Listen Up

James M. Keller provides a few notes on amplification

Aletter to the editor that appeared in The on Aug. 2 inspires me to offer amplification on … amplification. Our correspondent voiced disappointment on reading in my review of that the singers were amplified, citing John Crosby, who founded Santa Fe Opera: “I can still hear Mr. Crosby pronouncing that ‘If you cannot project in my opera house, you will not sing in my opera house.’ ” This was an understandable reaction, but it invites clarification in connection with Doctor Atomic or, for that matter, last season’s The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, which the letter-writer also mentioned, hoping “that this is not going to be a trend.” Let us be clear: The Carmens and Violettas and Cio-Cio-Sans audiences hear at the house fill it with their own lungs. Manipulating a singer’s voice through electronics enters the picture only when it is indicated in the score, and many contemporary composers, including John Adams, are doing precisely that.

Adams prefers to use the term “sound design,” which to me sounds a bit overblown and euphemistic; still, although amplification is a central part of it, it is not all of it. He wrote about this in his 2008 autobiography, where he explains: “For all the daunting challenges it entails, the incorporation of electronic instruments into the orchestral I palette of my operas and orchestral works has enabled me to deeply enrich the nature of my sound world. … By 2000, with all my major stage works I was requiring that every aspect of the production be subject to sound design. This extended not only to the performers — the singers, chorus, orchestra, and electronic sounds — but to the actual room itself. The confidence I had in doing this was bolstered by the growing collaboration I was enjoying with an exceptionally brilliant and creative sound designer, Mark Grey, who proved that sensitive and subtle use of technology can be a major artistic element in the listening experience.” Indeed, Mr. Grey is credited in the program as one of the sound designers. Adams goes on to underscore that what he does is particular to his own works: “By utilizing sound design with its multiple microphones, speakers, and mixing boards in my stage works I certainly was not proposing it ought to be the norm for the next run of or

From the perspective of my seat, there were only a few short expanses during the production’s opening night when a singer sounded unmistakably amplified, with an attendant metallic brightness, or when, conversely, a singer was drowned out by the orchestra, which may have derived from overamplification of the instruments. I found that the sound design was unobtrusive in general. We know that it was present, even if it was not obvious. It comes with the territory if a company is to produce I appreciate our correspondent’s concern. Vocal training should absolutely prepare opera singers to project throughout an opera house without amplification. But I don’t see a slippery slope here, and I anticipate that Santa Fe Opera will limit its amplification to situations where an individual composer chooses to create an electronically manipulated sound world.

Using amplification invites new opportunities for things to go wrong. Consider the two evenings that opened the new season of Performance Santa Fe, on Aug. 3 and 4 at the Lensic. As is customary, both featured Stars of American Ballet, a troupe headed by Daniel Ulbricht, and the two programs were distinct except for one overlap. That was the Jerome Robbins ballet “In the Night,” set to four nocturnes by Chopin, which were played live by Susan Walters, a solo pianist at New York City Ballet. As the piano was situated deep in the back of the stage, amplification was deemed to be necessary. On the first night, it was pumped up to a tragic degree. Although the four Chopin pieces (his Op. 27, No. 1; Op. 55, Nos. 1 and 2; and Op. 9, No. 2) cover considerable dynamic ranges — the first of them stretches from to — their overall sound level tends to be quiet. What emanated from the Lensic’s speakers was invariably loud, harsh, and distorted. That happened to be the day when downtown Santa Fe experienced an extended power outage, and the outof-control sound levels were among the unfortunate consequences; the time allocated to achieving proper settings disappeared into powerless silence. The problem was addressed by the next night, when the piano was just lightly amplified. Walter’s playing now came across as far more sensitive to Chopin’s directives of dynamics. Elsewhere on that second program, Ann Kim played four movements drawn from three of Bach’s Unaccompanied Cello Suites (for Robbins’ “A Suite of Dances”), and Walters joined her in a laudable performance — again, amplified only slightly — of the slow movement from Grieg’s Cello Sonata (in “Change of Heart,” a new piece choreographed by Ask la Cour). Walters and an unidentified violinist also made a stab at the once-famous a salon standard by Vittorio Monti (for the U.S. premiere of “Monti Moves,” choreographed by Ulbricht). It is heartening when ballet companies give their dancers and their audiences the honor of performances that use live music; but if amplification is part of the equation, it is sure to introduce serious challenges. As we heard here, it takes some taming.

Over at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, one wondered if improved amplification might have made the Aug. 6 performance of William Walton’s the delightful experience one hoped it would be. The performance was competent