Nope, not Lawrence Welk. Three concerts in three days — Pierre Bernac’s Library, A Tribute to Francis Poulenc; JACK Quartet; and Arts and Artists of Tomorrow (also known as Songbook).
The Bernac Tribute was a bit odd. As it turns out, Pierre Bernac was a baritone who premiered quite a few of Poulenc’s songs, and he left his papers (including many Poulenc manuscripts) to the Lincoln Center Library for the Performing Arts. Unfortunately, that was not printed anywhere; it had to be gleaned from announcements from the stage. Awkward packaging, at best.
Katherine Whyte (soprano), James Danner (tenor), Michael Kelly (baritone), and Alexander Tall (baritone) presented a varied afternoon concert of Poulenc’s songs, all more than ably accompanied by Matthew Odell (piano). Clocking in at fifty-two songs in eleven different sets, obviously not everything can be covered here. While I don’t normally offer reviews, per se, I did enjoy Mr. Kelly’s offerings more than the others. I think that's partially because, at least in this exposure to Poulenc’s song oeuvre, the baritones fared better than the higher voices. Mr. Kelly was smooth and engaging throughout the afternoon, while
Mr. Tall was very expressive, and connected with the audience a little better.
Mr. Danner acquitted himself well but Ms. Whyte suffered a bit from the extreme ranges and spikiness of Poulenc’s writing. That said, hearing fifty-two Poulenc art songs in one afternoon was a wonderful treat. Unfortunately, the printed program listed Poulenc’s dates (twice!) as 1899–1863. Yes, he was decomposing before our eyes. (He died in 1963.)
JACK Quartet (Christopher Otto, violin; Austin Wulliman, violin; John Pickford Richards, viola; Jay Campbell, cello) played at the Brooklyn Public Library’s Central Library as part of the Carnegie Hall Neighborhood Concerts series. Hmmm, the initials of their first names no longer spell JACK, but I digress. Part of JACK’s mission is to share “the thrills of new music with audiences,” and that was certainly on display Sunday afternoon.
String Quartet (1931) – Rubato assai, Leggiero, Andante, Allegro possible –
Ruth Crawford Seeger (1901–1953)
Intonations (2016) – Harmonica, Hymn/Homily, Hustle – Derek Bermel
(b. 1967)
Early that summer (1993) – Julia Wolfe (b. 1958)
ST/4-1,080262 (1962) – Iannis Xenakis (1922–2001)
My notes will be from memory, as JACK plays with the house lights completely darkened, and I’m not one of those audience members who use electronic devices during concerts—no cell phone flashlight function for me, thank you. The Seeger was very modern in terms of musical styling. There was lots of dissonance and not much in the way of distinguishable tunes. The four movements were fairly distinct, so at least we knew when to applaud at the end. I don’t know the history of this composer or piece, but I’m pretty sure I would not seek it out again.
The Bermel was much more representative—the quartet imitated harmonica playing beautifully—and was quite humorous at times. Hymn/Homily and Hustle weren’t quite as representative but they were both enjoyable to listen to. In addition to hearing living composers on the program, Mr. Bermel was in the audience, and spoke briefly about his piece before it was played. (If I’m remembering correctly, the piece was written for JACK.) The Wolfe and Xenakis were not nearly as enjoyable for me. The Wolfe, in fact, was of the scratchy, repetitive, Philip Glass–esque variety that almost put me to sleep at times. The Xenakis wasn’t quite as grating, but it also wasn’t something that I would choose to listen to again, though I would probably give JACK another try again (I know I’ve heard them at least once before).
January’s Songbook presented a very good sampling of the music and lyrics of Michael Finke. There were fourteen selections on display, all presented by gung-ho performers—some just breaking in to the business, some seasoned performers, and some current and recent Broadway performers—all volunteering their time and talent. That goes for Nils-Petter Ankarblom, the music director (piano) and his small band made up of bass (electric), guitar (electric), cello, violin and drums. (Apologies for not mentioning the names of every performer.) A stand-alone song, Me and My Cartoon Friends, was a kid’s-eye view of a Saturday morning. I liked it a lot, but the style of composition, as well as the orchestration and the sheer volume, led to lyrics getting lost. It’s based on the true story of a Chinese boy cutting a workman’s rope one Saturday morning because the noise was interfering with his cartoons on TV!
Two songs from Caroline and George were very well composed, very well thought out, and very well performed. In Flying around the Room, George IV of England is dealing with Parliament by just, well, getting high (sniffing cocaine?) and being figuratively above it all. In A Man Named George, George’s mistresses (both he and Caroline, his wife, are philanderers) are preparing to spread the dirt about the dastardly George when it is learned that he is trying to enact a law that would let him divorce her. It turns out that a lot of their husbands are also in Parliament with George. From hearing these two songs, this sounds like a show that I would be interested in seeing. While Mr. Finke’s writing that was on display throughout the evening was enjoyable, these were two of the strongest examples, in my opinion.
Mr. Finke draws a lot of his material from true events, and this held with two songs from Reporting Live, a musical based on Christine Chubbuck, who staged her own suicide on live TV. Swim Forever was sung by the reporter’s mother, who never got to say her goodbye but who also fiercely loved her daughter. Hold Me Closer, the finale of the musical, was also the finale of Monday evening’s performance. With its strong sentiments that happiness is always available/attainable and the refrain of “I can breathe,” this was both powerful and effective.
Three songs from Hurricane, a musical about a group of people and how they get through waiting out the storm, were interesting. Described as a sung-through show, it’s hard for me to tell how effective the whole thing would be. But it wasn’t all disasters—America’s Next Top 20-Something, that opened the show, was very amusing and very real. And A Walk by the River, with its classic singer/
songwriter feel, was nicely played and sung from the piano by Mr. Finke. This was a strong Songbook.
