Kuerti enthralls sold-out audience
29 May 200 9
Winnipeg Free Press, by Holly Harris
Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, Anton Kuerti
Westminster United Church, Wed, May 27 2009
Attendance: 925 (sold out)
5 out of 5 stars
You might have thought a rock star was in the house. Internationally renowned pianist Anton Kuerti enthralled a sold-out Manitoba Chamber Orchestra audience of 925 Wednesday night with a dazzling performance that proved why he's considered one of the greatest living pianists in the world.
The 70-year old Austrian-born, Toronto-based artist last performed with the MCO in 1988, and was also a guest artist with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra in 2004. Although many younger pianists come and go — even a half-century his junior — there is nothing that compares to seeing a true master bring a lifetime of experience to the stage.
Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 9, in E flat (K271) ranges from buoyant optimism in its jaunty allegro and rondo (presto) outer movements to throbbing pathos in the central andantino. Kuerti doesn't just play notes — he reinvents the music with perfectly executed silken trills, gossamer light flutter pedaling, limpid phrasing and bold accents revealing new colours.
His legendary intensity brought a sense of immediacy to Mozart that had his spellbound listeners hanging on his every note. His luminous tone is exquisite; his artistry sublime, and if the concert had ended there, it would have been enough.
As expected, the audience leapt to its feet in a rousing standing ovation, demanding three curtain calls from the humble artist — who charmingly even lowered his own piano lid so the orchestra could be better seen during its bow.
Latvian bassist/composer Peteris Vasks' Cantabile for Strings, intended to convey "a feeling of ecstasy for the beauty of nature," is a pleasing, one-movement work that shimmers through its prismatic sonorities until eventually dissipating to single strings juxtaposed with an omnipresent drone. A smattering of compositional influences — including effective sections of aleatorism — blended well together in this intriguing nine-minute piece, sensitively led by MCO maestra Anne Manson.
Bach lovers got their fix with the Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, in G Major (BWV 1038) with concertmaster Karl Stobbe serving double duty as conductor. Despite a strong continuo by principal bassist Meredith Johnson and guest harpsichordist Eric Lussier, whose florid improvisatory ornamentation added sparkling grace to the overall performance, the allegro's breakneck tempo nearly derailed the ensemble where one sensed the fiddles were only holding on by a gut string. Better visibility of the conductor may have helped ground the 11 players in a work that can so easily run away by sheer momentum.
The 200th anniversary of Joseph Haydn's death has been commemorated worldwide this year. MCO paid its respects with the Austrian composer's Symphony No. 52, in C Minor, ending the evening — and its season — on an unusual, stormy note.
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Beloved MCO music director
Streatfeild returns amid praise
24 April 2009
Winnipeg Free Press, by Holly Harris
Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, Simon Streatfeild
Westminster United Church, Wed, Apr 22 2009
Attendance: 630
4 out of 5 stars
Chamber music fans may be forgiven for thinking they had died and gone to musical heaven Wednesday night. The Manitoba Chamber Orchestra's penultimate concert of its season not only offered an evening of 20th-century string orchestra classics, but also marked the return of its beloved music director emeritus and highly respected patriarch, Simon Streatfeild.
The distinguished British maestro last appeared with the MCO in May 2006 and remarkably, just shy of 80 years of age, still maintains an active guest conducting schedule. He is credited with establishing the MCO's reputation as a nationally renowned chamber music orchestra during his 18 year tenure from 1982 to 2000.
After being welcomed to the stage with boisterous cheers, Streatfeild took the microphone to forewarn the audience of 630 that he doesn't usually like to mix words with music. But he needn't have worried, for music simply is his language. His vigour only seemed to grow with every measure, setting every note tidily in place with the orchestra clearly enjoying playing under his baton.
Benjamin Britten's Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge, op. 10 is a cornerstone of the MCO repertoire and a work that Streatfeild — who performed the viola part himself under Britten — knows inside out. Composed at a mere 24 years old, Britten wrote the biographical work as a tribute to his composition teacher, Bridge, whose theme inspired the work's 10 colourful variations. A few intonation problems with the violins marred an otherwise sparkling performance.
Perhaps the highest compliment that can be given to any contemporary work is that you want to hear it again — and soon. South African-born composer Malcolm Forsyth's Serenade for Strings is filled with restless imagination with the players easily executing its shimmering harmonies, various textural effects and rugged percussive accents with aplomb. Kudos to MCO concertmaster, violinist Karl Stobbe, whose knuckle-busting solo added much to the work's exultant finale.
The program also included a world premiere by Canadian composer Paul McIntyre (in attendance), who dedicated Those Wild Canadian Mountain Streams (2003) to his friend and colleague, Streitfeild. Inspired by the Canadian wilderness, the nine-minute, one movement work began promisingly, as its opening plaintive theme eventually flowed into a moody ostinato performed by the lower strings. However, not enough undercurrents in McIntyre's river of ideas made the piece feel shallow and sadly, undeveloped.
It's a tougher sell when a program lacks the star quality and focus of a solo performer. But under Streitfeild's exemplary direction, this concert reminded again that absolute music speaks for itself, as the maestro graciously guided us through the refined program that even St. Peter at the Pearly Gates would have admired.
