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Six days ago, I went to American Opera Theater‘s (now) controversial performance of Handel‘s Messiah. I was there, as was my partner in crime Akimon, and I saw both Michael Lodico and Tim Page at the performance. I wrote a relatively low profile review, where I panned the production and commented that I was not fond of Messiah and I thought the production was disappointing. It was, in fact, item number two out of several in that post. On Monday, Michael’s review on Ionarts went up with a wonderfully awful title, calling the performance an exercise in S&M.

I wrote on the first day, and I stand by my comment now, that Michael’s view of the performance was essentially correct.

Beginning yesterday, both I and Michael started seeing numerous comments (and in Michael’s case, a letter to the editor) that suggested our reading is wrong, that it was purely a violent performance, not a sexual one. This is categorically incorrect in my opinion, since I felt the performance has sexual overtones and innuendo. It may not have been the intention of Timothy Nelson or anyone at AOT to add these overtones, but that is how I, and at least two other people I spoke to immediately after the performance shared this view and they were uncomfortable with it.

Whether we reacted by being enthralled by the violence of the production, or we reacted by condemning the production for going half-heartedly into sexual overtones, the experience is different for each person. So let’s get this out of the way: ultimately we saw the same thing and walked out feeling that it was either great or not based on criteria known to us and us alone and we tried to review it based on those criteria and explained those criteria as best we could. Some liked the provocative staging, others did not, and some of us liked the provocative staging but came out with a different interpretation than the intended one.

Timothy Nelson himself has stated his intention was to provoke and he has provoked with his production; I applaud him for doing so. What I find disturbing is that having now put himself and his production out on a limb, he feels the need to backtrack and tell people what they should think of the performance. There is no need to – people will see what they want to see, people will not see what they don’t want to. I encourage him to accept that the performance was taken by some as having sexual overtones, and taken by others as not having it. That’s the way art is received. C’est la vie.

More disturbingly, today, I learnt from OI that the Handel Choir is threatening to pull out of the remaining productions because of Michael’s review. That is what I find unacceptable, not the production itself as many people have suggested. Having found no problem with the content prior to Michael’s review, I find it despicable that for the sake of a bad review they feel it’s appropriate to leave. Had a bad review doomed every controversial piece, there would be no Don Giovanni, no Goldberg Variations, no Raft of the Medusa. The Handel Choir should be rightfully ashamed of its behaviour.

I have enjoyed every work of AOT’s I’ve gone to in the past, and I have tickets to more in the new year. I have enjoyed some more than others and I enjoyed their Messiah less than I expected. I wrote a review accordingly. I wrote comments in support of these views accordingly. Some people read that as my disliking AOT and/or Messiah and/or god. In fact, I look forward to the rest of the productions that Timothy Nelson and his merry band of elves have for us in the upcoming year.

C’est la vie.

I was trying to think of a post that I’d want to write between now and Sunday which I’m trying to get my backup post ready for and I couldn’t think of anything I’d want to write about. So instead of writing nothing, I’ll get a couple of different things out in one post. Cool, eh?

Music: Halo 3 Soundtrack

If you’ve heard the played any of the Halo games, you’ll recognize the amazing work that Martin O’Donnell and Michael Salvatori put into creating just the right music for Halo. If you have bought the soundtracks for either of the previous games, though and liked it, well you’re in for a treat. Unlike Halo 2‘s music which changed radically from the original Halo‘s music – most notably the instruments – Halo 3 takes the existing excellence of Halo 2 and tweaks it with both interesting and radical variations on a theme. For example there is a piano refrain that dates back to the original Halo that goes “da-da-daaaa, da-da-daaaa” and has been used in almost every heavy action sequence in the Halo games and almost every piece of advertising for the game. Now the middle note in the refrain has been moved an octave lower and is more punctuated, making what was an otherwise a great instantly recognizable tune just a little bit more varied and interesting than the original.

Halo 3′s music release is similar to that of the original Halo soundtrack and contains all the actual in game music – some 140 minutes of heart-pounding and emotional music. This is unlike Halo 2, which saw two CD releases, one of which was a general atmospheric CD and the other the actual in-game music. However, there is a hidden track at the end of the second CD by some amateur band about the Halo experience that is probably not worth listening to, so stop after the 16th track on the second CD. If you liked the earlier Halo soundtracks, this is pretty much a no-brainer: you’ll love it. If you didn’t know there were earlier soundtracks, then this is a good place to begin – and work backwards. And if you’re a virtuoso, then feel free to download the sheet music, sans charge. Verdict: Buy.

