An article in the Associated Press: – A growing number of TV viewers don’t watch over cable, satellite or antenna, says Nielsen, really caught my eye.  So much so that I registered with Nielsen and downloaded the report.  In the main it confirmed trends I have come to realize are gathering pace at breakneck speed.

It shows a fast shifting trend to increasingly streamed content from the NET from sites like Netflix, Amazon and many others.

The reasons are cost, poor quality of programming on traditional TV,  resistance to bundling of cable and satellite vendors, and especially important, the ability to watch what interest them when they want to watch it.

There is missing data in the report, for instance if a subject reports watching a gaming station like PS3 it does not break out times spent on gaming, playing DVD/BD and Internet content streaming.

One thing I did note was a small but probably insignificant drop in time watching DVD and BD from 2011 to 2012.  However it tells me that this use of hard disc media has very likely peaked.  It has been known for sometime that CD sales are in decline.  Not only that CD players are now an oddity.  DVD and BD players also play CDs.  So I suspect that decline in DVD/BD use is going to further push the tide to digital streaming and downloads rather than CD purchase.

A lot of this Internet viewing is on mobile devices, and this is bound to be especially true of house holds that do not posses a traditional TV, a rising population.

The demographics show these trends really picking up in the 20  to 35 year old age range, with little activity in the 65+ age group.

I have noted for some time that few homes now have dedicated sound systems and fewer dedicated AV systems with high quality audio.  I think a big part of this is cost, as the electronics budget is spent on mobile devices, which increasing number of people require for their jobs, and there is nothing left in the budget for home systems.  I suspect complexity of set up is also a problem.  I frequently note the members of my generation frequently have trouble with GUI interfaces.

Another thing I cleaned from the report is that at best 5% of this group were able to connect their flat panel TVs to an Internet browser.  The implications of this are significant, as it means unless their is an icon on the TV, BD player, Boxee Bod ROKU etc. not many are going to watch it on their big screens.  If there TV has a browser, than there is the problem of getting audio back to the sound system.  A TV is not the ideal place to locate the browser.  This is especially pertinent as modern flat panels are wafer thin with small rims.  So the only place to put the speakers in on the back facing the wall.  For safety reasons mounting these panels to the wall is virtually mandatory.  So the speakers are a few inches from the wall firing into it.  This makes them virtually unintelligible, mandating an external sound system even if it is just a sound bar.

Now Nielsen deals in TV ratings, and not radio.  However I think that their are implications for this for radio broadcasters.  Only older people own radios for their homes.  None of my children own a traditional radio in the home, just cars.  In fact I think the best audio systems people own are now in their cars.  So out of their cars the younger listeners are using mobile devices and their computers at home, or I suspect mainly at work to listen to radio.  If less then 5% of this population are able to open a browser on their flat panel, I would bet even less can connect an Internet radio station to a good audio system.  Receivers now generally can receive traditional FM, HD radio and Internet radio.  However stand alone FM/HD devices are rarer than CD only players.

You are unlikely to own a receiver unless you are putting together a home AV system.  US receiver sales for 2012 were 688 million dollars.  If you skew that to the low end of the market, that is likely about 1.5 million units,  If you skew it towards the middle about 700, 000 units.  So this in not high market penetration I doubt.  The lower priced units are not known for longevity, so I suspect a lot of units are replacement units and I would guess that accounts for about 25% of sales.  So new AV system is likely no more than a million a year, and very likely less.

FM broadcasting is now 65 years old and has and still is serving us well.  This is testimony to Major Armstrong’s achievement in the development of FM broadcasting.  It limitations are now becoming more apparent, especially its limited dynamic range.  Internet streaming should become the method of choice for delivering high quality audio and AV for that matter to the home.  This technology is now approaching maturity, and will continue to improve along with the quality of the Internet.  Streaming to vehicles on the move is in its infancy, however I expect that technology will develop rapidly.  There are already Internet streaming car radios on the market.  The cost of the bandwidth for the usual time spent in cars is less than the cost of a subscription to Sirius.  I suspect that eventually that will be a terminal threat to satellite radio broadcasts.  One of the nice features of streaming is the ability to tailor bandwidth to connection and device, even automatically and seamlessly to the user.

As mobile technology develops there will no longer be a need for expensive to build and maintain terrestrial transmitters and even more expensive satellites.  This will not only have an impact on the means of transmission, but a profound impact on program production and an even greater and liberating effect on listening habits.  This is already happening in the TV world.

Last fall I designed built and installed an HTPC in my system here.  I did it to evaluate everything I could grab off the Net.  I can’t believe how my viewing habits have changed.  I have long been able to grab Internet radio, but with higher quality listening stream available my radio listening habits are also rapidly evolving.  I think a minimum standard for classical Internet radio streaming should be 350 kbs AAC3.  The BBC seem to agree.

Now there comes a complete game changer from DTS.  DTS Layered Audio Technology.

DTS stole a march on Dolby Labs at the introduction of loss less surround codecs.  Dolby True HD requires a track for Dolby 5.1 and a track for Dolby True HD.  This takes up excess disc space.  DTS used their DTS 5.1 and used it as a kernel to wind the DTS Master HD around, so only one track is required.  The receiving device uses the best codec it can handle.

Now DTS have expanded on this technology, to allow a single stream to be layered to contain a variety of quality levels.  This will avoid broadcaster having to stream, low, medium and high definition streams. A mobile device will get the correct stream and an up to date AV system can receive DTS Master HD, all from the same stream.  This is brilliant, and will bring the demise of traditional broadcasting closer than I thought.

