Concert Review: Salvation on Fifth Avenue

The St. Thomas Men and Boys Choir presents Handel's Messiah.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The St. Thomas Chois of Men and Boys, earlier this season performing Israel in Egypt.
Photo from St. Thomas Episcopal Church.

There are any number of ways for a chorus and orchestra to come together to perform Messiah, the 1741 oratorio that remains Handel's most popular contribution to the canon of Western classical music. For New Yorkers, one of the most satisfying and traditional Messiah experiences to be had is held each year at St. Thomas' Episcopal Church, which is home to one of the few choral schools still operating in the United States.

Concert Review: A Militant Faith

The Orchestra of St. Luke's and La Chapelle de Québec get mass-ive.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

New Orchestra of St. Luke's principal conductor Bernard Labadie (center)
lead vocal soloists  (soprano Lauren Snouffer, mezzo Susan Graham, tenor Lothar Odinius and bass-baritone Philippe Sly)
 and La Chapelle de Québec (rear)in a concert at Carnegie Hall on Thursday night. Photo by Adam Stoltman © 2018 Orchestra of St. Luke's

In its 44-year history, the musical direction of the Orchestra of St. Luke's has been steered by the musician appointed to the post of Principal Conductor. The latest to take the job is Bernard Labadie, the Quebécois conductor and early music specialist. So it is unsurprising that Mr. Labadie's first concert at Carnegie Hall leading his new orchestra was sacred music: Haydn's "Nelson" Mass and the Mozart Requiem.

Concert Review: Finding Joy at Last

Alan Gilbert conducts Beethoven and Schoenberg.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Alan Gilbert at the helm of the New York Philharmonic.
Photo by Chris Lee for the New York Philharmonic.

Since its beginnings in 2009, Alan Gilbert's tenure at the helm of the New York Philharmonic has been characterized by bold programming initiatives and a strength in the music of the 20th century. However, there have been mixed results with works of the core repertory of the 19th century, particularly in the symphonies of Beethoven. On Friday night, with his tenure nearing its end, Mr. Gilbert showed mastery of that most knotty of Beethoven symphonies: the No. 9 in D minor.

Concert Review: The Total Mass Retain

Mostly Mozart goes to church...twice.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Conductor Louis Langrée.
Photo © 2016 Mostly Mozart Festival/Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.

Four singers made their debuts at the Mostly Mozart Festival on Friday night, singing two major choral works by the Austrian composer: the Mass in C minor and the Requiem. Both compositions were begun at key moments in Mozart's tumultuous life. Due to extenuating circumstances, each of these grand choral compositions was left unfinished.

Concert Review: A Mighty Shout of Joy

Trinity Church ends its two-month Revolutionaries festival.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The logo of this year's Revolutionaries festival at Trinity Church.
© 2016 Trinity Church of Wall Street.

Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 should not be taken, or performed lightly. This unwieldly but popular symphony is an occasion piece, performed at the opening or close of a major festival or sung to commemorate an historic event. The performance Friday night at Trinity Church met both qualifications, as five ensembles pooled their resources to perform the Ninth alongside Alberto Ginastera's equally imposing setting of Psalm 150.

Concert Review: To Battle the Giants

At the head of an army of performers, Kent Tritle takes on Mahler's Eighth.

by Paul J. Pelkonen

Gustav Mahler conducting the Vienna Philharmonic. Painting by Max Oppenheimer © 1935 Estate of the Artist.

You don't hear the Mahler Eighth much. 

Nicknamed the "Symphony of 1,000", it is the orchestral equivalent of Rabelais' medieval giant Gargantua. It requires two mixed choruses, children’s chorus, eight vocal soloists and an army of musicians with extra brass and wind, organ and a phalanx of strings. The score itself is another giant a 90-minute Pantagruel consisting of just two movements. For reasons known only to himself, Mahler paired the medieval hymn “Veni, creator spiritus” with a setting of the final scene of Part II of Goethe’s Faust, a gauzy exercise in German mysticism that depicts the long-suffering title character’s final transit into Heaven.

