2023-24: A Musical Summary

We are already at the very end of September and 2024-25 season is here. I am starting to plan ahead, and this is a good time to remember and share what I've seen and heard in 2023-24 on stage. The playlist includes a few of popular selections from each artist/work. Playlist below includes selections from all the works mentioned below, except for Wetlands by Ludovido Einaudi. It could be because it was commissioned by a Chinese institution (On Einaudi’s website it says that for Symphony Orchestra, Commissioned by the National Center for the Performing Arts of Beijing”) Also, I couldn’t find any recorded version of the Alexander Rosenblatt’s work mentioned below. I created also a youtube list for these works, you’ll find it at the end of this page.

Opera

• 06.12.2023 - Don Giovanni, Mozart, 1787 - AKM, Istanbul

• Huge objects on stage; the intro featured a bull that was elevated from below to the stage level slowly during the overture, and then Commendatore's mansion. They were being rotated mechanically and that was quite impressive.

• "La ci darem la mano" - The timeless tune, beautifully romantic, agreeable, joyful yet in its essence Don seducing a soon-to-be-married villager woman for pleasure. The music suggests that Don wholeheartedly believes what he says, and as I think about it, the music (art) is the suspension of disbelief for the audience, Zerlina, Don, even Mozart himself.

• I read and researched about Don Giovanni, finding out that thinkers such as Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Bernard Shaw, Camus, and Simone de Beauvoir have all written about the character and the opera. The list of names such as this one signals an existentialist interest, and that is no surprise. Although a deeply flawed character in a very reckless way following his own desires, Don Giovanni is seen as the man of enlightenment, and the individual aiming to break free of and fighting against the religious and societal norms in general. (Note the date:  It premiered two years before the French Revolution)

• 31.01.2024 - La Boheme, Puccini, 1896 - AKM, Istanbul

• The scene of the Christmas market on the Parisian street was spectacular - the costumes, lights, and the children and the number of people on the stage (around 50 people I'd say) was really exciting.

• Unfortunately, not much has remained with me from the tunes, and I don’t think I was able to hear as well as I wanted.

• The characters portrayed here are among the earliest versions of the “starving artist and intellectuals” archetype.

• 12.04.2024 - Turandot, Puccini, 1926 - Opera Theatre, Yerevan

• Very populated scenes with soldiers and extras. This was a very lively, animated performance.

• Two good basses but especially enjoyed Timur / Father of Calef  - deep and clearly audible.

• Turandot character also a very powerful presence and performance on stage.

• 08.05.2024 - Falstaff, Verdi, 1893 - AKM, Istanbul

• Falstaff just like Don Giovanni, very questionable ethics and conduct. More silly, and less harmful. Don Giovanni deals with higher stakes; Falstaff is very self aware in his baseness.

• The Falstaff that remained with me the most from performances I’ve seen was on film, the Henry IV in the Hollow Crown series by BBC (played by Simon Russell Beale)

• Also, the book Second Chances, which I mentioned also in this note on My Favorite Cake, has a good section on Falstaff and the prince, putting Henry IV and Falstaff as opposing father figures for the prince and him working his way through. What makes Falstaff so lighthearted is best captured in the finale: “Everything in the world is a joke / man was born a joker”

A word about AKM & Hearing: Lovely structure, the spherical design, the wood panels and the ambiance inside is pretty interesting. Personally, when it comes to Opera, I can not so comfortably hear bass, baritone and even mezzo lines sometimes. It is a very huge structure and maybe this is expected, so I try to get the tickets closer to the scene, right in front. In contrast both Yerevan Opera Theatre and the Teatro hall in Casa d'Italia in Istanbul are much smaller spaces and hearing is much easier for me.

Ballet

• 13.03.2024 - Giselle, Adolphe Adam (1841) - AKM, Istanbul

• This was a lively performance, beautiful and demanding even to watch at times.

