I was curious about this concert, not having heard Manfred Honeck perform
Bruckner prior to this show. I have been impressed with his work with the PSO up to this point. I really haven't heard him veer off the beaten track yet but his Beethoven, Dvorak, Mahler and Mozart have been quite good. Perhaps because I haven't seen as many good Bruckner performances, I believe that Bruckner is more of a challenge. Maybe I have just had bad Bruckner luck.
I am getting ahead of myself as the show opened with Emanuel Ax playing the Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 5 "Emperor". I don't remember the date of the first time I saw Mr. Ax but I know it was in the early '80's with Andre Previn conducting I think the Brahms First Piano Concerto. He was impressive then and just as impressive now. It's funny that I thought of him then as an old guy but I realize now he is not much older than I am. Could it be some prejudice I have about his physiognomy? That stout body and curly, somewhat unruly hair. He played like a young man, full of fluid, authoritative playing. His way with Beethoven seems a good fit with Honeck, brisk and muscular, nothing eccentric but full of nuanced touches. Emanuel treated us with an encore that I did not recognize but thoroughly enjoyed.
The Bruckner Seventh Symphony was a revelation for me. I did not know that the first movement climax could be so exciting. Big, grand and powerful yes but exciting too was quite a treat. I may end up saying this often about Honeck and the PSO but it is amazing to see a hundred or so people respond to a conductors every gesture. Honeck seemed to give Bruckner the room needed to be shown to be a great symphony. I know that the second movement is supposed to be funeral music for Wagner, but it has never seemed all that funereal to me. Or it is just that so much of Bruckner's music seems that way. It did not seem funereal here but it was in a way celebratory. The brass and especially the horns were exemplary.
I am intending to see all of Honeck's performances this year. Each one reinforces my view that he is the right man for this job. I am looking forward to hearing him step out from the repertoire he has done thus far. I am particularly interested in his Shostakovich Fifth Symphony in May as the was one of Mariss Jansons great performances here.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Friday, January 29, 2010
International Contemporary Ensemble - Saturday, January 9, 2010 - Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, PA
The ICE is apparently an amalgamation of musicians (30) who come together in various configurations (chips), in this case four of them, an ICE Cube perhaps? In particular a flute (Claire Chase), a guitar (Daniel Lippel), a clarinet (Joshua Rubin), and percussion (David Schotzko) were the ICE on this occasion.
Edgar Guzman's Coincidences? was first. It included all four plus "tape". I suspect in this digital age, no tape was actually harmed in this performance, just digital bits. Whatever it came from, the recorded part was alienating, electric like a radio playing just static but with an edge. The players played around and through this, though two of them took time out to read the local alternative weekly, the City Paper. And I do mean read to themselves and looking a bit bored, then reading, I assume, random bits into the mikes. I wonder how this was written in the score. It was amusing and sometimes laugh out loud funny. It did remind me of confusion techniques that hypnotherapists use sometimes to put people in a trance.
Pilippe Manoury's Last used just the bass clarinet and marimba. This was arguably the most accessible piece on the program. My daughter, Julia, might even acknowledge that it is music. A good marimba player is always fun just due to the visuals of seeing all those mallets in too few hands seemingly hitting what they want to hit. David Schlotzko's dexterity, precision and musicality were quite amazing to see and hear. An enjoyable piece.
Elliott Carter is the composer on this program with whom I am most familiar. His Esprit Rude/Esprit Doux is for flute and clarinet. It did not connect for me with other Carter I know but perhaps I do not have an ear for him yet. The two instruments seemed to be playing free variations around each other but without discernible connection. It stayed fairly light and showed off the players well. This is probably as playful as old Elliott gets.
Mario Davidowsky's Synchronisms no. 10 was for solo guitar and tape. This was an interesting piece in the way the taped sounds only gradually intruded and became part of the piece, almost like a person playing guitar noticing the sounds around him and then playing with the sounds.
Amy Williams' Cineshape I was for flute and percussion and inspired by a Korean film, "Chunhyang". I don't have any reference points to make sense of the piece in terms of this reference. This was more of a piece for flute with accents and support from the percussion playing on the bass drum. It did build in intensity to a satisfying conclusion.
