Concert review

Concert review, Concerts, Contemporary Classical, File Under?

Louis Karchin A Retrospective at Merkin Hall (concert review)

Louis Karchin: A Retrospective

Merkin Concert Hall

September 22, 2024

NEW YORK – Composer Louis Karchin has been prolific, even during the pandemic years. In a program at Merkin Concert Hall of chamber works and songs composed between 2018 and 2024, he was abetted by some of New York’s go-to new music performers, who acquitted themselves admirably throughout. 

All photos: Julie Karchin.

Stephen Drury is an abundantly talented pianist. But even with a repertoire list as lengthy and challenging as Drury’s, Sonata-Fantasia (2020, New York Premiere) is an imposing addition. The piece is in four large sections combined into a single movement, with elements such as chromatic and bitonal harmonies, chains of angular gestures, trills, and thrumming bass notes appearing frequently. One of the distinctive techniques employed pits a middle register chord repeated against impressionist sounding arpeggios cascaded above and below it. Apart from the meditative third section, sprightly virtuosity ruled the day. 

Two Sacred Songs (2018, World Premiere) were workshopped via Zoom during the pandemic. Soprano Marisa Karchin and pianist Steven Beck performed these settings of George Herbert, a seventeenth century poet and Anglican priest. The soprano has radiant top notes, clear diction, and a sure sense of phrasing. “Denial” requires all of these characteristics, its wide vocal range matching the various emotions on display in the poem. Beck is a versatile pianist, who matched Marisa Karchin’s attention to the intricacies of the texts and provided vivid accompaniment. The two were a powerful pair when demonstrating the intensity of “The Storm.” 

Beck frequently plays with instrumentalists too, and he performed Sonata quasi un Capriccio (2023, world premiere) with violinist Miranda Cuckson, a longtime collaborator of Karchin’s. This association benefited both piece and performance, as the composer knows how reliable Cuckson is, even in stratospheric altissimo lines. Sonata quasi un Capriccio is a white-hot piece filled with dramatic flair. It closed the first half.

The second half was also a mix of vocal and chamber music. The poet Steven Withrow heard Karchin’s music and was impressed. He approached the composer and suggested providing two texts based on paintings – San Vigilio: A Boat with a Golden Sail by John Singer Sargent and I And the Village by Marc Chagall – for Karchin to set as art songs, the result being Compositions on Canvas (2021, World Premiere). Soprano Alice Teyssier, joined by Beck, clearly reveled in the detailed texts, the first describing Sargent’s relationship to Italian patrons, the second detailing a virtual menagerie of animals found in Chagall’s painting. Karchin’s songs supply many coloristic shifts, dynamic gradations, and widely spaced gestures to encompass the imagery found in Withrow’s words. Teyssier navigated these handily, and Beck’s accompaniment glistened persuasively, particularly in the impressionist-simulating arpeggiations.

 

The concert concluded with a substantial work that, while maintaining Karchin’s musical language, provides a few hat tips to the concert tradition. Trio for Violin, Cello, and Piano (2019) was performed by the Horszowski Trio: Jesse Mills, violin; Ole Akahoshi, cello; and Rieko Aizawa, piano. Cast in three movements that run over twenty-five minutes, its first movement is marked Allegro con spirito and in sonata form. It begins with a mercurial upward arpeggio in the piano that references the opening gesture of Robert Schumann’s Piano Quintet. This is quickly countered by descending sixteenths. Gradually, lines compact into whorls of stacked thirds and seconds with trills adding zest. The presence of ascent is underscored by upward leaps in a subordinate theme in the cello. The tempo of the development shifts three times, slower and then quicker, with a misterioso section deconstructing the constituent themes. A recapitulation embellishes the material with even more scalar sixteenths, building in intensity until it closes with a forceful, registrally duplicated major third. 

 

The second movement, marked Lento, begins with thirty-second note pile-ups and octave bass notes in the piano undergirding a sustained violin solo. A tremolando duet between the strings is succeeded by sul ponticello playing. The cello and piano imitate the violin’s sustained tune in canon against pulsating piano left hand octaves. A slow chain of rising, alternating intervals unveils a gradual reference to the first movement. Silvery piano arpeggiations and long chromatic ascent in the piano accompany the theme in several string variations. 

 

The final movement, marked Vivace, begins with sustained low F octaves in the piano and a low F tremolando in the cello. The latter instrument adds short trills to abet a triplet-filled motive in the violin. These are succeeded by angular imitation in all three instruments, with the conflict between ascending and descending permutations of similar lines being restored. Pizzicato and trills in the strings are next set against the triplet passages in the piano, the variations in instrumentation opening a potent development section. Eventually, arpeggiations of seconds and fourths succeed the added note triads, and eighth note triplets once again propel the violin. A series of descending sustained bass notes in the piano are set against quarter note triplets in the strings, effectively stretching out the prior thematic material. This is followed by a kaleidoscopic reframing of all the motives from the third movement. The coda has a compound feeling, with quarter note and eighth note triplets overlaid and a fortissimo Bb major chord to conclude. 

 

One of Karchin’s gifts as a composer is the ability to employ a relatively consistent musical language to a number of expressive ends. The variety of the program at Merkin Hall was impressive, as was the high quality of all of the music. One hopes that recordings of these pieces will soon be forthcoming.

-Christian Carey 

 

by Christian Carey
Concert review, Rock

Horse Lords in Seattle

Horse Lords (Owen Gardner, Sam Haberman, Andrew Bernstein, Max Eilbacher) at The Vera Project, July 2, 2024 by Michael Schell

The noted avant-fusion band Horse Lords is in the midst of a West Coast tour that brought them to Seattle Center’s Vera Project Tuesday night, an opportunity to sample their distinct brand of polyrhythmic, phase-shifting instrumental rock—live and in full volume.

