Category: Opera

John Stewart

The American tenor John Stewart made his professional debut at Santa Fe in 1964. Over the ensuing years, he returned often to Santa Fe in a wide-ranging repertory. He made his New York City Opera debut in 1968 and sang many roles there, including Albert Herring, Tamino, and Nanki-Poo. At the Metropolitan Opera, he appeared as Don Ottavio and as Alfred in FLEDERMAUS.

It was at the New York City Opera that I had the pleasure of hearing John Stewart as Pinkerton, Alfredo in TRAVIATA, Sali in A VILLAGE ROMEO AND JULIET, and Mozart’s Tito.

In 1972, he sang Mathan in Handel’s ATHALIA with the Handel Society at Carnegie Hall. The cast further featured Elinor Ross, Maureen Forrester, and Ara Berberian. Mr. Stewart’s singing of the aria “Gentle airs, melodious strains” that evening remains a cherished memory of mine.

In 1974, John Stewart joined the Frankfurt Opera where he sang until his retirement in 1990. He currently teaches voice in New York City.

John Stewart – ROI D’YS aria – Lexington KY 1970

August 27, 2017
Vladimir Kastorsky

Born in 1870, Vladimir Kastorsky entered the St. Petersburg Conservatory in 1893. A year later he was expelled for “voicelessness and incompetence”. But he persevered, and made his operatic debut at the Opera House of Pskov in 1894; he went on to a career of nearly 50 years.

Kastorsky was a star of both the Mariinsky and Bolshoi Theatres. He sang all the great Russian basso roles as well as Mozart’s Count Almaviva and Leporello, Nilakantha in LAKME, and Wagner’s Wotan and Wolfram.

In 1907-1908, Kastorsky participated in Sergei Diaghilev’s Russian seasons in Paris. He also was heard at La Scala, Prague, Berlin, Rome, Munich, London, Kiev, Odessa, and Tiflis. Later in life, he taught at Mariinsky Theatre, Leningrad’s Art Studio and at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory. Kastorsky continued to give recitals of Russian songs and German lieder into his old age. He died on July 2, 1948…one day before I was born.

Vladimir Kastorsky – Pimen’s Monologue from BORIS GODUNOV

Vladimir Kastorsky ~ Eugene Onegin – Prince Gremin’s Aria

August 21, 2017
dell’Arte Opera Ensemble: LA CALISTO

~ Author: Oberon

Sunday August 20th, 2017 matinee – Francesco Cavalli (above) wrote about 30 operas, and of them LA CALISTO has become a favorite with contemporary audiences. Premiered in 1651, the opera’s brief and richly-varied musical numbers – and its sensuous, lusty characters – seem wonderfully fresh and relevant to us today, especially in a performance such as was offered this afternoon by the enterprising dell’Arte Opera Ensemble down at the La MaMa Theater.

A brief synopsis of the opera will help sort out the twists of plot and the infatuations and motivations of the various characters:

THE PROLOGUE
Nature and Eternity celebrate those mortals who have climbed the path to immortality. Destiny insists that the name of Calisto be added to the list.

THE OPERA
A thunderbolt hurled by Giove has gone awry and decimated a portion of the valley of Arcadia. The god comes down with his sidekick Mercurio to inspect the damage They find the nymph Calisto, desperately seeking water. Giove causes a stream to gush up. He then attempts to seduce Calisto, who is a follower of Diana – the goddess of the hunt – and a staunch virgin. She rejects Giove’s advances, but later succumbs when he disguises himself as Diana. Meanwhile, the real Diana, because of her vow of chastity, cannot return the love of the handsome shepherd boy Endimione. Diana relies on the help of her attendant nymph, Linfea, who desires a husband but spurns the advances of a young satyr.

On Mount Lycaeus, Endimione sings to the moon, the symbol of Diana. As he sleeps, Diana covers him with kisses. He awakes and they sing of their love. Jove’s infidelity is discovered by his wife Juno, while Diana’s secret is found out by Pane, the god of the forest, who has long desired her. Endimione is persecuted by Pane and his satyrs.