My wife insisted she wanted Internet TV at our Twin Cities residence.  So I have beefed up that system.  The BD player has streaming capability and I have installed a Sony Google TV player, that has the Google Gold browser built in.  It also has lots of icons for going straight to a site without opening a browser.  It has the icon for the Berlin Philharmonic Digital Concert Hall, which connects me to Berlin in a click.

I have been astonished at how quickly and radically my wife’s viewing habits have been changed by this technology and the blink of an eye.  She just loves the freedom that comes with it.  Now I realize in our demographic that this is atypical.  However it is now pretty close to becoming the rule for the under 35 and in 20 years they will be 55.  I’ll stick my neck out and say I can now definitely see the end of terrestrial broadcasting in a generation or so, and at the current rate of change, possibly less.

From the standpoint of the “Classical Music/Opera scene” I believe the implications are serious, and without significant attention paid to the issue, potentially devastating.

This issue has a lot to do with the current difficulty orchestras find themselves in around the world.  It has a lot to do with the lockouts in Minnesota of the MSO and SPCO.  However I don’t think anyone is connecting the dots.  Concert Halls just do not contain enough seats to pay the musicians sold at prices that are affordable.  In fact prices in my view are already a bar to entry.  If you look at the demographics of concertgoers they are the same as those not using digital media in large numbers.  The younger generation not entering the concert halls in large enough numbers are the digital streaming and download generation.

Recording is over a 100 years old now.  Serious record collectors started to get to critical mass in the 1920 especially post 1927 with the development of electric recording.  With the Introduction of the Long Playing record and FM radio in 1948 my post war generation found and explored repertory almost exclusively via recordings and FM radio.  You can only hope to hear or see one nth part of the repertory in the concert hall you can get to know via recordings.  Recordings were big business and a huge and fine body of work entered the catalogs of the major recording companies.  Now that era is passed largely to be replaced by stream and downloads, and the art of record collecting dying fast.  A big source of funding to orchestras and therefore musicians dying with it.  To add insult to injury the major donors are following the same demographics as the audiences, which is and will bode ill for funding and endowments.

However the streaming /download technology is highly pop geared and fundamentally unfriendly to the classical repertory.  The problem is that classical music and opera have to be superbly reproduced.  None of the repertory can properly impress on iPhones, iPads and most computer speakers.  Worse gap less downloads are often far from perfect in my experience.  Lossy codecs like mp3 and those associated with HD radio just add insult to injury.

The new generation is much more visual than the previous one.  I have to say that as a card carrying member of the grey haired set, I’m much more visual than I used to be.  Most of my life a good audio system was all I required.  Now however I want good video and audio, especially for opera.  Opera in audio only format can only give a fraction of the enjoyment of the AV experience.

I have watched this situation here in Minnesota with dismay. I have tried to help, but my advice falls on deaf ears. I don’t believe more funds can be garnered from the public purse. It would be highly controversial and over all negative.

The answer I’m certain is selling virtual tickets over the Internet. The recently launched DSO program for streaming their concerts live is fine as far as it goes. The problem, it’s free. That should be making money for them. Met Player makes money for the Met. I also subscribe to the Berlin Philharmonic Digital Concert Hall and I have really enjoyed that on my big screens and superb sound systems in our two residencies. I’m probably also going to subscribe to Medici TV.  As an aside I’m listening to classical MPR less and less.  Their FM signal is excellent, but their Internet stream is of poor quality.  I tried to listen to an archived Pipe Dreams broadcast last night, but had to turn it off.  In contrast I have been listening today to some of last weekend’s Bach marathon put on at the Royal Albert Hall by Sir John Elliot Gardner.  Musically it is superb and the stream at least good as analog FM quality and may be a little better.  The point I’m making is that MPR now competes globally whether they realize it or not.

Our Orchestras may be locked out, but with the three above sites and a growing collection of Blue Ray Discs, I have never had a more rewarding concert season.

The fact is even if the MSO and SPCO never play again, I will never want for a good concert experience. With modern technology, the experience can be very close to live, and in fact better than most seats. For opera I far prefer to watch in my AV room than the opera house, and a lot of people are of that opinion.

As far as our Orchestras being generators of the economy, which they must be, spin off from restaurants and bars is all very well. But what about the generation of good paying jobs, by the performance of fine literature. Just look at the credits at the end of every BPO production and the MET. These people don’t work for nothing.

The biggest problem is that few know how to achieve first class results in the home. I have been dedicated to audio for over fifty years and for the last 7 an increasing AV enthusiast for the performing arts.

What is needed is alliances. This means manufacturers, retailers, publications and broadcasters. This, here in Minnesota, means Best Buy and the other brick and mortar retailers, MPR, especially American Public Media, and Public broadcasting.

The BPO now have icons on Sony, LG and Samsung equipment that takes you to their site without opening a browser. Panasonic is expected to be added shortly.

Samsung have reached an agreement with Medici TV.

The gigabit Internet is right round the corner and the time to move is now.

Things are different now, and there is a new wind sweeping the old order away. Unfortunately I doubt our organizations in Minnesota get it. From what I see as the unhelpful attitude if the American Federation of Musicians in the SPCO negotiations, I’m certain they don’t get it.

Organizations here and the US as whole, will soon be in competition with the rest of the world. Don’t make the same mistake as industry in the previous years. Unfortunately much of our equipment that used to say made in England or USA, now says made in China.

Classical music will not die, especially given the thirst for Western Culture in the Far East. However if you really do not see the earthquake taking place, I will be buying tickets to the Beijing and Seoul symphony Orchestras and not the MSO and SPCO .   There is a serious misjudgement of events by the American Federation of Musicians and I suspect management.  This unfortunately tends to be a failing of unions and old order monolithic organizations, who when presented with the the future and the past choose the regressive path and seal their fate.

