Thursday, October 18, 2007

Tonight: A concert with the Phil

Tonight: Maestro Conlin conducts the New York Philharmonic, Jonathan Biss plays Beethoven's 2nd Piano Concerto, Anthony Dean Griffey, Tenor (Guido Bardi), James Johnson, Baritone (Simone), and Tatiana Pavlovskaya, Soprano (Bianca) sing Zemlinsky: A Florentine Tragedy

Biss was good piano player. It was Beethoven. The Phil was culled down to chamber size. There were two horns. What more do you want?

Alexander Zemlinsky's A Florentine Tragedy, based on the Oscar Wilde play, was INTENSE! It was also humorous and had an unusual twist - nobody was killed and the cheating wife, Bianca, reunited with her old husband, Simone - when he saw that somebody else wanted her, his interest was reignited in her, and conversely when she saw that he was jealous, she wanted him back. This was really the husband's story and Johnson's baritone was gorgeous. Pavlovskaya has a big, dark soprano and rattled the rafters a time or two. Griffey's high tenor voice is beautiful, but not as powerful as we thought it would be. But, the Phil, in all its glorious swelling crescendo under Maestro's baton, did cover the singers more than one and most often Griffey. A fabulous cheap evening in a sparse house. There are two more chances to hear the Zemlinsky, so go for it.

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