• Giselle is among the top five classical ballets and continously performed. This performance was very touching, two acts very as different as day and night, representing life and death, natural vs. supernatural.

• The original title was Giselle, ou les Wilis. Visa - Wili - Wilier words all refer to female character somehow similar to nymph from Slavic mythology. Dead, unmarried young women haunting men and dancing them to death - An interesting theme in any case.
  

Concert

• 28.02.2024 - Vissi D'arte* - Teatro Casa d'Italia, Istanbul

• I list this here with concerts but this was mainly operatic Soprano singing a selection accompanied by Piano and Double bass. It was very enjoyable.

• Soprano: Antonella D’Amico  / Double Bass: Onur Özkaya / Piano: Senka Simonovic

• Playlist:

  Gioachino Bottesini:

  - Elegia N. 2 “Romanza Drammatica” per Contrabbasso e Pianoforte

  - Due Canzoni per Soprano, Contrabbasso e Pianoforte: “Tutto che Il Mondo serra” e “Une bouche aimée”

  - Allegretto Capriccio “alla Chopin” per Contrabbasso e Pianoforte

  - Introduzione e Gavotta per Contrabbasso e Pianoforte

  - Fantasia “Lucia di Lammermoor” per Contrabbasso e Pianoforte

  Vincenzo Bellini:

  - “Casta diva” (dall’Opera “Norma”, Atto 1) per Soprano e Pianoforte

  Giacomo Puccini:

  - “Vissi d’arte” (dall’Opera “Tosca”) per Soprano e Pianoforte

  Franz Liszt:

  - Réminiscences de Lucia di Lammermoor S. 397 per Pianoforte

  *I lived for the arts.

• 11.04.2024 - (Works of) Einaudi, Rosenblatt, Ranjbaran - Armenian State Symphony Orchestra - Aram Khachaturian Concert Hall, Yerevan

• Program:

Ludovico Einaudi - “Wetlands” Symphonic Poem

Behzad Ranjbaran - Flute Concerto

I․ Grave lamentoso-Allegro con spirito

ll․ Adagio cantabile

lll․ Presto giocoso

Alexander Rosenblatt - Jazz Rococo Variations for Bass Guitar and Orchestra (Homage to Pyotr Tchaikovsky)

• Performers:

  Natalie Murray Beale - Conductor

  Aleksandr Haskin - Flute

  Anton Davidyants - Bass guitar

• Part of why I wanted to go on this day was the Bass Guitar in front of the Orchestra, and partly because the music hall is named after Aram Khachaturian.

• It was the first time I heard a neo-classical piece played live by an orchestra and it was impressive. Though quite meditative and cyclical, I enjoyed the piece by Einaudi.

• The Flautist Aleksandr Haskin was quite impressive, with a lot of energy and a very good rapport with the audience. Also the piece, Flute Concerto

• Anton Davidyants’s command of the bass was a pleasure to witness, though his.tone was not my favorite, with a bit of reverb and way too much mids in the mix - now that I am listening it again to create the musical list, the tone on the youtube video reminded me of Jaco’s tone on. Chromatic Fantasy ( Bach) on Word of Mouth. I am actually adding another work by Rosenblatt and performed by him as well (Concerto for Bass), It is better recorded on as a video and the piece is more jazz-like.

• 30.05.2024 - Ahmet Aslan - CKM, Istanbul

I heard Ahmet Aslan as a youtube suggestion a few years ago, with really great acoustic guitar and vocals - both the deep and falsetto voice coming out as he plays. That was Minnet Eylemem - a traditional tune by Nesimi. 

I enjoyed the concert, but again there was so much left to be desired  in the mic work of the acoustic instrument. It picked up so much treble in a very artificial sounding way. The concert itself was quite interesting, solo performance around an hour, him using footwork, breathing, falsetto, guitar body noises all in his music, creating his own soundscape. I’ll add some works but I am still not an expert on his album works.

See you next year.