Tektron

Tekton2

Eminence Delta 10 A 16 ohm X 2 vented

Here is an updated version of NASP the NASP II.

It uses the Peerles Nomex 164 WR 33 102 NWP AL LS 8 ohm Bass/mid.  This woofer has a nice smooth mid band response and good off axis response. There is a break up mode peak centered on 4.5 kHz from 3 to 5 kHz.  This basically mandates a crossover around 2 kHz.

The Tweeter is the highly cost effective Vifa BC25SG19-04.   This tweeter has a flat response in its pass band to 9 kHz were a gradual HF roll off begins.  The roll off becomes steep at 18 kHz.  However for a small bookshelf speaker this is no bad thing, and I have made no attempt to correct this HF fall off.

Fs is 1060 Hz so I have made the tweeter to be 24 down at Fs.

The woofer is in a standard B4 ported enclosure.

The crossover

Mains_midlines

Mains_bass_lines

Center_line

Rea_lines_midswt3

Rea_linesr_bass

Surrounds

Raymond E. Cooke memorial speakerswt3

Mains_midlines

Mains_bass_lines

Center_line

Rea_lines_midswt3

Rea_linesr_bass

Surrounds  Sealed Qb2

Raymond E. Cooke memorial speakerswt3   Ported

Lucia di Lammermoor is an opera in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848) with Libretto by Salvatore Cammarano.

This opera is based on Sir Walter Scott’s novel The Bride of Lammermoor, written in 1819, but set in the reign of “Good Queen Anne,” in the early 18th century.

The tale involves a feud between the Ashtons and Ravenswoods.  Enrico wants his daughter Lucia to Marry Arturo, for political reasons.  However Normano, Enrico’s captain of the guard, informs him that Lucia is smitten with his sworn enemy Edgardo master of Ravenswood.  Raimondo, the Chaplain, advises caution against the arranged marriage.  Enrico remains furious.

In the second scene Lucia awaits Edgardo by a stream in the woods, where a Ravenswood stabbed his beloved in a jealous rage, and legend has it she remains there, and her ghost haunts the fountain.  Alisa, Lucia’s companion, tries to dissuade her from her liaison with Edgardo.  However the assignation takes place, and Lucia and Edgardo exchange rings and pledge a secret bond of fealty.   Edgardo leaves for France for political adventures.

In Act II several months later, Lucia’s letters to Edgardo have been intercepted by Normano and his operatives.  Worse he has forged a letter from Edgado purportedly showing Edgardo to have been unfaithful.  Lucia faints.  She is then reluctantly persuaded to marry Arturo, after the chaplain insists one of his letters to Edgardo got through but he has made no reply.  Plans for the wedding ensue.

In scene II Arturo is received.  He has heard of Lucia’s affection for Elgardo.  Enrico reassures him and berates Lucia.  As soon as she reluctantly signs the wedding contract Edgardo bursts in.  Believing Lucia still loves him he is shown the marriage contract.  Angrily he gives back his ring to Lucia and snatches hers.  As he offers his own life, Enrico orders him out.

In Act III,  Edgardo is brooding back at Ravenswood, when Enrico enters taunting him the Luci’a marriage to Arturo is at this very moment being consummated.  Edgardo challenges Enrico to a dual on his father’s grave next morning.

In scene II the wedding festivities are interrupted when the chaplain Raimundo enters white as a ghost to announce that Lucia has stabbed Arturo to death in their wedding chamber.  Raimundo had heard the screams and found Lucia covered in blood still holding the dagger.  Lucia enters and then follows one of the most famous mad scenes in all opera.  She eventually falls ill and exhausted to the ground, and the general consensus is that she will not survive the night.

In scene II Edgardo awaits Enrico at the tombs of his ancestors for the early morning dual.  He learns from Enrico of the nights events and that Lucia is close to death.  Soon the castle bell tolls announcing Lucia’s death.  Heart broken by the news, Edgardo takes his own life.

This is an Italian Bel Canto opera, a term which is hard to define.  It is translated as “Beautiful Singing.”  To me it means a style of signing light of foot, with agility and easy flourishes and coloratura.  There should be dominance of the head voice, and certainly no forceful pressing with the chest voice.  That is the best I can explain it.  Certainly in this production there was no lack of beautiful singing.

At the opening there is a dark scene with a weird caricature of a rocky landscape.  Normano the captain of the guard and his henchmen in their dreary brown garb looked like wayward souls from the order of mendicants lost on a poor recreation of a lunar landscape.  John Robert Lindsey came across as a weak and sorry individual where the role demands an authoritarian figure, eager to show his master he has his ear to the ground, and full command of operatives ready to carry out and even enjoy the evil schemes.  Now I know this is a supporting role.  However the old adage that “There are no small parts, only small actors” was demonstrated here.  This was a pity, as I felt this was the only role miscast, or may be he was badly directed.

Ben Wager, as Raimondo, had a good commanding bass voice and partnered well with the baritone voice of James Westman as Enrico.  The opera chorus sang beautifully as one would expect in “heart of choral country”.  However in the first chorus they were up close to this strange overbearing rocky scenery, and I thought the scenery was muffling their voices and causing poor projection.

I’m going to deal with this set now.  This should be Grand Opera.  There was nothing Grand about this set.  This opera is cast in East Lothian.  Now these are the flat rural lands of Scotland.  This staging went very close to the nasty stereotypical portrayal of Scots as savages.

