And Yet Another List

Below is a chronological listing of the recitals Andrew and I attended in the last twelve months.

I last updated this list on July 1, 2012.

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Karita Mattila, soprano
Martin Katz, piano

The Ordway Center
Saint Paul

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Simone Dinnerstein, piano

Janet Wallace Fine Arts Center
Saint Paul

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Baiba Skride, violin
Lauma Skride, piano

Saint Anthony Park United Church of Christ
Saint Paul

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Stephen Hough, piano

The Ordway Center
Saint Paul

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Alisa Weilerstein, cello
Inon Barnatan, piano

The Ordway Center
Saint Paul

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Daniil Trifonov, piano

Janet Wallace Fine Arts Center
Saint Paul

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James Valenti, tenor
Danielle Orlando, piano

The Ordway Center
Saint Paul

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Anne-Sophie Mutter, violin
Lambert Orkis, piano

The Ordway Center
Saint Paul

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I do not believe Andrew and I had ever before attended eight recitals in a single season. Perhaps the number of recitals we attended was elevated because there were no Minnesota Orchestra concerts last season.

The two vocal recitals were unremarkable—but in no way offensive. Opera singers, as a general rule, are not successful on the recital platform, and Mattila and Valenti may be at home in the theater but they are nowise convincing recitalists; the song literature calls for a different set of skills than that necessary for a major career on the world’s opera stages.

Skride, Trifonov and Mutter are exceptional artists, and their recitals were nothing but pleasures. We considered ourselves blessed to be in the same halls with them.

The other three recitals were more or less disasters—and probably the three worst recitals I have ever attended.

Dinnerstein’s gifts—if she has any—are very modest; her recital was a complete waste of our time.

The day after Dinnerstein’s recital, Andrew came down with influenza. Andrew’s explanation: Dinnerstein’s recital would have made anyone ill.

Hough, if anything, was even worse than Dinnerstein. At the intermission of Hough’s recital, we did something we had never done before: we walked out. By no means were we alone as we exited.

Not long after his Twin Cities appearance, Hough offered the same program to a New York audience. Hough’s New York reviews were brutal. At least one New York writer questioned why Hough even had a career. I share that view.

Weilerstein’s recital was an exercise in camp. Amid the monstrous displays of hair-tossing and head-tossing, and melodramatic and hokey facial gestures and melodramatic and hokey bow gestures, there was no music-making worth hearing. Andrew’s father’s judgment of Weilerstein: “Well . . . I guess it’s nice to know what a Marcel Marceau cello recital would have been like.”

Weilerstein had a fantastic pianist. He is scheduled to give a solo recital in the Twin Cities next season. We intend to be there.