robin, which was introduced by Maurice Chevalier in the film, Playboy of Paris. She followed this with the 1946 “Come Rain or Come Shine” by Harold Arlen with lyrics by Johnny Mercer, written for the musical, St. Louis Woman. Feinstein returned to the stage to sing a duet with Russell, the 1938 “You Go to My Head” by J. Fred Coots.

Feinstein then went on to perform the 1962 “I Wanna Be Around,” co-written by Mercer, and he successfully recalled such artists as Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Dean Martin and Bobby Darrin, all of whom sang it. He dedicated the next song—from the 1978 musical, Ballroom, where it was introduced by Dorothy Loudon—in memory of the recently passed Marilyn Bergman, who wrote the lyrics were husband, Alan. He then sat alone at the piano to sing two requests from the audience: the 1935 “My Romance” by Richard Rodgers, with lyrics by Lorenz Hart, from the musical Jumbo, and Jerry Herman’s 1974 “I Won't Send Roses,” from his musical Mack and Mabel, where it was introduced by Robert Preston. Russell returned to the stage to join Feinstein in another duet: Porter’s 1936 “I’ve Got You Under My Skin,” written for the film Born to Dance, where it was introduced by Virginia Bruce. Feinstein closed the show with “For Once in My Life.”

April '22 Digital Week I

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Reviews

Published on Wednesday, 06 April 2022 20:35

Written by Kevin Filipski

In-Theater Releases of the Week 

Mothering Sunday 

The Rose Maker 

Blu-ray Releases of the Week

The Long Night 

DVD Release of the Week

CD Release of the Week