In the meeting of Enrico and Lucia and the wedding scene there was not even a hint we were in a grand castle.  In fact the whole wedding party looked like a dejected tawdry lot.

However lets get on to better things.

When Susanna Phillips made her first entry as Lucia, she captivates us.  She immediately laid down to play in the snow, immediately convincing us we were encountering a young playful and innocent woman, a very nice touch that!

Susanna Phillips has just the right vocal equipment for this role.  She posses a lovely light coloratura, which she appears to use effortlessly and with great musicality and intelligence.  She never put a foot wrong.  She was superbly partnered by Michael Spyres as Edgardo.  With his smooth and easy on the ear tenor voice brought to the role exactly what was required.  Victoria Vargas as Alisa played her role with just the right degree of anxiety for Lucia.

The opera chorus of the MSO musically is of a high order.  I just love opera choruses.  Musically I was not disappointed, however they could benefit from more coaching in the acting department.  A lot more joy needed to be shown as they gathered for the wedding.  After all, one assumes they were not party to the evil schemes.  A.J. Glueckert by the way played the role of Arturo to perfection and we were graced with another beautiful tenor voice on stage.  Another demonstration that there are no minor roles.

Now to the pivotal mad scene.  The principles did no wrong and Susann Phillips rendition of it was superb.  This is where the chorus need some theatrical coaching.  They loped about like disinterested bystanders, whereas they should have acted shocked and then questioning and trying to find understanding in this young woman’s awful act and subsequent disintegration of her persona after being driven to madness by love denied.  There is so much more they could have done to enhance Susanna Phillip’s performance.

Now to orchestral matters.  As usual the musical standards of the players is very high.  We were indulged with a couple of fine solos of special mention a harp solo from Min J. Kim and flute solo from Michele Frisch.

One interesting issue, is the orchestral scoring of the mad scene.  The score includes a now rare and unusual instrument, that would not have been available to the MSO, nor for that matter a player.  The instrument is the glass harmonica or glass armonica, invented by Benjamin Franklin.  You can hear it played here.  On the DVD I have from the Met, you can clearly hear that they have one in the third act mad scene, and it highlights the breaking up of Lucia’s mind.  This instrument developed from the glass harp, which is basically a series of wine glasses tuned with water on a sound board.  You can hear one playing the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.  I attended a long recital by a great exponent of this instrument many years ago.  He was able to conjure up a baroque string orchestra, complete with harpsichord from this single instrument.  He was able to give a surprisingly good rendition of the harpsichord by tapping the edge of the glasses with his finger nails.  It is really a mechanical synthesizer predating the the Moog by centuries.  In any event the Moog was not the first electronic synthesizer.  It was the Theramin right after the first world war, followed by the Ondes Martenot, in the 1920s.  You can see and play a Thermin at the Pavek Museum of Broadcasting in St Louis Park.  Understandably you won’t hear a glass harmonica at the MSO, but you can on DVD.

However there are persisting problems of balance and failure to achieve the dynamic required for the big moments.  At times I felt the stage was leading the pit rather than the pit accompanying the the singers.  I don’t want to make too much of this, as for the most part the wonderful heroes of the pit supported the signers ably under the sensitive hands of Leonardo Vordoni.  I do want to address the issue of orchestral balance however.  As I have found on all but one occasion in this house, the strings are severely muted with a dominance to the wood wind group, which all to easily gives the impression of accompaniment by a wind band.

I suspect this has a lot to do with the room and in particular the pit.  The pit is deep and with some bare concrete surfaces.  Now in my many years recording for groups in ND and for public radio in that part of the world, I noted that concrete surfaces really enhance flutes in particular.  There were 30 string players in the pit, but they did not project.  They did better in the third act.  The sound really seems to have trouble getting out of that pit, with only the woodwinds projecting well.  The strings poorly and even the brass has a slightly dry quality and lacking body.  The bass barely makes egress from the pit.

I suspect the sound is very loud in the pit and everyone is concerned about covering the voices.  I can assure the musicians that with the caliber of singers engaged of late, this should not be their concern.  Projecting a well balanced sound from the pit into the auditorium needs to take priority right now.

Part of the problem is that modern woodwinds are about 10 db louder than older instruments.  To put this in lay parlance the newer instruments are twice as loud as older ones.  On the other hand strings in particular are unchanged.

I think it would be advisable to cover the concrete surface with a wood surface.  Absorptive surfaces in pits have been tried with uniformly poor results.  Another modification may well help, and that is to get the musicians higher on a platform of pine lathe construction.  This has been used in situations like this and shown to increase the 125 Hz to 500 Hz pass band by up to 10 db.  This is the warmth region and is just what this opera house needs.

I have to say I thought the balance problems were partially corrected in the third act, with the strings projecting better, but not optimally.  The violins are right up against the front of the pit.  Consideration should be given to repositioning.  Violins are monopole acoustic radiators, that is to say omnidirectional.  So the violins right up front are being turned into half space radiators and loosing a lot of their energy as a result.

The only opera I have attended where the pit balance was acceptable was Orfeo Ed Euridice.  The SPCO was in the pit conducted by Harry Bickett.  He is a veteran conductor with a huge experience.

Hopefully the new MSO artistic director, Michael Christie, can address these issues.  He should do lots of listening out in the hall and should be encouraged to pick up the phone and call Harry Bickett.  I have to believe Mr Bickett realized the problem and knew how to mitigate it.

