Wednesday, December 29, 2021

Symphony Preview: New rule for New Year's Eve

The annual New Year’s Eve concert by St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (SLSO) has been a celebratory event for many years now. It was cancelled last year because of the pandemic but it’s back again in 2021, with Music Director Stéphane Denève at the podium, just as he was in 2019. But regulars will notice a few changes.

[Preview the music with my commercial-free Spotify playlist.]

Stefan Freund

To begin with, 2021 brings us not one but two New Year’s Eve Celebrations: the usual concert at 7:30 and a new matinee at 2 pm. The program is identical for both, but the addition of the afternoon performance should allow more music lovers to attend (the evening is usually sold out in advance) and make it easier to include bring the entire family. Adults with nighttime party plans should also appreciate it.

The second big change is that this year some of the program is being announced in advance. In the past the orchestra’s playlist was a closely guarded secret until concert time. Most of it still is, but at least we know that the evening will bring us two major works by Gershwin and a new piece by Missouri composer Stefan Freund: the “Voyageur Fantasy” for horn and orchestra, a work inspired by the folk songs of Missouri’s French Canadian settlers.

The Freund work is receiving its world premiere, so I have no idea what it will sound like. I will, therefore, refer you to the conversation between Freund and SLSO Principal Horn Roger Kaza, the evening’s soloist, on the SLSO Stories site, for details.

The two big Gershwin pieces, on the other hand, are old friends for most of us: the 1924 “Rhapsody in Blue” and the 1928 tone poem “An American in Paris.” Both will be heard in versions that differ from the composer’s original but, what the heck, it’s New Year’s Eve and I’m disinclined to be a curmudgeon.

“Rhapsody in Blue” first saw the light of day as part of "An Experiment in Modern Music," as bandleader Paul Whiteman billed the February 12, 1924 concert by his Palais Royal Orchestra at New York's Aeolian Hall. The “Rhapsody” was the most memorable piece to emerge from Whiteman's experiment although there were some other fun nuggets in it as well. You can hear them on Spotify in a recreation of the entire concert under the baton of Maurice Peress that was released in 1987.

In 1924 Gershwin was still new to the classical game and not comfortable with arranging his own music, so the orchestration for that world premiere was done by composer Ferde Grofé (best known for his “Grand Canyon Suite”). It was a snappy, very1920s arrangement for jazz band—which is what Whiteman’s group actually was, the ersatz French name notwithstanding. Grofé went on to produce two more arrangements, one for theatre orchestra in 1926 and one for a full symphonic orchestra in 1942.

The 1942 version is, as far as I can tell, the one Denève will be conducting New Year’s Eve. Indeed, that’s the only version most people ever heard until 1971, when Samuel Adler recorded his own reconstruction of the original jazz band arrangement.  The soloist will be Michelle Cann, a member of the Curtis Institute faculty who is very active as an orchestral soloist, recitalist, and radio host. This will be her St. Louis debut.

By the time Gershwin completed “An American in Paris” in 1928, he was much more confident of his ability to handle an orchestra. Begun during a trip to Paris two years earlier, the work is a reminder of just how much solid craftsmanship lurks behind Gershwin’s irresistible tunes.

Gershwin in 1937
Photo: Carl Van Vechten
en.wikipedia.org

"This new piece," observed Gershwin in a 1928 interview in Musical America, "really a rhapsodic ballet, is written very freely and is the most modern music I've yet attempted. The opening will be developed in typical French style, in the manner of Debussy and The Six, though the themes are all original. My purpose here is to portray the impressions of an American visitor in Paris, as he strolls about the city, listens to the various street noises, and absorbs the French atmosphere."

As someone who has visited Paris several times and who has fallen in love with the City of Light, I have to say it works beautifully. The lively opening with its colorful evocation of the city's lively sidewalk cafes and bustling boulevards (complete with honking taxi horns in the percussion section) is a masterful bit of musical imagery. And the bluesy central section evokes not only the homesickness of the traveler but also the charm of Paris at night.

Gershwin’s orchestration of "An American in Paris" is a reminder of how far he came in such a short period of time. This is, after all, a guy who went from being a Tin Pan Alley "song plugger" to an accomplished composer and orchestrator in only thirteen years. In another seven years he would write one of the mainstays of twentieth century American opera, "Porgy and Bess.”

Even so, others couldn’t resist tinkering with Gershwin’s score. Conductor Walter Damrosch cut 120 bars before the first performance, and Frank Campbell-Watson produced a revision that is still the standard for most orchestras. Restorations of the composer’s original were created by Jack Gibbons in 2000 and by Mark Clague, director of the Gershwin initiative at the University of Michigan, in 2017, but neither seems to have gotten much traction. So this December 31st, we’ll be welcoming in the new year with Gershwin by way of Campbell-Watson.

There’s much more to the New Year’s Eve program, as you’ll discover when you attend one of the concerts or listen to the live broadcast on St. Louis Public radio at 7:30 on New Year’s Eve. Either way, have a glass of something bubbly and join us to bid a farewell to 2021 that will be fond and/or relieved.

The Essentials: Stéphane Denève conducts the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and piano soloist Michelle Cann in the annual New Year’s Eve Celebration at 2 pm and 7:30 pm on Friday, December 31st at Powell Symphony Hall in Grand Center. The program includes Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” as well as Stefan Freund’s “Voyageur Fantasy” with horn soloist Roger Kaza and Gershwin’s “An American in Paris.” The evening concert will be broadcast live on St. Louis Public Radio.

This article originally appeared at 88.1 KDHX, where Chuck Lavazzi is the senior performing arts critic.

Sunday, December 26, 2021

St. Louis theatre calendar for the week of December 27, 2021

Now including both on-line and live events during the pandemic. Your event information should be in text format (i.e. not part of a graphic), but feel free to include publicity stills. To get your event listed here, send an email to calendar [at] stageleft.org.

ERA Theatre presents the radio play SHE by Nancy Bell with music by Joe Taylor and Lyrics by Nancy Bell via on-demand streaming  "SHE controls the radio station of the fascist regime in power. SHE's also the star of the broadcast. Her recording studio abounds with music and oysters. But in the nearby government camps full of misfits and would-be revolutionaries, only torture and starvation is thick on the ground. Tonight, however, SHE's realm feels different. The bombs sound closer. Time moves faster. But SHE will finish her radio show, and it will be her finest. If executing every number in the broadcast means some people need to die, so be it; it is a small sacrifice. The citizens need her and she will not let them down." SHE is available on most major platforms including Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Music, YouTube, and BandCamp. For more information: www.eratheatre.org

Cats
Photo by Matthew Murphy
The Fabulous Fox presents Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Cats through January 2. “Since its world premiere, CATS has been seen by more than 75 million people worldwide. Originally directed by Trevor Nunn with choreography and associate direction by Gillian Lynne, scenic and costume design by John Napier, lighting design by David Hersey, and sound design by Abe Jacob, CATS opened in London’s West End in 1981.” The Fabulous Fox is on North Grand in Grand Center. For more information: www.fabulousfox.com

The Lemp Mansion Murder Mystery Dinner Theatre and Jest Mysteries present The Christmas Killer through January 8. "Join classic Christmas characters like Frosty the Snowman, Rudolf, Grandma and Santa’s Elves for the annual Misfit Toys Banquet event hosted by Chatty Cathy herself.  It’s going to be a great party so long as the wrong element doesn’t show up.  We’re talking about that slimy, no good, rotten, Ricky Stitch of course.  Why, I wouldn’t touch him with a 39 ½ foot pole!  Gee, sure hope he doesn’t try to ruin Christmas…again.  If he does, I’m sure someone will show him who makes the candy canes around here! But how will we figure out whodunnit…was it you?" The Lemp Mansion is at 3322 DeMenil Place in south city. For more information: www.lempmansion.com

Moonstone Theatre Company presents Moonstone Connections, a series of in-depth interviews with arts leaders by company founder Sharon Hunter. The latest episode features John O’Brien, who currently serves as Director of Programming for The Fabulous Fox Theatre in St. Louis, where he is responsible for programming the U.S. Bank Broadway Series.  New episodes air the third Tuesday of each month; see linktr.ee/moonstoneconnections for more information.

