This was the opening concert of their 110th season! And, no, I have not attended all 110 years, but I think I’ve been going for four or five seasons. Because the weather created problems, the first concert of the season was rain shortened. The Knights, a Brooklyn-based orchestral collective (though they are now well established far beyond Brooklyn), presented a varied and interesting program. During the setup, there were showers, bordering on steady rain, but nothing really heavy. Though I didn’t see any lightning, we were asked to take cover under the Bethesda Terrace. In what turned out to be a clever bit of programming, the string quintet that was scheduled for the second half of the program was performed on the covered terrace.
Chinese Folk Songs (1998) – Zhou Long (1953–)
I. Driving the mule team (Shaanxi); II. The flowing stream (Yunnan); III. A single bamboo can easily bend (Hunan); IV. Lan hua-hua (Shaanbei) – Colin Jacobsen & Ariana Kim, violin; Nicholas Cords, viola; Caitlin Sullivan, cello;
Shawn Conley, bass
The first movement had sort of clip-clop sounds, reminiscent of Aaron Copland’s western-themed music, paired with Asian scales and intervals, painting a pretty aural picture. The flowing stream had undulating string writing that also seemed to be creating a real sense of moving water. Movements three and four followed along nicely, though my memory at this time can’t really recall any specifics.
By the time the piece ended, the weather had improved and the show went on, although Tabula Rasa (1977) by Arvo Pärt (1935–) was not performed, and neither were three of the four movements of a Ligeti piece.
Five German Dances, D.90, for String Orchestra (1814) –
Franz Schubert (1797–1828)
Czech Suite, Op.39, B.93 D Major (1879) – Antonin Dvořák (1841–1904)
I. Preludium (Pastorale): Allegro moderato; II. Polka: Allegretto grazioso;
III. Sousedská (Minuetto): Allegro giusto; IV. Romance: Andante con moto;
V. Finále (Furiant): Presto
Concert Romanesc (1951) – Geörgy Ligeti (1923–2006)
IV. Molto Vivace
The Schubert dances were played conductorless, as often happens with The Knights. All of the dances were in the style of a Ländler, a specific style of a waltz-like German dance. They were graceful, and lovely to hear. Dvořák’s suite was also very enjoyable. The Pastorale was in a perfect setting in the middle of Central Park, and it was nice of the tweeting (literally!) birds to join in. The Polka was a bit of a romp, without being too rambunctious. The Sousedská was also a lot of fun, while the Romance was a pleasant, softening change of pace. After some weather-related tuning, the Finále was a rousing romp. The real rambunctiousness, though, took place in the Ligeti Molto vivace, with its wasp-like string sounds and pops of percussion, along with folk song themes.
The Knights, with Eric Jacobsen conducting the Dvořák and Ligeti, made the best of weather-shortened evening, and we were all the better for it. Kudos also to Jeff Spurgeon and the WQXR team (105.9FM) for broadcasting these concerts live.
ConcertMeister
Monday, June 29, 2015
Thursday, June 25, 2015
Capsule Comments (6/22/15)
A blogger with home computer problems is a bit of a bust, and that’s where ConcertMeister finds himself these days. As a result, I’m going to give brief comments on what I’ve been up to, hoping to flesh them out more later.
On June 6, The Silent Clowns Film Series presented a novel program—two silent films and two “talkies.” The first, Duck Soup (1927, silent), and the second, Another Fine Mess (1930, talkie), were the exact same story! Both featured Laurel and Hardy, with Hardy playing a minor role in Duck Soup but graduating to a major role in Another Fine Mess, since L&H were a better established team by 1930. The third film, Chickens Come Home (1931, talkie), and the fourth,
Love ’Em and Weep (1927, silent), were the exact same story! And both featured L&H again. It was a lot of fun seeing the evolution of L&H as a team as well as seeing the evolution of silents into talkies. Ben Model provided excellent accompaniment to the silents, once again.
June 13 found me at a chamber music concert performed by Vista Lirica:
Beth Levin, piano; Samuel Magill, cello; Lucian Rinando, flute; and
Neil Rynston, clarinet.
