The performers have already recorded the work and Eighth Blackbird will perform it soon with the eight other orchestras that participated in the commission, including the Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Toronto symphonies.

Higdon and Spano in rehearsal

“On a Wire begins with the six musicians gathered around the open-lidded piano, most of them ‘bowing’ the interior strings with horsehair to eerie, almost electronic-music effect. As the concerto evolves into a full-blown orchestral work, the musicians have their own virtuosic solo moments, none alike in temperament, some dense and excited, others like philosophical soliloquies.”  – David Patrick Sterns in lengthy and thoughtful story in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

“The concerto is pure Higdon, with jaunty rhythms that evoke Copland’s Americana at the beginning and end, contrasted in the middle by a tender, fragrant lyricism. Marimba flutters sounded like a breeze passing through a bamboo forest.  Many of Higdon’s fans are waiting for her to cross an artistic threshold and turn out a masterpiece. With emotions kept in reserve, ‘On a Wire’ isn’t there yet.” – Pierre Ruhe, Access Atlanta, reviewing the concert which also included a premiere by Michael Gandolfi.

Eighth Blackbird

BY THE WAY: Since this posting went up, representatives of Eight Blackbird emailed to say hey and inform that two of its members – violinist Matt Albert and clarinetist Michael J. MacCaferri – just happen to be gay.

Previously on MyBigGayEars:

Higdon Wins Pulitzer Prize for Violin Concerto (April 2010)

Jennifer Higdon Comes Out on Top (August 2009)

Sure, there’s lots of gay choruses. Here in little Albany, New York we’ve actually go two. And GLTB marching bands usually show up out of the woodwork when it’s time for a parade. But gay orchestras??

Well, I can find ten.  They’re located in five countries, with two launched in just the past year, and three with word “rainbow” in their name.  Here’s the run-down:

Mirna Ogrizovic-Ciric

ATLANTA PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA (Atlanta, GA)
Founded: 2004
Condcutor:  Mirna Ogrizovic-Ciric
Next concert: April 10

BAY AREA RAINBOW SYMPHONY (San Francisco, CA)
Founded: 2007
Conductor:  Danel Canosa
Next concert: June 19

Christiane Silber

CONCENTUS ALIUS (Berlin, Germany)
Founded: 1999
Conductor: Christiane Silber

COUNTERPOINT COMMUNITY ORCHESTRA (Toronto, Canada)
Founded: 1984
Conductor: Terry Kowalczuk
Next concert: June 5

LONDON GAY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (London, England)
Founded: 1996
Conductor: Simon Bowler
Upcoming concerts: April 25, July 4

Joseph Schlefke

MINNESOTA PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA (Minneapolis, Minnesota)
Founded: 1993
Conductor: Joseph Schlefke
Upcoming concerts: May 15, June 7

NEW TEXAS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (Dallas, Texas)
Founded: 2009 (?)
Conductor: Cathryn D. Brown
Next concert: June 12

QUEER URBAN ORCHESTRA (New York, New York)
Founded: 2009
Conductors: Brandyn Metzko, Robert J. Sweeney
Upcoming concerts: June 12, 13, 25

RAINBOW SYMPHONY COLOGNE (Koln, Germany)
Founded: 2008
Conductor: Thomas Krause
Upcoming concerts: April 30, May 2

RAINBOW SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (Paris, France)
Founded: 1996
Conductor:  John Dawkins
Upcoming concerts: April 24, 25, June 12, 13

New Texas Symphony, Cathryn D. Brown, conductor

ALBANY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Troy Savings Bank Music Hall
March 26, 2010

Music director David Alan Miller and the Albany Symphony Orchestra have made a virtue out of performing lots of new little works by emerging composers. Eager for the opportunity, the youngsters gladly take the modest commissions and write under tight deadlines. The results are usually diverting and forgettable.

A substantial new three-year grant from the Mellon Foundation has allowed the ASO to start bringing in some heavier guns. Next year John Corigliano will be on hand twice and this past week John Harbison was in town for the first of two springtime visits.

In Friday night’s program at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, titled “John Harbison & Friends,” the 71-year old composer’s Symphony No. 4 stood tall alongside works of Copland and Haydn.  Cast in five moments and lasting about half an hour, it was substantial, rich and assured.

Though prone to thick and dark orchestral textures, Harbison also has a keen dramatic flair.  A heavy sound dominated the opening movement and yet its constant rhythmic pulse skipped around like a child in a meadow. A similar contrast came in the intermezzo, which alternated between gliding strings and light percussion.

The symphony elicited a fine performance especially from the expanded string choir, which was both supple and meaty.  The work is being recorded for release with Harbison’s “Great Gatsby” Suite, coming up in May.

Twenty-five year old composer Timothy Andres introduced his new piece “Look Around You” as a “double concerto but for only one player.”  Soloist Owen Dalby performed on both violin and viola, though somehow there didn’t seem to be that much difference in sound or character between the two instruments.  For long stretches Andres had the orchestra simply sustain chords. Except for a few exposed figures for violin that brought to mind a country fiddle, the solo writing was busy yet indistinct, something like treading water.

