Michael Mizrahi, pianist recital

The pianist Michael Mizrahi performed a recital of Beethoven and 21st-Century composers at the Sears Recital Hall on the University of Dayton campus today. The program included five composers who are new to me, and their works were all written between 2005 and 2011.

The Beethoven pieces included the Rondo Op. 51 No. 1, composed 1796-97 at age 27, and his Eleven Bagatelles Op. 119, composed 1820-1822 perhaps as sources of spare income while he was working on the Missa Solemnis. The Rondo clearly shows the influence of the late classical masters, and its formal organization is straightforward with clear melodies and well-crafted contrasts. The bagatelles are a type unto themselves. Most are miniatures in a strong A-B-A structure, each lasting from 30 seconds to 3 minutes. (Score is available at the International Music Score Library Project.) Though they are small, they belie the meaning of bagatelle (a thing of little importance). The first introduces a nice cross-relation within its first four measures, and this sets up a relative freedom with tonal centers that makes a momentary jolt in almost every piece. —Mind you, this Beethoven guy still works well with a strong sense of cadence and fluid key changes.

Of a pleasant contrast was the selection of new works for piano. The Beethoven Rondo was contrasted by three works by Patrick Burke (b. 1974), John Mayrose (b. 1976), and Mark Dancigers (b. 1981). The Beethoven Bagatelles were contrasted by a set of four short pieces by Ryan Brown (b. 1979). To close the recital with yet another contrast, Mizrahi played a new reconstruction of Chopin's Mazurka in F minor (Op. 68 No. 4) and followed that with a Ballade by Judd Greenstein (b. 1979). The new works are available all together on Mr. Mizrahi's recent CD, The Bright Motion. The constrasts and comparisons to Beethoven and Chopin are generously explored, and none of the new works stray too far afield from a central tonal area. —Mind you, the works lack traditional cadence though the motivic structure keeps one well grounded.

Burke's Unravel (2011) presents a short motif that repeats quite a few times with interspersed echoes before breaking away from the original 3-note germ. Its texture and structure reminds one of Copland's orchestral works once he settled into the most listenable American composer of the mid-Twentieth Century.

Mayrose's Faux Patterns (2009) ruminates on a two-note motif of G-flat and F. The texture gradually, carefully expands and creates its own joy in cross-relations, and then, almost as voices from other worlds, points of tone at the upper and lower reaches of the keyboard add their comment on the half-tone motif.

Dancigers' The Bright Motion first movement (2011) marries Claude Debussy to late Philip Glass in a convincing home scene, including a clear reference to La Cathédrale engloutie and an oblique to other works from the Préludes.

Brown's Four Pieces for Solo Piano (2010) become almost a hearing test for my sixth-decade ears, in which few tones below middle C are struck. His work is much more rhythm-centered, and it merges repetitions that Meredith Monk would be happy to obsess on with clusters and chords that Dave Brubeck and Bill Evans could be glad to expand on.

Greenstein's First Ballade (2008) also explores the highest registers, though the motivic structure drops often into the lower tones as a contrast to what becomes a filigree of way-above-staff figures. Overall, I felt the Ballade to be the most expansive of the pieces from these new composers. —That is not to say longwinded, as this piece seems a bit too short at 8 minutes.

Highlights of the L.A. Phil 2012-2013 season

A recent L.A. Times article discusses the newly announced season for the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel. The highlights for me:

Another prominent date will be the March 7, 2013, debut of the staged version of John Adams' oratorio, "The Gospel According to the Other Mary," a spiritual companion piece to the composer's "El Niño" (2000). The libretto incorporates writings by Rosario Castellanos, Dorothy Day, Louise Erdich and June Jordan.
Los Angeles will see its world premiere in concertante version this year, May 31-June 3. The staged version, directed by Peter Sellars, will tour to Lincoln Center, the Barbican in London and other venues after its 2013 L.A. performances.
Next season the Phil will present Oliver Knussen’s one-act opera based on Maurice Sendak’s children's classic "Where the Wild Things Are" and the L.A. premiere of Hungarian composer Peter Eötvös' "Angels in America," based on Tony Kushner's drama about the ravages and human resiliencies of the AIDS era.