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Stunning soprano generous with her gift of song
2 April 2009
Winnipeg Free Press, by Gwenda Nemerofsky
Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, Isabel Bayrakdarian
Westminster United Church, Tue, Mar 31 2009
Attendance: 900 (sold out)
5 out of 5 stars
As the last day of March roared like a lion outside Westminster United Church Tuesday night, the remarkable Armenian-Canadian soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian chanted like a beautiful songbird on the stage inside.
Her astonishing voice and warm demeanour made audience members forget, at least for a little while, threats of flooding and unseasonal snow.
She is a world-class artist, a treasure that everyone present felt privileged to hear. She brought as a gift to us the songs of her homeland — undoubtedly introducing many of us to it for the first time. We came away converts, with a newfound appreciation for Khachaturian, Ganatchian and of course, Gomidas.
The six Gomidas songs spanned every emotion — and Bayrakdarian acted as a vehicle conveying these sentiments, be it sadness, love or happiness. Stunningly dressed in a floor-length burgundy gown with gold embroidery, she personified the music in every way, down to the subtlest nuance.
With the richness of her tone and the authenticity of her expression, both vocal and facial, she sang her heart out in Armenian, embodying every word, every note, every phrase. Her hands gracefully gestured as she sang. The audience was mesmerized.
Song of the Partridge elicited appreciative murmurs as Bayrakdarian flitted from note to note with lively, lilting singing. One couldn’t help but smile.
Oh What a Delight really was, with its "ha, ha, ha's" showing delightful spirit and fiery power.
Bayrakdarian’s husband, Serouj Kradjian (who played a solo piano recital in Winnipeg two few weeks ago) arranged these songs.
Khachaturian’s Maiden of the Fields (arranged by guest conductor Alain Trudel) was deliciously flirtatious, inflected with graceful ornaments and Bayrakdarian in fullest voice. One has to marvel at her breath control – the prolonged phrases never seemed to end! There were no empty moments, just a solid flow of lovely sound.
Yerevan, also by Khachaturian, cast Bayrakdarian as an ambassador for Armenia, singing proudly of her heritage, exuding indomitable spirit and bursting with life.
As impressive as her singing was, so too was her stage presence. Famously striking, she is also genuine and unaffected. She was respectful and appreciative of the orchestra, watching and listening to soloists, rather than standing facing the audience, awaiting her entries.
For their part, the MCO played quite proficiently with Bayrakdarian, having toured with her last summer. On their own, however, they struggled all night. The opening Five Greek Dances by Skalkottas were plagued by ragged playing in the violin section, mostly pitch-related. While the violas and cellos were flowing and silky in Arcadia, the violins just couldn’t get a grasp on the music on this night. The character of the music was there but the notes definitely were not.
But to be blunt, most people came to hear Bayrakdarian — and she didn’t disappoint.
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MCO takes flight, soars in thrilling performance
26 February 2009
Winnipeg Free Press, by Gwenda Nemerofsky
Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, Scott Yoo, Robert Pomakov
Westminster United Church, Tue, 24 Feb 2009
Attendance: 560
4 out of 5 stars
Take a stirring and harmony-rich piece of music, an inspired, high-energy conductor and an orchestra of fully committed, well-rehearsed musicians and what do you get? The answer: A thrilling performance that stimulates and arouses the audience, producing wild applause and hoots of appreciation.
This was the scene at Westminster United Church Tuesday night. The hardiest of music lovers made the trek through furrows of snow to witness the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra's finest playing to date.
The music: Ernest Bloch's marvellous Concerto Grosso No. 1. On the podium: American conductor Scott Yoo — a popular guest of the MCO.
The ensemble, enhanced by Donna Laube's piano obligato, sizzled with visceral intensity in the opening Prelude Dirge. Without hesitation, they dug wholeheartedly into this dense movement that captivated us from the start.
The contrasting Pastorale was mystical, with violas, cellos and basses singing, piano rippling and a moving melody having a lulling effect. Yoo drew the most out of the musicians, making this almost painfully poignant.
Concertmaster Karl Stobbe, principal viola Dan Scholz and principal cello Yuri Hooker were front and centre for Rustic Dances, providing the colourful ethnic flavour required. Scholz and Hooker's sentimental duet was compellingly touching.
The final fugue was spirited — full of lightness and bounce as Yoo's infectious energy urged seamless interweaving of voices. The work ended in a breathless dash to the finish -- and we all finished as winners.
The featured work of the evening was J.S. Bach's Cantata No. 82A, Ich Habe Genug (I have enough) with Canadian bass Robert Pomakov.
It has been a few years since Pomakov was in Winnipeg and he has evidently continued to hone his craft. His is a voice that makes you stand and take notice. Totally solid and commanding, this singer is equally at home with the powerful sections of this work, expressing the suffering in the world, as he is in the delicately soft, dolce passages portraying calm sadness.
Pomakov never faltered, and while the expression on his face may not have changed, the pleasing timbre of his voice, the musical turns of phrase and the sensitive conveyance of passion were unmistakable.
Oboe is the other solo instrument in this work, and veteran oboist Douglas Bairstow showed his impressive lung capacity, finessing the opening touching lament. His imperceptible breathing kept solos silky smooth, with only an occasional hint of tightness in the upper register. Eric Lussier on harpsichord brought authenticity and texture to the performance, but within the orchestra there were several holes — empty spots that showed lack of cohesiveness and made for a piecemeal effect. Balance also became an issue in the final aria, but Pomakov finished strongly, seemingly unaffected by the somewhat uneven backing.