Let it not be said that young composers should be written off.  Copland was 25 when he wrote “Music for the Theatre,” the charming masterwork that opened the program.  The woodwinds and brass delivered with appropriate sass, though there were occasional smudges of the larger ensemble in the trickier rhythmic passages.

Haydn’s Symphony No. 82 “The Bear” arrived at the evening’s conclusion like a cool fresh breeze. During the gently shifting currents of the Allegretto, Harbison’s more forceful play with textures and accents came to mind.

MUSIC OF HELMUT LACHENMANN
Jack Quartet, Signal Ensemble
EMPAC, RPI, Troy
March 27, 2010

The avant garde is alive and well. Helmut Lachenmann came to town to prove it.

On Saturday night at EMPAC, a retrospective concert of music by the 74-year old German composer included a couple of solo works, a string quartet and a nearly half-hour long piece for 24 players. Yet what the evening mostly consisted of was delicate and explosive sounds produced by weird instrumental techniques.

It’s a language that most American composers retreated from about 25 years ago, something like timid Democratic politicians trying to be popular and conservative.  Yet in Europe, liberalism — with music, as well as policy — is no vice.  Interestingly, it was young American musicians who performed the entire concert, always with seriousness and passion.

Most everything the program had in store was revealed in the short opening work, “Pression” from 1969.  Cellist Lauren Radnofsky’s first sounds were of her fingers sliding up and down the strings.  Once her bow was utilized, she held it tight with two hands and dragged it upward toward the neck.

The String Quartet No. 2 (1989), played with delicacy and poise by the Jack Quartet, goes further with all manner of effects, including bowing on the edge of the instruments, tapping the strings with the butt of the bow, and strumming with guitar picks.  In this piece, Lachenmann wasn’t so hyperactive with form. Instead of rapidly jumping from one sound world to the next, he lingered long enough to allow the novelty of an effect to wear off and its acoustic properties to settle in the ear and the mind.  The few times a full-bodied chord arrived, it made one realize what a luxurious bath of sound typical concerts really are.

The composer himself performed “Ein Kinderspiel,” a set of seven character pieces for piano. Like the children’s pieces of Bartok, these were intimate distillations of a mature style, sprinkled with syncopated rhythms and playful tone painting.

After intermission Bradley Lubman led the Signal Ensemble in “…Zwei Gefuhle,” which had the composer reciting a bit of da Vinci’s journal over the rumblings and bursting sounds of a large ensemble.  By this point, things felt pretty over wrought, especially when the musicians started having verbal outbursts.

One couldn’t help but keep an eye on the grand piano. Shortly into the piece, there was one player toiling at the keyboard but another with a firm grip on the lid – suggesting it wound be slammed down at any moment.  Instead, it was rapidly swung opened and closed, causing huge waves of sound.

BROOKLYN RIDER
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Union College, Schenectady

The statistics aren’t available, but it’s probably a fair estimate that the Debussy String Quartet has been performed at least a dozen times in the 38-year history of the Union College Concert Series.  It’s also no exaggeration to say that it never sounded the way it did Sunday afternoon when it was performed by the ensemble known as Brooklyn Rider.

The young male players, who are regulars with Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble, attacked the music with an urgency and gusto, not the reverent embrace that French impressionism usually gets.  Yet it wasn’t really the performance that made Debussy’s 1893 piece seem so new and fresh. The context within the concert is what did the trick.

Instead of highlighting the novelty of a familiar work by playing it at the end of a historical progression, the Brooklyn Rider went backward in time.  Everything else on the program was written in the last decade, except a John Cage piece from 1948.

First up was “Achille’s Heel” by 31-year old Colin Jacobsen, one of the Brooklyn Rider’s violinists.  It was a young musician’s stream of consciousness, an amalgam of country, blue grass, rock and jazz with lots of flashy string licks.

“…al niente” (to nothing) by Uzbekistan composer Dmitri Yanov-Yanovsky had a bit more going on than its title implies.  Like cracks in a picture window, a pervasive haze of sound was splintered over and again by harsh jagged lines from the solo strings.

The program note for Italian composer Giovanni Sollima’s “Federico II” suggested it would evoke the medieval court of the Italian ruler.  But the music actually occupied similar ground to Jacobsen’s piece.  There was the same steady pulse, though with a bit more melody from folk-like tunes.

After intermission came Cage’s piano work “In a Landscape,” in a beautiful arrangement by Justin Messina. The players passed back and forth short melodic runs for a lush and tuneful meditation.

Each piece in this odd batch settled comfortably into its own groove. Call it “solid state” music, if you like. It would be easy to say that rock and minimalism fostered the Brooklyn Rider’s taste for such fare. But then, along came the Debussy, which worked the same way.  And Debussy got the idea from Indonesian gamelan music.

The faithful and discerning Union College audience acknowledged the music and fine players with enthusiasm. There was even a holler or two for the encore, Jacobsen’s lively arrangement of a Persian folk song called “Ascending Birds.”

Reviews originally appeared in the Times Union.

British composer, conductor and pianist Thomas Ades, 39, is no stranger to Carnegie Hall.

He and/or his music seems to be there multiple times every season lately.  And on Saturday March 27, he makes his piano recital debut in the big hall, Stern Auditorium.

