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This column by Elaine Strauss was published in U.S. 1 Newspaper on September 15, 1999. All rights reserved.
Elaine Strauss on Music: Fall Arts Preview
When my sister Joan listens to music at a concert,
she closes her eyes. If the performance is compelling, dancers appear
in her visual field and interpret the music. Through a process similar
to Joan’s, Mikhail Baryshnikov’s White Oak Project, appearing at McCarter
Theater in midsummer, pushed chamber music beyond men in penguin suits
by programming "The Argument," a choreographed version of
Robert Schumann’s "Fuenf Stuecke im Volkston," for piano and
cello. Mark Morris was the choreographer. Performed by four dancers
and two musicians, Morris’ inventive choreography was an epiphany
of integrated music and dance. It exemplified a welcome expansion
that could bring new vitality to chamber music and thereby attract
new audiences.
A look at the musical offerings for the 1999-2000 season reveals that
only very few events fall within the same framework as White Oak.
Among these few, and this may be stretching it, are Kronos String
Quartet and percussionist Evelyn Glennie, both of whom appear at McCarter
in the spring. Kronos wears unconventional dress and uses lighting
effects in its performances. The barefoot Glennie moves nimbly and
energetically among her various instruments, and makes her own choreography
as she performs.
In some ways the 1999-2000 season seems wayward. A fuss could be made
about the anniversaries occurring during the season, but, they get
only tepid recognition in U.S. 1’s circulating area. The 1991 season,
marking the 200th anniversary of Mozart’s death, stands out in sharp
contrast. Any breathing concertgoer could not have avoided stumbling
over reminders of the boy wonder. Indeed, the volume of Mozart may
have been overdone. There were those who were glad when the focus
on him receded.
Perhaps programming for the current season intends to correct the
excesses of the massive Mozart recognition of 1991. The year 2000
marks the 250th anniversary of the death of Johann Sebastian Bach,
but he is not feted. Kurt Weill has a double anniversary; he was born
in 1900 and died in 1950, but he is not celebrated. Neither is Aaron
Copland, born in 1900. Composers with birthdays in the 1999-2000 season
will be performed, but not adulated. The most significant anniversary
celebration may be the performance of Haydn’s 1799 oratorio, "The
Creation," in May, by the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra (NJSO),
approximately 200 years after its premiere.
Anniversary or no, Haydn occupies a featured position in the NJSO
offerings for the year. In addition to "The Creation" The
NJSO has programmed four Haydn symphonies and two violin concertos.
At the press conference introducing the season music director Zdenek
Macal referred to Haydn as the "backbone" of the season. NJSO
confirms its loyalty to the composer in all-Haydn cluster of concerts
in December.
Normally, much Beethoven is programmed in any concert
season. In this year’s wayward season Beethoven gets less than his
usual attention. Countering the standard pattern, the Princeton University
Concerts devote six concerts to his complete string quartets, three
successive evenings in November and three in April. The reappearance
of the cycle is a welcome event. Every reading of this monumental
body of work offers both performers and listeners a chance to enjoy
and re-think Beethoven’s creative journey from the heart of classicism
to visionary musical regions that compete with the boldest of contemporary
compositions. Although the Princeton Concerts office has expressed
the goal of offering all the Beethoven quartets at least once during
the four undergraduate years of every student, the last performance
of the complete cycle was that of the Tokyo Quartet in 1989.
In planning the current season, the millennium appears to have nagged
at both the organizers of the Princeton University concerts series’
and the NJSO. The Princeton announcement bills the Beethoven cycle
as "Beethoven for the Millennium." For its part, the NJSO
encourages potential subscribers to "experience the thrill into
the next millennium." Its press material cites a trio of concerts
consisting of Haydn’s "The Creation," (May), Dvorak’s Requiem
(October) and Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, "Resurrection," (May)
as having significant meaning for the end of one millennium and the
start of another. A spokesman for the NJSO refers to the "epochal"
scope of the three concerts. I do not find any of the millennial claims
particularly convincing.
