My essays about our performances have all been written from a personal point of view, but this time it's going to stretch the limit. I have performed the Poulenc Gloria twice before -- once in '91 with Jorge Valazco and again in '95 with Christoph Eschenbach. Now, I'm going to have to tell you that I think Eschenbach is by far the best conductor I have ever worked for. Every one of his performances was an intense, personal experience. And yet ... my memory of the Poulenc Gloria has been that it's a good work, a nice piece of music ... but not all that memorable. I have talked to a couple other people in the chorus who did the same performances and they had the same feeling. But now ... now ... I'm head over heels in love with this piece of music. Every time we did it with the orchestra it brought a smile to my heart. No kidding -- right to my heart. It is playful, it is serious. It is silly and it is drop dead gorgeous. It is ironic and it is reverential. It is ... profound -- and it is FUN! The soprano didn't exactly hurt. She is absolutely incredible. Her control, her tone, her ... well, everything about her is pretty incredible. She is very, very young. She was in the HGO opera studio until two years ago -- and she got married a week before our performances, just a day or so before the rehearsals started. Everybody agrees -- she is going to be a huge star. We are lucky to be in her orbit today and hopefully she will perform with us again before she becomes so cosmic that we can't touch her.
But the soprano was not the only reason this piece of music turned into magic. I have to say that it was Hans Graf. I don't know what he did, but I earnestly thanked him for it, very explicitly, in person. And he said it was his first time doing this work and then a bunch of things that I can't remember about all the different moods and meanings and expressions that somehow wind around each other and exist at the same time in the music. He seemed to radiate love for this music.
I'm not kidding -- I absolutely ADORE this piece of music, and I was left, each time we performed it, with a feeling of awe for how drop dead gorgeous it was. And that was just the ending -- and I loved it all.
The program notes talk about Poulenc saying that he was thinking about a Renaissance fresco in which some of the angels are sticking out their tongues. And pictures of monks playing soccer. The angels were making all sorts of funny faces during our performances. The monks and nuns were playing soccer and baseball. God was watching us ... and it was good. Music like this is why I sing.
Here are some comments from other people about this performance. First, from Carolee Weber, HSC alto currently on leave in Africa:
Roger, I love your essay, and I enjoy your expressions of enthusiasm about the Poulenc. ... I was at the Thursday performance and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I was surprised that, even though the last time I sang this undoubtedly was also in '95 in the Eschenbach performance, that I was singing along with you (in my head) through most of the piece. It was incredibly familiar to me. That surprised me because I had been looking through my music collection for a recording before the performance to remind myself of the music and I didn't have a recording of it, and I really couldn't remember any specifics about the piece, except a general favorable memory that I really enjoyed singing it. But it all came back to me very easily. I LOVED the soprano and totally agree with your assessment of her talent. My only disappointment about the piece was that it was too short! It really ended much too soon for me. But it was a real treat for me to be able to hear you perform it!
Larry Hitt says:
I happened to see Albina Shagimuratova in HGO’s Rigoletto last year and she was terrific. She is definitely a rising star as you intimated so having her sing with the HSO was a real coup. Remember Renée Fleming doing the same thing some years back? Unfortunately it was before I started with the HSC.
[Note from the historian: Fleming performed several works, primarily from '89 through '93, with both the HSO and the HGO, most of them conducted by Eschenbach. This included, with the HSC, the Beethoven Mass in C ('89), Brahms German Requiem ('90), Mozart Requiem ('91) and Beethoven Missa Solemnis ('93). With HGO she has performed Mozart's Marriage of Figaro ('88 - not Eschenbach), Dvorak's Rusalka ('91), Strauss' Der Rosankavalier ('95), Strauss' Arabella ('98) and Verdi's La Traviatta ('03 - not Eschenbach). At least some of the HGO performances were conducted by Eschenbach, but we do not have records of exactly which ones.]
From Claude Bittner:
I was at Sunday’s performance, and was thrilled by the performance of the chorus, soloist, and orchestra. This is the piece I most regret not performing during this season’s hiatus; but my enjoyment of hearing it performed was full compensation. You all sounded confident, spot on pitch, and articulate. And Shagimuratova, though a little bright in tone at times, could really fill the hall with only a pianissimo.
My only regret is that the chorus probably didn’t get to hear the Stravinsky and Mozart, which were also superbly performed. I’m going to miss Maestro Graf’s skillful, subtle, and tender handling of Mozart.
Pat Bumpus:
I'm with you, Roger. I liked it under Eschenbach, but this time was much more vivid in every way--maybe because the last time we did it in '95, it was paired with B-9. I really loved it this time, and Albina didn't hurt. The thing I liked best about our orchestra rehearsals was the first night when Graf had us listen to the orchestra first. What a revelation to be able to hear what the orchestra is doing under our singing, before we sing! I want to write to him and tell him how much I appreciate that.
And from Richard White:
I've not performed this piece before but have heard it performed. This performance series was very special. Hans Graf described it as a complex piece based on both simplicity and naïveté. The soprano brought a purity of line to the piece that would be hard to rival. The music and the soloist were sublime.