Leipzig Bach Fest No. 27. Organ Concert. Michael Schonheit, conductor and organ.

Gewandhaus, Great Hall, Leipzig, Germany.  Parkette Mitte (Seat 14-1, 17 euros).

All the artists came out at the conclusion of the concert.

Program

"O I wretched man, who will redeem me" by Georg Friedrich Kauffmann (1679-1714).

"Arm yourselves, ye heavenly choirs" by Kauffmann.

"The love of God is poured out" by Kauffmann.

"Come, Holy Spirit, Lord God" BWV 652 by J. S. Bach (1685-1750).

Cantata "Erschallet, ihr Lieder" BWV 172.3 by Bach.

Bach Fest has a English version of the website, from which I type the titles in the "Program" section.  No idea why the last piece is not translatable by Google Translate.  Microsoft translates it as "Do you sing songs?"  More along the lines of "Resounding songs."

Artists

Collegium Vocale Leipzig

Merseburger Hofmusik

Isabel Schicketanz - soprano; Britta Schwarz - alto; Tobias Hunger - Tenor I; Christoph Pfaller Tenor II; Tobias Berndt - Bass.

Well, it turns out the first ever Leipzig Bach Fest event we attended was not even "Mostly Bach."  The whole concert lasted 2 1/2 hours, with a 30-minute intermission.  Of the two hours of music, perhaps 1:20 hours was for works by Kauffmann.

Who is Kauffmann, you ask?  From our friend David, I learned that Bach wasn't actually the first choice for the Thomas Church "cantorship."  It was first offered to Telemann, who used the offer to leverage a higher pay from his then current sponsor.  Then it was offered to another person (I am sure his name is well-known to Bach historians, I simply forget), but his then sponsor wouldn't let him leave.  Bach was actually the third choice ... and the rest - as they say - is history.  There were many other contenders for the job, and Kauffmann was one of them.

There is some organization to today's program that is not obvious from the titles of the pieces performed.  The first piece is about man's sinful condition, the second piece about Jesus's ascension to heaven, the third about the holy spirit of the Pentecost.  After an organ interlude (performed by the conductor Schonheit), we heard Bach's cantata on rejoicing before and adoration of the Trinity.

The musicians after performing the second Kauffmann piece, just before the intermission.

The event is title "Organ Concert." Schonheit played one rather short piece of organ music on the auditorium's main organ.  There was an organ continuo for the other pieces.

The concert is titled "Organ Concert" on line.

I am not a fan of baroque music, and tonight's concert did nothing to convince me otherwise.  The extra 45 minutes of music didn't help.  Although Anne pointed out Bach was more enjoyable than Kauffmann, and I agree.  The organ piece sounded "simple" enough, and I tried my best to follow the lines, understand the structure, and map out the harmony as the playing progressed.  Didn't get much of that.

The ensemble used period instruments, and spent a lot of time tuning before each piece.  It started with the lead violin getting an a from the organ, then bring that to the string section, and all the players then went through all the strings.  That's followed by the "continuo organ" playing chords to make sure.  I didn't see the cello and bass working so diligently at it, though.  A bit much for me, even knowing the strings they use tend to relax more than modern strings.

Period instruments study is a huge subject.  I am fine with historical authenticity.  I do wonder, however, if singers techniques have changed over the centuries.  Do people try to research what they were, and try to replicate them?  I was under the impression most high voices were sung by countertenors and castratos, but those parts are now routinely sung by women.  So changes are accepted, after all.

This was my first visit to the legendary Gewandhaus, at least in terms of its succession of distinguished conductors.  Mendelssohn about 200 years ago, and Masur more recently.  (Right now it is Andris Nelsons, who also leads the Boston Symphony.)  And reality didn't meet expectations, at all.

View from Gewandhaus.  The building across Augustusplatz is Leipzig Opera.