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Intense music stirs emotions on icy night
12 February 2009
Winnipeg Free Press, by Gwenda Nemerofsky
Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, Alain Trudel, Yegor Dyachkov, Karl Stobbe
Westminster United Church, Tue, 10 Feb 2009
Attendance: 450
4 out of 5 stars
Brave souls who ventured out onto the ice Tuesday night were welcomed with fiery passion and warmth as the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra presented a program of intense music that stirred the emotions.
This included two works by German-born Canadian composer Michael Oesterle, evidently favoured by the CBC, which not only commissioned both pieces but was there to record them for future broadcast.
Up first was cellist Yegor Dyachkov, a former CBC artist of the year and member of the popular trio Triple Forte. Oesterle wrote Ironman for Dyachkov and the MCO, which first performed it in 2005.
Opening with Fred Liessens clanging away at an anvil, the piece makes you feel like you've stepped into an ironworks during the Industrial Revolution. As the storyline progresses, Ironman takes us on a vivid musical tour of the industry's progress — and struggles — with modernization.
The intensity is consistent and hard-hitting, with points of sound ringing out from every corner of the orchestra. Dyachkov showed fluidity and comfort with this piece, which he has clearly made his own. He handled the frequent skirmishes of notes with aplomb, while the MCO accompanied with dissonant tones, like the cacophony of many metallic hammers.
It's amazing that instruments made mostly of wood and gut can reproduce such convincing industrial sounds. This speaks to the imaginative writing of the composer. Guest conductor Alain Trudel used his customary relaxed style to guide the orchestra through the somewhat fractured structure of the work.
Concertmaster Karl Stobbe showed his considerable talent in the world premiere of Oesterle's Unreasonable World. On stage, Oesterle explained that the inspiration for the piece came from his interest in the history of physics.
The height of quicksilver had an unmistakable swaying motion, to which Stobbe gave an optimistic voice, while still questioning and probing. Perpetual motion ruled in A visit from Descartes, but Stobbe remained steady, never rushing, while solid continuo was provided by the basses and cellos.
Watching Stobbe's face as he waded through the prolonged phrases of Sister Jacqueline gave some insight into the effort involved. Taking several big and audible breaths, his expressions ranged from intense concentration to rapture — and his playing reflected it. This is an artist who takes his job seriously and lives the music.
Richard Strauss' marathon Metamorphosen concluded the evening, with a beefed-up MCO hunkering down for this dense, richly textured piece of superb string writing. Operatic drama and grandeur oozed from the fingertips and bows of the hard-working members of the MCO, who didn't have a moment to breathe during this endurance test. A continuous wall of luxuriously colourful sound bathed the audience. It was hard not to be moved.
In a strange bit of programming, the concert began with five of Bartok's brief and fluffy Rumanian Folk Dances. Violinist Mary Lawton's clean tone and lilting approach was very effective here.
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Manitoba Chamber Orchestra
satisfies audience with sounds from the east
29 January 2009
The Uniter, by John Herbert Cunningham, volunteer staff
Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, Scott Yoo, Xiao-Nan Wang, George Gao
Westminster Unted Church, Wed, 21 Jan 2009
5 out of 5 stars
One standing ovation after another standing ovation after another — that was the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra’s Jan. 21 recital in a nutshell.
The audience that filled the baroque chamber of Westminster United Church that evening was treated to the unusual sounds of Chinese instruments, and they responded with the utmost enthusiasm to the incredible performances.
The concert opened with Shuo, a piece composed by Chen Yi, the first woman in China to earn a master’s degree in composition.
Combining Chinese mountain songs with Western tonality, the piece was eerily haunting with numerous glissandi (slides) and rapid-paced bowing of single notes above which the melody rode.
The second piece was outstanding. Composed by Xiao-Nan Wang, it brought the audience to its feet, resulting in the composer having to return three times to the stage.
Wang resides in Winnipeg and is a master of the Chinese bamboo flute — something he richly demonstrated that evening. His performance was absolutely breathtaking. The piece, Camel Train in the Desert, was inspired by Wang seeing an elderly Mongolian woman singing to a camel to remind the camel of its duty to take care of its young, which it was refusing to do.
The final piece of the first half was In the Breath of Night by Melissa Hui. It consisted of two movements: the first very introspective and the second very exuberant, with some very interesting deep tonal work by the bassists and cellists and a melody riding on top of a swirling vortex of sound from the violins. The response to the piece suffered from having to follow Wang’s piece, though.
The second half opened with Chen Yi’s Fiddle Suite, consisting of three movements, with each movement composed as a solo for one of three different Chinese fiddles (huqin). To say that the performance of this piece blew the audience away is an understatement.
The suite was performed by George Gao, an erhu master living in Toronto. He employed three different fiddles, one for each movement: the medium-sized erhu, the lower pitched zhonghu and the higher-pitched jinghu. Gao was joined by Wang, with both performing in unison in a manner similar to that of Peking Opera.
The concert concluded with Gao’s composition Capriccio no. 2, Mongolian Fantasy. What a way to conclude a perfect concert.
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Tafelmusik a real treat for chamber music fans
Thursday, 5 December 2008
Winnipeg Free Press, by Gwenda Nemerofsky
Manitoba Chamber Orchestra Chamber Night: Tafelmusik
Westminster Unted Church, Tue, 2 Dec 2008
Attendance: 850
4.5 out of 5 stars
The Manitoba Chamber Orchestra gave Winnipeggers an early and very selfless Christmas gift on Tuesday night. For their annual Chamber Night, they brought in a different orchestra, the world-renowned Canadian baroque ensemble Tafelmusik.