Magnus Lindberg's Linea d'ombra was for all four players. It is an early work, written upon graduation from the Sibelius Academy. The only recent work that I know of Lindberg is his not quite conventional but quite good and accessible Violin Concerto recorded by Lisa Batiashvili. This was quite different from that such that I wondered briefly if I had misremembered who wrote the Violin Concerto. I came home and tracked down some early Lindberg. Ah yes, I thought, that's the Lindberg I just heard. By that I mean, pushing limits, youthful exuberance, instruments played in unusual ways (is overblowing the term when the flute is not played as intended) and the rather jarring vocalizations (cries of joy as only a Fin lander can do?).
Overall an interesting show, music performed with authority and exuberance. I am interested in exploring Lindberg's music some more. I like music that pushed the boundaries. It places other music, such as other modern favorites of mine like Schnittke, Dutiluex, Boulez and Messiaen in a different light.
Edgar Guzman's Coincidences? was first. It included all four plus "tape". I suspect in this digital age, no tape was actually harmed in this performance, just digital bits. Whatever it came from, the recorded part was alienating, electric like a radio playing just static but with an edge. The players played around and through this, though two of them took time out to read the local alternative weekly, the City Paper. And I do mean read to themselves and looking a bit bored, then reading, I assume, random bits into the mikes. I wonder how this was written in the score. It was amusing and sometimes laugh out loud funny. It did remind me of confusion techniques that hypnotherapists use sometimes to put people in a trance.
Pilippe Manoury's Last used just the bass clarinet and marimba. This was arguably the most accessible piece on the program. My daughter, Julia, might even acknowledge that it is music. A good marimba player is always fun just due to the visuals of seeing all those mallets in too few hands seemingly hitting what they want to hit. David Schlotzko's dexterity, precision and musicality were quite amazing to see and hear. An enjoyable piece.
Elliott Carter is the composer on this program with whom I am most familiar. His Esprit Rude/Esprit Doux is for flute and clarinet. It did not connect for me with other Carter I know but perhaps I do not have an ear for him yet. The two instruments seemed to be playing free variations around each other but without discernible connection. It stayed fairly light and showed off the players well. This is probably as playful as old Elliott gets.
Mario Davidowsky's Synchronisms no. 10 was for solo guitar and tape. This was an interesting piece in the way the taped sounds only gradually intruded and became part of the piece, almost like a person playing guitar noticing the sounds around him and then playing with the sounds.
Amy Williams' Cineshape I was for flute and percussion and inspired by a Korean film, "Chunhyang". I don't have any reference points to make sense of the piece in terms of this reference. This was more of a piece for flute with accents and support from the percussion playing on the bass drum. It did build in intensity to a satisfying conclusion.
Magnus Lindberg's Linea d'ombra was for all four players. It is an early work, written upon graduation from the Sibelius Academy. The only recent work that I know of Lindberg is his not quite conventional but quite good and accessible Violin Concerto recorded by Lisa Batiashvili. This was quite different from that such that I wondered briefly if I had misremembered who wrote the Violin Concerto. I came home and tracked down some early Lindberg. Ah yes, I thought, that's the Lindberg I just heard. By that I mean, pushing limits, youthful exuberance, instruments played in unusual ways (is overblowing the term when the flute is not played as intended) and the rather jarring vocalizations (cries of joy as only a Fin lander can do?).
Overall an interesting show, music performed with authority and exuberance. I am interested in exploring Lindberg's music some more. I like music that pushed the boundaries. It places other music, such as other modern favorites of mine like Schnittke, Dutiluex, Boulez and Messiaen in a different light.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Lotus with Tigersapien and aFugate.
My friend Markus remembers Lotus from when they were a Grateful Dead/Jam Band cover band from Goshen College in Indiana. At some point, they shifted into what they are now which straddles some different genres. Improv (Jam Band) music, jazz, dance/trance, rock - you could say that Phish, Umphree's Magee, the Disco Biscuits all do variations on this too. At some point, Lotus decided to drop vocals from what they do, which does seem more like a jazz ensemble than rock (of course, Jeff Beck dropped vocals years ago, even when covering songs that had vocals).