Concert Review: American Nightmares

Two major new works at the NY PHIL BIENNIAL.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

"Breaker boys" are featured in Julia Wolfe's Anthracite Fields.
Photo from the Anthracite Heritage Museum.

Editor's Note: In honor of Julia Wolfe winning the Pulitzer for her piece Anthracite Fields, we are we are re-posting this review of its New York premiere from last year. Congratulations  to Ms. Wolfe!

In Pennsylvania's coal country, the borough of Centralia stands abandoned, due to an underground coal fire that forced citizens to flee the once-thriving municipality. Last week, the NY PHIL BIENNIAL unveiled two works that reminded one of that abandoned town: Julia Wolfe's Anthracite Fields and Steven Mackey's Dreamhouse. In their own way, each composition illustrates the dangers of the American dream, whether in the forced labor and brutal conditions of the coal mines or the uncertainty and terror of the decade following the collapse of the World Trade Center.

Concert Review: A Scoreless Tie

Daniele Gatti leads Ein Deutsches Requiem at Carnegie Hall.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Slowhand: Daniele Gatti led the Vienna Philharmonic last weekend at Carnegie Hall.
Photo from Daniele.Gatti.com 

Last Sunday afternoon's concert at Carnegie Hall marked the end of the Vienna Philharmonic's three-concert Brahms-fest with that compser's Ein Deutsches Requiem. Brahms' longest and most challenging composition is a seven-part alternative to the Latin death mass, using German texts from the Lutheran Bible to offer comfort and consolation to the grieving instead of the (more usual) fire and brimstone.

Concert Review: The Power and the Glory

The New York Philharmonic presents Verdi's Requiem.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Alan Gilbert. Photo by Chris Lee © 2015 The New York Philharmonic.

Ever since its premiere in 1874, Giuseppe Verdi's setting of the Latin Mass for the Dead has been the subject of controversy and debate. Premiered in a church but planned for the concert hall, this work fuses Catholic liturgy with the awesome power of Verdi's dramatic music, creating a jet-fueled version of this very solemn text. On Friday night, New York Philharmonic music director Alan Gilbert led a starry cast of soloists in his first New York performances of this enormoys work, the second of three scheduled this week.

Concert Review: It's All in the Context

The Mozart Great Mass in C Minor at St. Ignatius Loyola.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The St. Ignatius Loyola Choir and Orchestra.
Photo by Rachel Papo © 2014 Sacred Music in a Sacred Space.

Does the power and majesty of a sacred choral work need to be performed in a church? That's the question posed by Sacred Music in a Sacred Space, the series of concerts held annually at St. Ignatius Loyola on Park Avenue. Featuring the church's own chorus and orchestra under the baton of music director K. Scott Warren, this series opened its 26th season Wednesday night with Mozart's Great Mass in C minor and Haydn's Symphony No. 97.

Concert Review: When Springtime Came in Autumn

The New York Philharmonic celebrates Benjamin Britten.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Benjamin Britten. Photo by Yousuf Karsh © Wikimedia Commons.

Today is the name day of St. Cecilia, patron saint of musicians. It's also the 100th birthday of British composer Benjamin Britten. To commemorate the latter occasion, the New York Philharmonic scheduled three performances of the composer's lesser known works this week: the Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings and the Spring Symphony. The performances were intended to provide a showcase for Paul Appleby, who would sing the tenor parts in each piece.

Concert Review: White Nights at White Light

The Estonian National Symphonic Orchestra at Lincoln Center.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Forever young: conductor Neeme Järvi.
Photo © 2013 Orchestre de la Suisse Romande

Estonian conductor Neeme Järvi is of the old school, and not just because the conductor is now 76. On Sunday evening, he brought the Estonian National Symphonic Orchestra and the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir to the White Light Festival at Lincoln Center. Their purpose: a program of Sibelius, Tormis, Mozart and Arvo Pärt at Avery Fisher Hall. Billed as The Word Made Flesh, this concert was part of this year's White Light Festival.

