Elvis, Il Sogno , New York, May 12 '06

[johnfoyle]

' New York premiere.........' ????? What was that at the Lincoln Center in July'04?

http://www.playbillarts.com/news/article/3112.html

Brooklyn Philharmonic Announces 2005-06 Season, Posts Surplus
By Ben Mattison

22 Oct 2005

( extract)


The Brooklyn Philharmonic's 2005-06 season, the first led by new music director Michael Christie, will include appearances by Elvis Costello and Ute Lemper and world premieres from John Corigliano and Thea Musgrave, the orchestra announced.


Costello, the pop songwriter who has made multiple forays into the classical world in recent years, appears on May 12 in a special non-subscription concert, which will include the New York premiere of a suite based on his ballet score Il Sogno (The Dream).

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.brooklynphilharmonic.org/eve ... e=calendar

Friday, May 12, 2006 at 8 PM

Special Non–Subscription Concert
An Evening with Elvis and the Brooklyn Philharmonic
Elvis Costello Il Sogno Suite (The Dream)
Selection of Elvis Costello songs and ballads



The popular Irish musician, singer and songwriter has established himself as a unique and original voice in modern music. His appearance with the Brooklyn Philharmonic showcases two of his moods: his celebrated full–length orchestra work based on Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, and his band and the BP’s string section with a collection of acclaimed ballads such as Almost Blue and God Give Me Strength.

Tickets -


http://www.brooklynphilharmonic.org/tic ... ge=tickets

[bambooneedle]

The Brooklyn Philharmonic's 2005-06 season, the first led by new music director Michael Christie, will include appearances by Elvis Costello and Ute Lemper and world premieres from John Corigliano and Thea Musgrave, the orchestra announced.

Ute is hot not least because of her theatrical bent. She's got the sexiest delivery and sense of storytelling in her voice whether in German, French or English and has done EC's songwriting justice. Needless to say, would love to see her perform.

Here's something I'm adding to, so far, her albums City Of Strangers and Punishing Kiss:



http://www.mp3.com/albums/321369/summary.html

William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide :
- London Records' Ute Lemper compilation takes its title from a song she sang in her London appearance in the musical Chicago in 1998; it is followed at the start of the disc by her performance of "Don't Tell Mama," a song from another Kander & Ebb show, Cabaret, that she appeared in 1986, and which she recorded on her debut album for Columbia, Crimes of the Heart, in 1987. The two songs neatly dovetail her work over the 12-year period, not only because they are show tunes by the same songwriters but also because they are both pastiches of interwar music, and Lemper has specialized in actual interwar music in between. After several film songs, the compilation includes seven selections from her two albums of Kurt Weill music, followed by four tracks from Illusions, an album devoted to music associated with Marlene Dietrich and Edith Piaf. Then there is one contemporary song, drawn from her Michael Nyman Songbook release, and finally four numbers from Berlin Cabaret Songs. The wonder is that she is always so assured on material that makes different kinds of demands on a singer from formal precision to uninhibited projection (not to mention being in three languages, English, German, and French). Lemper makes it all sound easy, and she brings alive musical styles we are used to hearing on scratchy old recordings, if at all. She is very much a singing actress, creating characters to perform the disparate material, some of them distinctly unsavory, from Chicago's deadly Velma Kelly to the narrator of "I'm a Vamp!," who declares, "I bite my men and suck them dry, and then I bake them in a pie." Her lusty enthusiasm for such decadent material is her strongest suit, and this is an excellent pricis of her career so far.

[johnfoyle]

' New York premiere.........' ????? What was that at the Lincoln Center in July'04?

From listserv -

Well, it was the full ballet score and not the new suite.

Peter

Point taken!

[Jonathankopp]

I have 2 orchestra seats i can't use.

Seats K-27 and K-29 @ BAM, $80 face value each, plus $9 conv. fee each, plus $6 shipping fee each.

TOTAL for both tickets: $190

If you're a fellow Elvis fan, and you need seats, I'm here to help. Shoot me an email, and let's make it happen.

