Make Music New York (12/21/19)

I did, I did. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah! No, really. I sang the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah four times in four different spots in NYC.

First, a bit of backstory. Make Music (and I believe it happens in other cities (countries?)) is a phenomenon that occurs twice a year—the winter solstice and the summer solstice—where we, the people, are invited to take part in making music. There were programs throughout the day today but I focused on choral music between 6pm and 8pm.

Organizationally, it was a bit rough at first, as in, nobody explained who the conductor was or when/how we’d actually start at the first gathering space. The other three were smoothed out pretty well. The singing was all a cappella, i.e., there was no instrumental accompaniment. Even with the range of singing levels, they all also went pretty darn smoothly. Speaking of range, my pipes still function well—my range is slightly diminishing. C’est la vie. (Oh go ahead, you know you want to.)

On to the shows. We started out at Astor Place and it went nicely. The next stop was the northern end of Madison Square Park (26th Street/Madison Avenue). I decided to walk the almost twenty blocks, and I made good time. (A note, I’d planned on walking the entire route, knowing that I could always change my mind and jump on the subway if I needed to.) I spotted the group when I got there. This group of choristers was a bit smaller, but we sang lustily and with good courage. Afterwards, I began the walk to the third site.

Hmm, this one was a bit more nebulous—Times Square Plaza between 44th and 45th Streets. Hello? Times Square on the Saturday before Christmas? I made the walk and made pretty good time, actually. I think I was the first one there. I recognized two guys from the previous stop, so we formed a small group, scanning the crowd for other familiar faces. I was standing on a short wall. I then was joined by Peter, who had the brilliant idea of holding up his score pages that had “Hallelujah Chorus” at the top. Eventually, the group came together and we gave another spirited rendition.

Peter (another tenor) and I, joined by John (a bass; it sounds Biblical, doesn’t it?), decided to walk to the final location—Lincoln Center! We quickly headed west to Eighth Avenue. Hello! Theater district on Saturday night? We then went to Ninth Avenue, where the crowds were ever-so-slightly thinner. That said, we three intrepid carolers made it to the fountain at Lincoln Center with a few minutes to spare and found our group there. This might have been our largest choir, and it was definitely our largest audience. I think we brought a small spirit of joy to this fun city at a fun time of the year. Will I do it again next year? Maybe. Weather and pipes permitting.

Happy solstice! Winter arrived while I was writing this missive.

ConcertMeister

Holiday Songbook II (12/16/19)

OK, kids, these sixteen songs were all written for this concert. All new compositions, some heard for the very first time here. There were hits and misses, but even the misses had merit.

The concert started off with a terrific a cappella quartet singing You Feel the Christmas Spirit When … It turns out that the when was when you learned that most of your favorite Christmas songs were written by Jews! Oddly, J.C.T. (which stands for Jewish Christmas Tree) featured a rabbi who loved Christmas and commented that many beloved Christmas songs were written by Jews.

A Cautionary Tale was quite amusing. Grandpa went out to hunt down the last buck whose herd had been destroying his garden/forest. He proudly proclaimed, “The buck stops here.” When grandpa didn’t return in a timely manner, searchers went out to find him. Dead. With five holes in his chest. Antler holes. Christmasy? No. Funny? Hell, yeah.

Two of the sixteen were titled At Christmastime. Both were slightly downers. Yep, it happens (apparently twice, to different composers/lyricists).

Also in the amusing court were Christmas in a Coffee Shop (hey, money was tight that year) and Camping for Christmas. The latter featured a giant RV (not literally) that arrived with the requisite giant bow on top. Twelve-year-old Kaylin Hedges (who did a bang-up job) lamented about the lame idea of going camping for Christmas. Guess what? She ended up loving it—the fire, the stars, the camaraderie with family—what’s not to love?

I have to mention Playin’ Santa, composed (and sung) by Jay Alan Zimmerman. He’s deaf. He composes and sings. Let that sink in. And the song was lots of fun.

