Once again I found myself at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for a performance by chamber orchestras created from the roster of New York Philharmonic members and dedicated to the presentation of new music in a series called Contact!
On Friday, December 17 the Philharmonic performed two world premieres of works commissioned by them and the U.S. premiere of a work by British composer Julian Anderson. Each work was quite distinct. All the hallmarks of "uptown" music were in evidence. In the composer bios, their academic credentials or names of composers with whom they had studied were presented first.
Brooklyn composer James Matheson's work True South has a cinematic quality and, indeed, was partially inspired by the Werner Herzog film, Encounters at the End of the World. The sectional form of the work is quite clear and a tonal anchor is provided by frequent pedal tones. Certain motives and rhythmic gestures recur to provide unity. The character of sections (bold, plaintive, spiky, etc.) was never in question. The composer remarked in his introductory comments that, in this work, he desired to take common ideas and arrange them in unusual ways -- to place them out of their expected contexts. For me, the most imaginative aspect of the work was in the use of the orchestra. He likes to work with small groupings (such as grouping the bassoon, French horn, and clarinet). An effective and engaging work, my only thought was that more of a string presence would have enhanced the sonic balance. The small group of strings seemed to be overshadowed by the other instruments. As a cinematic work, it was like viewing a film intended for the big screen on a 32 inch flat-screen TV.
The next work, neverthesamerivertwice, by Jay Alan Yim is an extremely colorful work that gives the piano lots of prominence but in a different way than one might expect. The composer remarked in his opening comments that the work is a kind of concerto for piano but without the pianist serving as the protagonist in a drama as is often found in a traditional solo concerto. He stated that "given today's challenges, I want[ed] to create a work that is a collaboration, not a confrontation." The pianist plays in every bar of the score while the orchestration constantly changes around it, almost creating the sense of a boat navigating an ever-changing riverway. (The composer, by the way, determined the title from a statement of Heraclitus of Ephesus--a very uptown thing to do.) As with the first piece the form was usually clear, and changes in character definite and vivid. Again, referring to the movement of a river, changes in activity were often quite sudden. The very colorful orchestration included autoharps, Tibetan cup gongs, flugelhorn in addition to many of the more expected instruments.
During the introduction to the third work, both the conductor Alan Gilbert, and composer-in-residence, Magnus Lindberg, commented on how eagerly they awaited presenting Julian Anderson's work, The Comedy of Change. Anderson has moved in the same musical circles as Lindberg and this work, composed to mark the 150th anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species.
In his introductory comments, Anderson took a rather lighthearted approach while emphasizing that the work was intended as a serious, not comical work. He uses the word "comedy" in reference to a play or story. In listening the work the influence of such French composers as Murail and Messiaen is quite evident. With respect to Darwin's book, the composer commented that the seven sections of the work each grow, or evolve, from a single idea to which dichotomies are introduced (such as same/different, past/future, conceal/reveal). Intended to accompany a ballet, the dance rhythms and gestures are very obvious. Once again, the character of each section was clear although beginnings and endings were not always so clear. Perhaps with the dance itself the form and projection of ideas could be clearer. Throughout this work (and the others was well), Alan Gilbert proved his brilliance as a conductor.
Although the attendance at this event was more sparse than at the first Contact! performance I attended, it was still sizable and the audience response was enthusiastic.
No comments:
Post a Comment