My Life in Sacramento

R.I.P.

2010-03-29T13:28:00.000-07:00

The skating rink has burned down.

Mandarin Duck

2009-12-12T09:29:00.001-08:00

Between the usual wood ducks and mallards in McKinley Park is this nice Mandarin duck. I walk there every day and have not seen him before.

Mural

2009-12-08T20:30:00.000-08:00

17 & L.

Neon

2009-11-29T12:29:00.001-08:00

Jury Duty

2009-11-23T21:24:00.001-08:00

Crawdads

2009-11-23T21:20:00.000-08:00

I don't live anywhere near a river or stream, so what are crawdads doing on my patio?

Elixir of Love

2009-11-22T19:09:00.000-08:00

Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore, now playing at the Sacramento Opera, makes widely varying impressions, depending much on how Adina is portrayed.

On the video with Rolando Villazon she is a serious woman who sits at home in her large house and reads. At Santa Fe she was a school teacher. In Sacramento she is clearly a fast girl who is completely in character when she decides to marry Sergeant Belcore. I think it's more emotionally satisfying when she is a woman of substance.

The production places us in the Napa Valley in the 40s. It doesn't really matter where it takes place.

The cast is good. Katrina Thurman's Adina is a light-voiced coloratura. Dinyar Vania is excellent as the countrified hero Nemorino with interesting Italian phrasing.

We clearly cannot blame Verdi for the Italian opera Oom-pah-pah style he is so often criticized for. He obviously got it from Donizetti. The most prominent player in the orchestra was the bass drum and cymbals. I don't remember noticing this so much before.

If you like your comedy painted with broad strokes, you will love this.

Dido

2009-11-15T19:12:00.000-08:00

My friend J, who is 88, and I were thinking this was the first time we had ever been to a concert devoted entirely to Henry Purcell (1659-1695). Coming into the Mondavi Center to hear Philharmonia Baroque last night, the usher asked, “What’s his first name?” I said Henry, and another usher said, “That’s spelled ‘H-E-N-R-I.'” Oh heavens no. He’s English, not French.

How can this great composer be so little known? I have always been especially fond of the middle Baroque, that most neglected of all style periods. But thinking about it now, perhaps it is only the great Purcell I am especially fond of.

Nicholas McGegan, the conductor of Philharmonia Baroque, talked before the concert and spoke about the French influence on Purcell – King Charles II was raised in France – and the roughness of English harmony compared to the French. I think it is this roughness that I love, the way the lines bounce against one another, the liveliness of the rhythms, the astounding beauty of the English text setting, never heard before or since.

Purcell is my man. Let’s have an All-Purcell-All-The-Time festival. We would probably be criticized for performing inferior repertoire. [Sorry. This is currently a sore point for me.]

There were questions after the talk, and I wanted to ask, “Why aren’t you famous?” This would have been unfortunate because McGegan probably already regards himself as famous.

I asked about Elizabeth Blumenstock, the concertmistress of the Philharmonia Baroque and was told she was in Italy this month. She has a life that is larger than her orchestra. Philharmonia Baroque is an early instruments orchestra, but the orchestra listing was missing from the program.

The first half of the program was devoted to an instrumental piece called Chacony, a couple of anthems and a fascinating Suite from Abdelazer, or The Moor’s Revenge. These are isolated movements to be played between scenes of a play. In the center is the text:

Lucinda is bewitching fair.
All o’er engaging is her Air.

In ev’ry Song Lucinda’s Fam’d.
She is the Queen of Love proclaimed.
To all she does a Flame impart
Expiring Victims feel her Dart.

Strephon for her has Love expressed,
Philander sighs too with the rest;
Wracked with Despair each one complains,
Unmov’d, untouch’t She all disdains.

This small aria was performed sweetly by Celine Ricci--all with the wonderful Purcellian expressive ornamentation.

The second half of the program was devoted to the most perfect piece of music ever composed, the small opera Dido and Aeneas.

As is the case with all music from the Baroque, these modern performers ornamented beyond the written score, especially in the repeats. My old-fashioned ears enjoyed it very much.