The group originated in Baltimore a decade ago, configured as a power trio fortified by looper pedals and a fourth musician (Andrew Bernstein) who alternates between alto sax and an additional set of drums. Their reputation, like their residence, has spread across North America and Europe in the ensuing years, with three of their members now residing in Germany, and the band garnering approbation for its glitchy, minimalist music that’s more intense than The Necks and more complex than Carl Stone—resembling what Steve Reich might have turned into if he’d been a rock-n-roller instead of a classically-trained composer.

Vera Project configured its modest-sized performance space like a dance floor, leaving most of it seatless, presumably in expectation of hosting a conventional rock band with an audience eager to dance. But disco regimens are hard to maintain when the tunes are in 6 and 7 time—or in one instance progressing from 5 to 3 to 2 beats per measure, with a repeating saxophone lick that was one note shorter than the band’s meter so that it eventually cycled its way back into sync. This is music designed mainly to be listened to. And pulling it off requires a band that’s extremely tight: a prerequisite amply fulfilled as the musicians traversed selections from their recent Comradely Objects, The Common Task and As It Happened: Horse Lords Live albums.

Opening the program was a group you’re more likely to encounter at Northwest Folklife than at a rock concert: the Pacific Northwest Sacred Harp Singers, who specialize in a tradition of a cappella protestant hymnody that originated in New England, where it was associated with names like William Billings (a contemporary of Mozart) and a “primitivist” sound, characterized by successions of root position chords, and simple polyphonic lines in the lower voices that cycle through three- or four-note cells drawn from a gapped or pentatonic scale. The genre quickly spread to the southern states where it came to be known as shape-note singing, after the customized notation designed to facilitate solfege, as used in the famous 1844 anthology The Sacred Harp). The music also acquired a jubilant, Africanized vocal style that evinces a common connection with modern gospel groups. The tradition also seems to have informed the distinctive style of Polynesian congregational singing captured in mid-20th century recordings, and whose musical characteristics strongly suggest the intervention of American missionaries, as its sound is quite distinct from the monophony of indigenous hula dances and the heightened speech of Māori haka songs.

Since its move to Seattle Center in 2007, Vera Project has lurked in the shadow of neighboring McCaw Hall and Climate Pledge Arena with a reputation as a quirky and somewhat amateurish community arts center with little experience attracting performers with an international following. But its current season has seen an increase in notable concert activity, and the Horse Lords event managed to draw a crowd of about 70 people, including young families with children—pretty impressive for this kind of music on a non-descript Tuesday night. The band does have a following at the intersection of the new music and indie/DIY communities, and the concert benefited from promotional support by The Stranger‘s Dave Segal and KBCS-FM’s Flotation Device show. But it’s still encouraging to see that this venue might be on its way toward establishing itself as an alternative in Seattle’s Lower Queen Anne neighborhood to The Royal Room in Columbia City, the Chapel Performance Space in Wallingford and the Neptune Theatre in the University District.

Pacific Northwest Sacred Harp Singers at The Vera Project, July 2, 2024 by Michael Schell
by Michael Schell
Chamber Music, Concert review, Contemporary Classical, Ojai

Ojai Music Festival – Saturday, June 8, 2024

Saturday June 8, 2024 in Ojai began with an overcast sky and cool breezes, but this did not prevent a good size crowd from filling the Libbey bowl for the 10:00 AM concert. Works by three contemporary composers were featured: John Zorn, Missy Mazzoli and John Adams.

Accordionist Ljubinka Kulisic opened the concert with Road Runner, by John Zorn. Ms. Kulisic is from Bosnia-Hertzegivina and received her DMA from the University of Toronto in Canada. I admit to harboring a certain skepticism about this piece; music for solo accordion would seem to belong in a different cultural orbit. Using a sort of musical jiujitsu, however, John Zorn, together with the talented Ms. Kulisic, have leveraged accordion cliches, snatches of familiar tunes and an impressive array of extended techniques to conjure an entertaining and dazzling tour de force from this unlikely instrument.

Road Runner opens with a rapid series short quotes from popular music, cartoons and other sources quidkly followed by the crashing of great cluster chords, insanely rapid scales and all sorts of physical effects that leave the listener breathless. The recognizably musical phrases lull the brain into complacency and then a booming outburst thoroughly scrambles the context. The cycle then repeats and this process results – counter intuitively – in listening more closely. The listener is trying to make sense of all the sounds together and not just the familiar ones. This required virtuosic playing by Ms. Kulisic who delivered an amazing performance and received enthusiastic applause for her efforts.

Dark with Excessive Bright, by Missy Mazzoli followed, performed by musicians of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. Rick Stotijn was the double bass soloist with Vincente Alberola conducting. Inspired by Milton’s Paradise Lost, the program notes state that: “While loosely based in Baroque idioms, this piece slips between string techniques from several centuries all while twisting a pattern of repeated chords beyond recognition.”

Dark with Excessive Bright opens with a strong tutti statement accompanied by a solemn bass solo. There is a slightly sad feeling to this as the strings crescendo then give way to another stretch of bass solo. The deep, rich sounds add a powerfully expressive dimension to what is essentially a double bass concerto. The string orchestra weaves in and out of the foreground as the solo bass makes its mournful journey, and this alternating pattern continues throughout the piece. There are occasional stretches of rapid rhythms in the solos that never drag; a credit to Stotijn and his agile handling of the double bass. Long, slow sustained tones, bring this piece to a satisfying conclusion. Dark with Excessive Bright meets Paradise Lost on its own weighty terms with artful musical success.