Anyhow I digress, the performance musically was of a high order, at times I just closed my eyes to avoid the distraction of the stage.  The singing was just glorious, however they and the paying public deserve much better from the set designer and to some extent the stage director.  That set design was plain and simple a sloppy, lazy and thoughtless piece of work.  Much, much more is required from that quarter if the MSO is to prosper.

At the kind invitation of the Minnesota opera I attended a full dress rehearsal at the Ordway in St. Paul prior to opening night 01/28/2011.

Now this is a rehearsal, so it is understandable that singers might save their voices a little.  Also there are a lot of potentially distracting activities, people at computer screens etc, that need to be taken into consideration.  However the performance was of a standard that I was absorbed and drawn into, and these distractions quickly tuned out.  There were no interruptions for problems and the opera played right through.

This is a French romantic opera, by Jules Massenet written in the late 19th century.  Jules Massenet was influenced by Richard Wagner, especially in matters of the unbroken musical line and the orchestra playing a key role in illuminating the story line.  However the musical idiom is unabashedly French on not German. I will return to this later.

For those not familiar with the opera here is a brief synopsis courtesy of the Metropolitan News: -

ACT I. Wetzlar, near Frankfurt, 1780s. Though it is July, the widowed Bailiff teaches his younger children a Christmas carol in the garden of their house. Their progress is watched with amusement by two neighbors, Schmidt and Johann. They ask for Charlotte, the eldest daughter, who is engaged to Albert. In his absence, the Bailiff tells them, she will be escorted to the local ball that night by a young visiting poet, Werther, whom they find uncongenial. As the friends go off to supper and the Bailiff goes into the house, Werther arrives. He rhapsodizes on the beauty of the evening and watches unseen as Charlotte cuts bread and butter for the children’s supper. When the party has left for the ball and the Bailiff has gone to join his friends at the tavern, Albert returns unexpectedly. Disappointed at not finding Charlotte, he promises her sister Sophie he will return in the morning. As the moon rises, Werther and Charlotte return. He has fallen in love with her, but his declaration is cut short when the Bailiff passes by, observing that Albert has returned. Despite his despair, Werther urges Charlotte not to break her promise to marry Albert.

ACT II. Three months later, Charlotte and Albert, now married, walk contentedly across the town square on their way to church, followed by Werther. Albert tries to comfort the youth, and Sophie also attempts to cheer him up, but when Charlotte comes out of the church, he speaks of their first meeting; disturbed, she tells him he must leave Wetzlar until Christmas. Werther contemplates suicide, and when Sophie interrupts him, he rushes away. As Charlotte consoles the tearful girl, Albert realizes that Werther must be in love with his wife.

ACT III. Alone at home on Christmas Eve, Charlotte rereads the dejected letters written to her by Werther. While she prays for strength, he suddenly appears. Charlotte tries to remain calm and asks him to read to her from his translation of Ossian. Werther chooses a passage where the poet foresees his own death, and when Charlotte begs him to stop, he realizes she returns his love. But she runs from his embrace with a final farewell, and Werther leaves, resolved to die. Albert enters, surprised to find Charlotte distraught, and when a message arrives from Werther asking to borrow Albert’s pistols, her reaction convinces him of her love for Werther. He makes her give the pistols to the servant herself, but when Albert has gone she hurries off, praying she may reach Werther in time.

ACT IV. Charlotte arrives at Werther’s quarters to find him mortally wounded. She declares her love, and he begs forgiveness. As he dies, the voices of the children outside are heard singing their Christmas carol.
– courtesy of Opera News

In essence this a classic opera of conflicted love and duty.

Werther the philosopher, writer,  translator and also with brooding depressive tendencies, combined with obsessional character traits.

The hinge is Charlotte, the eldest daughter of the Le Bailli, who has had to substitute for her dead mother to a large family of younger children, her brothers and sisters.  She has promised her mother she will marry Albert, possibly an industrialist, but I doubt there is evidence for this .  So in essence it is an arranged marriage.

Now before the wedding she is pursued by the obsessive love of Werther.  In her youth she is flattered but also conflicted.  Duty wins, she marries Albert, but Werther is still in the picture.  Albert is understanding but Charlotte banishes him for six odd months.  Again there is unresolved conflict of which Albert is at first sympathetic.

Charlotte’s younger sister Sophie, a very presentable catch herself,  and clearly has feelings for Werther.  However in his obsession for Charlotte, he is blind to them.

So Christmas comes, and Charlotte, though conflicted, duty to her husband wins, and Werther sees suicide as the only way to release the two of them.

Werther requests to borrow Albert’s pistols for a “long journey.”  Albert loosing his sympathies, enhances Charlotte’s conflict by making her hand over the pistols to Werther’s messenger.

Wracked with guilt, she runs to Werther to prevent the tragedy she foresees.  Too late, Werther has fired the gun and is dying.  In a prolonged death scene ridden with guilt, Charlotte blames herself.  Werther absolves her and they declare their love as he dies.  It is left to the viewer to imagine  whether Charlotte’s grief and guilt are assuaged and she lives in a happy marriage with Albert, or the whole thing dissolves on the rocks of guilt and missed opportunities.

In this production we are treated to some gorgeous and fabulous singing.  James Valenti, tenor in the leading role as Werther has, a gorgeous smooth mid and high register.  He can become covered in the lower register, but that is a lot due to Massenet’s scoring.  Interestingly Massenet later rewrote the part of Werther for the baritone voice.  James Valenti’s first entry was a little tentative with some pitch problems.  However he soon pulled it together and did not put a foot wrong after that.  Hopefully his problem at entry will be overcome by opening night.