There is simply too much to write. The excellent chorus transformed into a group of hags for the witches choruses. Cynthia Sieden transformed magically from Belinda to first witch and back again. Celine Ricci sang both the second woman with her amazing aria “Oft she visits this lone mountain,” taken at a very fast clip, and the second witch. “She” in this aria refers to the goddess Diana. Jill Grove was an excellent, evil sorceress. William Berger was the most intense Aeneas I’ve ever heard.

This performance was semi-staged. A throne was provided for Dido, and people moved about, good guys stage right, bad guys stage left.

Susan Graham brought us Dido. I found her voice to be just right for the role, enough weight for the deep sadness of the character, enough lightness for the ornaments. The entire performance was a joy--lively, dramatic and fun.

[My protestations that I did not wish to be famous may be in vain. McGegan kept looking at me and smiling. He does seem to smile all the time, so maybe I imagined this. Or maybe he was just happy we stopped coughing.]

Halloween at Tower Cafe

2009-11-01T07:23:00.001-08:00

Rick's Uptown Market

2009-08-31T18:39:00.001-07:00

Street Art

2009-08-30T21:39:00.001-07:00

Cat at Cats

2009-08-30T21:30:00.001-07:00

I went to Cats at the Music Circus and the SPCA was there with what else? Cats.

Crows on the Grass

2009-07-21T10:02:00.001-07:00

Gertrude Stein preferred pigeons on the grass. Crows are not really this color, but they are a lot cuter this way. This is a saturated version of crows in McKinley Park.

Sacramento Budweiser

2009-07-21T09:49:00.001-07:00

I was fascinated by the idea that there was a special Budweiser for Sacramento.

Iceland

2009-07-21T09:10:00.001-07:00

This is an old photograph, but Iceland, a skating rink, still exists along Del Paso Blvd in north Sacramento.

Fashion on Freeport Blvd

2009-07-20T19:30:00.001-07:00

This young woman was walking by the Freeport Bakery on her way to Taylor's when I took her picture. If you look carefully in her glasses, you can see me and the parking lot. We liked the fact that her sun glasses matched her shirt. We also liked her hair and her hat.

33rd Street Bistro

2009-07-20T10:19:00.000-07:00

This charming young woman is the Sunday morning hostess at the 33rd Street Bistro. Go and you can ask her her name.

While you are there, try the huevos rancheros with poached eggs or the eggs Florentine.

Yesterday's Lunch

2009-07-18T07:23:00.001-07:00

We visited Crawdad's River Cantina on the Sacramento River off the Garden Highway yesterday. This sign is visible in the downstairs parking garage.

It was very hot, but we were still comfortable in the shade of the outdoor dining.

Boats went by.

I had the gumbo. I love gumbo. According to Wikipedia, "Gumbos can be broadly divided between the use of okra as a thickener, and recipes using filé powder in that role." This was the filé type with no okra and was excellent.

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Sometimes they have crawdads, also known as crayfish. I grew up saying crawdad, but crayfish or crawfish is what they say on the gulf coast.

Lest We Forget

2009-07-17T14:45:00.001-07:00

Let's not forget the fabulous neon that once graced the Rosemount Grill on Folsom Blvd at about 31st.

This building turned into Andiamos, a restaurant that is seriously missed, and is now being converted into some kind of British style grocery store.

Crocker Art Museum

2009-07-17T07:22:00.000-07:00

This is the Crocker Art Museum, located in the old Crocker mansion on O Street.

A giant annex dwarfing the old house is being constructed next door.

ART

2009-07-17T07:20:00.001-07:00

This wonderful neon art used to hang on the outside of the Crocker Art Museum, and has been rescued and moved to a building next door to the Old Spagetti Factory on J Street. It was taken down to make way for the new construction. It says "ART," sort of. This photograph doesn't give any idea of the size of the piece.

Maybe this gives an idea:

Maxfield Parrish

2009-07-15T19:09:00.000-07:00

At almost the last minute I managed to visit the Maxfield Parrish print exhibit at Crocker Art Museum. It closes this weekend.