ConcertMeister
Tuesday, January 31, 2017
Tuesday, January 24, 2017
Brahms Encounters – Romantic Spirit (1/21/17)
Siwoo Kim (violin), Rachel Kudo (piano), Paul Won Jin Cho (clarinet), Julian Schwartz (cello)
Scherzo in C minor, F-A-E Sonata – Johannes Brahms (1833–1897)
Clarinet Trio in A minor, Op. 114 – Allegro, Adagio, Andante grazioso, Allegro – Brahms
Piano Trio No. 2 in C Major, Op 87 – Allegro, Andante con moto, Scherzo, Presto, Finale, Allegro giocoso – Brahms
I have mixed feelings about this Brahms Encounters series. It’s interesting in that a staff member from the Lincoln Center Library for the Performing Arts has some conversation with the players during the concert. Sometimes it works, sometimes (like Saturday afternoon) it seems a little forced and a little flat. I did like starting off the concert with a single movement from a larger work. The scherzo from the Violin Sonata was brisk and pleasant and, at times, fairly familiar to me. There was really beautiful playing from both musicians.
The Clarinet Trio began with solo cello, soon joined by the clarinet and piano. It was oddly sedate for an allegro, perhaps shaded by its minor key, although that also lent a depth of feeling. The adagio was very calm yet still very pretty, without seeming to be too much of a downer. Throughout, there was good interplay between all three collaborators. Including strumming the cello, almost like a lute, the andante had a gentle, dance-like feeling—even in the louder, fuller sections, there was a certain gentility. The finale was more boisterous, but still restrained and refined, until it finally did bust loose.
The somewhat misnamed Piano Trio—throughout, the piano was a support, but equal-if-less-than-featured—also started off with a subdued opening. It, too, featured the lute-like strumming of the cello strings and had lots of unison/octave writing that would figure in all four movements. After retuning, the andante had octaves again, and the forward motion of the ‘con moto’ was very evident. There was more of a Romantic feel, especially in the piano writing, although overall, andante was more of an inherent musical sense rather than just tempo. The movement had a lovely and haunting ending. The third movement was a bright, brisk, energetic scherzo that then relaxed a bit. After periodically featuring octaves again, it had a slightly abrupt ending. There was a broad, full and positive feel to the final movement. I wanted to say sunny, but cheerful seemed to fit better.
There was beautiful playing all afternoon and, excepting the slightly clunky conversation portion, a well-planned concert experience. Don’t get me wrong—sometimes the conversation portion works just fine. This one didn’t seem to click.
ConcertMeister
Scherzo in C minor, F-A-E Sonata – Johannes Brahms (1833–1897)
Clarinet Trio in A minor, Op. 114 – Allegro, Adagio, Andante grazioso, Allegro – Brahms
Piano Trio No. 2 in C Major, Op 87 – Allegro, Andante con moto, Scherzo, Presto, Finale, Allegro giocoso – Brahms
I have mixed feelings about this Brahms Encounters series. It’s interesting in that a staff member from the Lincoln Center Library for the Performing Arts has some conversation with the players during the concert. Sometimes it works, sometimes (like Saturday afternoon) it seems a little forced and a little flat. I did like starting off the concert with a single movement from a larger work. The scherzo from the Violin Sonata was brisk and pleasant and, at times, fairly familiar to me. There was really beautiful playing from both musicians.
The Clarinet Trio began with solo cello, soon joined by the clarinet and piano. It was oddly sedate for an allegro, perhaps shaded by its minor key, although that also lent a depth of feeling. The adagio was very calm yet still very pretty, without seeming to be too much of a downer. Throughout, there was good interplay between all three collaborators. Including strumming the cello, almost like a lute, the andante had a gentle, dance-like feeling—even in the louder, fuller sections, there was a certain gentility. The finale was more boisterous, but still restrained and refined, until it finally did bust loose.
The somewhat misnamed Piano Trio—throughout, the piano was a support, but equal-if-less-than-featured—also started off with a subdued opening. It, too, featured the lute-like strumming of the cello strings and had lots of unison/octave writing that would figure in all four movements. After retuning, the andante had octaves again, and the forward motion of the ‘con moto’ was very evident. There was more of a Romantic feel, especially in the piano writing, although overall, andante was more of an inherent musical sense rather than just tempo. The movement had a lovely and haunting ending. The third movement was a bright, brisk, energetic scherzo that then relaxed a bit. After periodically featuring octaves again, it had a slightly abrupt ending. There was a broad, full and positive feel to the final movement. I wanted to say sunny, but cheerful seemed to fit better.
There was beautiful playing all afternoon and, excepting the slightly clunky conversation portion, a well-planned concert experience. Don’t get me wrong—sometimes the conversation portion works just fine. This one didn’t seem to click.
ConcertMeister
Wednesday, January 18, 2017
Hunter (1/12/2017)
What the heck is Hunter? Well, it’s sort of a ‘concept’ jazz group. Philip Yaeger, trombone and composition, put together a sextet with some of his favorite players—Martin Eberle, trumpet; Andreas Broger, saxophone, clarinet; David Cinquegrana, guitar; Nathan Peck, bass; and Yonadav Halevy, drums. If some of those names don't quite seem to go together, there’s a reason for that.
Mr. Yaeger is American but has lived in Vienna for the past ten or so years. Messrs. Eberle and Broger are Austrian, and Messrs. Cinquegrana, Peck, and Halevy are American of varied backgrounds. That said, they all know their jazz. The concert was sponsored by that Austrian Cultural Forum New York and took place in their nifty concert hall on East 52nd Street. On top of that, this concert was their world premiere performance. They spent the five days before the concert getting to know each other, practicing, and recording a CD for release later this year. Busy fellows.