Sonata for cello and piano (1915) – Claude Debussy
4 Pieces for Clarinet and Piano, Op. 5 (1911) – Alban Berg
Trio da camera for flute, cello and piano, Op. 48 (1926) – Gabriel Pierné
Trio in a-minor for clarinet, cello and piano, Op. 114 – Johannes Brahms
My favorite of the bunch was the Debussy, followed by the last two movements of the Brahms (the first two had disparate sections that didn’t really hang together too well, for me). The Berg pieces were modern and atonal but at least they were brief. My notes for the Pierné ended with: In general, nice enough, if not special. I would probably not seek it out again. (And for the record, this was my very first hearing of Pierné.)
June 20 was a piano recital by Charles Jones, an artist I’ve heard, and enjoyed listening to, before. Saturday’s concert was well played and really enjoyable.
Sonata in D Major, Op. 10, No. 3 – Beethoven (1770–1827)
Etude in C Sharp minor, Op. 42, No. 5 – Scriabin (1872–1915)
Sonata No. 5, Op. 53 – Scriabin
Sonata No. 1, Op. 122 – Ginastera (1916–1983)
Etude in A Flat Major, Op. 25, No. 1; Etude in E Major, Op. 10, No. 3; Scherzo in B Flat minor, Op. 31, No. 2 – Chopin (1810–1849)
The Beethoven was solid; the Scriabin, almost but not quite Impressionistic, with a hint of jazz here and there; the Ginastera, very energetic, with a Latin American flavor; and the Chopin, just plain lovely. The two Etudes were familiar to me, while the Scherzo didn’t ring a bell, though it was also very pleasant. I rather liked the fact that, as a well-deserved encore, Mr. Jones repeated the E Major Etude—it was a lot of fun to hear it twice, especially in such close proximity.
June 21 was Make Music NY, a huge event encompassing more than a thousand free concerts throughout the five boroughs of New York. My ahead-of-time planning was less ambitious than what I set out for last year. Still, I heard youngsters from the Chamber Music Center of New York playing—duh!—chamber music in the Lincoln Center area. When I arrived, the group was eight violins, two violas, one cello, one bass, and one flute, though additional personnel arrived and joined during the time I spent there. Different players switched around for different pieces, and the young lady playing the solo violin in Celtic Roots did a great job. Mannheim, by Peter Martin, saw the addition of more strings, and more were added for Mozart. The conductor and one of the organizers lamented the fact that clarinets and a bassoon were missing. Didn’t matter—the kids did just fine with strings, the one flute, and one oboe.
I then traveled up to the Great Hill in Central Park and heard members of the
New York Late-Starters String Orchestra, a group of beginning or recently returning adult players of stringed instruments. Definitely amateurs, not the best techniques in the world, but they played enthusiastically and definitely made music.
Next on the agenda, in a different part of the Great Hill, I took part in a
Mass Appeal Harmonica event. Yep, we affixed our name to a sign-in sheet and were given our very own Hohner ten-hole harmonica. The basics were explained to us, and we were taught Jingle Bells by the leader. It was just easy enough that everybody pretty much got the hang of it, and at the end, we were an enthusiastic amateur band of about thirty playing Jingle Bells all together. A lot of fun!
I had hoped to take in a few performances at Carl Schurz Park, closer to home, but rain sprinkles arrived as I was leaving Central Park, so I decided to call it a day, go home, and become CocktailMeister instead of ...
ConcertMeister.
On June 6, The Silent Clowns Film Series presented a novel program—two silent films and two “talkies.” The first, Duck Soup (1927, silent), and the second, Another Fine Mess (1930, talkie), were the exact same story! Both featured Laurel and Hardy, with Hardy playing a minor role in Duck Soup but graduating to a major role in Another Fine Mess, since L&H were a better established team by 1930. The third film, Chickens Come Home (1931, talkie), and the fourth,
Love ’Em and Weep (1927, silent), were the exact same story! And both featured L&H again. It was a lot of fun seeing the evolution of L&H as a team as well as seeing the evolution of silents into talkies. Ben Model provided excellent accompaniment to the silents, once again.
June 13 found me at a chamber music concert performed by Vista Lirica:
Beth Levin, piano; Samuel Magill, cello; Lucian Rinando, flute; and
Neil Rynston, clarinet.
