SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

Carter, Harbison, Babbitt, Stravinsky: Susan Narucki (soprano), Sasha Cooke (mezzo-soprano), Judith Bettina (soprano), John Harbison (Narrator), Elliott Carter (Soldier), Milton Babbitt (Devil), James Levine (conductor), MET Chamber Ensemble, Weill Recital Hall, 28.10.2007 (BH)

Carter: Tempo e tempi (1999)
Harbison:  North and South (Six Poems of Elizabeth Bishop) (1995-99)
Babbitt: The Head of the Bed (1981)
Stravinsky: The Soldier’s Tale (1918)


Like a late-summer storm, the air in a packed Weill Recitall Hall was electrically charged, with a camera crew filling up most of the back aisle to document the afternoon.  This was an absolutely delicious idea, which once again shows that James Levine is virtually unsurpassed in dreaming up concerts that somehow turn out to be historic occasions.  The idea was simplicity itself: convince three venerable composers to give a tongue-in-cheek version of Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale, and balance that before intermission, with samples of the same composers’ best works.

Susan Narucki is as comfortable with Carter as she might be with a pair of her favorite old sneakers.  She has recorded Tempo e tempi (on Bridge) with Speculum Musicae, and I have heard her perform the cycle at least once live.  But the brilliant MET musicians elicited a reading for the ages, with crystalline instrumental work that made the score’s mercurial changes seem natural.  One could pick any of the eight songs, but the third, “Òboe sommerso,” stood out with Nathan Hughes and Narucki uncommonly fluent.  She was glorious in the final moments of the eighth song (text by Ungaretti) ending with “Talmente amati che immortali parvero, Luce.” (“So loved they seemed immortal, Light.”), with the composer affixing a glistening chord to the word “luce.”

John Harbison uses jazz and blues influences in his melancholic North and South, melding these fragrances seamlessly with Elizabeth Bishop’s colorful stanzas.  With her honeyed voice and almost theatrical presence onstage, Sasha Cooke seemed an ideal interpreter.  It will be hard to imagine another singer bringing the same composure, and as with the Carter, the MET crew could not have been more sympathetic.  Throughout the afternoon, I felt that I was listening not to three soloists (i.e., singers), but more like thirty.

For the first time, I actually liked The Head of the Bed, a very austere Babbitt work whose formal organization is easy to admire.  Its fifteen sections are scored for every possible combination of four instruments (i.e., four solos, six duos, four trios and one quartet), while the vocalist sings nonstop for twenty-two minutes, in measured phrases that seem patterned after natural speech patterns, but with pitches it’s like looking at fifteen chalkboards lined up in a row, each with minutely varying marks on them.  At first, they all appear similar, but as the ear becomes attuned to the composer’s intent, small details emerge from the rigorous surface—a word, a crescendo, an accent—and the result becomes almost hypnotic in its implacability.  Judith Bettina probably knows this work more intimately than anyone else alive, and offered great accuracy coupled with seductive tone.  It was a thrilling performance of a piece where thrills are not the point.

This version of Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale was first done at Tanglewood in 2006, when John Harbison slightly adapted the original spoken text for himself and his distinguished collaborators.  One could hardly keep from chuckling, seeing the 91-year-old Babbitt (playing the Devil) spar with the 99-year-old Carter, as the Soldier.  (For the record, Harbison is just a sprout, nearing 70.)  Just to watch Carter turn to Babbitt and call him “filthy, rotten scum” was almost worth the entire afternoon, but the latter got in a few choice retorts: “My dodecaphonic hexachords will bring about your fall.”  Harbison seemed delighted to play the gracious referee.  But lest one think that the celebrity factor was the sole draw, the strikingly alert and passionate playing from violinist David Chan and the rest of the ensemble was one of the day’s high points.  With outstanding contributions from Stephen Williamson (clarinet), Patricia Rogers (bassoon), Billy R. Hunter, Jr. (cornet), Demian Austin (trombone), Gregory Zuber (percussion) and Timothy Cobb (bass), I could hardly believe what I was hearing.  How Levine keeps the strands audible is a wonder.  Different celebrities offer unique spins on the spoken portions, but I doubt I will hear the music played with such dazzling clarity any time soon.

Bruce Hodges

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