Naumburg Orchestral Concerts (6/9/26)

BAROKLYN, CONCORA & SIMONE DINNERSTEIN, DIRECTOR & PIANO 

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685–1750)
Herr Gott, nun schleuss den Himmel auf, BWV 617, (1716) 

PHILIP GLASS (b. 1937), (arr. Michael Riesman)
Suite from The Hours, (2002)
Movement I, Movement II, Movement III

J.S. BACH
Cantata 9, Es ist das Heil uns Kommen her, BWV 9, (1734)*
Chorus: Es ist das Heil uns kommen her; Recitative: Gott gab uns ein Gesetz; Aria: Wir waren schon zu tief gesunken; Recitative: Doch mußte das Gesetz erfüllet werden; Duet: Herr, du siehst statt guter Werke; Recitative: Wenn wir die Sünd aus dem Gesetz erkennen; Chorale: Ob sichs anließ, als wollt er nicht
Louise Fauteux, soprano, Megan Roth, mezzo-soprano, Jack A. Pott, tenor, Jermaine Woodard, Jr., baritone
*Continuo realizations by PHILIP LASSER, (b. 1963)

J.S. BACH
Three Movements from three Cantatas
Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan, BWV99/1 (1724); Er tödt’ uns durch dein’ Güte, BWV22/5 (1723); So lasset uns gehen in Salem der Freuden, BWV182/8 (1714)

J.S. BACH/LASSER (b. 1963)
In the Air (2025)

(Apologies for the ALL CAPS; it was easier for me to copy/paste all of that from their website than to retype everything.)

The first of five concerts in the series, this Tuesday evening in Central Park was pretty much perfect weatherwise. The opening work was for piano, strings, and oboe d’amore. It was gentle but also pretty full sounding. Brief and effective, it was a great way to begin the season. 

Movement I of the Glass opened with Ms. Dinnerstein conducting the strings in the slightly amorphous work. She then went to the piano to join the small ensemble, Baroklyn, and the music was still amorphous. While the energy increased at times, it was amorphous energy. Guess how the movement ended. Movement II began slow and amorphous. And continued that way. It was a bit longer than Movement I. Movement III began (briefly) sans piano. Soon, it was same old, same old. 

After intermission, Baroklyn was joined by the 20-voice choir CONCORA for J.S. Bach’s Cantata 9. There was an orchestral opening, and then the choir joined in, relatively calm and pure (i.e., limited vibrato). The sound mix† was pretty good. The first recitative was for baritone, accompanied by the piano. The aria was for piano and string (violin) and tenor. The baritone was back for the second recitative followed by a soprano/mezzo duet accompanied by flute, piano and oboe. And chirping birds! A recitative (baritone again) was followed by the final chorale for orchestra and full chorus. The movement itself was also full, ending rather sedately. 

Fourth on the program were three movements from three separate Bach cantatas. The first was sprightly, for orchestra and chorus. The second was for low strings, oboe, and chorus. It was a solid chorale, brief but very effective, while the third was for flute and strings followed by the chorus from the top down in an a cappella section. 

The last work was pretty much Air on a G String with updated additions. It was also quite effective.  

This series is one of my favorites of the summer season, and I look forward to it every year. I’m so glad it got off to such a solid start. Fingers crossed for good weather for the next four. [On demand at WQXR.org, though I'm not sure for how long.] 

†Both the chorus and instruments were electronically enhanced.  

ConcertMeister

Across a Crowded Room (5/30/26)

A brief reminder—Across a Crowded Room is a program sponsored by the Lincoln Center Library for the Performing Arts, a venue near and dear to my heart. Composers, book writers, and lyricists meet in a room, decide who they’d like to work with, and then create a 20-minute musical. It may be self-contained, or it may be the germ of what they hope will be a larger creation. At any rate, this performance was the output of that program. I saw/heard seven 20-minute performances. There was also feedback from two industry professionals after each presentation. Let the fun begin! 

Patricia’s Seven Houses was about Patricia (duh!) who had seven rental properties on a cul de sac. Everyone had problems. Patricia interacted with a couple of renters while also being on hold with the dreaded ‘help’ line of the group that managed the properties. This was very funny. It was more of a play with music than a musical, but I didn’t have a problem with that. 

Zelda (after a tech glitch, an offstage phone call that never arrived) had three versions of the same character. All of them were involved with climate control/change, just different concerns at different times in Zelda’s life. The music and lyrics were good, but it was a little unclear whether all three versions of Zelda actually realized that they were all dealing with all three versions of Zelda at the same time. Still, it was compelling. 

Prison Fan Club (Working Title) was another compelling story. I also liked the music and lyrics. For 20 minutes, it was pretty much fully formed. 

