Concert Review: In Search of Space, Still Orbiting

The Orchestra Now plays Adams, Penderecki and Holst.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Conductor JoAnn Falletta led The Orchestra Now on Saturday night at Alice Tully Hall.
Photo by Cheryl Gorsky © 2017 The Buffalo Philharmonic.

The Orchestra Now is still a new presence on the classical music scene in New York but it is, on the surface, a pretty good idea. Conceived by Bard College president Leon Botstein, TŌN (as they style themselves) is the renamed, re-packaged, re-marketed top-level student orchestra of that august educational institution. On Thursday night, the Bard students visited Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall to play an ambitious program under the baton of JoAnn Falletta. Ms. Falletta is the music director of the Buffalo Philharmonic, one of this great state's more underrated ensembles. On the program, three ambitious 20th century works that would have been a tall order even for a professional orchestra.

Concert Review: Deeper Magic

De Profundis at the Weill Recital Hall.
by Paul Pelkonen

Bassoon-o-matic: Scott Switzer, Yukia Katayama, Frank Morelli and Gabriel Levine
get low at the Weill Recital Hall. Photo by Dana Astmann.

The low instruments of the orchestra are usually relegated to supporting roles.

There are exceptions: the long bassoon solo that opens Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, the tuba growls that depict the dragon Fafner in Wagner's Siegfried. These are rare, although some composers have plunged the depths of lower instruments, writing solo works, chamber pieces and concertos to showcase these bottom-end instruments.

On Sunday night at the Weill Recital Hall, those exceptions became the norm, with De Profundis, a concert celebrating music written entirely in the bass clef. Presented by the Yale Music School as part of their annual Yale in New York series, the concert opened with a rarity by Mozart: the B Flat Major Duo for Bassoon and Cello. This provides a serious spotlight for the bassoon, which is often used for comic effect and derided as the "clown of the orchestra."

From there, the listener was taken on an excursion into the lower depths, incorporating works from different musical eras. The 18th century was represented by Bach's famous Toccata and Fugue in D Minor--played here by seven bassoons and a contra, and Absalon, fili mi, a short cantata by Heinrich Schütz--scored for four sackbuts (a type of early trombone), organ continuo and bass-baritone Taylor Ward.

The Bach piece is among the composer's most familiar, with the soloists working hard to play Bach's complicated fugal parts. Since Bach composed notes for all ten fingers plus foot pedals (making 12 parts) there were invariably notes missing. A clever arrangement (by Jon Iskra) filled in the gaps so the listener didn't notice. It was accompanied by Prokofiev's cheerful, saucy Scherzo Humoresque, which was written entirely for bassoons as a sort of Russian musical joke.

Anton Bruckner was known for his skill at writing huge symphonies for massive orchestras. It was refreshing to hear his Two Aequale, church music written for three trombonesNot only was this a microcosm of the composer's writing abilities, but these might be two of the shortest pieces in the Bruckner catalogue. The music was resonant and potent, carrying Bruckner's rock-solid message of faith through these instruments--which were left out of the symphony orchestra for many years due to their place of importance in church music.


The 20th century works on the program were led off with two by Krzyztov Penderecki. Mr. Penderecki has long taught at Yale, and his iconoclastic orchestral pieces (most famously the Threnody for Hiroshima are familiar to lovers of modern music. His Serenata for three cellos bridged Mozart's style with his own unique voice. The Capriccio for solo tuba followed. Tubist Jerome Stover showing great breath and embouchre control as he navigated this tricky, exposed piece.

Jacob Druckmann's Valentine had bass soloist Donald Palma playing his bull fiddle with hands, a timpani stick, and of course, the bow. Whispered, muttered performance instructions were part of the work, as Mr. Palma slapped, whacked, stroked, rubbed the strings, adding expressive sounds by hitting the belly of his instrument and occasionally playing on the bridge and tailpiece.

The concert concluded with Sofia Gubaidulaina's  Concerto for Bassoon and Low Strings, written by the Russian composer in 1975. Soloist Frank Morelli demonstrated the agility of his instrument against the fabric of cellos and trio of double basses. The knotty instrumentation included atonal passages, difficult interval leaps, and a series of high-speed runs that proved the versatility of this difficult and underrated instrument. For the clown of the orchestra, this was no laughing matter.

Concert Review: Penderecki Conducts Penderecki

The Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki brought the Yale Philharmonic Orchestra to Carnegie Hall on Friday evening as part of the orchestra's Yale in New York series. The award-winning composer led the orchestra in a program of four of his own works.

Krzysztof Penderecki conducts a rehearsal of the Threnody.

The evening opened with the Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima. Written in 1960 for large string orchestra, this work uses "tone clusters" (whole sets of notes played together to create powerful blocks of dissonance) and unusual playing techniques to create a harsh sonic landscape that evokes the horrors of nuclear war. The players pluck, scrape, and strike the bellies of their instruments. The knocks, yowls and screeches that result create a terrifying sound: the sound of total annihilation.

Violinist Syoko Aki joined the orchestra for the Capriccio for Violin and Orchestra, a one-movement concerto that pits the skittering, panicked sound of the soloist against great slabs of brass and strings in the orchestra. Sonically, it is as if a conventional violin concerto was being played through the broken shards of a mirror. Penderecki uses brass, harmonium, piano, and even a musical saw to provide contrast to the fleet-fingered arpeggios and statement of the main theme, which in turn evokes Polish folk-songs.

Penderecki came to Yale to teach music in the 1970s. Works written in that period showed the composer gradually rejecting atonality and serialism in favor of a "neo-classical" approach to music. The thoughtful construction and fearless experimentation is still present, but the fear and oppression are gone, leading to sunnier textures that may be easier for the listener.

Written in 2008, the Horn Concerto (Winterreise) is a good introduction to this tonal approach. Soloist William Purvis coped admirably with the challenges written for his instrument. He played in call-and-response with a trio of echoing horns as the orchestra twisted and whirled through a kaleidoscope of sound including Mahlerian waltz-parody and marvelous string textures.

The concert concluded with the one-movement Fourth Symphony. Conceived as an Adagio, this slow, thoughful work laid out a glittering sonic carpet for the listener, punctuated with mighty statements from the onstage brass and three trumpeters positioned in the balcony. Penderecki propelled the work forward, leading the band into a frenzied attempt at a fugue, interrupted by the mocking brass. Finally, a second, full statement of the fugue theme led to the orchestra slowly fading out, instrument by instrument to end the composition with a powerful statement of silence. The silence was broken by the acclaim for composer and orchestra.
Photo © 2010 Yale Philharmonic Orchestra.
Photo by Vincent Oneppo, courtesy Aleba Gartner Associates