His program features a “concert paraphrase” (sounds like Liszt) of his own opera, “Powder Her Face” (1995).  Can’t forget that when the opera was performed in a semi-staged version at BAM in the late 90s, the biggest hook for news coverage was the oral sex scene.

The rest of Ades’ program is wide ranging, to say the least:

Actually, this will be the third Ades appearance in the month of March at Carnegie.  Last Friday he performed in Zankel Hall with violinist Anthony Marwood and cellist Steven Isserlis. And on Wednesday this week he conducts the Ensemble ACJW. His own music is included on both programs.

Last season I attended a concert of the Berlin Philharmonic at Carnegie that included Ades’ “Tevot” before the Mahler Sixth Symphony. It was an overwhelming evening, fatiguing even. The thing that comes to mind most right now is the disparity between Thomas Ades when he spoke from the stage – not quiet stammering, but certainly modest and matter of fact and even a little shy – and the brash, inventive and impudent character of his music.

I believe it was from Alex Ross‘ 1998 New Yorker profile of Ades that I learned the composer was gay. Clever of Alex to bury it deep deep into the story by mentioning that they ran into each other at a gay bar in the day or two after their interview (at last that’s how I recall the story going).

Just came across a 2007 profile, “Don’t Call Me a Messiah,” by Peter Culshaw in the London Telegraph.  It includes a fine description of Ades’ style, if it can be called that:

Most music critics have been hugely impressed, if occasionally left a little cold, by the sheer cleverness of Adès’ music, the brilliantly original sonorities and rhythmic invention, the way it absorbs and spits out the history of music. He cannibalises and re-imagines wildly eclectic musical influences – from Ligeti to Janácek, from the Astor Piazzolla-influenced tango of his first opera “Powder Her Face” to his piece “Brahms,”  which was an “anti-homage” to the composer. There was even the thump of house music in a section of his 1997 piece “Asyla.”

Near the end, Culshaw includes a bit on the guy’s personal life:

Adès was one of the first to take advantage of the civil partnership rules to commit to his partner, the video artist Tal Rosner. Does he recommend getting hitched? “I can’t recommend anything more. It’s fantastic.” Friends attribute some of Adès’s new-found equilibrium in his life and his music to the relationship.

Does he think there is such a thing as a gay aesthetic in his music? “Well, there was in Powder Her Face [about the notorious Duchess of Argyll]. I don’t know. I’ve thought about doing an opera with two male leads, but would that be too gay, too contrived.”

It’s always a pleasure to find that there are other journalists who’ll broach such matters now and then.  As well as composers – talented and prominent – willing to talk.

Here’s a bit of the orchestral suite on “Powder Her Face.”

Along with the as-yet-untitled piece, the program will feature Monk’s 3-minute hit “Panda Chant” (1984) and another work for orchestra and chorus, “Night” (1996/2005).  Monk and members of her vocal ensemble – including Allison Sniffin, Katie Geissinger, Thomas Bogdan and Theo Bleckmann — will be part of the performances. The program opens with Stravinsky’s Momenutum pro Gesualdo and ends with Bartok’s Music for Strings Percussion & Celesta.

Monk’s first orchestra work was “Possible Sky” commissioned in 2003 by Michael Tilson Thomas and the New World Symphony.  According to Paul Schiavo’s program notes the new piece presents Monk working in a new long-form, in contrast to larger works in the past that were made up of discreet sections. The new piece will be, says the composer, in a “continuous woven form.” Monk is also aiming for an integration of voices and orchestra. “Monk has no interest in the traditional paradigm of vocal melody with instrumental accompaniment,” writes Schiavo.  The orchestrations for both the new piece and “Night” are credited to Allison Sniffin with Monk.  The full program notes can be viewed here.

Monk’s new work was co-commissioned by the Los Angeles Master Chorale, which perform it on April 11 in Walt Disney Hall. That program also includes “Night” and excerpts from Monk’s “Songs of Ascension,” along with Arvo Part’s “Miserere.”

Daniel Bernard Roumain & The Mission

January 22, 2010, The Egg, Albany

Daniel Bernard Roumain, also known as DBR, is a composer with ample classical chops, but he also knows how to improvise — and not just with notes. He turned his long-scheduled return to The Egg on Friday night into a benefit for the victims of the earthquake in Haiti, which is where his own family roots lie. His opening violin solo was a kind of theme and variations on the country’s national anthem.

The musical heart of the program remained mostly in tact, a series of string quartets written in honor of civil rights leaders. During one lengthy movement, a striding tribute to Adam Clayton Powell and Harlem style, Roumain didn’t have to read the vibe of the room to know that the crowd was down with the music. They’d started calling out their appreciation, as at a gospel service. Immediately Roumain brought the audience into the performance, leading them in finger snaps of increasing rhythmic complexity.

A few minutes further into the piece, a telephone sang out in the hall and Roumain halted the quartet. He’d warned us that something might happen during the piece, but a phone call?

Through the speaker system, Roumain conducted a conversation with two American friends who recently arrived in Haiti, asking them to describe in detail the situation and how they’re getting by. If the musical program was curtailed for a while to make time for the dialogue, no one seemed to mind and members of the local Haitian community were allowed to ask a few questions.