He's famous for prints of gorgeous young people in magical backgrounds, like these:

Sometimes his prints were ads like these:

Later in his career his prints included the backgrounds without the young people. He had become old fashioned.

Luggage Sculpture

2009-07-13T09:38:00.000-07:00

This is the world famous lost luggage sculpture in terminal A of the Sacramento Airport.

Waiting in line at Starbucks

2009-07-13T08:37:00.000-07:00

Maybe I'll do a series on tattoos.

Poseidon

2009-07-12T16:34:00.000-07:00

He is a gift from the Greek government. Here is the original:

Paint Art

2009-07-12T12:10:00.001-07:00

The paint store is gone, but this advertisement for paint remains a Sacramento landmark on 16th street at Q.

Robin Fisher Recital

2009-07-01T08:15:00.000-07:00

On June 21 as part of the Crocker Art Museum Classical Concert Series Robin Fisher performed a recital with her husband John Cozza as the accompanist. Though the ballroom where Crocker programs were always given in the past is unaffected by the current construction, the series has moved to the CSUS recital hall.

The CSUS recital hall has improved from its original format. Originally the stage was so high above the audience that it seemed designed specifically to make it easier to look up the performers skirts. Now the front section is lower by several feet. To architects: originality in the design of musical venues is not required. For happy results just copy a successful venue.

Robin is a specialist in American song repertoire, such as Amy Beach, Samuel Barber, Ned Rorem, Leonard Bernstein and Ernest Charles, with special emphasis on John Duke. It is an invisible repertoire in the normal course of concert going. Robin's version of these songs was amusing and entertaining. She talked, too. We now know much more than we did before. Well done.

I enjoyed this text in particular:

Morning in Paris
Early in the morning of a lovely summer day,
As they lowered the bright awning
at the outdoor cafe
I was breakfasting on croissants and cafe au lait.

Of course it is Paris.

Robin is head of the voice department at CSUS.

We're not really doing journalism. This is Robin's mom.

Garden in Land Park

2009-06-13T11:55:00.000-07:00

This is Daisy Ma in her garden in Land Park.

The rocks in this garden were laid by the WPA during the great depression. The plants are provided by Daisy. Behind the yucca is a bunya bunya tree planted by Daisy years ago.

Over the years she has switched to drought tolerant species. She likes poppies and so do I.

To find this small garden drive south on Land Park Drive past the small pond with a fountain on the left and turn left into the parking area.

BIG NEWS!!

2009-05-26T17:17:00.000-07:00

The Sacramento Cemetery Rose Garden will shortly receive an international honor in New York City from the Great Rosarians of the World.

Byzantium in Rome

2009-05-17T12:46:00.000-07:00

On May 4 I attended a concert of Greek liturgical music in the Sacramento Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament. As a young person, I sang here for the Christmas midnight mass, and I remember the cathedral interior as dull and gray. You can see from the photograph that this has all changed. We were curious to see that they have put in a rood screen.

The concert is intended as a celebration of the millennial anniversary of the founding of the Abbey of Grottaferrata in the hills near Rome. Though part of the Roman Catholic Church, the monastery holds its services in the Byzantine Rite. That means that the music is all sung in Greek.

I am doing the best I can to interpret the program notes. Music in the Byzantine tradition was not part of my extensive education. The professor in charge of the group, Alexander Lingas, is currently a lecturer in music at City University in London. The group, Cappella Romana, is said to reside in the Pacific Northwest. This leads me to believe that none of them actually reside at the Abbey of Grottaferrata, but it does say that they have been allowed to perform there. It is necessary to read the fine print very carefully to figure out what is actually going on.

The music is transcribed from neumatic notation according to ancient Byzantine tradition. It doesn't sound at all like Gregorian chant. Of the chant styles that I have studied, it sometimes resembles melismatic organum. There are drones. There are ornaments in an eastern style. There are syllabic hymns. Is this making any sense? It was all quite new to me.