All of the pieces were announced from the stage. The titles, though, didn’t really mean a lot to me—Spindrift, In Three, [unnamed] ballad, and Spindrift II. Oh, and they just happened to have an encore, Kingdom Come, handy. Their playing was fine but I found the compositions themselves to be a little strange. The first was slightly mesmerizing, with layered sounds above an ostinato rhythm loop for the guitar. Also, it was very loud. Really, really loud. In Three featured the bass player and was okay, but I didn’t get a sense of three at all. Some of Mr. Yaeger’s composing techniques were quite good, if a bit transparent and obvious. They just didn’t seem to jell into something that I found very enjoyable.
I liked the ballad better, mostly because it was quieter and a little more structured—at least a structure that I found more enjoyable. It began with a sort of traditional chorale feel, then morphed into a breakout bridge section, and then ended up raucous. In fact, raucous is the word that best describes the entire evening. Spindrift II was a lot like Spindrift.
Good techniques, good musicians, not a great concert experience for me. Once again, I’m glad that I went and expanded my musical horizons a little bit, but I wish I had enjoyed it better. Live and learn.
ConcertMeister
p.s. For those of you wondering, I’ve been ’Meistering now since October 1, 2011.
Mr. Yaeger is American but has lived in Vienna for the past ten or so years. Messrs. Eberle and Broger are Austrian, and Messrs. Cinquegrana, Peck, and Halevy are American of varied backgrounds. That said, they all know their jazz. The concert was sponsored by that Austrian Cultural Forum New York and took place in their nifty concert hall on East 52nd Street. On top of that, this concert was their world premiere performance. They spent the five days before the concert getting to know each other, practicing, and recording a CD for release later this year. Busy fellows.
All of the pieces were announced from the stage. The titles, though, didn’t really mean a lot to me—Spindrift, In Three, [unnamed] ballad, and Spindrift II. Oh, and they just happened to have an encore, Kingdom Come, handy. Their playing was fine but I found the compositions themselves to be a little strange. The first was slightly mesmerizing, with layered sounds above an ostinato rhythm loop for the guitar. Also, it was very loud. Really, really loud. In Three featured the bass player and was okay, but I didn’t get a sense of three at all. Some of Mr. Yaeger’s composing techniques were quite good, if a bit transparent and obvious. They just didn’t seem to jell into something that I found very enjoyable.
I liked the ballad better, mostly because it was quieter and a little more structured—at least a structure that I found more enjoyable. It began with a sort of traditional chorale feel, then morphed into a breakout bridge section, and then ended up raucous. In fact, raucous is the word that best describes the entire evening. Spindrift II was a lot like Spindrift.
Good techniques, good musicians, not a great concert experience for me. Once again, I’m glad that I went and expanded my musical horizons a little bit, but I wish I had enjoyed it better. Live and learn.
ConcertMeister
p.s. For those of you wondering, I’ve been ’Meistering now since October 1, 2011.
Friday, January 6, 2017
Midday Masterpieces (1/4/17)
Happy New Year! Midday Masterpieces is a concert series sponsored by WQXR (NYC’s classical music radio station) in partnership with the Juilliard School of Music. This version was a solo pianist, Drew Peterson, who (I believe) is in the graduate program. One of my least favorite aspects of this series is that there is not a printed program. My notes for the first work were, Invention? Suite? Nope.
J.S. Bach – Toccata in F-sharp minor, BWV 910
Schumann – Humoreske in B-flat major, Op. 20
Liszt – La Leggierezza, S. 144/2
Liszt – Mazeppa, S. 139/4
OK, I was close. The Bach had some nice contrapuntal lines weaving in and out and back and forth, but they weren’t cohesive, like one of the suites or even one of the inventions. Still the piece had pleasant contrasts and held my interest very well.
Schumann’s Humoreske also seemed steeped in the vignette. I haven’t explored on line yet, but it seemed to me as though there were five or six mini-movements. I may report back later. Or I may not. [UPDATE: Once again, I was darned close. I pegged at six movements. In reality, there are seven.] The opening was very gentle, definitely in the Romantic style, yet still subdued, followed by brisk and happy variations. (This piece was new to my ears, but judging by the head nods and fingers moving on thighs and knees, the piece and certain audience members seemed to be old friends.) A couple of the movements had expressive, song-like qualities. The next to last movement, a presto, almost caused an audience faux pas—applause almost broke out—until the pianist finished it and the final movement. This was clearly the showcase presentation of the concert.
After a phone chime {{ahem!}}, we heard the first of the Liszt études, La Leggierezza. From Liszt’s own program notes, we learned that it was designed to be a study in ‘light and airy’—though it also incorporated the requisite Liszt pyrotechnics.
Mazeppa was far more dramatic, and Mr. Peterson’s description (very Jeff Spurgeon-like) included the fact(s?) that it might be based on Turkish folklore. Or Polish. And that Mazeppa (the man, not the composition, or the stripper) was lauded by the Turks (or Poles) for surviving a harrowing ride through the desert (which may or may not have happened). But I digress. The work was a fine example of Liszt’s craft and even hearkened back to the song-like structures of Schumann.
As it turned out, we were an appreciative audience experiencing a very fine concert performance. This is an ongoing series, and I’m already booked to attend the Feb. 1 iteration (first Wednesday of each month, through June). Very much worth a midday day off, to attend a performance of a masterwork or two.
ConcertMeister
J.S. Bach – Toccata in F-sharp minor, BWV 910
Schumann – Humoreske in B-flat major, Op. 20
Liszt – La Leggierezza, S. 144/2
Liszt – Mazeppa, S. 139/4
OK, I was close. The Bach had some nice contrapuntal lines weaving in and out and back and forth, but they weren’t cohesive, like one of the suites or even one of the inventions. Still the piece had pleasant contrasts and held my interest very well.
