It all started at the end of the 60's when Roland Petit was urged by his daughter to listen to a Pink Floyd LP. Petit loved the music and flew to London in order to dine with the band and propose them the creation of a Ballet. The group was so thrilled that they even suggested to play live. The Floyd performed a handful of concerts accompanying the Roland Petit Ballet (Marseille, 22-26 November 1972, 13-14 January and 3-4 February 1973 and 15– 28 January 1973).
Roland Petit on how it started
The 1972 debut in Marseille famously united academic dance with live music by Pink Floyd. This true rock ballet could only have been imagined by Roland Petit’s open mind, which translated the energy of the music in a kaleidoscopic flooding of light and laser effects. Over time the four initial movements have developed and in its more elaborate structure the ballet has been performed the world over. The Ballet consists of 18 sections using 12 pieces from the albums "The Wall," "The Dark Side of the Moon," "Meddle," "Relics", "Obscured by Clouds," and "Is Anybody Out There?"
Last seen at La Scala in June/July 2009, the Pink Floyd Ballet, featured no others than étoiles Svetlana Zakharova and Massimo Murru. The athenian reprise will take place at the Athens Megaron for just 4 performances between 12 and 15 April 2010. Very few tickets left (if any).
On March 13, at the Trianti Hall of the Athens Megaron, we had the opportunity of enjoying a single performance of Handel’s well known but quite rarely presented oratorio “Theodora” (HWV 68), in a semi/fully (!) staged production, directed by Paris Mexis and conducted by Greece’s new wunderkind George Petrou and his fine and acclaimed equipe of singers.
Mo. Petrou was not conducting “his” Orchestra of Patras, but Megaron’s own “Camerata”, in one of its first attempts to play period instruments (and it seems that this good ensemble will continue to invest in this direction).
The event had created high expectations, especially after the Petrou-Antonacci-Kunde triumphant performances of Gluck’s Alceste in October 2009 and the new and truly impressive recording of Giulio Cesare that MDG has recently released to international acclaim.
For the occasion, Petrou has asked 3 of the singers of this recording to tackle the 3 principal parts of Theodora: Italian soprano Emanuela Galli, Swedish mezzo Kristina Hammarström (listen to Hammarström in "Quel torrente che cade" from the Cesare recording) and Greek mezzo Irini Karaianni took up the parts of christian martyr Theodora, her lover, the brave Didymus, and Theodora’s companion Irene respectively. The cast also included tenor Jason Darnell as the passive Septimius and baritone Yannis Yanissis as the cruel roman governor Valens. The Mixed Municipal Chorus of Athens, under the direction of Stavros Beris, took up the choral parts.
To be honest, the oratorio, although much appreciated by expert Haendelians, is not one of my favourites, although its english libretto’s plot (the story of an antiochian christian aristocratic girl who, because of her faith, is condemned to serve as a prostitute in the army barracks of the cruel governor and who is joined in martyrdom by her, equally christian, lover, the soldier Didymus) is quite interesting and not as religious as one might expect. The characters, although as stereotyped as baroque conventions command, are remarkably etched, the many arias and the few duets and choruses have variety and pathos of operatic nature and the music is consistently inspiring, if not consistently overwhelming.
We have been told that the production, as the whole country indeed, had suffered very severe budget limitations. This is the reason that keeps me from deriding completely the mise en scène, uninspired, poorly made and quite ridiculous in conception and effects. I am certainly NOT asking for “traditional” approaches, but to be honest, I can’t help laughing when I see the christian bigot Theodora in a silky negligée and a breathtaking black collant, in her cell, waiting to be raped by the whole guard, while her friends are dressed as balkanic housemaids and the roman soldiers in full dinner jacket, using, instead of swords, their ...podiums as weapons. Passons. Suffice to say that the visual aspect, including the puerile projections on a screen, was NOT as intrusive as to prevent us from fully enjoying the musical treasures of the night. And there were many.
The leading female trio was, to put it mildly, EXCELLENT AND ADMIRABLE, throughout. I will not highlight this or that, her or her: all three have voices, techniques, trills and dramatic instincts to please even the most demanding listener and they were, truly, members of an obviously well trained and inspiring ensemble. It was obvious that Petrou and his team are HARD workers and the triumphs and prizes they collect worldwide are not stolen. The men were not really on the same level, although Darnell’s Septimius was touching and quite accurate and Yanissis, lacking a truly convincing voice in this repertoire, had the cruelty and the fugue that his part was asking from him.