From the things I read it seems there has been an ongoing tradition of interpreting the Byzantine neumes, something that does not exist in the west. The present day performance of Gregorian chant is entirely conjectural and probably grossly oversimplified.

The Cappella Romana is entirely men with no falsettists, resulting in a dark, somber sound. I enjoyed very much the ornamental singing by the soloists. It's pleasing to realize that there are things one knows absolutely nothing about.

Sactorialist

2009-05-01T11:10:00.000-07:00

Apparently there is a home grown version of The Sartorialist called The Sactorialist. Well, people do wear clothes in Sacramento, too.

Camerata Capistrano Concert

2009-04-27T11:23:00.000-07:00

After two years in Sacrameno, I find that the best music is being made by Lorna Peters' group Camerata Capistrano. They are a Baroque ensemble of students from California State University, Sacramento.

Their most recent appearance was after evensong at All Saints Episcopal. There was a Bach concerto and a set of Concerti Grossi by Charles Avison (1709-1770)? Who? Dr. Peters explained that these were arrangements of sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti for soloists and string ensemble. This also explains the completely Baroque character of the pieces. Avison's dates would suggest the rococo.

The pieces were played in a spirited style with convincing virtuosity, especially by Charles Spruill IV.

They play without a conductor. It should be remembered that the first person who behaved like a modern conductor was Hector Berlioz. In the modern 21st century world famous conductors sometimes retreat to the harpsichord, and Baroque orchestras often include the theorboe, such as the one we had today. A theorboe is a long necked lute.

It was an exciting and completely enjoyable concert.

Cemetery Rose Garden

2009-04-26T12:09:00.000-07:00

In Sacramento along Broadway is a historic cemetery. Crockers and other early California pioneer families are buried here. Where once was bare dirt, now in amongst the tomb stones is a fabulous collection of old roses.

The garden was founded and for many years tended by these two ladies: Barbara Oliva and Jean Travis.

The garden has become well known over the years and attracts crowds to its annual open house in April.

The plants are watered and pruned, with the advice of rose experts, by teams provided by the city.

As the cemetery comes to look more and more like a garden, others have planted their own favorite flowers.

I used to walk here when the cemetery consisted of tombstones and bare dirt and crows. Care is taken to make sure the roses don't block the historical tombstones.

Dainty Figaro

2009-03-02T16:37:00.000-08:00

The Marriage of Figaro presented this week by the Sacramento Opera can only be described as dainty.

I counted 21 players in the dainty orchestra. With 2 trumpets, 2 horns, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 flutes, 2 bassoons, a piano and timpani (?) that leaves only 7 string players. Some parts were not doubled at all. Surprisingly, this seemed enough.

Tim Rolek, the conductor, says I am mistaken. "Actually we had 28 players - the doubled winds Mozart calls for plus strings at 54321, the number used at the Vienna premiere." I am assuming the other string players were hidden behind the edge of the pit. There did seem to be more people walking in and out than playing. Oh well.

I was amused by the secco recitative played in an exaggerated arpeggio style on the piano. I am easily amused.

The excellent set was also quite dainty, seeming to have been designed for a much smaller theater (Opera Hamilton, Ontario.)

I was most pleased by the Count of the not at all dainty Malcolm MacKenzie. He has a big beautiful baritone. All were good singers and enjoyable actors.

I also liked Robin Fisher, pictured above, as Susanna. I've talked to Robin, a member of the CSUS faculty, about the Sacramento Opera, and she would like to see more local singers.

Figaro never fails to make its effects. I always like to see Figaro discover his parents again. Our Cherubino fell into constant trouble with extraordinary cheerfulness, and at the end he made an elaborate gesture of kissing the Countess's hand, reminding those of us in the know that the Countess and Cherubino have a child together later in the story.

It's Spring

2009-02-17T20:34:00.000-08:00

One of the nice things about living in California is that Spring comes in February.

Neon

2009-01-24T20:42:00.000-08:00

This is a kind of two seater Ferris Wheel with neon decoration. The picture below shows it turning.

