ArtsBeat

Goodbye, QRS

For four days now, a story has stayed on The Buffalo News' "most popular stories" list. That is the story about how QRS Piano Rolls is ceasing making piano rolls and transferring most of its operations to Pennsylvania.

Well, let's say it in plain English. QRS is leaving Buffalo and moving to Pennsylvania. You can read the story here.

That is a sad truth to have to swallow. Walking through the old QRS factory on Niagara Street, you can't help but be struck by the history there. There are acres of ancient machines, built for the arcane and complicated business of making piano rolls. There are miles of conveyor belts. Old tools lying around. I saw one machine shored up by what looked like a century-old coffee can. It's no wonder the company says it will no longer make piano rolls. How could you move all this equipment? Where would you begin?

Just to give you an idea, that is a picture up above that I took myself of a QRS machine when I was there recently. I didn't know when I took that picture that the company was moving. When I found out, it made me feel very sad.

I also took the picture below, of someone's work station. I just could not get over the ambiance of the place!

QRS was one of those treasures that make Buffalo unique. We were the only place in the world that still made piano rolls. The company's museum area was full of pianos and pictures of musicians. You just felt the pride. And as far as the piano rolls themselves go, even if they were able to produce the piano rolls somewhere else, I do not think they would not have the same cachet. A piano roll made in Buffalo reflected the city's history, our old wealth, our traditional importance on the music circuit.

QRS and Buffalo made a good team for a long time. I wish it did not have to end.

-- Mary Kunz Goldman

The waltz beat

Andre Rieu (left, with jet) is moving forward. He cannot be stopped! The flamboyant violin-playing waltz king has soared into the 8th position in Pollstar's Top 10 Worldwide Touring Acts.

He beats out country star Kenny Chesney, in ninth place. And Coldplay, which is stuck at No. 10. Ha, ha! You can bet that Gwyneth Paltrow is yelling at Chris Martin about that right now.

Some music critics have a problem with Andre Rieu. He has been called smarmy, flashy and overly commercial. I have no problem with him. First of all, I love his look. Second, I think it's great if the music of Johann Strauss -- "The Blue Danube Waltz," "Tales of the Vienna Woods" -- can hold its own among pop acts.

The Dutch-born Rieu, 59, has already sold 300,000 tickets for 2009. Many of them are in Australia -- where, the press release says, "he virtually owns the charts." He grossed $76.9 last year, $5 million more than poor Coldplay. He is still about $205 million behind Madonna, who sits at the top of the revenue-grossing list. But still, an achievement.

Rieu is touring with a full-size reproduction of Empress Sisi's Castle, which reportedly is the biggest stage ever to go on tour. Excess is best! He says, "The USA is next on my list. It's my goal to tour the States with Schoenbrunn Castle."

I have seen Schoenbrunn Castle. I always wanted to see it again, but I never dreamed that I would not have to go to it, but that it would come to me! God love people like Andre Rieu -- as if there is anyone like him -- for adding color to our lives.

-- Mary Kunz Goldman

Looking back on a year of great music

On New Year's Eve, it's fun to take stock of the old year. In my case that can mean looking back on the wonderful concerts I have witnessed. I don't like to call them the best concerts of the year, because certainly there were marvelous performances I didn't get to. But I decided I would come up with my own Top 10. What a pleasant pastime that was, coming up with them. Here they are, in chronological order:

1. March 2008: Remember the Orion Quartet playing on the Slee Beethoven Quartet series, how good they were? The slow movement of the "Serioso," so moving. And the way they ended Op. 132 -- so exciting, bringing the crowd to its feet.

2. March 2008: The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra turned out a tribute to Viennese Late Romanticism that was both beautiful and bittersweet. On one hand you had a glittering performance of the suite from "Der Rosenkavalier." On the other, I can't forget the soprano -- I just looked up her name, Cristina Nassif -- wiping a tear away as she finished singing "Where the Beautiful Trumpets Sound," from Mahler's "Knaben Wunderhorn" songs. That song about a woman whose dead sweetheart comes back as a ghost always makes me cry, and it was a thrill to hear it live and to see that the singer felt the same way.