The experience of Lotus does not generate the intensity of the bands named above but they are more than a trance band. Certainly there are peaks and valleys, climaxes, nothing abrupt though - no great swings, wide arcs of music filling the air. Temperamentally, I am much like these guys, steady, don't panic. Perhaps that is why these other bands have greater appeal. That said, this was an enjoyable show, particularly the guitar work and the drumming.
There were two other artists on the bill: aFugate, a loop electronica multimedia solo act and Tigersapien, a four piece dance electronica outfit. I can't say that Tigersapien made much of an impression. They were perhaps more of a straight dance-trance outfit, though the crowd did not seem to be much engaged. aFugate, a one man multimedia extravaganza, did get a good response from the crowd. Of course, he is engaging and works at that. The visuals add to this as well - you can get lost in them.
I was thinking about the different kinds of music I listen to, patronize, etc... There is more overlap that might be obvious at first glance. aFugate was non-melodic, all samples, rhythms, noise, at times quite intense and visceral. Contemporary classical music is often like that as well - though generally not so loud. The context and presentation is so different.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra - Friday December 4, 2009
This Pittsburgh Symphony Concert indicated to me that the PSO management is clearly allowing Manfred Honeck to do what he wants to do. Perhaps this is the way with all great orchestras and their music directors. This has been decidedly a mixed bag here. I'm thinking of Previn's British and American music festivals as positives in this history while Maazel being commissioned to compose music for the Orchestra's 100th Anniversary decidedly negative. This particular show was a positive for me and I hope this bodes well for the future.
Beethoven's Coriolan Overture started things off in dramatic fashion. Right away I could see and hear how synced up were Honeck and the PSO. There were nice subtle touches that did underline that this is literally a dramatic piece, based on a literary work.
Walter Braunfels is a compser to me even though he has been decomposing now for 55 years. I do like being exposed to new things but this is the second time this year that the orchestra has done a piece of a piece. In this case, they performed a fifteen minute excerpt from Braunfels Te Deum. I don't know how long the entire piece is but if we are going to do it, let's do the whole thing. My reaction to this excerpt was that it was clearly not a forward looking piece. Romantic, not even late romantic. It was certainly well put together and a pleasant experience. I can't say that I am hoping for more of him. Reading about him does make me curious about his Berlioz Variations. One last complaint: the program booklet characterizes Honeck and other's attempts to revive interest in Braunfels music as "heroic". That kind of characterization of heroism is ridiculous and cheapens the term.
The second half of the show was a creative riff on Mozart's Requiem,his death, his views on death, the Holocaust, and Catholicism. I suppose that is my way of saying that it was rather all over the place - though in an interesting way. Gregorian Chants, dramatic readings by john Lithgow of bits from a letter from Mozart to his father, poetry dealing with the Holocaust from a Nobel Prize winning poet (Nelly Sachs) and a local boy (Matt May), the Book of Revelation, various Mozart pieces including much of the Requiem. Does it still sound like it is all over the place - of course. The important question is whether it worked. I have to say that it did, certainly much better than you might think given the disparate materials. Lithgow's readings were quite dramatic, particularly the one from Revelation that led into the Offertorium part of the Requiem. The Mendelssohn Choir seems to be maintaining high standards in the post-Page era. Honeck was in full command and appeared to get exactly what he wanted from everyone.
It was interesting to juxtapose Mozart, the Holocaust, Christianity/Catholicism. Mozart certainly represents a high point of German culture and the Holocaust the low. Christianity participated in both of these points. Mozart's expression of his faith through his Sacred music is extraordinarily beautiful and can be uplifting. Christians treatment of the Jews and other Others has often been horrific. How do we get more uplift and stop the horror?
Beethoven's Coriolan Overture started things off in dramatic fashion. Right away I could see and hear how synced up were Honeck and the PSO. There were nice subtle touches that did underline that this is literally a dramatic piece, based on a literary work.