The Toronto-based group has been around for 30 years, and while the musicians may have changed, the quality of this multi-award-winning orchestra has remained intact. The 17 players onstage meshed seamlessly, forming a musical fabric of the richest, most vivid quality.
What strikes the listener most is their synchronization and balance. When the four musicians of the first violin section, for example, play their part, it sounds like one instrument. This is only achieved by talented artists working together for years.
Music director Jeanne Lamon leads from the concertmaster chair, as in the times of Mozart and Haydn — composers on the program for the evening. Physical cues took the place of the conductor, and the orchestra literally never missed a beat.
Cellist Christina Mahler was the soloist for Haydn's Concerto for Violoncello in C Major (HOB VIIB: 1). A smiling and personable Lamon introduced the work, explaining how it demonstrated a newly discovered technique in its time — a thumb position allowing the cellist to play more quickly while employing a greater range.
Mahler made her cello sing — and Haydn's soaring melodies provided the perfect vehicle. Displaying plenty of fancy bowing and nimble runs, she handled the demands of the work admirably, with just one uncharacteristic trip-up. Undaunted, she picked right up again and mastered the remaining thousands of notes with vigour and accuracy.
Especially pleasing was the gritty lower register that Mahler pulled out of this prince of string instruments. We really don't hear enough of it in the city.
Simphonie Concertante for Two Violins in B Flat Major Op. 6, No. 2 by Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges, an early classical composer born in Guadalupe and raised in France, featured violinists Julia Wedman and Aisslinn Nosky. The energetic pair attacked this work with fervour, much like duelling violins.
It was the audience who won, however, being treated to a sparkling, well-matched and often playful performance, made more flamboyant by their physicality. Swaying, rocking and crouching, they used their bodies almost as much as their hands to coax every ounce of expression, brightness and life into this work. It was a charmer.
The concert ended triumphantly with a succinct reading of Mozart's Symphony No. 29 in A Major (K 201). Lamon guided them through the strongly accented Allegro moderato, the sensitive Trio, exciting galloping motive in the Menuetto, and the thrilling runs of the final Allegro.
The near-capacity audience loved every moment, giving Tafelmusik a well-deserved standing ovation.
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Some Winnipeggers prefer MCO, Cerovsek to Obama
Thursday, 6 November 2008
Winnipeg Free Press, by Holly Harris
Corey Cerovsek, with the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra
Westminster Unted Church, Tue, 4 Nov 2008
On a night when the entire world seemed riveted by U.S. election results, a very respectable crowd of 630 came out to cheer guest violinist Corey Cerovsek and welcome the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra's newly minted principal conductor and music director, Anne Manson.
The announcement of Manson's appointment was made Monday afternoon. The MCO has been wooing the 47-year-old, Washington-based maestra for years since its former conductor Roy Goodman stepped down in 2005. Manson recently led the MCO during its ambitious, highly successful Canadian-U.S. tour, which culminated with an appearance at New York's prestigious Carnegie Hall last month.
Looking every inch the romantic hero, the curly, mop-haired Cerovsek last appeared with the MCO 20 years ago. Born in 1972, the Vancouver artist studied with acclaimed violinist Josef Gingold and now resides in Paris, recording and playing concerts around the world while adding an impressive string of accolades to his name.
Tuesday night's highlight was easily his rhapsodic interpretation of Polish composer Henryk Wieniawski's Fantaisie brillante, sur 'Faust' (Opera de Charles Gounod), op. 20, billed as the violinist's signature piece.
Composed as a concert paraphrase of Gounod's famous opera, it's arguably a showy work — especially when dealing with pacts with the devil, no less — but Cerovsek's pitch-perfect intonation, thrilling runs, whisper-soft pianissimo and ability to pull stratospheric notes out of thin air gave the impression he had struck a few bargains of his own. Throw in the exquisite sound of his 1728 Milanollo Stradivarius, once played by virtuoso Nicolò Paganini, and you had a truly memorable performance.
The concert also included Haydn's Violin Concerto in G Major, in honour of the composer's bicentennial year, currently being celebrated worldwide. Although Cerovsek easily handled the work's technical demands with finesse, he sometimes appeared to burst beyond its refined, aristocratic parameters with a temperament probably better suited to more fiery pieces.
Manson's impeccable clarity and wide, sweeping gestures invoked a wonderful, fully balanced sound from the orchestra. The finale, Allegro giocoso, ma non troppo presto, capped off the entire evening with a sense of optimism that the MCO must surely be feeling about its promising new chapter.
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Summoning the Songs of Voices Stilled
Wednesday, 22 October 2008
The New York Times, by Steve Smith
Isabel Bayrakdarian, with the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra
Zankel Hall, New York, Mon 20 Oct 08
In a recital the appealing soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian presented at Zankel Hall in March, she and her husband, Serouj Kradjian, a pianist and composer, included a handful of songs by Gomidas, a composer revered as an architect of Armenian music. Those selections, it turns out, were the preface to a deeper exploration: Ms. Bayrakdarian and Mr. Kradjian, both Canadians of Armenian descent, recently issued an irresistible CD, “Gomidas Songs,” on the Nonesuch label.