One can see these huge wall paintings inside the concert hall.  The Gewandhaus website has a section dedicated to the story behind the building of the hall, and describes this as "a striking mural encompassing a vast area of the main foyer's sloping ceiling and the largest contemporary painting of its kind in Europe," called Song of Life, by Sighard Gille.

On closer examination they seem crudely done.

The organ has some pipes pointing outward, instead of all upward.

The hall is functional, quite austere, and feels even more "eastern European" than Kulturpalast.  It's seating capacity is 1900, today there were may be 500 people.

It was about 10:30 pm that we left the auditorium.  It was a short walk back to the hotel.

Leipzig Opera. Bizet's Carmen. June 9, 2023.

Leipzig Oper.  Opernhaus Saal, Leipzig.  Rang rechs (Row 5, Seat 14, 51 euros).

Curtain Call.  Carmen and Micaela to the leftt of the conductor, Don Jose and Escamillo to the right.  The two walls form the basis for the sets in all 4 acts.

Story.  See previous post.

Conductor - Matthias Foremny.  Don Jose - Andrea Shin, Escamillio - Tuomas Pursio, Zuniga - Sejong Chang, Carmen - Khartuna Mikaberidze, Micaela - Olena Tokar, Lillas Pastia - Alexander Range.

View from the Opera House into the square Augustusplatz.  Again a lot of construction.

We are in Leipzig for a few days with the objective of going to a few of the Bach Fest 2023 events.  This clearly isn't part of that "program."

For last year's Wagner Festival, English surtitles were provided.  When I looked into the situation this year, I found out English is provided for a limited number of performances.  Since Leipzig is becoming an international city, I imagine that would mean many in the audience will be lost, or choose not to go altogether.  Since Carmen's story line is pretty straightforward (if one had seen it before, or takes the time to read up on the synopsis), we decided to give it a go.  To underline my point, the opera Udine by Lortzing is on tonight (typing this on June 10), we decided to skip it as we don't want to feel lost in a new (to us) opera.  Which is too bad.  The logic behind the decision escapes me, English is widely spoken in Germany, and they already have the English surtitles ready to go.

Bottom line, however, is that we enjoyed the performance.  We have remarked how German operas tend to emphasize violence, and was ready for it as we are talking about smugglers, soldiers, and Carmen being murdered, after all.  The show turned out not to be macabre at all.  Carmen was shot, and we see a blood-stained wall behind her, but that was as violent as it gets.

The singing is splendid.  Acoustics in the small auditorium is always excellent.  Bizet's music is simply lovely.  Past performances of Carmen I have seen have her playing castanets in the tavern song.  Here that sound came out of the orchestra.  The conductor had a tendency to emphasize the down beats, a bit too much for my taste.  Carmen also ended her phrases a bit abruptly.  Either I got used to it, or things improved as the performance unfolded.

The set is as simple as it can get, even for Leipzig.  There are basically two walls that can be configured as a town square, as the cigarette factory, as the smugglers' cave, and as the bullfighting stadium.  Sometimes movable stairs are used so singers can reach different levels.  The overall effect is on the amateurish end of the spectrum.  The music made up for it.

Our seats in the middle section of the balcony gave us a good view of the stage, use of binoculars is not really needed as the auditorium is small.  We could only see the far sections of the orchestra, though.

Having had some snacks at the hotel, we decided to skip dinner.

Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini. Omer Meir Wellber, conductor; Jan Vogler, violoncello. June 8, 2023.

Kulturpalast, Dresden, Germany.  1. Rang links, J (Seat 1-10, 55 euros).

Program

Overture to Macbeth by Verdi (1813-1901).

Cello Concerto No. 1 in E-flat major by Shostakovich (1906-1975).

Overture to Lohengrin by Wagner (1813-1883).

Symphony No. 6 in E minor op. 74 Pathetique by Tchaikovsky (1840-1893).

Vogel and Wellber after the performance of the Shostakovich Cello Concerto.