The Glowy Snowy Day
The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis presents The Glowy Snowy Day Friday through Sunday starting at 5:30 pm, December 31 through January 2. “Experience an outdoor, socially distant, drive-through spectacle filled with giant illuminated puppets, glow-in-the-dark scenery and a podcast that tells the story of Peter, a young boy, playing outside with his friends during the season’s first snow. This revolutionary family event is an adaptation of the beloved classic children’s book, The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats and is in partnership with StoneLion Puppet Theatre.” The event takes place at the Missouri History Museum in Forest Park. For more information: www.repstl.org

R-S Theatrics presents While the Ghostlight Burns, a virtual discussion series featuring R-S Artistic Director Sarah Lynne Holt in conversation with St. Louis theatre artists, Mondays at 7 pm.  Conversations will be archived at the R-S Theatrics YouTube channel. For more information: r-stheatrics.com/while-the-ghostlight-burns.html

Stray Dog Theatre presents Elf Shenanigans!, a “holiday fund-raising soirée,” via on-demand video through December 31st. For more information: www.straydogtheatre.org

Looking for auditions and other artistic opportunities? Check out the St. Louis Auditions site.
For information on events beyond this week, check out the searchable database at the Regional Arts Commission's Events Calendar.
Would you like to be on the radio? KDHX, 88.1 FM needs theatre reviewers. If you're 18 years or older, knowledgeable in this area, have practical theatre experience (acting, directing, writing, technical design, etc.), have good oral and written communications skills and would like to become one of our volunteer reviewers, send an email describing your experience and interests to chuck at kdhx.org. Please include a sample review of something you've seen recently.

Sunday, December 19, 2021

St. Louis theatre calendar for the week of December 20, 2021

Now including both on-line and live events during the pandemic. Your event information should be in text format (i.e. not part of a graphic), but feel free to include publicity stills. To get your event listed here, send an email to calendar [at] stageleft.org.

Carol Schmidt
The Cabaret Project and The Blue Strawberry present a Singers Open Mic: Big Fat Holiday Edition on Tuesday, December 21, from 7 to 9:30 pm. “Chuck Lavazzi is your host, with pianist and music director Carol Schmidt. If you plan to sing bring sheet music or a chart in your own key, and perform your favorite Broadway, pop, or jazz tunes. We strongly encourage holiday-themed songs this month. Any holiday. Or you can just relax, have a drink and dinner or a snack, and enjoy the music. And there will be a holiday sing-along for all.  No admission or cover, but there is always a tip jar! All proceeds go to The Cabaret Project, a 501c3 non-profit dedicated to promoting, developing, and sustaining the art cabaret in St. Louis. "  The Blue Strawberry is operating under a "COVID careful" arrangement with mandatory vaccination and masking. The Blue Strawberry is at 364 N. Boyle. For more information: thecabaretproject.org

ERA Theatre presents the radio play SHE by Nancy Bell with music by Joe Taylor and Lyrics by Nancy Bell via on-demand streaming  "SHE controls the radio station of the fascist regime in power. SHE's also the star of the broadcast. Her recording studio abounds with music and oysters. But in the nearby government camps full of misfits and would-be revolutionaries, only torture and starvation is thick on the ground. Tonight, however, SHE's realm feels different. The bombs sound closer. Time moves faster. But SHE will finish her radio show, and it will be her finest. If executing every number in the broadcast means some people need to die, so be it; it is a small sacrifice. The citizens need her and she will not let them down." SHE is available on most major platforms including Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Music, YouTube, and BandCamp. For more information: www.eratheatre.org

Cats
Photo by Matthew Murphy
The Fabulous Fox presents Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Cats December 21 through January 2. “Since its world premiere, CATS has been seen by more than 75 million people worldwide. Originally directed by Trevor Nunn with choreography and associate direction by Gillian Lynne, scenic and costume design by John Napier, lighting design by David Hersey, and sound design by Abe Jacob, CATS opened in London’s West End in 1981.” The Fabulous Fox is on North Grand in Grand Center. For more information: www.fabulousfox.com

The Lemp Mansion Murder Mystery Dinner Theatre and Jest Mysteries present The Christmas Killer through January 8. "Join classic Christmas characters like Frosty the Snowman, Rudolf, Grandma and Santa’s Elves for the annual Misfit Toys Banquet event hosted by Chatty Cathy herself.  It’s going to be a great party so long as the wrong element doesn’t show up.  We’re talking about that slimy, no good, rotten, Ricky Stitch of course.  Why, I wouldn’t touch him with a 39 ½ foot pole!  Gee, sure hope he doesn’t try to ruin Christmas…again.  If he does, I’m sure someone will show him who makes the candy canes around here! But how will we figure out whodunnit…was it you?" The Lemp Mansion is at 3322 DeMenil Place in south city. For more information: www.lempmansion.com

Moonstone Theatre Company presents Moonstone Connections, a series of in-depth interviews with arts leaders by company founder Sharon Hunter. The latest episode features John O’Brien, who currently serves as Director of Programming for The Fabulous Fox Theatre in St. Louis, where he is responsible for programming the U.S. Bank Broadway Series.  New episodes air the third Tuesday of each month; see linktr.ee/moonstoneconnections for more information.

The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis presents A Christmas Carol through December 23. “The Rep is proud to launch a new holiday tradition with our first-ever annual production of A Christmas Carol! At long last, the ghosts of Ebenezer Scrooge’s past, present and future have caught up with him. Now London’s most infamous miser must take a transformative journey as he faces the worst parts of himself and discovers unexpected redemption. Michael Wilson’s wondrous adaptation has delighted more than 1 million audience members throughout the country.” Performances take place on the Emerson Main Stage at the Loretto-Hilton Center on the Webster University campus. For more information: www.repstl.org.

R-S Theatrics presents While the Ghostlight Burns, a virtual discussion series featuring R-S Artistic Director Sarah Lynne Holt in conversation with St. Louis theatre artists, Mondays at 7 pm.  Conversations will be archived at the R-S Theatrics YouTube channel. For more information: r-stheatrics.com/while-the-ghostlight-burns.html

Looking for auditions and other artistic opportunities? Check out the St. Louis Auditions site.
For information on events beyond this week, check out the searchable database at the Regional Arts Commission's Events Calendar.
Would you like to be on the radio? KDHX, 88.1 FM needs theatre reviewers. If you're 18 years or older, knowledgeable in this area, have practical theatre experience (acting, directing, writing, technical design, etc.), have good oral and written communications skills and would like to become one of our volunteer reviewers, send an email describing your experience and interests to chuck at kdhx.org. Please include a sample review of something you've seen recently.

Sunday, December 12, 2021

St. Louis theatre calendar for the week of December 13, 2021

Now including both on-line and live events during the pandemic. Your event information should be in text format (i.e. not part of a graphic), but feel free to include publicity stills. To get your event listed here, send an email to calendar [at] stageleft.org.

Katie McGrath
The Blue Strawberry presents Katie McGrath in One Degree from Elvis on Saturday at 8 pm, December 18th. “Katie Mcgrath returns for her first Blue Strawberry appearance since she returned home to St. Louis from New York City: One Degree from Elvis. It’s all about shameless namedropping, stories and songs as she brags about all the people she knows who know famous people, you know?  She’s one degree from Elvis, John Lennon, Elton John, The Lou’s own Nelly, Sheryl Crow, Gregory Hines and others, thanks to her popular and influential friends. She’s ZERO degrees separated from some major drop-worthy names, too, due to her stint as a front desk clerk at the Chase Park Plaza Hotel. Wages: $2 per hour. Stories: priceless!"  The Blue Strawberry is operating under a "COVID careful" arrangement with mandatory vaccination and masking. The Blue Strawberry is at 364 N. Boyle. For more information: bluestrawberrystl.com.

