Naumburg Orchestral Concerts Presents: The Knights

And what a night it was on Tuesday in Central Park. Truly beautiful weather and a wonderful orchestral concert (also broadcast live on WQXR–105.9FM).

The program:
Duet (1993), Steve Reich (1936–); Airs and Dances, Henry Purcell (1659–1695); Concerto Grosso (2012), Matt Herskowitz; La Création du Monde, Op. 81a (1922–23), Darius Milhaud (1892–1974).

After intermission, we heard:
Quiet City (1941), Aaron Copland (1900–1990) and Symphony No. 8, “Le Soir” (1761), Joseph Haydn (1732–1809).

The program was certainly eclectic! The Reich was pretty much what I expected—repetitive short figures in the two solo violin parts above some drone-like playing from the other strings. It was like accompaniment from all strings with some very pretty sounds. I didn’t particularly get a strong feeling of the overall structure. Airs and Dances had a bit more structure yet was still fairly segmented. Of note, this was an outdoor concert, so it was interesting, if a little disconcerting, to see the long, clothespin-like devices used to hold the sheets of the score in place. It was also interesting to see the musicians who weren’t playing at particular times assisting those who were. This orchestra is a major team effort.

Mr. Herskowitz’ work was a world premiere, commissioned for these concerts. Scored for string quartet, flute, French horn and piano, this was a true chamber work (though premiered in a very large chamber) of four through-composed movements filled with jazz riffs and everyone getting a chance to “wail” (in the composer’s parlance). All of the solos, except for Mr. Herskowitz’ at the piano, were written out; his was improvised. This was an effective work, and it’s not very often that I get to say I heard a world premiere. The first half finished with La Création du Monde. Unfortunately, with the amount of time setting up for the piece and the fact that it opens so quietly, it took a while for the audience to settle in and listen. I’m listening and thinking, “I’ve heard this before.” Indeed! See below*. This version was scored for string quartet and piano*; as a result, the similarities between the jazz touches and George Gershwin’s “French” jazz writing were very apparent.

Ah, the Copland. It began with that open, transparent sound that you just know is Copland. After adding the solo trumpet, the writing becomes a bit fuller. We still have that Copland sound with solo English horn and more solo trumpet writing. Both soloists were admirable (with just a touch of a trumpet bobble). Still, it’s a joy to hear a piece like this live, after knowing it only from the radio or a CD.

The Haydn was unabashedly classical. Four movements—Allegro molto, Andante in C major, Menuetto & Trio, La tempesta: Presto. The first was lively, with some very impressive flute writing and playing. Opening theme, repeat, exposition, sort of repeat, opening theme, repeat. It’s called classical for a reason.

The Andante was slower and incorporated the classical forms again. The Menuetto was, indeed, dance-like with a 3/4 rhythm; the contrasting trio section seemed to me to be stretching the boundaries of the classical style, as it highlighted the string bass quite a bit in the entire section; this was followed by a repeat of the Menuetto themes. The last movement was likened to an evening storm, when the piece was introduced to us. It was more like a summer shower (that we avoided, fortunately), and ended the evening with a flourish.

A very enjoyable concert on a truly enjoyable evening.

ConcertMeister

*This piece sounded familiar to me because I heard it earlier in the season at the Wall to Wall Gertrude Stein’s Paris extravaganza. Here’s a repeat of my ConcertMeister post re. La Création du Monde.

The Milhaud orchestra was composed of a string quartet, saxophone, two flutes, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, two trumpets, trombone, piano and two percussionists. [Quite different from the string quartet and piano version I heard 7/24/12.]

The Silent Clowns, 7/21

This was another in the series of silent films presented at the Bruno Walter auditorium. This double bill—Dog Shy and Hands Up!—were both from 1926. And they were both very, very funny! LOL funny (even before LOL existed). Dog Shy had Charley Chase as a frightened-of-dog fellow who ended up being hired as a butler at the home of a girl he wanted to prevent from marrying a “swell,” that her parents were intent on. (Don’t ask) At any rate, after much bathtub mayhem, involving the household dog, we got to three (three, mind you!) couples using “howl at midnight” as a signal. So we had a dog thrown out the window, a suitcase thrown out the window, and a safe thrown out the window, all onto our hero, Mr. Chase!—did I mention that this was a slapstick comedy?