Sonata for cello and piano (1915) – Claude Debussy
4 Pieces for Clarinet and Piano, Op. 5 (1911) – Alban Berg
Trio da camera for flute, cello and piano, Op. 48 (1926) – Gabriel Pierné
Trio in a-minor for clarinet, cello and piano, Op. 114 – Johannes Brahms
My favorite of the bunch was the Debussy, followed by the last two movements of the Brahms (the first two had disparate sections that didn’t really hang together too well, for me). The Berg pieces were modern and atonal but at least they were brief. My notes for the Pierné ended with: In general, nice enough, if not special. I would probably not seek it out again. (And for the record, this was my very first hearing of Pierné.)
June 20 was a piano recital by Charles Jones, an artist I’ve heard, and enjoyed listening to, before. Saturday’s concert was well played and really enjoyable.
Sonata in D Major, Op. 10, No. 3 – Beethoven (1770–1827)
Etude in C Sharp minor, Op. 42, No. 5 – Scriabin (1872–1915)
Sonata No. 5, Op. 53 – Scriabin
Sonata No. 1, Op. 122 – Ginastera (1916–1983)
Etude in A Flat Major, Op. 25, No. 1; Etude in E Major, Op. 10, No. 3; Scherzo in B Flat minor, Op. 31, No. 2 – Chopin (1810–1849)
The Beethoven was solid; the Scriabin, almost but not quite Impressionistic, with a hint of jazz here and there; the Ginastera, very energetic, with a Latin American flavor; and the Chopin, just plain lovely. The two Etudes were familiar to me, while the Scherzo didn’t ring a bell, though it was also very pleasant. I rather liked the fact that, as a well-deserved encore, Mr. Jones repeated the E Major Etude—it was a lot of fun to hear it twice, especially in such close proximity.
June 21 was Make Music NY, a huge event encompassing more than a thousand free concerts throughout the five boroughs of New York. My ahead-of-time planning was less ambitious than what I set out for last year. Still, I heard youngsters from the Chamber Music Center of New York playing—duh!—chamber music in the Lincoln Center area. When I arrived, the group was eight violins, two violas, one cello, one bass, and one flute, though additional personnel arrived and joined during the time I spent there. Different players switched around for different pieces, and the young lady playing the solo violin in Celtic Roots did a great job. Mannheim, by Peter Martin, saw the addition of more strings, and more were added for Mozart. The conductor and one of the organizers lamented the fact that clarinets and a bassoon were missing. Didn’t matter—the kids did just fine with strings, the one flute, and one oboe.
I then traveled up to the Great Hill in Central Park and heard members of the
New York Late-Starters String Orchestra, a group of beginning or recently returning adult players of stringed instruments. Definitely amateurs, not the best techniques in the world, but they played enthusiastically and definitely made music.
Next on the agenda, in a different part of the Great Hill, I took part in a
Mass Appeal Harmonica event. Yep, we affixed our name to a sign-in sheet and were given our very own Hohner ten-hole harmonica. The basics were explained to us, and we were taught Jingle Bells by the leader. It was just easy enough that everybody pretty much got the hang of it, and at the end, we were an enthusiastic amateur band of about thirty playing Jingle Bells all together. A lot of fun!
I had hoped to take in a few performances at Carl Schurz Park, closer to home, but rain sprinkles arrived as I was leaving Central Park, so I decided to call it a day, go home, and become CocktailMeister instead of ...
ConcertMeister.
Thursday, June 4, 2015
Marilyn and Me (5/30/15)
Horne, not Monroe. And the connection is pretty tenuous at best, but here goes.
On Saturday I heard two song performances — John Brancy, baritone, with
Peter Dugan, piano; and Julia Bullock, soprano, with Renate Rohlfing, piano. The first was outdoors on Governors Island while the second took place at
St. Michael’s Church on the Upper West Side. Here’s the Marilyn Horne connection:
Mr. Brancy is a winner of the 2013 Marilyn Horne Song Competition and
Ms. Bullock’s concert was part of the Marilyn Horne legacy at Carnegie Hall, presented by Carnegie Hall Neighborhood Concerts. Ms. Horne has attended some of the Carnegie Hall Neighborhood Concerts but was not in able to be there this past Saturday.
