Alex Ross: The Rest Is Noise

Stravinsky Festival

Rite of Spring. The New Yorker, May 19, 2008.

More Igormania is on the way: the Michael Clark Company's Stravinsky Project comes to Lincoln Center in early June. Bob Shingleton caught the show in Norwich.

From the archive

This 1994 recording of Domus playing Fauré's Piano Quintets is exquisite in every respect, and probably brings you about as close as you can get to hearing the imaginary music of Vinteuil in Proust. It's overpriced on Amazon; go to ArkivMusic instead. Reminder: I have a list of current CD picks in the left column.

Clarification

John von Rhein, in a thoughtful piece on Riccardo Muti's Chicago appointment, quotes a phrase from my post the other day, but he takes it out of context. I did not say that a "'jet-set celebrity conductor' mind-set ... brought Muti" to Chicago. Rather, I said that if Muti had been guest-conducting frequently at the New York Philharmonic while Alan Gilbert was serving as music director, then Gilbert would have had "the shadow of a jet-set celebrity conductor hanging over him." That is not a statement about Chicago's motivations for hiring Muti. Nor is it intended as a putdown; I was simply pointing out that Muti is an international superstar among conductors, while Gilbert, as yet, is not. I made sure to state that Muti's repertory is unpredictable, that he has led quite a bit of new music, and that at his best he is an electrifying conductor.

Anniversary issue

"I have four razors and a dictaphone."
— Andrey Tarkovsky, 1979

Many thanks to all who have visited the blog over the past four years — 3.3 million page views.

Alaska photojournal

Stravinsky once spoke of the "violent Russian spring that seemed to begin in an hour and was like the whole earth cracking." The composer John Luther Adams, whom I profile in this week's New Yorker, quoted that line to me when he picked me up at the airport in Fairbanks; the Alaskan thaw had begun quite suddenly the previous day, and the snow was already half gone. Below are photos from my trip to Alaska last month.

Muti goes windy

The Chicago Symphony has chosen Riccardo Muti as its next music director — or, it might be better to say, Muti has chosen it. Reports from Andrew Patner and John von Rhein suggest that the maestro forged an unusually strong bond with the great Chicago ensemble during a concert series and European tour last fall. While I've had mixed impressions of Muti's conducting over the years — sometimes he achieves searing intensity, sometimes icy perfection — I expect that some spectacular concerts are in the offing. One thing I like about Muti is that his repertory choices are unpredictable. In recent concerts he's presented Prokofiev's Third Symphony, Hindemith's Nobilissima Visione and Sancta Susanna, Nina Rota's Piano Concerto, and his beloved Scriabin. He was scheduled to lead the Copland Third at the New York Philharmonic in March before withdrawing because of flu. He programmed a fair amount of new music while at the Philadelphia Orchestra: Berio, Ligeti, Ralph Shapey, Steven Stucky, Christopher Rouse, and Richard Wernick. I hope he casts his net even wider in Chicago.

When the New York Philharmonic picked Alan Gilbert as its next music director last summer, it also named Muti to an untitled role as a frequent guest conductor; he was expected to lead six to eight weeks of concerts per season. Dan Wakin reports that Muti plans to reduce that commitment (the conductor says he never agreed to a specific number of weeks), and that the guest role will end when he arrives in Chicago in 2010. Zarin Mehta, the Philharmonic's executive director, understandably describes that outcome as a "disappointment." I'm puzzled, though, by Wakin's assertion that the news from Chicago has generally "dampened spirits" at the orchestra (there are more details in a follow-up piece today). I see no reason why this should be so. Muti is a brilliant conductor, but he's hardly the last of the greats. I personally dreaded the idea that Philharmonic would hire him full-time, and was pleased when they went with Gilbert instead. After two music directors of the elder-statesman type, it was time for a younger leader, one alert to the challenges and opportunities of presenting classical music in modern America. Mehta says as much in both Wakin articles. In fact, Gilbert now has more room to make his mark, without the shadow of a jet-set celebrity conductor hanging over him. You won't need a Guerrieri diagram to keep track of the hierarchy. Chicago seems to have different needs at the moment, although I join Joshua Kosman in wondering about the long-term wisdom of their approach. Incidentally, Chicago has never had an American-born director, although Theodore Thomas, the orchestra's founder, came to this country when he was ten.

Appearance

I will be reading tonight alongside the novelist Rivka Galchen at the Russian Samovar, 256 West 52nd Street. The event is hosted by Farrar, Straus & Giroux, my mighty and gracious publisher. Starting time is 7PM; admission is $5.