Fat tire beer. If you squint, the tires really look fat, see below.

Saturday Club

2009-01-19T01:37:00.000-08:00

I went to the Sacramento Saturday Club, an institution much like the Hell Fire Club, or something like that, only much more sedate. After trying out various nights, they have returned to meeting on Saturday. Many languages are spoken. I hunted down someone I could practice my German on and said silly things in German. My German is good only for silly things. Or perhaps it is I who am good only for silly things.

I made idiotic suggestions about Telemann reviving and Bach fading. Nowadays you are far more likely to hear the former than the latter.

Perhaps I'll join.

McKinley Park

2008-12-11T11:04:00.000-08:00

This is the park where I walk.

In with the usual mallards and geese is a flock of wood ducks.

Ginkgoes on the grass.

More Movie Theaters

2008-12-09T11:02:00.000-08:00

Busking at the Sacramento Airport

2008-11-29T11:01:00.000-08:00

Is it still neon?

2008-10-06T12:16:00.000-07:00

Is it still neon if no one ever turns it on? This was originally Sam's Hoffbrau but has gone through several incarnations since then.

Boat

2008-09-23T10:57:00.000-07:00

This neon of a boat is in West Sacramento.

Gunther's Ice Cream

2008-09-20T10:48:00.000-07:00

The ice cream and the arms move. The picture above shows all the positions of the arms and ice cream.

But see all the positions of the sign to get the full effect.

Save the Tower Theater

2008-09-19T10:41:00.000-07:00

The neon is old. Just the photograph is new. This is a very old sign that hangs on the building of the Tower Theater in Sacramento. It's from the era when there were records and films.

I wanted to try photographing neon with the new camera which has a lot of incomprehensible settings completely unrelated to normal camera settings. It takes a tripod, but you just keep fiddling until it looks the way you want.

In this photo her legs are lit up. I'll have to go back and see if more things light up.

Old Neons

2008-09-17T10:38:00.000-07:00

I have a friend who is an architect, and she told me an interesting story about why the most common figure in neon signs is the martini glass. Apparently it used to be illegal in California to say that a business was a bar. You couldn't call yourself the Brunelleschi Bar as you would in Florence, but you could display a martini glass with an olive in, something that any American would recognize.

I read that this sign is no longer on display and went on sale 2003-05-26. The life of a neon sign can be brief. I should photograph more.

This beauty used to adorn a bar on Broadway in Sacramento. Only the round window remains.

Looks like Hopper

2008-09-15T10:33:00.000-07:00

Try not to scream. This is my friend Jean sitting in the window--I know I asked her to look like that. She looks like someone in a Hopper painting.

This store in Sacramento no longer exists.

Pronouncing Golijov

2008-06-02T20:54:00.000-07:00

A gentleman from Argentina, the young conductor Daniel Canosa, informs me that Osvaldo Golijov, a fellow countryman, is properly pronounced with a [x] sound, like in noch or chanukah: goal-i-choff.

I met him at a party after a concert by Camerata California, a chamber ensemble in Sacramento. I enjoyed very much the repertoire they performed, especially Fern Hill by John Corigliano on a poem by Dylan Thomas.

When I was very young, I performed a recital with Betsy Collins as my accompanist. She is still playing and did an excellent set by Chopin on this concert. About 20 years ago we did the fourth of the Brahms Four Serious Songs together at a wedding. I didn't think this piece was suitable for a wedding, but my friend requested it, and I couldn't say no. Betsy didn't have a piano reduction for Lohengrin, otherwise known as the wedding march, so she played from an orchestral score.

Opera Theater

2008-05-16T12:55:00.000-07:00

I went last night to see a double bill at CSUS of the finale to Act II of Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro (1786) and Stephen Paulus's The Village Singer (1979), something I had never heard of before this.

The evening was conducted by Timm Rolek of the Sacramento Opera, the same guy that conducted Tosca earlier this month. I wasn't sure about the selection of the Mozart scene which started at the point where the Count opens the dressing room door and Susanna comes out instead of the expected Cherubino and proceeds to the end. There are a lot of parts, giving lots of students time to take part but no solos or opportunities to shine.