The Furies turn Calisto into a bear at the command of the indignant Juno. Giove sadly confesses all to Calisto: she must live the rest of her life as a bear, but eventually he will raise her to the stars. Diana rescues Endmione and they agree that, while their kissing-fest was enjoyable, they will leave it at that. Giove and Mercurio celebrate Calisto’s ascension to her heavenly home in the constellation Ursa Major

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Sung in the original Italian, with English surtitles, the dell’Arte production is directed with wit and affection by Brittany Goodwin, who let the bawdiness of certain scenes play out without lapsing into vulgarity. The costumes by Claire Townsend mix modern-day wear with fantasy elements. The scenic design is by You-Shin Chen, and the atmospheric lighting by Dante Olivia Smith.

The score was played by an expert period-instrument ensemble led by Charles Weaver, with Mr. Weaver and Adam Cockerham playing lutes, violinists Dongmyung Ahn and Sarah Kenner, cellist Matt Zucker, and Jeffrey Grossman at the harpsichord. Their unfailing grace and perceptive dramatic accents brought Cavalli’s music into our time in all its glory.

Vocally, the afternoon got off to a splendid start as Allison Gish (above, in a backstage portrait) intoned the lines of La Natura with a voice that evoked thoughts of the great contraltos of bygone days.

In a scene which anticipates Wagner’s GOTTERDAMMERUNG Norns (even down to having a contralto sing first), Ms. Gish’s La Natura is joined by Elyse Kakacek as L’Eternità and Jungje Xu as Il Destino. Ms. Kakacek looked striking as she sang from the mezzanine; the voice is full and wide-ranging, pinging out into the theater space. Jungje Xu’s voice is lyrical, and she sang very well as she pleaded Destiny’s case for giving Calisto a place in the heavens. When these three singers blended voices, the effect was superb. Later in the opera, they portrayed the stream which sprang up to quench Calisto’s thirst, and – later still – were Furies, minions of the goddess Juno, who revel in a scene where they torment Calisto.

Above: Emily Hughes as Calisto, with her fellow archers of Diana’s entourage, in a Brian Long photo. Ms. Hughes was the lovely focal-point of the story; with her clear, appealing timbre and a charming streak of vulnerability in her personification of the role, the young soprano made Jupiter’s infatuation entirely understandable. Her long aria in the opera’s second half was particularly pleasing.

Mason Jarboe as Giove (Jupiter) – handsome in appearance and authoritative of voice – was an ideal matching of singer to role. My only wish was that he’d had more to sing. The same might be said of tenor Brady DelVecchio as Mercurio; his characterful singing, easy stage demeanor, and pimp-like persona were much appreciated. Both gentlemen savoured their every moment onstage.

Above: Emily Hughes as Calisto with Adria Caffaro, who appears both as Diana and as Giove disguised as Diana. Ms. Caffaro was able to subtly differentiate vocally between her two roles; the voice is warm, sizable and pliant, with a touch of earthiness. And she exuded goddess-like confidence. After an episode of heated kissing between Calisto and Giove in his Diana guise, Ms. Caffaro returns as ‘Diana herself’ and is amused – and then annoyed – by Calisto’s description of ‘their’ smooching session and the implication that Diana might have same-sex desires: Ms. Caffaro here turned fiery, making the scene one of the highlights of the afternoon.

Above: Padraic Costello as Endimione. Mr. Costello’s honeyed counter-tenor and gift for persuasive phrasing fell graciously on the ear. His portrayal of the shepherd, infatuated with Diana, was as expressive as his singing. As the most human character in the story, and the one for whom love is truly all, Mr. Costello was as moving in his sincerity as in the beauty of sound he produced.

