Robert D. Thomas/Class Act

(Revised) NEWS AND LINK: Composer Daniel Catán dies unexpectedly at age 62

By Robert D. Thomas
Music Critic
Pasadena Star-News/San Gabriel Valley Tribune/Whittier Daily News

NOTE: This post has been amended to include a quote from Charles Castronovo at the end and a link to the LA Opera Web site.

Daniel Catán, the most significant Mexican-American classical music composer of the last 25 years, died unexpectedly Saturday in Austin, TX at the age of 62. Catán, who lived in South Pasadena, was best known for his opera Il Postino, which was premiered last September to great acclaim and sold-out audiences at Los Angeles Opera.

Il Postino starred Placido Domingo as Pablo Neruda and Charles Castronovo as Mario Ruppolo (The Postman of the title). In my review (LINK), I called the work “a stunning new opera … one of those all-too-rare nights when every individual element melded marvelously… a performance that reminded us that opera — at its best — can touch emotions and tell stories like no other medium.” Many other critics were equally laudatory in their reviews. (LINK)

Il Postino went on to performances in Vienna and will be presented at the Theatre du Châtelet in Paris on June 20. Another production was mounted last week by the University of Houston's Moores Opera Center.

Catán’s death is obviously a tragedy for his family and friends (he is survived by his wife Andrea Puente, three children Chloe, Tom, and Alan, and four grandchildren). However, it’s also a great loss for all who love opera and particularly those in Southern California, with its large and growing Latino population. Part of what made Il Postino distinctive was that it was written in Spanish.

Although Catán’s lyrical style was likened to Puccini — most notably in Il Postino — what made Catán unique was his ability to infuse his works with a Mexican flavor without being too obvious about it (Catán was born in Mexico City and later became a U.S. citizen.

When San Diego Opera produced his Rappacini’s Daughter in 1994, Catán became the first Mexican composer to have an opera produced in the U.S. Two years later, Houston Grand Opera commissioned Florencia en el Amazonas, which was subsequently produced by LA Opera. It was the first opera written in Spanish underwritten by a major opera company.

Catán was also notable for creating in Il Postino an opera that was as memorable as its sources: the 1985 novella Ardiente Pacienca (Burning Patience) by Antonio Skármeta and the Academy-award-winning 1994 film, Il Postino (The Postman), by Michael Radford. Few operas, or motion pictures, for that matter, are able to translate its source material as well as did Catán in Il Postino. In the process Catán created something that was, on the one hand, familiar and, on the other, totally different.

Catán had recently written a new chamber version of his first opera (now called La Hija de Rappaccini) and was currently at work on his fifth opera, Meet John Doe, which was due to premiere in October 2012.

Catán studied philosophy at the University of Sussex in England before enrolling at Princeton University as a PhD student in composition. Following his studies he served as music administrator at Mexico City’s Palace of Fine Arts (1983-89). Catán was also a writer on music and the arts. His honors include the Plácido Domingo Award in 1998 for his contribution to opera and a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2000.

Catán was on leave from his position on the faculty of College of the Canyons in Valencia when he died. The Los Angeles Times is reporting (LINK) that the composer died in his sleep in his apartment in Austin, and no foul play is suspected, according to a spokeswoman for the university. The composer's representative said that he wasn't suffering from any known illnesses.

Marc Stern, chairman of LA Opera, issued the following statement: “On behalf of Plácido Domingo and the entire company, we are shocked and grief-stricken at this terrible loss. (since it is the middle of the night in Japan at present, Plácido is not yet aware of this heartbreaking news; I know he will be devastated). All of us at LA Opera were truly fortunate to have worked very closely with Daniel as he prepared Il Postino for its world premiere in Los Angeles last year … and Daniel became a beloved and respected member of the LA Opera family in recent seasons.

“The incredible success of Il Postino should have marked the beginning of a new era of artistic achievement for him,” continued Stern. “He was unquestionably one of the most important opera composers of our time as well as one of the most popular, and his sudden passing is a terrible loss to the world of classical music. I know that his operas will continue to move audiences with their beauty and emotional power. We send our deepest, heartfelt sympathies to his wife and family on their terrible, sudden loss."

From Rome, where he is performing, Castronovo wrote: "It was a rare opportunity to be able to create the role of Mario in Il Postino with Daniel Catan. His wonderful music was only one view into a man that was so warm, giving and accepting all at the same time. He made me feel that I was part of his musical process, putting my own personality and musical instincts into a piece of art that he dreamt up with all his love. It was a great honor to know him and create music with him. I know future performances of Il Postino will be full of all the casts love and respect for this wonderful man."