The prominence of opera and oratorio is laudable. The choice of composers and texts is exciting.

Perhaps Dudamel's performances will make it to the live-video simulcasts in movie theaters around the country.

Intrigued by John Zorn and Stephen Schwartz

Has anyone seen the set of concerts of music by John Zorn and Stephen Schwartz—and their new operas La Machine de l’être and Séance on a Wet Afternoon at New York City Opera? Except for Breitbart's short and dismissive description, I had seen only press releases about the music.


For example, the New York Times produced a super piece of expectation, but not a follow-up review that I can find. Similarly, the Wall Street Journal printed an in-depth interview. Even the respected blog Sequenza /21 produced a blurb about the Masada marathon and the Schwartz opera, but failed to attend and review. Barry Singer wrote a long piece based on his interviews of the NYCO impressarii on the need for monodrama to reach today's opera audience.

Until the New York Times published Tomassini's insightful and evocative review. And this interesting description by composer Drew Baker—it's a plus-plus that he includes a YouTube video interview. And this review by Bruce Hodges with superb stills of the productions. And though Paddy Johnson acknowledges he knows nothing about opera, he provides us with two intriguing photos. Finally, I found a terse, supportive piece of a review in Opera Today.

Thomas Adès conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic, 9 April 2011

A guest column by Charles Derry

The Philharmonic performed Adès' Polaris to the accompaniment of a video that was created by Tal Rosner, a collaborator (and boyfriend) of the composer. The video seemed good, but not great.  But it damaged the music, making the music seem "less than" rather than "more than."  With images, the music seemed an accompaniment, and less complex that it actually was.  When I looked away from the video, which I did a lot, the music seemed really great.  With the video, it was hard to hear the structure of the music.  Only at the end when the video became totally abstract did it seem to accompany the music, rather than vice-versa.  I hope that Adès drops the video in any future performances of Polaris , even though the video has an emotional personal connection for him.  Adès' music--in the world of new contemporary classic music--is superlative, whereas this video--in the world of video art--is just good.

The second part of the program consisted of Messiaen's Eclairs sur l'au-delà. Even though we were seated high in the Frank Gehry-designed concert hall, we were on the side, and the result was that we could hear the source of every sound and see the source as well, so there was a kind of virtual choreography as we watched the interplay of the orchestra--double bass from the far right, tympani from the back, etc, and I could see every single musician clearly. There were about 10 tympanists.  I could hear at every moment the specific source, as well as find the musician(s) who was(were) playing the music.  I have never had such a great visual experience of music as in this specific concert hall from these particular seats.  The sound, the texture, the clarity of the individual sounds, was extraordinary--shockingly good, in fact.  It was actually one of the few live experience hearing music where I thought the "live" situation made the music sound better than when listened to on a CD.

The last movement, lasting about 8 minutes, required the trianglist to vibrate the triangle continuously with his brush for the entire length, with virtually no cescendos or decrescendos. (A Tourette's nightmare for me).  It seemed also a feat of incredible virtuosity.  One could see the virtuosity everywhere, actually. I felt for the musicians, who were asked to learn extremely hard, and untypical music, for this single performance.  They were absolutely up to it, each and every one of them.

To my surprise, somewhat, this work is--except for its length and profundity--less like Turangalila than I had remembered (maybe because of the lack of onde martinot), but it was filled through and through with a multitude of sudden rests, caesuras, and then sudden attacks--hundreds, thousands.  It was like lightning suddenly illuminating something profound, and then the darkness of no sound, and then lightning again.  The audience seemed often to be holding its breath, as the conductor and all the musicians were constantly suspending, and then attacking.  And there was the sense, too, in other sections, of the music "breathing"--with ins and outs--particularly in the spectacular sections dedicated to "love music"--passionate, ecstatic....