Mr. Brancy began with popular music, then went classical on us, finishing with some Broadway fare. Night and Day (Cole Porter) was launched by solo piano to start, and then Mr. Brancy entered on stage and added vocals with a gentle jazz touch. As he went into some patter after the song, I got the feeling that I was seeing a breezy outdoor lounge act. But a somewhat classy one. He sang with a nice easy sound, with a bit of power when needed. The rest of the opening set included Nice Work If You Can Get It (George Gershwin), Fascination (Marchetti), Let Me Sing and I’m Happy (Irving Berlin), Stay in My Arms (Marc Blitzstein), and The Nearness of You (Hoagy Carmichael). His patter before Fascination (which he sang in French) recounted a story that Maurice Ravel had written the tune originally, but I did a little internet searching that points to that probably not being the case.
The classical set included Nachtstuck (Schubert), La Barchetta (Reynaldo Hahn), and Mé srdce často v bolesti (Antonin Dvořák). While all three were nice, the piano accompaniments came across a little less clearly than in the earlier popular songs. My best guess is that Mr. Dugan had more leeway there, and that the classical accompaniments were just more subdued, as written. Mr. Dugan played a solo next, a Chopin Revolutionary Etude mashup with the Beatles’ Yesterday. There seemed to be less mashing and just the two pieces side by side, with little interplay.
The Broadway fare consisted of Some Enchanted Evening (Richard Rodgers), Maria (Leonard Bernstein), and Soliloquy (Richard Rodgers). One of the problems with singing outdoors is that, as a singer, you don’t get any real sense of your sound filling the space. As a consequence, some of the high points (range-wise as well as dramatically) were slightly forced. Still, Mr. Brancy is a singer with a fine voice, and it was a fun concert that was well received by the appreciative audience.
Later in the afternoon, Ms. Bullock, a winner of the 2014 Naumburg International Vocal Competition, gave a very well sung concert. Here’s the bare bones of the program (i.e., not every song title mentioned).
She Is Asleep (1943) – John Cage (1912–1992)
La courte paille (1960) – Francis Poulenc (1899–1963)
Selections from The Nursery (1872) – Modest Mussorgsky (1839–1881)
Three songs dating from 1968–1969, 1947, and 1927 – Samuel Barber (1910–1981)
Drei Lieder der Ophelia (1918) – Richard Strauss (1864–1949)
Deep River, arr. Jeremy Siskind (1917) – Harry T. Burleigh (1866–1949)
I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free (1952) – Billy Taylor (1921–2010)
The Cage was a slightly odd choice for an opener, with vocal melismas (basically just vowel sounds—no real words) and the piano strings being brushed (with fingernails? I really couldn’t see), plus the pianist making some kind of knocking sound. Not my cup of tea. The first of the seven short Poulenc songs had simple, clear vocal lines, and the piece was very pretty and soothing. The next six alternated between brisk and lyrical, with three sets of each.
The Mussorgsky had a more dramatic setting of the texts, with phrases that were short and choppy at times. I particularly enjoyed Going to Sleep, a take on a child’s bedtime prayers with an appropriate sing-songy setting.
After intermission came the three Barber songs. The third, The Daisies, was my favorite with its clean, clear, and straightforward setting. With the Strauss songs, it was slightly odd to be hearing German translations of Shakespeare texts. Interesting, but slightly odd. Deep River was a nice setting, including slight variations to the recognizable tune, and I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free was a strong example of a Civil Rights era song. Ms. Bullock sang an encore which was (I think—she announced it, but her speaking voice did not carry as well as her singing voice) a Josephine Baker song. Mr. Brancy did not sing an encore, since his entire concert was going to be repeated later in the afternoon.
So, on a busy day, I got to hear songs in English, German, French and Czech. And two different, but interesting, concerts. Most enjoyable!