Click HERE for the LA Opera Web site information on Catán.
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(c) Copyright 2011, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.

OVERNIGHT REVIEW: L.A. Master Chorale performs Haydn's "The Creation"

By Robert D. Thomas
Music Critic
Pasadena Star-News/San Gabriel Valley Tribune/Whittier Daily News
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Los Angeles Master Chorale; Grant Gershon, conductor
Haydn: The Creation
Sunday, April 10, 2011 • Walt Disney Concert Hall
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In his 10 years as Los Angeles Master Chorale music director, Grant Gershon and his ensemble have built a worldwide reputation for championing contemporary music in large measure by performing 13 world premieres and a number of American and West Coast first hearings. However, two or three times a season, the Chorale brings back one of choral music’s pinnacles to the great delight of its audiences.

Last night at Walt Disney Concert Hall the pinnacle was Haydn’s penultimate oratorio, The Creation (or, since it was sung in German, Die Schöpfung) and the sold-out sign was posted on the LAMC Web site many hours before the downbeat. The full house came with high expectations and weren’t disappointed as Gershon led 115 members of his Chorale, full orchestra and three soloists in a superlative performance.

Haydn was 67 years old when he completed this 2-1/4 hour telling of the Creation story, based on the first two books of Genesis and portions of John Milton’s Paradise Lost. That was old age by 18th-century standards (by comparison, Handel was 10 years younger when he wrote Messiah, the only oratorio better known than The Creation).

Nonetheless, Haydn was clearly at the peak of his creative powers. The Creation was the work of a master tone painter — one has only to listen to depictions of leviathans spouting, flexible tigers or slithering worms to truly appreciate how just how masterful Haydn was in this regard. That colorful writing begins with Haydn’s opening depiction of the chaos before the world was created and continues throughout the Biblical stories and Milton’s epoch.

Gershon and his forces fully met Haydn’s numerous challenges, beginning with those opening moments of unsettled orchestral music that leads to the angel Raphael quietly intoning the opening words of Genesis: “In the beginning …” and concluding with the chorus exploding from mysterious, hushed intonation to a glorious, full-throated C major chord that announces “Let there be light!”

That sequence proved to be a microcosm of what would evolve over the next two-plus hours. The Chorale was breathtaking in its dynamic control throughout the evening, sang with its customary clean diction and precise articulation, and produced the sort of exemplary blend to which we’ve become accustomed during the past decade.

The three soloists — soprano Elissa Johnston, tenor Hak Soo Kim, and baritone Sanford Sylvan — matched the choral forces exquisitely. Johnston sailed through her ornate tessitura lines with seemingly effortless elegance and precision; although she is Gershon’s wife, it’s clear that she was chosen solely for her prodigious musical talents. Sylvan displayed remarkable range (his low notes were as clean as his upper registers), and Kim’s clarion tenor gleamed throughout the evening. All sang with notable sensitivity to the texts.

Gershon accompanied his soloists sensitively and whipped the Chorale through the major climaxes with breathtaking speed (Awake the Harp and the conclusion of The Heavens are Telling were particularly noteworthy in this regard). It was the work of one master recreating another’s genius.

Hemidemisemiquavers:
• Kudos to whoever handled the projected translations; there’s an art to illuminating the translations at precisely the right second and last night was a prime example of how to perform that delicate task expertly.
• The Master Chorale’s 22nd High School Choral Festival takes place Friday (INFO). Tickets are free but need to be ordered ahead of time.
• The season’s final LAMC concert takes place May 22 as the Chorale performs extracts from Duke Ellington’s three Sacred Concerts. INFO. Before that, the Chorale will join with the Los Angeles Philharmonic May 12-15 in performances of Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem, led by Gustavo Dudamel, part of the Phil’s five-week-long “Brahms Unbound” festival. INFO
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(c) Copyright 2011, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.

OVERNIGHT REVIEW: Pasadena Master Chorale sings Brahms' Requiem

By Robert D. Thomas
Music Critic
Pasadena Star-News/San Gabriel Valley Tribune/Whittier Daily News
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Pasadena Master Chorale; Jeffrey Bernstein, conductor
Brahms: Ein Deutsche Requiem
Saturday, April 9, 2011 • La Crescenta Presbyterian Church
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Through the centuries, hundreds of composers have set the Roman Catholic Requiem Mass (aka Mass for the Dead or Funeral Mass) to music and some of those pieces show up annually on classical music schedules as the Christian Holy Week approaches (this year it runs from April 17-24). This year, for example, Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem will be performed Sunday in Costa Mesa and on April 22 at a Good Friday Devotional Concert at Pasadena Presbyterian Church.

