Sequenza21/The Contemporary Classical Music Weekly

BMOP's "Minimalism" Concert -- Boston

Gil Rose rehearses BMOP -- Photo by Liz Linder

On Friday, February 18, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP) took the stage at New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall for one of the most enjoyable concerts I have seen in that venue. Under the direction of founder Gil Rose, they played Common Tones in Simple Time (1979), by John Adams, Philip Glass's Symphony No. 3 (1995), Shimmer (1994), by BMOP's current resident composer Elena Ruehr, and, as the entire second half of the program, Steve Reich's Tehillim (1981).

Common Tones was probably the piece best suited to Jordan Hall, which is huge, beautiful, and very reverberant, or "wet" to use the industry jargon. The other pieces, where the crispness of the rhythms are so important, suffered some from the wetness of the hall, but not so for the Adams. The piece is very still; the harmonies are fairly static, and the sixteenth-note rhythms that move the piece along make it seem to float rather than driving it forward in the way that they do in Reich or Glass. Technically the performance was very solid, and I was impressed with the way Gil Rose got the ensemble to bring out the almost sinister character of the final section when the low strings come in and the high winds play trade off more syncopated attacks.

The performance of the Glass was both technically and expressively very good. The jagged melody of the second and fourth movements, with it's occasional jagged contrapuntal accompaniment, was I though especially effective -- the ensemble stayed locked together, the tone was strong and rhythmic and almost angry, and of course Philip Glass is a master of making constant meter changes sound perfectly natural.

Elena Ruehr's Shimmer was also successful. The performance was, as far as I could tell, nearly flawless, although again some of the detail work was swallowed up by the hall. Ruehr's writing was diatonic, but not quite tonal, and generally strong and self-assured. I confess that my attention wandered for a bit in the middle, but the end of the piece was fabulous with fierce, rhythmic pizzicato and it brought my attention all the way back. And again, the success of the ending can be credited both to Ruehr and to Gil Rose and the orchestra, who brought the needed energy to the music.

After intermission, a new configuration of the orchestra presented Steve Reich's wonderful Tehillim. Reich is my favorite living composer, so this piece was the highlight of the concert for me, and with only a few exceptions the performance was both masterful and powerful. The group had some synchronization problems when the maracas were the only percussion instrument playing, but when the tuned and jingle-less tamborines came in the ensemble locked together perfectly and naturally. The singers were magnificent (although they could have been louder), obviously enjoying themselves as they sang confidently through what must be some of the more challenging vocal music around. From my vantage point in the balcony I could see several of the other players grooving along with the music as they played their classically Reichian rhythmic lines.

When the music finally stopped, the audience brought Gil Rose out for three curtain calls -- deservedly so. BMOP is a force to be reckoned with, and they gave a great concert. And for those of you who were not in attendance, the program notes say that the concert was recorded for broadcast on WGBH, Boston's classical NPR station, so keep an ear out for that.

posted by Galen H. Brown 2/20/2005