3. July 2008: That gorgeous Gershwin program at Artpark with the BPO, powerhouse pianist Kevin Cole and those two great singers, Alison Buchanan and Leonard Rowe, singing "Porgy and Bess."

4. August 2008: Russian pianist Alexander Ghindin whipped the sleepy Chautauqua Amphitheatre into a frenzy with the Rachmaninoff Second. People were still talking about it days later.

5. September 2008: I loved, from beginning to end, Harvard pianist and musicologist Robert Levin's weeklong visit to UB. He and his wife, Ya-Fei Chuang, gave a fantastic two-piano and four-hand recital, absolutely superb. That is Ya-Fei Chuang in the picture above. She is a heck of a pianist. But what really sticks with me is Levin's highly improvised take on Mozart's A Major Piano Concerto, K. 488. I just sat through it with my mouth open! Levin's lecture on Mozart improvisation, too, was fascinating and eye-opening.

6. October 2008: The violinist Chee-Yun's sensuous and lovely recital on the Ramsi P. Tick Memorial Concert Series was the absolute height of charm.

7. A few days later in October: Cabaret pianist Michael Feinstein's concert at UB's Center for the Arts was an unexpected treat. I went not expecting much and came away bowled over -- by his sly sense of humor, his witty playing and his devotion to the Gershwin, Berlin and the rest. So much fun.

8. October was full of great music! Late in the month, pianist Jeremy Denk gave one of the best recitals ever on the Tick series -- which is saying a mouthful -- when he played Beethoven's "Hammerklavier" and Schubert's final sonata on his way to Carnegie Hall. His assured virtuosity and his engaging personal style made this concert a hit with both novices and connoisseurs.

9. I had never heard the Buffalo singing group Vocalis before and their Christmas performance at the Karpeles Manuscript Library was a delight. Such a beautiful setting! Plus they gave out mulled wine at intermission! How often does that happen?

10. Tony Bennett's concert at UB's Center for the Arts to benefit the Ronald McDonald House gave us a memorable glimpse of a consummate showman. He is a pro in the best sense of the word.

Wow, that was fun! If you have any concerts from '08 you remember with special pleasure, I would like to hear about them.

Meanwhile, here's to the Top 10 concerts of 2009. I wonder what will be on next year's list!

-- Mary Kunz Goldman

Tenor of the times

Irish tenor Ronan Tynan has a thing going with Buffalo. He has made a habit out of singing "God Bless America" at Sabres games here. That is Tynan in the picture, singing at HSBC Arena when the Sabres played the New York Rangers in April 2007.

"I think Buffalo is a hell of a city," Tynan told NHL.com way back in 2005.

Now Tynan's words of encouragement ("The will is inside you") are on a plaque in the Sabres' locker room and he seems to come back here pretty often. Which is reason for rejoicing. It is nice to have an Irish tenor around. The whole tradition of the Irish tenor was built up around expressing heights of emotion, of one voice speaking for many. Tynan does that. His performances are both touching and cathartic.

It is interesting to glimpse Tynan in a variety of different settings.

Here is an a cappella "God Bless America" that Tynan sang at HSBC Arena in November 2007. "His favorite hockey barn, home to his favorite hockey team," the person who posted the clip writes. On New Year's Day 2008, Tynan was back, reprising his performance at the Sabres' Ice Bowl game. You can watch that performance on You Tube here.

Now, check out his stirring performance of "Amazing Grace" at Ronald Reagan's funeral here.

Watching these performances, you can't help but be struck by the emotion of both Tynan and his audience. One You Tube viewer, commenting on his performance at the Reagan funeral, wrote:  "I have heard this man hit notes I never thought possible. Trust me, I've heard him sing in person and he is one of the most powerful singers I've ever heard."

Speaking of impressive high notes, what the heck, let's hear Tynan sing "Danny Boy." Here it is.