Walter Braunfels is a compser to me even though he has been decomposing now for 55 years. I do like being exposed to new things but this is the second time this year that the orchestra has done a piece of a piece. In this case, they performed a fifteen minute excerpt from Braunfels Te Deum. I don't know how long the entire piece is but if we are going to do it, let's do the whole thing. My reaction to this excerpt was that it was clearly not a forward looking piece. Romantic, not even late romantic. It was certainly well put together and a pleasant experience. I can't say that I am hoping for more of him. Reading about him does make me curious about his Berlioz Variations. One last complaint: the program booklet characterizes Honeck and other's attempts to revive interest in Braunfels music as "heroic". That kind of characterization of heroism is ridiculous and cheapens the term.
The second half of the show was a creative riff on Mozart's Requiem,his death, his views on death, the Holocaust, and Catholicism. I suppose that is my way of saying that it was rather all over the place - though in an interesting way. Gregorian Chants, dramatic readings by john Lithgow of bits from a letter from Mozart to his father, poetry dealing with the Holocaust from a Nobel Prize winning poet (Nelly Sachs) and a local boy (Matt May), the Book of Revelation, various Mozart pieces including much of the Requiem. Does it still sound like it is all over the place - of course. The important question is whether it worked. I have to say that it did, certainly much better than you might think given the disparate materials. Lithgow's readings were quite dramatic, particularly the one from Revelation that led into the Offertorium part of the Requiem. The Mendelssohn Choir seems to be maintaining high standards in the post-Page era. Honeck was in full command and appeared to get exactly what he wanted from everyone.
It was interesting to juxtapose Mozart, the Holocaust, Christianity/Catholicism. Mozart certainly represents a high point of German culture and the Holocaust the low. Christianity participated in both of these points. Mozart's expression of his faith through his Sacred music is extraordinarily beautiful and can be uplifting. Christians treatment of the Jews and other Others has often been horrific. How do we get more uplift and stop the horror?
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Emilie Autumn - Mr. Smalls Funhouse - December 3, 2009
Emilie Autumn calls her fans Plague Rats. I apparently am now one of them as I have told many people about this show - it was fun to experience and fun to talk about. I went to this relatively cold - intrigued by the photo and blurb on the Smalls Web page, I listened to some music on the web and was sold by the story of Emilie being a former student of the Indiana University Music Department, trained on violin there before no longer being there - why is not clear from the bio - scandalous clothing? bad vibrato? the possibilities are endless. The song Thank God I'm Pretty grabbed me as well. The picture above is from the show at the Funhouse and, I think, needed to give some feel for this performance. Emilie is back by her cohorts, the Bloody Crumpets - Veronica, the Blessed Contessa, Captain Maggot, Apprella.
A small crowd of loyal and with it fans - in proper(?) plague rat costumes knew what was happening and were ready to participate. What words describe these happenings? - part musical performance (only live music were the vocals, some electric violin and more electric harpsichord), part burlesque, part vaudeville, with highly anticipated set pieces such as the Rat Game with Veronica, a Sponge bob Square Pants sing-a-long led by Captain Maggot, an ongoing Mad Tea Party complete with "tea" somtimes sprayed into the audience and biscuits thrown into the audience, the petite Captain Maggot dancing on stilts making her about 9 feet tall and much more...
The somewhat controlled mayhem was quite entertaining in it's own sake. What put this at another level for me was the complicated layers of meanings at play. Early on was a performance of I Want My Innocence Backby these vamping lingerie clad women. Unique to this show was the fun they had with perpetrating all of this in an old church. While I got the impression from the crowd that much was anticipated, there was an amateurish quality to the proceedings as well. I don't mean this as a negative. I'm trying to capture the non-slickness of this, the Anti-Brittney show. This deconstruction of Victorian Phallocentric morality with Lesbocentric play seemed to be quite empowering to the audience members, many of whom dressed for the show.
Other specific highlights for me were: hearing Thank God I'm Pretty live, in a decommissioned church no less, the I'm Blessed line had great irony there; the always fun Bohemian Rhapsody; Emilie playing an extended violin solo despite some equipment problems she was having. I loved the solo, on electric violin, which started with some Bach quotes though distorted with electronic effects and finished with some nice improvisation. Finally, a sing-a-long of Always Look on the Bright Side of Life finished the show on a great note.
