SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL CONCERT  REVIEW
 

Magnus Lindberg and Beethoven: Christine Brewer (soprano), Jane Henschel (mezzo-soprano), Anthony Dean Griffey (tenor), Eric Owens (bass-baritone), New York Choral Artists, Joseph Flummerfelt (director), Alan Gilbert (conductor), New York Philharmonic, Avery Fisher Hall, New York City, 26.6.2010 (BH)

 

Magnus Lindberg: Al largo (2010, World Premiere)

Beethoven: Missa solemnis, Op. 123 (1819-23)


“The Lindberg fits with the Beethoven pretty well,” mused the sharp-eared friend who joined me for this, the New York Philharmonic’s final concert of the season at Avery Fisher Hall. I agree, and the programming capped a highly inventive first year by conductor Alan Gilbert, fresh on the heels of his uproarious success with Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre.

In his new piece, Al largo, Magnus Lindberg has created a brass-gilded ocean in constant motion, a sheaf of fanfares expanding and colliding in a rush of orchestral color. With seeming perversity, given the title, he says it is the “fastest music he’s ever written.” Just when you think the excitement is subsiding, the score explodes again: whorls of percussion, xylophone and low strings are stacked on top of each other. The Italian composer Luca Francesconi suggested the title, which means “being offshore, referring specifically to that moment when you reach the open sea, you don’t see the coast anymore, and what’s before you is vast.” Further encounters will tell the story, but on first hearing, Gilbert and the musicians did an admirable job with one of the season’s best new scores.

Perhaps that vastness is what my friend sensed in Beethoven’s Missa solemnis, performed here for the first time in over ten years. Beethoven spent over four years carving this masterpiece, which emerged just as his time on the planet was nearing its close. In his notes, Gilbert comments on how the secular elements seem to take over near the end of the piece, particularly in the final two sections, describing them as very “real world.” It is a unique, somewhat quiet spiritual journey.

The New York Choral Artists, working overtime and helped by Gilbert’s no-nonsense approach, created a majestic space in which reverence was always present. But they could still manage thrilling outbursts, such as the rapid cutoff at the end of the “Gloria,” or in the final pages of the “Credo,” the latter with extra adrenaline from the joyous Philharmonic musicians. The soloists could hardly have been bettered: soprano Christine Brewer, mezzo-soprano Jane Henschel, tenor Anthony Dean Griffey and bass-baritone Eric Owens (the latter hot off his triumph in the Ligeti) all sounded magnificent—sober in the “Credo,” radiant in the final “Agnus Dei,” yet maintaining the control needed for the quiet opening of the “Sanctus” to yield maximum drama. In the “Benedictus,” the extensive violin solos were done with sweet precision by Glenn Dicterow, the orchestra’s concertmaster.

To begin and end a season with world premieres takes guts, yet Gilbert has made it clear that he thinks of music as a continuum; contemporary works don’t emerge from nowhere. Based on this season (and his guest appearances in previous ones), I find it inspiring to see how naturally he composes programs in which the thoughts of today’s composers interact with beloved chestnuts. If his style is a bit more low-key than some, it is clear that he—like the music he chooses—is not to be rushed. Not that he shies away from the visceral, as an upcoming all-Varèse program will no doubt demonstrate. But his patience in telling a story may be one of his greatest assets.

 

Bruce Hodges