Opera: American Opera Theater does Handel’s Messiah

If I had a penny for everytime someone told me they liked Handel‘s Messiah oratorio and I scowled, I’d have enough money to do a load of laundry. Messiah is an Easter-time performance that apparently is popular around Christmas time in the US. Not sure why. It’s also not a particularly good work by Handel – you should see Giulio Cesare if you want to hear a great Handel work – but it has its moments when performed by a competent orchestra at a rapid clip. American Opera Theater‘s orchestration was probably closest to this ideal, but why thus it’s so popular, I do not pretend to know or guess at; some theories include the American fascination for the Hallelujah Chorus from Act II. Unlike most versions of Messiah, this production staged it, albeit on a very bare stage filled with recently-purchased IKEA furniture. It was… odd. If you’re interested in a traditional singing performance, this is not for you. If you’re interested in Messiah but want something more interesting (read: controversial), this maybe your performance this season and it’s on again on Saturday the 8th of December and Sunday the 9th (i.e.: tonight and tomorrow night) at the Gonda Theater in Georgetown. However, there was much more interesting entertainment that came out the same day which would be a better use of your time. Both Michael Ludico and Tim Page were there, so you’ll see a review pretty soon at Ionarts (with an entertaining title if it gets past the Charlesitarium if the party allows it if he’s allowed to use it) and perhaps one at the Washington Post too.

More Amateur Feline Behaviour Analysis

I’ve continued trying to map the noises my now 8-month old kitten makes to what he wants. He does try really hard to speak when he wants something desperately, but he doesn’t quite have the capacity to say words exactly so. One long-term mystery was solved recently, so that’s worth sharing. This kitten came very well trained from either the shelter or his birth family. One of the things that in particular he does well is go to the litter if he has any urge to go at all; in all these months, even during the first few days, he has had no accidents and with luck it’ll remain that way.

However, his trainer seems to have taught him (or he has rationalized) to only go when a human is present and preferably just before eating. He still does the latter, which I appreciate, but the former is more of a problem, because he really doesn’t go without a human present. This creates problems – such as when I am in my room and my flat mate is not around; he squeaks and whines until you come out and then he promptly runs to the toilet. At least, that is how it used to work – now he squeaks for other reasons too, such as “come play”. I just figured out, however, that when he just wants someone to come out and play, he vocalizes starting with “m”, so we get “miau” or “myaa” and such. However when he starts with a “w” as in “weh” then he needs to go so he needs either me or my roommate to escort him to the loo.

It’s fascinating to see him try to communicate. I’m almost considering giving up economics for linguistics!

Phone Beeps and Boops

I’ve discovered that the two sliding portions of my Nokia N80, which are connected by a long, flat, ribbon cable, are coming apart and slowly causing the screen to fail. Either I can’t hear through the headset speaker, or the screen washes out, comes out blank or garbled. Looks like I will be out in the market for a new phone in the next few months when this fails entirely. Any suggestions?

On the flip side, I didn’t realize how loud the alarm was until Friday afternoon. I measured it at approximately 85db at 1m after about 15 seconds of beeping. To put it into perspective, that’s close to the limit of hearing damage. And I usually keep it less than 1m away, so probably not the best situation all around. But for what it’s worth, if having a good alarm clock in your phone is something of a key consideration, then the N80 is a good bet, even if it is slightly dated.

Meta

Posting will be a little light after the big backup post tomorrow or so. I have some work to get done quickly, and after that’s done, I’ll have time to play around with a few things and write a few more posts. I’d like to play my way through Assassin’s Creed and Mass Effect, but it’ll be a while, particularly Assassin’s Creed, since I’m getting my rear kicked on one of the training missions. Yikes. There’s also this tiny game called Super Mario Galaxy that I’d like to play. I plan to read more from my ever growing list of books which now includes a few more Kim Stanley Robinson novels, Jack McDevitt‘s The Engines of God, and a half-dozen others and re-read Dan Simmon‘s Hyperion Cantos. And I need to do some of those gadget resets and reformats and all that soon too! Once I’m done with that, I’ll have more time to post, and, as a bonus, I’m sure I’ll have stories to blog about as well.

