We heard a concert the other night that was dedicated to the memory of the late Ralph Kaminsky, a noted patron of new music. What was novel about the concert was that it presented a tasting menu of new music groups of New York City; each ensemble played a piece. Strikingly, all the pieces were by European composers (perhaps that reflected his taste). Highlights were two pieces for chamber orchestra. One, by Olga Neuwirth, entitled "Hooloomooloo", was a very lively stereophonic piece, featuring two almost identical large ensembles on stage left and right, with a piano in the middle. Lots of very striking back and forth effects between the two orchestras, and a lot of dissonant energy. The other large piece, "Fantasies" for cello solo and chamber orchestra by Dalbavie, was equally lively, featuring an extremely virtuosic (in the traditional sense) cello solo; lots of scale figures, and a kind of post-Debussy accessible spectralism. The cello was surrounded by string instruments that acted as a kind of extended version of the soloist.
The concert concluded on a disappointing note with an embarrassingly bad Arvo Part piece, nothing but scales and three note arpeggios that a child of five could have written (Groucho would have said, "bring me a child of five")
One thing that struck this veteran of new music concerts who has long been absent from new music in New York was the age of the members of the ensembles. Virtually all of them appeared to be under the age of thirty; I am so used to seeing the aging new music advocates of my generation on stage. (Or am I getting so old that everyone looks young???). Also worth noting was that the place was packed; over 300 people.
