Contemporary Classical, Music Events

Last Night in L.A.: Gloria

Gloria Cheng opened the Piano Spheres season last night at Zipper Hall. Much of the concert comprised selections from her recent recording, Piano Music of Salonen, Stucky and Lutoslawski, and if you don’t yet have this in your library, now is a good time to correct your omission. And here’s just one of its good reviews (just scroll down).

Betty Freeman commissioned a new work from Gerald Barry for Cheng to perform, and this opened the second half of the program. Le Vieux Sourd [the old deaf one], Debussy’s nickname for Beethoven, starts with quiet fragments of classical themes, as if you’re eavesdropping on a pianist just noodling around instead of practicing. Some distant “explosions” (Barry’s description) occur and get closer as the volume swells. The work then ends with loud settings of Auld Lang Syne (not the setting Beethoven did) fighting to be heard against the explosions and the loud extracts of other themes. My impression was of an angry Charles Ives, perhaps after a few too many drinks, writing something to force an audience to pay attention to his music. But the idiosyncratic work, wild and wacky, was fun. Cheng then balanced this work with the “Alcott” movement of Ives’ Second Sonata, and her lyricism seemed to beautifully reflect Ives’ intentions. This was an apt choice to accompany the Barry, with its Beethoven theme and its multiple threads.

There were three peaks in the concert. First was the youthful, student-written Piano Sonata (1934) of Lutoslawski. It’s a lovely work, and Cheng is doing the right thing in reviving it. (Although apparently played often by Lutoslawski, he never published it, and its first publication was only four years ago; Cheng said that she know of only one other pianist who has played the work since.) The work has a strong French accent; the ties to Ravel are noticeable, and Stucky has identified other influences as well. But even though the 21-year-old Lutoslawski did not have his own distinctive voice, he could certainly write well. This is a pleasure to hear, and by itself justifies listening to the recording. The second peak for me was Cheng’s performance of the Ives selection.

And then the climax, closing the concert, was her performance of Salonen’s Dichotomie (2000), written for Cheng. She commented before starting the work that she no longer needs to wear gloves as protections for her hands during the performance (the glissandos are fearsome), and she has all of the many performance demands well under her own control and interpretation. She enables this work to present the stimulating composer Salonen has become. (more…)

by JerryZ
CDs, Composers, Contemporary Classical, Music Instruments, Violin

Mutter Modern (An Interview with Anne-Sophie)

Anne-Sophie Mutter latest cdViolinist Anne-Sophie Mutter is continually creating something new – from concerti by Krzysztof Penderecki and Andre Previn to works by Sebastian Currier and Henri Dutilleux.

Mutter’s latest project is a recording of Sofia Gubaidulina’s In Tempus Praesens, written in 2006-07 and premiered with the Berlin Philharmonic in August 2007. Selke Harten-Strehk has more background here on Mutter’s website.

I spoke with Mutter about the new concerto recording and about working with composers, and even if she composed herself. Listen to our conversation here.

That morning it was very difficult to get an international connection, and then about 10 minutes into our talk, the line went dead, and to my horror, it was another 3 minutes until I could connect again. (She now has my number as well, hahaha) Despite that, we had a great talk – this version (without our disconnect) also leaves out our talk about period bows (which she uses for the Bach concerti on the disc) as well as some talk about technology. You can hear the longer version over at ClassicallyHip.

I did leave out our talk about politics, which she was very interested in, and said Europe is watching the election closely.

Mutter performs very soon in New York City on October 13th, and you can find the rest of her schedule here. She’ll be back at Carnegie Hall in April 2009 to premiere a Piano Trio by Previn with Lynn Harrell, and a celebration of Previn’s 80th birthday with the orchestra of St, Luke’s including his Violin Concerto and a Concerto for Violin and Viola.

by John Clare
Contemporary Classical

September’s New Encounters

Terry Jennings: I was happy to hear two short piano pieces by Jennings at the M50 concert S21 co-produced. Played with great sensitivity by Joseph Kubera, both works were spare, dissonant, and full of luxurious silences. Pianists would do well to combine these with Webern Op.27 and Schoenberg Op.19: you’d have a satisfying, chill 25 minutes of music. Now, what Jennings’s music has to do with minimalism as we know it beats me. But, whatever.