Petrou’s conducting, as always, was sharp, to the point, inspiring and coherent, especially in the more serene and ecstatic parts. The dramatic impetus of his execution left nothing unvarnished or sketchy. Unfortunately, same can’t be said of the Orchestra's skills: Was it the “novelty” of the period instrument use? Was it the lack of rehearsals? Especially in the first part, before the first intermission, they often sounded untuned, with unpleasant sounds coming from the winds, lacking in precision and concentration. Very luckily, the progress made during the performance was audible and they ended the performance much better than they had started it. I can’t praise them enough for the courageous risk (the period instrument tournant) they are ready to take and I am pretty sure that, under Petrou’s expert command, they can improve greatly. We are eagerly anticipating their next collaboration, for the Athens Festivalwhere they are to stun us with the very rare Haydn’s “L' Isola Disabitata”, on June the 15th (soloists to be announced later).
All in all, a very enjoyable night, with 3 exquisite singers in full bloom and handelian glory and a genial maestro in full command. Had the orchestra been better and had the stage direction been less puerile (but let’s not forget that there wasn’t much money available) this single (WHY single? The house was full and the audience more than happy!) performance could have been truly unforgettable.
This will arguably be one of the Highlights of the Athens 2010 concert season. The Budapest Festival Orchestra, the Chorus of the Greek Radio/Television and 4 gifted singers all under the inspired baton of Iván Fischer offered a very satisfying reading of Beethoven's 6th and an electrifying 9th.
Myrtó Papatanasiu
The concert that sold-out within the first few hours of sale (many invitations were given to sponsors though) had created high expectations and quite a queue of people begging for a ticket outside the Athens Megaron prior to the concert.
And while music-lovers were left outside waiting for tickets, more than 100 seats were left empty by the sponsors who had obviously better things to do.
Kelley O'Connor and Kristinn Sigmundsson
Beethoven's 9th meant the return to Athens of Greek soprano Myrtó Papatanasiu after a long period of absence from homeland and the debut of mezzo-soprano Kelley O' Connor (who has recorded the 9th for DG under Franz Welser-Möst), tenor Jorma Silvasti (who we love since his fantastic Laca in Janáček's Jenufa a few years ago in Vienna - a role he has also sung at the ROH and the Met) and bass Kristinn Sigmundsson.
Jorma Silvasti
And even if all 4 soloists were truly remarkable, it was Fischer, the menace, who should receive the highest of praises for this memorable experience – a brilliant reading of this colossal work, not in terms of cheap pyrotechnics and show-off but having in mind a pop approach of the masterpiece, as pop as Beethoven, as pop as his 9th: with the virtues of a rock-star, Fischer whipped up the audience’s enthusiasm who compensated the maestro and his fab orchestra with a thunderous applause.
Myrtó Papatanasiu and her fan club - backstage:
~.~
Myrtó Papatanasiu wearing Alberta Ferretti and posing for parsifal's ~.~
Anna Tomowa-Sintow and Agnes Baltsa meet Werner Krenn and José Van Dam and with the Berliner Philharmoniker under the direction of Herbert Von Karajan create one of the most emblematic recordings of Mozart's 626.
Salzburg 1989, Anna Tomowa-Sintow and Agnes Baltsa meet Gösta Winbergh and Ferruccio Furlanetto and this time sing Mozart's Requiem in the Memory of Herbert Von Karajan under Riccardo Muti.
Athens, Megaron, 17 March 2010 35 years after the DG recording and 21 years after the Salzburg Requiem the two Grandi Dive meet again on stage, in order to sing Mozart's Requiem for their friend, Christos Lambrakis, who passed away in December 2009.
The In Memoriam Gala was organized for friends, partners, associates, employees of the late Lambrakis and was not open to the public - a shame, as there were many empty seats despite the big number of music-lovers that were calling the Athens Megaron desperate for a ticket.
Greek pride, star-violinist Leonidas Kavakos left us breathless with his out-of-this-world virtuosity in Beethoven's Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61 and said his goodbye to Christos Lambrakis with the Andante from Bach's Sonata no.2 - offered to the audience as an encore -probably the most glorious minutes of the whole night.
Second part of the concert and the great Divas step on stage to meet tenor Mario Zeffiri and bass Christophoros Stamboglis. Anna Tomowa-Sintow, 69 years old, ("Toscanini never had access to a voice like hers - she can hit C sharp at nine o'clock in the morning" HV Karajan) sang with pathos but in obvious vocal decline while Agnes Baltsa was sensational in a piece she has not sung in 21 years.
Zeffiri and Stamboglis at the peak of their careers and with their vocal powers intact, contributed to the vocal pleasure. Unfortunately the Camerata Orchestra was miles away from Mozart's divine partitura and there were moments trully embarassing for both the orchestra and the conductor.
Photo album (with Agnes Baltsa looking like a million $$$)
Roland Petit on how it started
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