We are stopping for a couple of days in Dresden during our trip in Europe, and thus able to attend this concert.  The pieces are familiar to various extent, and this would be my first encounter with all the performers (I thought, wrongly, that I had heard Vogler before).

While one could point out miscues here and there - one violinist clearly jumped the gun at one point - this was overall a very enjoyable concert.

For the two overtures, both reflecting the less well-known styles of the respective composers, the orchestra did an excellent job of bringing out the nuances of the pieces.  "Ethereal" is a term that comes to mind, for both pieces.  Having seen Lohengrin at the Met recently, I can still imagine the projection of the moon in the background as the rather long overture was played.

This was the third time I heard the Shostakovich cello concerto, and unfortunately I have to rank it number three.  While I can't recall the specifics, Alisa Weilerstein's rendition brought with it an excitement that could not be matched with subsequent performances I heard live.  Vogler's cello sounded quite weak in comparison to the orchestra, that was especially evident when the horn was playing a duet (the orchestra sometimes chimed in).  Either the cello should be louder, or the horn softer.  Similar passages with other instruments were better balanced.  I also also noticed in the Cadenza there was a lot of harmonics, and Vogler managed to do substantial vibrato.  That would be quite impossible with a violin.  So, I am at least learning some new things about the piece each time I listen to it.

Jan Vogler's name sounded very familiar, but I couldn't find any reference to him in this blog.  I later found out he has been the director of the Dresden Music Festival for several years.

To be clear, this was still an enjoyable, and impressive, performance.  Despite being too loud, the horn's duet with the cello was charming; and the horn got to play many solo passages. It's shortcomings are only evident when pitted against other performances I have heard.  Interestingly, for me Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique gets more enjoyable each time, the latest I heard was New Jersey Symphony in late April this year.

Vogler played a Bach solo that really brought out how a simple sounding piece can have so many aspects to it.  And, who needs a Bach Festival to hear Bach performed.

The Pathetique was the last piece Tchaikovsky premiered.  He died within a couple of weeks of conducting that concert.  I imagine (and I am sure I have heard) there are interpretations that leave the audience less despondent after listening to them, but I prefer those that leave them without much hope.  Today's was that kind of performance.  The mood changes are so many, some of the passages are so fast, that there are inevitable miscues and problems with imprecision.  Today's was no exception, but forgivable in light of the overall effect, and perhaps inevitable to the listener who doesn't know the music well.

The Tchaikovsky piece didn't start auspiciously.  Not a problem with the orchestra, but with stage lighting which cut in and out several times.  Indeed the orchestra restarted after the first "incident."  The problem continued for a while, but to the orchestra's credit that was probably the last thing on anyone's mind after they finished.

After the Tchaikovsky.  Our seats were in the first row in the balcony, but we had to strain somewhat to see past the railing in front of us.

The harpist came out (standing behind the harp on the left) for the encore.  The harp was critical to the Intermezzo by Macagni, and it sounded beautiful.

As encore we heard the Intermezzo from Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana.  Anne said she could imagine the woman walking up the steps of the church as the music wistfully played on.

Reading up on Wellber's biography, it seems he is an up and coming young conductor; or perhaps he's there already, just not a household name in America yet.  Born, trained, and started his career in Israel, he has been active in many concert halls and opera houses around the world.  His latest appointment was as music director of Volkoper Wien.  He conducted with a great deal of energy, and the orchestra responded well.  Sometimes I did feel his exuberance may lead to some miscues with an orchestra that's not very familiar with his style.

Kulturpalast is a few minute walk from the hotel we are staying at, so we were back in our room 10 minutes after it concluded.  The McDonald's burgers we had as snack would have to tide us over the evening.  (We did buy a piece of pastry.)

Some shots from inside the Kulturpalast, first completed in 1969, although renovated multiple times since.  There is a very utilitarian feel to it.  This is the lobby/ground level.

One floor up.  A small cafe is located here, mostly blocked from view in this photo.