At 7 p.m. Sunday, Tynan is paying a visit to Kleinhans Music Hall for "An Evening with Ronan Tynan," a program of songs performed with members of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and Music Director JoAnn Falletta. For info, call 885-5000 or visit www.bpo.org. The word is that Sabres forward Drew Stafford is going to show up and join him for a song or two.

Whether you go or not, let's toast the friendship between Tynan and our town. It's certainly something to celebrate.

-- Mary Kunz Goldman

From Salzburg to North Tonawanda

The Metropolitan Opera video simulcasts have proven to be such a draw across the country that other opera houses are following suit. One option for the long-distance opera fan is the Riviera Theatre, the beautiful old movie house in North Tonawanda. The Riviera has been showing big-screen productions taped in opera houses in Venice, Bologna and Salzburg.

Sunday at 2 p.m., the Riv will screen Mozart's "Don Giovanni" from the Salzburg Festival. Admission is $22, or $20 for students and seniors.

The production sounds kind of wacky. The picture of it above does not look too bad. But there is another point where Giovanni, Leporello and Zerlina smoke pot together, and in the first scene, as I understand, Don Giovanni and Leporello are portrayed as junkies shooting up. Why people have to do things like this with Mozart operas, I don't know.

Oh, look! I found a video promo of this production on You Tube. Check it out here. The video is of Leporello singing the "Catalog Aria," in which he taunts Donna Elvira about how many women the Don has lured into bed. He lists them country by country. (Most of them are in Spain, where the opera takes place and where Elvira, one of the Don's conquests, lives.)

Hmmm. Watching that, I am starting to think the production might be worth watching. The singers sound good and they are fine actors.

The good news is, if you don't like it, at least you won't have invested a lot of money going to Salzburg to see it. And the music is bound to be first rate. Christopher Maltman is the Don, and Erwin Schrott is his sidekick Leporello, and Annette Dasch and Dorothea Roschmann are Donna Anna and Donna Elvira, respectively. The Vienna Philharmonic is led by Bertrand de Billy.

For info on the Riviera Theatre, call 692-2113 or visit www.rivieratheatre.org.

If anyone makes it to this opera, let me know what you think!

-- Mary Kunz Goldman

Getting a handle on Handel

We're not talking about George Frederick, the composer of "Messiah." Today's story is about David Handel, the conductor from Western New York who was elected last year to the Williamsville South High School Wall of Fame. The Washington Post is running a big feature on him today.

You can read the story here.

Handel, 44, is in the throes of an unusual and dramatic career. After apprenticing with Kurt Masur and the legendary orchestra of the Leipzig Gewandhaus, he found his way to La Paz, the capital of Bolivia. He was hired to remake Bolivia's National Symphony Orchestra -- a mission in which the Post says he has admirably succeeded, against extremely challenging odds.

From what Handel tells the Washington Post, it has been quite an adventure. The conductor talks about how the first concert was held in an old basketball court. The first stop on their first tour was El Alto, "an extensive warren of adobe and cinder-block homes with a population of 800,000."

The Post has fun describing Handel's shaved head and "piercing blue eyes."

The story sums up his odyssey eloquently at the end:

"Perhaps most importantly, he has become something of an expert in Bolivian music, easily pointing out the finer points of Bolivian composer Alberto Villalpando, the love songs of Enriqueta Ulloa or the protest songs of Luis Rico. But the onetime budding violinist from Buffalo, where he grew up regularly attending the highly regarded Philharmonic Orchestra, is obsessed with the majesty of classical music.

"And he wants to share it."

-- Mary Kunz Goldman

A joyful noise

Here's an alternative to hearing "Winter Wonderland" for the 50th time. The religious-themed CD "Niagara Carols 2004-2008," whose sales benefit the Community Missions of Niagara Falls, is an interesting showcase of local pop and folk talent, with some gospel and traditional singing thrown in.

The Naylor Family Ensemble turns out a gracefully harmonized version of "Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming," one of the most beautiful melodies to come down to us from the Renaissance. The Niagara Clarinet Ensemble, above, plays a ragtime "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer."