Roumain’s series of Civil Rights Portraits features five quartets and portions of four were performed. The music is post-minimal with most sections consisting of a perpetual rhythmic motion. Much of it might feel pretty stagnant when played by a traditional quartet, politely seated on stage. But Romain’s amplified band — the SQ Unit, he calls them — swayed their bodies, grinded their bows and made it all rather gritty and gripping. Their encore of free improvisation was full of daring and personality.

Roumain, 38, is one of the most prominent of the new generation of composers who don’t hide offstage. He’s a dynamic emcee and showman, who sometimes scratches the violin like it’s a turntable. Also part preacher and music instructor, he brings a so-called classical concert to life like nobody else can. Cheers to The Egg for bringing him here regularly.

Mahler’s Fifth Symphony

Albany Symphony Orchestra, Benjamin Zander, guest conductor

Saturday January 23, Palace Theatre, Albany

If Benjamin Zander wasn’t already friends with half of the Capital Region by the time he led the Albany Symphony Orchestra on Saturday night, it wasn’t for lack of trying. The Boston conductor had a string of public appearances throughout the week, starting with a well attended talk on leadership Monday night at the Massry Center.  It all culminated with Saturday’s concert in the Palace Theatre featuring Mahler’s Fifth Symphony.

A prescient depiction of modern angst, the Fifth dates from 1902 and is cast in five movements that stretch well more than an hour in length.  Eight-three players were on stage for the performance.

To heighten the effect of Mahler’s stormy vision, Zander began the program with a lilting picture of old Europe in the form of Johann Strauss’ Emperor Waltzes.  He used plenty of rubato, with most passages either racing along or almost dragging.  Though the music was intimate, Zander’s gestures were huge. Since he stands at least six feet tall, the crowd in the balcony could have probably followed along easily.

As if wiping away the exuberant life of his earlier symphonies, Mahler begins the Fifth with a desolate cry from the trumpet.  Eric Berlin handled it and many more solos with aplomb

The first two movements are a near constant tug of war between romanticism and modernity.  Imagine a joyous song accompanied by the march of soldiers.  Yet Zander’s interpretation seemed to accentuate the tender, such as the cello section’s smooth composure during a descending melody in the second movement.

The central Scherzo was most arresting when the strings played pizzicato, followed by a number of solos from the woodwinds and brass. The passage culminated with one of Mahler’s most obvious allusions to the waltz, which prompted a brief return of Zander’s grand beat. He nearly touched the ceiling.  Also memorable in the Scherzo was the sustained and full bodied playing of first horn William Hughes.

The string choir was all heart in the gentle Adagietto, with a delicate underpinning from harpist Lynette Wardle. When the music faded to nothing, the thrilling ride of the finale commenced immediately.  The string of climaxes included a series of descending chords from the mighty brass.

Along the way there were moments to quibble about — an out of tune tympani in the opening movement, a sour tuba solo near the end of the second, and a vague and weary line from a horn near the end. But the larger perspective was Zander outlining a picture of the piece that a talented and dedicated orchestra filled in with both vivid color and deep sentiment.

Brentano String Quartet plays Beethoven

Sunday January 24, 2010, Union College Concert Series, Schenectady

Whether a listener or a performer, everyone in classical music must address the works of Beethoven. But the Brentano String Quartet has a special obligation because it’s named for Antonie Brentano, who scholars believe was Beethoven’s unrequited love interest, his “immortal beloved.”

On Sunday afternoon, for the Brentano’s second solo engagement at the Union College Concert Series, the group stepped up to the challenge with an all-Beethoven program. It was obvious that the material was hardly new to them. Though its members are youthful looking, the Brentano has been around for 18 years already and it couldn’t have earned its many awards and accolades without having a firm grip on Beethoven. From start to finish, they played with a polished sound and impeccable ensemble.

The three quartets at hand date from Beethoven’s early, middle and late periods and were offered in chronological order.  It was an immersive listening experience that got deeper, though surprisingly less interesting, as things progressed.

The String Quartet No. 1 in F Major, Op. 18 No. 1 has more than a few touches of Hadyn and Mozart, yet the Brentano brought out the romantic side.  After starting with some beautiful unison trills, the opening Allegro became quite forceful, almost explosive. Then the Adagio was so meditative that the writing seemed a little incoherent, even listless. The spell wore off soon enough as the material turned increasingly grave. The Scherzo had an admirable articulation and bounce but the final Allegro, with Beethoven’s return to classical gestures, rattled on a bit.

Even more free form was the String Quartet No. 9 in C Major, Op. 59, No. 3 “Rasumovsky.”  In his program notes, founder and first violinist Mark Steinberg described it as feeling “at sea.” The piece really came to life in the spare Andante, when a curvaceous rather Eastern melody got passed around for solos.  Cellist Nina Maria Lee had a fun walking bass figure and throughout the afternoon she added more low register support than most quartets have.