Concert Review: Don't Let Them Be Misunderstood

The Cleveland Orchestra returns to Lincoln Center.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Franz Welser-Möst leads the Cleveland Orchestra at Avery Fisher Hall.
Photo by Stephanie Berger for the Cleveland Orchestra © 2008.

Franz Welser-Möst and the Cleveland Orchestra have been absent from Lincoln Center since 2008 when they presented a five-day festival pairing the symphonies of Anton Bruckner with music by John Adams. On Monday night, conductor and orchestra returned to Lincoln Center for another combination of classical and modern composers: in this case Ludwig van Beethoven and Olivier Messiaen. This unusual, but effective pairing was a major concert of this year's White Light Festival, the performing arts center's annual Fall exploration of the numinous in the lively arts.

Concert Review: Rain Gods and Singing Devils

Gustavo Dudamel brings South American choral works to Carnegie Hall.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Depiction of the Mayan water god, Chaac.

Conducting sensation Gustavo Dudamel and the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela concluded their three-day stand at Carnegie Hall on Tuesday night with a program that offered a two South American choral works along with part of a new composition by Argentinean composer Esteban Benzecry.

Mr. Benzecry, who attended the concert, dedicated his Rituales Amerindos, which he describes as a "Pre-Columbian triptych" to Mr. Dudamel, who has conducted the complete work elsewhere. For this concert, the conductor chose Chaac (Mayan Water God), the central section that depicts the worship of the elephant-nosed deity of rain and thunder in the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico.

This slow, contemplative movement incorporates exotic percussion to evoke the rituals of Mayan water worship. The whoosh-and-patter of a rain stick is echoed by deep grumbles in the double basses and contrabassoon. Mr. Benzecry calls for a huge orchestra, but uses his resources in a spare, economical way. The result is fascinating, and contemplative, and left this listener wanting to hear the whole piece. (It hasn't been released on disc, but the work is available on YouTube, conducted by Mr. Dudamel.)

Concert Review: Middle Ages, Spread

The Philharmonic takes on Carmina Burana.

The caption reads: "Virtue lies defeated."
(Note the wheel in the background.)
From El Club Dumas by Arturo Pérez-Réverte,
© 1993 Random House.

by Paul J. Pelkonen
The performance of choral music is not the primary mission of the New York Philharmonic. In its long history, the orchestra has taken advantage of skilled choral ensembles and music directors (Leonard Bernstein, Kurt Masur) with a penchant for choral repertory.

On Thursday night, the Philharmonic presented the first of three concerts led by Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, a veteran conductor acclaimed for his interpretations of choral and dramatic music. The program paired Atlantide, the final, unfinished cantata by Manuel de Falla, with Carl Orff's mighty Carmina Burana, an audience favorite. This was the orchestra's first performance of the Orff work since 1995.

In the interests of time and authenticity, Mr. Frühbeck chose to present Falla's completed, performable sketches instead of the whole three-act work. Atlantide requires two pianos and lush orchestration for its rich portrait of ocean exploration and the journeys of Christopher Columbus. Juilliard-trained soprano Emalie Savoy sang the pivotal Queen Elizabeth with rage and inner magnetism. However, despite the conductor's best efforts, the disconnected segments of the cantata failed to jell into a dramatic whole.

Stupendous!

Gustavo Dudamel appears on Sesame Street.

Gustavo Dudamel, with baton conducts penguins
 as Elmo (with cute fuzzy red fur) looks on. Stupendous!
Image © 2012 Children's Television Workshop/PBS.

Conductor Gustavo Dudamel became the latest celebrity to join Elmo on Sesame Street. The Dude (or El Duderino, if you're not into that whole brevity thing) discussed the meaning of the word "stupendous" with Elmo. He then auditioned a violin-playing sheep, an octopus playing the drums, and an all-penguin choir singing the last movement of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.

Here's the footage:

Concert Review: Echoes of Broken Glass

The Collegiate Chorale pairs Bruckner and Tippett.

Herschel Grynszpan: his shooting of a German diplomatic official in 1938
was the Nazis excuse for Kristallnacht. Photo from the Holocaust Research Project.

