Picture by Frederik Arff
Nowadays, it’s nearly unattainable to maintain up with the embarrassment of riches supplied by the numerous performing arts facilities throughout Southern California; they appear to be competing to current probably the most unique performances by the world’s largest stars. Final weekend was one working example. Two separate venues introduced the Nordic international locations’ largest classical music stars, together with one well-known Brit, in two very fascinating live shows.
On Friday, April 10, BroadStage Santa Monica welcomed acclaimed Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen and British-Italian tenor Freddie De Tommaso for a joint live performance with orchestra, performed by Iván López Reynoso, as a part of the Movie star Opera Sequence. The live performance marked a welcome return for each artists, who had individually made their debuts on the intimate 499-seat primary stage only a yr earlier (De Tommaso in one other joint live performance with Angela Gheorghiu). This time, the stakes have been increased, with a full orchestra current.
Barely every week has handed since Davidsen accomplished her much-lauded run as Isolde on the Metropolitan Opera, a spectacular set of performances that was clearly nonetheless recent within the viewers’s minds. I occurred to attend her penultimate efficiency of Tristan und Isolde on the Met, so, in a short while, I felt I had been uncovered to each side of Davidsen’s artistry: the towering big of the German repertoire (significantly in Wagner and Strauss) and the budding Italian diva, particularly for the reason that live performance targeted totally on the latter.
The Friday live performance discovered Davidsen in a jovial temper, although understandably not at her freshest. It opened with a bang, a chunk that had develop into her calling card, “Dich teure Halle” from Tannhäuser, showcasing the qualities that made her Isolde so mesmerizing: the silky tone, simple energy, and gorgeously elegant phrasing. On that tiny stage, her voice sounded wonderful and thunderous, buoyed by Reynoso’s equally energetic conducting. The queen has arrived, and resistance is futile.
To not be outdone, her fellow Decca artist De Tommaso launched into his personal calling card, “È la solita storia del pastore” (Il lamento di Federico) from Cilea’s L’Arlesiana, delivered with a booming, full voice that proved he was a match for Davidsen, no less than in quantity. De Tommaso is commonly described as a park-and-bark tenor, however this aria appeared to suit him like a glove, bringing a contact of tenderness to his extra stentorian fashion.
The majority of the live performance was a journey into Italian verismo, starting with Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana. Right here, the live performance took an sudden flip. Davidsen has been constructing a profession in Italian repertoire, significantly with high-level engagements on the Met, together with Verdi’s La Forza del Destino two seasons in the past and Puccini’s Tosca, additionally with De Tommaso (in his Met debut), final season. She is scheduled to open subsequent season with Verdi’s Macbeth as nicely. Whereas she by no means sounded fully pure in Italian operas to my ears, she was bettering. Nonetheless, her solo deliveries final Friday have been alarming. “Voi lo sapete o mamma” (from Cavalleria rusticana) sounded a bit too low for her voice, and she or he compensated by darkening her tone significantly, leaving her low notes muddled and unfocused. Each “La luce langue” (from Macbeth) and, significantly (and surprisingly), “Vissi d’arte” (from Tosca) have been marred by mushy verses adopted by dynamic bursts on the climaxes, making the arias sound jarring and indifferent. I do hope this was a one-off incident and never an indication of issues to return!
Davidsen was a lot better within the duets with De Tommaso, establishing a robust rapport with him although she was glued to the rating whereas he sang freely. It was nearly as in the event that they impressed one another to offer their greatest. This was evident from “Tu qui, Santuzza?” (from Cavalleria rusticana) to “Teco io sto” (from Un ballo in maschera), which closed the primary half, and peaked with the tender and humorous reenactment of the “Mario! Mario! Mario!” duet from the primary act of Tosca. The latter additionally demonstrated how a lot Davidsen’s appearing had improved since I first noticed her as Ariadne in 2018. In between these duets, De Tommaso additionally supplied “Ch’ella mi creda” from Puccini’s La fanciulla del West, sung along with his standard stoic façade. This system additionally listed the well-known “Nessun Dorma,” however De Tommaso didn’t carry out it.
Grieg’s “Morgenstemning” from Peer Gynt signaled a shift in temper and opened the ultimate portion of the live performance. With each Grieg’s “Våren” and Richard Strauss’s “Befreit,” Davidsen returned to her standard self, delivering an opulent sound marked by a spread of dynamics and nuances, undoubtedly the highlights of the night time for me. Between these songs, De Tommaso supplied a passionate account of Salvatore Cardillo’s “Core ‘ngrato” earlier than Davidsen closed the live performance with a rousing rendition of “Heia, in den Bergen” from Kálmán’s Die Csárdásfürstin, exhibiting that even the queen knew methods to have enjoyable!
The viewers was wildly enthusiastic for each performers, even to the purpose of being rowdy. Somebody shouted “Isolde” to Davidsen for her encore, and we ended up with “I May Have Danced All Night time” from My Honest Lady. Equally, they demanded “Nessun Dorma” from De Tommaso, solely to get “O Sole Mio.” The ultimate encore, surprisingly for De Tommaso, was the mild waltz “Lippen schweigen” from Lehár’s Die lustige Witwe, with each performers even dancing a waltz onstage. It was the proper ending to the night time, leaving the viewers in excessive spirits. Judging from De Tommaso’s good German, can we ask for extra German repertoire sooner or later, please?
