Monotonous Forest

Birdland

The aural testing of the reimagined Alice Tully Hall continued last night with a terrific performance of Messiaen's vast Des Canyons aux Étoiles (From the Canyons to the Stars), with the Juilliard Orchestra led by David Robertson.  Although inspired by Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park, Messiaen's colors are so iridescent they almost seem artificial.  Using a medium-sized ensemble—winds, brass and just 13 strings, with a disproportionate percussion contingent—the composer here seems positively drunk on his beloved bird songs.  In the twelve movements, entire sections are devoted to mimicking the oriole, the mockingbird, the white-browed robin and the wood thrush.

And despite the rafts of low brass, the composer really loves the ensemble's high frequencies.  Piccolos shriek, pianists are often at the far right end of the keyboard, and the percussion section seems packed with piercing, fluorescent timbres.  Mary Norcross got a huge ovation at the end for her horn solo in "Appel interstellaire"("Interstellar Call"), and percussionists Alexander Lipowski and Robert Knopper (on on xylorimba and glockenspiel) had some of the evening's most glittering moments.  Two pianists shared the formidable keyboard duties: Conor Hanick and Matthew Odell, who were so memorable one year ago in the same work, with Jeffrey Milarsky and the AXIOM Ensemble.

Robertson, who last year brought a magnificently detailed Turangalîla-Symphonie to Carnegie Hall with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, seems to be very inside Messiaen's esthetic.  Last night the Juilliard ensemble sounded stellar, and the packed Tully audience seemed to agree.

[Photo: wood thrush from U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service]

Photo du jour

 

[Jazz pianist Jonathan Batiste photographed by Ingrid Hertfelder, via William Daghlian]

Rebirth

Sunday's reopening of Alice Tully Hall was a triumph, both inside and out.  From an aural standpoint, the programming was a savvy array designed to test as many different timbres as possible, and I am here to report that the gorgeous moabi wood-lined space is now sheer sonic pleasure.  Jordi Savall, Monserrat Figueras and members of Hespèrion XXI opened with a set that made me regret not making plans for their 9:00 p.m. concert (which friends reported was marvelous).  Pianist Leon Fleisher might have been the concert's sleeper hit, giving more poetry and mystery to Bach's Chromatic fantasia and fugue in D minor than one might expect, and winds had their day in the sun with an peppery, elegant reading of Stravinsky's Octet.

I was slightly disappointed that the Emerson String Quartet had to bow out at the last minute (due to an injured David Finckel) since they were scheduled in Bartók's Third String Quartet, but the Brentano String Quartet saved the day with a gutsy reading of Beethoven's Grosse Fugue.  And one living composer made the cut: Osvaldo Golijov, whose Mariel proved very moving in the hands of cellist Maya Beiser and Tomoya Aomori on marimba.

But perhaps the best came last, when David Robertson and the Juilliard Orchestra raced through Stravinsky's suite from Pulcinella with energy and verve.  In the wrong hands this piece can sound precious, but Robertson kept emphasizing the rhythmic bite, and the sound bloom in the space was delicious.  Robertson also got high marks for bringing out the lead architects from diller scofidio + refro (who did the renovation) to take bows onstage.

Equally uplifting is the dramatically transformed lobby, now one of the neighborhood's most beautiful and inviting public spaces.  The former drab, cramped areas around the hall have been completely opened up with soaring ceilings and glass walls looking out onto the streets.  I predict that the space will be filled much of the time, whether or not those inside are actually attending a concert.

[Photo: artist's rendition of Alice Tully Hall and the Juilliard School, from www.juilliard.edu]

Another Friday night dilemma

Tomorrow night at Avery Fisher Hall, conductor Leon Botstein and the American Symphony Orchestra will present concert versions of two rarely heard operas by Luigi Dallapiccola, Volo di notte (1939) and Il prigioniero (1949).  But at Zankel Hall (at 7:30), George Manahan and the American Composers Orchestra will do world premieres by Rand Steiger, Fang Man, Katie Agócs and Margaret Brouwer (with video by Kasumi), plus a revised version of David Schiff's Stomp (re-lit).  Again, don't fret too much about having to make the choice; just pick one.

Flip a coin, but don't stay home

Tomorrow night Miller Theatre will present the United States premiere of in vain (2000) by Austrian composer Georg Friedrich Haas (b. 1953), with Michel Galante conducting the Argento Chamber Ensemble.  Haas experiments with the disconcerting sensations when scales using normal equal temperament are pitted against those tuned by harmonics, and to add to the mystery, sections of the work are performed in total darkness.

Also on Friday, another U.S. premiere will occur at Carnegie Hall, where the Franz Welser-Möst, the Cleveland Orchestra and Pierre-Laurent Aimard will present George Benjamin's Duet for Piano and Orchestra, premiered last fall at the Lucerne Festival.  The program includes Shostakovich's mammoth Seventh Symphony ("Leningrad") after intermission.

[Photo: stroboscopic coin toss by Andrew Davidhazy]

Online find of the week

Jean Nouvel's striking new hall for the Danish Radio opened in January, with plenty of fascinating music to test the acoustics.  Judge for yourself: on the Danish Radio's website is this concert with the Seventh Symphony by Per Nørgård, followed by the Mahler Resurrection, both with Thomas Dausgaard and the Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra.

[Photo: Danish Radio Concert Hall by Jean Nouvel, via arcspace, by Bjarne Bergius Hermansen]

Two soloists, a premiere and some kick-ass Mendelssohn

The MET Orchestra at Carnegie Hall.  MusicWeb International, January 30, 2009

An Unamplified Voice has another report.