Steve Brammeier
The Blue Strawberry presents Steve Brammeier in Songs That Found Me on Sunday at 5 pm, December 19th. “Often when considering a new cabaret show, singers “look” for new music.  In his third cabaret show, Steve is going to share songs that “found” him at various times during his life.  Songs that touch on universal themes in all of our lives.  Directed by Lina Koutrakos and accompanied by Patrick DeGennaro the show will be both entertaining and thoughtful."  The Blue Strawberry is operating under a "COVID careful" arrangement with mandatory vaccination and masking. The Blue Strawberry is at 364 N. Boyle. The show is also available via a live video stream. For more information: bluestrawberrystl.com.

COCA presents a wUNDERland on Thursday and Friday at 7 pm, Saturday at 3 and 7 pm, and Sunday at 1 and 5 pm, December 16-19. “Fall down the rabbit hole again with wUNDERland! Back by popular demand, this re-imagining of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland puts a hip-hop spin on this fantasy classic. Featuring creative direction and choreography by COCA Hip-Hop Crew Artistic Director Anthony “Redd” Williams, view this upside-down tale through a completely new lens with dazzling costumes, visual effects, contemporary music, and cutting-edge hip-hop choreography. This version of wUNDERland is getting scaled up to maximize the technical capabilities of the brand new Catherine B. Berges stage.” COCA is at 6880 Washington in University City, MO. For more information: www.cocastl.org.

ERA Theatre presents the radio play SHE by Nancy Bell with music by Joe Taylor and Lyrics by Nancy Bell via on-demand streaming  "SHE controls the radio station of the fascist regime in power. SHE's also the star of the broadcast. Her recording studio abounds with music and oysters. But in the nearby government camps full of misfits and would-be revolutionaries, only torture and starvation is thick on the ground. Tonight, however, SHE's realm feels different. The bombs sound closer. Time moves faster. But SHE will finish her radio show, and it will be her finest. If executing every number in the broadcast means some people need to die, so be it; it is a small sacrifice. The citizens need her and she will not let them down." SHE is available on most major platforms including Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Music, YouTube, and BandCamp. For more information: www.eratheatre.org

The Lemp Mansion Murder Mystery Dinner Theatre and Jest Mysteries present The Christmas Killer through January 8. "Join classic Christmas characters like Frosty the Snowman, Rudolf, Grandma and Santa’s Elves for the annual Misfit Toys Banquet event hosted by Chatty Cathy herself.  It’s going to be a great party so long as the wrong element doesn’t show up.  We’re talking about that slimy, no good, rotten, Ricky Stitch of course.  Why, I wouldn’t touch him with a 39 ½ foot pole!  Gee, sure hope he doesn’t try to ruin Christmas…again.  If he does, I’m sure someone will show him who makes the candy canes around here! But how will we figure out whodunnit…was it you?" The Lemp Mansion is at 3322 DeMenil Place in south city. For more information: www.lempmansion.com

The Midnight Company presents Tinsel Town: Three Short Plays 24 Hours in L.A. by Joe Hanrahan Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 pm, through December 18. There will also be matinees at 2 pm on December 2 and 12. “In Tinsel Town, Ellie Schwetye and Joe Hanrahan each play characters in the three short plays set in the Los Angeles entertainment scene.” Performances take place at the .ZACK, 3224 Locust in Grand Center. For more information: https://www.midnightcompany.com.

Moonstone Theatre Company presents Moonstone Connections, a series of in-depth interviews with arts leaders by company founder Sharon Hunter. The latest episode features John O’Brien, who currently serves as Director of Programming for The Fabulous Fox Theatre in St. Louis, where he is responsible for programming the U.S. Bank Broadway Series.  New episodes air the third Tuesday of each month; see linktr.ee/moonstoneconnections for more information.

Eric Williams and Sharon Hunter
New Jewish Theatre’s Cabaret at the J presents A Little Song, A little Dance, A Little Seltzer Down Your Pants! starring Eric Williams and Sharon Hunter with music director and pianist Ron McGowan on Saturday at 7:30 pm and Sunday at 2 pm, December 18 and 19. “After the tremendous success of Ari Axelrod in October, the New Jewish Theatre is delighted to present another wonderful night of stellar cabaret performances by two wildly talented and funny artists. It will be a night of song and comedy, a night of good cheer – a great gift idea, too!” Performances take place at the SFC Performing Arts Center, 2 Millstone Campus Drive. For more information: https://jccstl.com/arts-ideas/new-jewish-theatre/current-productions.

The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis presents A Christmas Carol through December 23. “The Rep is proud to launch a new holiday tradition with our first-ever annual production of A Christmas Carol! At long last, the ghosts of Ebenezer Scrooge’s past, present and future have caught up with him. Now London’s most infamous miser must take a transformative journey as he faces the worst parts of himself and discovers unexpected redemption. Michael Wilson’s wondrous adaptation has delighted more than 1 million audience members throughout the country.” Performances take place on the Emerson Main Stage at the Loretto-Hilton Center on the Webster University campus. For more information: www.repstl.org.

R-S Theatrics presents While the Ghostlight Burns, a virtual discussion series featuring R-S Artistic Director Sarah Lynne Holt in conversation with St. Louis theatre artists, Mondays at 7 pm.  Conversations will be archived at the R-S Theatrics YouTube channel. For more information: r-stheatrics.com/while-the-ghostlight-burns.html

Comfort
Photo by Patrick Huber
The St. Louis Actors’ Studio presents Neil LaBute’s Comfort Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm and Sundays at 3 pm, through December 19. “A new play by the STLAS  friend and associate Neil LaBute in which mother and son meet after some time apart to see if their relationship can survive the past and two new book deals.” Performances take place at The Gaslight Theater on North Boyle in the Central West End. For more information: www.stlas.org

The St. Louis Writers' Group presents a Holiday Party and Monologue Extravaganza on Tuesday, December 14, at 6:30 pm. "No booking required. Just bring an original monologue (or short skits about the holiday, songs, short poems etc.) anything that is 90 seconds to five minutes long. Bring more than one if you like, the more the merrier. Audience members and actors are always welcome too. Prepare to read it yourself, have an actor friend read it for you or one of the regulars can read it. The only very loose guideline is that your monologue should somehow be related to the winter/holiday season" The reading takes place at Big Daddy's, 1000 Sidney in Soulard. For more information, visit the St. Louis Writers’ Group Facebook Page.

Stages St. Louis presents A Holiday Celebration with Liz Callaway Saturday, December 18, at 4 and 8 pm. “Known for her stunningly melodic voice, Liz will dazzle us with her warmth and wit as she sings such holiday favorites as “Joy To The World,” “Grown Up Christmas List,” “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas,” and “What Are You Doing New Years Eve.””  Performances take place at The Ross Family Theatre at the Kirkwood Performing Arts Center. For more information: stagesstlouis.org.

Who's Holiday
Photo by John Lamb
Stray Dog Theatre presents Who’s Holiday Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 pm  through December 18. “Who's Holiday is a wildly funny and heartfelt adults-only comedy that explores the twisted tales after that fateful night when a certain Grinch tried to steal Christmas.” Performances take place at Tower Grove Abbey, 2336 Tennessee. For more information: straydogtheatre.org.

