I Was There!: One Place in New England

The Housatonic at Stockbridge

...though I suppose Ives wasn't forced to listen to the traffic on Route 102 whizzing by.

A delightful weekend was spent in the Berkshires, prompted by the joyous occasion of Messrs W- and M-'s wedding. Shout-outs to Mme G- for the generous hospitality (LOAF—booyah! and RAZER is indeed valid, btw) and to Sra. of the F- for the cushioned seat at Levine's opening concert with the BSO at Tanglewood.

Though my redeye landed in Hartford at 10am, longtime TSR readers will likely not be surprised by my first stop:

For those unfamiliar with the legendary Berkshire Record Outlet, their inventory consists of new copies of close-outs and deletions from classical labels; in other words, the record labels don't even want these albums anymore. But for 3 bucks a piece, I'll take them off their hands! I found a seemingly unlimited number of CRI releases (poor CRI) for the taking, including:

- Phil Kline's Glow in the Dark (boombox orchestras—fun!)
- Urban Diva by Dora Ohrenstein, singing pieces by Scott Johnson and Ben Johnston, among others
- An Emergency Music sampler, featuring a range of music by post-[whatever] composers like Eve Beglarian, Ken Valitsky, Tina Davidson, Pamela Z
- Two Rzewski vocal pieces sung by Carol Plantamura with Rzewski at the piano

Plus three CDs of the Danish National Chamber Choir on Chandos:
- Masters of 20th Century A Cappella, with Poulenc's fantabulous Figure humaine (though this recording of Liberté turned out to be disappointing)
- Scandinavian Contemporary A Cappella
- Schnittke's Choir Concerto

And a Purcell disc by soprano Christine Brandes and some more contemporary a cappella vocal music sung by Quink, a Dutch vocal quintet.

(One sign that you buy too many records? When you discover that you have a second copy of the Schnittke Choir Concerto sitting at home. D'oh.)

As for Mahler 8, reviews here (Dyer) and here (Kozinn). A "mighty and thrilling noise" it certainly was. Alex Ross called the Boston performance of the same work "thunderous," and the word applies here equally. Levine got an outrageous ovation from the moment he stepped on the stage; the reception after the piece concluded was even more grandiose. The band played with vigor, and despite occasional tuning and ensemble issues and a truly unsettling 1st trumpet performance, the audience responded with similar energy. It was an event, a happening, and you know what? It was fun. An orchestral concert was fun. Huzzahs for Levine, indeed.

Absolutely nothing against Yvonne Naef, but it really is a bummer that Lorraine bowed out. I sure would have liked to hear her sing those bits. John Relyea rocks—how is it possible that when the orchestra's blasting and 6 other soloists are bellowing, you can hear the bass cut through? Also astonishing was Susan Neves, who (I kid you not) drowned out Deborah Voigt much of the time with her laser-like focus. La Voigt sounded lovely when I could hear her, but mostly I was in awe of her much-publicized thinness, her Red Dress of Fabulousness, and especially her spray-on tan; she looked like a giant piece of toffee next to all the pasty folks around her. Heidi Grant Murphy, who was assigned the floaty bit, got stuck in the rafters above the stage behind the acoustic panels, so I literally never saw her head when she was singing.

For their part, the choir sounded exceptional in Part I, sopranos especially. Energized, excited, confident, and performing entirely from memory! Part II was somewhat less successful—not enough portent in the "Waldung" bit at the beginning, and (sorry, guys) no audible low bass sound at all in the hushed Alles vergaengliche section at the end—but all in all it was a commendable, exciting performance.

Confidential to Mme G- and Mlle S-: Wonderful to spend time with you both again at the famed K- Près du Lac. Has it really been almost a decade since we heard Daphnis on the lawn?

Comments

[Heather]

Skin turning green me says, "I must must must hear the Rzewski!" Don't let me down M.C-

[Robert Gable]

Wow, I can't believe you've been there. Oh, the Ives thing is cool too...

[M. C-]

It occurred to me as I was driving away that I should have photographed the inside. I suspect the whole experience is quite different from what you would expect, looking at their catalog. The retail room is actually very small, with the big warehouse stockroom visible through a door and a window. You can just poke around in the bins, like I did, or you can show up with your order and have everything pulled while you wait. It's very unassuming.

Haven't gotten around to listening to the Rzewski yet, and am meanwhile already grossly covetous of the 8th blackbird release, fred. reports soon... (This disc has a setting of the beginning of the Declaration of Independence! That's cool, yo.)