I would like to see them again. I wished my Emily had been there with me as she would have liked all the layers and the pro-woman empowerment. I haven't even tried to explore the indictment of the Mental Health systems that were also present to me. One last thing is that unlike any other musical performance I have seen, Emilie encourages video and youtube placing of videos - check them out, there are lots.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Phish - November 21, 2009
I have been neglecting this blog and will be catching up with some relatively old shows now. It is not that I haven't been thinking about this show a good bit. I have also listened to it often since the show, courtesy of my friend Mike and the live phish soundboard downloads. That does bring up interesting questions regarding live music these days. Back in the old days, a concert happened and afterword you might discuss it with your friends but listening to it later was not an option. For many of the artists I follow, I am able to obtain a live document of the show.
This particular show was quite different from the one the day before. This was evident well before the show began. Outside the venue, there was none of the surreal drug mart street scene. I assume the police from the night before had decided they had been a bit too permissive. This actually seemed like a relatively normal concert. The band got down to business with three songs I consider to be standard Phish crowdpleasers. Wilson with it's always fun shout out; NICU and Wolfman's Brother - all well played and something of a piece. This contrasted well with the previous night with it's constant mood shifts. This show seems to have been about finding a groove and sitting with it awhile.
Ocelot came next with it's shuffling beat and relatively straight forward, long, gradually building guitar work - a generally mellow song. Next came the first breakout of a song off of the Rolling Stones Exile on Main Street (their Halloween costume). I had been hoping for a song from Exile, in particular Shine a Light. That was not to be tonight but the song the did pick, Torn and Frayed, has long been a favorite of mine. Trey did a wonderful job of playing the Pedal Steel guitar part on his electric. Another mellow and thoroughly enjoyable performance. More mellowness followed with arguably their most mellow song, Strange Design, short, sweet and quite beautiful. Also short, sweet and mellow though with a quick tempo came a cover of Norman Blake's Ginseng Sullivan, a song I had been hoping for all year. Another mellow cover song followed that I must admit had me stumped. The guy sitting next to me filled me in that it was Neil Young's Albuquerque. The tempo on this song is so slow that it almost falls apart (but not quite).
Things did shift gears from the mellow-fest into an intense Split Open and Melt. This song may always be intense, with it's insistent rhythms and fracture time signature but this one was particularly abstract, synced beautifully with the light show. The contrast with the before and after this song accented it's strange beauty. Mellowness returned briefly with a nice Dirt.
The set closed with intense crowd pleasers, well played though not taken to any great heights - Limb by Limb and Run Like an Antelope.
The Velvet Underground's Rock & Roll opened the second set - a long jam followed the "song" part of the song - well played, building in intensity slowly over the 12 minutes of the jam section. One of the best jams I saw this year from the Vermont boys. This wound down and segued nicely into a fairly intense Story of the Ghost. This was only about a ten minute Ghost but it felt of a piece with the previous song.
A relatively rare If I Could followed - nicely done with a good long well constructed guitar solo. Backwards Down the Number Line is a fun song, well placed here - not stretched out but clicking on all cylinders. Prince Caspian just seemed to have a bit more intensity than usual. Suzy Greenberg illustrates again what can happen at a Phish concert. Not my favorite song but the crowd and band were in such synergy that I became totally wrapped up in the moment. There was now no pretense at clearing the aisles - it was an 18,000 person dance rave at this point. Page McConnell took over the song with a nice concise synth solo, followed later by an unusually long and intense piano solo that Trey joined at the climax. Another segue straight into Also Sprach Zarathustra kept up the intensity - Mike's bass leading the way now. Some young teens working for the venue, making their way along the walkway were so happy (probably had no idea who Phish were before this weekend) getting high fives from Phish fans as they bopped along. I believe to acknowledge what a great show Page had had, Squirming Coil finished the set. Beautifully played, the solo piano finish with other band members leaving the stage was drawn out and a particularly emotional moment.
Perhaps the emotional finish called for a silly encore. Sleeping Monkey was the call and it did seem quite silly - Fishman's falsetto was perfect. Between songs, Trey stated how much they liked being here and that they wished they could stay all week. A long deafening roar came up from the crowd. The last encore was to fulfill the request of a dedicated sign holder up front, a loud, rocking Axilla.
