Portland's only full-time classical music critic hasn't attended or reviewed his home team major orchestra in almost six months, hasn't written a substantive "think piece" for the paper in at least that long (by my estimate), and has gifted away most plum reviewing assignments to his freelance stringer, James McQuillen, for most of the winter and spring.
I've had a number of conversations with musicians and music administrators across the city, and while none of them will go on record with me (yet) about this, the general question is this: is Stabler staying or going? And if he's staying, why has his critical output slowed to a trickle? (Stabler says he's busy helping Barry Johnson with various arts editing tasks. I don't fully buy that)
Charles Noble weighs in this morning on his blog with some thoughts, writing:
I’d be tempted to say that it sounds like we might lose our classical music critic sooner rather than later, too... has Stabler just burned out on covering a growing music scene?... he has, until lately, done an excellent job of writing articles that keep the arts front and center in the consciousness of the city.
If his review today of Portland Opera's "Aida" is any indication, Stabler is indeed phoning it in. Or at least very tired.
He makes two big gaffes (the same one really, just twice) that are alarming: he credits the production to stage director Sandra Bernhard and the choreography to Penelope Freeh. Wrong.
Operagoers know how corny "Aida" can be. All those bare chests and clutching of swords overhead... But this time, stage director Sandra Bernhard kept the focus on character, not spectacle. The production, which opened Friday in Keller Auditorium, is one of the most pared-back "Aida's" you'll see.
... The steps focused the action nicely and gave the dancers vertical as well as horizontal space in Penelope Freeh's engaging choreography.
Surely in his long distinguished tenure as a music critic, Stabler has learned about the opera co-production model, and about the distinct and different roles that a stage director and choreographer play in re-mounting an old production (as opposed to creating a new production).
It's simply incorrect for Stabler to write, as he does, that "stage director Sandra Bernhard kept the focus on character, not specatcle." Why? Because it's not her production! Director Colin Graham created and directed this original production back in 1998 for Minnesota Opera, and it's been touring North America ever since. Bernhard merely stepped in to direct the action and movement and - if she's really doing her job well - to stay as faithful to Graham's intent as possible while injecting the moment-to-moment work with new energy.
Same with the choreographer - the movement does not, in fact, belong to Penelope Freeh, as Stabler writes. It was created, years ago, by James Sewell. Freeh is merely recreating Sewell's dances. I'd think this is pretty simple stuff to fact-check, yes?
...Meanwhile, over at the Portland Tribune (the what? exactly), one Randall Barton weighs in with an amusingly awful "Aida" review:
The unseen star of this production is the powerful orchestra led by Croatian conductor Vjekoslav Sutej of the Zagreb Academy of Music. With only his head and hands projecting above the orchestra pit, Sutej nonetheless projects terrific stage presence. The audience chuckles as he applauds with his baton an aria by Lisa Daltirus in the title role.
Does the audience chuckle, Randall? Really? I don't remember much chuckling at Friday night's performance (maybe YOU chuckled and thought that was worth noting). And why call Sutej out for this only once? He did it at least three times in the course of the performance by my count - and anyway it's standard practice for conductors to applaud star singers after a mega aria, so why is it special for Sutej and worth any ink on the page?
Moving ever onward...
Daltirus’ Aida is a stirring thing to witness. This soprano has star quality — she has been compared to Leontyne Price — and commands the stage, not a small feat with so many voices and so much movement.
... but WHO has compared Daltirus to La Price?, and btw are you kidding? There's simply no comparison from Daltirus to Price. None. Oh and PS, Daltirus has not appeared - even in minor roles - at the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera or Lyric Opera of Chicago, arguably our country's three most important opera houses, so her star can't be that large.
Mezzo-soprano Luretta Bybee makes a delicious villain as Princess Amneris, the kind you love to hate. Bybee’s regal bearing and wonderful facial expressions hold your gaze. Her voice got stronger as the show progressed, and by curtain call, she might justifiably have shared bows, center stage, with Daltirus.
Oh but wait. Bybee got sick and dropped out of this production a week before it opened. Her name appeared no where in the physical program. Did she phone this special performance in from New York? Amazing. (yeah, Leann Sandel-Pantaleo was flown in on short notice and performed the role, fact-check!)
Opera, like the symphony, is one of the few remaining experiences that asks an audience to silence their cell phones and allow the brain cells hours of uninterrupted stimulation.
Oh sigh. So an opera or symphony performance are "one of the few remaining experiences that asks an audience to silence their cell phones and allow the brain cells hours of uninterrupted stimulation." (stumble of a sentence, my friend!) So that experience does not extend to, say, chamber music or chamber pop? What about choral programs or organ recitals? Films of any type? Live theatre?
OK, Barton, I get it. This isn't your beat, opera's not your "thing." And shouldn't we, in light of Stabler's critical reticence, be grateful for any classical music criticism, however average?
4 comments:
Reviewing the reviewers. I LOVE it!
Stabler's been phoning it in for far too long. McQuillen's a good writer but dull.
I don't always agree with what you have to say here, but I think in this case you're right on. Anxious to hear what comes next. And hasn't Stabler been at the Oregonian for like 30 years or something?
"...WHO has compared Daltirus to La Price?"
David Patrick Stearns, the Philadelphia Inquirer's music critic, for one, but there have been others. A few of these are even included on her Wolf-Piper Artists International bio.
A friend in Seattle who recently completed a profile of Daltirus for Opera News asked her to comment on Price comparison, and she said she finds it rather odd. I certainly don't hear any similarities between the two.
Touche, Bob.
But, like you and Daltirus herself both say, I just don't hear the comparison. And it's worrisome to think that the Portland Trib writer was just grasping at straws to compare an African-American female singer associated with the role today (Daltirus) to one of the role's greatest interpreters of all time (Price), also an African-American artist.
Their voices and temperaments couldn't be more different.
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