I notice that Rolek is doing Le Nozze di Figaro at the Sacramento Opera next year. Let's hope he gives the professional singers more musical attention and expressive space than he did the students. He seemed to be completely preoccupied with the small orchestra.

The singers were on their own but generally did fine. I especially liked the voice and presentation of Kathrine Bamfield as Susanna. Her voice has both the focused beauty and penetrating qualities that could take her as far as she wants to go. She's also cute. Buona fortuna.

The Village Singer is traditional modernism. The world has changed a lot since 1979.

A spinster, Candace Whitcomb, has been the paid soloist at her village church for 40 years, and her choir members are throwing her a surprise party. At the beginning they are playing musical chairs. When the party is over, Miss Whitcomb finds a photo album on the table with pictures of her 40 year tenure with the church. In the album she finds a letter telling her she has been fired and replaced by a much younger woman. Candace does not go gently. When the new soloist does her solo, Candace sings a solo of her own from next door, and Candace has a loud and penetrating voice.

The story ends tragically. Temper tantrums are not a good idea for the old. As she is dying, her replacement sings for her, and Candace's last words are that she is flat.

This small opera is an opportunity to star for the person who sings Candace Whitcomb, in our case Ariana Uriz. She was brilliant, even going so far as to fake the natural wobble of a woman in her sixties during her solo at the party. She has learned a big technique and showed it off to good effect. I also liked her acting. I loved her Candace Whitcomb.

Camerata Capistrano

2008-05-07T11:21:00.000-07:00

Camerata Capistrano is a student group at California State University, Sacramento led by Lorna Peters. I say led because she never conducts, apparently, though she did play harpsichord on one number. The students just gather and play. I heard her last year at Crocker Art Museum where she played an entire concert of French harpsichord music without including Francois Couperin.

This reminded me a little of Giardino Armonico where they stand around while they play instead of sitting. In the first half Holly Harrison played a viola concerto by Telemann--no jokes this time--and Bill Damian played a piccolo concerto by Vivaldi. This was a fun piece, and Bill is an excellent piccolo player.

At the end of intermission Dr. Peters said that when she was an undergraduate she was involved in a performance of Bach's St. Matthew Passion, and ever since she had wanted the opportunity to create this music. It's the kind of music that sticks with you.

I also took part in a performance of the Matthew Passion when I was a senior in college. It was life changing. Only a brief selection was presented here, but it was quite beautiful. They did the closing chorus, one of Bach's most beautiful.

Tosca

2008-05-03T11:29:00.000-07:00

I was fascinated by this production of Tosca in Sacramento and spent the third act obsessing over the lighting. In the program we are told that the action takes place close to midsummer on June 17, 1800. If it is dawn at the Castel Sant'Angelo and I am facing St. Peters which could be seen in the background, the sun will rise behind me and somewhat to the left, and not from the left front as seen here. Never mind. Non e importante.

The director created business for the minor characters that I've never seen before. The flunky who carries out Scarpia's orders appears at the execution, telegraphing that Tosca will be betrayed. The Marchessa Attavanti becomes a character in the drama. We see her planting the key under the statue, we see her slapped by Scarpia at the beginning of Act II, and we see her executed atop the Castel Sant'Angelo where she sings the shepherd music just before being strangled. This last bit isn't exactly obvious, but there is no credit for the shepherd role in the program, and there is one for the Marchessa Attavanti, someone usually only talked about. She was sung by Rebecca Plack.

The director, Mark Streshinsky, is the husband of our Tosca, Marie Plette. They live in the Bay Area. The program is full of information telling us that she prefers the role of Butterfly. Nevertheless, she is a fine full-voiced, appropriately melodramatic Tosca. I personally admire Tosca much more than Butterfly. Tosca loves, she believes, she acts, and fate brings her down.