Part of the mural on the wall (upper left corner of previous photo).  Evidently the tribute to the proletariat survived all the changes that have happened.

This is the home to Dresden Philharmonic.  Seats a little over 2400 people.  The organ was installed in 2019.

View from the venue.  Much construction is going on around the city.

I walked by the Kulturpalast the next day and took this picture.  It's difficult to get a full view of the front of the building.

Teatro Real. Rossini's Il turco in Italia. June 3, 2023.

Teatro Real, Madrid, Spain.  Butaca Paraiso (Seat 13-13, 90 euros).

Inside of the Teatro Real as viewed from our seat at the back of the "paradise" section.  The auditorium seats 1746, per their website.

Story.  The story is quite simple.  Zaida, a favorite slave of Prince Selim, left Turkey for Italy after being falsely accused of infidelity.  She is now with a group of Gypsies.  Fiorella, meanwhile, is a housewife bored with her marriage to Geronio.  When the Turk visits Italy, sparks fly between him and Fiorella, Selim first offers to buy Fiorilla from Geronio, then threatens to kidnap her.  At the end, Selim offers Fiorilla to elope to Turkey together.  At the end, Selim recognizes and reconciles with Zaida, Fiorilla decides to stay with Geronio.

The simple story is complicated by the role of poet Prosdocimo who is trying to write a story using the events that unfold, Narciso - Fiorilla's servant - who is in love with her, and this costume party where everyone is disguised so it's difficult to tell what is happening.

Conductor - Giacomo Sagripanti.  Selim - Adrian Sampetrean; Fiorilla - Sabina Puertolas; Don Geronio - Pietro Spagnoli; Don Narciso - Anicio Zorzi Giustiniani; Poeta Prosdocimo - Mattia Olivieri; Zaida - Chiara Amaru; Albazar - Pablo Garcia-Lopez. 

The primary reason for us to be in Madrid was to visit the many museums in town. However, this run of The Turk in Italy coincides with our visit, so it was some sort of a bonus event for us.

I had no idea what to expect, but surprised by several things.  One is that tickets are very expensive, ranging from a low of 90 euros to a high of close to 300 euros.  Two is that at least for today and tomorrow's performance, most seats were gone.  (The website said some more expensive seats were still available, although I couldn't buy them.)  Third is the concert hall, with a capacity of just under 2000, has very good acoustics, at least for the nose-bleed seats we had (the section is ironically called "paradise.")  They do have two dimly illuminated TVs on both sides of the section, but it wasn't easy to see what's happening.  The final surprise was surtitles were in Spanish and English.  Unfortunately we didn't bring our binoculars with us, which would have greatly added to our enjoyment.

Front of Teatro Real.  Taken at the conclusion of the performance.

One sees the back of the theater coming out of the metro station.

I assume this is a model of the staging setup for the theater, showing how the different sets that can be brought on stage are stationed.

As I write this, I already have another two events (just before midnight June 9) that took place, so I have to brief.  In any case, I have forgotten a lot of it.

All the singers came through strongly.  From the first note on I was impressed with how great things sounded.  That would include the orchestra as well.

Curtain Call.  The two gentlemen in black in the middle are the choir director (left in photo) and the conductor.  To their left is Selim, the their right are Fiorilla and Geronio.  The woman at the right end (as seen in photo) is Zaida.

The set is on the simple side.  Basically we have two houses, one belongs to Geronio and Fiorilla, and another "general purpose" building.  They move as the situations requires.  Hedges in front also serve as props for the singers.  For the boat scene they used what I can only describe as partially open books; if there is a hidden meaning, it escapes me.

Nonetheless, we found the opera enjoyable.  The availability of English surtitle certainly made things more understandable for us.  The complex intertwining of the story lines would have otherwise not been able to sort out.

I wasn't sure what Madrid would be like late at night.  Turns out there were still lots of people out and about in the area at around 11 pm.  It was quiet where our hotel was.  We were either naive, or we felt very safe getting back.