[martinfoyle]

John Ottaviano, eclistserv, writes

2006-05-12: Brooklyn, NY, Brooklyn Academy of Music -
Elvis Costello with Brooklyn Philharmonic - Alan Broadbent, Conductor

1. Il Sogno (suite)
Prelude
Overture
Puck One
omitted cue: The Court
Worker's Playtime
Oberon And Titania
The Conspiracy Of Oberon And Puck
Puck Two
omitted cues: The Identity Parade, The Face Of Bottom
The Spark Of Love
Tormentress
Oberon Humbled
omitted cues: Twisted- Entangled, The Fairy And The Ass , Sleep
The Play
The Wedding
2. The River In Reverse (solo acoustic)
3. All This Useless Beauty - new arrangement composed in Honolulu)
4. The Birds Will Still Be Singing - followed by intermission
STEVE NIEVE JOINS ON PIANO
5. Still
6.. Upon A Veil Of Midnight Blue
7 Veronica (sans orchestra)
8. Almost Blue
9. Watching The Detectives
10. My Flame Burns Blue (Blood Count)
11. She
12. God Give Me Strength
Encore
13. I Still Have That Other Girl
14. Alison/Tracks of My Tears
15.Hora Decubitus
16.Couldn't Call It Unexpected #4 (sans mic)

The show was great, if a tad predictable. EC was in fine voice and very enthusiastic. The Suite was quite brief, about 30 minutes long, about 20 minutes less than the recording I have from Sydney (see omissions above). I have the Suite details from one of the orchestra set lists, there was no deviation, though there was a note that Upon a Veil was "optional: watch for instructions"

EC watched the first part of the suite from a side box and it was interesting seeing him do so. He was sitting with an attractive brunette (not his wife) and they departed together. He joined the orchestra for 4 songs and then the intermission. Steve played in the second half.

The setlist was almost verbatim Chicago, with a slight change of sequence and the delightful addition of Hora Decubitus, which was the highlight of the evening. There was little deviation from arrangements on Il Sogno or My Flame Burns Blue, but there were some great solos (EC's guitar solo on H D not withstanding) that added a bit of original flavor.

[kuanyin]

Diana was there. She was in the audience, about 5 rows back, with a man who looked like he could very possibly be her dad (just a guess, though, no clue what her father looks like). They headed backstage to join Elvis after the show.

Show was great. This was probably the standout of the four we've seen (D.C., Baltimore, Boston, NYC) both due to his high spirits and the setup at BAM. Unlike most venues, the stage is level with the front row, so those in the front orchestra were looking the performers right in the eye, making for a very intimate experience. The song selection was of course pretty much the same as the other shows, as they have to be orchestrally arranged and rehearsed. The only exception was Boston, which was quite truncated, as it was opening night at the pops, and they have their own routine that they had to make time for. Must admit that the Boston Pops was by far the best performance of Il Sogno. I suppose they have a lot more experience than the other orchestras with unusual, modern pieces, as that's their specialty.

It was our first time at BAM, and it was super. They have a great cafe, bookstore and an arts cinema all in the same building as the concert hall. Only problem is the one sole ladies room available for the entire concert hall is upstairs and shared with the busy restaurant...what a nightmare!! I've never seen a line like that!! (I did discover however, that if you ask very sweetly, the nice ticket taker at the cinema will let you use that one...)

Overall, A+ for the series; we had a great time.

Tara

[johnfoyle]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mihow/145552976/


Elvis Costello and the Brooklyn Philharmonic.

[johnfoyle]

http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/mu ... -headlines

MUSIC REVIEW

Orchestral pals help Elvis pump it up

BY GLENN GAMBOA
Newsday Staff Writer

May 15, 2006

In a career full of firsts, Elvis Costello can safely add another.

Sure, other rockers - Paul McCartney and Billy Joel, for example - have successfully composed classical music, but Costello may be one of the only punks to do it.

But Costello has to be the first to ever lead a this-section vs. that-section sing-along with the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra in the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Howard Gilman Opera House. And he accomplished it during an unamplified version of "Couldn't Call It Unexpected No. 4," with a charming flair.

It was one of his ways of making a crowd heavy on the rockers comfortable in unfamiliar surroundings. ("If you hear something you like, take your clothes off or set fire to your hair," he said, explaining proper etiquette to the crowd.)

Of course, that was probably the least of his accomplishments in his eclectic, at times stunning, two-hour collaboration with the Brooklyn Philharmonic.

