April was a very good month for musical adventures. We had started out with Opera York’s terrific gala fundraiser, which was quite successful, as was expected, and continued with concerts of an interesting variety. First we ventured out to listen to the master of the grand piano, Anton Kuerti. He closed the Mooredale concert series with a Beethoven concert the likes I have never heard. In fact this was not just a concert; this was a master class in musical history and composition. Mr. Kuerti started with Sonata NO. 13 in E flat, op. 27, No 1 and continued with the Diabelli Variations, of which there are 33. It was all about a man named Diabelli,also a composer, who’s family business in music publishing celebrated an anniversary. He had written a waltz to commemorate the event and asked the most prolific composers of their time, including Schubert, Hummel and Czerny, to write a variation on it.

There are various stories of how Beethoven got involved, but it seems certain that he did not have firsthand knowledge of it, as was implied in some places, but when he finally did, he did not write one but 33 variations on the theme he deemed so banal at first. It ended up being called the most difficult and important of his piano works.

All this was explained in great detail by Anton Kuerti, who claimed to have to consult the sheet music. However we hardly saw him glance at it, but instead play, like almost all his concerts, from memory. It boggles the mind what skill this pianist brings to the music he interprets. There is not an audience in the world that would not be totally captivated by his playing. His ability to tell a story well and with a good sense of humor made this evening even more enjoyable, especially since there was so much to be learned from this master.

TOSCA

Next we had occasion to track down to the Glenn Gould Studio once again, this time to listen to a concert performance of Puccini’s Tosca as a vehicle for soprano Mary Liu, originally from Beijing, winner of many competitions, and now she is a voice teacher and the Dean of the Toronto School of Music, with many musical performance credits to her name.

It was a little bit difficult for me to imagine her as Tosca. Perhaps totally unjustly I always have Callas in my ear when Tosca is even mentioned. Her dramatic and metallic sound was so ideal for this role of a woman needing to be strong for her cause. There is nothing sweet about a woman desperately trying to protect her lover from certain death. Ms. Liu however cannot help but appear sweet starting with her appearance. This made her otherwise fine efforts in the role of Tosca less dramatically believable. Nevertheless her voice was lovely and she acquitted herself well of the difficult task of this role. The famous aria "Vissi d’arte" was sung especially well and with deep emotion.

There were a few familiar singers on stage that night. Andrew Tees, baritone, as the torturous Scarpia brought his usual great voice and personality to this production; Geoffrey Butler, tenor, pleased and astounded as Cavaradossi, Tosca’s lover, with deep emotional communication; and Douglas Tranquada, baritone, who we had just heard at the Hansa Club a month earlier, also sang his role as Sacristan well. Dan Mitton’s baritone surprised with extra warmth and fullness, Michael Sugrue, tenor, and Jonathan Segal as a shepherd boy rounded out the cast under the musical direction of Sabatino Vacca, who played splendidly the entire score on the grand piano to accompany the singers.

SWAN LAKE

Who would have thought that Tchaikovsky’s beautiful ballet could find its way onto an icy stage? But that is exactly what happened. Where we only a couple of years ago saw out National Ballet perform the classic story The Imperial Ice Stars danced across the frosty stage on skates. The audience was ecstatic. Certainly there were not many ballet lovers but skating fans there, that counted the doubles and triples and applauded every pirouette, every athletic display. What fabulous family entertainment this was! The set was great, the music was good, the choreography was wonderful and the artists on the ice were just that, real artists, who also knew how to keep an audience appreciative.

Until next time

Sybille Forster-Rentmeister