Weirdly, to me, the 3rd to the last movement was conducted using a totally different method.  Instead of counting out the time, the conductor was holding up numbers with his fingers: 1, 3, 2, moving his fingers closer to the orchestra and then back, and using other signals that looked like American sign language.  It makes me think that that movement may be without a time signature and allows the conductor special leeway.  It's almost as if the conductor himself was talking to the birds in the orchestra with this new language.  I've never seen this method used... [See the break for additional information from L.A.Times music critic, Mark Swed.]

A very, very memorable evening

Liaisons: Reinterpretations of Stephen Sondheim

The increased access we enjoy today to new music benefits its composers and their performers, and it benefits the audience as well. Through a few well-chosen search engines, we can find examples of the work by a composer or performer. Sometimes with more focused searches or more exploration of a long list of results, we can even hear a composer's specific piece by a specific performer.

Absent such a lucky strike, we can glean an approximation of a piece by listening to online samples of other works by the same composer or performer. And often that approximate understanding is enough to decide on purchasing a new CD or set of audio files. That's the case today with information about a planned set of performances by Anthony DeMare. He has commissioned works from 30 composers that rework songs by Stephen Sondheim. The list of composer-interpreters has some surprises and some names new to me. (The links are to examples of each composer's music, often for piano, that are available on YouTube.)

• Milton Babbitt— "I'm Still Here" from Follies
• Mason Bates— tba
• Eve Beglarian— tba
• Derek Bermel— "Sorry-Grateful" from Company
• William Bolcom— "Anyone Can Whistle" from Anyone Can Whistle
• Kenji Bunch— "The Ballad of Sweeney Todd" from Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street
• Michaeld Daugherty— tba
• Peter Golub— "Children and Art" from Sunday in the Park with George
• Ricky Ian Gordon— "Every Day a Little Death" from A Little Night Music
• Annie Gosfield— "A Bowler Hat" from Pacific Overtures
• Jake Hegge— "A Weekend in the Country" from A Little Night Music
• Jerome Kitzke— "Sunday/Lesson No. 8 Move On" from Sunday in the Park with George
• Phil Kline— "Someone in a Tree" from Pacific Overtures
• Ricardo Lorenz— "The Worst Pies in London/A Little Priest" from Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street
• Paul Moravec— "Losing My Mind" from Follies
• David Rakowski— "The Ladies Who Lunch" from Company
• Steve Reich— "Finishing the Hat" from Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street
• Eric Rockwell— "You Could Drive a Person Crazy" from Company
• Daniel Bernard Roumain— selections from Assassins
• Frederic Rzewski— tba
• Rodney Sharman—"Beautiful" from Sunday in the Park with George
• David Shire— "Comedy Tonight" from On The Way To The Forum
• Bernadette Speach— "Liaisons/Send in the Clowns" from A Little Night Music
• Nils Vigeland— "Alma Mater/Merrily We Roll Along" from Merrily We Roll Along

Apparently the remaining six composers are not yet announced or arranged. Who might they be? Nico Muhly, Jennifer Higdon, Thomas Adès, Libby Larsen? ... one can only guess, although another source includes Stefano Bollani, Adam Guettel, Fred Hersch, Ethan Iverson, Gabriel Kahane, Tania Leon, John Musto, Thomas Newman, David Rakowski, and Mark-Anthony Turnage.

De Mare has distinguished himself among pianists in his development of the pianist as vocal performer. Perhaps the most expressive of such works is De Profundis by Frederic Rzewski, who set the text of Oscar Wilde's letter from Reading Gaol. This half-hour work asks the performer to alternate bravura pianistic moments with highly charged speech and other effects, both percussion and vocal. Although the listener may link the music to Schönberg's use of Sprechstimme, the vocal element is not always so carefully notated and the vocal production goes far beyond mere speaking voice. Much of the effect comes from the ability of the performer to transcend the bounds of speech and song, and De Mare explores his exceptional capacity so well that his recording of De Profundis comes to life, almost holographically.

It is through my familiarity with the recording Speak! that I anticipate the availability of Liaisons, which must await completion until several of the commissions are realized. In the meantime, Anthony De Mare has scheduled a concert tour that presents the working state of the suite in several cities and culminates with a full-suite première in New York City.