When Ms. Bayrakdarian and Mr. Kradjian arrived at Zankel Hall with the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra on Monday night, they were wrapping up a tour promoting the disc. But the title of their program, “Remembrance Concert,” indicated another mission: the tour, sponsored by the International Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies, was meant to commemorate victims of the massacre of Armenians in Turkey starting in 1915, and of all genocides.
Gomidas, a priest as well as a composer, collected and arranged hundreds of Armenian folk songs around the turn of the 20th century, before his career was cut short by the events of 1915. Though his life was spared through the intervention of notable associates, his spirit was shattered; he died four years later in a French psychiatric clinic.
Some selections, like “Andooni” (“Without a Home”) and “Groong” (“The Crane”), overtly conveyed the ache of the concert’s premise. But even in gentle songs dealing with themes of youth, nature and love, a hint of sadness lingered.
Ms. Bayrakdarian playfully gamboled through childlike melodies, her voice warm and sunny; in the laments her plaintive tone cut to the heart. She made sinuously winding melismatic passages seem effortless.
Mr. Kradjian’s transparent orchestrations provided a flattering backdrop, with colorful flourishes like pattering raindrops in “Antsrevn Yegav” (“It’s Raining”) and rustling winds in “Dzirani Dzar” (“Apricot Tree”). Some songs featured gorgeously breathy sounds from Hampic Djabourian on duduk, a double-reed instrument that sounds something like a soprano saxophone. Yet the loveliest selection was the simplest: “Akh Maral Jan” (“Ah, Dear Maral”), in which Ms. Bayrakdarian’s voice soared over Mr. Kradjian’s spare arpeggios.
The rest of the program reflected the concert’s title in different ways. Ravel’s “Two Hebraic Songs,” and Variations on a Moravian Folksong by Gideon Klein, a Holocaust victim, forged a connection to the horrors of World War II. Ms. Bayrakdarian gave a stirring account of the Ravel songs, and Anne Manson, the conductor, drew hearty sounds from the players in the Klein work.
Bartok’s Romanian Folk Dances and Nikos Skalkottas’s Greek Dances, like the Gomidas songs, preserved folkloric sources in concert-music guise. Ms. Manson favored poise and polish over grit and elasticity, to curiously anemic effect at times. Mr. Kradjian, in a set of Gomidas piano works, struck a more persuasive balance between elegance and spirit.
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Memorable Armenian folk songs carry the day
Tuesday, 21 October 2008
The Boston Globe, by Joel Brown, Globe Correspondent
Isabel Bayrakdarian, with the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra
Jordan Hall, Boston, Sun 19 Oct 08
Maybe Armenian folk music idioms aren't your cup of tea. But make sure you get a ticket to hear soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian the next time she comes to town, no matter what's on the program.
The Canadian Armenian singer is spreading the name of Armenian priest, composer, and ethnomusicologist Gomidas Vartabed, whose work has preserved and uplifted the music of his native land. Gomidas, as he is known, was arrested and deported by the Turkish government during the genocide in 1915, when he was in his 40s, and though he survived, he was left a broken man and did no further composing.
Bayrakdarian has a new album, "Gomidas Songs," with the composer's works orchestrated by her husband, pianist Serouj Kradjian, and performed with the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra conducted by Anne Manson. They all came to Jordan Hall on Sunday afternoon for a Celebrity Series of Boston performance that featured groups of Gomidas's songs alongside similarly rooted pieces by Bartok, Ravel, Nikos Skalkottas and Gideon Klein.
Many in the audience were noticeably moved to hear familiar melodies. But even those unfamiliar with Gomidas's work found plenty to savor in Bayrakdarian's ravishing performance. The program of many short songs allowed - or required - her to reach heights of pathos one moment and sing almost playfully the next.
After one jaunty, upbeat number, Bayrakdarian gave a little combination shrug and hop, as if to say, "How 'bout that!" Charming. But her most emotional moments - on "Without a Home," "The Crane," and a heartbreaking lullaby that was one of four encores - achieved a riveting purity.
Given the format, it was a surprisingly coherent program, with ethnic roots clearly showing through the orchestral arrangements, and an underlying solemnity appropriate for a tour sponsored by the International Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies. The orchestra gave an enthusiastic performance of Bartok's Romanian Folkdances and Skalkottas's Greek Dances, and was joined occasionally on the Gomidas songs by Hampic Djabourian on the traditional instrument called a duduk. Kradjian also delivered a short solo set of Gomidas pieces on piano.
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Great talents, great music but something was missing
Monday, 20 October 2008
The Toronto Star, by John Terauds
Isabel Bayrakdarian, with the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra
Roy Thomson Hall, Toronto, Fri 17 Oct 08
Great artists do not guarantee a great concert.
On Friday night at Roy Thomson Hall, Canadian soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian presented a recital anchored on her new recording of Armenian songs by Gomidas Vartabed (1869-1935). But her spectacular voice was not enough to hold an evening of music aloft.
The Armenian songs were an excellent excuse to feature other works from the late-19th-century marriage of nationalism in music. Bayrakdarian's chief accompanist, the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, led by Anne Manson, played Romanian folk dances by (Hungarian composer) Béla Bartók, Greek dances by Nikos Skalkottas and Moravian folksong arrangements by Gideon Klein.