Perhaps the most unique Requiem ever composed was Johannes Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem (A German Requiem), which was written between 1865 and 1868 (the first complete performance was Feb. 28, 1869 in Leipzig). Unlike many settings of the ancient Requiem liturgy, which emphasize the terror of death, Brahms — who wrote this piece shortly after his mother died — used scriptures from the Old and New Testaments that focused on comfort and consolation.

Brahms wasn’t content with a version for choir, soloists and orchestra; he also arranged A German Requiem to be accompanied by two pianists playing a single instrument. That was a common practice in the 19th century when having a full orchestra was a luxury and recordings were not yet invented. Hard as it is to believe now, Brahms was concerned that the work would not be popular. “Now it cannot perish,” he wrote. “What is more, it has become altogether splendid.”

The wisdom of that last phrase is certainly open to question (the orchestral accompaniment for this work is highly expressive and there’s no way two pianos can approximate it) but Artistic Director Jeffrey Bernstein and his Pasadena Master Chorale gave a sensitive performance of this rarely heard edition last night at La Crescenta Presbyterian Church. It was a reprise of sorts; the same forces had performed the work last year.

In brief preconcert remarks, Bernstein noted that using just four-hand piano for the accompaniment means the choir doesn’t have to strain to be heard above a full orchestra and, although pianists Shawn Kirchner and Alan Steinberger accompanied with panache, the focus was, indeed, on the Chorale.

That turned out to be just fine because the 55-voice ensemble sang with clear German diction and rhythmic precision and in the softer moments it achieved a notable blend. Only at the outer extremes of their voices in the loudest sections did some occasional rawness slip in, but for the most part this was both an impressive and expressive performance.

Brahms’ Requiem has a symmetrical structure. The first and seventh (last) movements use similar themes, the second and sixth movements end with glorious double fugues, the third and fifth movements feature soloists, and the apex of the piece is Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen (How Lovely Are Your Dwelling Places), which the choir sang with elegant, simple beauty; it was, indeed, the evening’s pinnacle.

Soprano Krystle Casey’s radiant operatic voice was almost too powerful in her fifth movement solo, while baritone Scott Graff seemed curiously understated throughout much of his solo work; I wished Casey could have poured a little of her power into Graff — the combination of her power and Graff’s clean high baritone voice would have been potent.

Throughout the night, Bernstein — who conducted the two pianists with the same exuberance as if he was presiding over a full orchestra — led a performance that appropriately emphasized Brahms’ great musical arcs. He also took the three double-fugue sections at brisk clips, to which the Chorale responded with clarity and power, particularly in the sixth movement, with its resurrection text from Hebrews, I Corinthians and Revelation. It was both chilling and consoling — Brahms surely would have approved.

Hemidemisemiquavers:
• The Chorale provided English translations in the printed program and was smart enough to leave the lights up so people could follow along if needed.
• Appropriately there was no intermission, but Bernstein did pause after the third movement to allow the Chorale to take a water break (they all brought water bottles); he invited those in the audience so equipped to join in. From a musical point of view, I might have opted for after the fourth movement but the second and third movements are killers for choral singers, so from a practical point of view, Bernstein’s choice made eminent sense.
• If you want to compare versions, Gustavo Dudamel will conduct the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Master Chorale and soloists in a performance of Brahms’ Requiem May 12-15 at Walt Disney Concert Hall. The concert, part of the Phil’s “Brahms Unbound” series, will also include the West Coast premiere of Steven Mackey’s Beautiful Passing. Info: www.laphil.com
• Brahms wasn’t alone in providing multiple accompaniments for his Requiem. Fauré wrote a chamber-orchestra version for his Requiem and either wrote or sanctioned a full-orchestra setting. Half a century later, Maurice Duruflé set his Requiem for full orchestra, organ alone — no surprise, since he was a great organist — and for organ with string orchestra and optional harp and timpani.
• The PMC’s final concert of the season is “The Green Concert” (celebrating the Earth, with music by Aaron Copland, Randall Thompson and Bernstein) will be June 4 at La Crescenta Presbyterian Church and June 5 at Altadena Community Church. Info: www.pasadenamasterchorale.org
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(c) Copyright 2011, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.

NEWS AND LINKS: Detroit Symphony strike officially over

By Robert D. Thomas
Music Critic
Pasadena Star-News/San Gabriel Valley Tribune/Whittier Daily News

Musicians and management of the Detroit Symphony ratified a contract that ends the six-month long strike. Mark Stryker of the Detroit Free Press, who has reported vigorously and well on the entire conflict, reports HERE.