Fun Fact: Most categoried post ever!

I had the opportunity to see a one-off Bach concert at the Library of Congress. Played by the well-known French Ensemble Cafe Zimmerman, the concert on 3 November started educating me well before I got to hear them play two pieces each by JS and CPE Bach. Johann Sebastian Bach – whom we now consider to be “the” Bach when we use the name without the initials – is Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach‘s father. I was aware generally that the Bach family was influential in Baroque and Classical music for many years, but I was always under the impression that CPE Bach’s work was more recently discovered and found to be as inspired as his father’s before him.

Not so.

In fact, it turns out that CPE Bach was reknown throughout Europe as “the” Bach until an 1829 performance of JS Bach’s St Matthew Passion revived the elder Bach’s work. Before that period, CPE Bach was the most well-known of the Bachs, serving as mentor and inspiration for a whole line of composers including my favourite composer – WA Mozart. Thus it was fascinating to listen to the work of two generations of Bach. Walking out of the concert, I began to wish that Cafe Zimmerman had played a piece from each of the major Bach composers of every generation, just to hear the development of music over the two centuries or more that the Bach musical family was active. Subsequent searching on the internet has yielded few Bach works beyond father-son duo I heard at the Library of Congress, but essentially I imagine in a flight of fancy that you can hear the history of western classical music within this family.

Anyway, getting back to the concert. Ensemble Cafe Zimmerman is named for the famous cafe in Leipzig where JS Bach (allegedly) both composed and performed the majority of his most famous works while he was in Leipzig. I had the chance to listen to JS Bach’s Harpsichord Concerto in D minor and Violin Concerto in A minor. From CPE Bach came the Cello Concerto in A Major and the Sinfonia in B minor. Unfortunately, while I have heard many JS Bach pieces, including the violin concerto, I had not heard the Harpsichord Concerto until the Zimmerman concert and realized that I had been missing out on an incredible work. CPE Bach’s work, by contrast, I am less familiar with, yet enjoyed more. The speed and emotion that CPE Bach builds with his work cannot be underestimated.

Cafe Zimmerman also uses authentic period instruments – some as old as Bach himself – which greatly improved the listening experience. I should note, however, due to the insane policy of American institutions to use air-conditioning to cool buildings in winter, the instruments were out of tune within a few moments. It was really a shame to have what was otherwise a fantastic performance destroyed by the self-obvious idiocy of blasting the concert hall with cold air-conditioning when it was 10C or less outside. However, Cafe Zimmerman did not let this minor quibble get in the way, and truly played the instruments like they were extensions of their own bodies.

Celine Frisch, in particular, deserves a special note for inspired harpsichord performance in the JS Bach concerto. Like Morris Robinson, I felt a riot was in order for her performance. Petr Skalka outdid himself in the CPE Bach cello concerto – making his instrument sing effortlessly. If there was any way to go see this little concert again, I would urge you to do so – if for no reason other than to see the elegance with which this feisty ensemble played the period instruments. Unfortunately, this performance was a one-off show, and it’s unlikely Cafe Zimmerman will be here again any time soon. It may be worth picking up the CD should the performance be recorded at a later stage. I myself intend to get such a CD, since I was down with a cold and cough and hence couldn’t hear as well as I wanted to.

Another review is over at Ionarts – and Charles has many of the same enthusiastic sentiments as I do, but presents it with greater technical clarity than I could. And he has diacritics!

I had a chance to listen to Beethoven’s 9th Symphony at the National Symphony Orchestra’s sold out performance on Saturday at the Kennedy Center’s Concert Hall. There were two pieces done – one was, obviously, Beethoven’s 9th and the other was a modern instrumental piece by Jefferson Friedman. I will review it in that order, even though it was performed in the reverse.