At first glance, there is no connection between Anton Bruckner and Sir Michael Tippett. They were born in different countries and centuries, but both composers wrote music of intense spirituality, the subject of a fascinating program played at Carnegie Hall Friday night. 

The program, which paired Bruckner's Te Deum with Tippett's World War II oratorio A Child of Our Time was mounted by the Collegiate Chorale, an acclaimed vocal ensemble led by James Bagwell, and featured the reliable American Symphony Orchestra. It made a strong case for both works.

The concert opened with Bruckner's Te Deum, a 20-minute paean to God. With its soaring choral parts, pulsing rhythms and deceptively simple harmonies, the Te Deum is like a movement from one of his symphonies, with Latin text added. This was a potent performance. Bruckner's characteristic three-two rhythms had muscle and drive, and the Chorale sang with power and conviction.

John Relyea (center) sings while James Bagwell (left) conducts the
American Symphony Orchestra and the Collegiate Chorale. Russell Thomas looks on.
Photo © 2012 by Erin Baiano courtesy the Collegiate Chorale.

A Child of Our Time was Tippett's attempt to address the horrors of Kristallnacht, the 48-hour assault upon Jews within Nazi Germany, beginning on Nov. 9, 1938. The Nazis unleashed their thugs after Herschel Grynszpan, a displaced 17-year old boy who was about to be expelled from his refuge in France, shot a minor German diplomatic official in Paris. The Nazis used this incident as an excuse to begin the Holocaust. 

Tippett chose Grynszpan's fate as the seed of his oratorio, a moving examination of the suffering of the Jewish people with the promise of peace and a better world to come. To express that coming redemption, the British composer chose to incorporate American spirituals, (including "Steal Away", "Go Down Moses" and "Deep River") using the music of enslaved Africans in America to create a resonant cross-sympathy with the oppression and murder of the Jews under Hitler's regime. It is powerful stuff.

The cast of four soloists sang both works with fervor. Soprano Nicola Cabell sang both pieces with a fine instrument that got better as the evening went on. The same could be said for tenor Russell Thomas. Hard and metallic in the Bruckner, he improved greatly in the second piece, soaring through the phrase "I would know my shadow and my light.. Veteran mezzo Marietta Simpson made the part of the Mother an intense experience. The finest of the four was bass John Relyea, whose big, dark instrument made him a compelling Narrator. 

Mr. Bagwell and his forces delivered a powerful, respectful performance of this tricky score. The orchestra built Tippett's chords in slow, solemn sequence, with steady rhythms in the timpani and sonorous brass playing. The chorus, balanced at 2/3 female voices, 1/3 male made the spirituals move and swell, providing a soothing aural salve at the end of each of the three movements.

Bruckner's music was touted by the Nazis as an "ideal," "Aryan" composer. Hitler was addicted to his symphonies, and accompanied important announcements with excerpts from the Seventh. Tippett was a pacifist, sentenced to prison when he would not do secondary service for Britain in World War II. But he found his voice as an important English composer with the oratorio A Child of Our Time In bringing together these two vastly different usicians, Mr. Bagwell created an evening that was a thoughtful analysis of World War II, and ultimately, a success.

Concert Review: Reality Check

Britten's War Requiem at the White Light Festival.

Okey-Dokey. Conductor Gianandrea Noseda led huge forces in Sunday's War Requiem.
Photo by John Super © 2011 London Symphony Orchestra.

The enormous resources called for in Benjamin Britten's War Requiem were almost beyond the means of Avery Fisher Hall on Sunday afternoon. They included the full strength of the London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, a small chamber orchestra (drawn from LSO players and squeezed in around the conductor's podium), three vocal soloists and the American Boychoir. The kids had to sing through a door leading offstage.

In these tight quarters, the spacious antiphonies of this complicated work (premiered in 1962 at the dedication of the new Coventry Cathedral following the destruction of the original by Luftwaffe bombs in 1940) didn't quite work. Giandrea Noseda did an admirable job of marshaling his forces, achieving a remarkable aural balance of the four groups. He conducted with vigor.

