Hard times for orchestras (con't.)

Grim news keeps coming from orchestras, trying to cope with the economic downturn.

The Philadelphia Orchestra, already without a music director, loses its president and CEO, James Undercofler, six months earlier than expected. His interim replacement, retired financier Frank P. Slattery Jr., working without pay, faces what one board member calls a "chaotic" administrative climate, Peter Dobrin reports in the Philadelphia Inquirer:

www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/20090115_Orchestra_leadership_in_flux__financial_picture_gloomy.html

Meanwhile, the Baltimore Symphony lays off administrative staffers in an effort to cut $500,000 from its budget, the Baltimore Sun's Tim Smith reports:

www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/bal-li.clefnotes15jan15,0,1348943.story

Beethoven via 'Peanuts'

Schroeder, the piano maven of "Peanuts," was seriously into Beethoven. So was the comic strip's creator, Charles Schulz:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/14/arts/design/14pean.html?em

Virginia Symphony 2009-10

The Virginia Symphony will present 12 classical programs in its 2009-10 season, continuing to perform at its five existing mainstage venues in Norfolk, Newport News, Williamsburg and Virginia Beach despite its financial woes.

Music Director JoAnn Falletta, who along with administrative staffers recently took a 20 percent pay cut to help reduce the orchestra’s budget deficit, will conduct 10 of the 12 programs, including performances of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Brahms’ "A German Requiem," Mahler’s Fourth Symphony, Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony and premieres of works by Lowell Liebermann, Behzad Ranjbaran and Hampton Roads-based Adolphus Hailstork.

Guest conductor Jung Ho Pak will lead the premiere of a work by Roberto Sierra. Also scheduled are recent works by John Adams, John Tavener and Jack Gallagher.

Other major repertory includes Mendelssohn’s "Scottish" Symphony, Stravinsky’s "Firebird" Suite, Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony, Dvořák’s Eighth Symphony and a Christmas-season performance of Handel’s “Messiah.”

Next season's guest soloists include pianists Jon Klibonoff (in Shostakovich’s Concerto No. 2), Benedetto Lupo (Beethoven’s "Emperor" Concerto) and Norman Krieger (Brahms’ Concerto No. 2); violinist Philippe Quint (Vivaldi’s "The Four Seasons"); cellist Michael Daniels (Tavener’s Cello Concerto); and soprano Hila Plitman (Mozart’s "Exsultate, jubilate" and the Mahler Fourth).

Four of the orchestra’s principals also will perform as concerto soloists: Concertmaster Vahn Armstrong (Bartók’s Violin Concerto No. 2 and Ranjbaran’s Concerto for Violin and Viola), associate concertmaster Yun Zhang (the Chen/He "Butterfly Lovers" Concerto), principal violist Beverly Kane Baker (the Ranjbaran concerto) and principal oboist Sherie Lake Aguirre (Richard Strauss’ Oboe Concerto).

Concerts will be staged at 8 p.m. Fridays in the Ferguson Arts Center, Christopher Newport University, Newport News; 8 p.m. Saturdays at Chrysler Hall, Norfolk; 2:30 p.m. Sundays at Sandler Arts Center, Virginia Beach; 8 p.m. Thursdays at St. Bede Catholic Church, Williamsburg; and 8 p.m. Saturdays (except Feb. 12) at Regent University Theater, Virginia Beach.

The Virginia Symphony’s 2009-10 classical series dates and programs:

Sept. 11 (Ferguson Center), Sept. 12 (Chrysler Hall), Sept. 13 (Sandler Center) – JoAnn Falleta conducting. Stravinsky: "Fireworks;" Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5 ("Emperor") (Benedetto Lupo, piano); Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5.

Sept. 24 (St. Bede Catholic Church), Sept. 26 (Regent University Theater) – JoAnn Falletta conducting. Fauré: "Pelléas et Mélisande" Suite; Richard Strauss: Oboe Concerto (Sherie Lake Aguirre, oboe); Jack Gallagher: Berceuse; Beethoven: Symphony No. 8.

Oct. 10 (Chrysler Hall) – JoAnn Falletta conducting. John Adams: "Slonimsky’s Earbox;" Brahms: "A German Requiem" (soloists TBA, Virginia Symphony Chorus).

Oct. 22 (St. Bede Catholic Church), Oct. 24 (Regent University Theater) – JoAnn Falletta conducting. Respighi: "The Birds;" Behzad Ranjbaran: Concerto for Violin and Viola (premiere) (Vahn Armstrong, violin; Beverly Kane Baker, viola); Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 3 ("Scottish").