Bayrakdarian sang Maurice Ravel's Two Hebrew Melodies as well as songs by Gomidas. Serouj Kradjian arranged the orchestral accompaniments and even played a selection of dances by Gomidas on piano by himself.
The soprano was in fabulous voice and made wonderful work of shaping the largely melancholy songs. Unfortunately, she had a tendency to sing to the stage floor, which didn't help foster a connection between performer and audience in the large hall.
The orchestra was an adequate accompanist but gormless on its own. The various ethnic dances were delivered without any panache at all. The players sounded like windup toys dutifully going about their appointed tasks.
The evening's best chemistry occurred when Bayrakdarian abandoned the orchestra and walked over to the piano so that her husband, Kradjian, could accompany her on the piano for one song.
If only there had been more such moments of touching intimacy between performers, music and audience.
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Review: Isabel Bayrakdarian
with the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra at the Orpheum
Wednesday, 8 October 2008
The Vancouver Sun, by Lloyd Dykk
Isabel Bayrakdarian, with the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra
Orpheum Theatre, Tue 7 Oct 08
A rarity singing a rarity: soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian and the songs of Gomidas Vartabed.
Bayrakdarian is rare because of her lustrous voice and emotional commitment to the material she finds meaningful. Gomidas is even rarer: the musical father of Armenia (where the Toronto resident Bayrakdarian comes from) who was cruelly punished by the Turks in the Armenian genocide of 1915.
Even before that, he was a hallowed figure in Armenia. Orphaned at a young age, he was raised by his grandmother and went on to become a gifted choirmaster, theologian and a collector of Armenia's vanishing folk music, going into the field and salvaging some 3,000 village songs by documenting, then setting them for either choir or voice and piano.
After being released from a concentration camp in Anatolia he spent his last 20 years like a living corpse, shell-shocked by the horrors he'd seen and dying in a French asylum. Much of what he'd written was destroyed. The little that is left is considered virtually sacred in Armenia.
He is little-known today outside of the country but Bayrakdarian and her pianist husband, Serouj Kradjian, have preserved some of the material on a wonderful new CD entitled Gomidas Songs, and by their current tour of North America with the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra under conductor Anne Manson.
They appeared at the Orpheum on Tuesday and captivated us with the beauty of the songs, which are drawn from the soil, from nature. What was especially noticeable was that Kradjian's arrangements were never overdone in a way that would meddle with their folkloric simplicity — they exalted the material. There was veneration and musical sophistication in every bar, plus an important awareness of just how far to go, if they were to stay true to the music's roots. There were also other adversions to ethnomusicology (Bartók's Romanian Folk Dances) and to genocide in other countries, namely Greece, and Israel (Ravel's Hebraic melodies).
Kradjian, a very fine pianist, also played some keyboard music of Gomidas: fascinating stuff that sounded Janacek-like, asymmetrical and extremely sensitive.
The rhapsodic sound of Bayrakdarian's voice put a glow on the material and sometimes a fierce sense of longing, as in Andooni (without a home). Nature, as these songs showed, was only a vehicle for the rustic Armenians, who could draw tenuous but powerful extrapolations from it that proved universally expressive.
Nothing said it more than Bayrakdarian's Oror (lullaby), Groong (the crane) or Hampic Djabourian's playing on the duduk, a thick double reed instrument made of pear wood, Armenia's national tree. The sound could have reminded you exactly why we call such an instrument a woodwind.
The concert was sparsely attended, possibly because the originally scheduled chamber players of the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra's funding fell through. But there was absolutely not a thing wrong with the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra. They played wonderfully.
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Review: Isabel Bayrakdarian and the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra
The soprano champions the compositions of Gomidas
at the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
The Los Angeles Times, by Richard S. Ginell, Special to The Times
Isabel Bayrakdarian, with the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra
Orange County, Segerstrom Concert Hall, Sun 5 Oct 08
Once they've hit the big time, opera stars have often used their platforms to explore and promote their national heritages. Enrico Caruso belted Neapolitan songs, Jussi Björling sang Swedish songs, Jessye Norman performed spirituals, Plácido Domingo championed zarzuelas — and so on.
So the Canadian Armenian soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian is following a long-standing tradition as she blazes her own national trail. She is trying to spread the word about the music of Gomidas Vartabed (1869-1935) — known as simply Gomidas — who is credited with preserving and developing the Armenian folk song tradition.
A new recording of Gomidas songs, bearing a striking photograph of Bayrakdarian staring thoughtfully at the sea, has just been released on Nonesuch Records. Her October concert tour with the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra — whose second stop was Sunday night at the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall in Costa Mesa — is built around Gomidas, with inspired and even unlikely links to other composers who filtered ethnic music through their own personalities.
Gomidas' tragic story still reverberates with the Armenian community, for the hard-working ethnomusicologist-conductor-composer-priest did his job barely in time. In 1915, he was deported from Istanbul (then Constantinople) by the ruling Turks at the start of the Armenian genocide, which wiped out any remaining traces of his culture in his homeland.
Although he was subsequently returned to Istanbul, where he remained for several years, he died near Paris a broken man, never realizing his grand plans for an Armenian opera and a conservatory.
That said, one regretfully has to report that the mildly spiced Gomidas songs on Sunday's program — orchestrated with skilled restraint by Bayrakdarian's husband, Serouj Kradjian, who also played some delicate Gomidas dances on the piano — were not as riveting as the story behind them. Bayrakdarian's voice carried with ample power throughout the hall over the 19-piece string orchestra yet sometimes had a slight edge not present on the recording (this might be attributed to Segerstrom's acoustics).