Schumann’s Humoreske also seemed steeped in the vignette. I haven’t explored on line yet, but it seemed to me as though there were five or six mini-movements. I may report back later. Or I may not. [UPDATE: Once again, I was darned close. I pegged at six movements. In reality, there are seven.] The opening was very gentle, definitely in the Romantic style, yet still subdued, followed by brisk and happy variations. (This piece was new to my ears, but judging by the head nods and fingers moving on thighs and knees, the piece and certain audience members seemed to be old friends.) A couple of the movements had expressive, song-like qualities. The next to last movement, a presto, almost caused an audience faux pas—applause almost broke out—until the pianist finished it and the final movement. This was clearly the showcase presentation of the concert.
After a phone chime {{ahem!}}, we heard the first of the Liszt études, La Leggierezza. From Liszt’s own program notes, we learned that it was designed to be a study in ‘light and airy’—though it also incorporated the requisite Liszt pyrotechnics.
Mazeppa was far more dramatic, and Mr. Peterson’s description (very Jeff Spurgeon-like) included the fact(s?) that it might be based on Turkish folklore. Or Polish. And that Mazeppa (the man, not the composition, or the stripper) was lauded by the Turks (or Poles) for surviving a harrowing ride through the desert (which may or may not have happened). But I digress. The work was a fine example of Liszt’s craft and even hearkened back to the song-like structures of Schumann.
As it turned out, we were an appreciative audience experiencing a very fine concert performance. This is an ongoing series, and I’m already booked to attend the Feb. 1 iteration (first Wednesday of each month, through June). Very much worth a midday day off, to attend a performance of a masterwork or two.
ConcertMeister
Tuesday, December 20, 2016
The Weekend that Almost Wasn’t (12/17–18/16)
Saturday was outdoor Christmas caroling in Greenwich Village, sponsored by the West Village Chorale, and hosted by Judson Memorial Church. When I ran errands on Saturday morning, it was snowy, but OK. As I ended errands, it was rainy and not OK. I decided to ditch it. Then I checked the weather online. Hmmm, fewer chances of rain. I braved it and got to the Village at noon. A couple of groups had already departed, but mine would be heading out shortly.
Group 3 did a bang-up job in Washington Square, along West 4th Street and Cornelia Street. We even went into a café for a subdued and pleasant rendition of Silent Night. At one point, we hooked up with another roving Group and formed a small choir for Silver Bells and one other song. Fun. Later, we strolled, singing the Twelve Days of Christmas—not the best choice. The Lords a Leaping weren’t quite in the same tempo as the Ladies Dancing. Somehow we all got together for Five Go-o-o-o-o-lden Rings! And somehow we all ended together. Along the way, we Came Upon a Midnight Clear, we Jingled, we Roasted Chestnuts, we Gloriaed, and we We Three Kinged, etc. I’m glad I overrode my veto!
Sunday had the prospect of going to the {gasp} Bronx for The Orchestra Now. Once again, I almost talked myself out of it but decided to take the plunge. I’m so glad I did.
Aladdin Suite – Oriental Festival March; Aladdin’s Dream and Dance of the Morning Mists; Hindu Dance; Chinese Dance; Prisoners’ Dance; Negro Dance (1918–1919) – Carl Nielsen (1865–1931)
Shéhérazade – Asie; La flûte enchantée; L’indifférent – (1903) – Maurice Ravel (1875–1937)
Scheherazade – The Sea and Sinbad’s Ship; The Legend of the Kalendar Prince; The Young Prince and the Young Princess; Festival at Baghdad—The Sea—The Shipwreck (1888) – Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844–1908)
All conducted by JoAnn Falletta
There was so much so cool about this concert. The Orchestra Now is a sort of training orchestra—to the best of my knowledge, all of the players are graduate students at Bard College. Actually, going back and re-reading the well-written program notes, it is “an innovative pre-professional orchestra and master’s degree program at Bard college … .” That means that this concert was free, but the ones they play at the Met Museum, Carnegie Hall, etc. are not.
This was a large orchestra, which was a good thing. Good in that you rarely hear an orchestration that includes two harps plus a celeste. And all three works had 22 violins … 5 French horns … 2 trombones plus a bass trombone … get it?—lots of instruments.
The Nielsen was great as a concert opener. The first movement was straightforward, while the second was calmer and slower, followed by a graceful dance section. The third movement was rather sinuous and included an extended winds-only section. The fourth movement was much brighter, with a quicker tempo while the fifth was much more dramatic, with a large brass presence, especially in the lower ranges. The final movement was rhythmic and very fast.
Both Scheherazades that followed were essentially a retelling of the 1,001 Arabian Nights fable (which also blended in well with Aladdin).The potentate/Caliph/grand pooh-bah was unhappy in love. His solution was to marry a virgin and then decapitate her after one night. Scheherazade decided to nip that in the bud. She married the aforementioned guy. On her wedding night, she wove an intriguing tale and spun it out until dawn, withholding the actual ending. Thus she lived to see another day. After 1,001 nights of this, the guy decided that she was a keeper.
The Ravel was a mini song cycle for mezzo-soprano and orchestra. Susan Platts was the very effective mezzo in the three-song cycle.
The Rimsky-Korsakov is somewhat of a warhorse that I think you’d recognize, but here it was played very well. I had a few minor quibbles with tempi and the cohesiveness of sections and movements, but these were very minor.
There were two excellent portions of the afternoon. Each piece was introduced by an orchestra member, who recounted some of what we could read in the program, written by other orchestra members. Additionally, there was an Orchestra Quick Guide (similar to a setup card for your laptop or tablet) that gave you titles of the works, dates of the composers, date of composition and premiere performance, and orchestration. Cool stuff. One of The Orchestra Now’s missions is to create a new audience for classical music and, specifically, classical music concerts. To that end, there was a group of students in the rows behind me whose teacher pointed out the Quick Guide to them and also pointed out that there was more detailed info in the printed program itself.