A Hanukah (their spelling) Song for Mama was also a lot of fun. The kids (brother and sister, but two guys singing here—welcome to the theater!) had to sing for their Hanukah presents; Mama wanted to see/hear the result of all those lessons. As the cherry on top, the composer’s Mama was in the audience. And, yes, she loved the song.

Once again, I had a great time, as did the other audience members. I do believe there will be more Songbooks in my future.

ConcertMeister

Holiday Songbook I (12/14/19)

Here’s the subtitle (and take a big breath): A Concert of Traditional and New Holiday Music Presented by Students and Alumni of Marymount Manhattan College

Whew! There were twenty pieces performed, so don’t expect a blow-by-blow and a shout-out to every performer. The setup gave this the feel of a (really good) school talent show—not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Some of the traditional works included a medley of I’ll Be Home for Christmas/Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas/The Christmas Song, which was a very pleasant start to the afternoon. Parts of the medley included nice harmonies and backup singing, with the main tunes shared pretty equally among the four singers, one of whom was the pianist who created the arrangement. Also traditional, but not really, was Man with the Bag, performed by Cissy Walken, Miss Stonewall Inn 50. Anybody who costumes/make-ups herself that much for one song deserves a shout-out. She sang (not lip-sync’ed) to a karaoke-style arrangement that was presentable but not in the ‘wow’ category.

Rounding out the traditional was Joni Mitchell’s River, which never quite does it for me as a holiday song but which was nevertheless enjoyable as a duo guitar/vocal performance; Jingle Bells (with a hip-hop dance break—I’m not making this up, you know); Oh Holy Night in an interesting arrangement for a female trio; and a highly stylized version of Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, which book-ended the concert quite nicely.

Oops, I forgot Merry Christmas Darling (styled nicely) and the John Lennon/Yoko Ono War Is Over, performed with piano and guitar, and backup singers providing nice harmonies for the vocal soloist.

Two of the songs written specifically for this event caught my attention. Snow, which was a premiere, had interesting harmonies. And Christmas on the Beach was jazzy and also included nice harmonies. I like my harmony—it just adds more to the piece, in my opinion. And for the record, I’m referring to vocal harmonies.

A few that looked good on paper just didn’t quite make it for me. They included Winter Snow, which had a nice pop feel to it but was just OK, Never Fall in Love with an Elf, and Christmas Sweater, which had a good idea but could have been realized a little better. Once again, these are my opinions only, and I certainly give all these youngsters props for composing new material to be heard on this holiday concert.

A few others were not composed for this concert. They included Mistletoe, by Justin Bieber, and Believe (from Polar Express). The best of the bunch for me was Traigo La Alegria, written by Manny Delgado—a Venezuelan composer. He is the grandfather of the young man who performed this piece, accompanying himself on the ukulele. As he explained from the stage, the ukulele is the closest thing to a similar Venezuelan instrument that is slightly larger and tuned slightly differently. But he had the uke, so there you go. But the story gets better. His grandfather talked him through learning the piece for this concert. The piece was nice—the story was excellent.

Once again, Holiday Songbook was a lot of fun. The audience had a great time, as did I.

ConcertMeister

Wreath Interpretations

Dec. 5, 2019–Jan. 2, 2020 (M–F, 9:00a–5:00p, Free)
The Arsenal Gallery
830 Fifth Avenue (64th Street), Third Floor

Forty wreaths (and interpretations of wreaths did, indeed, go on). The postcard I picked up featured the wreath made of pages from a chess book, crepe paper, and a cardboard box. One wreath used recovered stuff (water balloons) from a park in Queens. Another used recycled spoons, arranged in a pleasing circle.

Some had no hole in the center (a no-no according to BabyBro, but see ^^^ Interpretations, above ^^^—sorry, BabyBro!). One that referenced a New York Mets rookie phenom caught my attention right away. I actually have a ‘Polar Bear’ commemorative T-shirt. How cool (get it?) is that?