The London Symphony Chorus was a force unto itself, declaiming the Latin text of the mass with the authority of the Metatron. The fiery incantations of the Dies Irae (featuring ear-splitting playing from the brass in the "Tuba Mirum") blazed forth with power. They were also key contributors to the success of the later movements, especially the slow-moving setting of the Agnus Dei.

The Offertorium is the dark heart of this strange piece. Here, the composer re-tells the story of Abraham and Isaac. However, Isaac is sacrificed by his father in the accompanying Wilfred Owen poem: an echo of the horrors of war. This is Britten at his most cutting. The hollow fugue at the end was a grim, Shostakovich-like joke.

Tenor soloist Ian Bostridge sang repertory that was suited to his unique instrument. Mr. Bostridge took advantage of Britten's high vocal lines, airing them easily over the chamber ensemble. He added emotional weight to these words, making the bleak landscapes of war-torn Europe flicker with ghostly light.

He was paired with baritone Simon Keenlyside, an opera star in his own right. Mr. Keenlyside's smallish, dark-hued instrument was perfect for "At the thrust of Lightning in the East" in the Sanctus. Soprano Sibina Civilak also sang beautifully from the space between the orchestra and chorus, tossing off some glorious notes in the Lacrimosa.

The small cadre of boy trebles also made an important contribution from their offstage post. The two singers joined voices on on the last poem, "Strange Meeting." The scene: an encounter between two wounded enemy soldiers in a tunnel full of corpses. As Mr. Bostridge and Mr. Keenlyside sang out the lines of the poem, the women of the LSO Chorus echoed with  "In paradisum" from the Libera me section of the Mass. This made for a stratospheric, if icy climax.

Benjamin Britten was a committed pacifist, and did not pull punches in his work that combines the Latin Mass for the Dead with battlefield poetry. This is one of the composer's most dramatic and most popular pieces, a work that is all too apt for today's audiences. The White Light Festival may be about bringing its audience out of their daily lives, but under Mr. Noseda the Requiem was a sharp reminder of reality.

Happy Birthday, Johann Sebastian Bach!

Johann Sebastian Bach

Today is the 326th birthday of Johann Sebastian Bach, the greatest composer of the baroque era, and one of the most influential musicians to ever walk the Earth.

Bach composed complex, contrapuntal music, firmly rooted in music theory and tradition, anchored by a rock-solid belief in God. His vast catalogue of compositions includes cantatas, concertos, keyboard compositions and a veritable textbook of organ music. Along the way, he invented the cello suite and wrote the Passions of St. Matthew and St. John, among the most powerful religious music ever written.

And four of his kids grew up to be famous composers.

For some listeners, Bach's mathematically perfect works suggest a divine, ideal form, with carefully constructed spires of counterpoint rising toward Heaven. For others, the precision of Bach can be used to define the triumph of man's reason over superstition. So in other words, the genius of Bach can be used to defend almost any argument.

Luckily, Bach lovers have many options to explore the master's music on disc and mp3, from esoteric high-end performances to giant budget box sets that offer a complete overview of Bach's genius.

Here's a quick look at the best Bach boxes.

Various Artists: Complete Bach Edition (Brilliant Classics, 155 CDs)
This authoritative compilation features the entire Bach ouevre, recorded in high digital quality. These performances do not feature the flashy, big label stars, but the musicians and singers range from adequate to exceptional. Mostly recorded in Holland and Belgium, this massive set will provide two solid weeks of musical education, and that's just at one sitting. Whew.

Ton Koopman, Organ: Complete Organ Works (Warner Brothers Classics/Das Alte Werk 16 CDs)
An exhaustive survey of Bach's works for organ. This reissue features the Dutch organist Ton Koopman, an organist and conductor who also recorded the complete cantatas for Erato. Koopman plays on eight different organs in Holland and Germany. Two of them (the organs in Freiburg and Hamburg) were played on by Bach himself. Other organists that are worth checking out include Simon Preston and the legendary, blind Helmut Walcha.