Music played: Schoenberg's Five Pieces for Orchestra (Levine recording), Stravinsky's Les Noces (Pokrovsky Ensemble), Shostakovich's Fourth Symphony (Haitink recording), Steve Reich's Music for 18 Musicians (Grand Valley State University New Music Ensemble).

John Luther Adams

Song of the Earth. The New Yorker, May 12, 2008.

A recording of JLA's Dark Waves is attached to the online version of the piece (headphones or stereo hookup strongly recommended). I'll post a photojournal soon. The above photo shows the composer in The Place Where You Go to Listen.

"Wotan leaves Valhalla"

Photo: Wagner in Bayreuth, 2004.

The official announcement came today: Wolfgang Wagner, Richard Wagner's grandson, will step down as director of the Bayreuth Festival on August 31, one day after his eighty-ninth birthday. He has been in charge since the first postwar festival in 1951, though he shared power with his brother Wieland until Wieland's death in 1966. His daughters, Eva Wagner-Pasquier and Katharina Wagner, have made a joint bid to take direction of Bayreuth in his wake. More at Bloomberg Arts.

Henry Brant, etc.

A maverick among mavericks, Henry Brant has died at the age of ninety-four. Kyle Gann, Frank Oteri, and Josh Kosman have obits.... John Luther Adams's profoundly impressive Dark Waves will be performed this week by the La Jolla Symphony under the direction of Steven Schick. My profile of the composer appears in The New Yorker next week.... A guide to Sibelius's favorite stimulants (via Clownsilly).

Brentano Quartet and Late Style

End Notes. The New Yorker, May 5, 2008.

Tether your cat

Heebie jeebies — Terry Teachout has written another book, not to mention an opera libretto. Warmest congratulations!

New king of the high Cs

Juan Diego Flórez and Natalie Dessay both sang brilliantly in last night's La Fille du Régiment at the Met, the local debut of Laurent Pelly's richly amusing production. Flórez, after a slightly breathless start, securely zapped his nine high C's in the cabaletta of "Ah! mes amis," and then proceeded to zap them all again, audibly more at ease  — the first time a singer has delivered an encore at the Met since Pavarotti in 1994. I personally feel that Marco Armiliato could have waited a little longer before giving the downbeat for the encore, but it was fun to witness. Audio of the feat accompanies Bernard Holland's review in the New York Times. There's also a YouTube video of the aria from Vienna (same production). La Fille is on the Met's HD simulcast this Saturday. All remaining performances are sold out.

Bløgösphèric notes

Molly Sheridan, host of NewMusicBox's vibrant Friday Informer wrap-up, has a blog of her own on ArtsJournal. It's called Mind the Gap, and it looks on both sides of the theoretical pop-classical divide.... Andrew Patner's new-ish blog The View From Here now carries podcasts from the lavishly cultured host's WFMT interview series, Critical Thinking. Here's Boulez on Janáček (note the priceless pronunciation of the phrase "That is for sure").... A reminder that Russell Platt is posting on The New Yorker's award-winning Goings On blog.... You can't keep Alan Rich down for long: he will be writing for Bloomberg News and also at his own site, So I've Heard (under construction).... As ever, wacky accents inspired by The Fredösphere.

Syncretic playlist:

— Charles Wuorinen, Ashberyana, etc.; Sarah Rothenberg and Da Camera of Houston (Naxos)
— Janáček, From the House of the Dead; Boulez conducting, Patrice Chéreau directing (DG DVD)
— Helmut Lachenmann, Ausklang, Richard Strauss, Alpine Symphony; Ensemble Modern (EM)
— 2 Foot Yard, Borrowed Arms (Yard Work)
— Unsuk Chin, Alice in Wonderland (Medici DVD)
— John Harbison, Ulysses; Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP Sound)
— Scott Wheeler, The Construction of Boston; Donald Teeters conducting The Boston Cecilia (Naxos)
— Nico Muhly, Mothertongue (Bedroom Community/Brassland)
— Philip Glass, Waiting for the Barbarians (Orange Mountain)
— John Luther Adams, In the White Silence; Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble (New World)

Eleanor Roosevelt on Carl Ruggles

From Mrs. Roosevelt's column "My Day" for Oct. 21, 1958: "I went the other night to a concert in Carnegie Hall and heard the works of three American composers, Riegger, Becker and Ruggles, whom are not very often heard [sic]. And the finale of the concert was Rachmaninoff's piano concerto No. 3 for piano and orchestra, in which Mr. Van Cliburn was the pianist and Leonard Bernstein the conductor.... Leonard Bernstein is one of my favorite people, as well as a gifted conductor, and I liked the way he introduced the American composers who were unfamiliar to me. I will have to say that because of that the Rachmaninoff was somewhat of a relief because I did not feel I was trying to understand something new. Nevertheless, the music of the American composers, though unfamiliar to me, had moments of beauty and meaning for me."