As is often the case, the students were quick to applaud after the first movement before realizing that most audiences take a work as a whole before offering applause. This is not a hard and fast rule, but one that is generally accepted and they caught on pretty quickly. They did, though, tend to chatter a bit while the orchestra was playing. It could be attention span or just not acknowledging the talent/work/discipline on display on the stage. I think it will come, but these were young teenagers who should have known better by now.
Throughout, the orchestra played very well. Unfortunately, with the hall only about one-third full, it was difficult to sustain applause, especially when Ms. Falletta wanted to acknowledge individual solo players (specifically in the Rimsky-Korsakov). It was even difficult to sustain the applause for the de rigeur second curtain call for Ms. Platt after the Ravel. Sometimes one acknowledgment from the audience is enough.
Would I go again? You bet I would. This performance was at the Lehman Center for the Performing Arts at Lehman College (a new venue for me). The next two free Around Town concerts by The Orchestra Now will take place in Brooklyn and Queens. Woo-hoo! I go non-Manhattan-centric!
ConcertMeister
Group 3 did a bang-up job in Washington Square, along West 4th Street and Cornelia Street. We even went into a café for a subdued and pleasant rendition of Silent Night. At one point, we hooked up with another roving Group and formed a small choir for Silver Bells and one other song. Fun. Later, we strolled, singing the Twelve Days of Christmas—not the best choice. The Lords a Leaping weren’t quite in the same tempo as the Ladies Dancing. Somehow we all got together for Five Go-o-o-o-o-lden Rings! And somehow we all ended together. Along the way, we Came Upon a Midnight Clear, we Jingled, we Roasted Chestnuts, we Gloriaed, and we We Three Kinged, etc. I’m glad I overrode my veto!
Sunday had the prospect of going to the {gasp} Bronx for The Orchestra Now. Once again, I almost talked myself out of it but decided to take the plunge. I’m so glad I did.
Aladdin Suite – Oriental Festival March; Aladdin’s Dream and Dance of the Morning Mists; Hindu Dance; Chinese Dance; Prisoners’ Dance; Negro Dance (1918–1919) – Carl Nielsen (1865–1931)
Shéhérazade – Asie; La flûte enchantée; L’indifférent – (1903) – Maurice Ravel (1875–1937)
Scheherazade – The Sea and Sinbad’s Ship; The Legend of the Kalendar Prince; The Young Prince and the Young Princess; Festival at Baghdad—The Sea—The Shipwreck (1888) – Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844–1908)
All conducted by JoAnn Falletta
There was so much so cool about this concert. The Orchestra Now is a sort of training orchestra—to the best of my knowledge, all of the players are graduate students at Bard College. Actually, going back and re-reading the well-written program notes, it is “an innovative pre-professional orchestra and master’s degree program at Bard college … .” That means that this concert was free, but the ones they play at the Met Museum, Carnegie Hall, etc. are not.
This was a large orchestra, which was a good thing. Good in that you rarely hear an orchestration that includes two harps plus a celeste. And all three works had 22 violins … 5 French horns … 2 trombones plus a bass trombone … get it?—lots of instruments.
The Nielsen was great as a concert opener. The first movement was straightforward, while the second was calmer and slower, followed by a graceful dance section. The third movement was rather sinuous and included an extended winds-only section. The fourth movement was much brighter, with a quicker tempo while the fifth was much more dramatic, with a large brass presence, especially in the lower ranges. The final movement was rhythmic and very fast.
Both Scheherazades that followed were essentially a retelling of the 1,001 Arabian Nights fable (which also blended in well with Aladdin).The potentate/Caliph/grand pooh-bah was unhappy in love. His solution was to marry a virgin and then decapitate her after one night. Scheherazade decided to nip that in the bud. She married the aforementioned guy. On her wedding night, she wove an intriguing tale and spun it out until dawn, withholding the actual ending. Thus she lived to see another day. After 1,001 nights of this, the guy decided that she was a keeper.
The Ravel was a mini song cycle for mezzo-soprano and orchestra. Susan Platts was the very effective mezzo in the three-song cycle.
The Rimsky-Korsakov is somewhat of a warhorse that I think you’d recognize, but here it was played very well. I had a few minor quibbles with tempi and the cohesiveness of sections and movements, but these were very minor.
There were two excellent portions of the afternoon. Each piece was introduced by an orchestra member, who recounted some of what we could read in the program, written by other orchestra members. Additionally, there was an Orchestra Quick Guide (similar to a setup card for your laptop or tablet) that gave you titles of the works, dates of the composers, date of composition and premiere performance, and orchestration. Cool stuff. One of The Orchestra Now’s missions is to create a new audience for classical music and, specifically, classical music concerts. To that end, there was a group of students in the rows behind me whose teacher pointed out the Quick Guide to them and also pointed out that there was more detailed info in the printed program itself.
As is often the case, the students were quick to applaud after the first movement before realizing that most audiences take a work as a whole before offering applause. This is not a hard and fast rule, but one that is generally accepted and they caught on pretty quickly. They did, though, tend to chatter a bit while the orchestra was playing. It could be attention span or just not acknowledging the talent/work/discipline on display on the stage. I think it will come, but these were young teenagers who should have known better by now.
Throughout, the orchestra played very well. Unfortunately, with the hall only about one-third full, it was difficult to sustain applause, especially when Ms. Falletta wanted to acknowledge individual solo players (specifically in the Rimsky-Korsakov). It was even difficult to sustain the applause for the de rigeur second curtain call for Ms. Platt after the Ravel. Sometimes one acknowledgment from the audience is enough.