The final work on the program was the minimalist classic Shaker Loops, by John Adams. This was scored for three violins, a viola, two cellos and a double bass, played by the musicians of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. This began with a soft but clean opening in the violins with the other strings entering in turn. The tempo was precise and each of the shimmering layers of the first movement were clearly articulated. The texture gradually built into a lovely trembling swirl that perfectly evokes the spiritual ecstasy of the Shaker sect. The second movement, “Hymning Slews” was a complete contrast, with long sustained tones and just a slight undercurrent of excitement. This was nicely balanced and very expressive with skillful control of the quiet dynamics. The high, accented tones in this movement by the violin were especially effective. After a short transition, movement 3 “Loops and Verses” edged back into the lively groove of the opening. Low growling tones from the bass added an impressive element of power. The upper strings floated long sustained tones above the active counterpoint in the lower parts and this gathered into a driving pulse with an increased tempo and beautiful harmonies. The final movement , “A Final Shaking”, was faster still with blizzards of notes coming from all the parts, save the elegant pedal tone heard in the bass. The piece simply stopped at its ending, leaving the audience in a state of silent reflection before bursting into a long standing ovation.

It was good to hear Shaker Loops again to appreciate the delicate clarity and subtle dynamics present in this music, as well as the masterful playing of the Mahler Chamber orchestra musicians.

Musicians of the Mahler Chamber orchestra were:

Alexandra Preucil, May Kunstovny, Naomi Peters, violins
Yannick Dondelinger, viola
Stefan Faludi, Christoph Richter, cellos
Naomi Shaham, double bass

Photo Credit: Timothy Teague

by Paul Muller
Concert review, File Under?, Opera, Orchestras, Twentieth Century Composer

The Met Opera Orchestra at Carnegie Hall (Concert Review)

Credit: Evan Zimmerman / Met Opera

The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Music Director

Carnegie Hall

June 14, 2024

By Christian Carey for Sequenza 21

 

NEW YORK – In their last concert appearance this season at Carnegie Hall, the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, conducted by their Music Director, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, presented a program of music from two early twentieth century operas that both explore French folktales alongside one of the most famous nineteenth century opera overtures, based on a legend first promulgated by mariners in the eighteenth century. 

 

The latter, Richard Wagner’s Overture to the Flying Dutchman (1843), opened the concert. It has a memorable and bellicose main theme, one that particularly will delight brass fans. Aside from a couple of phlegmatic entrances at the very beginning, the Met’s brass section played admirably, with brilliant, powerful tone and incisive rhythm. Nézet-Séguin’s interpretation emphasized a strong and questing demeanor. The accentuation of leitmotifs associated with the ship’s captain and the sea’s rollicking waves suggested a character ready to break free from the curse inflicted upon him. 

Credit: Evan Zimmerman / Met Opera

Claude Debussy’s opera Pélleas et Mélisande (1902) is one of the composer’s crowning achievements. He never made a suite from the opera, and conductor Eric Leinsdorf decided to craft one, assembling a bit more than twenty minutes of its instrumental music. The piece received its Carnegie Hall premiere at the concert. 

 

Keeping with the Dutchman’s aquatic theme, Leinsdorf’s selections from Pélleas et Mélisande often involve water inspired passages, including music from the incomparable grotto scene. The music is frequently subdued, primarily operating in a dynamic spectrum between pianissimo and piano. There is forte music in Pélleas, but much of it involves the vocalists, particularly the role of Golaud and the penultimate scene that goes from love to murder. Thus, apart from a few portentous passages, Leinsdorf crafted a suite with more than a passing resemblance to the composer’s tone poem La Mer (1905). The Met orchestra played exceedingly beautifully, with a luminous sound that seamlessly blended winds and strings. Nézet-Séguin gave the piece a detailed and delicate reading, with well-paced phrasing providing continued vitality in a work  that, in the wrong hands, could be treated to an overly sentimental and languid rendition.

Credit: Evan Zimmerman / Met Opera

The Met’s orchestra concerts usually feature at least one piece for vocalists. Concluding the evening was an unstaged one-act opera, Bluebeard’s Castle (1918) by Béla Bartók. Even by the standards of early modernist opera, the story is exceedingly morbid (“creeptacular,” opined a concertgoer near my seat). Bluebeard brings Judith, his latest wife, to his castle. She is both fearful of his reputation and smitten with him. There are seven doors in the home, which include a torture chamber, armory, treasury, garden, et al. Judith is insistent that all of the doors be opened, that light be let into the gloomy castle. Behind the last door is a room that contains three of Bluebeard’s previous wives, all murdered. He describes this room as “a space on the border of life and death.” Judith is sent to join the other wives, never to depart. 

 

Why Judith doesn’t run the other direction when she sees the bloody implements in the torture chamber behind door one I’ll never know, but the progression from door to door isn’t just a realistic depiction of a castle. Maeterlinck was an important Symbolist writer, and the play and, by extension, the libretto for Bluebeard’s Castle, is rife with archetypal imagery. Bartók leaned into this understanding of the story, creating music that clearly delineates both of the characters and the progression through a castle that is equal parts nightmare dwelling and the inner life of Bluebeard. 

 

Mezzo-soprano Elina Garanča played Judith and Christian Van Horn took the role of Bluebeard. Garanča’s voice is a high, lyric mezzo, which served the challenging tessitura of the role well. In addition, she embodied the character’s mixture of feelings with eloquent expression, affording Judith successively greater curiosity and dread as more is revealed. Van Horn has a darkly sonorous instrument which he used to diabolical effect. The contrast between the two characters, one vulnerable and the other villainous, was well interpreted, Garanča singing with excitement and insistence, Van Horn sepulchrally forceful. Not for the faint of heart, but as Bartók’s only opera, it makes one yearn for him to have composed more for the stage.

 

There is an interesting connection between Pélleas et Mélisande and Bluebeard’s Castle. Maeterlinck, whose plays were the basis of their librettos, depicts Mélisande as a wife who escaped Bluebeard’s predations. Perhaps this explains her dissociative and even perplexing behavior in the opera. 

