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- It’s
Beginning to Sound a Lot Like Christmas!
- Cami
McNamee
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- Mi dispiace,
George. Lighting up the nation’s Christmas tree is nice and all,
but I’m afraid that for us, the center of the immediate universe
last night was across town at the MCI center, where visions of
Bocelli sugarplums danced in our heads! This time we had Andrea
right in our own backyard.
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- The arena looked
festively filled, and I’d say the overwhelming demographic was
couples of all ages. (I can remember a time when women seemed to be
the dominant group.) I saw some from the younger set as well. Like
the golden-haired young lass clad in a long, red, velvet dress,
requisite black patent leather shoes, and very special Christmas
socks. Beata bambina to be given such an early head start on
experiences Bocelli and classical!
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- The stage was
beautifully bedecked with a rich, midnight blue backdrop studded
with “starlight,” hung with a huge bountiful wreath, and
clusters of convincingly life-like Christmas trees placed stage
right and stage left, all twinkling intensely with Christmas spirit.
The choir members were seated in tiers on either side of center
stage, and the orchestra was at floor level in front.
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- To be honest,
I’m having a really tough time remembering precisely what preceded
Andrea’s first appearance onstage. It’s embarrassing, because
I’m guessing there was a good 20 minutes worth of entertaining
going on up there. That song comes to mind, “Are the stars out
tonight? I don’t care if it’s cloudy or bright, for I only have
eyes for youuuu…”
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- It’s not as if
the more than ample supporting cast of 175 plus wasn’t competent
or appealing. The lush orchestra, energetically conducted by Edwin
Outwater, resident conductor of the San Francisco Symphony, opened
with the Christmas medley that I’m guessing has been etched into
our collective memories through various orchestral renditions over
countless Christmases. I’m sure you’d know it … lots of sleigh
bells jingling, ring, ting, tingling too, and French horns
majestically intoning a familiar sequence of popular and religious
carols.
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- In the ballet
department, how can you lose with the traditionally favorite
Tchaikovsky Nutcracker ballet? The mice were amusingly mouselike in
a balletic sort of way. The sugarplum fairy was floatingly fairylike,
in graceful time to the delicately twinkling heavenly sound of the
celesta. Funny though. I hadn’t remembered that sweet little Clara
had been so intimately enamored of that nutcracker boy of hers, but
hey. Then there was the
dynamically acrobatic dance troupe of Ukrainians that leaped, kicked,
back flipped, and twirled their hearts out for us with admirable
gusto.
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- The Westminster
Concert Choir blended articulate voices in several carols. I know
they did Handel’s majestic and spirited Hallelujah
chorus at some point, and the Carol
of the Bells and Angels We
Have Heard on High. They made us warmly recollect holiday
gatherings with It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year, and they provided a nice
vocal backdrop for both Denyce and Andrea.
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- Denyce took the
stage before Andrea, causing a ripple of comment with a golden gown
sporting a Marie Antoinettish bustle. (Yes, I said bustle.) And is
it OK if I don’t remember what she sang first? I do know she sang O
Holy Night with her lush mezzo, and later she did Go Tell It
on the Mountain. She has a convincing ability to really narrate
a song like this.
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- When Andrea did
finally walk out, the crowd was chomping at the bit for him. He was
applauded warmly of course, and he flashed a grateful smile in
return. My memory serves well enough to remember which songs he
sang, but unfortunately has pretty much let go of when he sang them.
(Although there was no program, which would have helped me out here,
the jacket of the Sacred Arias CD would nearly suffice for
one).
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- He and Denyce
sang Panis Angelicus as an
interesting duet.
He has somehow managed to shape and deepen this song over time.
Andrea was also in full command of Rossini’s Domine
Deus, a powerful warm-up for his Teatro San Carlo debut this
coming spring, when he will sing the full Petite Messe Solenelle.