Above: Joyce Yin as Linfea, one of Diana’s handmaidens who is torn between preserving her chastity and losing it. Satirino, a lusty satyr, offers to solve Linfea’s dilemma for her, but she fends him off. Ms. Yin’s voice is clear and assertive, pealing forth to express her excitement. Stage-wise, she was a bundle of energy, and very amusing when she ‘remembered’ to strike the required archer’s poses.

Above: Raymond Storms as Pane. This is the opera’s second counter-tenor role and Mr. Storms excelled in the music, which veered from passionate declaration to soft, sweet turns of phrase. His acting was spot-on as yet another frustrated lover of Diana (she’s so popular!).

Pane’s pals are Shawn Palmer as Satirino (the satyr who tried to have his way with Linfea earlier) and Angky Budiardjono as Silvano. This trio’s scenes recall the rustics in MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM…and all three are actors who can sing.

Ms. Palmer looked androgynous with her lithe, long-legged figure and glossy blue bob-wig. Her cantering walk and occasional pawing of the ground revealed her animal nature. Her rather long dramatic aria showed a deeper side to the character, and she sang it so well.

Mr. Budiardjono’s singing was wide-ranging and ample-toned, a very pleasing sound to be sure. In Part II of the opera, Mssrs. Storms and Budiardjono have a duet that really showed off their talents; Ms. Palmer then joined them in a trio that was sheer fun to see and hear.

Sophie Delphis as the goddess Giunone, wife of Jove, did not descend from the heavens until the start of Part II. Clad in an elaborate haute couture dress, spike heels, and a flame-red hat, Ms. Delphis’ appearance was as striking as her singing and acting. A complete immersion into the character made her every note, word, and movement vivid. In a vindictive rage upon learning her husband has been unfaithful, Ms. Delphis unleashed her anger like a sylvan Santuzza. The voice has a real bite to it.

Diana’s archers also served as stagehands, quickly maneuvering floor platforms into different configurations and nimbly transforming swaths of long, hanging sheer-white fabric into clouds, canopies, or pillars.

The afternoon flew by; all too soon we were hearing what seemed to be a choral finale with all the characters mingling voices as Giove showed Calisto the firmament…her future home. But the voices fade away and the opera ends on a parlando passage from Giove.

Production photos by Brian Long.

~ Oberon

August 20, 2017
Julia Claussen

Swedish mezzo-soprano Julia Claussen studied at the Royal Academies of Stockholm and Berlin, made her operatic debut in Stockholm in 1903, and sang at Paris, London, and Chicago.

From her debut there as Dalila in 1917 until 1932, Julia Claussen was a mainstay at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. She sang Azucena, Amneris, Ortrud, Fricka, Brangaene, Kundry, Venus, Marina in BORIS GODUNOV, Laura in LA GIOCONDA, and other roles for a total of nearly 175 performances at the Old House and on tour. She frequently participated in the opera and song concerts that were regular features of Met seasons at that time.

An interview with Julia Claussen here. She died at Stockholm in 1949.

Julia Claussen – Schmerzen from Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder

July 27, 2017
Matti Salminen as Hagen

On October 21st, 1988, basso Matti Salminen (in a Marty Sohl photo, above) enjoyed a huge personal triumph with his magnificent portrayal of Hagen at the Metropolitan Opera’s premiere performance of the Otto Schenk production of GOTTERDAMMERUNG, with James Levine on the podium. I was there, and it was one of the great nights in my opera-going career.

This excerpt comes from the 1993 broadcast of the Wagner masterwork:

Matti Salminen as Hagen – Met 1993

July 18, 2017
From Cardiff ~ 2017: Excellent Massenet

At the fourth concert of the 2017 Cardiff Singer of the World Competition, exceptional performances of two arias from Massenet’s WERTHER were particularly gratifying. Tenor Kang Wang (above), who has sung an impressive Narraboth at The Met, delivered the poet’s lamenting “Pourquoi Me Réveiller?“ with striking sincerity.