Piece of My Heart
Photo by Julie Merkle
West End Players Guild presents Shirley Lauro’s Piece of My Heart through December 9. “It's a war story told from the unique perspective of the women who chose to serve and paid a steep price for their care and courage.” West End Players Guild this season will employ touchless ticketing, socially-distanced seating and indoor masking of all patrons and front-of-house staff and volunteers. Performances take place at the Union Avenue Christian Church, 733 Union in the Central West End. For more information: westendplayers.org


Looking for auditions and other artistic opportunities? Check out the St. Louis Auditions site.
For information on events beyond this week, check out the searchable database at the Regional Arts Commission's Events Calendar.
Would you like to be on the radio? KDHX, 88.1 FM needs theatre reviewers. If you're 18 years or older, knowledgeable in this area, have practical theatre experience (acting, directing, writing, technical design, etc.), have good oral and written communications skills and would like to become one of our volunteer reviewers, send an email describing your experience and interests to chuck at kdhx.org. Please include a sample review of something you've seen recently.

Thursday, December 09, 2021

Symphony Review: McGegan opens a box of Bachs for the holidays

Friday night (December 3rd), Powell Hall was decked out in holiday finery as frequent guest conductor Nicholas McGegan led the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (SLSO) in a trio of performances that delivered a preholiday gift to music lovers: a box of Bachs.

[Find out more about the music with my symphony preview.]

The Bachs in question were the well-known Johann Sebastian and his son Carl Phillip Emmanuel. The second of the many Bach children to survive to adulthood, Carl Philipp Emanuel (henceforth C.P.E. for the sake of brevity) was the first to eclipse his dad in fame. Indeed, by the time he started making a name for himself as a performer and composer in the 1740s, his father was already starting to be regarded as old fashioned. When Mozart remarked to his patron Gottfried van Swieten that “Bach is the father. We are the children,” he was referring not to J.S. but to C.P.E.

Yin Xiong

The first half of the concert consisted entirely of works by the younger Bach: two symphonies (or sinfonias, to use his term) and an A major cello concerto. The latter started out life as a flute concerto, presumably intended for the composer’s employer King Frederic of Prussia, who was by all accounts a pretty decent flute player.

In an interview last month, McGegan described C.P.E. Bach’s music as “very daring, full of surprises. Sometimes very hard-driven. But also full of Empfindsamkeit is what the Germans call it, sensibility. It wears its heart on the sleeve.” And, indeed, all three works on the first half of the program had an almost Romantic feel to them at times—dramatic, sentimental, fiery, and altogether different from the music of his father. You can hear the Baroque roots of these works as well as anticipations of the symphonies of Mozart and even Beethoven, as though C.P.E. were building bridges to a musical future he would not live to see.

The opening Sinfonia in C major (1773) for strings is a good example of the composer’s wide emotional range. There’s an energetic first movement with unexpected pauses, a grave second movement in which the violins are nearly weeping, and a happy, hopping Allegretto finale. The SLSO strings delivered all of it with flair under McGegan’s meticulous direction.

Next, SLSO cellist Yin Xiong took the lead in the concerto with a flawless performance that provoked spontaneous applause from the audience. Her playing of the rapid passages was crisp and clear, and she showed great depth of feeling in the more weighty moments. The second movement cadenza was especially powerful in that regard.

Beth Guterman Chu

Members of the wind section joined the orchestra for the 1756 Sinfonia in E minor that concluded the first half of the evening, with outstanding work by Andrea Kaplan and Jennifer Nitchman on flutes, Jelena Dirks and Cally Banham on oboes, and Victoria Knudsen and Associate Principal Thomas Jöstlein on horns. The latter didn’t have a large role but it was  a critical one, providing pointed interjections in the first and last movements. They didn’t play often, but when they did, they had to be sharp and precise—which they were.

Bach der Vater took up the rest of the evening with the first and sixth of his Brandenburg Concertos. Written when Bach was the music director and resident composer at the court of Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cöthen (1717 to 1723), each of the concertos highlights a different group of instruments. Taken as a set, they show off Bach’s skill as a composer—which is what he had in mind when he sent them as, essentially, a job application to the Margrave of Brandenburg almost exactly 300 years ago. The Margrave ignored them, and they sat gathering dust until 1850 when they were finally published.

The Concerto No. 6 is written for the unusual combination of two solo violas, accompanied by cellos and bass. The lower voices give the music a rich, velvety darkness and the small size of the ensemble (six players) ensures that the intricate interplay among the viola soloists and the principal cello is clearly heard.  “I'm sure Bach wrote this for himself to play with a mate,” McGegan noted, “because it's definitely very intimate. It's a musician's piece…written for six or seven musicians to have a good time.”

Violists Beth Guterman Chu and Andrew François certainly appeared to be having a good time Friday night, as did Principal Cello Daniel Lee. There was a sense of unaffected joy in the way they tossed themes back and forth.  In an SLSO Zoom seminar on November 16th, Chu talked about how the second movement, in particular, felt like an intimate conversation among friends. I thought that was clearly audible Friday night.

The concluding Concerto No. 1 offered a sharp contrast, with a brighter sound, a much bigger band, and solo parts for oboes, strings, and corni di caccia (the valveless horns of Bach’s time; the contemporary valved horn wasn’t invented until 1818). This was probably intended as the real showpiece of the collection, and it got an appropriately flashy performance from McGegan and his players. Julie Thayer and Principal Horn Roger Kaza were for the most part especially strong here, as was Principal Oboe Jelena Dirks, although all the solo players were in excellent form.  

Andrew François

McGegan’s direction was insightful as always. I particularly liked the way he brought out the dance elements in the concerto, most notably in the Allegro third movement. McGegan always seems to be having a wonderful time on the podium and that feeling of elation was (if you’ll pardon the word) infectious.

Throughout the evening, guest artist Mark Shuldiner provided a solid musical backbone on the harpsichord. It’s easy, I think, to miss the importance of the continuo instruments in music of this era. That’s especially true of the harpsichord, which isn’t always clearly heard in larger concert halls. That wasn’t the case Friday night, though, so it was possible to both hear and admire his fine keyboard work.

The Bach program concluded the regular concert season for 2021. For the rest of December it will be all holiday music all the time, with programs ranging from showings of “The Muppet Christmas Carol” and (on January 2, 2022) “Up” to the popular “Gospel Christmas” and the holiday pops sounds of the "Mercy Holiday Celebration," which will include extra performances at Lindenwood University. The Bach Society’s annual “Christmas Candlelight Concert” takes place on December 23rd and the festivities conclude with the big "New Year’s Eve Celebration" with two performances at 2 and 7:30 pm. The 2022 season kicks off Friday at 10:30 am and Saturday at 8 pm, January 7 and 8, with music by Brahms, Beethoven, and Detlev Glanert conducted by Stéphane Denève with piano soloist Lars Vogt.

This article originally appeared at 88.1 KDHX, where Chuck Lavazzi is the senior performing arts critic.

Sunday, December 05, 2021

St. Louis theatre calendar for the week of December 6, 2021

Now including both on-line and live events during the pandemic. Your event information should be in text format (i.e. not part of a graphic), but feel free to include publicity stills. To get your event listed here, send an email to calendar [at] stageleft.org.

Celebrating Sondheim
The Blue Strawberry presents a Stephen Sondheim Open Mic Night with host Ken Haller and pianist Ron McGowan on Tuesday, December 7, from 7 to 9:30 pm. “If you would like to sing, we ask that you prepare two songs by Sondheim with sheet music in your key as well as a few sentences about what these songs and/or Stephen Sondheim mean to you. If you don’t sing but would like to tell a story about Sondheim or his work, we would love to have you share that with all of us. And if you would like to join us to listen and remember Steve, you are very welcome."  The Blue Strawberry is operating under a "COVID careful" arrangement with mandatory vaccination and masking. The Blue Strawberry is at 364 N. Boyle. For more information: bluestrawberrystl.com.

