Thanks to Fugue State, I have found video from the Netherlands Opera production (Peter Sellars’ version) of the final aria from the first act of Doctor Atomic, “Batter My Heart” - it will give you an idea of what I think was the highlight of the opera.

You’ll have a second chance to see the MET’s production at the encore screening at local theaters.

Arriving at the last minute, the Astoria Music Festival returns this summer in full force with a slate of varied offerings June 19-29 in Astoria.

Here’s a look at the concerts on offer this year: [Read more →]

Gavin Borchert shares my enthusiasm about the Seattle Opera’s 2008-2009 season, especially the Bartók/Schoenberg duo of one-act operas:

Most exciting—unbelievable, in fact—is their presentation of Robert Lepage’s production of Bartok’s Bluebeard’s Castle and Schoenberg’s monodrama Erwartung (Feb. 21-March 7), which I saw in Vancouver in 1998 and never dreamed would be done here. I did, however, hang on to the review I wrote:

“Bartok’s 45-minute opera is a duologue between Bluebeard and his bride Judith. In his great hall stand seven doors; one by one she demands to open them, revealing the horrors and wonders within. But behind the last are the apparitions of Bluebeard’s three previous wives, and Judith joins them to be sealed up forever as the curtain falls. In Michael Levine’s black-box set, the floor, ceiling, and walls slope up, down, and in from the proscenium to converge on a portcullised entrance at the rear of the stage—a space which both conveys the somber vastness of a castle hall and becomes increasingly claustrophobic as the psychological screws tighten. Robert Thomson’s lighting was an equal partner in the drama, from the row of illuminated keyholes in the darkness that marked the doors to the dazzling bursts of light as each one opened. Most magical was the moat at the lip of the stage, silvery waters from which the three wives rose, a stunningly beautiful effect.

“Lepage’s Schoenberg staging used the same set. In the original stage directions, a woman wanders through the woods and discovers the body of her lover, who, it is implied, she killed in an insane fit of jealousy. Lepage presented this as a flashback from the woman’s asylum cell, a hallucination decked with Dadaist details: a psychoanalyst in a chair on the wall, a floating bed, a scarlet moon.”

As long as I live, I’ll never forget the moat. “Stunningly beautiful” doesn’t even begin to cover it. This is the must-see of the season, if not the decade.

David Stabler reports that the Handel Festival that was to be in Astoria has been canceled.  The big storm of last month may have killed the festival.

David Stabler has provided an outline of the upcoming ‘08-’09 season of the Seattle Opera, which begins with Aida in August. What I’m totally psyched about (and I hope I can go see) is the double bill of Bartok’s Bluebeard’s Castle and Schoenberg’s Erwartung. Too cool!!

photo credit: David Shankbone

Double-bassist Jason Heath gives an exposé on life in the “pit” (the lowered area in front and beneath the stage which holds the orchestra during shows, ballets, and operas. It’s some pretty extreme stuff, including dancing, yelling, boozing, watching television - you get the picture (and if you don’t read the rest of the post here).

Courtesy of the new-ish blog Classical in Seattle, a link to this past season’s semi-staged production ofBluebeard’s Castle by the Seattle Symphony. Renowned (and also perhaps a bit over-hyped) glass artist Dale Chihuly was commissioned to produce blown glass pieces to represent what was revealed behind each door.

In case you aren’t familiar with this opera (a great masterpiece of the 20th century) - here’s a rough synopsis, courtesy of wikipedia:

The setting is a huge, dark hall in a castle, with seven locked doors. Judith insists that all the doors be opened, to allow light to enter into the forbidding interior, insisting further that her demands are based in her love for Bluebeard. Bluebeard refuses, saying that they are private places not to be explored by others, and asking Judith to love him but ask no questions. Judith persists, and eventually prevails over his resistance.

The first door opens to reveal a torture chamber, stained with blood. Repelled, but then intrigued, Judith pushes on. Behind the second door is a storehouse of weapons, and behind the third a storehouse of riches. Bluebeard urges her on. Behind the fourth door is a secret garden of great beauty; behind the fifth, a window onto Bluebeard’s vast kingdom. All is now sunlit, but blood has stained the riches, watered the garden, and grim clouds throw blood-red shadows over Bluebeard’s kingdom.

Bluebeard pleads with her to stop - that the castle is as bright as it can get, and will not get any brighter, but Judith refuses to be stopped after coming this far, and opens the penultimate sixth door, as a shadow passes over the castle. This is the first room that has not been somehow stained with blood; a silent silvery lake is all that lies within, “a lake of tears”. Bluebeard begs Judith to simply love him, and ask no more questions. The last door must be shut forever. But she persists, asking him about his former wives, and then accusing him of having murdered them, that their blood was the blood everywhere, their tears those that filled the lake, their bodies behind the last door. At this, Bluebeard hands over the last key.

Behind the door are Bluebeard’s three former wives, but still alive, dressed in crowns and jewelery. They emerge silently, and Bluebeard, overcome with emotion, prostrates himself before them and praises each in turn, finally turning to Judith and beginning to praise her as his fourth wife. She is horrified, begs him to stop, but it is too late. He dresses her in the jewelery they wear, which she finds exceedingly heavy. Her head drooping under the weight, she follows the other wives along a beam of moonlight through the seventh door. It closes behind her, and Bluebeard is left alone as all fades to total darkness.

If you’re intrigued by the description of the action, I highly recommend a great recording by the Chicago Symphony under the direction of Pierre Boulez with Jessye Norman as Judith and László Polgár as Duke Bluebeard. The climactic ‘kingdom’ door music has enormous presence and splendor in this account. And Norman is spellbinding.

A more classic choice would be the Decca recording with Christa Ludwig and Walter Berry in the main roles, with the London Symphony conducted by István Kertész.

You can see photos here - I particularly like the ‘lake of tears’ door - very evocative and effective!

On a side note, when I asked former Music Director James Depreist why he didn’t program this work (which he liked very much) in Portland, he said that they had, in fact, programmed it (now about 20 years ago) and it was the worst selling concert in OSO history.  What a shame…