2011 in remembrance Part One

         America (and most of the rest of the world, including New York) went through an unsettling year.    The fruits of protest and government toppling have not had time to register, though the initial shock seems all-too present and real.    Many small performing groups quietly disbanded, some re-remerging as something else, most not.    Festivals shrunk or departed, funds drying up enough to hurt even the most venerated of organizations.   Fewer concerts were seen, though only someone who did not live in New York probably noticed.     The Metropolitan Opera finished one season and started another, hits and misses rolling out of the machine like fine-tuned clockwork.    Broadway saw some exceptional shows and some extraordinary performances…and a few times when show and performance were unforgettable.    But mostly not.   The Classical Music recordings were more egalitarian than some years: a plethora of new works and under-recorded composers arrived on smaller labels, making them far more enticing than the ‘same old stuff’ from the larger companies.   And lovers of Stephen Sondheim had a feast of a year.   Still, with the Occupy Wall Street movement—and its children—very much alive, more and more people turned away from public performances.    No, 2011 was not a banner year for those who love The Arts in New York.    It had its joys but they were not particularly copious; in fact, they were depressingly fewer than in previous years...at least, for me.

Of course, the big, sad story here is the end of the once ‘essential’ New York City Opera.    And the truth needs to be faced: no one was going.    Popular works, new works, seldom seen works—none brought in crowds.    The reasons are probably myriad…and immaterial.    No one came, short and simple.   Whether some new organization will rise from the ashes, phoenix-like, no one knows yet.   (Announcements keep appearing, including this week.)   But its decline has been slow, steady, and painful.    Had The Met produced something like Bernstein’s A Quiet Place, it would have drawn people in—I have no doubt.    The older company has a larger fan base, more curious patrons, more publicity, more underwriters.   The work is beautiful, if odd.    But so are The Nose and From the House of the Dead and Satyagraha and Doctor Atomic.    And Bernstein’s name would bring in paying customers from outside the opera world had they known about it.    But that was part of the problem: no one knew about it.    At New York City Opera, it came and went with little or no fanfare.   It was doomed before it opened.    I have hope that something can be done to save the ‘common people’s’ company, but believe it is gone.     And that is heartbreaking to true opera fans.    Some wonderful shows—and wonderful singers—graced its stage.     May they find a place where, once again, they can shine.

The Met ended one season and started another with its machinery firmly in place.    People came to see some lackluster productions, with lackluster performances, garnering lackluster reviews.    A few stand out: Capriccio with a radiant Renèe Fleming was one.    Anna Bolena with an impressive Anna Netrebko was another.   (I must admit, once again, I like Netrebko more than I love her.    Too much of her bel canto feels precise rather than spontaneous.    Still, she shone as Bolena more than some of her earlier roles.)   But far too many offerings were mediocre—neither great nor terrible.     That is the nature of the art form, but the last few seasons have been disheartening, at least to me.     Too much I have skipped from a lack of interest.    Maybe Götterdämmerung was wonderful.   But judging from the audio broadcast, probably not.    Even the upcoming Billy Budd has some casting issues.    I’ll do my best to be there, but with gritted teeth: I love the work that much.

The best opera experience I had this year was Opera Company of Philadelphia’s Phaedra by Hans Werner Henze.    A chamber opera, it was perfect for the group’s smaller space.   The singers were worthy of the material, (especially the Phaedra of Tamara Mumford, despite some over-singing, and best of all, the lyric tenor William Burden) the staging cogent, impressive, apt, and the music filled the hall with moving intensity.   Corrado Rovaris was the expert conductor.   The opera has many beauties, and some painful, violent passages that counterbalance the lyricism.    The performance I saw was with an all-but sold-out crowd, most of them intrigued: very few coughs, only a few walk-outs (expected) but very few for such a challenging work.   Most people seemed rapt.   The talk afterwards was positive, from what I heard.    Besides, I’ve seen people walk out of The Met during some classic pieces—it’s hardly a sign of worth or popularity or approval.

Naxos, and the labels it releases, continued its robust recordings of lesser known and new works in every genre of classical music.   They were the brightest light in the classical music ‘world’.   Operas included Anna Nicole by Mark-Anthony Turnage; the prolific Einojuhani Rautavaara’s The Mine and Aleksis Kivi; the anything-but-easy-to-love Medea by Aribert Reimann, plus the rare 19^th Century Il convitato di pietra (The Stone Guest) by the equally rare Giovanni Pacini –yes, the same source as Don Giovanni; and the rare Donizetti work, Marino Faliero.   Symphonies arrived by Alexander Borodin, Malcolm Arnold, John Corigliano, Howard Hanson, Morton Gould, and Havergal Brian .   Concerti were particularly popular, counting piano by John Ireland, Frederick Delius, Aram Khachaturian; violin by William Alwyn, Max Bruch, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco; plus every other instrument known to man, including percussion battery by Joseph Schwantner.   Chamber music thrived: flute music by Ned Rorem, piano music by Arvo Pärt and Roberto Gerhard (a favorite composer of mine), and guitar music by Aaron Jay Kernis (another favorite composer of mine).    This list doesn’t even scratch the surface, much less name all the rare works that came out in 2011.   The major labels continued to disappoint, though The Met broadcasts are worth buying (mostly) and Anna Bolena with Netrebko is an important addition to the video catalogue.   Plus, I am happy London/Decca is re-releasing some of the Entartete Musik recordings of works by composers killed or displaced by the Nazis.    But the smaller labels were the place to find the works not over recorded elsewhere.    Those releases were a great sign of continued health, at least for recordings that do not have to sell thousands of copies to make a profit.     But 2012?    A crap shoot.