Our hero returns the dog and the safe and gets the girl.

About the dog. This film was sort of in tribute to The Artist (which I have not seen), so our program notes were dog related. Buddy was our named character. I learned lots more about dogs in cinema*.

The feature was Hands Up!—a film starring Raymond Griffith. The plot was all over the place with Civil War agents and spies and a gold mine owner and his daughters and Lincoln and Brigham Young—well, you get the idea. Once again, laugh out loud situations (including a painting of a supposed firing squad victim—I’m not making this up, you know!).

The silent film personnel—Bruce Lawton, Steve Massa, and Ben Model (the indefatigable accompanist) provided great insights, information, and pianistic wonderfulness. There’s one more in the series on August 4, but I think I'll have to miss it, as I really want to hear the JACK quartet. More on that later.

ConcertMeister
*Info available on request.

Isn’t It Romantic?

The Knights – A “new” chamber orchestra conducted by Eric Jacobsen, Naumburg Orchestral Concerts.

Okay, I don’t know how new they are, but they’re younger than me. Here’s Tuesday night’s program:

Siegfried Idyll (1870), Richard Wagner (1813–1883)
Cello Concerto in A minor, Op. 129 (1850), Robert Schumann (1810–1856)

Intermission

Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune (1894), Claude Debussy (1862–1918)
Three Studies from Couperin (2006), Thomas Adès (1971–)
Ascending Bird (2010), Colin Jacobsen/Siamak Aghaei

The first two pieces are solidly in the Romantic era; the Wagner was actually written as a birthday present for his wife and premiered on the stairs leading to the bedroom, on the day after her 33rd birthday! It starts out quietly with the strings, then builds with the winds and then we get some of the sweeping Wagner phrases. A great concert opener (conductor-less, à la Orpheus chamber orchestra) followed by a most impressive cello concerto.

The soloist was Julia MacMillan and she played beautifully. There were the tiniest of fingering mishaps, but that could have been part of the amplification process (microphones on stage and “blended” sound, plus it was being broadcast live via WQXR). Still, beautiful playing. The three movements were practically through-composed; there were soulful, rich solo cello lines partnered with great ensemble writing. The cello was featured, but the orchestra was not just a supporting player. I’d put it at 60:40, cello:orchestra.

“Afternoon of a Faun” is near and dear to my heart. I danced the Jerome Robbins choreography in my pre-New York days, and Mikey and I used it as our “Now we’re on vacation!” music. This was the first time I’ve ever heard it live—I loved it. Central Park, l’heure bleu, what’s not to love? Debussy’s orchestral flourishes were just what I expected; harp, flute—check!—great memories and great music.

The Adès was interesting. It was described ahead of time as “listening to Couperin (1688–1733) underwater in a coral reef, as a fish.” Valid. Still it was a well-thought-out piece starting out with a relatively tame Couperin-esque feeling (with a current spin), followed by a more upbeat dance-like movement, finishing with a slower movement that still had a “dignified dance” feeling. Sorry, that’s the best that I can do.

Mr. Jacobsen’s piece is based on an Iranian folk song. Not my favorite genre, but this had more classical flourishes than last weekend’s klezmer-fest. There were interesting shapings of phrases, but it was still a little bit “new-age”-ish for me.

Two more Naumburg concerts this summer. Note to self: Get there earlier next time!

ConcertMeister

Ljova and the Kontraband

They bill themselves as embracing “Eastern-European and Gypsy melodies, Latin rhythms, Jazz-inspired improvisations, and deeply rooted Classical forms.” Yep, I heard all of that on Saturday at the Rite of Summer Music Festival on Governors Island. The best thing about the day was the fact that it was about fifteen degrees cooler there than in Manhattan. That said, the group included Ljova (viola), Patrick Farrell (accordion), Mike Savino (bass and banjo) and Satoshi Takeishi (percussion). Mr. Takeishi was sitting in for the regular percussionist; I never heard the banjo (maybe it appeared at the second concert of the afternoon).