Oct. 30 (Ferguson Center), Oct. 31 (Chrysler Hall), Nov. 1 (Sandler Center) – JoAnn Falletta conducting. Vivaldi: "The Four Seasons" (Philippe Quint, violin); Lowell Liebermann: work TBA (premiere); Stravinsky: "Firebird" Suite (1919 version).

Dec. 12 (Regent University Theater) – JoAnn Falletta conducting, Adolphus Hailstork: "The Gift of the Magi" (premiere) (Virginia Children’s Chorus, Todd Rosenlieb Dance); Handel: "Messiah" (soloists TBA, Virginia Symphony Chorus).

Jan. 8 (Ferguson Center), Jan. 9 (Chrysler Hall), Jan. 10 (Sandler Center) – JoAnn Falleta conducting. Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 2 (Norman Krieger, piano); Alexander Tcherepnin: "La Princesse Lointaine;" Richard Strauss: "Joseph’s Legend: Symphonic Fragment."

Jan. 29 (Ferguson Arts Center), Jan. 30 (Chrysler Hall), Jan. 31 (Sandler Center) – JoAnn Falletta conducting. John Tavener: Cello Concerto (Michael Daniels, cello); Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 ("Choral") (soloists TBA, Virginia Symphony Chorus).

Feb. 11 (St. Bede Catholic Church), Feb. 12 (Regent University Theater), Feb. 14 (Sandler Center) – Matthew Kraemer conducting. Smetana: The Bartered Bride" Overture; Delius: "Walk to the Paradise Garden" from "A Village Romeo and Juliet;" Chen/He: "Butterfly Lovers" Concerto (Yun Zhang, violin); Puccini: Intermezzo from "Manon Lescaut;" Puccini, Mascagni: opera arias (Amy Colfield Williamson, soprano; Scott Williamson, tenor); Tchaikovsky: "Romeo and Juliet" Fantasy-Overture.

March 26 (Ferguson Arts Center), March 27 (Chrysler Hall) – JoAnn Falletta conducting. Josef Suk: "Scherzo fantastique;" Bartók: Violin Concerto No. 2 (Vahn Armstrong, violin); Dvořák: Symphony No. 8.

April 2 (Ferguson Arts Center), April 3 (Chrysler Hall) – JoAnn Falletta conducting. Mozart: "Exsultate, jubilate" (Hila Plitman, soprano); Mahler: Symphony No. 4 (Hila Plitman, soprano).

April 16 (Ferguson Arts Center), April 17 (Chrysler Hall), April 18 (Sandler Center) – Jung Ho Pak conducting. Roberto Sierra: work TBA (premiere); Shostakovich: Piano Concerto No. 2 (Jon Klibonoff, piano); Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4.

Subscription and ticket information: (757) 892-6366; www.virginiasymphony.org

Eat your Messiaen and like it

Violinist Itzhak Perlman scolds an audience in West Palm Beach, FL, for its tepid response to Messiaen's Theme and Variations, then plays the piece again:

http://southfloridaclassicalreview.com/2009/01/perlman-scolds-cajoles-and-charms-kravis-audience/

At least as interesting, to me at least, is critic Greg Stepanich's description of the violinist playing with a "tight sound . . . intensely focused but somewhat narrow." For most of his career, Perlman has been likened to Fritz Kreisler in the plummy sweetness of his fiddle sound and his romantic interpretive bent – impressions reinforced by his recordings, even of modern repertory.

I haven't heard him live for a few years. Has he departed from past practice?

Review: James Wilson

Jan. 13, First Unitarian Universalist Church, Richmond

Perhaps the most singular concert experience in recent Richmond history took place on Dec. 13, 2005, the night of "Bach in the dark," when James Wilson played three of the composer’s six suites for solo cello in a downtown chapel lit, barely, by a pair of candelabras.

Wilson belatedly completed the cycle in much brighter surroundings, and as he’s going through a stylistic evolution. In recent years he has taken up the baroque cello and endeavored to perform music of the period in the "historically informed" manner, playing with minimal vibrato, employing period techniques such as messa di voce (a swelling effect in the middle of a long note) and emphasizing the affectus, or stylized emotiveness, of slow or lyrical passages.