The next night time, deep within the coronary heart of Orange County, on the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Live performance Corridor, two Danish giants, the Danish String Quartet and the Danish Nationwide Women’ Choir (DR Pigekoret), below the path of Charlotte Rowan, collaborated on a rare live performance, courtesy of the Philharmonic Society of Orange Relyy. The Saturday live performance was additionally a becoming celebration for the Committees of the Philharmonic Society, who supplied greater than 50,000 hours of in-kind service in help of Youth Music Training Packages all through Orange County.
The 2 ensembles started collaborating in 2014 and, over a decade, have created quite a few live shows that includes robust programming rooted of their shared Nordic tradition, together with a US tour in 2019 and a German music competition in 2024. For this tour, the primary half showcased robust feminine voices by means of Nordic people melodies and new music by 4 feminine composers, together with Icelandic Anna Thorvaldsdottir, Finnish Lotta Wennäkoski, American Caroline Shaw, and Danish electronica composer Astrid Sonne. Within the second half, they premiered David Lang’s “in wildness,” a brand new work commissioned by the Danish Nationwide Women’ Choir in collaboration with varied performing arts facilities within the US, together with the Philharmonic Society of Orange County.
Phrases couldn’t even start to seize the brilliance of this collaboration. Though this system listed no inventive workforce, the presentation had a definite theatrical high quality, right down to the motion of the fifty women and the lighting. The ladies have been all wearing royal blue and entered the stage in a processional formation, with one woman sporting a practice on her costume. The practice would finally develop into the multi-purpose platform on which they sang and fashioned varied shapes to match the music.
The live performance opened with “Allemande”, the primary motion of Shaw’s Partita for 8 voices, which gained the 2013 Pulitzer Prize, carried out a cappella. Right here, the women sang, spoke, and whispered in unison, all sounding angelic. I used to be amazed by how clear their diction was. I may discern every phrase, although the efficiency was by a a lot bigger group than the piece was initially supposed for. The visibly pregnant Rowan performed with a lot authority and precision; her hand signaling added a extra dramatic choreography to the entire continuing.
Danish String Quartet (DSQ) started with a mash-up of “Vorüber, ach, vorüber!”, the primary motion of Wennäkowski’s extremely dissonant Pige (written for DSQ), with the second motion of Schubert’s String Quartet No. 14 in D minor, Loss of life and the Maiden, a chunk that Pige was supposed to be paired with. The mash-up evoked the chaotic lifetime of a lady, for whom solely loss of life may supply candy aid. DSQ’s taking part in proved why they have been among the many most sought-after quartets, marked by alertness and sensitivity to the rating and to one another, they usually have been merely joyful to take heed to.
After the haunting Thorvaldsottir’s Pann heilage kross (On the holy cross), the live performance reached its apex with two conventional Swedish and Danish songs organized by Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen (DSQ’s second violinist), particularly “Kisti du kom” and “Dronning Dagmar ligger udi Ribe syg.” The primary was a Swedish dance tune that featured many actions and significantly melodic interaction between the choir and the string quartet. Much more spectacular was the latter, an abridged retelling of the story of Queen Dagmar, who, on her deathbed, requested three issues from the King. The primary was to grant peace to all of the outlawed males and their fast launch from jail, whereas the third was to permit her youngest son to succeed as King! On this dramatic scene, the DSQ members appeared nearly to neglect their devices, as one moved to play the piano and one other performed the bass drum! They even joined in singing at occasions. The lengthy practice was positioned on one of many women who sang the Queen’s solo components, a fully beautiful second.
Sørensen supplied the following piece, “As soon as a Shoemaker,” an ode to a clog fiddle, aka a wood shoe repurposed as a violin, earlier than the woman choir carried out Sonne’s How Far and Shaw’s And So, each coping with existentialism. The primary half concluded with Nielsen/Ingemann’s “Tit er jeg glad og et brudestykke,” whose haunting melodies reminded the viewers of life’s duality, the place one couldn’t be fully comfortable or fully unhappy, all the time in between.
After the primary half’s excessive level, I felt the second half was a little bit of a letdown. Don’t get me flawed, the DSQ and the Women’ Choir have been as dedicated as ever, even when the women have been understandably score-bound. Set in eight actions, I felt Lang’s rating was a lot too tame in comparison with his phrases, which have been impressed by Henry David Thoreau and Hans Christian Andersen and requested the viewers to hear, to remain curious, to “imagine new beginnings can emerge after we dare to step into the wild.” In spite of everything, the lyrics included “we want to be inhabitants, part of nature reasonably than members of society!” However, the melodies felt reasonably sq. and monotone, with quite a lot of repetition. Solely within the Faure-inspired fourth motion and the sixth motion did each ensembles have so much to work with, they usually carried out brilliantly.
Watching this collaboration was actually an unbelievable expertise, and it completely warmed my coronary heart. There are solely two extra possibilities to see them in live performance earlier than they return residence. As Sørensen mentioned firstly of the live performance, “cultural interchange is necessary,” and I, for one, fully agree with that sentiment.