Would I go again? You bet I would. This performance was at the Lehman Center for the Performing Arts at Lehman College (a new venue for me). The next two free Around Town concerts by The Orchestra Now will take place in Brooklyn and Queens. Woo-hoo! I go non-Manhattan-centric!
ConcertMeister
Wednesday, December 14, 2016
Very Full Weekend+ (12/10–12/16)
Saturday afternoon was Holiday Songbook I, with the music of Jay Alan Zimmerman, consisting of sixteen songs, all of which were holiday themed. Representing crass commercialism (and fun) was Buy! Buy! Buy! which melded well with the fact that Mr. Zimmerman’s published holiday songbook is now in print and available. If memory serves, all of the songs we heard on Saturday afternoon are available in the print version.
It’s somewhat hard to do an all-holiday-themed show (there are just so many regular and off-the-wall scenarios to be dealt with), but this was a fun afternoon. Mr. Zimmerman repurposed a few existing songs with Emmanuel (a reworking of
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel), sung by Matt Case, and Carol Loves the Bells (probably my favorite title of the show), sung by Casey Erin Clark and the guys from the entire performance cast. Both were quite interesting. A patter-style, Grinch-like Happy Jolly Merry Headache, sung by Doug Shapiro, was also fun, as was Gingerbread Man, sung by Angel Desai and a pair of backup singers, Stephanie Joyner and Tony Ramos. Not listed on the program was a rather ribald The Perfect Gift which was essentially a musicalized orgasm. The plight of the homeless was brought to light in No More Room, where a homeless man,
Ritt Henn (also the terrific bassist for the afternoon) is down on his luck and a somewhat ghost-like choir intones, “No more room,” in nice harmonies.
A “trunk song” (one written a while ago but then for some reason tucked away), Mistletoe Manipulation, was brought out and given a first performance. The nicely sung duet eventually brought Ray Zanders and Mariana Barbosa together for a Christmas smooch. A Little Holiday Secret dealt with a gal, Tiffan Borelli, who lets her atheist Jewish fiancé, Ross Urken (actually Tiffin's husband), know that she really, really, really likes Christmas. It was fun and enjoyable.
Quite touching was Time to Find Home, performed by a deaf actor,
Stephen Drabicki, and sung by Angel Desai. It was doubly effective
in that Mr. Zimmerman himself is a deaf composer. His deafness was a direct result of the 9/11 attacks, though he’s kept on composing ever since. Holiday Zombie was a bit of a hoot and included appropriate zombieography.
The show finished with a touching duet, Silly Star, sung by Mr. Zimmerman and his 21-year-old (if I’m remembering correctly) son Zachary. It’s one of the first songs he ever wrote and was quite appropriate to end the afternoon with.
Sunday afternoon found me out in the cold at Rockefeller Center where, in front of the famous tree, 424 tuba players took part in the 43rd Annual Tuba Christmas. From the beginning organ-like sound of O Come, All Ye Faithful, which was really awe inspiring, to the final notes of Jingle Bells, it was a fun afternoon. I’ve attended this event at least a couple of times previously, and every year they announce that they’ll play each song twice—first for us to listen to and second for us to join in and sing. It never works. We, as a crowd, are just too far away and dispersed for any type of cohesive choral sound to be effective. A few of
us valiantly sang along, but it still just didn’t work. Favorites included the sacred (We Three Kings, Away in a Manger, etc.) and the secular (Deck the Halls and the aforementioned Jingle Bells) and, possibly my favorite, We Wish You a Merry Christmas, where the tubists stop playing in the middle and they sing to us! At approximately forty minutes, the concert was just the right length for me, though I know that others in the crowd got there up to thirty minutes ahead of the start time.
Monday evening was Holiday Songbook II, a more typical songbook in that more than one composer was featured. In this case there were sixteen different composers/teams with seventeen different songs performed. Many, though not all, of the songs were specifically written for this occasion, or at least written with Holiday Songbook, generally, in mind. As always, and including Songbook I, hearing new songs for the first time doesn’t necessarily give a lot to go on in terms of really commenting closely. In this case, some really crackerjack performances/
performers made me like some songs better than others. Not new, songwise, was the choreographed trio to Bette Midler’s recording of Cool Yule that opened the performance, with loads of fun.
A very timely We’re Not Going to Talk about …, sung by Danielle Trzcinski (also the lyricist), was all about holiday get-togethers where politics, as a discussion subject, is off the table. Until some of the guests get a little too much in their cups. There was some funny stuff here. Also very funny and effective was Beth Glover singing By Christmas, as a somewhat snooty mother trying to convince her son to ditch his current girlfriend or she (the mother) would be dead by Christmas.
Michael Linden and Larry Owens did a bang-up job of Sam Salmond’s Make My Yuletide Gay and Mr. Owens was positively manic in Will Aronson's and
Bill Nelson’s Oh My God I Love Christmas—an adult going all-out bonkers with the excitement of Christmas. With Polkadots Christmas, from Polkadots: The Cool Kids Musical, Brittney Johnson gave us a Motown pop-style up tempo rendition of a song set to a sort of music minus one soundtrack—she was singing live to a recorded track that included backup singers, as well as performing with a live piano accompanist.
The Christmas Tree Blues was funny, even allowing me to jot down some of the lyrics by Sam Carner (music, Derek Gregor): “I’m as blue as any evergreen could be,” and “Ain’t no way I’ll make it to spring … on my very last ring,” sung by Solea Pfeiffer. Then the dysfunctional family was represented again in Merry Christmas, with Grampa getting drunker and drunker. There was even a reference to that other holiday via the lyric, “Happy gin & tonic-a.”