After intermission came the Quartet No. 12 in E-flat major, Op. 127.  It’s the first of the so-called late quartets, yet it’s not the late late kind that got into such weird harmonies and forms. It actually turned out to be the most cohesive writing of the afternoon, and one was reminded that E-flat is one mellow key, popular for lullabyes.  As the sun was setting and the piece droned on, it felt good that duties to Beethoven were nearing completion.

Adamo, who happens to be Corigliano’s partner, wrote “Late Victorians” in 1994 and revised it in 2007, presumably in advance of this new Naxos recording, made that same year by the Eclipse Chamber Orchestra, a Washington DC-based group conducted by Sylvia Alimena.  There’s beautiful music here and it receives a handsome performance, with narration by political commentator Andrew Sullivan and singing by soprano Emily Pulley. There’s a certain lonely isolation to the gentle orchestral writing and the “Late Victorian” idea suggests those colorful row houses, the “painted ladies,” unique to San Francisco, where the plague hit so hard.

But I just don’t get Adamo’s concept, specifically the mix of texts and their means of delivery.  Sullivan’s narration, drawn from a 1990 essay by Richard Rodriguez for “Harpers,” is interwoven with the singing of Pulley who intones poetry of Emily Dickenson, except when she’s echoing Rodriguez’s words.

Early in the piece, Sullivan’s gentle voice quietly ruminates on single men living alone in urban apartments. But then the full-voiced Pulley swoops down in dialogue.  The disparity brought to mind sickly little Prior Walter alone in his bedroom in “Angels in America” when the massive female angel bursts through the ceiling above him.  Yet the angel had something to say and the characters wrestled, literally and figuratively.  In this piece, the two characters, if they can be called that, often just commiserate.  If the idea is to form a bridge between historical eras, their languages are too similar.

A bit of hope and consolation comes in the final minutes (one of many occasions on this disc that bring to mind the music of Leonard Bernstein).  It’s not that I think a piece about AIDS needs to be uplifting or have any other emotional goal. A vivid depiction of the darkest era can be enough. It’s just that the juxtaposition of spoken male voice and operatic soprano is so extreme that it seems to call out for some metaphorical purpose and even after repeated listenings it’s not clear what that is.

The rest of the disc presents a series of short, attractive pieces for orchestra.  The best of them is “Regina Coeli,” an excerpt from Adamo’s 2006 harp concerto titled “Four Angels.” With the movement’s positioning on the disc right after “Late Victorians,” it serves as an eloquent, rather somber kind of postlude. But it would have been nice to have the whole concerto in order to hear where else Adamo takes it, especially since the harp writing in this single movement, played by Dotian Levalier (principal of the National Symphony), is so subdued.

In the four-minute Overture to Adamo’s 2005 opera “Lysistrata,” there’s a general feeling of adventure with lots of snatches of tunes that presumably appear in the opera.  It rattles on a bit, but provides some of the only genuinely lively music on the disc, especially in the final bars, which are infused with bongos and some metallic percussion and even more obvious references to Bernstein.  (In Adamo’s notes, he does credit Lenny’s Overture to “Candide” as an inspiration.)

Finally, “Alcott Music” is a 16-minute suite from Adamo’s first opera, the knock-out success “Little Women” (1998). The three movements are “Jo,” “Meg” and “Alma and Gideon.”  This piece, too, was revised for the recording from an earlier incarnation titled “Alcott Portraits.”  Adamo rightly calls it a souvenir from the opera, but in his notes he also points to the opera’s “orchestral reticence.” And that’s a fair assessment of this suite. It’s sweet and heartfelt, maybe a tad nostalgic, and rather forgettable. It could fit nicely beside some more vigorous pieces on an orchestral program and be a balm to audiences frightened of anything contemporary. But coming at the end of this already quite soothing disc, it’s pretty forgettable.

Adamo’s next major project is an opera on Mary Magdalene for the San Francisco Opera in 2013. After the light charm of “Little Women” and the farcical humor of “Lysistrata” – all of which comes through on this disc — perhaps that new topic might inspire music with more bite.

8 p.m. Friday January 29, Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center (pre-concert talk at 6:45 p.m.)

The program:

Hymn and Fuguing Tune No. 3 (1944)
Atlantis (1931) ( NY Premiere )
Variations for Orchestra (1959)
Symphony No. 2, “Anthropos” (1941)
Concerto for Harmonica and Orchestra (1962)
Symphony No. 11 (1953)
Seven Rituals of Music (NYC Premiere )

Featuring soprano Heather Buck, mezzo-soprano Elise Quagliata, baritone Jonathan Hays, and harmonica soloist Robert Bonfiglio

Here’s a potent excerpt from Botstein’s program notes:

“He was probably the most courageous American composer of the 20th century, with his daring techniques and desire to build bridges between Western music and what we now call ‘world music.’ He was an original thinker – an iconoclast. But Cowell is the sort of figure Americans talk about liking but don’t, actually. We celebrate the idea of American originals, but when we meet them, we tend to put them in jail.”

More from the notes by Botstein and Richard Tietelbaum can be viewed at the bottom of this post.  The full program notes, by the way, end with a welcome tidbit of news:  Joel Sachs’ long awaited biography of Cowell is scheduled for publication by Oxford University Press in spring, 2011.