Catriona Morison (above), from Scotland, moved me deeply with her sense of quiet desperation in Charlotte’s “Air des Lettres“. A superbly attractive woman, Ms. Morison’s voice and her emotional engagement in the character’s situation made her performance of this aria – which does not always work well out of context – as fine as any I can recall.

UPDATE: Catriona Morison was co-winner – along with Mongolian baritone Ariunbaatar Ganbaatar – of the 2017 Cardiff Singer of the World Song Prize. Watch as Dame Kiri Te Kanawa presents the trophy here.

Both Ms. Morison and and Kang Wang along are finalists in the competition for the Main Prize, as are Mr. Ganbaatar, England’s Louise Adler, and the American baritone Anthony Clark Evans.

UPDATE #2: Hot off the press: Catriona Morison named Cardiff Singer of the World 2017!! Can I pick ’em or can I??

June 15, 2017
From Cardiff ~ 2017: Iurri Samoilov

I haven’t been overly impressed with most of the singers at this year’s Cardiff Singer of the World Competition, but baritone Iurii Samoilov from the Ukraine moved me in this Rachmaninoff song.

June 14, 2017
Restless Creature: The Film

RESTLESS CREATURE, the documentary about Wendy Whelan that dance lovers everywhere have been waiting for, is now playing (thru June 6th) at Film Forum down on Houston Street in New York City. Since, as most of my readers know by now, I’ve been on the disabled list for several weeks, I had the good fortune of receiving a link to watch the film at home.

Very soon after I moved to New York City and started working at Tower Records, Wendy Whelan came in to shop one afternoon. She had been my dream dancer since I first took note of her as an outstanding, unique ballerina in my favorite dance company: New York City Ballet. Feeling overwhelmingly shy in the presence of my idol, I managed to croak out an uncertain “Hello, Wendy!” Incredibly, she seemed equally shy. We talked about the weather.

From that day on, I ran into her frequently – both at the store and around Lincoln Center, where I loved hanging out for hours in hopes of seeing my beloved dancers coming and going from rehearsals and performances. Whenever Wendy passed by, she always stopped to chat; she has an incredible sense of humor, and a knack for making whoever she’s talking to feel…blessed.

I have a million Wendy Whelan stories, and I’ll put some links to some of my favorites at the end of this article. But right now, it’s showtime! Roll RESTLESS CREATURE…

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Above: Brian Brooks and Wendy Whelan, photo by Christopher Duggan

When I think of Wendy Whelan, the word that always comes to mind is: gratitude. Gratitude, not simply for her sublime artistry as a dancer, or her wit and warmth as a friend, but a true feeling of being thankful that our dance careers – hers performing, mine observing – have dovetailed so perfectly. From the first memories of singling her out on a stageful of magnificent dancers in her early days at New York City Ballet down to this very afternoon – watching her in the strikingly candid and deeply moving documentary RESTLESS CREATURE – Wendy has been one of those people who – quite simply – makes life worth living.

The film opens with some footage from Jerome Robbins’ GLASS PIECES, with Wendy and Adrian Danchig-Waring in the pas de deux. Within seconds, the pristine beauty and ineffable mystique of Wendy Whelan have already moved me to tears. And that’s how I spent the entire 90-minute span of watching this film: on a roller-coaster of emotion as Wendy’s transition from prima ballerina to contemporary dancer de luxe is observed at close range in scene after scene which reveal both a deep vulnerability and a powerful strength of will in this complex and supremely human woman.

“If I don’t dance, I’d rather die!” says Wendy early in the film; we then follow her on her journey beyond classical ballet and into another realm of dance: a journey marked by a surgical intervention with all its attendant hope and despair.

Courageously, Wendy even lets us eavesdrop in the operating room, and we can only marvel at the technological advances that make what once would have been an unthinkable procedure go forward smoothly. From thence, with her handsome husband David Michalek ever a quiet pillar of strength, the ups and downs of recovery are chronicled. “It’s depressing to think of what I can’t do anymore,” Wendy broods, as she works thru physical therapy. Yet all the time, the future beckons.