The DSO announced an abbreviated spring season that includes some concerts beyond its regular home and $20 ticket prices. MORE

Stryker also offers some thoughts on what's ahead for the DSO. The issues raised in the contract negotiations will have ramifications — indeed, are already having — around the orchestral world. MORE

NEWS: L.A. Master Chorale appoints Terry Knowles president and CEO

By Robert D. Thomas
Music Critic
Pasadena Star-News/San Gabriel Valley Tribune/Whittier Daily News

Terry Knowles has been promoted to president and chief executive officer of the Los Angeles Master Chorale, effectively immediately. Now in her 11th season as the Chorale’s executive director, Knowles replaces Marc Foster who has been both CEO and LAMC’s board chairman (he remains in the latter post). Grant Gershon remains the Chorale’s music director.

She now holds a similar position to that of Deborah Borda at the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Stephen Roundtree at Los Angeles Opera (although Roundtree is not LAO president) — like the Master Chorale, both those organizations are resident companies at the Music Center.

During her tenure with the Master Chorale, Knowles has overseen a 75% increase in the group’s operating budget (to $3.7 million) and helped forge a new recording contract with Decca Recording Group.
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(c) Copyright 2011, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.

Five-Spot: What caught my eye on March 7, 2011

By Robert D. Thomas
Music Critic
Pasadena Star-News/San Gabriel Valley Tribune/Whittier Daily News
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Each Thursday morning, I list five events that peak my interest, including (ideally) at least one with free admission (or, at a minimum, inexpensive tickets). Here’s today’s grouping:
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• Tonight and tomorrow at 8 p.m.; Saturday at 8 p.m. at Walt Disney Concert Hall
Los Angeles Philharmonic; Thomas Ades, conductor
British composer/conductor/pianist Thomas Ades concludes his “Aspects of Ades” Festival with two programs. Tonight and tomorrow he conducts the Phil and soloists in the world premiere of Irish Composer Gerald Barry’s opera The Importance of Being Earnest. On Saturday, Ades the West Coast premiere of his Polaris and Olivier Messiaen’s Éclairs sur l’Au-Delà. Info: www.laphil.com

• Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at La Crescenta Presbyterian Church
Pasadena Master Chorale; Jeffrey Bernstein, conductor
Bernstein leads his a performance of Brahms’ Ein Deutsche Requiem, using a rarely heard two-piano version that the composer created. Scott Kirchner and Alan Steinberger are the pianists; soprano Krystle Casey and baritone are the vocal soloists. Last year this concert was a sellout. Info: 626/208-2009; www.pasadenamasterchorale.org.

• Saturday at 8 p.m. at Terrace Theatre, Long Beach
Long Beach Symphony; Enrique Arturo Diemecke, conductor; Ian Parker, piano
Diemecke continues his yearlong survey of Russian music with a program of Shostakovich, Rimsky-Korsakov, Respighi (how did he slip in?) and Tchaikovsky. Canadian pianist Ian Parker will be the soloist in the ever-popular Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1. Info: www.lbsymphony.org

• Sunday at 7 p.m. at Walt Disney Concert Hall
Los Angeles Master Chorale; Grant Gershon, conductor
Another pinnacle of choral music, Haydn’s The Creation, appears this spring as Gershon leads his 110-member Los Angeles Master Chorale, orchestra and soloists Elissa Johnston, soprano; Sanford Sylvan, baritone; and Hak Soo Kim, tenor. The Master Chorale last performed the piece in 2003 for Disney Hall’s opening concerts. Info: 213-972-7282; www.lamc.org.

And the weekend’s “free admission” program …

Sunday at 3 at Whittier High School
Rio Hondo Symphony; Kimo Furumoto, conductor
Furumoto concludes The Rio Hondo Symphony’s 78th season and his second as music director with “Highland Frolic,” featuring two winners of the orchestra’s 2011 Young Artists Competition. Vijay Venkatesh, 20, from Laguna Niguel will be the soloist in Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 1, while Chih-Chien Lin, a 26-year-old native of Taiwan who now lives in Los Angeles and studies at USC, will perform in Weber’s Clarinet Concerto No. 2.

Furumoto will also lead the orchestra in Mendelssohn’s Overture The Hebrides (aka Fingal’s Cave) and Sir Malcolm Arnold’s Four Scottish Dances. Info: 562/698-8626; www.riohondosymphony.org
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(c) Copyright 2011, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.

