The program ended with a rousing rendition of ‘Hymn of Nations.’ The difficult tenor recitative and descant was performed with style and confidence by Michael Hendrick, substituting for an indisposed colleague. (One never would have guessed that Hendrick learned the work in less than 24 hours!)
Byline: Richard Storm MUSIC CRITIC;
The Sarasota Opera’s exhaustive survey of the works of Verdi continues on three levels: scrupulously accurate productions of all his operas, lectures and commentary by leading Verdi experts, and annual concerts of rarely heard music composed by Verdi.
A substantial number of music lovers blessed with curiosity and stamina had the rare opportunity to participate on all three levels Saturday, beginning with a morning lecture to the Verdi Circle by SarasotaOpera Artistic Director Victor De Renzi, followed by a dazzling matinee performance of “Ernani,” followed, in turn, by the annual Verdi Concert in the evening.
Conventional wisdom postulates that “rarely heard” works are obscure for good reason: They often are inferior. Saturday’s program included many such works – songs, for the most part – which might never be given a second hearing if the name Verdi were not attached.
To be fair, some of these were never intended for public performance: a rather flimsy waltz for piano and a brief but quite charming song, “E la vita un mar d’affani” (“Life Is a Sea of Troubles”), were inscribed in the guest books of friends after dinner parties. Others, such as “The Cockade” and “A Hymn for the People,” had overt politcal aims, honoring the patriots fighting to unify Italy.
The first half of Saturday’s program, while interesting to confirmed Verdiphiles, presented rather a lot of these lightweight pieces before arriving at music of more substance with the extraordinary “Ave Maria, based on an enigmatic scale” for four voices a capella. The unusual scale was specified by a Milanese music magazine, which invited its readers to try to write a piece based on it. Verdi produced a work of great beauty that anticipates musical experiments, such as the 12-tone scale of our own time, in quite startling ways.
Enormously difficult, it was sung with exceptional musicianship and tonal beauty by soprano Tamara Hardesty, mezzo-soprano Susan M. Yankee, tenor Christopher Haney and bass-baritone Gregory Carpenter.
Another rarity, the String Quartet in E Minor, performed by first-chair members of the opera’s orchestra, was less successful. Although crafted with Verdi’s customary skill, it seems to have little to say and takes quite a long time saying it. Still, the scurrying final movement, which anticipates the great fugal finale of “Falstaff” written some 20 years later, partially offset the slim rewards of the first three movements.
The second half of the program began with arias added to “Ernani” at various times to meet the requirements of star singers. As is the case elsewhere in the Verdi canon, the composer’s uncanny dramatic sense was invariably right in the first instance, and the additional music impedes the dramatic flow of the opera.
But heard in near-isolation from the action, these arias pack a terrific musical wallop. The first, an angry cabaletta, “Infin che un brando vindice” (“So Long as an Avenging Sword”), in which Silva laments his age and his doomed
love for Elvira, was sung with miraculous technique and command by bass Ding Gao and the opera’s chorus. Gao, blessed with an enormous, rich voice and strong acting skills, creates dramatic and musical space around himself that compels both eye and ear, a portent of future stardom.
The second addition to “Ernani,” “Odo il voto” (“Hear My Vow”), cripples the dramatic structure, too, but as performed by tenor Philip Webb, it has great effect as a concert piece, giving the character Ernani a dazzling cabaletta addressed to his slain father. Webb, the chorus and orchestra rose to the occasion splendidly in both arias, providing true Verdian energy and style.
Tamara Wright Acosta, “Ernani’s” splendid Elvira, next sang a ravishing “Ave Maria” for soprano and string orchestra, set to an Italian text. This is music of great delicacy and, with the forgivable exception of a small gasp of genuine emotion from Acosta, was performed with perfect control and great beauty of tone by all concerned.
The program ended with a rousing rendition of “The Hymn of Nations,” Verdi’s unabashed tribute to patriotism, incorporating national anthems from Italy, France and England. The difficult tenor recitative and descant was performed with style and confidence by Michael Hendrick, substituting for an indisposed colleague. (One never would have guessed that Hendrick learned the work in less than 24 hours!) An enthusiastic ovation brought an inevitable and welcome encore: “Va, pensiero,” the chorus from “Nabucco,” which has become the unofficial national anthem of unified Italy.
What an opportunity to learn more about Verdi and then to hear examples of what one has learned.
MUSIC REVIEW
VERDI CONCERT
Reviewed March 22 at the Sarasota Opera House.
http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1-74151936/verdi-concert-offers-rarities.html
by Richard Storm
Sarasota Herald-Tribune