Classical Beat: All hail the dancing harpsichord - KansasCity.com

The harpsichord will be highlighted as Summerfest continues its 2012 season, ?Invitation to the Dance.?

Harpsichordist Marie Rubis Bauer of Omaha, Neb., will perform music by Jean-Philippe Rameau, and she?ll be joined by the Summerfest ensemble for a work by Bohuslav Martin?. The concerts are at 7 p.m. July 14 at White Recital Hall, 4949 Cherry St., and at 5 p.m. July 15 at Country Club Christian Church, 6101 Ward Parkway. Also on the program is music by Ferenc Farkas and Ern? Dohn?nyi.The harpsichord is not to everyone?s taste. The great English conductor Sir Thomas Beecham had an especially strong distaste for the instrument. He once described its sound as ?two skeletons copulating on a corrugated tin roof.? But if any composer can turn someone into a fan of the harpsichord, it?s Rameau.It amazes me that Rameau is not as well known and appreciated as Johann Sebastian Bach and Antonio Vivaldi. Rameau wrote some of the most tuneful and toe-tapping music of the baroque era. Rubis Bauer will perform selections from Rameau?s Pi?ces de clavecin, a three-book collection of dazzling, kaleidoscopic music for harpsichord.In a brilliant bit of programming, Rubis Bauer and the Summerfest ensemble will follow Rameau with Promenades for flute, violin and harpsichord by Czech composer Martin?. Although much of his music is informed by the rhythms of his native Bohemia, Martin? lived in Paris in the 1920s and 30s and absorbed its elegant musical culture. Promenades has a Gallic flair and a sprightly Baroque quality that will complement Rameau very nicely. The second half of the program features music by two 20th century Hungarian composers. It will open with Old Hungarian Dances of the 17th century for woodwind quintet by Farkas, and the concert will conclude with the Sextet in C major, Op. 37 for piano, violin, viola, cello, clarinet and horn by Dohn?nyi. The selection has classical form and a romantic sound, but the final movement takes off in a jazzy direction with a lively tune that wouldn?t have been out of place in a 1930s nightclub. For tickets, call 816-235-6222 or visit . ?The Great Caruso?With his big, beautiful voice and outsized charisma, Mario Lanza was often referred to as ?the new Caruso.? In fact, there seemed to be a cosmic connection between the two singers. Lanza was born the year Enrico Caruso died, and he was baptized by a priest named Caruso. When Lanza was growing up, his father would play Enrico Caruso?s records on the Victrola for hours, and Lanza absorbed what he heard. Eventually, Lanza became America?s most popular opera singer, and his biggest hit was ?Vesti la giubba? from ?Pagliacci,? which also happened to be the aria that made Caruso a household name.Who better than Lanza, then, to portray Caruso on the big screen? You?ll have a chance to see Lanza in ?The Great Caruso? when the Performing Arts Series of Johnson County Community College presents a free screening of the Hollywood blockbuster at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Yardley Hall, Johnson County Community College.The MGM film, Lanza?s third starring vehicle, was hugely popular when it came out in 1951. The demands of moviemaking, however, left Lanza no time for a legitimate opera career on the stage, and this hurt him with opera critics who increasingly regarded him as a dilettante. But critics be damned. ?The Great Caruso? wowed audiences. It is hardly an accurate portrayal of Caruso?s life and suffers, like so many Hollywood films of that era, from a treacly sentimentality. But it also has virtues that are often lacking in contemporary films, like over-the-top operatic music and romance. The film supposedly inspired Placido Domingo, Jose Carreras and Luciano Pavarotti to pursue opera careers. Pavarotti has spoken of going to see Lanza?s films and then coming home and acting them out as he watched himself in the mirror.Audiences rarely have a chance to see ?The Great Caruso? on the big screen, so this film was an inspired choice by Emily Behrmann, general manager of the Performing Arts Series.?Over the past two years, we?ve focused on classic musicals on our summer movie series, but this year, I wanted to find a couple of films that connected more to the performing arts and famous performers,? she said. ?Some of our moviegoers last summer suggested Mario Lanza?s films, which I thought was a great idea. So ?The Great Caruso? fulfilled their wish and mine.?Regarding Caruso, Lanza said, ?Imagine, all my life this man is my idol. All of a sudden I get the chance to play him on the screen. I have to be Caruso. I don?t want to be just an actor who looks like the man, singing his songs. No, I want to be this man, as he grows older, gets heavier.?Like Caruso, Lanza worked hard and played hard and flamed out early. Caruso, a heavy smoker and eater, died of peritonitis at the age of 48. Lanza also had Promethean appetites and struggled with his weight and went on alcoholic binges. He died from a pulmonary embolism at 38 while he was preparing for his debut in Rome in ?Pagliacci.? ?Turn your distress and tears into jest, your pain and sobbing into a funny face ? Ah! Laugh, clown, at your broken love! ?Laugh, clown, laugh.?

You can reach Patrick Neas at PatrickNeas@gmail.com.

Source: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/07/07/3692127/classical-beat-all-hail-the-dancing.html

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