Have I ever seen a better Scarpia, a more completely loathsome Scarpia than the Scarpia of Rod Nelman? His edgy, unpretty baritone is just right for this slimy portrayal. The audience enthusiastically booed him in the bows.

Dinyar Vania was our Mario. I believed him as a romantic hero and admired his beautiful voice. He should work on his legato. His voice slips out of the phrase often enough to be annoying. If he stopped doing this, he would be fabulous. He fell marvelously, as though he had taken Tosca's advice to heart.

Tosca jumped off the parapet downstage, something I've never seen.

Sacramento Philharmonic

2008-03-30T11:28:00.000-07:00

I went last night to hear the Sacramento Philharmonic because on the program was the "Four Last Songs" of Richard Strauss, a piece I try to hear as often as possible.

I didn't think the concert started too well with the suite from Ben Hur by Miklos Rozsa. If you are going to program this kind of cheesy movie music, you are going to have to enter into the appropriate cheesy spirit of the thing. The timpanist Stanley Lunetta, a percussion institution in Sacramento since I was a mere child, was doing his best to sound like a drum for galley slaves, but the others just couldn't capture the idea. I don't think I thought about the importance of the music in this movie before. And probably I never will again. This piece was conducted by Ming Luke, the assistant conductor.

Michael Morgan, the music director of the Philharmonic, resumed his post for the Strauss. These pieces must sweep, and I am happy to say Morgan and his orchestra accomplished this. The style seemed perfect to me.

The soprano, Talise Trevigne, used a score, especially in "Im Abendrot," and stood in a position where she could not see the conductor. It has long been my theory that looking at the conductor should not be necessary. You and the music need only to become one. This theory was developed during years of performing while practically blind without my glasses. It is the music you sing with, not the conductor. There was not the tiniest hint of disconnection in Ms Trevigne's lovely performance. Her voice is very beautiful, and her style is just right. She soared at all the right moments.

So who is Talise Trevigne? She trained in New York and is currently making her way around second tier opera companies in the US and England. She will be singing Gilda in Rigoletto this year in Dublin and Knoxville. Maybe we will see her again.

I skipped the Elgar in the second half.

Turn of the Screw

2008-02-27T11:25:00.000-08:00

If we only watch the action unfolding and don't read all that has been written about Benjamin Britten's The Turn of the Screw, presented by the Sacramento Opera, we can't be sure what has happened. A new governess has been hired to care for Miles and Flora, two children who now live in the country with a housekeeper. Their parents are dead and they are left in the charge of an indifferent uncle.

We see that others are there, too. The governess describes seeing a man with curly red hair, and the housekeeper recognizes that this is Peter Quint come back from the dead. Peter Quint is said to have "had his way" with the children and their former governess, also now dead. This is all that is said about sex. The rest is left to our imaginations and the actions of the actors on stage. Is the new governess merely being hysterical, or has Peter Quint come back from the dead to seduce the children?

The atmosphere of creepiness and hysteria is vividly created in the fascinating score. Whatever is actually happening, we feel the same dread the governess feels.

There is reason to believe that Britten identified with the boy Miles, sung well by the boy soprano Brooks Fisher. Miles is portrayed in a virtuosic performance on the piano such as Britten himself might have shown as a child. Brooks Fisher did an excellent job of seeming to play the piano. Bravo.

The production, adapted from the New York City Opera, showed bare branches extending into the sky to create the feeling of rural isolation. There is a tower where Peter Quint ascends and descends. Pieces of furniture appear to create the scene.

It is the creepiest opera I've ever seen. The production, directed by Chuck Hudson, emphasizes the pervasive sexuality of the story.

Emily Pulley sang the governess with style and intensity. Her credits include Mimi at Covent Garden. This character carries the drama both vocally and physically, and she was well up to the task.

I have a relationship with Thomas Glenn, the lyric tenor who sang the Prologue and Peter Quint. I reviewed his Schwabacher Debut Recital for San Francisco Classical Voice. I recall comparing his voice to Peter Pears, the creator of the Peter Quint role. Glenn has acquired a bit of weight in his voice since then. I also advised him to work on his coloratura technique, and am pleased to see he has some Mozart, Bellini and Donizetti in his credits now. He is a fine singer and actor. I like him even more than I did before and hope he has much success.

