Oregon Symphony and Portland Symphonic Choir deliver a fine Mozart Requiem

Stephen Zopfi

Monday night, April 10, saw the final OSO performance of the Mozart Requiem by a Stephen Zopfi-trained Portland Symphonic Choir, as he has announced his retirement from the PSC as of the end of this season. Guest conductor Jean-Marie Zeitouni also led the group in An arrangement of Purcell's Chacony in G-minor, and Stravinsky's Symphony in Three Movements.

The Chacony, arranged by Joby Talbott, was a fascinating beginning. It was lovely and haunting, presaging the Mozart in its ominous glory. The copious use of bells, including bowed crotales, lent a  slightly cacophonous atmosphere to the piece, as dissonances held and then suddenly dissipated.

The first movement of the Stravinsky featured excellent, often subtle but important work for for the piano, following a sort of monstrous plodding opening. The OSO rendered this work as peripatetic and delightfully strange. Stravinsky must have loved the bassoon considering all the tasty arts he wrote for it over the years, and the OSO bassoonists did not disappoint.  Zeitouni guided the orchestra through difficult shoals in this piece, showing himself to be a capable leader.

As is Zopfi's wont, the PSC sang Mozart's iconic Requiem in D Minor using Germanicized Latin, different in many respects from the usual Church Latin, but the correct choice for this performance. There were balance problems with the choir and orchestra initially, with the sopranos and altos sublimated to the orchestra, but these issues were shortly remedied. Soprano soloist Katie Van Kooten set the standard early, scything through the thick orchestral texture without over-delivery.

By the Kyrie, the balance problems with choir and orchestra were largely resolved, and it was full and forceful.  The Dies Irae featured marvelous diction from the chorus (as did the whole work by and large).  Mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke wowed during the Tuba Mirum, and the Rex Tremendae featured a delicious, knock-you-out of your seat 'Rex!' one of many features showing just how well the PSC knows this work.

The soloists, all fine singers individually, left something to be desired by way of ensemble performance. Van Kooten sometimes overpowered the other voices, but really left me wishing that the others could have stepped up to her level of sound production, as she was wonderful to hear. Nevertheless, balance and blend was sometimes lost.

The Confutatis and the Lacrimosa must surely be among the most satisfying choral movements ever, both in terms of performing them and listening to them, and the PSC thrived in this moment. The sopranos and altos execution of sighing, weeping motives, the bass and tenors thundering out the fearful dream of hellfire--the most anticipated moments of the evening lived up to their centuries-old hype and were everything a listener could wish for.

The Requiem shone as a collection of discrete movements, and because of the quality of the movements (obviously mostly because of Mozart but Levin's gold-standard completion should not be forgotten) this was not a bad thing to hear; quite the opposite.  Somehow, emotionally it didn't pull fully together as a cohesive whole; given the quality of sound from both choir and orchestra it felt as though Zeitouni did not quite get it done as he did the first half of the evening, and ensemble problems from the soloists did not help.

As a final note, Stephen Zopfi's contribution to Portland's choral community, and arts community as a whole, cannot be underestimated. The PSC has more performances of their own this season, but too often the work of a choral conductor is overlooked when the baton is handed to an orchestral conductor who will be leading the group in concert. Having sung under Stephen for a number of years in the PSC, I can say unreservedly that Portland audiences will miss the work of this brilliant, hard-working and extremely knowledgeable musician in the years to come. Adieu, maestro.

Almost enough grim in Seattle Opera's Hansel and Gretel

Sasha Cooke and Ashley Emerson. Photo by Philip Newton

When thinking of an opera that suits the Halloween season, Humperdinck's Hansel and Gretel is a natural fit. Profound juxtapositions abound: the harvest season and the coming scarcity of winter, the gaiety of childhood under the specter of poverty, hunger when there is so much food nearby. Seattle Opera's performance at McCaw Hall on October 22 began with great promise, but ultimately the production yielded a mixed bag in terms of interpretation and overall effectiveness.

The musical performances were wonderful. Sasha Cooke as Hansel was especially arresting vocally--her delivery was rich and profound--a real pleasure to hear. Ashley Emerson joined as Gretel, and between the two they were extremely convincing as children--at times playful, bratty, unreasonably frenetic, strangely calm. There was no 'buy-in' to them as children--it simply felt natural. Marcy Stonikas as Gertrude imparted a sense of verismo as to the grinding effect of poverty--blinding anger and crushing weight were evident in her portrayal, as was ecstatic joy at the bounty of food that Peter brings home.  Mark Walters as Peter was excellent as well--his rolling, easy baritone formed the foundation of the effable father, and yet when he began singing about stories of the witch, he brought out the most in Humperdinck's score, reveling in the sense of creeping menace--infectious, inviting somehow.

Marcy Stonikas. Photo by Jacob Lucas

It was the non-delivery on this promise of menace that rendered the production less poignant than it otherwise could have been. Barbara de Limburg's sets right from the start pointed to something that could be special; giant images of duct-tape over a rag-tag curtain, the house an immense, ramshackle cardboard box with falling down walls--unflinching images of severe shortage and its effect on people's lives pointed toward a profound interpretation.  The sets continued to impress: the forest, tumbledown and barren of leaf or green, fit with the image of sparsity, and when coupled with the imperceptible creep of twilight, the children huddling in a pool of light with the darkling woods just behind, it set up for what should have been the fulfillment of the promise of a dark and disturbing happening.

John Easterlin as The Witch did a fine job within the confines of the production. His cackle was baudy and grating, and he warmed into the humor of the role as the final act moved on, and as the action moved toward its conclusion he did look disturbing--bald and frowzy and uncomfortable to look at. But somehow it never felt as if the children were really in peril--the candy house was imaginative, looking as though it were made of shelves of goodies from a box store with every sweet and soda imaginable. But it was confusing as to where the oven was--difficult to figure out why the witch kept climbing to the top of the house, and all the action happened outside of the house, which was really just a large object on stage, so it was only just before the witch was pushed into the oven that it became apparent where it was.

The final set, while eye-catching, was confusing in terms of the action, and the the witch  was portrayed as nonsensical and slapstick without enough believable predatory intent. That coupled with the sense that the children in the finale were essentially not scared (or not scared enough) of the witch led to the let-up on the promise of a dark ending--and make no mistake, a child forced into burning alive an evil witch in order to avoid being cannibalized is a dark ending--yet somehow by the end it just didn't feel that way.