CD Review: Gertrude McFuzz and The Polar Express

One of the delights of being considered a member of the music press is receiving advance copies of new recordings in the hope that I'll write about them. Such is the case with a new recording of Rob Kapilow's settings of Dr. Seuss's Gertrude McFuzz and Chris von Allsburg's story The Polar Express. Both pieces are favorites in the "family music" repertoire for young people's concerts, and it's a delight to hear them both and write about the performances on this CD.

The Boston Globe calls these pieces “The most popular ‘family music’ since Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf and Britten’s Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra".' The Star Ledger (Newark, NJ) raves about Kapilow's music:

Every time you turn around, Kapilow is pulling another rabbit out of another hat.... There’s so much going on that our intrepid little concert-goers have no time to get bored.... The music never loses its atmosphere of slam-bam zaniness. Musically, the score stands up marvelously well — it’s clever and bright, there’s never a dull moment....

Mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard sings the story of Gertrude McFuzz, a clever young bird who wants more feathers to become more beautiful. She learns beauty comes at a price, and eventually regains her former form in order to be able to fly. This piece is full of fun, and easily accessible to young listeners.

Baritone Nathan Gunn sings The Polar Express, the story of a young boy who learns there actually is a Santa Claus by taking a trip on the Polar Express, a train to the North Pole. This is the longer of the two pieces, full of descriptive language about the journey and what the boy finds at the end of it. On hearing the story, one's mind is full of beautiful images of snow and magic and joy.

Both singers are very accomplished in the opera world. They both sing these pieces with great love and care to phrasing and text, and there didn't seem to be a single word I couldn't understand. That is great praise for any singer, in my book!

I think this CD would be a great holiday gift for any child who loves a good story, who loves singing, or who loves fun. I recommend it highly.

We bloggers have a motto: Chacun à son goût

On Sunday, October 26, I had the pleasure of seeing Syracuse Opera's production of Die Fledermaus, the opening production of their 40th season. Die Fledermaus has long been one of my favorite shows, and I think Syracuse did a lovely job with it. The story centers around an elaborate practical joke by Dr. Falke at the expense of his friend Eisenstein, in retribution for Eisenstein's earlier joke on Falke. There are many concealed identities, a lot of champagne, and an annoying tenor. If I tried to explain more, it would just be confusing.

Michael Mayes
Courtesy ADA-Artists.com

The excellent cast was the strongest component of this production, and I haven't a single complaint about any of the singing. Baritone Michael Mayes, whom I saw and loved in Madison Opera's Dead Man Walking last spring, was outstanding as Eisenstein, a role that couldn't be more different from Joseph De Rocher. His singing was strong and polished, and he seemed to relish every opportunity to be funny. His high voice made me wish I'd seen his Rigoletto last season, and any other Verdi baritone roles he has on offer. Cindy Sadler was an impressive Orlofsky, deftly handling the vocal challenges and also enjoying the comedy. Usually Orlofsky is sung by a lyric mezzo, but Ms. Sadler lists quite a few dramatic mezzo roles in her bio, so she deserves kudos for negotiating the high tessitura of the role. I hope to see and hear more of her. Katrina Thurman was a feisty Adele, and Jennifer Goode Cooper was a lovely Rosalinde. Neal Ferriera was a delightfully self-absorbed and clueless Alfred, the aforementioned annoying tenor.

Cindy Sadler
Photo:  Richard Blinkoff

Under the capable baton of Artistic Director Douglas Kinney Frost, the Central New York orchestra Symphoria played the score and the interpolated Strauss concert pieces delightfully. The Syracuse Opera Chorus clearly enjoyed this show, and sang well, although I can't help but wonder how much better it would have been had the chorus been twice as large.

The new English version by Jerald Schwiebert was quite a welcome change to some of the deadly dull or painful dialogue and lyrics we sometimes hear, and it tightened up the story and the action considerably. (The title of this blog post is a reference to a phrase from the older translation.)

Quibbles? Very few. Although the set (from Virginia Opera) seemed a bit amateurish in some ways, I did like the unifying element of the faux-great art works hanging on the walls in every scene. And  although I enjoyed the interpolated Strauss concert polkas, it made Acts II and III, which were combined with out an intermission, even longer than necessary.