ERA Theatre presents the radio play SHE by Nancy Bell with music by Joe Taylor and Lyrics by Nancy Bell via on-demand streaming  "SHE controls the radio station of the fascist regime in power. SHE's also the star of the broadcast. Her recording studio abounds with music and oysters. But in the nearby government camps full of misfits and would-be revolutionaries, only torture and starvation is thick on the ground. Tonight, however, SHE's realm feels different. The bombs sound closer. Time moves faster. But SHE will finish her radio show, and it will be her finest. If executing every number in the broadcast means some people need to die, so be it; it is a small sacrifice. The citizens need her and she will not let them down." SHE is available for digital purchase via bandcamp at eratheatre.bandcamp.com. For more information: www.eratheatre.org

A Magical Cirque Christmas
Photo by Matt Bishop
The Fabulous Fox presents A Magical Cirque Christmas Thursday, December 9, at 7:30 pm. “Experience the enchantment of Christmas as Magical Hostess Lucy Darling takes you through an evening of dazzling performers and breathtaking cirque artists, accompanied by your favorite holiday music performed live. Get into the spirit of the season with this merry treat that’s perfect for the entire family.” The Fabulous Fox is on North Grand in Grand Center. For more information: https://www.fabulousfox.com

The Lemp Mansion Murder Mystery Dinner Theatre and Jest Mysteries present The Christmas Killer through January 8. "Join classic Christmas characters like Frosty the Snowman, Rudolf, Grandma and Santa’s Elves for the annual Misfit Toys Banquet event hosted by Chatty Cathy herself.  It’s going to be a great party so long as the wrong element doesn’t show up.  We’re talking about that slimy, no good, rotten, Ricky Stitch of course.  Why, I wouldn’t touch him with a 39 ½ foot pole!  Gee, sure hope he doesn’t try to ruin Christmas…again.  If he does, I’m sure someone will show him who makes the candy canes around here! But how will we figure out whodunnit…was it you?" The Lemp Mansion is at 3322 DeMenil Place in south city. For more information: www.lempmansion.com

Songs for Nobodies
Photo by John Lamb
Max and Louie Productions presents Songs for Nobodies, starring Debbie Lennon, through December 12.  "This one-woman powerhouse performance, starring Debby Lennon, weaves the music of legendary divas Judy Garland, Patsy Cline, Billie Holiday, Edith Piaf, and Maria Callas throughout a mosaic of stories told by the everyday women who had unexpected life-changing encounters with these musical icons."  Performances take place at the Kranzberg Center, 501 N. Grand in Grand Center.  For more information: maxandlouie.com

The Midnight Company presents Tinsel Town: Three Short Plays 24 Hours in L.A. by Joe Hanrahan Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 pm, through December 18. There will also be matinees at 2 pm on December 2 and 12. “In Tinsel Town, Ellie Schwetye and Joe Hanrahan each play characters in the three short plays set in the Los Angeles entertainment scene.” Performances take place at the .ZACK, 3224 Locust in Grand Center. For more information: https://www.midnightcompany.com.

Moonstone Theatre Company presents Moonstone Connections, a series of in-depth interviews with arts leaders by company founder Sharon Hunter. The latest episode features John O’Brien, who currently serves as Director of Programming for The Fabulous Fox Theatre in St. Louis, where he is responsible for programming the U.S. Bank Broadway Series.  New episodes air the third Tuesday of each month; see linktr.ee/moonstoneconnections for more information.

The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis presents A Christmas Carol through December 23. “The Rep is proud to launch a new holiday tradition with our first-ever annual production of A Christmas Carol! At long last, the ghosts of Ebenezer Scrooge’s past, present and future have caught up with him. Now London’s most infamous miser must take a transformative journey as he faces the worst parts of himself and discovers unexpected redemption. Michael Wilson’s wondrous adaptation has delighted more than 1 million audience members throughout the country.” Performances take place on the Emerson Main Stage at the Loretto-Hilton Center on the Webster University campus. For more information: www.repstl.org.

R-S Theatrics presents While the Ghostlight Burns, a virtual discussion series featuring R-S Artistic Director Sarah Lynne Holt in conversation with St. Louis theatre artists, Mondays at 7 pm.  Conversations will be archived at the R-S Theatrics YouTube channel. For more information: r-stheatrics.com/while-the-ghostlight-burns.html

Comfort
Photo by Patrick Huber
The St. Louis Actors’ Studio presents Neil LaBute’s Comfort Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm and Sundays at 3 pm, through December 19. “A new play by the STLAS  friend and associate Neil LaBute in which mother and son meet after some time apart to see if their relationship can survive the past and two new book deals.” Performances take place at The Gaslight Theater on North Boyle in the Central West End. For more information: www.stlas.org

The St. Louis Writers' Group presents a reading of new play Subtitles, Episodes 2 and 3 by Thomas Rechenberg on Tuesday, December 7, at 6:30 pm.  The reading takes place at Big Daddy's, 1000 Sidney in Soulard and also via live video stream. For more information, visit the St. Louis Writers’ Group Facebook Page.

The St. Louis Writers' Group presents a reading of the first act of the new play Broom by Mario Farwell on Friday, December 10, at 7:30 pm. Broom is an experimental play dealing with the origins and ramifications of police brutality in America. The play is structured around the events of the brutal assault on a Haitian American by the New York Police Department. Abner Louima was arrested in1997 and charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. He was taken to the 70th precinct in Brooklyn, NY, and soon after his arrival at the precinct was taken to a bathroom and sodomized with a broomstick by two of the arresting officers.." The reading takes place at The High Low, 3301 Washington. For more information, visit the St. Louis Writers’ Group Facebook Page.

Who's Holiday
Photo by John Lamb
Stray Dog Theatre presents Who’s Holiday Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 pm as well as Sunday, December 12, at 2 pm, through December 18. “Who's Holiday is a wildly funny and heartfelt adults-only comedy that explores the twisted tales after that fateful night when a certain Grinch tried to steal Christmas.” Performances take place at Tower Grove Abbey, 2336 Tennessee. For more information: straydogtheatre.org.

WebCo, the Webster Conservatory of Theatre Arts, presents The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane through December 12. “WebCo invites audiences of all ages to The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, based on Kate DiCamillo’s beautiful novel. Featuring original accompaniment composed by Webster student Noah Lovins, the play follows Edward Tulane, an expensive toy rabbit made of china, on an adventurous journey that teaches him what it is to love, what it is to lose that love, and how to find the courage to love again. Conservatory faculty member Doug Finlayson directs.” Performances take place in the Stage III Auditorium on the Webster University campus. For more information: https://www.webster.edu/conservatory/

Piece of My Heart
Photo by Julie Merkle
West End Players Guild presents Shirley Lauro’s Piece of My Heart December 10-19. “It's a war story told from the unique perspective of the women who chose to serve and paid a steep price for their care and courage.” West End Players Guild this season will employ touchless ticketing, socially-distanced seating and indoor masking of all patrons and front-of-house staff and volunteers. Performances take place at the Union Avenue Christian Church, 733 Union in the Central West End. For more information: westendplayers.org


Looking for auditions and other artistic opportunities? Check out the St. Louis Auditions site.
For information on events beyond this week, check out the searchable database at the Regional Arts Commission's Events Calendar.
Would you like to be on the radio? KDHX, 88.1 FM needs theatre reviewers. If you're 18 years or older, knowledgeable in this area, have practical theatre experience (acting, directing, writing, technical design, etc.), have good oral and written communications skills and would like to become one of our volunteer reviewers, send an email describing your experience and interests to chuck at kdhx.org. Please include a sample review of something you've seen recently.

Friday, December 03, 2021

Cabaret Review: We still get a kick out of Steve Ross

Thanksgiving weekend (November 26 and 27), Jim Dolan’s Blue Strawberry nightclub gave cabaret lovers something to be thankful for: two nights of the legendary cabaret singer and pianist Steve Ross. I was there for the packed Friday night house, and (to quote one of Ross’s favorite songwriters, Noël Coward), “I couldn’t have liked it more.”