There must not have been a piano in the recording studio because whenever a piano is featured, it's an electric piano. But the pop and folk artists do an admirable job with their limited resources. The Eagle Psalms, pictured above, do a cute version of "O Come All Ye Faithful" to guitar accompaniment that includes a verse in Latin. The song ends with a creative intertwining of "O come let us adore him" and "Venite, adoremus." Paul Weisenburger's "Silent Night," also sung with guitar, is sweet and straightforward.

Other musicians who pitch in include the Janelle Auker and Nancy Carmichael of the Eastern Hills Wesleyan Church; Belle Musique; and the CrossPoint Jazz Connection, from the Chapel at Cross Point. The Dominion Community Choir gives us some gospel with "Walk in the Light" and "Go, Tell it On the Mountain."

The CDs are $10 each and are on sale at local Wilson Farms stores. They can also be purchased at the Christmas in Clarence barn bakery and gift store and at the Summit mall in Wheatfield. The album or individual songs can also be purchased online at www.communitymissions.org.

-- Mary Kunz Goldman

Bring a gripe, Jeannette, Isabella

Over the weekend, the Wall Street Journal ran a big Saturday cover story called "Do You Hear What I Hear?" It was all about how every December we're buried in holiday music, piped into shopping malls, department stores, restaurants, wherever. The story, by Daniel J. Levitin, concludes that the music might rankle you, but that it's a good thing, because it promotes social bonding and emphasizes to our subconscious that this time of year is different from any other. "Because we tend to hear these songs only during this season, they serve as a unique memory cue, unlocking a neural flood of memories related to the holidays." I am quoting the second-last paragraph.

I like how the writer brings up, in passing, the German word "Ohrwurm." Literally "ear worm," it's a great term for a tune that gets into your head and will not get out. An annoying song that sticks in your brain is kind of like a worm. That is a very good term and one that should be more widely known.

What I don't like is that the story seems to be looking kindly on all holiday music across the board. Every Christmas song is not created equal. And beyond that, all performances are not created equal. The story is illustrated with a photo of costumed Dickensian Christmas carolers strolling a mall in Denver. That is not your usual Christmas music experience, I can tell you that.

I think the reason many people are driven crazy by holiday music is so much of it is so darn bad. I could not believe the story did not address this concern.

Kiri Te Kanawa singing "O Holy Night" is one thing. "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer" is another. And because of the obligation bars and restaurants and stores have to keep things non-religious, even good songs can go bad, because there just aren't that many songs you can play. When you hear "Winter Wonderland" five times in one evening, it gets boring and annoying! If people resent holiday music I think this is why. I don't think it means we are Scrooges. 

Thoughts on annoying holiday music, anyone? Come on, vent.

Then listen to this as therapy. This appears to be a 1941 ancient radio broadcast by the soprano Lotte Lehmann. You Tube suggested it to me after I watched Kiri Te Kanawa.

The curiosities you find on You Tube! Maybe we should all be running around with earpods.

-- Mary Kunz Goldman

Tony Bennett and the two nuns

Let's do a little more reminiscing about Tony Bennett, who is coming to UB's Center for the Arts on Sunday. Thursday, I had the fun of talking to Dan McBride, who used to be in charge of public relations for the old Town Casino. Now there is a job! Dan McBride has seen everything.

He told me a story about how Tony Bennett had to help roll a piano across Main Street. I included that anecdote in a story about Bennett that is running in The News on Saturday.

But there was another story that was too long and complicated to fit gracefully into the story so I thought I would tell it here. I will put it in McBride's words because the way he told it was great.

"At the Town Casino it was my job to take the artists around to The News and the Courier Express, as well as the three TV stations," he told me. "Tony Bennett and I were over at Channel 2, on Barton Street, and as we were walking out, Tony says, 'Can you do me a favor'?

"I said, 'Sure. What?'

"He said, 'Can you take me to see Tilio, from the Vagabonds, at Sisters Hospital?'"

McBride declined to explain who Tilio and the Vagabonds were. "You'll have to look that up," he said. So I did and it turns out that the Vagabonds were a zany group from the 1940s, '50s and '60s specializing in both music and comedy. Tilio was Attilio Risso, the accordion player. The Vagabonds and Tony Bennett were good friends.