Though the first three numbers were played without any introduction, we did get bits of information after the fact. The first piece sounded very New-age-ish to me, with lots of repetitions of phrases. Apparently it was based on a theme from Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring,” (get it? as a prelude to the Rite of Summer festival?)—it wasn’t apparent to me. The second piece, called Blaine Game, had more hints of gypsy/klezmer music. It was episodic and more of an up-tempo piece. The third was a gypsy waltz, opening with viola and accordion, then the bass and percussion joining in a little bit later. This piece had more structure, with a real beginning, middle, and end.

A set of folk songs followed, sung by Inna Barmash. There was a Yiddish folk song, a children’s song (Mr. Rabbit—new to me), a song telling the story of a bitter bride, and a song/aria from a Stravinsky opera (Mavra, also new to me—http://tinyurl.com/89md4ho)*. Ms. Barmash (after some sound/microphone problems) displayed a clear, pleasant voice, well suited to the material. She played with phrasing, bending pitches from time to time, and adding distinctive touches to the vocals.

The set that followed included a Lullaby (which also included some pitch bending from the viola), A Pretty Penny, written as part of a film score for Penny Dreadful, though it didn’t make the cut, and a mountain/country folk song described as “meeting Bobby Brown soul.”

While this blend of musical styles did not really appeal to me, it was fun to sit on a beach towel in the shade of a huge tree, eating a picnic lunch, and beating the heat on a heat-wave Saturday afternoon. There are two more concerts in the series. I’m definitely going, weather permitting, to the JACK Quartet in August. We’ll see about Todd Reynolds on Labor Day weekend.

ConcertMeister*Sorry about the lack of a link—I'll explore more later.

Bargemusic—Cello and Piano, 6/30/12

One of the nice things about Bargemusic (a docked barge in the East River, on the Brooklyn side) is its relative informality, at least for the Saturday afternoon free concerts. Unfortunately, the program is usually not printed; it’s announced from the stage. As a result, I did not get to write down the cellist’s name (he played very well), and I was able to do some sleuthing after the fact and determine that the pianist was Olga Vinokur (who also played very well—I’ve heard her before). Some additional sleuthing got me to the two works that were played—Beethoven, Sonata No. 2 in G minor (two of the movements) and Brahms, Sonata in E minor (all three movements). The Beethoven was written in 1796 and was one of his early works (Op. No. 5) while the Brahms came approximately 50 years later. Well, enough music history, let’s get to the music!

The first movement of the Beethoven had an interesting back-and-forth between the two instruments with clean, open lines. In fact, this work treated both instruments as equals. The third movement followed, which was a Rondo. It went at quite a clip—my notes read, “Fast fingering for both instruments seemed almost more for show than for the music.” Perhaps that’s because it was from Beethoven’s early period and he was out to prove something or to impress. Just a guess on my part. But the music was enjoyable, well played, and fun.

The Brahms movements were Andante (once again a guess), Minuet and Rondo (the Rondo was announced from the stage—my sleuthing came up with Fugue). The first movement had fuller writing than the Beethoven, and it included some very dramatic sections, as well. The minuet started out lightly but soon built in intensity, followed by a smoother, contrasting section. (There was a third instrument added in this movement—a ferry horn! Fortunately, it wasn’t too dissonant.) The third movement had an explosive opening and featured some dramatic playing for the cello (less so for the piano). In fact, this work featured the cello more, whereas the first work treated the two instruments as equals, as noted above. And we were told from the stage, before the work began, that the piece was written for an amateur cellist who was an acquaintance of Brahms. If so, he must have been a very good amateur.

In all, a nice hour of music—yes, there were minor distractions (children, ferry horns)—but that’s part of the informality of these Saturday afternoon concerts. I may be venturing to Brooklyn a few more times this summer!

ConcertMeister