My complaints are very few, and I must report that the performance as a whole was delightful.  Bravo Syracuse Opera!

Another beloved singer departed from us: Anita Cerquetti

Beloved Anita Cerquetti left us today, at the age of 83.  Here is my tribute to her from 2009:


I give you Anita Cerquetti. There don't appear to be any performance videos available, but here is 1996 video of her hearing a 1956 pirated recording of her Norma in Jan Schmidt-Garre's film Opera Fanatic..



Anita Cerquetti (April 13, 1931) is an Italian dramatic soprano who enjoyed a short but brilliant career in the 1950s.

Cerquetti was born in Montecosaro, near Macerata, Italy. She was first a student of the violin, she trained eight years with Luigi Mori. After a mere one year of vocal study at the Conservatory of Perugia she made her operatic debut in Spoleto in 1951 as Aida. She sang all over Italy, notably in Florence as Noraime in Les Abencérages, under Carlo Maria Giulini in 1956, and as Elvira in Ernani, under Dimitri Mitropoulos in 1957. Her Teatro alla Scala debut was in 1958 as Abigail in Nabucco. She also sang on RAI in a wide variety of roles such as Elcia in Mosè in Egitto, Mathilde in Guglielmo Tell, Elena in I vespri siciliani, etc.

Cerquetti made headlines in January 1958, when she replaced "in extremis" the ailing Maria Callas in Norma, at the Rome Opera House. She was already singing the role at the San Carlo in Naples. She commuted between the two cities to honor both engagements for several weeks. This "tour de force" won her great acclaim but had serious effects on her health. Shortly after she started withdrawing little by little from the stage until her complete retirement in 1961, aged only 30. [n.b. I am inclined to think her decline was because of singing all this dramatic repertoire at such a young age!]

Cerquetti sang relatively little in America. Her debut there was at the Lyric Opera of Chicago in 1955, as Amelia in Un ballo in maschera, opposite Jussi Björling, with Tullio Serafin conducting.

Cerquetti made only two commercial recordings, both for Decca in 1957, a recital of Italian opera arias and a complete La Gioconda with Mario del Monaco, Ettore Bastianini, Giulietta Simionato, Cesare Siepi. Among her "pirated" recordings is a 1958 Aida, from Mexico City, with Flaviano Labò, Nell Rankin, Cornell MacNeil, Fernando Corena and Norman Treigle. The Rome Norma of 1958 with Franco Corelli is also available.

(Bio from Wikipedia.)

Here is a link to another Cerquetti jewel on YouTube, "O re del ciel" from Agnes von Hohenstaufen. I know you don't know it, but go listen. It's terrif!

Taminophile sadly notes the passing of a great artist

Dear Rita Shane left us on Thursday. It is to my shame that I never presented her in this space. Toward that end:

Rita Shane as Zdenka
Photo: La Scala

Martern aller Arten, unattributed live recording:

Sempre Libera, also unattributed:

Private video of Ophelia's mad scene, unattributed:

My Bachtrack review of Julie Taymor's Magic Flute at the Met

Pretty Yende and Toby Spence
© Marty Sohl, The Metropolitan Opera

On Monday, I saw the Metropolitan Opera's first performance of the season ofDie Zauberflöte. It was an evening of beautiful singing, amusing comedy, affecting pathos, and flamboyant visual effects.



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My Bachtrack review of Barbiere in Philadelphia

On Friday, September 26, I was in attendance as Opera Philadelphia opened its 40th season with a very new production of Il barbiere di Siviglia--very new because director Michael Shell has updated the setting to a modern-day festival week in Seville. We see clowns on stilts, flamenco dancers, and people in all sorts of traditional costume among the chorus and supers. Mr Shell finds inspiration for this production in the films of Pedro Almodóvar, “giving [the] characters a new depth, which ultimately reveals much more heart and humor”...

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Taylor Stayton (Almaviva), Jennifer Holloway (Rosina)
and Jonathan Beyer (Figaro)
Photo:  Opera Philadelphia, Kelly & Massa