You can find a loony site devoted to the Vagabonds here.

And here is a picture of the group. Tilio, whom Bennett wanted to go see at Sisters Hospital, is the second from the left.

 

McBride now takes up the story again. "Tilio was restricted to Sisters Hospital because of yellow jaundice, whatever. He was in isolation," he said. "I took Tony over. And we had to sign in with the nuns. The nuns were behind the counters. One nun says to the other nun, 'That's the one in isolation, right, Sister?' She told us, 'You can't see him.'

"I said, 'Can't you do me this favor? I'm Dan McBride, from the Town Casino, and this is Tony Bennett.'

"She said, 'I don't care who you are, I can't do anything for you.'

"We started walking out, and then the manager of the hospital came along and saw us. He said, 'Hey, Danny, what a tremendous show Tony did lastnight.' He didn't realize that was Tony with me!

"I said, 'We're here to see Tilio from the Vagabonds.' And he said, 'I tell you what, if you wear gowns, you can go on up, but you have to look through the window and wave to him.' So we did that.

"When we came back down, we're walking out, and the one nun said to the other nun, 'Boy, they've got to be very important.'

The other nun said, 'I don't know who they are.'"

McBride laughed then, and I did too, at this fine Buffalo story.

"So when you see him backstage," he told me, "you can ask him about that."

-- Mary Kunz Goldman

Lang Lang... dang!

Is anyone out there following the career of the young Chinese-born concert pianist Lang Lang? Controversy surrounds him.

Last month, Lang Lang came out with his autobiography. I reviewed it for The News, and my opinion was that it was somewhat superficial. It did not hold my interest. I wasn't sure whether it was because Lang Lang was too young to have enough to say about his life, or if the bland tone had to do with the fact that he worked with a ghostwriter. All I know is, it was boring.

Other people must have thought so, too, because since the book came out, hard-core classical fans seem to be turning against this pianist who, just a couple of years ago, seemed to have everyone cheering.

There could be a number of factors at play. I understand that in person, Lang Lang's performance style is distracting, that he twists, turns and makes faces. I haven't heard him in person, but that would irritate me, I will say that. Shenanigans like what you see in the picture above would drive me crazy within 10 seconds. Even in a video like this one, Lang Lang is piling it on pretty thick.

Still, I wonder if the criticism goes beyond that. I wonder if people are annoyed simply by the hype that surrounds Lang Lang. He has been getting an awful lot of press. He rode a float in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, pounding a fake piano. He has his own line of footwear. And he was voted one of People Magazine's sexiest men alive. Hard-core classical music fans do not like this kind of hype. The thinking seems to be that it makes the artist -- and the music -- seem undignified.

I think these reservations can go too far. On a classical-piano Internet forum I check in on now and then, people were calling Lang Lang "Bang Bang" and "God's gift to piano music." It made me giggle, but it also made me a little uneasy. There has long been a tendency among connoisseurs to knock an artist just because he has a big hold on the masses -- as if someone popular couldn't possibly be good. I don't like that tendency. I also get the idea that people worry that Lang Lang, with his towering popularity, is compromising the future of more deserving artists.

I don't share this worry. I am glad that a classical pianist is getting a lot of celebrity attention. Furthermore, I think there is enough of the pie to go around.

There might be other pianists as gifted, or more gifted. But even if you find fault with Lang Lang's interpretation, what he does takes massive skill. He has the chops. It is not like watching the latest popster. And it's not like listening to David Helfgott (the pianist from the hit movie "Shine") who couldn't play very well. Also, Lang Lang is playing Rachmaninoff without doing anything weird or crossover to it. It is not like Liberace playing pop versions of classical pieces, or Andrea Bocelli singing arias to a big beat. When you hear Lang Lang play the Rach 3, you are hearing the real thing. A newcomer might go from there to another classical pianist. It is not only possible, it is likely.

If the world wants to make Lang Lang into a celebrity, why not? I think we could do a lot worse.

-- Mary Kunz Goldman