Adeste fideles was absolutely grand! Andrea flung it out full tilt,
combining all the earnest fervor of an innocent choirboy and all the
supercharged, masterful power of his matured operatic voice. And how
many of you out there know the second verse in Latin by heart? Atta
boy, Andrea! When he reached the full-throated finish, the audience
was energized, rewarding our tenore
with enthusiastic applause. Ombra Mai Fu has always been a
puzzle to me. Andrea sings it just fine, and it’s nice to know how
beautifully he handles Handel…but it’s a love song to a plant!
Well, OK, with a stretch I can imagine it as an early music
precursor to O Tannenbaum. But Ave Verum Corpus is a
bit more challenging to justify. The words don’t exactly say
“Merry Christmas” to me. Well, Andrea has always followed a
logic distinctly his own. Mozart’s aria is infused with poignant
sorrow, and Andrea interprets it with the emotion he taps from deep
within. If he wants to give it to us, I’m there to receive it.
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- As our son noted,
a bit mystified, Andrea included many Ave
Maria’s in the program. But in a preconcert interview, Andrea
had made it clear that for him, the sacred is the obvious focus of
the season, with Mary in the place of honor. Mary, madre pia, vergin
del ciel. I have a weakness for the Schubert version of Ave Maria
when Andrea sings it in Italian. Its melodious reverence seems to fit his voice like a glove,
and Andrea has included it in several concerts over the years. On
the other hand, it has been a long while since I recall hearing him
do the Bach/Gounod version. It never fails to stir the heart with
its prayerful sweetness. But of all the Ave Maria’s, it is the one
written to Mascagni’s intermezzo from Cavelleria Rusticana
that melts my heart. With riveting intensity, Andrea opens that
sacred aria up from the depths of his soul, and your being just
falls into it, transported to another dimension. It is achingly
beautiful, and he unerringly floats that final note in a way that is
surreal, yet somehow completely expected.
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- I would be remiss
if I didn’t acknowledge that it was rather a tough leap from the
purity of the recent acoustically perfect concert experience at
Ferguson Hall in Newport News, Virginia, to this evening’s
potpourri at the cavernous MCI center. But it also made me realize
that Andrea has done a good deal of branching out these last two
years: ice shows, more classical concerts senza microphone,
lullabies for little Elmo, his first completely pop concert just
ahead, anticipating debuts at Teatro San Carlo and the Lincoln
Center. His versatility is simply astounding. Whatever he does, he
brings us along with him. As he observed so simply, “I
think that if the audience likes me, they will follow me.” Do we
ever.
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- Of course, a rare
few are a bit more disgruntled, like the grumpy little man seated
beside us at MCI who kept up an uninterrupted litany of grumbling
through the concert—he hadn’t come all the way from New York to
see a lot of ballet dancers, yada yada yada….finally, at yet
another appearance of those pesky Ukrainians, he had had enough and
tottered off in disgusted protest, his unhappy companion reluctantly
in tow—just in time to miss three of the most glorious offerings
of Andrea for the night. I guess he showed THEM!!
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As
the evening drew to the end, the crowd begged for encores and of
course they were graciously granted. First, Andrea’s Italian
version of White Christmas. His deceptively easy-going, mellow tone almost made
you forget that Bing ever recorded the song. Then the familiar
introduction of The Prayer commenced,
and the audience was in full surrender. But I wish that just once
they could manage to restrain their thunderously adoring response so
we could actually hear the impossibly held clarity of that final
sweet note. But bless their little hearts, they can’t help it.
Then Andrea spoke a few words, saying that he thought it was
important to have an evening like this, different from his usual
concert and, particularly at this time of year, to give us the
sacred arias. He said thank you, and he wished us all “Merry
Christmas”! |
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- For me, the
evening’s shining star atop the tree was the Silent Night
duet, Andrea and Denyce blending in heart and voice in this
profoundly simple, timeless carol. When all is said and done, this,
after all, is the essence of Christmas. Silent night. Holy night.
For a blessed moment in time, at the political power center of the
nation, a bit of the weary world rejoiced with our tenore.
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- Grazie, Andrea.
- by Cami
McNamee
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