I know, I've been completely MIA since my last post on Thanksgiving day. What can I say? Things have been VERY busy (busy is always good, right?), and I honestly haven't found any soap boxes to stand on. I've been searching and searching for a topic that I felt really compelled to write about. A few days ago I thought to myself, why do I need to try and change lives with this thing? It's just a blog after all. So I got to thinking again, and when I think, I tend to have music on. I've been really into a lot of contemporary music lately. I recently bought a CD of all Ravel, Renee Fleming's new CD "Poemes" (all 20th century French music), and most recently the Stravinsky triple bill CD from the James Levine 40th Anniversary CD box set. Life changing. It got me to thinking about how, in my humble opinion, all of this music is really under-appreciated.
Back when I was in college, I used to check out as many DVDs as I could from our music library. I loved searching by composer, or by singer, and watching things I wasn't familiar with. I remember the day that a friend at school told me about Renee Fleming. I had never heard of her (hilarious to think of that now!). After listening to a few clips on youtube, I wanted to see her in a full-length opera DVD. I searched by her name, and found a DVD of the opera "A Streetcar Named Desire" by Andre Previn. Never having heard any of the music before, I thought, what the Hell. So I checked it out and brought it home. I watched the DVD that evening, and my life has not been the same since.
For those of you not familiar with the opera, think beautiful lyrical lines, lush jazz-inspired orchestrations, heavy brass, sweeping strings....for me, it has it all. At the center of the DVD is the performance of Renee. In the absolutely iconic theatrical role of Blanche DuBois is the people's diva. Tailor written to Ms. Fleming's voice, this opera capitalizes on the high extended pianissimi that Renee is so well known for. While in her undergrad, Renee was a jazz enthusiast (she still dabbles from time to time). Her heart is really in jazz, and Previn played to that strength and passion of hers. Also, consider that this opera is in english, her native language. I frequently find that singers are so much more vulnerable when they perform in their native tongue. This performance is absolutely no exception.
Renee Fleming as Blanche is unparalleled. I really can't think of another soprano with a voice, acting ability, and supreme musical knowledge that would read for this role; perhaps why the work is so infrequently done. The two most famous arias from the opera are "I Want Magic" and "I Can Smell the Sea Air," both sung by Blanche during the course of the opera. As gorgeous as these arias both are, to me, they are some of the least exciting parts of the opera. The opera is filled with really exciting and almost visceral confrontation scenes, duets highlighting the slow downward spiral of Blanche into her unstable self. That day, I fell in love with the artistry of Renee Fleming.
I have never understood why this opera is not more popular, and why very few people are really familiar with it. It probably doesn't help that this DVD was filmed on a very small record label, and is now out of print. The opera premiered in 1998, before Renee was REALLY an international super-star. People very commonly know Blanche's two big arias, but for some reason, people really don't seem interested in seeing or hearing the full opera. Again, a mystery to me.
This past Christmas, I spent it up here in NYC without family. Work got in the way of a true trip home, so my mom sent me a care package of wrapped Christmas presents for me to open on Christmas morning. Among them was, believe it or not, a FACTORY SEALED copy of the Streetcar DVD that she found online. It was the highlight of my Christmas morning. I immediately opened up the DVD and put it on. I watched the whole thing that morning, and then forced my friends to watch it that night while eating dinner. It was possibly better than I remembered. Fleming is truly SUBLIME in the role of Blanche. Slowly since Christmas, I have made several friends watch the DVD with me. It is just too good for them to not. I have even had the reaction from some people that they've always liked Renee, but now that they had seen this DVD, they got why I have so much respect for her. But why has this opera never seen a major revival since it's world premier in San Francisco in 1998?
This past February, the Met Orchestra did a concert at Carnegie Hall. Among many selections, Renee closed the concert with a set of 3 contemporary American arias. While this rep has always been an obvious choice to me, she has not done much of it on stage or in concert in the past few years. This set was an ABSOLUTE treat. She finished the third aria (from Vanessa), and came out for her encore. Like a vision, she chose "I can smell the sea air," Blanche's last aria from Streetcar. Now about 14 years older than back in 1998, Ms. Fleming is a much stronger actress than she was back then (and she was good then!). This performance just felt at home for her, and truly a wonderful memory to hear her sing an aria that was written for her. I left the concert beaming (after a quick backstage trip to say congrats to her).
Carnegie Hall has announced their 2012-2013 season, and Renee is the centerpiece of their "Perspectives" series. She will be doing 4 performances at the hall in the Spring of 2013. One of them is, as you could have guessed by now, "A Streetcar Named Desire" for ONE NIGHT ONLY with the Orchestra of St. Luke's, semi-staged in concert, with Ms. Fleming as the star of the evening. Also, it has recently been announced that she will be doing a string of performances of the opera (I believe semi-staged concert as well) at Chicago Lyric in 2013 or 2014.
I could not be more excited. Not only is Ms. Fleming really world class in this opera, but I just love the opera itself. The story is incredible, and so very operatic in nature. The music is a dream for me. It is really a fantastic, and in my opinion very relevant work of modern art that should be more appreciated than it is.
While the DVD is out of print, the CD of the live performance is still available and in print. It's not quite the same as seeing the performance, but the music is certainly moving enough to really affect you. I urge you to take a listen to the recording. Get yourself even marginally familiar with the opera, so that when you see it next year (and I hope that you do!), you can really appreciate how special of an evening it is. In this day and age, it's not very often that you get the opportunity to see an undeniable world superstar sing a role in concert that was written for her voice, showcasing every highlight of her artistry.
The recording is available online, on iTunes, and at the Met Opera Shop (www.metoperashop.org - or 212.580.4090 and press option 3). This is not a recording that you want to miss!
Below find two clips of Blanche singing her two main arias that will give you just a bit of familiarity with the style of the work:
Enjoy, and I'd love to hear your thoughts!
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