New York Philharmonic. Marin Alsop, conductor; Joseph Alessi, trombone. May 27, 2023.

David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center.  Orchestra (Seat BB103, $94.50).

Alsop and Huang shaking hands after performance of Barber's Symphony No. 1.

Program

Symphony No. 1 (in One Movement) Op. 9 (1935-36) by Barber (1910-81).

Concerto for Trombone (2020) by Corea (1941-2021).

Selections from Romeo and Juliet, Suites Nos. 1, 2, and 3 (1935-36/1946) by Prokofiev (1891-1953).

The concert was sometimes billed as "Joseph Alessi plays Chick Corea."  That Marin Alsop was going to conduct didn't push it over the line for me, until I saw a 30% discount offer for tonight's tickets.  At $94.50 (including fees) for seats in the Rear Orchestra section, they were still expensive.

I am rushing to get ready for a trip overseas, so I can only jot down what I thought of each of the pieces.

Barber wrote Symphony No. 1 when he was quite young, and the piece's premiere in Rome helped launch Barber as a serious American composer.  The composer supplied a layout for the piece when the piece was premiered by the New York Philharmonic, calling it a synthetic treatment of the four-movement classical symphony. The acute listener can follow the sections Allegro non troppo, Allegro, scherzo, Andante tranquillo, capped with a recapitulation for the entire symphony.  Alas, I am not an acute listener.

If asked to guess who Chick Corea was, I would say a jazz musician.  And I would mostly correct, although he also performed as a classical musician, and wrote music in the classical tradition (my wording).  He was spurred into writing this concerto by NY Phil's principal trombonist, Joseph Alessi.  Unfortunately he passed away before the piece was premiered in Sao Paulo.  The orchestration was done by Corea's frequent collaborator John Dickson.

There was a full array of percussion instruments, including many I had never heard of before (e.g., clave, gankoqui, sabar, shekere, almglocken, and many others).  I counted eight percussionist, a timpanist (Kyle Zerna), a pianist, and a celesta player.  Turns out the pianist was John Dickson.  Also, almglocken are tuned cowbells, why not just say so?  We don't say Cor Anglais (English Horn) in programs, do we?

The concerto was about 25 minutes long, played without breaks.  The sections are titled: A Stroll; Waltse for Joe; Hysteria; and Joe's Tango.  I wonder if the concerto showcased all the things one could do with a trombone - no doubt a difficult instrument to master - and came away hoping it did not.  Perhaps a heavily jazz quality would at least make the music easier to understand.

Alessi acknowledged John Dickson, and the two performed an encore.

Alessi and Alsop after performing Corea's Trombone Concerto.  Notice the array of percussion instruments in the back.

John Dickson did the orchestration for Corea's piece.  He was the pianist in the orchestra.  He and Alessi played an encore.

For the Prokofiev piece, Alsop made selections from all three suites Prokofiev put together, and arranged them in an order that made "musical sense."  I thought it by-an-large also made "plot sense."  It was a very enjoyable performance of a much loved piece.  The concertmaster Frank Huang had to do quite a few solos, and did them well.

The movements are: The Montagues and the Capulets; Scene; Morning Dance; The Child Juliet; Masks; Friar Laurence; Dance of the Five Couples; The Death of Tybalt; Dance of the Girls with Lilies; Aubade; Romeo at the Tomb of Juliet; The Death of Juliet.

Tonight's concert concluded with selection from the different Prokofiev Romeo and Juliet suites.

When I started humming a tune from the ballet, Anne pointed out it was actually from Grieg's Peer Gynt Suite.  I was duly embarrassed.

There are concerts that hold a potential of being great or a disaster - such as a Mahler symphony.  And there are concerts that - if one looks at the program - will never rise to the "great" level.  That was the thought I had going in, and that was the conclusion I drew coming out.  I tried to have an open mind, and held out hope I was wrong.  The Prokofiev suite pushed the concert forward, but didn't quite manage to take it across the line.