But other important points were made. With Anne Manson leading the Manitobans (sans Bayrakdarian) at a ripping tempo, Bartók's Rumanian Folk Dances demonstrated that the Hungarian composer was working on a course parallel with Gomidas'. So was Nikos Skalkottas, whose appealingly folksy Greek Dances are an anomaly for a composer best known for his 12-tone bent.
There were also musical and historical links to another 20th century genocide. Ravel's enigmatic Two Hebraic Melodies were grippingly sung — and Holocaust victim Gideon Klein's Variations on a Moravian Folksong (in a full-blooded string orchestra arrangement by Vojtèch Saudek) revealed a young composer well versed in midcentury neoclassicism.
In all, the program represented a fascinating concept whose real message was one of widespread ethnic preservation and suffering in the 20th century rather than the work of a single composer.
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Soprano remembers genocide in song
Review: Canadian-Armenian singer Isabel Bayrakdarian performs
in Orange County
Monday, October 6, 2008
The Orange County Register, by Timothy Mangan
Isabel Bayrakdarian, with the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra
Orange County, Segerstrom Concert Hall, Sun 5 Oct 08
Soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian's concert, Sunday evening in Segerstrom Concert Hall, was not a garden variety singing recital. The event was part of her "Remembrance" tour, dedicated to "all victims of genocide," and supported in part by the International Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies. As such, the concert had a somber side, to be sure, but the subject of genocide served mostly as subtext rather than as explicit musical material.
It was also an expression of national pride. The music of Gomidas Vartabed (1869-1935) served as the focal point. Regarded as Armenia's national composer, Gomidas was a priest, composer, choirmaster and ethnomusicologist, trained in the West, who codified and clarified Armenia's sacred and folk music, much in the manner that Bartók did in Hungary. Bayrakdarian has just released an album (on Nonesuch) of his songs, seldom heard here, but apparently well known and loved by the Armenians in Sunday's audience.
The project has obviously been a labor of love for the soprano. Born in Lebanon to Armenian parents, but raised in Canada (she is a Canadian citizen), Bayrakdarian became interested in this music during a recent visit to her homeland. Her husband, pianist Serouj Kradjian, arranged some of the material, and the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Anne Manson, is taking part in the tour.
Gomidas's songs predate the Armenian genocide of 1915. In that year, the composer was deported to Cankiri, but, partly through the intercession of an American ambassador, was released. He never did recover from the experience, though, and never did compose again, dying in a mental institution in Paris. His folk songs heard here have a special tang and simplicity. Typically, the vocal line is long and ornate, decorated with jumping rhythms and quick-turning filigree, and the accompaniment is simple but evocative. Many of them have a haunting, mysterious quality.
Bayrakdarian, who made a charming Susannah in a recent production of "The Marriage of Figaro" at L.A. Opera, and who sings on many of the world's big operatic stages these days, performed them with disarming sincerity. Most of the time, she pared down her silvery soprano to fit the intimate scope of the music, but she also had her operatic chops in reserve, resonating at peaks. She stressed the long line above all else, using vibrato sparely, suppressing self-serving nuance.
Gomidas' "Without a Home" and "The Crane," among others, expressed the sad side of folk music, slow and yearning numbers bearing witness to hard peasant life. But there were love songs and children's songs, too, playful and sunny. Bayrakdarian negotiated the acrobatics in these latter pieces with lively grace.
Kradjian's string orchestra arrangements of the piano accompaniments were models of restraint and good taste, while also atmospherically resonant. To a couple of these songs, Kradjian added an Armenian folk instrument, the duduk (played by Hampic Djabourian), a double reed woodwind that sounds a little like a crumhorn crossed with a soft, muted trumpet. Lovely. He also arranged Ravel's "Deux mélodies hebraïques" for strings and voice in aptly acidic style.
Kradjian performed several of Gomidas's dances for piano, folk pieces that revealed the Western influences of Chopin and Bach, delicate things that he played with a light touch.
Manson and the Manitobans added Bartok's "Romanian Folk Dances," several of the Op. 11 "Greek Dances" by Nikos Skalkottas (a pupil of Schoenberg), and the spiky "Variations on a Moravian Folksong" from the Partita for Strings by Gideon Klein, who wrote them shortly before his death in a German concentration camp. Manson led the solid, polished orchestra in robust and committed performances.
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Music review: Isabel Bayrakdarian at Herbst
6 October 2008
SFGate.com; San Francisco Chronicle
by Joshua Kosman, Chronicle Music Critic
Isabel Bayrakdarian, with the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra
San Francisco, Herbst Theatreh, Sat, 4 Oct 2008
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many conservatory-trained composers turned to their native folk traditions for inspiration, collecting songs and dance melodies from the countryside and recasting them in classical form. Bartók is the best-known example, but another was the Armenian priest Gomidas Vartabed, whose music formed the centerpiece of Saturday night's transfixing recital by soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian.
During the years before and after 1900, Gomidas (whose name is sometimes transliterated as Komitas) assembled a large body of traditional Armenian songs and arranged them for choir or solo voice with piano accompaniment. They cover the gamut of folk expression, from lullabies and love songs to moody reveries and vivacious jokes, and to the unfamiliar listener they sound both comfortable and strange.
