Le Poisson Rouge; 158 Bleecker Street, New York; March 27, 2012
The Gotham Chamber Opera, known for its innovative productions of operas from Haydn and Mozart to Nico Muhly and Xavier Montsalvatge, is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. At Le Poisson Rouge, quickly turning into New York’s perfect alternative-everything club/concert space, Gotham recently presented a program that ranged from Purcell to the alternative rock of a group called Miracles of Modern Science, with stops along the way at Richard Strauss, Ravel, Mozart, and others. Gotham’s music director/intendant Neal Goren was on hand to direct and play piano and harpsichord and there were several assisting artists.
The show opened with a fine, nicely-textured trio made up of violin, cello, and bass clarinet by Gotham’s new composer-in-residence, Lembit Beecher, called “Heart Rhythms” with a bit of a Copland feel near its close and was immediately turned over to Miracle of Modern Science, the five-man band made up of strings (double bass, mandolin, cello, violin) and drums. They rocked the house and impressed with their vocals, tight ensemble, and sophisticated-but-never-stodgy use of traditional strings. They also managed to take the mandolin out of its country-music straitjacket. An aria from Mozart’s Il sogno di Scipione, which Gotham will be presenting in New York from April 11th through April 21st, attractively sung by tenor Gennard Lombardozzi, set the stage for the tenor to act as leading man during several further numbers, mostly silently and invariably with a rose in hand. The effect was playful if not altogether needed.
Singer-songwriter Gabriel Kahane’s dramatic art song (a commission by Gotham) “You left me sweet, two legacies”, was sung in a grand but nuanced performance by Jennifer Check and mezzo Eve Gigliotti, followed with Ravel’s exotic Chansons Madécasses, accompanied by Sato Moughalian on flute and piccolo, Sophie Shao on cello, and Goren on piano. The audience could have used texts and translations for these complex numbers. A bizarre, witty, partially spoken, sung, and clapped piece called “Variations On”, composed and led by George Lam (who works for Gotham) tickled the crowd with its instrumental riffs, odd exclamations about anxiety and Lexipro, Social Security, and a dead cat, and was reminiscent of Leonard Bernstein. Kahane then took the stage and piano with excerpts from his well-known, riotous, and charming Craigslistlieder.
A new slant on the evening began with tenor Lombardozzi, joined by soprano Maeve Höglund singing a perversely bizarre version of Purcell’s “Sound the trumpet”, which somehow managed to turn into a song of seduction, with the aforementioned rose being twirled around Höglund’s black tutu. At its close, suddenly, a tall, handsome young man emerged from the audience to sing Sir Morosus’ final monologue from Strauss’ Die schweigsame Frau, a nocturne to peace and quiet women. He was young bass Benjamin LeClair, with a smooth, dark voice and elegant stage presence; while he sang, our tenor appeared to strangle soprano Höglund. After another vital number by Miracles of Modern Science, Höglund, resurrected, sang a wild aria about furious winds from Rameau’s La Princesse de Navarre; she was accompanied on the harpsichord by Goren. The final trio from Der Rosenkavalier closed the program with Check as the Marschallin, Gigliotti as Octavian, and Höglund as Sophie.
The evening was a wonderful mélange; as much fun as it was professional. Each genre was well-represented, proving that there’s no reason to specialize: the only types of music (and performances) are good and bad. These were all good. The audience – a typically New York mixed bag, ranging from 21 to 75, in jeans or ties/dresses, ate, drank, listened intently, applauded wildly – and went home satisfied and, I dare say, somewhat smarter for the exposure to so much cool, varied music.