This is Memorial Day weekend, we stopped by Hoboken to visit.  Taking the bus to Port Authority followed by a subway ride to Lincoln Center is convenient when things work well.  Today they worked well.  We didn't get home until 11:45 pm, actually not too bad considering the concert didn't end until 10:10 pm or so.

New York Philharmonic. Gianandrea Noseda, conductor; Leonidas Kavakos, violin. May 5, 2023.

David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center.  Orchestra (Seat BB103, $66.50).

Program

Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 99 (1947-48) by Shostakovich (1906-75).

Sinfonia No. 1 (1984) by Walker (1922-2018).

Feste romane (Roman Festivals) (1928) by Respighi (1879-1936).

Kavakos and Noseda after the Shostakovich violin concerto.

The intermission was moved to right after the Shostakovich piece.  Which made sense as the seating rearrangement can be made during intermission

Looking over my blog entries, I have encountered this Shostakovich violin concerto a couple of times before, performed by Christian Tetzlaff (2009) and Lisa Batiashvili (2014).  There was much about how unconventional the structure of the concerto was, whether the delay in its premiere was due to the shifting political climate in Russia or to David Oistrakh's neglect, and to what is the proper opus number for the work (No. 77 according to the composer's output, 99 per its publication date).

Those are interesting, but don't really add to how the concerto would sound.  Compared with (my recollection of) what my two previous encounters were like, Kavakos' performance didn't quite measure up.

There is no question Kavakos is a great technician, producing a sound that is clean and accurate.  However, one couldn't help but think he was playing an etude, one that is quite difficult, no doubt.  That's how I felt after the first two movements.  His technical prowess served him well when it came to the third movement: the variations were woven seamlessly into the repeating "bass" theme.  Similarly the fourth movement was very enjoyable.  So, hits on the third and fourth movements, misses on the first two.

Kavakos played an encore.

I had encountered George Walker's music before; twice, both performed by NJ Symphony.  The pieces, Lyric for Strings and Lilacs for Voice and Orchestra, are both mentioned in today's Program Notes.  Today's sinfonia is the first of five sinfonias composed by him, and contains two movements, labeled helpfully 1 and 2.  Notes supplied for the premiere of the work for its August 1984 premiere helps with understanding the structures of the two movements.  At 13 minutes in length, the piece was over before I could make much sense of it beyond what the Notes say.

Walker's sinfonia was performed after the intermission.

Respighi is the composer of "Roman Triptych" consisting of Fountains of Rome (1915-16), Pines of Rome (1923-24), and Roman Festivals (1928).  My blog entries contain a few works by him, but the only one from the Triptych was the Fountains performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra, and by this orchestra from Manchester (played in Montepulciano).  The Roman Festivals describe: games at the Circus Maximus; the Jubilee; the October Festival; and the Epiphany.  The "festivals" were performed without a break.  The change from the first to the second was readily discernable, while the "mood changes" later on were more subtle.  The Program Notes end the description with "... Respighi piles up sonority upon sonority to achieve one of the most tumultuous raisings of the roof ever heard."  I don't think the piece rose to (or dropped to) that level, although it was quite loud at times.

This is at the end of the concert.  Time stamp 9:58 pm.  We left soon after to catch our train back to NJ.  We noticed the principal bass from NJ Symphony in the bass section.  One can play the game of "spot the differences" in this photo with the one prior.  Among other changes: no harps, different percussion instruments.

At intermission I got to the top level (Tier 3) and took this photo of the Wu Tsai Theater.

As a review, this writeup is "lukewarm."  Nothing wrong with it, but nothing that spectacular either.

One cannot tell from the photos I took, but among the bassists was NJ Symphony's principal.  Her bio does say she performs with the NY Phil.