She speaks of roles having been taken away from her at New York City Ballet and of a conversation with Peter Martins that devastated her when he said, “I don’t want people to see you in decline.” With raw honesty, Wendy admits this episode caused her debilitating pain.

But she carries on; her first gentle barre is an obstacle to be overcome: she is anxious to get back to work. With a focus on what she can do, her RESTLESS CREATURE program has taken shape: she will dance duets – not on pointe – with each of four choreographers. But the recovery process stalls as pain begins to creep back in. When a hawk appears outside her window, Wendy takes it as an omen and postpones the RESTLESS CREATURE tour. The toll this decision takes on her is potent.

But, resilience is in her nature. She works thru the pain and finds her strength again. Wendy plans her farewell program at New York City Ballet, determined to take leave of the House of Mr B during her 30th year with the Company. One last surprise comes her way: Alexei Ratmansky asks her to dance in his new creation PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION. She is thrilled by the invitation, and seems to be having a blast doing it. {Wendy is currently staging PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION for Pacific Northwest Ballet.}

The night of the farewell is beautifully documented: Wendy dances with her next-generation partners Tyler Angle and Craig Hall, finishing the evening in a pas de trois specially crafted by Christopher Wheeldon and Akexei Ratmansky which ends with Wendy aloft, leaving the past behind and reaching for the future.

Throughout the film there are delightful glimpses of people I love: Lynne Goldberg, Emily Coates, Sean Stewart, Maria Kowroski and Martin Harvey, Gonzalo Garcia, Edward Watson, Ask LaCour, Chris Bloom, Reid Bartelme, Abi Stafford, Tiler Peck, Sean Suozzi, Joshua Thew, Allegra Kent, Jacques D’Amboise, Wendy Perron, Gillian Murphy, Ethan Stiefel, Gwyneth Muller, Chuck Askegard, and oh-so-many more. Three of Wendy’s most marvelous cavaliers are seen: Jock Soto, Philip Neal, and Peter Boal. Mr. Boal pays Wendy an incredible – and honest – compliment when he says, “You changed how people behave in this profession.”

Watching the film made me think yet again of Wendy as a very special kind of star, for while it is wonderful to be admired, applauded, honored, and revered as an artist, it is even more rewarding to be loved, not only for what you do but for who you are.

At the very end of RESTLESS CREATURE, there is one final tugging of the heartstrings: the film is dedicated to the memory of Albert Evans.

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Here are some past articles from my blog about Wendy Whelan that you might enjoy reading:

Wendy & Pauline

RITE OF SPRING

LABYRINTH WITHIN

Wendy Teaching

Celebrating Wendy Whelan

NYCB Farewell

RESTLESS CREATURE @ The Joyce

Hostess With The Mostess

May 30, 2017
Augustin Hadelich @ The NY Philharmonic

Above: Augustin Hadelich; photo Jesse Costa/WBUR.

Author: Scoresby

Thursday May 25th 2017 – In a flavorful all-Czech program, the young conductor Jakub Hrůša made his New York Philharmonic debut at David Geffen Hall. The violinist Augustin Hadelich was featured on the program, returning to the New York Philharmonic. While I had never heard Mr. Hrůša before, I have been a fan of Mr. Hadelich’s for some time.

The first piece on the program was the enigmatic Dvorak Violin Concerto in A minor, Op. 53. This is a virtuosic showpiece from early on in Dvorak’s career and has never been a favorite of mine. Mr. Hadelich gave an astoundingly clean, dexterous, and lyrical account once again proving he is a superb interpreter. In the first movement he managed to structure the wandering sections and yet still find time to pause to savor the lyrical sections. The orchestra had a warm sound, but the orchestral writing for this piece is too large for a solo violin. Nonetheless, the musicians blended well with Mr. Hadelich’s tone, creating a very satisfying performance. There was a moment at the end of the first movement in which the horn and violin seemed to fuse timbres creating a beautiful effect evoking a warmer version of a woods call. These sensual movements made the piece much more exciting than I had expected.