Coincidence?

About five minutes before George Steel began his concert of Stravinsky's sacred works at the Park Avenue Armory, Pope Benedict XVI passed by in his motorcade. Roger Evans has an overnight report.

Stravinsky at the Armory

For several reasons, tomorrow night should be something of an event in the current New York season. Amid the vastness of the Drill Hall at the venerable Park Avenue Armory — seen above in 1881, with Leopold Damrosch at the podium — George Steel will conduct the Vox Vocal Ensemble and the Gotham City Orchestra in Stravinsky's three sacred masterpieces: the Symphony of Psalms, the Mass, and the Requiem Canticles. It's the central offering in Miller Theatre's Stravinsky Festival, which has been a banquet of riches so far; New Yorkers are getting to hear various Stravinsky pieces that come along exceedingly rarely (the Septet, Concertino, Three Japanese Lyrics, etc.). Performances of Requiem Canticles are grievously infrequent, of the Mass more or less nonexistent, so the composer's fans will be out in force. Also, this will be the first public presentation in the Drill Hall since recent renovations made the space suitable for music. Various bigwigs will undoubtedly be in attendance to assess the acoustics and the ambience. Coming to the hall this summer is Bernd Alois Zimmermann's colossal, wild, and astounding opera Die Soldaten, courtesy of the Lincoln Center Festival; a DVD of the production, which originated at the Ruhr Triennale, raises expectations high. New York City Opera plans to stage Messiaen's Saint Francis at the Armory in December 2009.

Dot dot dot

La Cieca has coverage of the latest goofball German opera production, a Ballo in Maschera with a lady Hitler. If you read through the comments, you'll find an intelligent debate between La Cieca and her cher public on the subject of Regietheater. Warning: some images may be "not safe for work," as the kids say.... Robert Flanagan's recent report on the state of the American orchestra — the latest in a long line of dire forecasts — has inspired much interesting debate. Greg Sandow defends it; Matthew Guerrieri applies heady Marxian scrutiny.... For perhaps the first time, Arnold Schoenberg has hit #1 on the Billboard chart (classical), thanks to Hilary Hahn's splendidly expressive account of the Violin Concerto, with Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting (DG). I noted Hahn's discussion of Schoenberg last year.... The evidence is almost overwhelming: Shostakovich invented hip-hop. (Via Geelhoed.) ... UbuWeb has posted Dave Soldier's Most Unwanted Song, a scientifically informed attempt at maximally unpopular music. People sipping coffee at their computers should beware. (Via Phil Ford.) ... According to his iTunes Celebrity Playlist, Mick Jagger is listening to the Salonen recording of Messiaen's Des Canyons aux étoiles. Keith, more conservative, picks Beethoven's Romances for violin and orchestra. (Via David Bruce.) ... Never mind the superdelegates: an English-horn player has endorsed Obama. (Via Patricia Mitchell.)

Long winter

...the listener, who listens in the snow,
And, nothing himself, beholds
Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.

— Wallace Stevens, "The Snow Man"

NYC Agenda 4/10-4/16 (corrected)

The Ne(x)tworks collective plays works of Julius Eastman and Lois Vierk at The Kitchen on Friday night, part of a weekend curated by the excellent David Grubbs. The same night, Philip Glass's Satyagraha has its much-anticipated opening at the Met. A cheaper deal ($15) would be Ensemble ACJW at Zankel, under James Conlon's direction, presenting key works of the 1920s: Milhaud's Création du monde, Hindemith's Kammermusik No. 1, Varèse's Octandre. Also running this weekend is the HiFi Music Festival at The Tank, involving such groups as Wet Ink, Ensemble Pamplemousse, Amp, and the Jack Quartet. The Jack's concert, on Sunday Saturday night, will feature the Third String Quartet of Georg Friedrich Haas, one of the most consistently imaginative of Central European composers. Be prepared: the performance takes place in total darkness. Monday night brings a free program of John Cage percussion pieces at the Performing Arts Library: Greg Zuber playing Credo In Us, Water Walk (see video above), and Third Construction. A "secret guest" is promised. Two promising concerts happen next Wednesday: the superb Brentano Quartet completes its Late Style series at Carnegie with Schubert's sacred Quintet in C, while the Talea Ensemble renders works of Claude Vivier and Anthony Cheung, among others, at The Stone. And on Thursday, Daniel Felsenfeld's Bluebeard update The Bloody Chamber plays alongside Jennifer Griffith's The Dressing Room and Dream President at the Zipper Factory; the New Yorker's Russell Platt has more.