Tonight's tickets were bought when NY Phil offered a 30% discount.  For this season I bought three tickets as a "create your own" deal, the rest of the concerts were single-event purchases.  I just signed by for a 7-concert subscription for next season, including the final series led by Jaap van Zweden - and it's Mahler's Second.

We took the train in.  Our trip to New York experienced a 30-minute delay, which made it a bit tight.  We left the concert hall quickly (after the first applause), and made the 10:23 pm return train, with a few minutes to spare.

Stevens Cooperative School. Annie Kids. May 1, 2023.

\Stevens School Jersey City Campus, Gym.  (Free)

Book by Thomas Meeshan

Music by Charles Strouse and Lyrics by Martin Charnin

Based on "Little Orphan Annie."

Cast - 3rd and 4th Grade Hoboken students

Reid was in the production as one of the ensemble cast, and sang in a few of the choruses.  The shortened version of the musical lasted about an hour.  Of course as grandparents we enjoyed it.

A few of the principals have good voices.

Reid wasn't mad.  He was in his role.

New Jersey Symphony. Gemma New, conductor; George Li, piano. April 29, 2023.

Count Basie Theater, Red Bank, NJ.  Balcony Center (Seat F113, $61).

Program

Sarah Gibson warp & weft

Rachmaninoff Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43

Berlioz Symphonie fantastique, Op. 14

Gemma New at the end of the concert.  The applause was justifiably quite enthusiastic.

This is another of those "former NJSO conductor" concert.  Gemma New was assistant (or associate) conductor when Jacque Lacombe was the music director of the orchestra.  When I started to type this I didn't remember ever seeing her conduct.  A review of the blog returned one concert, in 2016.  By that time she had left as associate director of the orchestra.  Other than that I didn't say anything about her conducting, one can take whatever from such silence.

While this concert happened about a week ago, I remember one of the things I noted was this was an enjoyable concert.  While my added understanding of the Rachmaninoff and Berlioz pieces no doubt played a role, New's interpretation of the pieces surely added a lot to how good the concert was.  Contrast this with what I said about Manahan's and Jarvi's recent appearances, where I didn't say much about the conductors.

New started the program by describing the Sarah Gibson piece.  She used phrases like "a wall described by the same note," and "decorations."  Much of modern music is so nebulous that the casual listener could use words like "trenches" and "graffiti" to describe the same music.  At less than 15 minutes (time stamp of 8:19 pm when the piece was finished, and I am sure the performance started after 8:05 pm) it was no particularly difficult to sit through.  I recall asking myself "where is the wall?" and "where are these decorations?"  Note that the Program Notes doesn't remotely say what New said.  Instead we are asked to imagine the workings of a (weaving) loom.

The one thing very noticeable was the beat changed continuously.  New's conducting motion was fluid, but she clearly delineated the different notes in a measure: I noticed 2s, 3s, 4s, and 5s.  I am sure some 6s were thrown in as well.  What is unknown to me how helpful this is to the musicians.  Such mechanical movements diminished a lot for the Rachmaninoff and Berlioz pieces.

After the Sarah Gibson piece.  Note the absence of the piano for the Rachmaninoff piece to follow.  A rather rare occurrence at an NJS concert.

I do wonder if Rachmaninoff's rhapsody tells a particular story, or is just an exercise in compositional techniques to showcase a composer's and an artist's skills.  I am okay if it's just the latter, and in any case I have trouble trying to get a story out of it.  The things that make the music interesting are: the basic theme from Paganini, which is a nice tune; the melody inversion in one of the variations; the use of dies irae; and that indeed we have variations on a theme in the composition.  For the pianist there are technical challenges to overcome.  George Li made it look easy, perhaps too easy.

Li and New after the Rachmaninoff.

He played an encore.  My remark to Anne was one can never out-Rachmaninoff Rachmaninoff, so it must be difficult to find a suitable encore piece.