Another was the way the woodwinds played the searing melody during the first movement – it felt like the one could feel the energy from that section of the orchestra. During the virtuosic final movement, Mr. Hadelich managed to playfully entertain with the many Czech dances – the orchestra following his lead well under Mr. Hrůša. Right before launching into the fast pace finish, Mr. Hadelich took one dramatic pause as if to breathe. It was perfectly timed and made the rush to the finish even more alert. As an encore, he gave a technically perfect and surprisingly lyrical account of Paganini’s Caprice No. 1. Mr. Hadelich managed to squeeze all the color that one can out of a showpiece like that.

Above, conductor Jakub Hrůša photographed by Andreas Herzau

The evening’s second half started with three of Dvroak’s Slavonic Dances: Op. 46, No. 1; Op. 72, No.2; and Op. 72, No. 7. The first one is a loud colorful fanfare that sounds nationalistic. Mr. Hrůša led a clear account that let the instruments breathe – the crowd burst into applause at the finish of this dance. The second is a much more tragic/lyrical piece which was deftly handled. While indulging for some of the thick textures, Mr. Hrůša made sure to keep the orchestra at bay to build into the third piece in the set – which sounded similar to the opening fanfare. These were crowd-pleasers certainly, but played well and with a sense of purpose.

After having read about it and listened to it on recording for many years, I finally got the chance to hear Janacek’s Taras Bulba, Rhapsody for Orchestra. This imaginative piece is loosely based on Gogol’s eponymous novella – but Janacek picks three particular scenes to set into music. The first depicts the son of Taras Bulba falling in love with a Polish woman, which eventually ends when Taras executes him for treason. The music itself alternates between sweeping sections depicting the tryst and intense war sounds. In the background of both sections the organ and bells are a constant reminder of his fate.

Mr. Hrůša drew a colorful and dramatic account, creating extremes in the alternate sections while having enough charisma to push through the piece. The orchestra emphasized the special sound effects well. The ending chord with the organ and bells created an almost vacuum-like effect, throwing the hall into silence. During the second movement, Taras Bulba’s other son is captured by the Polish and is watching them dance as his death draws nearer and nearer. Eventually after meeting Taras Bulba he is executed.

Here the orchestra sounded much lighter than in the first movement. The harps in the introduction lifted up the entire orchestra, playing both passionately and lyrically. The players managed to produce pulsing dance rhythms well, making the dance seem stuttering and intense. I noticed many similarities between the structure of this movement and Janacek’s second string quartet. He uses the violins in many of the same ways and the opening chords of the quartet appear through the entirety of second movement of the orchestral piece. I also noticed that Janacek manages to create sweeping opera-like sections. Mr. Hrůša managed to get deep anxious playing from the orchestra leading into the final bars. As if to add to the musical drama some audience member shouted a defiant “Nooo!” just as the movement was ending.

While the last movement depicts Taras Bulba dying, he also sees his own soldiers escaping capture. Thus the music Janacek compose during this movement is mighty and proud. While well played, Mr. Hrůša had the orchestra climax in volume too early, making the other large dynamics less powerful.

Nonetheless, one of my favorite parts of the piece is when the percussion strikes silencing all of the other instruments. The horns then slowly come in out of sync with each other, creating a call and response echoing effect. The orchestra pulled this off perfectly – building to a dramatic ending with the organ and bells being used to maximum effect. The result was both terrifying and uplifting, transporting the audience to the idealist vision of Janacek’s fantasy.