There was real chemistry between James Valenti and the leading Mezzo soprano, in the role of Charlotte, Roxana Constantinescu.  She has a gorgeous “Straussian” Mezzo voice and delighted us with her agility and power.  In addition to fine signing from these principals, their acting and stage craft were of a very high order.

Special mention must be made of Angela Mortellaro, who sang Sophie, Charlotte’s younger sister.  She is artist in residence at MSO.  Apart from a wonderful stage presence, she was an entirely believable older teen,  she has a powerful clear toned soprano voice that is a smooth as silk.  Watch her star rise!

Also I must give high praise to the children’s chorus.  In act one they sung in that dreadful shouting lusty fashion, that I so frequently have chastised American music teachers for.  This was a perfect parody.  After correction from their father, they sang in with a clear voiced sound, with a perfect blend of head and chest voice.  Well done!  I have to say the entire cast gave a very good account of themselves.

The opera was conducted by Christoph Campestrini.  The orchestra played without a sour note.  This opera is heavily scored for lower brass and woodwinds.  They all rose to the challenge.

So how was the total production?  Let me say right away that everyone was on the same page with this production.  I would encourage all lovers of opera, and those wanting to get acquainted, to go to this production.  I would bet you will be adsorbed and entertained by the production and have a good evening out.  However, it is legitimate to have questions about the page.

The director Kevin Newbury, has chosen to use this conflict of love, duty, brooding and depression as a metaphor for the conflict of the rise of the industrial age.  If you don’t believe me watch this video.

Now he has this large projection of an early 20th century industrial scene projected throughout.  I found this a most dominating and distracting element.  I suppose it is valid to look at the opera this way.  However Goethe wrote the story in 1774, when only Albion was becoming precociously industrialized.  Admittedly by the premier of this opera in 1892, the USA and Germany were well on the road to industrialization with increasing industrial output.  That said I doubt thoughts of the problems of the industrial age were in Massenet’s head when he composed this score.

This is a French romantic opera, with long lines and lush scoring.  What we got was a very angular musical production, that sounded Nordic with hints of the New Viennese School which had not yet ushered in the “Age of Ugliness” to music.

Part of this effect musically is due to the conditions at the Ordway.  The orchestra pit is far too small.  Now you have to have the necessary woodwinds brass and percussion as they are vital to the score.  So the strings get short changed, which seriously changes the balance of the sound the composer intended.  I understand the Ordway Center is due for a makeover, but I don’t believe changes to the theater and in particular the orchestra pit are part of it.  I hope I’m wrong about this.  If not, it is something that needs serious attention.

Even so, I think Massenet’s lovely long lines were made angular to fit the image conjured by the industrial projection.  I played a performance under Michel Plasson on DVD again this morning before writing this review.  In France Michel Plasson is considered the doyen of French Romantic opera.  Plasson’s lines are much more beguiling, long and languid.  The sound lush with the glow of romanticism.  For me Plasson’s way with the score is to be much preferred.  I won’t go so far as to say that the MSO interpretation is invalid, but different from the approach I prefer.

I make an issue of this because I love Opera and have a nice collection of Opera on Blue Ray disc and growing.  However many are ruined by the egos and hubris of the current crop of opera stage directors.

We need another generation of conductors with bigger egos, to make the stage directors conform to the aesthetic and musical idiom of the composition, and not the other way round.

The Minnesota Opera hosted an enterprising evening Thursday, April 14.  The evening was an invitation extended to local bloggers to attend a dress rehearsal of Bernard Herrmann’s  Opera Wuthering Heights.  Bernard Herrmann  is primarily remembered for his film scores, including this for Alfred Hitchcock and Citizen Kane.

We convened at the Sakora restaurant for substantial hors d’oeuvres.  We had an opportunity to mingle with some of the MSO staff and the guest conductor of the Opera, Michael Christie.  He certainly is an advocate for Bernard Herrmann’s music, but in answer to one of my questions, it seems he would not die on sword for him.

Following these pleasantries we headed to the Ordway, for a full dress rehearsal.

Now let me say at the outset that there were a lot of distractions, especially an armada of computer screens in front of us.  However I do believe I was able to tune out these distractions.  Nothing went badly wrong and the performance was presented with no forced breaks in the action or music.

And let me state that previously I had not been at all familiar with the music of Bernard Herrmann.  MPR classical have done an excellent job of introducing his music over the past week.  I have attended operas and have quite a large collection on LP, tape, CD, DVD and now especially Blue Ray disc.

Emily Bronte’s novel Wuthering Heights certainly has a lot of the required attributes for an opera libretto.  This is a very short version.

Catherine Earnshaw lives with her irascible alcoholic brother Hindley at Wuthering Heights.  Also in the household is Heathcliff, a Gypsy boy who their late father adopted into the household when they were children.

Catherine and Heathcliff are in love.  This does not sit well with Hindley who comes down hard on Heatcliff and has the farm manager Joseph put him to work doing hard labor on the estate.

On a Christmas Eve their neighbors, brother and sister, Edgar and Isabella Linton come over from the Thorncross estate.

Heathcliff is disheveled and refuses to be smartened up by the housekeeper Nellie.  Heathcliff is in a sulky mood and sizes up Edgar as a rival for Catherine’s affections.

Over time Heathciff’s jealousy increases.  After a heart to heart with the housekeeper Nellie, Catherine decides to wed Edgar.  Nelly is full of foreboding for the whole affair.

Heathcliff makes good and becomes flush with cash.  At a visit to Thorncross by Heathcliff, Catherine’s passions are again aroused for Heathcliff.  This is not unnoticed by Edgar who becomes jealous of Heathcliff.  Isabella becomes attracted to Heathcliff and becomes entrapped in a loveless marriage to him.  Heathcliff becomes master of Wuthering Heights and buys it from Hindley who is mired in debt from alcohol and gambling.

