This may not be of interest or raise eyebrows if it didn't come so soon
after the SF Symphony's excellent "Fidelio," marred by an incongruous
running "explanation." (See http://tinyurl.com/3cvgd.)

The somewhat worrying news I picked up today is that the much-anticipated
"Missa Solemnis" by Kent Nagano and the Berkeley Symphony on June 18
will be "augmented" by "dramatic readings," selected by Nagano and
delivered by Joy Carlin.

Those two are Great Communicators (Carlin's star turn in "Opera Comique"
will be treasured forever, along with her many years of performances at
A.C.T.  and work at Aurora Theater), but so is MTT and look what happened
in Davies Hall!  Berkeley Symphony's Jennifer Easton says the "Missa
Solemnis" decision was made long before the MTT/SFS "Fidelio" and the
text is used not to explain, but to illuminate.  (The work represents
Beethoven's coming to terms with religion at the end of his life, a kind
of Unitarian compromise after years of minor-to-medium conflict with the
Catholic Church.)

According to Nagano, quoted by his staff, it's not unusual to include
narration with "Missa Solemnis" concert performances.  Historically,
of course, the High Mass (missa solemnis) included only singing by the
Celebrant, along with chanting or polyphonic singing by the choir vs.
the Low Mass (missa privata) in which everything was spoken.  Still,
ultimately, the issue will not be religious fidelity, but musical/artistic
authenticity.

Soloists in Zellerbach Hall will be soprano Shana Blake Hill, mezzo
Miriam Abramowitsch, tenor Bruce Sledge, bass-baritone Philip Skinner.
Sledge was the Fox in Nagano's recording of "The Cunning Little Vixen"
for the BBC; a role to be sung in the San Francisco Opera production of
the Janacek opera next week by mezzo Dagmar Peckova.

Janos Gereben/SF
www.sfcv.org
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