~ Scoresby

May 27, 2017
Brahms|Thorvaldsdottir|Salonen @ NY Phil

Above: Alan Gilbert, in a Michael J Lutch photo

Author: Scoresby

Tuesday May 23rd 2017 – Now in the final weeks of his tenure as music director, Alan Gilbert led the New York Philharmonic at David Geffen Hall in the last of four concerts of a diverse program. Guest soloists included the respected violinist Leonidas Kavakos, soprano Anu Komsi, and soprano Piia Komsi (both sopranos in their NY Philharmonic Subscription debuts). It also happened to be a night devoted to the retiring members of the NY Philharmonic and such there was a ceremony right after intermission.

The program started out with the classic Brahms’s Concerto in D major for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 77. I have heard Mr. Kavakos (above) a few times before and have always enjoyed his performances. This Brahms was taken at a slow pace in the first movement. Mr. Kavakos seemed to use a style of playing with very light bow pressure and many staccato notes, which emphasized the more modernist elements of the work (particularly in the cadenza). While most players make this into a flashy piece, both the orchestra and Mr. Kavakos seemed to be tempered, bordering on torpid. They did bring transparency and structure, emphasizing each phrase.

Opening with a sensual organ-like chorale, the second movement seemed more effective at this tempo. It allowed the orchestra to breathe through some of the more beautiful tutti sections and Mr. Kavakos time to care for each line. The finale was Mr. Kavakos at his best, finally managing to fully synchronize with the orchestra and lunging through difficult technical demands.

After the intermission was the annual New York Philharmonic ceremony honoring both the retiring and retired musicians. This is a time-honored tradition in which retiring musicians give a speech – it is also a nice time for former musicians to come back to the orchestra.

As the violist and Chairperson of the Musician’s Orchestra Committee Dawn Hannay (above) pointed out in her memorable speech, the musicians and history of an organization are vital in creating a particular sound. “Without the musicians, the conductor is just waiving their arms around.”

Above: Anna Thorvaldsdottir; photo by Kristinn Ingvarsson

The second piece on the program was the New York premiere of Aeriality by the young Icelandic composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir. While this was my first time hearing any of her work live, I have been relishing two recent discs of her music for the past few years – one released by Deutsche Grammophon and the other recorded by International Contemporary Ensemble. It was a pleasure to hear this rich music live, which is a completely different experience than listening to an album. As with many of Ms. Thorvaldsdottir’s pieces, the sound is huge and immersive.

In some ways, one might consider this piece as much an ambient soundscape as it is a structured musical piece. The percussion seems the only thing grounding about the music; it otherwise shifts through a variety of textures and colors – almost like moving through space. It is a evokes strong visuals of a primordial landscape in my mind. The clusters, density, and waves of sound all increase until a climactic moment when the music turns into light, feathery texturing. It really felt like the orchestra arrived somewhere it fell silent. The performers drew a big sound and played well. Mr. Gilbert led a slower account that accentuated the many textures, but also felt a little less structured.

The program closed with the New York premiere of a work by the esteemed composer and conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen. The piece was an older one from his output entitled Wing on Wing, inspired by the completion of Frank Gehry’s Walt Disney Concert Hall. It includes two sopranos who move to different parts of the hall, percussionists who also play from different parts of the hall, the electronic sounds of a fish, and the voice of Frank Gehry himself.

The sopranos Anna and Pii Komsi did an excellent job through difficult descending and ascending passages that evoked the sounds of a siren. While the orchestra played rivetingly throughout the work, the electronics sounded a little kitschy. The piece has classic Salonen sound of colorful open sounding chords with interesting textures from a variety of instruments. It evoked both Ligeti’s Atmosphères and Debussy’s Jeux, melded with Salonen’s creative rhythms.

The moment that grabbed the most was the final purely orchestral section, in which the orchestra bursts into a frenetic dance anchored by the percussion. It was lovely to hear the New York Philharmonic present important contemporary composers and a nice reminder of the importance of the musicians in the orchestra.

~ Scoresby

May 25, 2017