David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center. Orchestra (Seat AA101, $75).
Isabel Leonard and Kevin John Edusei after the performance of Berlioz's "Les Nuits d'ete."
Program
Elysium for Orchestra (2021) by Moussa (b. 1984).
Les Nuits d'ete (The Summer Nights) Op. 7 (1840-41, orch. 1843, 1855, 1856) by Berlioz (1803-69).
Also sprach Zarathustra (Thus Spoke Zarathustra), Tone Poem (freely after Friedrich Nietzsche) for Large Orchestra, Op. 30 (1895-96) by R. Strauss (1864-1949).
It is just midnight Jan 8 (1 am Jan 9) as I type this. By this time I had gone to another NY Phil concert. Later today we will be off on a one-week trip. I will be quick: just jot down some of my thoughts and observations for these two concerts. I will also try to do that chronologically: that is, do this one without having the additional insight I got from the Jan 8 concert. So here we go ...
First, it wasn't my intention to go to these back-to-back concerts. When I tried to book the season (quite a few months ago), the NY Phil website would only give a limited amount of time for each booking, so I ended up booking two separate batches of tickets. Either a poorly designed system on their part, or I simply didn't work fast enough. It was only afterwards I discovered the two concerts are on Tuesday and Wednesday - and NY Phil rarely has a series ending on Tuesday and another beginning the day after, anyway.
"Elysium," to the extent I understand the word, is the Greek equivalent of Valhalla, where good people go to enjoy their afterlife. Per the Program Notes, Samy Moussa gave his work this name after he finished composing it. The Program Notes also provides a rather accurate description of the work. It begins with "a radiantly shimmering B-flat-major chord, sustained by divided strings and undergirded by a bassoon/contrabasson fundament," and ends with "... coming to rest again on a lingering B-flat-major chord - but a far cry from the sonority that opened the piece." The middle part of this 12-minute piece was where things "happened" (my term), generally interesting, with a wide range of dynamics and range. Helped by the Program Notes reference, one can tell Bruckner influenced some of the orchestration (calling it "of a cosmic scale" may be too much). I don't know how this composition is regarded by today's critics and musicologists, but I certain found it enjoyable. I am not so sure if the image of Elysium will come to mind if one just listens to the piece without the help of the Program Notes, much less the subtleties the piece tries to convey.
Moussa's Elysium calls for a large orchestra. There were 14 different percussion instruments listed in the Program. I counted five percussionists.
This was the piece's premiere at the New York Phil. The composer came on stage.
The term "Summer Nights" perhaps can invoke different thoughts, images, and emotions: relief from the heat of the day, fireflies, sitting on a porch, or pesky insects, thunderstorms and other unpleasantries. What I didn't expect was a series of songs that speak of separation, death, and regret. The texts were written by Theophile Gautier: (1) Villanelle, about the start of a new season with hope; (2) The Specter of the Rose, a rose pinned on one's lapel is still a dead rose no matter how much it is admired; (3) On the Lagoons: Lament, weeping for one's dead love lying in a coffin; (4) Absence, searching high and low for one's love; (5) In the Cemetery: Moonlight, the dead are forgotten; (6) The Unknown Isle, sail away with one's love. (The comments after the titles are mine.)
I remember seeing Isabel Leonard in Dialogues des Carmelites, it turns out I have see her in several other concerts too. Today she brought out very well the sadness and regret inherent in the lyrics, and her voice carried well into the rear part of the auditorium orchestra section. Every now and then I noticed some intonation problems, especially when she sang a long, sustained note.
The Program Notes also talked about how "sloppy" Berlioz was in his harmony, often providing that as an afterthought. And the opinion was by another eminent composer: Ravel.
One problem with Thus Sprach Zarathustra is that the highlight can be found in the first few minutes of the tone poem. If one studied Nietzsche, or perhaps just the score, one could probably correlate the "messages" the piece is trying to convey. The sections are listed in the Program Notes: Of Those of the Unseen World; Of the Great Longing; Of Joy and Passions; The Dirge; Of Science; The Convalescent; Dance Song; and Night Wanderer's Song. As it was, I had a hard time deciding when each section ended and the next one began. Even though the piece ended in a climax (instead of simply fading away), it was not nearly as gripping or compelling as the introduction. And it was sloppily done.
Edusei acknowledging Frank Huang, who had a lot of solo passages in Strauss's Also Sprach Zarathustra.
Frank Huang, the concertmaster, did get quite a bit of work out. Edusei is German, he studied sound engineering, classical percussion, and conducting (interesting combination) in Germany and The Netherlands. Tonight's concert was the last of a series of four, so it was puzzling there was still considerable sloppiness in the performance.
Subway 1 had a bit of delay, so we were a bit rushed to make the 7:30 pm concert. We left soon after the concert ended, and managed to catch the 9:38 pm train back to South Amboy.
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