My friends and I discussed the use of microphones in this production. The boy soprano needed help and cannot be faulted for getting it. There was some amplification of the off stage voices to enhance the eeriness. Is that all? We all worry that opera is going to turn into Broadway where any means possible is used to provide us with blaring orchestras and distorted voices. This group managed to keep any possible distortion well under control.

I found the general quality of this performance to be very high and definitely deserving of more attention than the half house it received.

Still Life with Cappuccino

2008-02-26T10:58:00.000-08:00

Lovely relatively authentic cappuccino available at the downtown Java City.

Swanson Cleaners

2007-07-12T11:34:00.000-07:00

Indoor Neon

2007-07-12T11:01:00.000-07:00

Steve Kaltenbach

2007-06-19T11:46:00.000-07:00

Sacramento has a sculpture of Arneson. Here he is in color.

And here is his Sacramento sculpture, actually a work by Steve Kaltenbach. That's his face on the right end in case you missed it.

He likes to do himself, as you can see from the first picture. This undoubtedly saves on model fees.

Here is the other half of the two part fountain.

This one appears to be a reclining Buddha with the head stacked on top. The overall effect is of a multicultural ruin. It isn't too bad. Click on the three lower pictures and they will blow up for you. Maybe.

I like this face.

Adler Fellows do Carmen in Davis

2007-05-07T16:53:00.000-07:00

Names to watch out for:

Noah Stewart, a tall, gorgeous black man with a beautiful lyric tenor voice. He sang Don Jose.

Kendall Gladen has a dark, rich mezzo-soprano sound you may encounter again. She was Carmen.

This is a repost. I have added photographs of them in later productions of Carmen.

Harpsicord

2007-04-22T11:13:00.000-07:00

I went to Crocker Art Museum on O Street today to see the Ansel Adams exhibit, and wandered into a harpsichord recital. I don’t think I’ve ever been to a harpsichord recital before. The harpsichordist was Lorna Peters, a faculty member at CSUS, the state university here in Sacramento. The program was entirely made up of French Baroque and Rococo harpsichord pieces. And there was not one thing by François Couperin the Great, the only French harpsichordist to still be in my memory. From my perspective it would hardly be possible to imagine anything so esoteric.

To amuse myself I tried to hear stylistic differences in the different generations from Louis Couperin, Henry Purcell and Jean-Henri d’Anglebert in the middle Baroque (Purcell is an English French harpsichordist, if you know what I mean) and Claude-Bénigne Balbastre in the Rococo to classical. This last piece showed the classical obsession with tonality.

Harpsichord music is about ornamentation in every period, apparently. They probably all composed French suites, but in the Rococo other types of descriptive pieces arose, called Pieces de Clavecin. The characteristic rhythm of the sarabande is the same as the opening measure of “Bist du bei mir.”

It was something to do to keep my brain active in these rather monotonous pieces in the monotonous tone quality of the harpsichord. There’s only so much you can do with a harpsichord. She played well.

Before the recital she tuned the harpsichord for over half an hour and complained about people talking. One would have to be able to tune the harpsichord.

Tower Records

2006-10-08T11:09:00.000-07:00

I'm from Sacramento where Tower Records began. It was in the same building as the Tower Theater along Broadway, all named after a tiny tower over the theater entrance. I remember driving down there from my home in Carmichael to buy an LP of Judy Garland's A Star is Born. In my singing book I describe going into the huge Tower Records that used to be in Picadilly Circus and seeing Cecilia Bartoli records everywhere. Now there is only a much smaller Virgin store.

This is the Tower Theater on Broadway in Sacramento, the origin for the name of the Tower Records chain. The Records neon probably designated the original location for Tower Records in the same building.

The last time I went to Sacramento the original store was still there. Tower has gone into liquidation, and all will soon be gone, killed by digital media and bad management. A few seconds of silence, please.