The second part:
We heard a concert by the Metropolitan Opera Chamber Ensemble. This concert was originally advertised as featuring a piece by Pierre Boulez entitled "Sur Incises". We heard this piece a while ago conducted by Boulez. Given the instrumentation of three harps, three pianos, and three percussionists, it was a sonically stunning experience. Unfortunately, "Sur Incises" was cancelled ten days before the concert, and replaced with a short Boulez piece "Derive", and a quasi-surrealist song cycle by Poulenc, "Le Bal Masqué". No explanation was given, but I would guess that the technical requirements of the piece were too complex for the current state of James Levine (he also cancelled "Lulu"). The performances were not particularly well done; I don't think Levine is in good health at all.
The second half of the program was Messiaen's "Quartet For the End of Time", which we have heard many times. The performers, from the Met Orchestra, were excellent. This piece is still astonishing for a number of reasons, but I confess that I do have trouble focusing on the long solos for clarinet, violin, and cello, where time really does stop. The livelier ensemble movements, with all their innovative rhythmic ideas, remain a delight to hear. (In Richard Powers's novel "Orfeo", there are about 40 or 50 pages devoted to a history of the genesis and first performance of the piece, along with a credible attempt to describe the music in detailed prose.)
I went to a concert at a new performance space in Williamsburg called "National Sawdust". It's a repurposed industrial space, and remodeled in a very stylized design.
It sounds great, and looks great, too.
Outside:
The concert was a concert of music by Lee Hyla, performed by the Counter)induction ensemble. Hyla, who died last year, was a good friend when I was in living in the New York area in the 70's and 80's; we lost touch when we both moved from New York. His music is visceral and exciting. The performances of the pieces that Counter)induction did that I knew from the 80's did not match up to my memories of the performances of that period. I had first heard these pieces with the amazing Tim Smith on bass clarinet and the equally amazing Jim Pugliese on percussion (and with Hyla himself usually on piano), and I suppose nothing will ever match those memories. (How often is it that we prefer the performances with which we first got to know pieces, and have trouble adjusting to performances that are different!) The newer pieces were ones that I was unfamiliar with; I heard his music going in new directions. The piano trio "Amnesia Redux includes some monophonic ensemble passages, and at times evokes Messiaen. It was very moving to hear this music, and again reminded me of what a great composer Hyla was.
Perhaps the best concert I have heard in the last few months was given by the Pacifica string quartet at the 92nd Street Y. We heard a program of two works by Eliot Carter, his 5th string quartet and "Fragments", also a late work. These were sandwiched around Janacek's second string quartet, and the program concluded with Beethoven's last string quartet, No. 16. (The theme of the concert being late or last works.) The performances were beyond superlative; I don't think I have ever heard a quartet play with such rhythmic nuance as an ensemble. The Carter pieces (extremely difficult rhythmically) were played with passion and intensity, as if they are Beethoven. The Janacek performance was even better that the Attaca quartet's version we heard recently. When the quartet started playing Beethoven's last quartet, both Vera and I had the impression it sounded like Elliot Carter! In the Carter, each instrumental part is very gestural; the Beethoven sounded gestural as well, except that the gestures were ensemble gestures. Ensemble tone and balance were superb, and the warm and clear acoustics of the "Y" were great. The Pacifica Quartet is truly a great quartet!
Much ado has been made in the press about the performance artist Marina Abramovic's setting of Bach's Goldberg Variations in the Park Avenue Armory with the pianist Igor Levit. The audience has to check their electronic gadgets, lie in silence for a (long) while, etc., etc. All this is meant to sanctify the experience and get you in the proper mood to listen more intensely and reverently. That's good. But what is the point of any of this when the piece is performed in a huge reverberant space like the Armory? Bach's keyboard works rely on a clarity of detail which would get totally muddled in a huge space. I can't imagine why anyone would want to hear these pieces in a space like that. It's like putting on a show of classical paintings in a museum and requiring everyone to wear sunglasses. Musical ignorance prevails! (Rant concludes) I am not going to hear the performance, needless to say, though apparently Levit is an extraordinary pianist.
We also heard two very different performances by vocalists. The first, at Joe's Pub, was by the Romanian singer Sanda Weigl. She sang Romanian folk songs, a cappella, in a mesmerizing style. I don't know of many singers who could sustain a whole show a cappella. In between songs, her daughter gave entertaining introductions for each song, explaining the subject of each song with a wry sense of humor. The other concert was a CD release concert at Birdland by Barbara Fasano. Fasano, who gets better and better every time we hear her, was in great form, with wonderful and subtle interpretations of songs ranging from the traditional American Songbook to Joanie Mitchell. She also had an excellent ensemble, with beautifully understated arrangements by John Di Martino. Although I missed Eric Comstock's exuberant and witty accompaniments, it was a pleasure to hear her with an entirely different kind of ensemble.