Snow Day, with music and lyrics (and sung by) Jessica Ann Carp gave us hearts full of sorrow, pleading that these current times make us need some calming snow. The piece was scored for piano, violin, cello and voice, and the cellist made a special trip from North Carolina just to appear in this concert with Ms. Carp. That’s holiday spirit!
Joey Contreras’ First Sign of Forever was given a touching performance by
Mia Gerachis telling of finding a new love at this special time of year. As a finale, we heard a rather adventurous, if slightly uneven, Focus on Tomorrow (music: Jake Chapman, lyrics: Henry Nettleton), that was a retelling of the nativity story through the Bailey children from It's a Wonderful Life. There were some good ideas, but it was a little on the long side and a little flawed.
Still, and I say this every time, it's astounding that so much talent (all volunteering their time and energy) is on display at every one of these Songbook presentations. I got some Christmas presents early this year. (Apologies for not naming every composer, lyricist and performer.)
It’s somewhat hard to do an all-holiday-themed show (there are just so many regular and off-the-wall scenarios to be dealt with), but this was a fun afternoon. Mr. Zimmerman repurposed a few existing songs with Emmanuel (a reworking of
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel), sung by Matt Case, and Carol Loves the Bells (probably my favorite title of the show), sung by Casey Erin Clark and the guys from the entire performance cast. Both were quite interesting. A patter-style, Grinch-like Happy Jolly Merry Headache, sung by Doug Shapiro, was also fun, as was Gingerbread Man, sung by Angel Desai and a pair of backup singers, Stephanie Joyner and Tony Ramos. Not listed on the program was a rather ribald The Perfect Gift which was essentially a musicalized orgasm. The plight of the homeless was brought to light in No More Room, where a homeless man,
Ritt Henn (also the terrific bassist for the afternoon) is down on his luck and a somewhat ghost-like choir intones, “No more room,” in nice harmonies.
A “trunk song” (one written a while ago but then for some reason tucked away), Mistletoe Manipulation, was brought out and given a first performance. The nicely sung duet eventually brought Ray Zanders and Mariana Barbosa together for a Christmas smooch. A Little Holiday Secret dealt with a gal, Tiffan Borelli, who lets her atheist Jewish fiancé, Ross Urken (actually Tiffin's husband), know that she really, really, really likes Christmas. It was fun and enjoyable.
Quite touching was Time to Find Home, performed by a deaf actor,
Stephen Drabicki, and sung by Angel Desai. It was doubly effective
in that Mr. Zimmerman himself is a deaf composer. His deafness was a direct result of the 9/11 attacks, though he’s kept on composing ever since. Holiday Zombie was a bit of a hoot and included appropriate zombieography.
The show finished with a touching duet, Silly Star, sung by Mr. Zimmerman and his 21-year-old (if I’m remembering correctly) son Zachary. It’s one of the first songs he ever wrote and was quite appropriate to end the afternoon with.
Sunday afternoon found me out in the cold at Rockefeller Center where, in front of the famous tree, 424 tuba players took part in the 43rd Annual Tuba Christmas. From the beginning organ-like sound of O Come, All Ye Faithful, which was really awe inspiring, to the final notes of Jingle Bells, it was a fun afternoon. I’ve attended this event at least a couple of times previously, and every year they announce that they’ll play each song twice—first for us to listen to and second for us to join in and sing. It never works. We, as a crowd, are just too far away and dispersed for any type of cohesive choral sound to be effective. A few of
us valiantly sang along, but it still just didn’t work. Favorites included the sacred (We Three Kings, Away in a Manger, etc.) and the secular (Deck the Halls and the aforementioned Jingle Bells) and, possibly my favorite, We Wish You a Merry Christmas, where the tubists stop playing in the middle and they sing to us! At approximately forty minutes, the concert was just the right length for me, though I know that others in the crowd got there up to thirty minutes ahead of the start time.
Monday evening was Holiday Songbook II, a more typical songbook in that more than one composer was featured. In this case there were sixteen different composers/teams with seventeen different songs performed. Many, though not all, of the songs were specifically written for this occasion, or at least written with Holiday Songbook, generally, in mind. As always, and including Songbook I, hearing new songs for the first time doesn’t necessarily give a lot to go on in terms of really commenting closely. In this case, some really crackerjack performances/
performers made me like some songs better than others. Not new, songwise, was the choreographed trio to Bette Midler’s recording of Cool Yule that opened the performance, with loads of fun.
A very timely We’re Not Going to Talk about …, sung by Danielle Trzcinski (also the lyricist), was all about holiday get-togethers where politics, as a discussion subject, is off the table. Until some of the guests get a little too much in their cups. There was some funny stuff here. Also very funny and effective was Beth Glover singing By Christmas, as a somewhat snooty mother trying to convince her son to ditch his current girlfriend or she (the mother) would be dead by Christmas.
Michael Linden and Larry Owens did a bang-up job of Sam Salmond’s Make My Yuletide Gay and Mr. Owens was positively manic in Will Aronson's and
Bill Nelson’s Oh My God I Love Christmas—an adult going all-out bonkers with the excitement of Christmas. With Polkadots Christmas, from Polkadots: The Cool Kids Musical, Brittney Johnson gave us a Motown pop-style up tempo rendition of a song set to a sort of music minus one soundtrack—she was singing live to a recorded track that included backup singers, as well as performing with a live piano accompanist.
The Christmas Tree Blues was funny, even allowing me to jot down some of the lyrics by Sam Carner (music, Derek Gregor): “I’m as blue as any evergreen could be,” and “Ain’t no way I’ll make it to spring … on my very last ring,” sung by Solea Pfeiffer. Then the dysfunctional family was represented again in Merry Christmas, with Grampa getting drunker and drunker. There was even a reference to that other holiday via the lyric, “Happy gin & tonic-a.”
