Austrian Cultural Forum NYC (I found this one during Open House New York, remember?). Under the aegis of the Argento Performance Series, I attended a cello/piano concert—a mix of mostly new composers with some established folks thrown into the mix.
The performers: Jay Campbell (cello); Conor Hanick (piano).
The composers: Marcus Lindberg, Morton Feldman, David Hertzberg (apparently in the house), J.S. Bach, Matthias Pintscher, Anton Webern, and Charles Wuorinen.
With seven works on the program, I'll just hit the highlights (and maybe throw in an extra comment or two).
Three solo cello performances—Lindberg, Stroke, very modern, the bowing seeming to indicate the strokes; Bach, Suite No. 1 BWV 1007 (you'd recognize the theme of movement one from various luxury car commercials); and Pintscher, Figura V / Assonanza (my least favorite—sounded like cello sounds for cello sounds' sake—I understand that there is musicality, I just don't understand that version of musicality).
Of the duos, Hertzberg's Vocalise appealed to me a great deal—melodic, rhythmic, more conventional in scope. The Wuorinen, An Orbicle of Jasp, had much more of an arc than some other pieces on the program, with a little more substance and a good mix of contrasts. The Webern, Drei kleine Stücke, were extremely kleine—like micro miniatures that were pretty much inconsequential to these ears.
A shout out to the planners—they had locally produced beer afterwards, preceding an audience/artists discussion. Props to the guys from BrewHeister (www.brewheister.com). Gotta love that name!
ConcertMeister
(Part 2 of 2)
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