 

The concert’s program contained vivid contrasts as well as intriguing commonalities. The orchestra and Nézet-Séguin proved as compelling in concert as they are in the pit. 



by Christian Carey
Concert review, Contemporary Classical, Ojai

Ojai Music Festival – Friday June 7, 2024

The 78th annual Ojai Music Festival opened on Thursday June 6, 2024 and continued through Sunday June 9. The Music Director for this year was Mitsuko Uchida. Featured artists included the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, soprano Lucy Fitz Gibbon, violinist Alexi Kenney , cellist Jay Campbell, bassist Rick Stotijn and the Brentano String Quartet. The Ojai Festival always brings a mixture of fresh contemporary music along with the works of cherished composers such as J.S.Bach, W.A. Mozart and Béla Bartók. The cool morning weather did not deter a good turnout for the 10:00 AM Friday concert in the Libbey Bowl.

First up was Julie Smith Phillips performing Fall, a piece for solo harp and electronics by the late Kaija Saariaho. Thomas May’s program notes state that Fall is “…an arresting example of Saariaho’s ability to convey an assemblage of freely associated images through the interchange of acoustic and electronic sounds and a poetics of timbre.” Repeating light phrases open Fall accompanied by a churning counterpoint in the lower registers. This produces a feeling of uncertainty that is accentuated by the absence of definite rhythms or a solid pulse. The lack of a leading melody confirms that Fall is all about texture and contrast, propelled by an active tempo. The electronics and amplification intensify the timbrel palette of the normally reserved harp, and all of this is well-managed by Ms. Phillips. There is a brief stretch of simple, solitary notes in the upper registers offset by aggressive passages below, adding a sense of mystery. A series of strong arpeggios in the higher notes follow, introducing a feeling of menace. Fall is both dramatic and atmospheric and brings the normally soft spoken harp into new and expressive territory.

Pression, by Helmut Lachenmann followed, a solo cello piece performed by Jay Campbell. The piece opens with a series of whispers and soft scratches as the bow is lightly drawn across the strings. This soon escalates to angry growling sounds and vivid thumps applied to the cello wood. Pression is a series of amazing extended techniques on the cello that varies from soft ghostly tones to a rough, mechanical sound. Campbell was in full control of his instrument despite the fact that it was operating completely beyond the conventional sonic envelope of the normally stately cello. Pression is an impressive demonstration of what is possible when the elegant is completely given over to the physical.

Five Etudes, by Sofia Gubaidulina, was next. This is a five movement piece scored for harp, percussion and double bass. “Largo”, the first movement opened solemnly with a double bass solo consisting of single notes. The harp enters, followed by pitched percussion with everyone in a slow tempo and soft dynamic. A satisfying yet gentle groove soon developed. The percussion was effective, keeping a steady pulse while the harp and bass lines weaved in and around each other. “Allegretto” followed with an increased tempo and prominent drumming by percussionist Sae Hashimoto projecting the beat. This movement was stylish and jazzy, yet tastefully restrained. The “Adagio”, movement 3, consisted of lines of quiet solitary notes from the harp that were answered by the double bass. A soft trill was heard from the pitched percussion, enhanced by a metal chain draped over one of the vibraphone plates. This contributed a slightly mysterious feeling. Strong arpeggios in the harp opened movement 4, “Allegro disparato”, accompanied by a sharp drum beat. This was uptempo, described in the program notes as a “desperate Allegro.” Rapidly repeating cells in the marimba were offset by a solemn melody in the bass.

The final etude, “Andante”, started with slow pizzicato notes in the bass and counterpoint in the harp. This evolved into a comfortable walking bass line below combined with hip riffs above; an engaging mixture. Five Etudes was perhaps the most conventional of the contemporary pieces in the Friday morning concert. The playing was skillfully done, especially by Naomi Shaham on the double bass who was a last minute substitution.

The final work on the concert program was String Quartet No. 5, by Béla Bartók performed by the Brentano String Quartet. This was written in the summer of 1934 and carries all of the weighty anxiety of pre-war Central Europe. All five movements were performed and the energy and gritty complexity of this music is striking, even at this distance in time since its premiere. The Brentano Quartet played this with precision and brilliance over its entire 31 minute length. String Quartet No. 5 remains gripping in its intensity and a showcase for the high level of creativity and extraordinary technique that was present in early 20th century music.

The Brentano Quartet is:

Mark Steinberg, violinist
Serena Canin, violinist
Misha Amory, viola
Nina Lee, cello

Photo Credit: Timothy Teague

by Paul Muller
Choral Music, Concert review, File Under?

The Manhattan Choral Ensemble Sings Victoria (Concert review)

The Manhattan Choral Ensemble, Thomas Cunningham, Director

The Victoria Requiem

Church of the Blessed Sacrament

May 18, 2024

By Christian Carey for Sequenza 21

 

NEW YORK – The Manhattan Choral Ensemble is an auditioned forty-voice group. Among them are enthusiastic amateurs, professional singers who want to work with Director Thomas Cunningham, who is a dynamic musician and imaginative programmer, and singers from music-adjacent pursuits, notably musical theater. A diverse group to be sure, but they sing beautifully together. 

 

The main offering on their May concert program was by Tomas Luis de Victoria (1548-1611), his Requiem Mass, published in 1605. Victoria was chaplain in Madrid to Empress Maria, and the piece was written for her funeral in 1603. It is one of the most highly regarded works of the late Renaissance. 

 

MCE performed both the chant and polyphonic portions of the mass, impressively tuned in unison passages and counterpoint alike. Cunningham took tempos realistic for a forty-voice group. At the same time, he urged them to sing in animated fashion, crafting a rendition of the Requiem that retained a sense of period practice. 