A Most Immoral Woman was the most advanced of the seven works that I saw and heard. There was a set! There were costumes! Everyone was off book! The story revolved around a beauty pageant contestant who was unfortunately incapacitated. Fortunately, her twin sister was available to replace her. Both girls were being mentored by a former beauty pageant participant who had a fix in with the judges. The crux of the story came down to the final contestant’s question. Would the imposter go with the fix or go with her own conviction? I’m not telling. Oh, and this cast also took a bow. (Note to all performers—always take a bow. We, the audience, need to know that you appreciate us appreciating you.) 

The Subway: A Musical Play in Five Memories was also a lot of fun. The setting was 1923 NYC. The actors used their bodies as sound effects (thumping their chests and screeching to imitate the sounds of the subway). It was most effective. This one also had good harmonies, and I'm a big fan of harmony. The five memories got sort of mish-mashed, but it all worked out in the end.

Enemies to Lovers was an interesting spinoff/satire (really, a character named Blake Storm?) that had fun humor but possibly too many vignettes. It was definitely a work in progress. It also had a duet that, alas, had no harmony. As with all of the works, it was enjoyable, just not one of my favorites. 

My Husband’s First Wife was intriguing. And I mean that in a good way. It opened with a female trio singing close harmony, which was a great touch. I pegged it as ’30s. I was close—the setting was 1928. It turns out that Ethel thinks she is Eugene’s second wife. It turns out that Ethel is visited (via a séance) by four of Eugene’s former wives. It turns out that Eugene poisoned all of them with an apple tart. It turns out that when Eugene is returning home, Ethel is preparing an apple tart ... 
It’s not quite Sweeney Todd, but it was very funny nonetheless. 

A note about the industry professionals—they provided great feedback to all seven groups. For one (and I forget which) they really liked the short story quality of the piece and suggested writing two more short story–esque works and then combining them into one larger work. As Arte Johnson would say, "Ver-r-ry inter-es-ting!"

Will I be attending the next Across a Crowded Room performances? You betcha!

ConcertMeister

Gotham Early Music Scene (5/28/26)

THEOTOKOS
Music in the Time of Charlemagne 

Adrienne Lotto ~ voice; Garrett Eucker ~ voice; Dongmyung Ahn ~ vielle; Trący Cowart ~ harp, voice; Rocky Duval ~ voice; Doug Balliett ~ harp, organ, direction 

Part 1: Renovatio 

The most beautiful chants
Alleluia: In die resurrectionis meae ~ Hymn: Aeterna caeli Gloria ~ Gradual: Christus factus est ~ Offertory: Jubilate Deo omnis 

Part 2: Inventio
Anglo-Norman Sequalae
Adorabo Minor ~ Exsultate Deo ~ Lyra ~ Fulgens Praeclara  

Notker: Sequences
Epiphany: Festa Christi ~ Assumption: Congaudent ~ Gallus: Directe deo 

Tuotilo: Hodie cantandus est 

Part 3: Subjugo
The Heliand (excerpt) 

Part 4: Cadio
Plantus Cygni

Historia Santus Arnulfus Metensis (excerpts)
Antiphon: Splendor Aspira ~ Responsory: Politis in Lapidibus ~ Prosa: Solus qui ~ Antiphon: Cum Promere ~ Responsory: Cum Civitatis ~ Prosa: Pro Meritis

Planctus Karolus (excerpt)

Whew! The first work in Part 1 was for soprano, vielle and harp. Next there were five vocalists chanting, with vielle as continuo, in unison at first and then with simple vocal harmonies. The third was for solo male chanting with organ accompaniment. (This was the very first time I was hearing the organ at St. Malachy’s.) The section ended with five vocalists chanting with vielle and the director adding hand claps as percussion. It was quite lively. For those of you wondering, a vielle is a stringed instrument similar to a violin but with a longer and deeper body that, therefore, produces a deeper, slightly richer sound. And, yes, I had to do an internet search. 

A note about each Part. Since each included several pieces that were performed fairly seamlessly, it was a little difficult to tell where one chant ended and the next began, so there won’t be a naming or a description of each individual work. All of the chants were similar to each other but there was enough variety—number of singers, choices of accompaniments, etc.—to keep the entire program interesting. 

Part 2 had a combination of wordless chants over a vocal drone (a single note sustained throughout), harp, vielle, finger cymbals(?) (I never saw them), and tambourine in one lively, celebratory chant.

Part 3 was interesting in that it was a spoken excerpt (with snippets of song) of an epic poem. Fortunately, it was performed in an English translation. Mr. Balliett was at times dramatic and at times humorous.  

Part 4, as announced from the front of the church, had two pieces cut, but it would have been hard to tell since that section of Part 4 had six small pieces listed and it was difficult, once again, to tell where one piece ended and the next began. 

All in all, it was a varied and interesting program well performed by all involved. I’m not sure I’d see and hear the group again, but I’m glad I heard them here. 

ConcertMeister