Concert Review: He's Only Just Begun

Berlioz, George Benjamin and Ravel with the BSO at Carnegie Hall.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Hector Berlioz (center) and his muse Harriet Smithson as depicted on the poster for
the 1942 French film Symphonie-fantastique.

Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symphony Orchestra concluded their three-concert stand at Carnegie Hall on Thursday night with a concert featuring the New York premiere of a major work by George Benjamin, flanked by the French music of Maurice Ravel and Hector Berlioz. Although this concert used smaller orchestral forces than Tuesday's all-out assault, this was by far the most expansive and ambitious of the three subscription programs that they had chosen to import from their 2016-17 offerings at their Huntington Avenue home.

Concert Review: Taming the Savage Beast

A scuffle mars Thursday's Mostly Mozart concert.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Conductor Louis Langrée led Thursday's Mostly Mozart concert at Alice Tully Hall.
Photo © 2014 Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.

Normally, a review of a performance like last night's concert at Alice Tully Hall featuring the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra with guest pianist Leif Ove Andsnes would confine itself to the music that was played onstage. However, an incident in the house before the concert must be mentioned first. It happened during the introductory lecture by festival music director Louis Langrée. An ugly, violent moment, it may serve as a launch point to discuss the importance and necessity of the music of Mozart and Bach, civilized art that can tame the restless hearts of New Yorkers trapped in an extended wave of humidity and heat.

Opera Review: It's in the Fine Print

Written on Skin premieres at Mostly Mozart.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Protection: The Protector (Christopher Purves) and his wife (Barbara Hannigan) in a domestic moment
from Written on Skin. Photo by Pascal Victor for Artcomat © 2013 Festival d'Aix-en-Provence.

What goes around, comes around. That aphorism might be applied to George Benjamin's Written on Skin, which had its long-awaited New York debut Tuesday night on the stage of the David Koch Theater at Lincoln Center.The composer's second effort in the genre, Skin (presented here in a production imported from Aix-en-Provence) is the central operatic offering of this summer's Mostly Mozart Festival, a work that tries to establish a new style for the 21st century by drawing on the ideas and concepts of a century ago.

Concert Review: All About the Benjamin

The Orchestra of St. Luke's explores the modern British composers.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Chillin' with Pablo: Orchestra of St. Luke's principal conductor Pablo Heras-Casado
takes a backstage break. Photo by Felix Broede from hs website. 

The British composer George Benjamin has emerged as an important voice in the 21st century, with his opera Written on Skin and instrumental works gaining in popularity and performance. On Sunday afternoon, conductor Pablo Heras-Casado and the Orchestra of St. Luke's offered its second program of the current NY PHIL BIENNIAL, exploring works by Mr, Benjamin, this year's Musical America composer of the year, and other composers who are his influences and followers in the current flowering of contemporary British music.