 

Recognizing that his audience came to the concert with varying levels of background, Cunningham introduced the Requiem with a brief overview. Between sections, he discussed the piece, pointing out aspects of the music to listen for and features of its text. It was an excellent way to help attendees listen to a piece in liturgical Latin, and in a style that may have been foreign to some of them.

 

The program included a few other pieces interspersed with movements of the Requiem. While including texts that were appropriate additions, this afforded listeners a pause from Victoria’s musical language. Beati quorum via, by Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924), is broken into sections of women and men in canon that then come together in sumptuous harmonies. The piece affords the sopranos an opportunity to sing in soaring upper lines, and the other parts each to access their best respective registers, the conclusion saving and savoring the low basses.

 

Abendlied by Josef Gabriel Rheinberger (1839-1901) is a gently lyrical piece using short imitative exchanges that alternate with homophonic passages and cadences redolent of late Romanticism. The concert concluded with In Paradisum, by Z. Randall Stroope (b. 1953), which is dedicated, “In honor of the victims of the coronavirus pandemic, and the thousands of families left behind.” A touching composition in a colorful pantonal language with rich dynamic contrasts, including swelling crescendos and gently reflective pianissimo passages. This was followed by a brief Responsorium in plainchant. The additions to the program demonstrated the versatility of MCE, capable of performing early music, emotive Romantic fare, and a challenging twenty-first century piece. 

 

Visual art is often featured as part of the group’s presentations. Allison Walker created beautiful, abstract prints that were placed around the performance space, illuminating each of the movements of the Requiem. Art, music, and an interspersed lecture all served to support a memorable performance by the Manhattan Choral Ensemble. 

 

by Christian Carey
Cello, Classical Music, Concert review, Contemporary Classical, Piano, Violin, Women composers

The Knights at Carnegie Hall: It’s a Family Affair

Pianist Jeffrey Kahane with The Knights
Pianist Jeffrey Kahane with The Knights (credit Jennifer Taylor)

It’s always a family affair with The Knights. The orchestra was founded in 2007 by the brothers Eric and Colin Jacobsen, who share artistic director duties as well as musical positions (Eric is conductor; Colin is concertmaster). Another family connection on the May 16, 2024 program at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall was that of the soloist, the pianist Jeffrey Kahane, for whom his son Gabriel Kahane wrote a concerto. Heirloom, a work which explores music through the lens of several generations of Kahane’s family, received its New York premiere at this concert. Its conventional three-movemennt construct and post-Shostakovich style fit right in with 21st century classical music – especially of the ilk that The Knights often features on its programs. The pianist Jeffrey Kahane was as virtuosic a player as when he burst onto the classical music scene in the early 1980’s as a finalist of the Van Cliburn Piano Competition. He flew through the complex rhythms and flashy runs musically and compellingly, every note a joy to hear. In the first section, “Guitars in the Attic,” G. Kahane explored the colors of the orchestra, from the shining brass to a florid section highlighting double reeds to a whimsical melody played by marimba.

The emotionally penetrating middle movement, “My Grandmother Knew Alban Berg,” alludes to Gabriel’s grandmother’s love for German music and culture contrasting with the terrors of Nazi Germany from which she narrowly escaped. The movement began with a languid trumpet solo in a duet with the piano, and I’m guessing that the solo piano melody was a tone-row (a compositional element at the core of Berg’s style). The center section includes a dense “Brahmsian” theme with a German flair.

The composer looks at life through the eyes of his young daughter in the final movement. “Vera’s Chicken-Powered Transit Machine” (the title refers to a makeshift toy crafted out of an empty diaper carton) included fiddling strings, a playful wood block and muted staccato trumpet. The work’s kickass conclusion was predictable, but that didn’t make it any less thrilling.

Singer-songwriter-composer-guitarist Gabriel Kahane with The Knights
Singer-songwriter-composer-guitarist Gabriel Kahane with The Knights (credit Jennifer Taylor)

The younger Kahane is more known as a singer-songwriter than as a composer of concert music. He has a compelling voice, both aurally and figuratively. The audience at Zankel was treated to two of his songs, both with the composer as vocalist and electric guitarist, accompanied by The Knights with Mr. Kahane, Sr. at the piano. Where Are the Arms was on the program immediately following Heirloom; and Little Love was a touching encore at the end of the concert.

The program opened with Rhapsody No. 2, a work by Jessie Montgomery heard for the first time in this version for violin and orchestra created by Michi Wiancko. The violinist Colin Jacobsen was the soloist, in complete command of the fiddle techniques that this colorful work required. With Copelandesque chords and jazzy rhythms, the work’s style was unequivocally “American”.

Cellist Karen Ouzounian with The Knights (credit Jennifer Taylor)
Cellist Karen Ouzounian with The Knights (credit Jennifer Taylor)

A sumptuous work for cello and strings by Anna Clyne led the second half of the concert. Soloist Karen Ouzounian, a member of The Knights cello section, displayed her gorgeous singing tone on Shorthand, a beautifully lush composition. Clyne’s melodies reference Beethoven’s “Kreutzer” Sonata and Janacek’s String Quartet No. 1, “Kreutzer Sonata.”

The Knights turned to a crowd pleasing and familiar Mozart symphony, No. 31, “Paris”, at the end of the program. The group’s beautiful performance, oozing with musicality, precision and effective dynamic contrast proved their facility with core repertoire as well as newly minted gems.