Concentius Musicus Wein cond. Nikolaus Harnoncourt;
Leonhardt Consort cond. Gustav Leonhardt:
Complete Cantatas (Warner Brothers Classics, 60 CDs)
Nikolaus Harnoncourt is a former cellist who rose to fame by conducting Bach. (Incidentally, he's also a count, and a descendant of Holy Roman Emperors.) He's also a gifted conductor who built an international recording career on the back of these recordings. This was the first complete cycle of Bach cantatas ever recorded and is a milestone in the catalogue of Bach works.

English Baroque Soloists cond. John Eliot Gardiner: Sacred Choral Works and Cantatas (DG Archiv, 22 CDs)
This one's been mentioned before. Recently reissued, this set combines all of Gardiner's stellar recordings of the major Bach choral works: the two Passions, the Mass in B Minor and the oratorios, alongside the first few discs in his cycle of Bach cantatas before the conductor left DG and started his own record label. Crisply played performances in sterling sound.

Glenn Gould, Piano: Glenn Gould Plays Bach (Sony, 6 CDs)
When the 22-year old Glenn Gould recorded his 1955 run-through of the Goldberg Variations, he unknowingly made the first runaway classical hit of the LP era. He also put the pieces on the map as essential repertory for pianists.

Historical performance: Glenn Gould plays Bach's Third Partita for Piano.

Historical importance aside, the idiosyncratic (OK, downright weird) Canadian pianist had a unique interpretative touch. There are other exceptional Goldbergs in the catalogue, but none are as famous. This newly issued set includes Gould playing the Well-Tempered Clavier, the Inventions, Toccatas and Partitas. Not complete, but essential.

Concert Review: Berlioz Requiem Tears the Roof Off

Robert Spano. Photo by Andrew Eccles.

Of all the major settings of the Latin Mass for the Dead, the one by Berlioz presents the thorniest problems for the conductor. On Sunday afternoon at Carnegie Hall, Robert Spano and the Orchestra of St. Luke's met those challenges with a roof-raising performance of the Berlioz Requiem, to celebrate this year's Carnegie Hall Choral Workshop.

Written in 1837, the Berlioz Requiem requires immense forces to depict the Day of Judgement. In addition to a large orchestra and massive, multi-sectional chorus, Berlioz requires sixteen kettledrums and four brass bands, stationed in different parts of the hall. In this case, they were stationed in the first and second tiers of Carnegie Hall, two on each side. In other words, in addition to all his other musical innovations, Berlioz was one of the first composers to write spatial music--a technique developed in the 20th century by such diverse artists as Karlheinz Stockhausen and Pink Floyd.


The climax of this work comes early with the Tuba Mirum, a depiction of the sounding of the Last Trumpet from the Book of Revelation. As the brass blare out the wrath of God, the sound carries across the void and is tossed from group to group, whirling around the audience's head in counterpart with the pounding of the bass drum and the hammering timpani. The audience is literally in the middle of the events from the last book of the Bible: a profound, if deafening experience.

Mr. Spano focused his energies on the orchestra and choristers before him: four groups assembled: the Carnegie Hall Festival Chorus, the Capital Pride of Leesville Road High School, the Concorde Vocal Ensemble, and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chamber Chorus. The energetic conductor, who is celebrating his tenth year as head of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, seemed to have eyes in the back of his head--he didn't turn around once in the 90-minute performance.

Throughout the performance, the choristers popped up and down from their tiered seating as needed. Their singing had the mark of good sacred choral music--it made you believe in something higher thant the notes of the paper. Particularly moving were the hushed asides, in which the decidedly secular Berlioz uses every trick in his toolbox to contemplate the mysteries of the beyond. Tenor Thomas Cooley sang with warmth and power during the Sanctus. Perched above the brass bands in the Dress Circle, he was a literal voice from on high.

The St. Luke's forces provided expert accompaniment. The strings and woodwinds balanced well with the legion of kettledrums and brass, the shouts of glorious orchestral noise providing contrast with the work's most lyrical, reflective passages Even if the spatial and practical issues of the performance caused some of the brass antiphonal passages to go slightly awry, the work lost none of its impact.