Nevertheless, the devotion of an entire evening to a single work communicates
its magnitude in the eyes of the presenter. In addition, when one
considers time limitations, the selection of a particular major piece
may say something about the stance of the presenting organization.
New Brunswick’s State Theater stands behind a performance of Verdi’s
Requiem by the Moscow State Radio Symphony orchestra and chorus. The
mounting of the Italian masterpiece by Russian performers has got
to represent the point where the Slavic soul meets Italian passion,
and is a hopeful sign for east-west collaborations. The Russian-Italian
event is the opening concert in the State’s five-concert symphony
series, which features various European orchestras.
Princeton Pro Musica stands out in devoting three of
its four concerts to single works: Handel’s "Messiah" in December,
Dominick Argento’s "Jonah and the Whale" in March, and Beethoven’s
Symphony No. 9, the "Choral," in May. While the Handel and
Beethoven fall well within the classical repertoire, the other two
Pro Musica concerts contain some of the newest music scheduled for
central New Jersey during a season low on avant-garde offerings and
premieres.
Frances Slade’s Pro Musica ensemble bucks the tendency to avoid new
music by including a world premiere of Princeton’s Edward T. Cone’s
"Two Psalms" in its Halloween concert, and by bringing, once
again, an Argento composition to Princeton. Argento’s "Jonah and
the Whale" calls for tenor and bass soloists. Audiences enthusiastic
about Argento’s opera "Postcard from Morocco," brilliantly
directed by Albert Takazauckas for the Opera Festival of New Jersey’s
season in July, can get a second helping of the composer’s work from
Slade’s forces.
The Princeton Chamber Symphony joins Princeton Pro Music in a season
of special recognition of 20th-century music. The Chamber Symphony’s
entire five-concert season is devoted to music since 1900. Although
the scheduled pieces are hardly avant-garde, music director Mark Laycock
is to be commended for daring to exclude the tested crowd-pleasers
of the 18th and 19th centuries. He has, nonetheless, managed to select
some of the favorite crowd-pleasers of the 20th century: an all-Bernstein
program opens the series on October 3; Weill, Copland, and Gershwin
appear during the season. Princeton’s Milton Babbitt, whose very early
"Music for the Mass" of 1940 was premieried by Princeton Pro
Musica last season, is represented by Princeton Chamber Symphony this
season with Babbitt’s "Composition for Twelve Instruments"
written about a decade later.
Another exception to the tendency to play down new music is an individual
one. Paul Hoffmann of Rutgers’ Mason Gross School, who is deeply devoted
to avant-garde music, is involved in a large enough number of concerts
to create a virtual concert series of his own. He directs three concerts
by his new music ensemble Helix (October, December, and March), directs
two programs of 20th century music (November and April), and performs
at the piano in three concerts (two in October, one in February).
Finally, in a move bound to please new music enthusiasts, Trenton’s
Carlton Wilkinson continues to marshal his independent forces to honor
the city’s 20th-century composer George "bad boy" Antheil.
In the largest effort of a series of annual Antheil birthday concerts,
the Philadelphia Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, directed by Daniel Spalding,
will present an all-Antheil program at the War Memorial, October 3,
featuring "Ballet Mecanique" for four pianos, four xylophones,
two electric bells, two propellers, timpani, glockenspiel, and percussion,
as well as the "Symphony for Five Instruments," "Serenade
for Strings," and "Concerto for Chamber Orchestra."
While new music has, generally, a low profile in the 1999-2000 season
among presenters of varied concerts, the baroque, with an eye to authenticity,
is even rarer. The exceptions are the Bach Aria Group appearing for
Princeton University concerts (September) and countertenor David Daniels,
noted for his Handel interpretations, who appears at McCarter (May).
The baroque practice of conducting from the instrument played by the
leader of a performing group shows up in two NJSO performances. The
orchestra is modern; however violinist Pinchas Zukerman and pianist
Philippe Entremont both conduct and solo on their instruments, just
as their predecessors did in the 18th century. Still, those interested
in authentic performances should turn to the groups specializing in
pre-classical music to get the real stuff.