This was the final concert of the ensemble’s three-program series at Carnegie this season. They’ll return to the Zankel stage for three concerts in the 2024-2025 season, with performances on October 24, February 20, and May 15.

by Gail Wein
Chamber Music, Concert review, Contemporary Classical, Los Angeles, Premieres

Ventura College Symphony and Chamber Orchestras – Ad Astra

On Saturday, May 4th, 2024 the Ventura College Department of Performing Arts presented Ad Astra, a concert by the Symphony Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra. The program had something for everyone: the US Premiere of a new chamber work by Mark Menzies, a Shostakovich string quartet, part of a Prokofiev violin concerto featuring soloist Alex Fager and a full-bodied Star Wars suite for orchestra. A sizable audience filled Yunker Auditorium in the VC Performing Arts Center and the musicians completely covered the roomy stage.

The concert opened with the US premiere of Wai-rā-rawa, by Mark Menzies. This piece was inspired by the creation story of the Māori, the indigenous peoples of New Zealand. Mark Menzies was violin faculty for some years at CalArts and also a member of the Los Angeles-based Formalist Quartet. He now resides in New Zealand and is Professor of Music at the University of Canterbury. Menzies worked with the VC Chamber Orchestra on his piece during a recent visit to California. For this performance, the Chamber Orchestra was led by guest conductor Donovan Rutledge, a Ventura College alumnus.

Wai-rā-rawa opens with sustained chords that slowly unfold and develop an interesting texture. As the opening continues, the chords become somewhat disorganized and dissonant, perhaps suggesting the dark and formless beginnings of the earth. The music has a slightly eerie feel, but is never disheartening; it is solemn yet at the same time filled with a gentle reverence. An expressive violin solo is heard featuring a high, sustained pitch that adds to the uncertain atmosphere. As the piece proceeds, deep tutti chords with multiple harmonies materialize like clouds. Towards the finish, soft pianissimo notes are followed by broken rhythms at the ending. This music is distinguished by subtle rhythms, intriguing harmonies and textures, all smoothly directed by Donovan Rutledge. Wai-rā-rawa is both mysterious and wistful with perfect balance for describing the primal creation.

The second work on the program was String Quartet No. 8 in C minor (1960), by Dmitri Shostakovich, also performed by the chamber orchestra. For this concert the parts were doubled, with two instruments on each. The opening Lento movement was appropriately grim, with all of the repression of the old Soviet system seeming to weigh it down. There was good coordination and intonation among the players, however, with no uncertainty among the sections. The transitions to the faster Allegro and Allegretto movements were successfully negotiated; the violas were especially well-coordinated. The delicate textures in the dance-like segments were nicely observed, with some tension slyly creeping in.

The final Lento movements brought a return to the more severe feeling of the opening as strong tutti chords turned darkly dramatic. The players kept good control of the dynamics in all of the movements and also in the final decrescendo at the finish. String Quartet No. 8 is essential late Shostakovich, with all of his characteristic gloominess during this period fully evoked by skillful playing in this performance.

After a short intermission, the full Ventura College Symphony Orchestra took their places, filling the entire stage. The Andantino movement of Sergei Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in D Major, Op. 110 (1923) was next, with soloist Alex Fager. He is the winner of this year’s Allegro Solo Competition, open to musicians of all ages residing in Ventura County. This piece began with soft tremolos in the orchestra violin section, followed by a strong entrance from the soloist with a slow, expressive melody. As the phrasing became more active, Fager’s sound came across with a clear tone that reached out above the orchestra to fill the hall. As the movement proceeded, the mood turned stylish and lyrical, so characteristic of Prokofiev’s music. Fager’s skillful technique kept his violin in the foreground, even as variations in tempo, dynamics and texture rapidly changed. Towards the finish, the solo violin and flute played in a tricky counterpoint, with great effect. The movement then ended as quietly as it had begun. Violin Concerto No. 1 has a challenging variety of musical gestures in the Andantino movement and soloist Fager capably led the way throughout.

Although it was May the fourth and very appropriate, I will admit that I was a bit apprehensive about the last work on the concert program, the Star Wars Suite for Orchestra (1977) by John Williams. Star Wars is so overexposed that it has become something of a cultural cliché. An orchestra performing such a familiar piece runs the risk of disappointing its audience. This is big, sprawling music with five movements that include the themes that composer Williams has so artfully woven into this signature masterwork. The piece is full of challenges; there are many transitions to be navigated as the various leitmotifs are passed around between the sections. As the orchestra got going, the sounds and entrances of the various sections sharpened up nicely. Dynamics ranged from the barely audible to full blastissimo, and the orchestra fought successfully to maintain good balance. The string sections benefited from being at the front of the stage and provided solid support. The horns managed to be clearly heard from the very back of the risers during their important solos.

Vigorous applause was heard between each of the movements, and the orchestra seemed to build on the growing enthusiasm. The “Imperial March” was perhaps the most popular, with its full sound and driving beat. At the conclusion of the last movement, a long and loud standing ovation was given by the now-cheering crowd. Star Wars Suite for Orchestra might be a bit of a war horse, but the music still has surprising power when played by a live orchestra in a concert hall.

A good part of the credit for this fine performance by the Ventura College Symphony Orchestra must go to Director Ashley Walters. Her conducting style is everything a player wants: an unmistakable beat, precise cues and decisive dynamics. Walters adds no superfluous movements or theatrical histrionics, and her clarity of purpose brings real leadership to the podium. Walters undoubtedly carried this same focus and energy into rehearsal, and the result was an outstanding concert of compelling music.

by Paul Muller
Concert review, Contemporary Classical, Los Angeles

Cold Blue Music – An Afternoon of Double Basses and Piano

On Saturday, April 6, 2024 the Santa Monica Public Library and the Cold Blue Music recording label presented a concert titled An Afternoon of Double Basses and Piano. This was the latest incarnation of the Soundwaves series of new music concerts, now back in business after the Covid pandemic. The library auditorium was undergoing some renovation, so this concert was held in the nearby Edye Theater at the Broad Stage, part of the Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center. There were three works presented: Darkness and Scattered Light, by John Luther Adams, featuring five double basses, Flying, by Christopher Roberts, for three double basses and Tiny Thunder by Nicholas Chase, a world premiere for four-handed piano.