Steve Ross

Ross has a long and happy relationship with St. Louis, going back to the early days of the Grandel Cabaret Series, where I first saw him two decades ago. Debonair, witty, and charismatic, Ross never fails to get straight to the heart of every song, whether it’s an obscure comic gem like Milton Ager and Jack Yellen’s “Hungry Women” (introduced by Eddie Cantor in his 1928 musical Whoopee!); a sentimental standard like Ralph Rainger and Leo Robin’s “Thanks for the Memory” (Bob Hope’s theme song, which he introduced with frequent co-star Shirley Ross in The Big Broadcast of 1938); or the smoky, late-night regret of the Kingston Trio hit “Scotch and Soda”. 

Without fail, Ross makes certain that you not only hear but actually listen to the lyrics – an essential skill for the cabaret artist. An evening with Steve Ross is an object lesson in why cabaret is such a vibrant art form.

Much of Ross’s latest show, Back on the Town, was likely familiar to fans. Many of his favorite songwriters were represented, including Coward, Cole Porter, the Gershwins (“George and his lovely wife Ira,” as a misinformed DJ is supposed to have said in the 1950s), Irving Berlin, and of course, the newly-departed Stephen Sondheim. The latter was represented only by “Send in the Clowns” (from A Little Night Music) but what a lovely performance it was.

There were some songs that were new to me as well—a reminder that Ross knows well how to assemble a show that mixes audience favorites with possible future favorites. In that category I’d include “My Circle of Friends” from the 2008 album Hallways by Carol Hall (best known for her musical The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas), with its sweetly sentimental thoughts on what Tales of the City's Anna Madrigal called one’s “logical family,” and “This Moment,” written by John Wallowitch and Bertram Ross for the autobiographical 1999 film of the same name. As someone with more years behind him than ahead, the lyric struck me as especially powerful: “It takes a life to realize / What life is all about / And life is all about this moment.”

And, happily, there were numbers by immortal French singer/songwriters like Charles Trenet (“La Mer,” done very much in the Trenet style) and Charles Aznavour (“Le Temps,” with English lyrics by Gene Lees). There was also, happily, Ross’s trademark instrumental medley of Edith Piaf favorites—always a hit with us fans. The Francophile feast included a song he co-wrote with Barry Day, “Whenever I Think of Paris.” It’s a wistful love letter to a city I adore as much as he obviously does.

Another notable item was Cole Porter’s popular “Anything Goes” with some new lyrics by screenwriter Joe Keenan. They were witty, to be sure, but I’m not sure all of Porter’s originals seem really need a rewrite to make them relevant: “The world has gone mad today / And good's bad today, / And black's white today, / And day's night today.” To say nothing of:

Just think of those shocks you've got
And those knocks you got
And those blues you got
From that news you got
And those pains you got
(If any brains you've got)
From those little radios.

Change that last line to, say, “From those angry talk shows” or “From social media prose” and everything old is new again.

“But I digress” – Tom Lehrer.

So, yeah, it was another charming and entertaining evening with one of cabaret’s leading lights. Thanks to Jim Dolan and the Blue Strawberry for bringing Steve Ross to town once again. Long may his light shine. Here in St. Louis, we still get a kick out of him.


Thursday, December 02, 2021

Symphony Preview: Nicholas McGegan on a box of Bachs and other Baroque notes

This weekend, December 3-5, Nicholas McGegan returns to Powell Hall for a program of music by JS Bach and his less-famous son CPE Bach. I talked with McGegan via Zoom on November 18th. Here’s a somewhat condensed transcript of that conversation. The complete video interview is available on Chuck’s Culture Channel on YouTube.

[Preview the music with my commercial-free Spotify playlist.]

L-R: Nicholas McGegan and Chuck Lavazzi

Chuck Lavazzi (CL): On December 3rd through 5th, you will be here with the St Louis Symphony Orchestra (SLSO) performing music by a pair of Bachs. The famous Johann Sebastian and one of his many musical sons Carl Philipp Emanuel. And since that's the upcoming event, let's talk a little bit about both of those guys. And I'd like to start with CPE Bach because he was a remarkable character and is probably not that well known to a lot of concertgoers.

Nicholas McGegan (NM): No, he's not. I think if his name was not Bach he might, in a way, be just as well known. There's no reason why he should be under his father's shadow, as it were. He's a wonderful composer in his own right. In terms of the kind of music he wrote and when he lived, he's kind of between two periods a little bit. He's not exactly what we think of as Baroque music, which is what, obviously, Johann Sebastian wrote. And he's not quite classical. He's an in-betweeny, if you like. Some people call it Rococo. But that makes it sound like mice in China, that it's all very pretty and stuff. His music is very daring, full of surprises. Sometimes very hard-driven. But also full of Empfindsamkeit is what the Germans call it, sensibility. It wears its heart on the sleeve, particularly in the slow movements.

CL: The Empfindsamer Stil

NM: Yeah, the sensibility. It's half of the Jane Austen novel. Without the sense. It's the sensibility. And he was much admired by Haydn, particularly, and he lived a really a very long time. He was born in 1714, but he died only four years before Mozart died, in 1788. So he had a long career. He worked for a good many years for King Frederick the Great of Prussia in Berlin, which was very much a full-time job because when the flute playing king wasn't destroying the Austrians and being rather good at the art of war, he seems to have been an extremely good flute player. And he'd certainly played a flute concerto every day of his life if he could. And so his musicians were kept very busy providing the flute concertos, making sure that they didn't have any bits he couldn't play.

CL: Yes, very important . [laughter]

NM: But he must've been really good, and he composed a little bit, too--maybe corrected by one of his lackeys. But then, CP Bach took over from his father in law, Georg Philipp Telemann, as the main Mr. Music Man, if you like, for Hamburg. So he had a very glittering career. He was famous as a keyboard player, but also as a theorist. He wrote a wonderful book on how to play the harpsichord and continuo, playing the harpsichord in the orchestra. And he also wrote a lot of music which is not performed today. He wrote many Passions, just like his father wrote the “St. John Passion” and “St. Matthew Passion.” He had to produce one every year for 20 years. And they're a lot more modest than-- or should we just say - let's be honest - a lot shorter than the Matthew Passion. The Hamburgers maybe were less patient. They only wanted them to last an hour. But he wrote a lot of those. He wrote oratorios. The only thing he never wrote-- just like his dad didn't, he didn't write any opera.

CL: I know he also wrote quite a few symphonies, and we have a couple of them on the program.

MM: He did indeed. First for strings,  then he published much grander ones with lots of wind instruments. And we're doing one of each. We're doing  one of the string symphonies, which was written and dedicated to the Baron van Swieten who was the person who later in life wrote the librettos for Haydn's “Creation” and “Seasons” and was a great lover of what, in those days, they referred to as ancient music. In other words, people like JS Bach. And he was a great friend and supporter of Mozart. His symphonies are extremely, let's say, wild. The one with winds is definitely what's called the sturm und drang, storm and stress style. This is very much away from the sort of comfy elegant music of some of the earlier part of the 18th century, or the slightly pre-classical music of his much younger brother, Johann Christian, who was a great influence on Mozart. This is wild, pushing the boundaries music-- and virtuoso too. You could tell that decaf had not been invented.

CL: Well, coffee houses were very popular back then.

NM: Very popular, but it was the real thing. So you can't get too comfy in his music, and I think that's something that Haydn learned. Just constantly astonish, leading your audience up the garden path; give them something they're not expecting. And it's a terrific style he had. He also is another wonderful link because he had a number of students on the keyboard, two of whom were Mendelssohn's great-aunts. One of the last pieces that CP Bach wrote was a double concerto for Mendelssohn's great-aunts. And the Bach connection goes, obviously, from JS Bach through to his son, CP Bach, and to Wilhelm Friedemann, another of the sons, and then down through the Levy's and Itzigs, the very wealthy Berlin families who then, in the early 19th century, had Felix and Fanny, the two famous Mendelssohns at the beginning of the 19th century. They got the Bach bug big time, but they got it directly, as it were, through relatives and from Bach's children.