This show seemed to be about finding a groove and letting it play out for awhile. The five of us that saw both shows had an easy consensus that this one was the better show. I particularly liked getting some unusual songs like Torn and Frayed, Albuquerque, If I Could - and the Bipolar mellow/intense thing they had going at this show.
This particular show was quite different from the one the day before. This was evident well before the show began. Outside the venue, there was none of the surreal drug mart street scene. I assume the police from the night before had decided they had been a bit too permissive. This actually seemed like a relatively normal concert. The band got down to business with three songs I consider to be standard Phish crowdpleasers. Wilson with it's always fun shout out; NICU and Wolfman's Brother - all well played and something of a piece. This contrasted well with the previous night with it's constant mood shifts. This show seems to have been about finding a groove and sitting with it awhile.
Ocelot came next with it's shuffling beat and relatively straight forward, long, gradually building guitar work - a generally mellow song. Next came the first breakout of a song off of the Rolling Stones Exile on Main Street (their Halloween costume). I had been hoping for a song from Exile, in particular Shine a Light. That was not to be tonight but the song the did pick, Torn and Frayed, has long been a favorite of mine. Trey did a wonderful job of playing the Pedal Steel guitar part on his electric. Another mellow and thoroughly enjoyable performance. More mellowness followed with arguably their most mellow song, Strange Design, short, sweet and quite beautiful. Also short, sweet and mellow though with a quick tempo came a cover of Norman Blake's Ginseng Sullivan, a song I had been hoping for all year. Another mellow cover song followed that I must admit had me stumped. The guy sitting next to me filled me in that it was Neil Young's Albuquerque. The tempo on this song is so slow that it almost falls apart (but not quite).
Things did shift gears from the mellow-fest into an intense Split Open and Melt. This song may always be intense, with it's insistent rhythms and fracture time signature but this one was particularly abstract, synced beautifully with the light show. The contrast with the before and after this song accented it's strange beauty. Mellowness returned briefly with a nice Dirt.
The set closed with intense crowd pleasers, well played though not taken to any great heights - Limb by Limb and Run Like an Antelope.
The Velvet Underground's Rock & Roll opened the second set - a long jam followed the "song" part of the song - well played, building in intensity slowly over the 12 minutes of the jam section. One of the best jams I saw this year from the Vermont boys. This wound down and segued nicely into a fairly intense Story of the Ghost. This was only about a ten minute Ghost but it felt of a piece with the previous song.
A relatively rare If I Could followed - nicely done with a good long well constructed guitar solo. Backwards Down the Number Line is a fun song, well placed here - not stretched out but clicking on all cylinders. Prince Caspian just seemed to have a bit more intensity than usual. Suzy Greenberg illustrates again what can happen at a Phish concert. Not my favorite song but the crowd and band were in such synergy that I became totally wrapped up in the moment. There was now no pretense at clearing the aisles - it was an 18,000 person dance rave at this point. Page McConnell took over the song with a nice concise synth solo, followed later by an unusually long and intense piano solo that Trey joined at the climax. Another segue straight into Also Sprach Zarathustra kept up the intensity - Mike's bass leading the way now. Some young teens working for the venue, making their way along the walkway were so happy (probably had no idea who Phish were before this weekend) getting high fives from Phish fans as they bopped along. I believe to acknowledge what a great show Page had had, Squirming Coil finished the set. Beautifully played, the solo piano finish with other band members leaving the stage was drawn out and a particularly emotional moment.
Perhaps the emotional finish called for a silly encore. Sleeping Monkey was the call and it did seem quite silly - Fishman's falsetto was perfect. Between songs, Trey stated how much they liked being here and that they wished they could stay all week. A long deafening roar came up from the crowd. The last encore was to fulfill the request of a dedicated sign holder up front, a loud, rocking Axilla.
This show seemed to be about finding a groove and letting it play out for awhile. The five of us that saw both shows had an easy consensus that this one was the better show. I particularly liked getting some unusual songs like Torn and Frayed, Albuquerque, If I Could - and the Bipolar mellow/intense thing they had going at this show.
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