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Saturday, January 30, The Peter Jay Sharp Theater, The Juilliard School, Lincoln Center

COPLAND’S THE TENDERLAND (concert performance)
Juilliard Opera and Juilliard Orchestra
David Effron, conductor
Copeland Woodruff, director

The performance is part of Juilliard’s annual Focus! festival, which is directed by Joel Sachs and this year carries the theme “Music at the Center: Composing An American Mainstream.”  Six concerts are scheduled, January 22-30.  Among the offerings is Cowell’s Symphony 13 “Madras” on Monday, January 25. Works of Rorem, Barber, Menotti and Bernstein are also sprinkled among the events.

The Tenderland, Copland’s only evening-length opera, certainly isn’t being neglected this year. Here in upstate New York Glimmerglass Opera will present a new fully staged production this summer.

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AN AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY:  THE MUSIC OF HENRY COWELL

Excerpts from notes by Leon Botstein:

Although Cowell’s place in the history books is secure, he and his music are not `in the air.’ He was probably the most courageous American composer of the 20th century, with his daring techniques and desire to build bridges between Western music and what we now call `world music.’ He was an original thinker – an iconoclast. But Cowell is the sort of figure Americans talk about liking but don’t, actually. We celebrate the idea of American originals, but when we meet them, we tend to put them in jail…

Cowell’s career coincides with the advent of American modernism in painting, sculpture and architecture. Insofar as music in American life before 1917 seemed to be derivative in its indebtedness to European models, the challenge facing young American artists in the 1920s was the creation of something distinctly and uniquely American. Now that America, though still young, seemed fully realized as a nation, it demanded that its own distinctive voice be heard.  The character of that voice would have to match the industrial spirit of America. It had to be marked by a self-conscious modernity and a faith in innovation. In this regard, there was no more distinctly American composer in the first half of the 20th century than Henry Cowell. He was an experimentalist and a pluralist. True to America’s identity as an immigrant nation, he embraced influences from numerous sources. He broke the boundaries that had been erected between types and genres of music. He invented new sounds…

The judgment of history does not constitute an objective test. Consider the fate of Henry Cowell. The scandal surrounding his imprisonment for homosexuality, and the easy association in many circles between aesthetic radicalism and left-wing politics damaged his reputation and career during his lifetime and posthumously. For all of America’s celebration of innovation, there has been a dark side to American cultural life: an enormous pressure to conform, the rule of a marketplace that is intolerant of genuine individuality and dissent, and a risk-averse anti-intellectualism derived from mistrust, isolationism and commercial interest. Cowell’s career and music have consistently tripped the wires of all of these negative attitudes. As a result, for the last 50 years, his music was deprived of the hearing it deserved except in a small community of devoted advocates. More exposure is necessary to permit a reasonable assessment of the worth of his many compositions. Only after repeated performances can we as performers and listeners decide which works we prefer and which seem more persuasive than others. . .  That is what makes Cowell the perfect subject for the mission of the American Symphony.

Excerpts from Richard Teitelbaum’s notes on the program:

Hymn and Fuguing Tune No. 3 (1944) is an example of 18 such works Cowell wrote between 1944 and 1964 for forces ranging from solo cello to full orchestra. They reflect his interest in early American music. For No. 3, the composer drew from “Southern Revival meetings in which popular minstrel show rhythms were turned to religious purposes.”

Atlantis (1926-1931) is one of Cowell’s most unusual and experimental pieces, a dance work scored for three voices and small orchestra. Eventually abandoned as too expensive to stage, “Atlantis” wasn’t premiered until 1996.

Variations for Orchestra (1956/59) was revised for Leopold Stokowski and the Houston Symphony. Based on what Cowell called “a brief, simple and melodious theme of twelve different tones,” the Variations see the composer follow his own path, avoiding both Schoenberg’s twelve-tone technique and conventional theme-and-variations form.

Symphony No. 2, “Anthropos” (1938) was completed while Cowell was still in prison. The five movements are titled 1) Repose 2) Activity 3) Repression 4) Liberation. It was premiered on March 9, 1941, at the Brooklyn Museum with the composer conducting.

Concerto for Harmonica and Orchestra (1962) wasn’t premiered until in 1986 — by this evening’s soloist, Robert Bonfiglio, with the Brooklyn Philharmonic under Lukas Foss. The work entails such Japanese elements as the sound of the sho, the chamber reed organ that can produce tone clusters. This enabled Cowell to combine two longstanding interests, his ultra-modernist “invention” of tone clusters and similar chords inspired by the ancient Japanese gagaku court orchestra.

Symphony No. 11, “Seven Rituals of Music” (1953) follows Cowell’s concept that “there are Seven Rituals of Music in the life of man from birth to death.” The symphony opens gently with music for a child asleep and ranges through percussive music for work, a song of love, the ritual of dance and play, preparations for war and, finally, the ritual of death – a lament that grows in intensity until the symphony ends.

Complete program notes available here.

(Courtesy American Symphony Orchestra)

The contemporary performing arts in New York have no better friend than GWEN DEELY.