The first piece on the program was Darkness and Scattered Light, by John Luther Adams. This work appeared on a Cold Blue CD in 2023 and is scored for five double basses. In the Cold Blue recording the late Robert Black, a highly regarded bass player and member of Bang On a Can, performed all five parts separately. These were then precisely mixed for the final realization, no doubt taxing the masterful skills of even a Robert Black, who subsequently received a Grammy nomination for his efforts. For this concert, the work was performed live with five individual double basses: James Bergman, Christopher Roberts, John Graves, Hakeem Holloway and Jeff Schwartz. All were conducted by Nicholas Deyoe..

Darkness and Scattered Light was inspired by the natural changes in the character and quality of light during 24 hours of a winter solstice. The piece begins with a deep, sustained foundational tone. More long notes enter with the layers of sound building as the dynamic rises and subsides. The overall effect is like the swelling and surging of ocean waves. The languid feeling persists as the piece continues with individual phrases multiplying in a series of entrances and exits of the five basses. This piece is all about sonority, power and the shaping of the texture. At times it seems as if the sound itself is in slow motion. Occasional phrases comprised of very high pitches are heard rising above the lower tones, and this makes for challenging playing. The coordination of the five double basses by Nicholas Deyoe was outstanding given the varied layers and many changing contours of the music. As the piece neared its conclusion the sounds became deeper and richer as each of the basses dropped out in their turn. Darkness and Scattered Light is an ambitious work given that its viewpoint is so firmly fixed in the lowest registers. The sculpting of such deeply rich bass sounds make for an unusual and compelling listening experience.

Flying, by Christopher Roberts, followed, and this is the fourth movement from a larger work, Trios for Deep Voices, drawn from experiences in the jungles of the Star Mountains region of Papua New Guinea. Flying is scored for three double basses and was performed on this occasion by James Bergman, Jeff Schwartz and the composer. The piece opens with a high pitched melody from a single double bass that establishes a lovely feel that is consistently upheld throughout. The other two basses join in with busy lines, filling the air with a roar of notes from the lower registers. There is an almost nostalgic feeling as the repeating cells develop into a satisfying groove. The deep harmonies that emerge are especially effective.

As the piece continues, one bass provides a solo line with somewhat higher pitches while the two others add to the actively repeating patterns below. Good coordination between the players keeps all of this on track and the result is a pleasing warmth with an optimistic sensibility. Flying radiates affection with a pleasant sincerity that only the double bass can conjure.

The final work on the program was Tiny Thunder by Nicholas Chase, a world premiere. This is an extended piece for piano, four-hands, performed by Bryan Pezzone and Jennifer Logan. Often a four-hands piece will feature a lot of technical flash, as if the composer is determined to keep 20 fingers in constant motion. Tiny Thunder is a refreshing departure in that it is a softer and more intimate experience. The opening is a series of quiet, single notes that seem to hang in the air. A call and response develops between the two players, but this is never hurried or insistent. As the piece proceeds, lovely spare harmonies develop from minimal musical materials held to a modest tempo. There is a quiet, settled feel to this with solemn chords rising up from the lower registers.

At times, the four hands become more active with a light melody that compliments the continuing lower chords. At other times, only single notes are heard in each part, simple and solitary. Towards the finish, trills and ornamentation swell into a more active texture, adding another level of elegant expression. At the finish, the tempo increases and strong chords rise up from below with some discord in the harmony. The dynamic builds up to loud for the first time with active, repeating lines from both players. A sudden stop to the music ends the piece. A long, reverent silence was observed by the audience before the enthusiastic applause. Tiny Thunder is an idealized piece for two friends who enjoy playing together without need of musical fireworks or fortissimo dramatics.

The return of the Soundwaves concert series after the covid pandemic is a welcome contribution to Santa Monica cultural life. The next concert will feature the Joe Baiza Quartet at the Santa Monica Public Library on May 4.

by Paul Muller
Concert review, Contemporary Classical, Los Angeles

Brightwork newmusic – I Will Learn to Love a Person

On Saturday, March 30, 2024 Brightwork newmusic presented I Will Learn to Love a Person, a concert of new music at Boston Court Pasadena. Brightwork musicians Aron Kallay, Stacey Fraser, Brian Walsh and Nick Terry contributed excellent performances of works by noted composers.. The six works on the concert program dated from 2012 to 2024 and featured unusual combinations of vocals, piano, woodwinds and percussion.

The first piece on the concert program was Wagon Wheeling (2012) by Tom Flaherty and written for Aron Kallay. This piece was inspired by those old western movies where the camera frame rates gave the illusion of wagon wheels running backwards. This was scored for piano and percussion and opened with a steady rhythm in the vibraphone reminiscent of a trotting horse. This increased in volume just before a sharp cymbal crash signaled the entrance of a independent piano line that add a fresh sense of movement. This developed into a nice groove that occasioned a relaxed, mellow feeling. As the piece proceeded, a strong beat in the piano engendered a more purposeful feeling. The precise playing of Aron Kallay on piano combined with Nick Terry’s animated percussion, produced an interesting texture. Differences in the rhythms between the two players evoked the perception of a new tempo, much as the variation in velocity of the wagon wheels in those old films.

A forceful series of solo passages on the tom-tom and cymbals added some power before falling back to a softer, mysterious feel from the piano and marimba. Wagon Wheeling is more about rhythm and pulse than harmony or melody, and there was an engaging variety to the many sounds produced by just the two players. With Wagon Wheeling Flaherty effectively deploys what is available from the sonic palette of piano and percussion.