This interpretive shift is a work in progress, judging by Wilson’s performances of the suites in C major, BWV 1009; D minor, BWV 1008; and D major, BWV 1012. Playing on a modern cello – needed, he said, to cover the range of the D major Suite, written for a now-extinct five-stringed fiddle that reached higher pitches than the baroque cello can manage – Wilson produced massively sonorous yet austere bass notes and woodsy, at times almost folksy, higher-register tones.

His readings of sarabandes, the central slow movements of these suites of dances, were characterized by dark, brooding lyricism. Tempos were distended by long sighing effects and long resonations, and dynamic changes further contoured phrasing. All this can sound excessively mannered if you’re conditioned to modern string playing. Heard on its own terms, though, it packs quite an expressive punch – witness Wilson’s memorably profound readings of the allemande and sarabande of the Suite in D major.

The effect of the affectus and the rest was to draw the listener deep into both the mechanics and spirit of this music. Its formidable technical challenges were vividly audible, especially in the fingering adjustments required in the D major Suite; and the more varied colors and textures produced by period-style playing made one more appreciative of both the dance roots and the ingenuity and expressive depth of Bach’s creations.

Stray squeaks and squawks, and some mushy rhythms, suggested that Wilson may not yet be fully in command of period fiddle techniques – a process of simultaneously learning the old and unlearning the modern. But he clearly has the ears and sensibilities to master baroque performance style.

'Winterreise' canceled

A Jan. 19 University of Richmond performance of Schubert's song cycle "Die Winterreise" by baritone James Weaver and pianist Joanne Kong has been canceled. Weaver is ill.

Washington National Opera 2009-10

The Washington National Opera has announced a 2009-10 season of six mainstage productions, plus two concert performances of Wagner’s "Götterdämmerung" and concerts by tenor Plácido Domingo (the company’s general director) and the spousal duo of soprano Olga Borodina and bass Ildar Abdrazakov.

The WNO recently postponed plans to stage Wagner’s "Ring" cycle next season due to fallout from the economic downturn. Its 2009-10 schedule, mostly devoted to repertory staples, also may reflect bottom-line concerns.

Repertory, dates and casting to date for the productions, all in the Kennedy Center Opera House:

* Rossini’s "The Barber of Seville" (Sept. 12-20) – Simone Alberghini (Figaro), Silvia Tro Santafe (Rosina), Lawrence Brownlee (Almaviva) and Valeriano Lanchas (Bartolo); conducted by Michele Mariotti and Joseph Mechavich, directed by David Gately.

* Olga Borodina and Aldar Abdrazakov in concert (Oct. 3), Domingo conducting.

* Verdi’s "Falstaff" (Oct. 10-30) – Gordon Hawkins and Tim Mix (Ford), Elizabeth Bishop (Meg Page) and Nancy Maultsby (Mistress Quickly); conducted by Sebastian Lang-Lessing.

* Richard Strauss’ "Ariadne auf Naxos" (Oct. 24-Nov. 13) – Irène Theorin (Ariadne), Pär Lindskog and Ian Storey (Bacchus), Lyuba Petrova (Zerbinetta) and Kristine Jepson (the Composer); conducted by Heinz Fricke.

* Wagner’s "Götterdämmerung" in concert (Nov. 7 and 15) – Ian Storey (Siegfried), Irène Theorin (Brünnhilde), Alan Held (Gunther), Gordon Hawkins (Alberich), Bernadette Flaitz (Gutrune); conducted by Heinz Fricke.

* The Gershwins’ "Porgy and Bess" (March 20-April 3) – Lester Lynch and Eric Owens (Porgy), Morenike Fadayomi and Indira Mahajan (Bess), Terry Cook (Crown), Jermaine Smith and Daniel Beatty (Sportin’ Life), Alyson Cambridge (Clara); conducted by John Mauceri, directed by Francesca Zambello.

* Mozart’s "The Marriage of Figaro" (April 24-May 7) – Ildar Abdrazakov (Figaro), Veronica Cangemi (Susanna), Krassimira Stoyanova (Countess Almaviva), Teddy Tahu Rhodes and Trevor Scheunemann (Count Almaviva), Michèle Losier (Cherubino); conducted by Patrick Fournillier.

* "From My Latin Soul," concert by Plácido Domingo (May 1).

* Ambroise Thomas’ "Hamlet" (May 19-June 4) – Carlos Álvarez (Hamlet), Samuel Ramey (Claudius), Diana Damrau (Ophelia), Elizabeth Bishop (Gertrude), John Tessier (Laertes); conducted by Plácido Domingo, directed by Thaddeus Straussberger.

Details: (800) 876-7372; www.dc-opera.org