This is as opportune a moment as any to put in a plug
for inauthenticy, properly applied. My shining example is "Benjamin
Bagby’s Beowulf," a set of performances sponsored by Lincoln Center’s
"Great Performers" series early this year. Minstrel and storyteller
Bagby presented his version of part of the Anglo-Saxon epic, accompanying
himself on a lyre reconstructed from the remains of an instrument
excavated from a 7th-century nobleman’s grave near Stuttgart, Germany.
A student of Anglo-Saxon who also studied at Basle’s Schola Cantorum,
which specializes in pre-Renaissance music, Bagby has as good a scholarly
background as one can have for what he does. Yet he made no claims
about the ultimate accuracy of his Anglo-Saxon pronunciation or of
his performance practices. Minimizing scholarship, Bagby created a
riveting entertainment. With his vocal and narrative gifts, Bagby
gave an emotional and dramatic account of the poem, whose date cannot
be precisely pinned-down. (Estimates range from the 7th to the 11th
century). Dressed in simple trousers and shirt, dating from no particular
century, perched on a stool, his one-man show, expanding artistic
boundaries, belongs, to my mind, in a class with the White Oak’s Schumann
mentioned above.
An assortment of quirks and curiosities during the course of the 1999-2000
season are worth mentioning. There is no significance to the order
in which they appear.
have scheduled benefit performances early in the year. Tenor Jose
Carreras appeared at the State on Sunday. Flutist James Galway appears
for McCarter’s benefit evening.
a three-week Rachmaninoff mini-festival in January with three of his
four piano concertos and all three of his symphonies. The festival
follows a pattern of the past two years, which featured Brahms in
1998 and Wagner in 1999. At the press conference announcing the programs,
director Macal fielded resistance to the Rachmaninoff programs in
his usual manner, non-sequitur with a touch of the irrepressible,
done up in the Slavic word order that he sometimes lapses into. "What
you can do after Wagner?" he asked. "After this big, theatrical
Wagner, we go to pianistic playing. Rachmaninoff can go for three
weeks. January is slow in business, people are out of money, there’s
bad weather. I cannot do it myself. I need Rachmaninoff to help me."
were the rising Ying Quartet and the established Kronos Quartet. Both
turn up in Princeton in the new season. The Ying includes in its October
program for Princeton University Concerts the Ravel string quartet,
which it played to perfection in July. Kronos’ May program at McCarter
is part of a four-concert series grouped under the new moniker, "Sonic
Edge." Rutgers’ Mason Gross School, meanwhile, devotes its season
to programs featuring members of the Rutgers musical community.
in one evening with the Festival Orchestra of Poland in both New Brunswick
and Princeton. On November 5 they appear at New Brunswick’s State
Theater; November 11, at McCarter.
of varied music. An extra dimension to listening, might come from
my sister Joan’s approach. For all concertgoers who can make dancers
appear when they close their eyes in a concert, listening pleasure
is enhanced. In addition, those dancers can also be used as an indicator
of musical excellence. The dancers, Joan reports, don’t appear unless
the musical quality is top notch. Talking about a performance that
she abandoned at intermission, she says, "Every time I closed
my eyes there were no dancers and I fell asleep. But the musicians
kept waking me up because their playing was so awful."
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American Boychoir
The well-traveled group offers its first-ever area subscription series
for 1999-2000.
concert with the Copenhagen Royal Chapel Choir, visiting from Denmark,
on a program featuring Haydn’s "Missa Brevis." Saturday, September
25.
Trenton. The boychoir in a program of Christmas music and carols from
around the world, Friday, December 10.
Chapel. The boychoir in a program of Christmas words, music, and carols
from around the world, Saturday, December 11.
directs, Sunday, December 12.
concert with the Russian Chamber Chorus of New York and Schola Cantorum
on Hudson, in a program of choral works by Rachmaninoff, Friday, January
21.