 Martin Matalon: In the mid 90s, Matalon was commissioned to write a new soundtrack for Fritz Lang’s Malthusian masterpiece, Metropolis. The Manhattan Symfonietta performance on 19 September was my first encounter with the film or the composer. Both were positive. Matalon, an Argentinian now living in Paris, has the burbly IRCAM thing down pat, and, as with Murail, I’m very impressed by the ability of contemporary French-inspired composers to cook up new tone colors. That said, Matalon’s score, which otherwise reinforces the film nicely, goes to sleep shortly after the start of the film’s “Furioso” section and remains horribly somnolent through the drowning of the workers’ city. Thankfully, things perk up again in time for the hunt for the robot Maria.

NYPhil Conductors who also Compose: The Phil played a program of Mahler 10, Maazel’s Music for Flute and Orchestra with Tenor Tuba Obligato Op. 11, Boulez’s Pli selon pli: Improvisation sur Mallarmé II (“Une dentelle s’abolit”), and Bernstein’s “Age of Anxiety.” The Maazel has a fun cadenza for flute, castanets, and Indian rain tube; otherwise, it’s forgettable. Bernstein’s symphony (with pianist Joyce Yang) is good; but the whole thing sounds a bit dusty—the music screams “1940s New York!” in a way that somehow highlights how different today feels. Boulez took the prize. Pli selon pli was just beautiful—like Debussy on twelve-tones. The clear, light voice of soprano Kiera Duffy sealed the deal.

Oliver Knussen: Knussen’s third symphony got a playing from the San Francisco Symphony under MTT at Carnegie Hall. First played in 1979, the work takes inspiration from the death of Ophelia. It’s about 15 minutes long, has some luscious woodwind writing, and the climactic chorale is prepared well by long, homogenous stretches of counterpoint. This is the kind of thing that should be played all the time—an approachable symphony that sounds modern. But I like my pieces a little more badly behaved: technical competence only takes you so far.

On the horizon:  Bernard Rands at the Phil, and two geniuses, Dawn Upshaw and Alex Ross, in elevated discourse.

by David Salvage
Concerts, Contemporary Classical

Sex and Sanskrit

I must confess that composer Douglas J. Cuomo has only recently appeared on my radar screen.  That may mean that I’m not paying enough attention or it could mean that I never watched Sex and the City and thus avoided the theme, which is Cuomo’s most famous, and probably lucrative, credit.  In any event, Cuomo is currently having a career season in “serious” music.  A few months ago, Allan Kozinn selected Cuomo’s Arjuna’s Dilemma–which previewed this summer at the Pepsico Theater in Purchase–as one of the top picks for the new season, describing the 70-minute multimedia work as “a compelling opera based on the Bhagavad-Gita, the sacred Hindu text, set in a musical language that draws on Western and Indian styles.”

The Brooklyn Academy of Music will present Arjuna’s Dilemma at the Harvey Theater on November 5, 7, and 8 (7:30 pm) as part of BAM’s Next Wave Festival.

In yesterday’s Sunday Times, Matthew Gurewitsch writes more about Arjuna’s Dilemma and others works (like Philip Glass’ Satyagraha and John Adams’ Doctor Atomic) that draw from the Gita.  According to his account, Cuomo was looking for a project that would team the Indian singer Amit Chatterjee with western voices.  As Krishna, Chatterjee improvises segments of the score in raga style, in Sanskrit.  Tenor Tony Boutté, a Baroque and contemporary specialist, sings Arjuna, also in Sanskrit. A quartet of female voices serves as an English chorus. The instrumental writing, requires 12 performers, and contains a lot of jazzy tenor saxophone and tabla drums. A CD is already available on Innova and I’m listening to it as I type–my first impression is that the score is a compelling blend of new and ancient sounds and is good enough that I’m willing to overlook the Sex and the City thing.

Arjuna’s Dilemma is produced by the Music-Theatre Group under the guidance of the organization’s Producing Director, Diane Wondisford, and staged by opera director Robin Guarino.  Alan Johnson conducts an ensemble of distinguished musicians from a variety of traditions, including tabla player Badal Roy (Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman), members of the Philip Glass Ensemble, pianist Kathleen Supové, and saxophonist Bob Franceschini, a well-known Latin jazz player.