• Banff Alberta, 5 March 2011
• College Park MD, 2 April 2011
• Portland OR, 12 July 2011
• Chicago IL, 11 December 2011
• Fort Saskatchewan Alberta, 23 September 2011
• New York Century Club NY, 18 October 2011
• Hudson NY, 21 January 2012
• Fort Worth TX, 4 February 2012
• San Francisco CA, 12 March 2012
• New York Symphony Space NY, 21 and other dates April 2012, full suite première
• Kalamazoo MI, 1 and 3 May 2012

The performance at Banff is documented online with recordings of eleven pieces.

Syvien vesien juhla (Rejoicing of the Deep Waters), fantasy for orchestra

I recently heard music by another Finn, Kalevi Aho (1949- , first work 1969). His Syvien vesien juhla (Rejoicing of the Deep Waters) is a single-movement work that exemplifies his output.

Polyphonic brass open the work, and lower voices are juxtaposed with higher. Then the woodwinds enter as a high choir taking up a motif in juxtaposition to the brass, and finally the strings enter the mix as another choir. From this point on, the strings run a nearly-constant counterpoint to the choirs of brass and woodwinds. Throughout from the initial measures, a percussion battery has taken an increasing role, sometimes the melodic percussion joining with the string choir, sometimes the woodwinds, and then on its own. A tightly interplay of motifs weaves between each choir. A midpoint of relative quiet is gradually supplanted by the return of the motifs originated in the choirs. Then through the end segment, individual voices are allowed to utter motivic comments, and sometimes even nearly complete melodies.

The quite heavy textures are sometimes reminiscent of Messiaen's orchestral work, and then occasionally similar to the orchestral flourishes of Wozzeck and other Berg works.

Career

Aho studied composition at the Sibelius Academy and also a year with Boris Blacher. He taught at the University of Helsinki and the Sibelius Academy. He became composer-in-residence for the Lahti Symphony Orchestra in 1992. His compositions include