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Boheme Opera
$20 to $50.
of Love," a comic opera about a love potion sold by a quack doctor,
features Lorraine Ernest as Adina, Barton Green as Nemorino, David
Arnold as Belcore, and William Walker as Dr. Dulcamara. Directed by
Muriel von Villas and conducted by Joseph Pucciatti, it is sung in
Italian with English supertitles. Friday and Sunday, November 5 and
7.
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Concert Royale
$18 & $25. Individual tickets, 609-258-5000; subscription brochure,
212-662-8829.
begins it 1999-2000 season with Julianne Baird, soprano, and Sandra
Miller, flute, in works by J.S. Bach, Leclair, and Vivaldi, and arias
for soprano and flute by Handel, Purcell, Rameau, and Bach. Pre-concert
talk by Sandra Miller "On Playing the Flute." Sunday, October
10.
and international prizewinner for early keyboard instruments, presents
a recital of J.S. Bach harpsichord favorites drawn from the Partitas,
Suites, and the Well-Tempered Klavier Books I and II. Sunday, November
21.
Princeton University, The New York-based period instrument orchestra
presents works by Corelli, J.S. Bach, and Vivaldi. Sunday, January
30.
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Dryden Ensemble
609-466-8541.
of masterworks from the late 17th century performed on period instruments
in candlelit surroundings. Program features works by Buxtehude, Corelli,
Purcell, Marais, and Pachelbel. Jane McKinley is artistic director
of the ensemble that also features Colin St. Martin, Julie Brye, Mary
Hoyt, Julie Andrijeski, Nancy Wilson, David Miller, and Rachel Evans.
Sunday, October 17.
virtuoso John Thiessen is the soloist in a festive program of works
by Bach featuring Laura Heimes, soprano, Lorie Gratis, alto, Timothy
Evans, tenor, and James Weaver, bass. Jane McKinley is artistic director
of the ensemble that also features Colin St. Martin, Julie Brye, Mary
Hoyt, Julie Andrijeski, Nancy Wilson, David Miller, and Rachel Evans.
Sunday, January 9.
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Trenton Symphony
609-984-8400. $15 to $30.
seasonal works by Tchaikovsky, Handel, and others. Russell Hoffmann
conducts. Sunday, December 12.
orchestral favorites from the 20th century. Friday, December 31.
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McCarter Theater
Website: www.mccarter.org.
concert, Tuesday, September 28. Dawn Upshaw, international soprano
star, Monday, November 1. Arcadi Volodos, piano, Monday, November
8. Krystian Zimmerman, the piano soloist in concert with the
Festival Orchestra of Poland performing two Chopin concertos, Thursday,
November 11.
viola; Cho-Liang Lin, violin, Thursday, February 3.
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NJ Symphony
at Richardson Auditorium, Princeton University; War Memorial, Trenton;
and State Theater, New Brunswick.
Center, Newark. Season opening concert features soloist Yo-Yo Ma and
conductor Zdenek Macal in a program of works by Smetana, Elgar, and
Dvorak, Wednesday, September 15.
Macal, conductor, with piano soloist Boris Krajny, in works by Smetana,
Martinu, and Dvorak, Sunday, September 19.
with guitar soloist Manuel Barrueco, present works by Revueltas, Ginastera,
Rodrigo, and Villa-Lobos, Thursday, September 30.
soloist, in works by Revueltas, Ginastera, Rodrigo, and Villa-Lobos.
Maximiano Valdes, conductor, Friday, October 1.
the Westminster Symphonic Choir, and soloists Oksana Krovytska, Wendy
Hoffman, John Aler, and Gustav Belacek, in Dvorak’s "Requiem,
Opus 89." Thursday, October 14.
the Westminster Symphonic Choir, and soloists Oksana Krovytska, Wendy
Hoffman, John Aler, and Gustav Belacek, in Dvorak’s "Requiem,
Opus 89." Saturday, October 16.
conductor, and David Geringas, cello soloist, in Shostakovich’s Concerto
No. 2 for Cello and Orchestra, Haydn’s Symphony No. 101, and Bach’s
Brandenburg No. 3. Friday, October 29.
with Lera Auerbach, piano, in Debussy’s "La Mer," "Prelude
to Afternoon of a Faun," plus the world premiere of Auerbach’s
"Requiem for the Millennium." Sunday, November 21.