Similarly, knowing some elements regarding the Berlioz piece also makes the piece that much more enjoyable.  It's always poignant to remember that in real life Berlioz got his wish fulfilled, but the dream did turn into some sort of nightmare.  He married the object of this fantasy, Harriet Smithson, but they separated after about 10 years.

Quite a few percussion instruments for Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique.  At one point there were four people hitting the timpani drums.

The auditorium again had many empty seats in it, which was a pity.  The audience applauded quite enthusiastically, though.

New Jersey Symphony. Eric Jacobsen, conductor. March 30, 2023.

NJPAC, Newark, NJ.  Orchestra (Seat E114, $68).

Jacobsen, Buchanan, Smith and Townsend at the conclusion of Faure's Requiem.

Program

Ravel (1875-1937) Le Tombeau de Couperin (1914-17, 1919)

George Walker (1922-2018) Lilacs for Voice and Orchestra (1995-1996)

Faure (1845-1924) Requiem in D Minor, Op. 48 (1887, rev. 1893 & 1900)

Artists

Tiffany Townsend, soprano; Reginald Smith Jr, baritone

Montclair State University Chorale, Heather J. Buchanan, director

I got tickets for this concert as Jacques Lacombe, NJ Symphony's music director before Zhang, was going to be conducting.  After I got the tickets, I notice the conductor was changed to Lionel Bringuier (if memory serves).  A web search said Lacombe would be conducting in Greece during this time.  And when the concert date drew near Eric Jacobsen's became the conductor.  While disappointed that I won't get to see Lacombe, I was okay.

And I enjoyed the program, even though all three pieces were on the dark and melancholic end of the emotion spectrum.  Le Tombeau de Couperin was written with Ravel's friends who died in World War I in mind.  Walker wrote Lilacs as an elegy to Abraham Lincoln after Lincoln's assassination.  Despite taking out the Dies irae movement, a requiem is still about death.

Ravel's piece consists of four movements: Prelude, Forlane, Menuet, and Rigaudon.  The last time I heard this was in 2019, also performed by the NJ Symphony.  My reaction to the piece then was lukewarm, and I am glad to report that I enjoyed today's performance.

George Walker graduated high school at 14, and studied piano, strings, and composition at several well-known music schools.  He was the first Black graduate of Curtis.  He was commissioned by Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1995 to compose a work to honor Roland Hayes (1887-1977), a Black American who attained international fame.  Walker was the first Black composer to win a Pulitzer Prize.

The lyrics are taken from four stanzas from Walt Whitman's "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Blooom'd."  They start from a place of sorrow to a place of hope.  Before each stanza was sung, it was read aloud on stage.  That sensible act helped greatly with the atmosphere.  The orchestra's sound was traditional enough, but the vocal lines were extremely atonal.  I do wonder if the soloist Tiffany Townsend had to shout on top of her considerable lungs all the time.  It helped that her voice remained pleasant even at volume.

Townsend and Jacobsen after Walker's Lilacs.

Donors get a number of tickets to attend the Intermission reception.  I didn't bring ours with me, but they still let me in.  Here is the free glass of sparkling water.

Faure's Requiem is different from the other well-known ones in that it is the most "gentle" of the lot.  The hellish "dies irae" is omitted altogether, and most of the passages are on the "peaceful" end of the spectrum.  I was first exposed to it while in college, and have appreciated it since.  It is not as frequently performed as the other requiems.

Today's performance was good.  Townsend's singing was more in line with the tone of the piece, and Smith also did well.  The piece lasted about 30 minutes, so the soloists didn't have extended passages.

Montclair State Chorale generally does well, and today was no exception.  I was somewhat surprised by the noticeable sloppiness at some points.  Whenever a Montclair State ensemble performs I wonder why Heather Buchanan doesn't conduct some of the concerts.  Today was no exception.

One could say today's pieces were all on the "sad" side.  I walked away calm, not depressed, and was glad to have this as an antidote to what I heard the day before.