I wish there could be a more through review of Beethoven’s 9th – but basically, the point is, if you’ve heard Beethoven’s 9th, you’ve heard Beethoven’s 9th. There are some variations – Mahler’s version that is setup to accommodate enlarged orchestras and concert halls is the most common – but Leonard Slatkin had some fun and added and reduced instruments to Mahler’s variant to suit the venue. Comparing two versions with my memory of the performance results in the following analysis:

1. Slatkin’s version was slower than that of John Gardiner. That isn’t saying much because Gardiner can turn anything into staccato given a baton and a metronome. However, the pace seemed painfully slow, for reasons that were not particularly clear to me. The enlarged orchestra made for some interesting acoustic differences, especially compared to the period instruments that Gardiner used in his recording. I think Saturday’s performance sounded much louder on the higher frequencies at the expense of the lower – kind of like a bad MP3 recording, really – which did turn me off somewhat, but what it lacked in bass, it made up in volume. If you want to hear it the way that Beethoven would have heard it (were he able to hear it), I would go with the Gardiner version.
2. Slatkin’s version was about the same tempo as that of Karajan’s authoritative version from 1968. The major difference, I felt, was that the instruments were far more clear and separate-able in Karajan’s version, though that may be more of a trick of the recording than an actual variant difference. This was closer in sound to Slatkin’s performance in my mind, but because Karajan had balanced the instruments out, I didn’t have the same washed-out feeling of the lower frequencies that I had with the live performance.

That said, it was a fantastic performance. I, of course, have had something of a fascination with Ode an die Freude since I was a little kid (not sure why… since Mozart is undoubtedly my favourite Western Classical composer) and so I was able to sing along. One of the more astonishing things for me about the performance was the sheer size of the chorus – there were at least 60 men and 60 women in the chorus, though I may be underestimating the size by as much as a third, due to the distance at which I was seated.

Now having spent a good time praising Beethoven, let me take a moment to describe the first 15 minutes of the night in a single word: garbage. A gentleman by the name of Jefferson Friedman had composed a "modern" instrumental piece called "Sacred Heart: Explosion". After listening to his work, I do know that I was ready to go home. Let’s take a few minutes to talk this through, since this is very important and needs to be discussed.

The first three minutes of Friedman’s performance sounded like late-era Jerry Goldsmith, full of uplifting and soaring melodies tightly wound together. More than once, I swore I heard the ta-tatata-tata that is the trademark sound of the more recent Star Trek films that Goldsmith wrote music for (see further, Star Trek: Nemesis). There is nothing wrong with being derivative or paying homage to Goldsmith’s work, if in fact that is what Friedman attempted to do and leave it at that; Goldsmith’s work inspired at least one generation of modern composers to create wide and loud melodies in Wagnerian style (see for example, Marty O’Donnell’s stunning music for the Riven computer game, or his unbelievable Halo-series music). And it’s good, and fitting, and most of all – it both inspires emotion and evokes theme. Such was at least some of the first three minutes of Friedman’s work.

The remaining 12 minutes might as well have been people banging out random notes on their instruments. I was going to describe it as discordant and schizophrenic, but to describe it as the former would insult the surreal beauty of actual discordant music, and to describe it as the latter would not do the work justice. So I settled for the word garbage instead. With a massive, stage-packing orchestra, Friedman managed to make the orchestra sound as if there was no underlying rhythm, tune or melody, and as if the NSO stepped up to play it without rehearsing – and oh yes, as if not a single one of the NSO’s talented and technically brilliant players had ever played an instrument before. Friedman’s piece had no underlying structure to the music, not the faintest hint of theme and certainly evoked no emotions other than disgust and a lust for the music to be over… immediately. I assume the NSO had hoped that the Friedman’s music was to be seen as as disruptive to the music of this generation as Beethoven’s 9th Symphony had been to his contemporaries, but if so, a basic requirement left wanting was that Friedman’s piece was not music – it was an accident that won a prize. It was, in short, awful.

To be truly disruptive, and successful, I point to the music of a genre that most classical music lovers would scoff at as being heathen, but one that I believe is truly pushing the boundaries of music and (re-) introducing the idea of the human voice as an instrument: techno. For me, there is very little difference between listening to Beethoven’s 9th Symphony and Paul van Dyk’s latest, because inherently both innovate new melodies, metre and rhyme, and incorporate new instruments to push their genre a little further. Friedman, by contrast, finds new uses for old instruments, and his idea of innovative melodies and metre is to not have one at all. That isn’t a piece of music – it’s an accident that got funded.