The second work on the program was Murmurations (2018) by A.J. McCaffrey, scored for piano and clarinets. A murmuration is a large flock of birds who swarm together in close-order aerobatics, almost like a fast-moving cloud that darts off in unexpected directions. Murmurations opened with a bright arpeggio from the clarinet, evoking bird calls and a magical atmosphere. The piano supported in the lower registers and the clarinet line morphed into soft and sustained tones above. The arpeggio was repeated by the clarinet, but its opening optimism was offset by a series of dark chords in the piano. The contrast between the bright passages and the darker accompaniment created a sense of fast-moving uncertainty.

As the piece continued, the passages in the clarinet became progressively more agile and complex . As the dynamic increased, the clarinet culminated in a series of sharp shrieking sounds, expertly played by Brian Walsh with power and excellent control. Meanwhile, the piano persisted with chords in the lower registers. The clarinet seemed to be trying to break out from the uncertainty with a more subdued and lighter sound, but never quite managed to escape before a quiet finish ended the piece. Murmurations delivers a surprising amount of movement and emotion from the piano and clarinet duo.

Lost Borders, (2024) by Pamela Madsen, followed, and this is from the last act of Why Women Went West, her multi-media chamber opera. Why Women Went West is based on the story of Mary Austin Hunter, a 19th century mid-westerner who journeyed alone across the continent to California in the early days of the settlement in the American far west. The opera is partly about the dangers and rigors and of traveling cross country in that era, but more generally about Austin’s extended odyssey of self-discovery. The program notes state that the opera chronicles “ …Mary Austin’s escape from persecution to transformation of white woman’s privilege and passion for preservation of nature, history, and indigenous culture.” Lost Borders is a sort of summing up of Ms. Austin’s metamorphosis over her lifetime in the west.

Stacey Fraser has sung the soprano lead in Why Women Went West and has the skill and stamina to carry the part. Lost Borders opens with quiet, pensive chords in the piano and marimba, accompanied by a dark bass clarinet line. A briefly spoken narration opens the story. The soprano vocals begin, mostly in the middle registers, but turn quietly powerful – “Save me, O Lord…” is heard. As the piece continues, the instruments combine to build a darkening mood. Strong, solitary beats from the percussion add a bit of tension. Ms. Fraser’s expressive singing has to work against the somber texture in the accompaniment. For all of that, the scoring for just four instruments masterfully supports the complex and changing flow of emotions in the text. Lost Borders is only a small part of an opera worth experiencing in its entirety.

After a short intermission, Xarja (2017) by Kareem Roustom was next, and this was scored, unusually, for voice and percussion. The text is taken from from the “Waterfire” muwashshah by Al’Ama al-Tuttli (d. 1126 Tudela, Spain) and other poets of that era. ‘Xarja’ is a Spanish translation of the Arabic word for ‘exit’ or ‘final’. In the program notes the composer writes that, in some ways, the piece is a metaphor for the present evolution of music: “Like the grief stricken lover, ‘death is my state’ can be applied to the musical language I’ve been using for sometime. However, out of ‘death’ comes ‘rebirth’ and the opportunity to begin anew.”

A slow beat on a hand drum opens Xarja and this develops into a pleasant groove. The soprano voice entered in a quiet, conventional line and there was an engaging interplay between the vocals and the percussion. The tempo increases and the tones of the vibraphone are heard as the voice rises in dynamic and climbs higher in pitch. Drama was added with a soaring soprano line from Ms. Fraser, the result of equal parts of vocal power and control. The complex texture was a good contrast to the opening and impressive given just the two performers. At one point Nick Terry was bowing the vibraphone plates and this proved to be both exotic and very expressive. Towards the end of the piece the performers were clapping and stamping their feet in a stirring finish. Xarja manages to extract the maximum passion from the unorthodox pairing of voice and percussion.

A Sonatina (2016) by Bill Alves followed, performed by Aron Kallay and Stacey Fraser. Inspired by “A Sonatina Followed by Another”, a 1921 poem by Gertrude Stein, the composer writes in the program notes, “I have extracted lullaby-like bits of the text that often seem to refer to her life partner, Alice Toklas.” A Sonatina opened with a nice running piano line and a solid vocal entrance that lifted up sustained tones. There was an intriguing feel to this and the format aided comfortably accessible listening. The piece darkened somewhat as the running piano line slipped into a lower register. The drama increased as the piece proceeded, and when combined with the vocals, a lovely overall sound was the result. A Sonatina is skillfully crafted music with this performance by Fraser and Kallay, equaling the intentions of the composer.

The final piece on the concert program was I Will Learn to Love a Person (2013), by Chris Cerronne. This is a song cycle about personal relationships as expressed in music with each section quickly following the last after a brief silence. This was performed by Aron Kallay on piano, Brian Walsh playing clarinets, Nick Terry on percussion and Stacey Fraser, soprano. Two quiet notes from the piano opened the piece with the vibraphone entering in the same register. The resulting mix was immediately effective and had a haunting feel. The soprano enters with words about a relationship, deepening the mystery. The clarinet joins in, supporting the vocals with a sequence of sustained pitches.

A series of continuing tremolos in the piano and clarinet followed, producing a pleasingly active texture. The voice enters, now stronger and with more confidence. As the piece proceeds, the dynamics become softer as the soprano sings quietly declarative vocals against sustained notes from the rest of the ensemble. The many emotions present in personal relationships are heard throughout this piece, always with a skillful and refined nuance. Later, the interweaving of the voice and instruments is beautifully expressive. After a short return to the tremolo texture, the emotional energy increases as the voice rises higher in pitch and stronger in tone. The close coordination of the performers and their attention to detail make I Will Learn to Love a Person an exquisitely intimate artistic journey.

This concert confirms Brightwork newmusic as one of the top ensembles performing in Los Angeles. The addition of vocalist Stacey Fraser this season has expanded their artistry to new levels.

by Paul Muller