I was also liking a sunflower-style wreath with a (gasp!) mirror in the middle. I photographed it as a pseudo-selfie. Highlighting garbage in city parks, a wreath featured pieces of water balloons salvaged from a park in Queens. Kudos to the kids who thought that one up.

The creativity on display was phenomenal. If I’m remembering correctly, this is the 38th annual version. I know I’ve visited at least once before. I’m pretty sure I’ll be back. And thanks to NY1 for doing a brief piece about this that rekindled my interest. Yeah, I’m liking NYC.

Next, Songbooks and Making Music New York.

ConcertMeister (Not this time around.)

Gotham Radio Theatre (12/7/19)

Rudolph’s Tale: A 1964 Christmas

Vince Trani, Yukon Cornelius and Burl Ives; Sigrid Wise, Mrs. Claus and Clarice; Victor Barbella, Hermie; Laura Leopard, Rudolph; J.T. O’Connor, Santa, Fireball, and more; Sydnie Grosberg Ronga, director

To be totally honest, all five performers played ‘and more’, and there was an uncredited studio assistant who added tons of authentic radio theatre touches. That said, this one didn’t work quite as well as some other productions I’ve seen by this group—I think it’s because they were re-creating a TV show, so there would obviously be reminders of certain visual cues, which are not included in their usual radio re-creations. But that was a minor quibble.

In addition to presenting the classic “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” they also included renditions of TV commercials/jingles—Shake & Bake (“and we helped!”); Mr. Clean (including parts of the jingle that I didn’t recognize); and “Bewitched” (just to plug then-current-era TV shows?). Definitely enjoyable, especially the brief Agnes Moorehead and Paul Lynde impersonations.

More radio ads included the Jolly Green Giant (specifically, Niblets); Goldfinger (TV ads for movies?); Instant Folger’s; and The Addams Family (snap-snap!).

The actual story of Rudolph was created pretty much straight on, though as mentioned above, it was somewhat less effective than I expected. The one exception was Ms. Wise’s lovely, haunting presentation of “There’s Always Tomorrow”—it brought a tear to this jaded audience member’s eye.

Other commercials were for Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes (“They’re Gre-e-e-e-at!”) and Easy-Bake Oven (with a jingle that was unfamiliar to me). The songs “Silver & Gold” and “Island of Misfit Toys/When Christmas Day Is Here” also managed to hit the just-right nostalgic note.

Another couple of ads—Alka-Seltzer (with a jingle) and Rice-A-Roni (with its hummable jingle)—preceded “Holly-Jolly Christmas.” I enjoyed the performance, though not enough for me to go back and see the second one on Saturday afternoon. I can highly recommend Gotham Radio Theatre—just not this edition, unless you’re a hard-core Rudolph fan. There was a sing-along of the title song at the end of the performance. I added a hearty, “Ho, ho, ho!” after “… Santa came to say … ”—why didn’t they think of that?

ConcertMeister

Midday Masterpieces (12/4/19)

Gypsy Folklore – Ulysses Quartet – Christina Bouey, violin; Rhiannon Banerdt, violin; Colin Brookes, viola; Grace Ho, cello

Armenian Folk Songs for String Quartet – Komitas – Vagharshabadi Dance, It’s Cloudy, The Partridge
Rhapsody (2018) – Paul Frucht (b. 1989)
String Quartet No. 2, “From the Monkey Mountains,” Op. 7 – Wild Night; Vivace e con fuoco (only one movement was played; I’m not sure which one) – Pavel Haas
String Quartet No. 4 in c minor, Op.18, No. 4 – Allegro ma non tanto; Andante scherzoso quasi allegretto; Menuetto: Allegretto; Allegro – Prestissimo – Beethoven

The first folk song was energetic, though not too much. The second had one of the violins and the cello bowed while the other violin and viola were plucked (pizzicato). Eventually all four were bowing. It was mostly gentle and relaxing followed by a swooping grander section before returning to gentleness. The third was just plain energetic and fun.