Snow Day, with music and lyrics (and sung by) Jessica Ann Carp gave us hearts full of sorrow, pleading that these current times make us need some calming snow. The piece was scored for piano, violin, cello and voice, and the cellist made a special trip from North Carolina just to appear in this concert with Ms. Carp. That’s holiday spirit!
Joey Contreras’ First Sign of Forever was given a touching performance by
Mia Gerachis telling of finding a new love at this special time of year. As a finale, we heard a rather adventurous, if slightly uneven, Focus on Tomorrow (music: Jake Chapman, lyrics: Henry Nettleton), that was a retelling of the nativity story through the Bailey children from It's a Wonderful Life. There were some good ideas, but it was a little on the long side and a little flawed.
Still, and I say this every time, it's astounding that so much talent (all volunteering their time and energy) is on display at every one of these Songbook presentations. I got some Christmas presents early this year. (Apologies for not naming every composer, lyricist and performer.)
Saturday, December 10, 2016
WQXR Midday Masterpieces (12/7/16)
This is a joint venture between WQXR, NYC’s classical music radio station, and the Juilliard School of Music, which may or may not be their official name. Still, it’s a great combination. Wednesday’s version presented four vocalists in an all-Schubert program. The following info is taken from WQXR’s website, since they don’t provide programs or info at the concerts.
Viola, D. 786 – Angela Vallone, soprano; Chris Reynolds, piano
Die liebe Farbe; Die Böse Farbe (from Die schöne Müllerin) D. 795;
Erlkönig, D. 328 – Matthew Swensen, tenor; Jinhee Park, piano
Ganymed, D. 544; Abendstern, D. 806; Lied eines Schiffers an die Dioskuren,
D. 360; Auf der Bruck, D. 853 – Miles Mykkanen, tenor; HoJae Lee, piano
An Sylvia, D. 891; Fischerweise, D. 881; Prometheus, D. 674 – Alex Rosen, bass; Chris Reynolds, piano
In keeping with ’Meister’s plan of not offering reviews—merely commentary on free and low-cost programs—let me state that all four vocalists presented themselves very well, as did the three partners/accompanists (because really, with lieder, the accompanists are truly partners). That said, Viola was nicely sung, with good (if maybe too direct) diction. The piece was fairly lengthy but had enough interest to fully engage us in the audience.
With the first of the two Die schöne Müllerin selections, the tenor captured the dark mood, but he really came into his own in the second. With Erlkönig, he might have worked a bit too hard differentiating each character, vocally, but it was still an effective performance of this somewhat chilling piece.
Ganymed seemed slightly mannered to me, as did Abendstern and Dioskuren. This could possibly be because these students (and we must remember that these are students, not seasoned professionals) are still developing their voices as well as their personal performing styles—indeed, their professional, performing personalities. Auf der Bruck was referred to as the ‘other’ horse riding song (in a reference to Erlkönig) and was well performed.
Surprisingly, An Sylvia and Fischerweise were the most difficult to pull off, in that they were classic, simple lied—strophic, relying on the artist to imbue the texts with enough interest to keep our interest involved. This was incorporated pretty well. Prometheus, on the other hand, was a dramatic setting, with a very effective performance. I think that the bass voice added a feeling of heft, maybe unfairly in comparison to the upper register voices that we had heard earlier.
Are these performers and voices that we will hear more of/from later? Hard to tell. Speaking from experience, there are lots of talented performers who have to work hard at finding their particular niche in show business. Or not. But these are seven very talented performers, and I wish them the best of luck (and I hope I hear more from them in the future!).
ConcertMeister
Viola, D. 786 – Angela Vallone, soprano; Chris Reynolds, piano
Die liebe Farbe; Die Böse Farbe (from Die schöne Müllerin) D. 795;
Erlkönig, D. 328 – Matthew Swensen, tenor; Jinhee Park, piano
Ganymed, D. 544; Abendstern, D. 806; Lied eines Schiffers an die Dioskuren,
D. 360; Auf der Bruck, D. 853 – Miles Mykkanen, tenor; HoJae Lee, piano
An Sylvia, D. 891; Fischerweise, D. 881; Prometheus, D. 674 – Alex Rosen, bass; Chris Reynolds, piano
In keeping with ’Meister’s plan of not offering reviews—merely commentary on free and low-cost programs—let me state that all four vocalists presented themselves very well, as did the three partners/accompanists (because really, with lieder, the accompanists are truly partners). That said, Viola was nicely sung, with good (if maybe too direct) diction. The piece was fairly lengthy but had enough interest to fully engage us in the audience.
With the first of the two Die schöne Müllerin selections, the tenor captured the dark mood, but he really came into his own in the second. With Erlkönig, he might have worked a bit too hard differentiating each character, vocally, but it was still an effective performance of this somewhat chilling piece.
Ganymed seemed slightly mannered to me, as did Abendstern and Dioskuren. This could possibly be because these students (and we must remember that these are students, not seasoned professionals) are still developing their voices as well as their personal performing styles—indeed, their professional, performing personalities. Auf der Bruck was referred to as the ‘other’ horse riding song (in a reference to Erlkönig) and was well performed.
Surprisingly, An Sylvia and Fischerweise were the most difficult to pull off, in that they were classic, simple lied—strophic, relying on the artist to imbue the texts with enough interest to keep our interest involved. This was incorporated pretty well. Prometheus, on the other hand, was a dramatic setting, with a very effective performance. I think that the bass voice added a feeling of heft, maybe unfairly in comparison to the upper register voices that we had heard earlier.
Are these performers and voices that we will hear more of/from later? Hard to tell. Speaking from experience, there are lots of talented performers who have to work hard at finding their particular niche in show business. Or not. But these are seven very talented performers, and I wish them the best of luck (and I hope I hear more from them in the future!).
ConcertMeister
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