Alex Ross: The Rest Is Noise

"Wotan leaves Valhalla"

Photo: Wagner in Bayreuth, 2004.

The official announcement came today: Wolfgang Wagner, Richard Wagner's grandson, will step down as director of the Bayreuth Festival on August 31, one day after his eighty-ninth birthday. He has been in charge since the first postwar festival in 1951, though he shared power with his brother Wieland until Wieland's death in 1966. His daughters, Eva Wagner-Pasquier and Katharina Wagner, have made a joint bid to take direction of Bayreuth in his wake. More at Bloomberg Arts.

Henry Brant, etc.

A maverick among mavericks, Henry Brant has died at the age of ninety-four. Kyle Gann, Frank Oteri, and Josh Kosman have obits.... John Luther Adams's profoundly impressive Dark Waves will be performed this week by the La Jolla Symphony under the direction of Steven Schick. My profile of the composer appears in The New Yorker next week.... A guide to Sibelius's favorite stimulants (via Clownsilly).

Brentano Quartet and Late Style

End Notes. The New Yorker, May 5, 2008.

Tether your cat

Heebie jeebies — Terry Teachout has written another book, not to mention an opera libretto. Warmest congratulations!

New king of the high Cs

Juan Diego Flórez and Natalie Dessay both sang brilliantly in last night's La Fille du Régiment at the Met, the local debut of Laurent Pelly's richly amusing production. Flórez, after a slightly breathless start, securely zapped his nine high C's in the cabaletta of "Ah! mes amis," and then proceeded to zap them all again, audibly more at ease  — the first time a singer has delivered an encore at the Met since Pavarotti in 1994. I personally feel that Marco Armiliato could have waited a little longer before giving the downbeat for the encore, but it was fun to witness. Audio of the feat accompanies Bernard Holland's review in the New York Times. There's also a YouTube video of the aria from Vienna (same production). La Fille is on the Met's HD simulcast this Saturday. All remaining performances are sold out.

Bløgösphèric notes

Molly Sheridan, host of NewMusicBox's vibrant Friday Informer wrap-up, has a blog of her own on ArtsJournal. It's called Mind the Gap, and it looks on both sides of the theoretical pop-classical divide.... Andrew Patner's new-ish blog The View From Here now carries podcasts from the lavishly cultured host's WFMT interview series, Critical Thinking. Here's Boulez on Janáček (note the priceless pronunciation of the phrase "That is for sure").... A reminder that Russell Platt is posting on The New Yorker's award-winning Goings On blog.... You can't keep Alan Rich down for long: he will be writing for Bloomberg News and also at his own site, So I've Heard (under construction).... As ever, wacky accents inspired by The Fredösphere.

Syncretic playlist:

— Charles Wuorinen, Ashberyana, etc.; Sarah Rothenberg and Da Camera of Houston (Naxos)
— Janáček, From the House of the Dead; Boulez conducting, Patrice Chéreau directing (DG DVD)
— Helmut Lachenmann, Ausklang, Richard Strauss, Alpine Symphony; Ensemble Modern (EM)
— 2 Foot Yard, Borrowed Arms (Yard Work)
— Unsuk Chin, Alice in Wonderland (Medici DVD)
— John Harbison, Ulysses; Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP Sound)
— Scott Wheeler, The Construction of Boston; Donald Teeters conducting The Boston Cecilia (Naxos)
— Nico Muhly, Mothertongue (Bedroom Community/Brassland)
— Philip Glass, Waiting for the Barbarians (Orange Mountain)
— John Luther Adams, In the White Silence; Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble (New World)

Eleanor Roosevelt on Carl Ruggles

From Mrs. Roosevelt's column "My Day" for Oct. 21, 1958: "I went the other night to a concert in Carnegie Hall and heard the works of three American composers, Riegger, Becker and Ruggles, whom are not very often heard [sic]. And the finale of the concert was Rachmaninoff's piano concerto No. 3 for piano and orchestra, in which Mr. Van Cliburn was the pianist and Leonard Bernstein the conductor.... Leonard Bernstein is one of my favorite people, as well as a gifted conductor, and I liked the way he introduced the American composers who were unfamiliar to me. I will have to say that because of that the Rachmaninoff was somewhat of a relief because I did not feel I was trying to understand something new. Nevertheless, the music of the American composers, though unfamiliar to me, had moments of beauty and meaning for me."

Coincidence?

About five minutes before George Steel began his concert of Stravinsky's sacred works at the Park Avenue Armory, Pope Benedict XVI passed by in his motorcade. Roger Evans has an overnight report.

Stravinsky at the Armory

For several reasons, tomorrow night should be something of an event in the current New York season. Amid the vastness of the Drill Hall at the venerable Park Avenue Armory — seen above in 1881, with Leopold Damrosch at the podium — George Steel will conduct the Vox Vocal Ensemble and the Gotham City Orchestra in Stravinsky's three sacred masterpieces: the Symphony of Psalms, the Mass, and the Requiem Canticles. It's the central offering in Miller Theatre's Stravinsky Festival, which has been a banquet of riches so far; New Yorkers are getting to hear various Stravinsky pieces that come along exceedingly rarely (the Septet, Concertino, Three Japanese Lyrics, etc.). Performances of Requiem Canticles are grievously infrequent, of the Mass more or less nonexistent, so the composer's fans will be out in force. Also, this will be the first public presentation in the Drill Hall since recent renovations made the space suitable for music. Various bigwigs will undoubtedly be in attendance to assess the acoustics and the ambience. Coming to the hall this summer is Bernd Alois Zimmermann's colossal, wild, and astounding opera Die Soldaten, courtesy of the Lincoln Center Festival; a DVD of the production, which originated at the Ruhr Triennale, raises expectations high. New York City Opera plans to stage Messiaen's Saint Francis at the Armory in December 2009.

Dot dot dot

La Cieca has coverage of the latest goofball German opera production, a Ballo in Maschera with a lady Hitler. If you read through the comments, you'll find an intelligent debate between La Cieca and her cher public on the subject of Regietheater. Warning: some images may be "not safe for work," as the kids say.... Robert Flanagan's recent report on the state of the American orchestra — the latest in a long line of dire forecasts — has inspired much interesting debate. Greg Sandow defends it; Matthew Guerrieri applies heady Marxian scrutiny.... For perhaps the first time, Arnold Schoenberg has hit #1 on the Billboard chart (classical), thanks to Hilary Hahn's splendidly expressive account of the Violin Concerto, with Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting (DG). I noted Hahn's discussion of Schoenberg last year.... The evidence is almost overwhelming: Shostakovich invented hip-hop. (Via Geelhoed.) ... UbuWeb has posted Dave Soldier's Most Unwanted Song, a scientifically informed attempt at maximally unpopular music. People sipping coffee at their computers should beware. (Via Phil Ford.) ... According to his iTunes Celebrity Playlist, Mick Jagger is listening to the Salonen recording of Messiaen's Des Canyons aux étoiles. Keith, more conservative, picks Beethoven's Romances for violin and orchestra. (Via David Bruce.) ... Never mind the superdelegates: an English-horn player has endorsed Obama. (Via Patricia Mitchell.)