The Friday night concert was one of a handful he is doing with orchestras around the world to celebrate the release of "My Flame Burns Blue" (Deutsche Grammophon), his live collaboration with the Metropole Orkest.

The program opened with the Brooklyn Philharmonic performing a suite from Costello's "Il Sogno," his score for a ballet based on Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream," which featured some of the same strong melody lines and staccato rhythms that fill his more pop-leaning work, while also showing how many of his popular songs could be enhanced by more dramatic orchestration.

He followed the suite with the unveiling of "The River in Reverse," the life-at-a-crossroads title track from his forthcoming album with the New Orleans great Allen Toussaint, and a new arrangement of "All This Useless Beauty" that ended with an impressive vocal run.

In the second half of the concert, Costello gathered together some of his songs that were most-suited for an orchestra - the grand "God Give Me Strength," the haunting ballad "Almost Blue" and the restrained, jazzy cool of "My Flame Burns Blue."

However, it was his surprises that worked best. The frenzied "Hora Decubitis," a Charles Mingus instrumental that Costello wrote lyrics for, was even more frantic in concert - speeding along like a sleek race car before skidding to a stop for some powerful blues riffs and then taking off again.

The rowdy, guitar-driven "Veronica" picked up a challenging piano counterpoint from Steve Nieve.

The reggae feel of "Watching the Detectives" was replaced with an upbeat, jazz-fueled arrangement. And "Alison" received a grand orchestral entrance and a swell of strings before turning into the classic lament.

Yet, "Alison" as well as "She," which Costello said fit him like Peter Lorre playing the George Clooney role in a movie, and the stunning beauty of "I Still Have That Other Girl" guarantees that Costello has a bright future as a crooner if he wants it.

[alexv]

I went to the show, held in BAM's beautiful, intimate auditorium. Had nice orchestra seats to the left of the stage. The show was probably sold out, but a number of people must have either come in late, or chosen to skip the Il Sogno portion, since it seemed to me that there was a rush of late arrivals, all being seated after the suite finished. EC was on stage at the time, and seemed startled by the stampede, looking a little peeved.

Diana was in fact sitting front and center, without the flowing locks, high heels, green dress and come hither pose. Darn.

I am not a classical music fan so the suite barely registered. Did my best not to fall asleep. Spent most of the Sogno section looking at the orchestra members to see how they reacted to the music. The violin section seemed to get into the jazzier parts of the suite, tapping their feet and smiling at each other with what seemed to me to be delight. One of the reed guys, holding some kind of instrument with a big old tube sticking up into the air appeared to be commenting on the music as it went along, not approvingly from the looks of him. Kept shaking his head. Or maybe it's a tic. The mystery helped to kill some time.

Once EC came on to sing things livened up. He was in great voice and spirits. The highlights for me were his renditions of Upon A Veil (love the new rendition of this song), Still, My Flame, God Give Me Strength, I Still Have, She (don't much like the song, but he did a killer version of it), Birds, and Couldn't Call It.

That last song, done in his usual off mic version, was amazing. He strode the stage belting it out to the audience, and, in this intimate setting, with the old world touches of the theater, you almost felt as if you were in a time warp, being serenaded by vaudevillian with a barrel chest and booming voice. Except, this one was dead serious. With his hand gestures and almost pleading delivery, he seemed intent on making as direct a connection with his audience as possible, almost force feeding us his love of the music. He sort of killed the effect once he started on the sing along bit, but it was still the most moving part of the show for me.

On the negative side, the constant name checking as he introduced each song got to me. Charles Brown, Macca, Krall, Richard Harvey, the Brodskys, Strayhorn, Burt, Aznavour, Mingus all got cited, along with the names of some arrangers I don't know, in intros that made the presentation of each song seem slightly too "precious". Luckily EC clowned around a bit, giving cues to the crowd as instrumental parts were being played. At least I hope the pointing and brow furrowing were intended for comedic effect.

EC was looking chunky in his tux. Seemed very "slouchy". His slouch, receding hair line, glasses and the comedy banter brought Woody Allen to mind.

[johnfoyle]

http://sadstars.blogspot.com/2006/05/i- ... riday.html