The composer, Mr. Frucht, introduced his piece. He is a Juilliard alum, and all four string players are Juilliard students. The piece was very modern, almost bordering on harsh, though there were a few calmer sections. As a whole, it didn’t quite do it for me.

The Monkey Mountain movement featured Mr. Frucht as percussionist (lite)—snare drum, tom-tom(?), wood block, cymbal, and triangle. Apparently Mr. Haas created the piece with optional percussion, then removed the percussion, and then reinstated it. Whew! We heard it with percussion. It was also very modern (and at one point the violist added a police whistle to the mix—I’m not making this up, you know!). I liked this better than the previous piece, but not a whole lot better.

The Beethoven was much more traditional (duh!). The first movement was dark and brooding, though with energy, in its introduction. It was then pleasant and dance-like with a mix of playful and serious sections, though it was rather lengthy. The second movement had fugue-like entries by all four players, and it also had a mix of serious and playful, with touches of elegance added into the mix. The third was energetic while also being slightly dark and heavy. It finished with a nice flourish. The final movement was brisk yet controlled. A calmer section followed before returning to brisk and, actually, presto to the cute ending. In theory, some of the Beethoven was vaguely gypsy-/folklore-esque—I didn’t quite see it that way. But I enjoyed it nonetheless.

ConcertMeister

Elgar: Noble and Sublime (11/23/19)

Margaret Kampmeier, piano; Susan Rotholz, flute; Jill Levy, violin; Michael Roth, violin; Sarah Adams, viola; Eliot Bailen, cello

Three Winged Movements – The Hawk’s Glide; At the Bat’s Dwelling; Hummingbird’s Gaiety – Lior Navok (b. 1971)
Venetian Boat Song – Felix Mendelssohn (1809–1847)
Allegro Molto – Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel (1805–1847)
Quintet for Piano and Strings in A Minor, Op. 84 – Moderato–Allegro; Adagio; Andante–Allegro – Edward Elgar (1857–1934)

Fun facts gleaned from remarks by the performers: The Mendelssohns (siblings) were instrumental in bringing the music of J.S. Bach back into vogue during their lifetimes. The Elgar quintet was written in 1918, and Elgar was knighted in 1904. Now, on to the music.

The first winged piece, all three were for flute and piano, had a splashy opening and then wandered into modern phrases and harmonies. My takeaway was that it had modern, pretty sounds. The second had a slightly extended piano opening before the flute came in with more modern, pretty sounds, though with a hint of anxiety, or so it seemed to me. The third was much more brisk (almost bordering on frantic) and was the most interesting of the three, though it went on a bit long.

Felix M.’s solo piano piece was gentle and pleasant, sort of a barcarolle, and had a nice overall arc, in a relatively simple and effective way. Fanny M.’s solo piano piece was more energetic. It was slightly dramatic, had a song-like feel to it, with quite a few embellishments, and had a rather dramatic section before winding down to a quiet ending.

The first movement of the Elgar had a slightly mysterious opening followed by pretty writing for the strings, with the piano then joining in. There was a mix of dramatic and gentleness, then a big, full dramatic section before closing out with gentleness and, again, a bit of mystery. A gentle opening by the quartet started the second movement before being joined by the piano. It was relatively sedate, though it also included some sedate drama, as well. It was a little lengthy and meandering, but still pretty and, mostly, interesting. The third movement was also fairly gentle to begin with, though there were hints of drama, too, plus a playful section (still tinged with drama) before leading to a full and energetic ending.

I’m not quite sure how ‘Noble and Sublime’ (from the title) figured into the afternoon, but I’m glad that I heard these interesting pieces, all of which were new to me.

ConcertMeister