NEWS AND LINK: Detroit Symphony strike may be nearing an end

The Detroit Free Press has reported that negotiators have reached a tentative settlement in the six month between the Detroit Symphony and its musicians. The musicians still need to vote on the deal but plans are being made for upcoming concerts. MORE

AROUND TOWN/MUSIC: Still in high gear

By Robert D. Thomas
Music Critic
Pasadena Star-News/San Gabriel Valley Tribune/Whittier Daily News
This article was first published today in the above papers.

April and May are always ultra-busy months for classical music lovers and this year is certainly no exception. Here are a few local opportunities:

• Saturday at 7:30 p.m., La Crescenta Presbyterian Church
Music Director Jeffrey Bernstein leads his Pasadena Master Chorale in a performance of Brahms’ Ein Deutsche Requiem, using a rarely heard two-piano version that the composer created. Scott Kirchner and Alan Steinberger are the pianists; soprano Krystle Casey and baritone are the vocal soloists. Last year this concert was a sellout. Info: 626/208-2009; www.pasadenamasterchorale.org

• April 9 at 7:30 p.m., April 10 at 3 p.m., April 15 at 8 p.m., April 17 at 3 p.m. at The Woman’s Club of South Pasadena
Celestial Opera, a group about which my colleague John Farrell has written glowingly in the past, returns with a double bill of Puccini operas: Gianni Schicchi and Suor Angelica. These are the second and third one-act operas of Puccini’s trilogy Il Trittico (the opener is Il tabarro). The aria O mio babbino caro (Oh, my dear papa) from Gianni Schicchi is one of the opera genre’s most famous tunes. John Dennehy, Jr. will direct and Joshua Heaphey will conduct a chamber orchestra. Info: 626-628-3305; www.celestialoperacompany.org

• April 10 at 3 p.m.. Whittier High School
The Rio Hondo Symphony concludes its 78th season with “Highland Frolic,” led by Music Director Kimo Furumoto. The free concert will feature the two winners of the orchestra’s 2011 Young Artists Competition. Vijay Venkatesh, 20, from Laguna Niguel will be the soloist in Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 1, while Chih-Chien Lin, a 26-year-old native of Taiwan who now lives in Los Angeles and studies at USC, will perform in Weber’s Clarinet Concerto No. 2.

Furumoto will also lead the orchestra in Mendelssohn’s Overture The Hebrides (aka Fingal’s Cave) and Sir Malcolm Arnold’s Four Scottish Dances. Info: 562/698-8626; www.riohondosymphony.org

• April 10 at 7 p.m., Walt Disney Concert Hall
Grant Gershon leads the Los Angeles Master Chorale, orchestra and soloists Elissa Johnston, soprano; Sanford Sylvan, baritone; and Hak Soo Kim, tenor in Haydn’s oratorio, The Creation, another pinnacle of choral music. Info: 213-972-7282; www.lamc.org

• April 16 at 8 p.m., Alex Theatre, Glendale; April 17, 7 p.m., Royce Hall, UCLA
Music Director Jeffrey Kahane leads his Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra in a program of John Harbison’s Gil piú usati, Dvorak’s Serenade in E Major for Strings, and Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 (Emperor), with Jon Kimura Parker as soloist. The Harbison piece was premiered by LACO in 1993. Parker (who was born on Christmas Day 1959 in Vancouver) won the 1984 Leeds International Pianoforte Competition and has gone on to an international career. Info: 213/622-7001 x 215; www.laco.org

• Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Philharmonic concludes its “Aspects of Ades” festival this week. Today at 2 p.m. in Walt Disney Concert Hall, British composer/conductor/pianist Thomas Ades conducts two works by Stravinsky and his own In Seven Days, a video-ballet in seven movements.

On Tuesday night at 8 p.m., Ades conducts and plays his own music with the Phil’s New Music Group in a “Green Umbrella” concert. Thursday and Friday he conducts the Phil and soloists in the world premiere of Irish Composer Gerald Barry’s opera The Importance of Being Earnest. The festival concludes Saturday with Ades leading the Phil in the West Coast premiere of his Polaris and Olivier Messiaen’s Éclairs sur l’Au-Delà.

In the midst of all of this, cellist Yo-Yo Ma and his Silk Road Ensemble appear Monday night in Disney Hall at 8 p.m.

Info: 323/850-2000; www.laphil.com
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(c) Copyright 2011, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.

NEWS AND LINK: Gustavo Dudamel and wife, Eloisa Maturén, welcome their first child to family

Los Angeles Philharmonic Music Director Gustavo Dudamel and his wife, Eloísa Maturén, are the proud parents of a baby boy, Martín Dudamel Maturén. Eloísa Maturén gave birth Friday at 9:39 p.m. at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, according to Deborah Borda, president of the Los Angeles Philharmonic as reported in the Los Angeles Times. MORE