"Bach Carl Philipp Emanuel 1"
by Franz Conrad Löhr (1735–1812)[1]
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin,
Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Gemäldegalerie, M.589.
Licensed under Public Domain
via Wikimedia Commons

CL: This brings up something else that I think you talked about on the SLSO Zoom seminar Wednesday (November 16), is that Bach's music was really not well known after his death, and it tended to disappear for quite a while until it started getting revived by people like Mendelssohn.

NM: Absolutely, I mean, a lot of composers go into that sort of slump, if you like. Vivaldi's another case. If you'd asked Beethoven who Vivaldi was, he probably wouldn't have had the first idea. But Beethoven did know who Bach was because he kept a copy of the 48 Preludes and Fugues by his bed. And he'd studied that. But really, the only composer who kept a good deal of popularity after his death was Handel, but not the operatic Handel, the one that we know and love as much these days, but the oratorio one. And so oratorios like Messiah and so on, continued to be performed, and have continued to be performed up to the present day. But most composers go out of fashion, and I think you can say that that happened to JS Bach big time.

CL: In fact, two of the pieces you're going to play in the second half, the Brandenburg Concertos, just really sat on a shelf for many years.

NM: They did. And I think one of the reasons for this, is that JS Bach, relatively speaking, published very little of his music. It's slightly odd, in the sense that he lived so many years in Leipzig, which really to some extent still is the center of the European book trade. The Leipzig book fair is still a big deal, and it certainly was in Bach's day. If you wanted a book published, or you wanted to find a book, you went to Leipzig, and somebody would have a copy. That's where the publishers exhibited their wares. And so Bach's published works are merely works for the ages. He published organ preludes, he published French Suites, German Suites. These are publishing monuments, not terribly practical. Music that was meant to be played, generally just circulated in manuscript, and that's what happened to the Brandenburgs. Now, first of all, let's get the fact that the Brandenburgs, he didn't write them as Brandenburgs, he wrote them as concertos for next Thursday, wherever he happened to be. The earliest one is Brandenburg 1, some of which dates from 1713 when he was in Weimar. And then he went to the Court of the Prince of Anhalt-Köthen, who being a Calvinist had no organ in his chapel, so there was no sacred music to write. But the prince himself played the viola de gamba, and could even have played in Brandenburg 6, in fact, there's a gamba part. And so what the Brandenburgs really is, is a marketing piece.

CL: A resume, in fact.

NM: A resume. One is that if you wanted to publish anything, or you wanted to get something to look like a finished piece of music, in those days you'd publish them in half dozens, occasionally in dozens. So that you have the Twelve Concertos by Corelli. You have the Six Concertos of Handel, Opus 3. The Twelve Concertos, Opus 6. So to have six Brandenburgs is sort of the standard unit, as it were, to show what you mean. He could have published them, but no one could have played them. They're very, very, very difficult, and need a very fancy orchestra that most people couldn't have afforded in those days. But it is, on the other hand, a resume, as you say. It's his, "This is what I can do. This is some of the wildest concertos that you'll ever hear." Put them in a nice book. Write a lovely preface. A very obsequious preface in French to the Marquess. Dated exactly 300 years ago, incidentally. It's March the 24th. Happens to be Telemann's birthday. Very good reasons for playing them, I think, and sent them off to the marquess who was a close relative of the king of Prussia, not Frederick the great, but his rather eccentric father and apparently put them on the shelf. And that was it. He may have opened the score. He may not have done. He might've received things like this every couple of weeks. Lots of people would like to work for a member of the Royal family and they send in their CV, some saying, "I'm really good as a wine waiter." And some saying, "Oh, I've written some concertos. You might like them." So they sat in the library, and they didn't really get opened. They went through various hands until the middle of the 19th century.

CL:  You talked about how someone might've said, "I'm a great wine waiter." Composers were kind of seen at the time and musicians just as potential employees, probably not much more respectable than a wine waiter really.

NM:  Yes. I mean, he was the boss. But it was quite normal, for example, in 18th century England to put out a wish to have a servant who could be a valet and horn player. There are even pictures of people pretty much doing that because you want to have a really good doorbell, you hired two horn players who would stand. There's even a house in Devon where there are two hooks beside the door for the two horns so that the servants could rush down and go, "Toot, toot, toot," when somebody's carriage arrived to welcome them.

CL: As long as we're talking about these concerti, let's not fail to mention who's going to be playing them the third through the fifth. The viola parts are going to be played by Andrew Francois and Beth Guterman Chu.

NM: . Wonderful members of the St. Louis Symphony. And it's unusual to have concertos for violas. On the other hand, composers themselves loved playing the viola. Bach loved playing the viola. We know that. And Mozart loved playing the viola almost more than the violin. The Sinfonia concertante, for example, he played the viola. So even though the viola doesn't have much of a solo repertoire, it loves being in the ensemble. And I'm sure Bach wrote this for himself to play with a mate because it's definitely very intimate. It's a musician's piece. You can just imagine this. It's the smallest of the Brandenburgs, not really designed for a concert hall at all, more like a drawing room and it's written for six or seven musicians to have a good time.

"Statue of J.S. Bach in Leipzig" by Zarafa
at the English language Wikipedia.
Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0
via Wikimedia Common

CL: Yeah. Well, in fact, Beth Guterman Chu was talking about how, at least in the second movement, it felt like an intimate conversation among friends.

NM: Oh, sure. And these people, travel wasn't so easy in the 18th century. So if were at the prince's court, you were there most of the time. You'd get to know your colleagues and you're going to get to know them very well until you would want to have music to play in the little ensemble that he had. Bach only had about 10 musicians there. So it's known as an orchestra but it's not what we would think of as an orchestra, more like an expanded chamber group.

CL:  We don't want to also forget Yin Xiong, who is playing the cello part.

NM: The cello part plays with the violas a lot. The gambas sort of sit in the background being super sophisticated. String instruments like the violin, the viola, at lesser extent the cello, were not regarded as aristocrats' instruments. The viola de gamba was the aristocratic instrument. It was played by princes. It was played also by women, the most famous being, I think her name is Madame Henriette, or possibly Madame Victoire. One of the daughters of Louis XV played the viola de gamba. And she has her viola de gamba on a little tuffet, like with muffet because obviously she's got those dresses they used to wear that looked as if they would quite like to be a sofa. It's hard to get a gamba between your knees if that's what you're wearing. But you could play it on a tuffet. And lots of pieces are dedicated to her. There was also in England a famous lady called Anna Ford, who actually played the viola de gamba in public. But the cello was also an aristocratic instrument later on. And, indeed, three or four Princes of Wales, including the present one, have at some time in their lives played the cello. I know that the present one plays the cello because I was at university at the same time as he was. And I actually nearly had to conduct him playing the cello once in an orchestra. Just escaped it. Can you imagine trying to tell a prince he was flat and wanting to keep your head?

CL: Likely an issue there. So this brings me to another thing I wanted to talk about. It's not specifically about this concert. But it's something you brought up yesterday in the call. The whole soundscape surrounding music of this period has changed. I mean, the soundscape of our world has changed in general. In fact, there was an excellent book with that title by R. Murray Schafer that came out in 1993 [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/585024.The_Soundscape] chronicling how the world has gotten increasingly louder over the past few hundred years. But these were all works intended to be performed in very small rooms for very small audiences. And there are issues, I would think, trying to scale them up for, say a 2,500-seat hall, like Powell Symphony Hall.

NM: Yeah. Certainly, things have changed a lot. It's not only sound, but light has also changed. We've got something called electricity. I think Paris was the first city to get streetlights, had about 50 of them. We can imagine everybody else just wandered around in the dark. We can't imagine that now. Of course, there were many fewer people. And you simply, in the 18th century, couldn't light a concert hall that held 2,500 people. You could light a theatre because you lit the stage. And you lit the individual boxes. But everything else was-- I should think we would think of it as pretty dingy.

