La Pasion segun San Marcos

Last night, I went to hear Golijov's St. Mark Passion at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Rose Theater. It's the first chance I've had to see the piece live since I reviewed it at BAM about three and a half years ago, and well before I knew all that much else of Osvaldo's music. A few new thoughts:

• Clearly, the Passion is as hot a ticket this time around as it was at its New York premiere, even for those generally living outside of the classical/new music hothouse. (Indeed, who should be sitting right in front of me but David Bowie, who clearly loved the performance.)
• Puzzlingly and quite frustratingly, there was no libretto or supertitles provided this time around. That's a real shame, especially since  the soloists and chorus singers alike keep shifting character and perspective in the narrative, which to me is one of the most intriguing and moving elements of Golijov's re-envisioning of the traditional Passion structure. I don't speak Spanish, but I know the piece fairly well by now, and even so I found myself missing that component. It's really a shame that people just experiencing the piece for the first time would miss that whole element. ETA: I've been informed today by Lincoln Center that there was no libretto available yesterday due to "an error on Lincoln Center's part," but that they WILL have libretti  on hand this evening. How regrettable nonetheless.
• There are times now when Robert Spano looks even less like a conductor than a vodou practitioner being "ridden" by a loa. (I mean that in a really good way.)
• Luciana Souza was absolutely entrancing last night, and in much stronger voice in this piece  than at that first St. Mark at BAM  (and I'd say than in the first recording of the work as well).
• Young soprano Anne-Carolyn Bird sang with a gorgeously clear and radiant tone. It couldn't be easy stepping into music so clearly associated with Dawn Upshaw, who was spotted in the audience last night.
• A probable first at the Rose Theater: while the artists took their bows, a couple of people sitting in the balcony unfurled their national flag in honor of the Schola Cantorum de Caracas. ¡Viva Venezuela!

Comments

[Mimi]

Eeek! You lost me at the sitting behind David Bowie part. I'd have hyperventilated.

I'm glad you had a good weekend.