ConcertMeister
On Saturday I heard two song performances — John Brancy, baritone, with
Peter Dugan, piano; and Julia Bullock, soprano, with Renate Rohlfing, piano. The first was outdoors on Governors Island while the second took place at
St. Michael’s Church on the Upper West Side. Here’s the Marilyn Horne connection:
Mr. Brancy is a winner of the 2013 Marilyn Horne Song Competition and
Ms. Bullock’s concert was part of the Marilyn Horne legacy at Carnegie Hall, presented by Carnegie Hall Neighborhood Concerts. Ms. Horne has attended some of the Carnegie Hall Neighborhood Concerts but was not in able to be there this past Saturday.
Mr. Brancy began with popular music, then went classical on us, finishing with some Broadway fare. Night and Day (Cole Porter) was launched by solo piano to start, and then Mr. Brancy entered on stage and added vocals with a gentle jazz touch. As he went into some patter after the song, I got the feeling that I was seeing a breezy outdoor lounge act. But a somewhat classy one. He sang with a nice easy sound, with a bit of power when needed. The rest of the opening set included Nice Work If You Can Get It (George Gershwin), Fascination (Marchetti), Let Me Sing and I’m Happy (Irving Berlin), Stay in My Arms (Marc Blitzstein), and The Nearness of You (Hoagy Carmichael). His patter before Fascination (which he sang in French) recounted a story that Maurice Ravel had written the tune originally, but I did a little internet searching that points to that probably not being the case.
The classical set included Nachtstuck (Schubert), La Barchetta (Reynaldo Hahn), and Mé srdce často v bolesti (Antonin Dvořák). While all three were nice, the piano accompaniments came across a little less clearly than in the earlier popular songs. My best guess is that Mr. Dugan had more leeway there, and that the classical accompaniments were just more subdued, as written. Mr. Dugan played a solo next, a Chopin Revolutionary Etude mashup with the Beatles’ Yesterday. There seemed to be less mashing and just the two pieces side by side, with little interplay.
The Broadway fare consisted of Some Enchanted Evening (Richard Rodgers), Maria (Leonard Bernstein), and Soliloquy (Richard Rodgers). One of the problems with singing outdoors is that, as a singer, you don’t get any real sense of your sound filling the space. As a consequence, some of the high points (range-wise as well as dramatically) were slightly forced. Still, Mr. Brancy is a singer with a fine voice, and it was a fun concert that was well received by the appreciative audience.
Later in the afternoon, Ms. Bullock, a winner of the 2014 Naumburg International Vocal Competition, gave a very well sung concert. Here’s the bare bones of the program (i.e., not every song title mentioned).
She Is Asleep (1943) – John Cage (1912–1992)
La courte paille (1960) – Francis Poulenc (1899–1963)
Selections from The Nursery (1872) – Modest Mussorgsky (1839–1881)
Three songs dating from 1968–1969, 1947, and 1927 – Samuel Barber (1910–1981)
Drei Lieder der Ophelia (1918) – Richard Strauss (1864–1949)
Deep River, arr. Jeremy Siskind (1917) – Harry T. Burleigh (1866–1949)
I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free (1952) – Billy Taylor (1921–2010)
The Cage was a slightly odd choice for an opener, with vocal melismas (basically just vowel sounds—no real words) and the piano strings being brushed (with fingernails? I really couldn’t see), plus the pianist making some kind of knocking sound. Not my cup of tea. The first of the seven short Poulenc songs had simple, clear vocal lines, and the piece was very pretty and soothing. The next six alternated between brisk and lyrical, with three sets of each.
The Mussorgsky had a more dramatic setting of the texts, with phrases that were short and choppy at times. I particularly enjoyed Going to Sleep, a take on a child’s bedtime prayers with an appropriate sing-songy setting.
After intermission came the three Barber songs. The third, The Daisies, was my favorite with its clean, clear, and straightforward setting. With the Strauss songs, it was slightly odd to be hearing German translations of Shakespeare texts. Interesting, but slightly odd. Deep River was a nice setting, including slight variations to the recognizable tune, and I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free was a strong example of a Civil Rights era song. Ms. Bullock sang an encore which was (I think—she announced it, but her speaking voice did not carry as well as her singing voice) a Josephine Baker song. Mr. Brancy did not sing an encore, since his entire concert was going to be repeated later in the afternoon.
So, on a busy day, I got to hear songs in English, German, French and Czech. And two different, but interesting, concerts. Most enjoyable!
ConcertMeister
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