SUMMER MUSIC ON GOVERNOR'S ISLAND (7/2/2011)

Terry Riley's In C is the perfect "un-serial" piece.  Written at a time when many composers were rising up to challenge the dominance of serial music in the sphere of "serious" music, In C provides surface simplicity above a marvelous complexity.   The Rite of Summer concert series, organized by pianists Blair McMillen and Pam Goldberg, kicked off its Governor's Island season by gathering together some 40 of New York's finest musicians of every stripe for a joyous performance of the Riley work.  At the helm, gently guiding the ensemble, was Jed Distler.  The day was beautiful, the weather glorious, and the large audience ready for an experience harking back to the 1960s and 70s.  All that was missing was the presence of illegal substances!   But none were required.


As the musicians played, different motives of the 53 composed by Riley emerged or submerged or combined to create a kaleidoscopic play of sound that always danced. Distler shaped the work somewhat in that there seemed to be waves of sound growing in texture and intensity and then receding in a more-or-less coordinated way.  Despite the fact that performers are given lots of freedom, a successful performance requires tons of collaborative sensitivity and the ability to lead, follow or get out of the way as the need arises.


As this was my first live experience with this work, I did not know what to expect.  In the casual, outdoor atmosphere where soft conversations were taking place throughout the performance, constant attention was not expected.  I did notice that in this particular unfolding of the work, the note C, while repeated incessantly throughout the work, gave way at times to the note B, which served as a sort of leading tone.  In addition, at the end of this performance the note C was accompanied by the melodic motive D-F which gave a nice ending feel to the work much better than merely having the C repeated alone.

The highly varied array of tone colors, from toy piano to woodwinds and strings, to electric guitars, to singers, and to a wide range of percussion, favored the middle and upper registers.  This made entrances of the tuba all the more noticeable.


I'd love to hear this work with a different ensemble to compare the outcomes.  In any case, this is a work of celebration and joy and seeks nothing more than to delight performers and listeners, which it did today.