• 15 symphonies 
• 15 concerti
• 4 operas
• Vocal works
• Chamber music

Chronology

• String Quartet No. 1 (1967)
• Symphony No. 1 (1969)
• Symphony No. 2 (1970/1995)
• String Quartet No. 2 (1970)
• String Quartet No. 3 (1971)
• Sonata for Violin Solo (1973)
• Oboe Quintet (1973)
• Symphony No. 3, for violin and orchestra (1971–73)
• Symphony No. 4 (1972–73)
• Lasimaalaus (vocal, 1974; text by Aila Meriluoto)
• Symphony No. 5 (1975–76)
• Chamber Symphony No. 1 for 20 strings (1976)
• Bassoon Quintet (1977)
• Quintet for Flute, Oboe, and String Trio (1977)
• Kolme laulua elämästä (vocal, 1977; text by Raimo Lehmonen)
• Ludus Solemnis for Organ (1978)
• The Key (opera, 1978–79)
• Symphony No. 6 (1979–80)
• Piano Sonata (1980)
• In Memoriam for Organ (1980)
• Violin Concerto (1981)
• Quartet for Flute, Saxophone, Guitar, and Percussion (1982)
• Silence (orchestra, 1982)
• Cello Concerto (1983–84)
• Oboe Sonata (1985)
• Insect Life (opera, 1985–87)
• Symphony No. 7 Insect Symphony (1988)
• Piano Concerto No. 1 (1988–1989)
• Paloheimo Fanfare (orchestra, 1989)
• Sonata No. 1 for Accordion (1989)
• Sonata for 2 Accordions (1989)
• Sonata No. 2 Black Birds for Accordion (1990)
• Pergamon for 4 reciters, 4 orchestral groups and organ (1990)
• Chamber Symphony No. 2 for 20 strings (1991–92)
• Veet välkkyy taas (vocal, 1992; text by Viljo Kojo)
• Three Interludes for Organ (1993)
• Symphony No. 8, for organ and orchestra (1993)
• Symphony No. 9, for trombone and orchestra (1993–94)
• Mysteerio (vocal, 1994; text by Maritza Nunez)
• Quintet for Saxophone, Bassoon, Viola, Cello, and Double-Bass (1994)
• The Rejoicing of the Deep Waters (orchestra, 1995)
• Chamber Symphony No. 3, for alto saxophone and 20 strings (1995–96)
• Symphony No. 10 (1996)
• Ilo ja epäsymmetria; (vocal, 1996; text by Mirkka Rekola)
• Kiinalaisia lauluja, soprano and orchestra (1997)
• Symphony No. 11, for six percussionists and orchestra (1997–98)
• Epilogue for Trombone and Organ (1998)
• The Book of Secrets (opera, 1998)
• Clarinet Quintet (1998)
• Kimasen lento [Kimanen's Flight] for String Quartet (1998)
• Three Tangos for Violin, Accordion, Guitar, Piano and Double-Bass (1999)
• Before We Are All Drowned (opera, 1995/1999)
• Tristia. Fantasy for wind orchestra (1999)
• Quintet for Flute, Violin, Two Violas, and Cello (2000)
• Tuba Concerto (2000–2001)
• Symphonic Dances (2001)
• Lamento for 2 Violins or 2 Violas (2001)
• Piano Concerto No. 2, for piano and 20 strings (2001–2002)
• Flute Concerto (2002)
• Symphony No. 12 Luosto, for two orchestras (2002–03)
• Louhi (orchestra, 2003)
• Symphony No. 13 Symphonic Characterizations (2003)
• Concerto for Two Cellos and Orchestra (2003)
• Bassoon Concerto (2004)
• Contrabassoon Concerto (2004–2005)
• Clarinet Concerto (2005)
• Double-Bass Concerto (2005)
• Viola Concerto (2006)
• Trio for Clarinet, Viola, and Piano (2006)
• Wind Quintet (2006)
• Kysymysten kirja, mezzosoprano and chamber orchestra (2006; text by Pablo Neruda, suom. Katja Kallio)
• Oboe Concerto (2007)
• Symphony No. 14 Rituals, for darabuka, djembe, gongs and chamber orchestra (2007)
• Alles Vergängliche. Symphony for Organ (2007)
• Lamu. Music in the space for young brass players (2008)
• Minea. Concertante Music for Orchestra (2008)
• HAHE for 4 Cellos (2008)
• The Bells. Concerto for Saxophone Quartet and Orchestra (2008)
• In memoriam Pehr Henrik Nordgren for Violin Solo (2009)
• String Quintet Hommage à Schubert (2009)
• Trombone Concerto (2010)
• Percussion Concerto (2010)
• Kaksi Mawlana Rumin runoa (vocal, 2010; text by Mawlana Rumi, suom. Jaakko Hämeen-Anttila)
• Symphony No. 15 (2009–2010)

Another composer who is new to me

I read today in Opera Cake of the newly announced season at the Opéra National de Paris. Among the rather conservative works is the 2010 "The Cherry Orchard" (La cerisaei) by a composer new to me: Philippe Fénelon. (Sorry that the only available bio is from the French Wikipedia.)

Checking Amazon, only 3 CDs are devoted to his work, and these are available at relatively high prices from importers or collectors. The main link is to the only listing that includes samplings of the music. ...I hope I didn't destroy the linked samplings by buying the CD.

Saturday on DPR

I just heard that Dancing Solo for Clarinet, chamber music by Libby Larsen, will be broadcast on next week's Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (WDPR Sundays at 6 p.m.). The full program:

• Sebastian Currier: Night Time for Violin and Harp (Yura Lee, violin; Bridget Kibbey, harp)
• Libby Larsen: Dancing Solo for Clarinet (Romie de Guise Langlois, clarinet)
• David Bruce: The North Wind was a Woman for Soprano and Ensemble (Dawn Upshaw, soprano; Avi Avital, mandolin; Bridget Kibbey, harp; Arnaud Sussmann & Todd Phillips, violins; Paul Neubauer, viola; Kurt Muroki, double bass; Andres Diaz, cello; Tara Helen O'Connor, flute; Todd Palmer & Alexander Fiterstein, clarinets; Ayano Kataoka, percussion)

Next up: information on Sebastian Currier and David Bruce.