So concert halls tended to be pretty small. Can you imagine lighting every single lightbulb individually in Powell Hall, how long that would take? And a candle burns half an hour, constantly needing to be changed. So aristocrat's houses had chambers, the knights' rooms or princes' rooms or ballrooms, but they would hold relatively small number of people. And the great thing about a prince's concert is in order for it to be classy, you want to keep as many people out as you can. You wouldn't want anybody less than an archduchess actually to be listening. It would lower the tone. And even if there was only one prince there and he was the guy paying you, that was enough. You could also be sure that CP Bach working in Berlin JS Bach in Cothen and the Prince Nikolaus Esterhazy for Haydn, these were all people who loved music. And a lot of them played themselves. And so we're talking a very sophisticated audience who would, should we say, get the complications of Bach whether they were actually playing it and had to experience how hard it is to play, or just listening to the intricacies of it. And being up close and personal to something like a Brandenburg really helps you hear just how intricate these pieces are. Orchestra music comes in the later part of the 18th century, but even then Haydn's concert hall is seven or eight hundred. That was considered a large space because they couldn't light anything bigger, and so-- nor could the orchestra see.

So what we think of as a concerto is something like the Tchaikovsky piano concerto. These, though, were concertos because they feature a single or a small group of instruments, in these cases, small groups of instruments, what in the 18th century would have been called concerti grossi, big concertos rather than just one solo, like “The Seasons” of Vivaldi and an audience of maybe 25 people sitting round. It's a very different aural experience. And when you're trying to project that into a space of a couple of thousands, the size of the coliseum in Rome, if you like, you have to do them in a slightly different way. In the same way, as if you were not using a microphone, if you're talking to a small group, you're talking in one way. If you're talking to two and a half thousand people, you're talking in a different way. You're enunciating, you're speaking more slowly, and so on. I've done all the Brandenburgs in Powell Hall and they worked fine, but it would be a very different experience. I always wished that the artist was on stage. Now, funnily enough, the hall where Bach played in the palace in Cothen still survived. We can see how big it was. Architecturally, it was altered in the early 19th century. It's been modernized, but it hasn't been made any bigger. And we don't even know if that was the room they were actually played in. It could have been done in a smaller one. I was quite recently in a palace just north of Berlin, where Frederick the Great lived when he was a young man. And there is a music room, but it was too big--35 feet by 35 or something. He had a much smaller room around the corner where he really liked to play, which is the size of the average living room.

CL: So as a conductor, are there adjustments you have to consciously make? Are ways that you have to think differently about this music because you're performing for such a large group?

NM: Well, one thing you have to do is not to try to aggrandize it so that you sort of sling it to the back of the hall. What you want to do is to encourage the audience maybe to move a couple of inches further towards us, sit on the edge of their chair, and just get used to the intimacy of the music.

CL: Draw the audience in as they sit, as opposed to trying to push the music out.

NM: Yeah. Yeah, I think it would be great if everyone was in theyou first 10 rows, frankly. The harpsichord is the ideal instrument for a small room. If you had a Bösendorfer or a great big Steinway on stage trying to play this, it would just drown everything out. On the other hand, a harpsichord trying to play the Tchaikovsky piano concerto would be extremely silly. First of all, you wouldn't have enough notes. You have no dynamics. And harpsichords are designed for small spaces. So I hope they won't mic the harpsichord to make it artificially loud because, in vast places, it needs to be there as part of the sound, but it's not adding any extra chords or anything like that because Bach's already fully scored. It’s continuo, so. It adds a bit of pep to the rhythm as well.

CL: And we have a harpsichordist, Mark Schuldiner. Have you worked with him before?

NM: Yes. Several times in St Louis, he came down when we were doing, I think it was the Vivaldi “Gloria,” and he actually played the organ. But I also know him from Chicago because one of the things he does besides playing very well-- is he also is an excellent tuner. And I was doing a concert of 17th Century Jewish music from Venice. And there was suddenly Mark providing all the keyboards. So it was great to see him again. So this is the third time I've worked with him. He's terrific. So that will be great fun to see him again. It's just a hop, skip, and a jump down from Chicago with the harpsichord. I don't know if he's bringing his own harpsichord. We'll find out.

CL: Okay. I think that's mostly what I had on my list of things to bring up. I do want to say this. I have seen you many times at Powell Hall and one of the things I always notice, you don't just walk out on stage, you bound out on stage. I mean at one point commented on the fact that you ran out on stage, and you walked up to the podium, and you rubbed your hands together and I said it was like he was saying, "Oh, this is going to be such fun."

NM: Well, it's going to be, I hope. I'm not sure I'm quite the bounder. I don't bound quite as much, but I do a little bit more than I used to because I had a hip replacement, so I can bounce a bit more. I'm not quite the Bugs Bunny me going out there, that that might have been a number of years ago.

I think we should also mention Yin Xiong again. She's going to be playing this remarkable CP Bach cello concerto. It's an unusual piece because there aren't that many concertos for the cello compared to the violin. And CP Bach's ones also are written for several instruments. He would write a concerto which could be played on the cello, on the keyboard, or the flute. The music is essentially the same, he's adapting them perfectly for whichever instrument it is. So he had to write a flute concerto, of course, because the king probably paid him to. But then he said, "Well, why not make it for the cello as well? We've got a mate who plays the cello, and I'm sure he'd love to have this concerto." And then he said, "Well, I'm a great keyboard player. I could play it on the harpsichord." So it gives it a bit more of a shelf life.

I have to say, the one she's playing in A major is my favorite of the three, very sparkly in the last winter, especially, but with a very, very deep, sad, miserable, back to that very sensitive, full of sensibility slow movement, wearing your heart on your sleeve, which of course, as the 18th century goes on, becomes increasingly part of the makeup of how people thought. In Goethe, you've got “The Sorrows of the Young Werther,” which is all about wearing your skin inside out, and feelings, deep feelings. And that's very much something, of course, that CP Bach got from Daddy. The slow movement of Brandenburg 6 is a very deep, beautiful, quiet piece, but he traded on it. And the slow movements of nearly all the pieces that we're playing, the CP Bach pieces, come to that format, and they're really wonderful.

CL: So you can see the seeds of what would eventually become the century of the Romantic sensibility.

NM: Absolutely. And it's not the sort of music that's merely elegant. They had beating hearts, and they loved and lost just as we do.

CL: Yes. We tend to have this artificial image of these stiffly-posed people in wigs and elaborate gowns, and we, yeah, forget that they were just as human as the rest of us.

NM: Yeah. And the ones we're thinking of are only the rich ones. Can you imagine what it'd be like if you're basically living on the street or making one of those dresses by candlelight, working through the night, sewing the silk for something that the queen might wear once.

CL: Yes. It isn't the way it looks in those Hollywood movies from the '50s, but [laughter]--

NM: Yeah, the scarlet pimpernel is not how it was for everybody.

CL: Yes. I always say that I'm glad I was not born before the age of relatively painless dentistry, myself.

NM: Yes. Young, rich, and good teeth is what you needed.

CL: Nic McGegan, thanks for taking some time to talk to me. Once again, you are going to be conducting music by CPE Bach and Johann Sebastian Bach, December 3rd through the 5th at Powell Hall, slso.org for more information. I look forward to seeing you on stage again because you always, as I alluded to earlier, have this tremendous joy and enthusiasm for the music. And you know that that really communicates itself through the audience.

NM: Thank you. I can't wait to come back because I was supposed to have a concert last February, which is of course just when the symphony was not performing, so I missed out on my annual jaunt to St. Louis. But I get to come now, and that's absolutely terrific. Can't wait. And with a live audience too.

This article originally appeared at 88.1 KDHX, where Chuck Lavazzi is the senior performing arts critic.