Cellist Maya Beiser will perform another Cuomo premiere at Zankel Hall on Thursday, October 30 (7:30 pm). Only Breath, for solo cello and electronics, was commissioned by  Beiser as part of a multimedia program titled “Provenance,” in which live music and original texts in Ladino, Arabic, Hebrew and Latin are woven together into an all-encompassing musical tapestry.  Only Breath made its debut in June at the Arts & Ideas festival in New Haven, and was then heard at Chicago’s Ravinia Festival in July.

by Jerry Bowles
Contemporary Classical

2008 MacArthur Fellows Announced

Congratulations to our pal Alex Ross, one of this year’s 25 MacArthur Fellows. There were three other music-related “Genius Grants,” as they’re more commonly called, for 2008:
Violinist Leila Josefowicz, instrument maker and composer Walter Kitundu, and saxophonist Miguel Zenón.

According to the MacArthur Foundation website “There are three criteria for selection of Fellows: exceptional creativity, promise for important future advances based on a track record of significant accomplishment, and potential for the fellowship to facilitate subsequent creative work.” Prospective fellows are nominated anonymously by a group of Nominators, and are selected by an anonymous Selection Committee.

by Galen H. Brown
CDs, Composers, New York, Opera

An Adams’ Baritone

Eric OwensBaritone Eric Owens is busy this fall – his Met debut as General Leslie Groves in John Adams’ Dr. Atomic is just a start to his performances this season in New York, Atlanta, London and Los Angeles.
Today is the release of A Flowering Tree on Nonesuch Records with Owens as the storyteller, another role he created. I spoke with Eric Owens about this new recording, his Met debut and about working with composers.
MP3 file

by John Clare
Chamber Music, Classical Music, Composers, Concerts, Contemporary Classical, Downtown, Experimental Music, Improv, New York

Interpretations Season 20: Artist Blog #1 — Michael Lipsey

This Fall marks the twentieth season of provocative programming in New York City brought to you by Interpretations. Founded and curated by baritone Thomas Buckner in 1989, Interpretations focuses on the relationship between contemporary composers from both jazz and classical backgrounds and their interpreters, whether the composers themselves or performers who specialize in new music. To celebrate, Jerry Bowles has invited the artists involved in this season’s concerts to blog about their Interpretations experiences. Our first concert this season on 2 October, features the Myra Melford Quartet and Henry Threadgill’s Zooid + Talujon Percussion Ensemble. Michael Lipsey of Talujon has volunteered to write about how his group worked with the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust to commission a new work from Henry Threadgill:

Contemporary music is exciting. People are trying new things, creating new works, involving new audiences members. The division between genres is the most open it has ever been. With that in mind, Talujon Percussion, Henry Threadgill and Zooid have teamed up to play on the Interpretations Series in honor of the series’ 20th season.

Henry Threadgill is one of the most unique voices in contemporary improvisatory music. His resume is breath-taking, his skills are immense and his interests are wide and varied. About two years ago, Henry called me up a day before a Talujon concert. He told me he was interested in the group and wanted to come to our performance. We were happy to meet him and honored that he would come to one of our performances.

A few days after the performance, Henry again called and asked if we would be willing to work on a new work. The answer was, of course, “Yes”. Henry decided to write a piece for Talujon and his ensemble, Zooid. We ended up applying to the Mary Flagler Carey Trust for the commission. We have used that commissioning vehicle in the past. Through this organization we were also able to commission a work for 4 drum sets by Julia Wolfe.

After meeting with Henry, he decided to compose a piece for each individual in Talujon.
We all gave Henry our wishlist of instruments. Henry then used our strengths in his composition. The piece that came out of this process uses four of our members, each with our own set-up. The piece is called “Fate Cues”.

We start rehearsals tomorrow and we are all excited. If you listen to Henry’s works you find that he is a fluid composer. He is continually asking more from the players. The charts are difficult, but that is not the emphasis of his works. He wants the musicians to move through the piece together as a strict unit. Each voice in individually created but maintaining its own presence. The rehearsal process is key.

Talujon is a group that has 18 seasons of unity. We know each other and feel very comfortable with each other. Much like any ensemble, we can feel our musical relationships and know how to support one another. We like to experiment and have practiced improvisation many, many times. Jazz improvisation is different than what we are used to. First, we just need to get past feeling uncomfortable about improvising in front of these great jazz masters in Zooid. I think that part will be ok. All the members have been in these situations before and as a group; Talujon thrives on making the uncomfortable, comfortable.
We like challenges and Henry is open and excited about the challenge.

It should be fun 🙂

*****

Myra Melford Quartet: Happy Whistlings; Henry Threadgill’s Zooid + Talujon: Fate Cues

Thursday October 2, 2008, 8pm at Roulette.

more information / Interpretations

by Michael Lipsey