In the last of the four acts, Isabella is jealous of Catherine whom she believes to be having an affair with Heathcliff, which she isn’t.  Hindley tries to kill Heathcliff in the presence of his son, Hareton.  Isabella intervenes and saves Heathcliff’s life.  However Heatcliff strorms out after wresting the gun from Hindley, as he scorns his unloved wife.

In the final scene Catherine enters ill and  Heathcliff  asks her why she betrayed her by marrying Edgar.  They forgive each other.  Catherine sees the after life and dies.

Now all this plays out in the bleak winter of the Yorkshire moors, apart from one relatively brief spring scene.  The opera plays this story out over three and half hours.

There are deep emotional waters here and obviously ripe for an opera libretto and deserving of great musical inspiration.  The libretto is by Herrmann’s first wife Lucille Fletcher.

The orchestra contained as many musicians as you could get in the Ordway pit, under the excellent direction of Michael Christie.  They were splendid advocates for this musical score and did not put a foot wrong.

The expert direction and staging were supplemented by effective and tasteful cinematic techniques.

All of the singers in addition to excellent vocal technique used with musicality were also excellent stage actors.

So now lets cut to the chase.  This Opera fails and the fault is entirely Bernard Herrmann’s, who lacks the musical skills and dramatic instincts to produce a compelling musical drama.

Herrmann takes a leaf out of Richard Wagner’s book, and uses the technique of a musical phrase known as Leitmotif to identify principle characters.  However none in my view were memorable and I can  not remember one two days later.  I could not identify a Leitmotif associated with states of mind, such as Heathcliff’s and Catherine’s love.  May be I’m wrong about this, but I could not identify one.  So this did not make this reviewer at least identify with the character’s state of mind, like you do in Wagner’s music dramas.

Benjamin Britten’s opera Peter Grimes about a sadistic pedophile Fisherman, set in the town of Aldeburgh Suffolk, on the North Sea coast was given its first performance at Sadlers Wells in 1945.

Bernard Herrmann started to compose Wurthering Heights in 1947.

This I believe is an important observation.  Britten conceived the idea of the orchestra being a protagonist and taking the part of the North Sea in the drama.  Also Britten  used a declamatory style of singing in the opera as does Herrmann.

There the similarities end.  Britten’s work is a masterpiece, Herrmanns’s offering is far from it.

For instance I can’t think of any music from Wurthering Heights being worthy of entering the orchestral repertoire.  Britten’s opera garners world wide staging performances annually in the greatest opera houses of the world.  The Four Sea Interludes and Passacaglia from Peter Grimes are a staple of the Orchestral repertoire.

Now Hermann’s score depicts cold bleak weather pretty much monotonously throughout the opera.  In periods of tense drama we hear trumpets and tympani, but curiously they convey little drama, the way Verdi does in similar circumstances.

But there are deeper problems which cause this work’s failure to move and convince.  First on foremost this is a tale of of love and passion, and above all conflicted loyalty and emotion.  Herrmann’s score conveys little to none of this.

For instance lets take the love of Catherine and Heathcliff.  First of all the amount of music devoted to this is minimal.  Now these two grew up as children in the same household.  At least on a psychological level there has to be an element of incest here.  There is none of the genius of the incestuous love scene between Sigmund and Sieglinde from Die Walkure, or any passionate music for that matter.

There is just no raw passion expressed in the music.  I personally longed for a duet, but Herrmann did not seem to posses the musical skills to write for more than one voice at a time.  The essence of this scene is missed because it is short and perfunctory.   The balance of the scene is filled out with largely dross, that should have been cut.

His music in my view fails to provide that vital short circuit to the listeners deep emotional centers so necessary when probing such deep emotional waters.

The only writing that comes in any way close to supporting the drama, is the scene when Catherine is weighing her love for Heathcliff over Edgar with Nellie, and is overheard by Heathcliff.

The end of the opera has overtures of Isolde’s death and transfiguration from Tristan and Isolde and Senta’s death at the end of  The Flying Dutchman.  However Herrmann’s music unlike Wagner’s does not come close to rising to the occasion.  The music at this point  totally fails to convey the emotions surrounding, and significance of Catherine’s death.

So throughout one longs for the passion of a Verdi or Puccini and the probing psychological insights of Wagner.  Bernard Herrmann sadly delivers neither.

The Minnesota Opera deserve out thanks and admiration for staging this work in such a fine production to asses its merits or lack thereof.

Under a grant from the Knight foundation, this opera will be recorded in HD.  Hopefully it will see the light of day as a Blue Ray in DTS master HD or Dolby True HD.  It might be I will have a different view of this work after a few showings in my beloved studio theater on Benedict Lake, that provides a truly wonderful experience for enjoying opera.  If a BD disc appears I will certainly buy a copy and revise and extend this review.

I finally weakened and let Detroit have some of my hard earned cash.  Six days ago I collected my first new vehicle since 1981.

A very nice Chevy equinox LTZ. I picked it up with 11 miles on it. The nice young lady at OnStar even gave the vehicle a telephone number. When I got back to Benedict I found my trusty 1994 Chrysler LHS had already sold in the space of a couple of hours. We had already said our goodbyes after nearly 100,000 miles and nearly eight years faithful service.

On checking my Email, I found my car had already Emailed me as soon as I had taken delivery.   The Email informed me that health status was good with all engine, transmission, stability codes and tire pressures listed.