Bayrakdarian, the brilliant Armenian Canadian singer who has shone here in music by Mahler, Handel and Jake Heggie, has made a project of Gomidas' songs in partnership with her husband, pianist Serouj Kradjian. Saturday's program, presented in Herbst Theatre by San Francisco Performances, was a wondrous showcase for singer and composer alike.
Accompanying Bayrakdarian was the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, an excellent string ensemble conducted with crispiness and verve by Anne Manson. Kradjian was on hand as a piano soloist for some numbers, and Hampic Djabourian played the duduk, a traditional Armenian double-reed instrument whose deep, mellow sound is like that of a bassoon on Quaaludes.
But the evening's main focus was Bayrakdarian herself, whose vivid, dark-hued tone and sumptuous phrasing imbued every piece of music with warmth and urgency. Her singing reached great heights of oratorical splendor when necessary, but the simplicity of some of the more straightforward songs was equally touching.
What's striking about this material is how unpredictably the musical elements go in and out of sync with Western expectations. Some of the numbers, like the tiny "Song of the Partridge," are uncomplicated ditties that draw on the same tonal harmonies of any European folk song. Others venture off into distinctive melodic scales, as in the "Lullaby," or unusual metric patterns, as in "Without a Home."
Kradjian's arrangements of the songs for string orchestra are superbly resourceful — sometimes answering the music's twists and turns with surprises of his own, sometimes content to serve as backdrop to Bayrakdarian's lustrous vocal turns. In one of the more overtly dramatic songs, "The Crane," he inserted an eloquent solo for the concertmaster, beautifully delivered by violinist Karl Stobbe.
Gomidas' music represented the main body of work on the program, but there were other offerings too that complemented it nicely. Bayrakdarian delivered a majestic account of Ravel's "Two Hebrew Melodies," and Manson led the orchestra in three handsomely varied sets of ethnomusicological dances.
Bartók's "Romanian Folk Dances," arranged by Arthur Willner, led off the evening in a spirited reading. They were followed later by a set of "Greek Dances" by Nikos Skalkottas and, after intermission, by the central movement of Gideon Klein's "Partita for Strings" (an arrangement of his String Trio), which is based on a Moravian folk song.
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Musicians soar on MCO's opening night
19 September 2008
Winnipeg Free Press, by Gwenda Nemerofsky
Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, with Anne Manson and Guy Few
Westminster Unted Church, Wed, 17 Sep 2008
Attendance: 500
4.5 out of five stars
There were no signs of summer rust on opening night at the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra. The musicians, led by guest conductor Anne Manson, were in their finest form ever, making for an evening of truly delightful listening.
The guest artist was Canadian trumpeter Guy Few. He cut a dashing figure in a stylish leather coat, funky glasses, bold earrings and chunky jewelry around his neck. His playing was equally stylish in Quebec composer Mathieu Lussier's three-movement Impressions d'Alameda, which program notes revealed refer to a landmark park in Mexico City.
It's an intriguing work, full of Latin rhythms and unexpected but delicious dissonances. Few's playing was sultry and expressive, and he played with an energizing freedom that demonstrated the beauty of the trumpet.
Lussier's rich orchestration makes the most of all contributors and it was impressive to hear the violin and cello sections playing their hearts out, sans restraint. But only hints of the trumpet's true power leaked out — and full-throttle playing wouldn't have been out of place here at all. If only Few had let go a little more, we could have revelled in the abandon.
The same can be said for his rendition of Haydn's Trumpet Concerto in E Flat Major. Few's playing was gentle and sweet, and there were many nice singing phrases. But a lacklustre, ordinary cadenza and subdued playing overall left one longing for the robust, full-of-life notes that fill the hall to the rafters — that commanding trumpet sound that was just plain missing on this night.
The real stars of the show were the musicians of the MCO. They were, simply put, marvellous.
John Estacio's Such Sweet Sorrow, which they took on the road in the spring, was supremely touching and mournful. Cameo solos from concertmaster Karl Stobbe, principal viola Dan Scholz and principal cello Yuri Hooker were utterly heart-wrenching. Manson's quiet control steeped this tuneful work in emotion, setting the tone for the evening in a kind of exciting unrest.
The pièce de résistance has to be the final work on the program, Haydn's Symphony No. 8 in G Major (Le Soir). This is a work we don't hear often enough and it is a real charmer. The MCO gave it a wonderfully polished performance, full of refreshing energy.
Manson has a unique conducting style. It's not particularly graceful, but who cares when it produces such amazing results? She pulled together the rather strange format of the Andante — a mishmash of solos and disjointed phrases marked by numerous pauses. Playing all around was tight and crisp — and best of all, perfectly in tune.
Principal bass Meredith Johnson received a well-deserved round of applause for his extended solo aria — a rare treat for the audience.
The MCO's season is off to an auspicious start.
Anne Manson / Music Director and Conductor
MCO's 2010/11 season is
sponsored by The
Great-West Life Assurance Company.
Support has been received from Media sponsors The
Winnipeg Free Press, CBC
Radio One 990,
CBC
Radio 2 98.3, Espace musique 89,9 and Golden
West Radio. Heartstrings
gala sponsor:
Mann
Financial Assurance Limited. Sponsor of open dress rehearsals:
Canadian Bridge Federation.
Arts Accessibility Program: Sun
Life Financial.
© 2010 Manitoba Chamber Orchestra