A former staff member of the music publisher C.F. Peters and also Composers Recordings, Inc., Gwen wrote her masters thesis at Hunter College on John Cage.  For 22 years she coordinated an annual New Year’s Eve marathon reading of Gertrude Stein’s massive novel “The Making of Americans” at the Paula Cooper Gallery.  She also founded the annual John Cage Birthday Tribute, which has been going for 17 years now.  Gwen is in her fifth year as a member of the Stonewall Chorale and also currently sings with the Dessoff Symphonic Choir and at St. Joseph’s Church.

So for the rest of this post, I turn it over to Gwen and Her Big Gay Ears (and eyes, as well, since most of the photos are her own)…

WHAT BETTER PLACE ON EARTH to go to concerts than New York City? None, I say! Since I don’t particularly like my job, I spend much of my days planning my nights — at concerts!

Here are some 2009 highlights, great and small:

THE YEAR STARTED with Robert Ashely’s trilogy of operas at La Mama, an exquisitely intimate environment for his “Dust,” “Celestial Excursions,” and “Made Out of Concrete.” Done with minimal sets and maximum musical talent — Sam Ashley (Robert’s son), Robert Ashley, Thomas Buckner, Jacqueline Humbert, and Joan La Barbara, with Blue Gene Tyranny on keyboards in Dust. The operas evoke Gertrude Stein in rhythmic repetitions with mesmerizing layering of voices and the ensemble often swirling around the ruminating voice of the narrator. The audience itself was filled with luminaries, and it was a terrific start to the New Year.   (Steve Smith’s review for the Times: “Layered Dialogues on Effects of Old Age”)

IN FEBRUARY, pianist Nurit Tilles performed at Tenri, an art gallery friendly to musicians, with flutist Don Hulbert and cellist Arthur Fiacco. Their program included two songs related to animals, the quirky “Secret Life of Fish” by Gerald Busby and the equally quirky “(Unlikely) Aspirations” for flute and imaginary creatures by Kirk Nurock (who has also written pieces like Sonata for Piano and Dog). But the tour de force performance of the evening came in Alexandre Tansman’s Sonata No. 2 for piano, a knockout piece requiring exceptional musical chops of which Nurit has plenty! The audience literally gasped throughout at her technical wizardry.

IN MARCH, Meredith Monk’s “Ascension Variations” was performed at the Guggenheim Museum. I had the enormous good fortune to be part of it all because the Stonewall Chorale (the nation’s first gay and lesbian chorus) was invited to be part of the chorus (we have performed with Monk several times). The piece was performed twice in one day and we had several rehearsals at the Guggenheim when it was closed. (Night at the Museum-esque! It was rather surreal.) Monk referred to it as her “Ben Hur experience” since there were 120 participants including chorus, instrumentalists, dancers, a string quartet, performance artists, and her own ensemble.  Here she is with the Stonewall:

The experience defies description.  Working with Monk is exhilarating and life altering. She is as vibrant and creative as ever. It was rough rehearsing in the museum as we were all spread out through the spiral levels, but it came together without a hitch and was a glorious event for both audience and participants. (Gia Kourlas’ review for the Times: “Guggenheim Spirals, in Sound and Motion” And for photos, go to Flickr.)

APRIL WAS A STELLAR MONTH for events with BAM a beehive of activity for “Merce Cunningham at 90.”  Forever young, Merce invited Sonic Youth and John Paul Jones to join him (he performed with music of Radiohead and Sigur Ros a few years ago). There was a gigantic pod-like structure on the stage for the musicians, which seemed to dwarf all else, but it was an amazing experience nonetheless. Merce took bows in his black velvet jacket from a wheelchair. (Review and great photos at Brooklyn Vegan.)

Also at BAM was Jonathan Miller’s unorthodox stage production of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, sung in English (Robert Shaw’s eminently singable translation) with the finest freelance choral singers in the city who were dressed in casual clothes with the 2 choirs facing each other.  The listener is drawn into the drama of 2000 years ago as though it were taking place for the first time in front of their eyes.

AND AT CARNEGIE HALL in April, Terry Riley’s “In C” was performed for its 45th anniversary.  I had a bird’s eye view from a box seat. Let me tell you, there were a lot of leftover hippie men (bald with ponytails!) in the audience and on the stage. The highlight for me was watching the luminaries perform. Having been specially gathered by the Kronos Quartet in honor of the 45th Anniversary of the piece, they included Philip Glass, Jon Gibson, Terry Riley, Lenny Pickett, Stuart Dempster, and Wu Man, among many, many others. The main keyboardist, Katrina Krimsky, was decked out in her notorious long black gloves, and was the original pianist in 1964. She didn’t miss a beat, which is not easy to sustain for 94 minutes straight.  (Steve Smith’s review: “Complex Patterns Within a Simple Key”)