I got up Tuesday and it was cold day at the lake, now covered in ice and a blanket of snow.   I had to make my way to Eagan for an AES meeting at MPR studios yesterday.  The electric heat was rippled out, so I went down to the fire which was still in, and built up a roaring fire.  I then went over to my laptop to check the mornings offerings.  Right there another Email from the Chevy.  It informed me the tire pressures were low.  It happens in cold weather.

It took me aback though. You can’t be Emailed from a inanimate chunk of metal.  Can you?  I thought not.  The old Sage of Donnebrog Nebraska, Roger Welsch must have been right all along.  Machines do have souls after all!

So she must have a name.  Whenever my father got a call from the office, the secretary was always Flossie.   So these messages had to be from Flossie.  So Flossie she is!

So after packing up I went to the shop and switched on the air compressor.  Since Flossie had sent me such a nice message, and was so concerned for my safety, I could not possibly disobey.  So all tires where set at just a hare over 35 lb/Sq.in. in case it got colder.  Flossie told me via her message center she was relieved and satisfied.

As I moved off, Flossie flashed a message to be careful of ice.  We had a good journey down, and I held her below 68 mph, with no harsh acceleration or braking.   I frequently let the power off to make sure Flossie’s rings seal well, all part of the bonding process.

Coming in on I94 about six miles from the Lowry tunnel, Flossie suddenly turns down the radio and gently says, “slow moving traffic six miles ahead 6/10 of a mile long.”  As I turn onto Crosstown MN 62 Flossie says “stop and go traffic 7/10 of a mile long.”  In both instances Flossie was right and knew before I did.

This morning in addition to ice, Flossie flashed a weather update to warn of snow.

Flossie guides me with a moving map. If I should get lost, all I have to do is tell Flossie my destination and she will guide me to it.  What a friend in need.

When I back up Flossie shows me a good rear view on her sat nav. screen and car length grid.  As I was backing out of a parking space at Trader Joe’s this morning I had a clear view to rear on screen and visually.  As I looked to my front so as not to scrape the vehicle behind me, Flossie sounds a mighty alarm.  I look to the screen and a pedestrian is right behind Flossie seemingly having appeared from nowhere.   Lucky for me and especially the pedestrian Flossie is ever vigilant!

This has all got me thinking about the bonding of men and machine.  I think women also bond, but perhaps not in the way men do but I could be wrong about that, may be they don’t own up to it as often.  Then there is Thomas and Friends with very human faces on the engines, that in the stories have a will of their own.   Herbie the Lovebug very much comes to mind.

In my career I have certainly had farmer patients who have had strong emotional bonds to their machinery, especially old tractors.  Sailors have long been known to develop very strong emotional bonds with their vessels, especially after difficult passages. I certainly don’t mind admitting I bond with my machinery.  Not a bad thing really, it all helps needed maintenance become a pleasure rather than a chore.  Dues are then being freely granted to an old friend.

So now the machinery can talk to you and send you messages through the Ether, how will this affect the depth and incidence of bonding?  My guess is that human machine bonding will occur quicker and deeper than before.  I can tell you in less than a week Flossie and I are fast friends. I’m just waiting for a Facebook request from my new friend.

A controversy has developed over whether the proposed Red river diversion at Fargo Moorhead will increase red river levels downstream in flood.  The corps state it could add 16 inches to the river level at the Thompson Bridge.

If the diversion is properly designed my view is that this is highly unlikely.

A letter from myself to the editor of the Grand Forks Herald was published  08/19/2010: -

LAPORTE, Minn. — I served on the mayor’s task force for flood protection for Grand Forks/East Grand Forks after the Flood of 1997. As part of our research, we studied the Winnipeg flood diversion project extensively. We also were advised by the engineers for the original Winnipeg diversion channel, Acres International. And, we had advice and counsel from the developer of the project, Ed Kuiper of Winnipeg.

Kuiper explained to me at length that a properly designed diversion channel does not raise river levels downstream. What it should do is channel the water that is out of the riverbank doing damage, to a safe channel where it does not do damage. The flow through the city in flood or the contained water in the channel should be the same.

The only river levels that change and are elevated are the levels upstream as the diversion channel is brought into operation. This is because as the gate is raised in the riverbed, the river level will rise to force the river over the lip of the diversion channel.

Richard Nelson, the late mayor of Warren, Minn., had a diversion for the Snake River designed not by the Corps of Engineers but by Acres International of Winnipeg. I discussed this project often with Nelson before his untimely death.

Warren had multiple floods every year. It has not flooded since completion of the diversion channel on the Snake River. I cannot find any data that suggests river levels increased on the Snake River downstream.

Having seen the workings of the Corps up close, I’m highly suspicious that they are touting these absurd rises in river levels to kill the Fargo-Moorhead diversion project. They killed the excellent Grand Forks diversion project by grossly inflating its cost.

Kuiper and others have pointed out that flood protection needs to protect against a 500-year event. Building to a 210-year event is totally inadequate. Remember, if you build for a 210-year event, you have a 1-in-210 chance of a flood each and every year. The figure does not mean you will get a flood every 210 years.

So, if you build to a 500-year event you have a 1-in-500 chance of a flood every year, which is much better odds.

It is no secret that I was opposed to the Grand Forks flood-protection project and regarded it as inadequate. Today, I’m of the view that because of the topography and hydrology in the Fargo-Moorhead area, a diversion project is the only way of providing flood protection to those cities.

If the Corps really believes its project will raise river levels 16 inches at the Thompson Bridge, then it also should build the diversion project to the west of Grand Forks — which it should have done and still needs to do anyway.

Mark Carter