I HAD THE PRIVILEGE in June of singing in Mahler’s Eighth Symphony with the New York Philharmonic as a member of the Dessoff Symphonic Choir.  It was Lorin Maazel’s last concert as the orchestra’s conductor. There were many tedious rehearsals leading up to it; James Bagwell is a demanding and exacting rehearsal conductor, but also one I respect tremendously. The work is actually so demanding that during one rehearsal he strained his arm so much that he had to use ice and a bandages for a few weeks afterwards. Yet that is how strenuously we all worked. The dress rehearsals were quite amazing (the stage was extended, it is after all the “symphony of a thousand”) and witnessing Maazel’s last rehearsal and last concert was historic. A conductor of great technical expertise and calm demeanor, we had only to watch the tip of his baton and all was revealed. Though we sang the symphony four times, I never tired of it.  Here’s a photo from one of the rehearsals:

THE GREAT MERCE CUNNINGHAM passed away on July 26. The week after that, the MCDC performed two free concerts in the River to River festival. Hundreds of people (many of them alumni of the dance company) flocked to witness what was an extremely emotional event. There were two platforms for the dancers, but if you sat in the right spot you could see both platforms at once (like his recent events at DIA Beacon). The dancers themselves were obviously shaken but resolved to perform. In the middle of the site-specific event, they performed 4’33” in honor both John Cage and Merce Cunningham. It was a stunning and emotional tribute.

IN AUGUST, Rhys Chatham’s “Crimson Grail” was finally performed in a free concert in Lincoln Center’s Damrosch Park.  (Last year it was canceled due to torrential rains, when I alone sat in the downpour and waited and waited but to no avail.) The work is massive — scored for 200 guitars plus one high-hat, which kept everyone locked on the same rhythmic strums. There were also four conductors placed strategically throughout the vast space. The audience (it was) was maxed out and overflowed into the streets. It was visually as well as aurally spectacular because the stage was swathed in pink (ie crimson) lighting. It was a quintessential New York City event.  (Review and photos at the Brooklyn Vegan.)

ON JOHN CAGE’S BIRTHDAY (September 5) the 17th annual John Cage Birthday Tribute took place at St. Mark’s Church, in association with the Danspace Project. This year was elegantly simple: guitarist Kevin Hufnagel performed an improvisational piece for prepared guitar, Nurit Tilles performed the legendary 4’33,” and then David Vaughan (Merce Cunningham’s archivist) gave an eloquent introduction to the evening’s full length film “Cage/Cunningham” by Elliot Caplan.  The heat and humidity did not prevent the space from being filled to capacity, with people waiting outside for the opportunity to get in if anyone left. It was a fitting celebration in honor of two legends who spanned two centuries.  Here’s a video of Kevin’s performance.

GOD BLESS BETTY. They’ve been around over 20 years performing an idiosyncratic fusion of rock, jazz, and blues and are still going strong in spite of some members’ health setbacks. I saw them once again on September 24 at the Highline Ballroom. Gloria Steinem (braless!) was on hand to introduce them and Lesley Gore made a brief guest appearance singing the theme from the “L Word.” It was an absolute hoot. The highlight of the evening, however, was the encore where they invited an older woman from the audience onto the stage while they sang the Beatles tune “I Wanna Be Your Man.” I almost died laughing, enjoying it so much.

WE ROSE AGAIN IN OCTOBER as Meredith Monk’s “Songs of Ascension” had another performance, this time at BAM. The space was very different and it required a different mindset from the Guggenheim performance, but was equally as transformative. Video projections by Ann Hamilton enveloped the audience as well as the contemplative sounds of the percussion, Todd Renolds’s String Quartet, and the Monk Ensemble. (Allan Kozinn’s Times review: “Bending Melodies on the Way to an Otherworldly Quest”)

DURING NOVEMBER Bang on a Can’s co-founder Julia Woolf celebrated her CD new “Dark New Ride” in a unique way: working her way from downtown to uptown, playing selected pieces from the CD in different venues — for free and all on the same day. I was able to get to the last stop, Faust Harrison Pianos on West 57 Street, for her piece for six pianos, based on a tiny piano riff from the opening bars of Aretha Franklin’s classic hit, Think. It was an intensely physical performance with its relentless driving rhythms of rock. The piece was over 20 minutes long, the audience was ecstatic.

Also last month, Bora Yoon gave a phenomenal concert at the historic Church of the Ascension with New York Polyphony. Tracing the transcendental properties of sound from early music to today’s experimental new music, Bora uses a huge battery of instruments:  vox aeterna, shruti box, mutant horned, Stroh violin from the turn of the century, organ, carillon church bells, lyrical voices, sonic sundries, and all of music between. If you’ve never heard her, run do not walk  to anything she does.  (Here’s a review by Harry Rolnick from ConcertNet)

AND FINALLY there was Phil Kline’s reinvention of holiday ritual, “Unsilent Night.”  As is tradition, we met at the arch at Washington Square Park, boom boxes and iPods in hand. But this year we were delayed because Phil left his daughter’s stroller somewhere by mistake and had to find it.  Once things got going, the magic was everywhere. Phil’s been doing this event since 1992 and this year we even had a police escort.  Here’s a good video montage of the experience from YouTube:

The crowd was quite big, and we wended our way through Washington Square Park, eastward down 8th Street, and into Tompkins Square Park. The best way to describe the event, which anyone can join, is that the crowd becomes a walking sonic sculpture with cascading shimmering bell-like effects plus a hint of cantus firmus. And, I admit, I like my cantus firm!

Happy New Year everybody!!!