Parisotto, conductor, and violin soloist Daniel Heifetz, in Bernstein’s
"Serenade for Violin and Orchestra." Friday, November 26.
as conductor and violinist, in Haydn’s Concerto in G major, Concerto
in C major, and Symphony No. 102. Friday, December 10.
Philippe Entremont, piano soloist, also conducts Beethoven’s Concerto
No. 1. Also Ravel’s "Mother Goose Suite," and Haydn’s "Surprise"
Symphony. Friday, January 7.
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Princeton Chamber Symphony
University, 609-497-0020.
Mark Laycock opens a new season devoted to 20th-century music with
a program celebrating the prodigious American composer Leonard Bernstein,
featuring mezzo-soprano Lucille Beer. Program includes "Divertimento,"
"Facsimile," "Symphony No. 1," and "Symphonic
Dances from West Side Story." Sunday, October 3.
in Bartok’s "Piano Concerto No. 3," with works by Hindemith,
Barber, and Shostakovich. Sunday, November 7.
is featured in the Castlenuovo-Tedesco "Concerto No. 1 for Guitar
and Orchestra," with works by Stravinsky, Schoenberg, and Weill’s
"Suite from the Threepenny Opera." Sunday, January 23.
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Princeton Pro Musica
Alliance Church, 609-683-5122.
of Edward T. Cone’s "Two Psalms," for orchestra and six-part
chorus. Also featuring Modest Moussorgsky’s "Night on Bald Mountain,"
and Felix Mendelssohn’s "Die erste Walpurgisnacht." Soloists
are David Arnold, baritone, and Frederick Urrey, tenor. Pre-concert
lecture at 7 p.m. Saturday, October 30.
tradition continues with the Baroque masterwork, Handel’s "Messiah."
Soloists are Martha Elliot, soprano, Sharon Rhinesmith, mezzo-soprano,
Charles Reid, tenor, and Elem Eley, baritone. Friday and Saturday,
December 17 and 18.
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Princeton University Concerts
Studies, 609-258-2800
Auditorium. The Princeton University Concerts series, founded in 1894,
begins its 106th season with a program of great vocal and instrumental
music from the Bach Cantatas, Thursday, September 30.
Richardson Auditorium, The Richardson Chamber Players present a program
of the lesser-known chamber music of Franz Schubert, Friday, October
8.
Auditorium, Music of Barber, Copland, Bartok, and Ravel, Thursday,
October 14.
Richardson Auditorium, A series of six concerts by the Lindsay String
Quartet performing the complete Beethoven quartet cycle. Thursday,
Friday, and Saturday, November 18, 19, and 20; and April 6, 7, and
8, 2000.
Richardson Auditorium, Cellist Rafal Kwiatkowski and pianist Albert
Tiu perform a program of works by Chopin, Barber, de Falla, and Francoeur.
Thursday, December 2.
Richardson Auditorium, Cellist David Finckel and his wife and pianist
Wu Han perform works by Schumann, Debussy, Franck, and Schnittke.
Thursday, January 13.
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State Theater
or toll-free 877-STATE 11. Website: www.statetheatrenj.org.
the orchestra and chorus in Verdi’s "Requiem." Pre-performance
lecture. $30 to $50, Thursday, October 21.
production of Mozart’s monumental story of seduction, murder, and
retribution. $25 to $45, Saturday, October 30.
in Chopin’s Piano Concertos No. 1 and No. 2. $25 to $45, Friday, November
5.
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Steinway Society
$5 students.
of 13, Altamura made her Carnegie Hall debut in 1991 with the New
York Chamber Orchestra performing Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. She
will play works by Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, and Ravel. Sunday, October
3.
of Rider University, Kim will play works by French composers Faure,
Messiaen, Roger-Ducasse and others. Sunday, November 21.
at age six. He will play works by Soler, Schumann, Chopin, and Debussy.
Sunday, December 5.
and organ repertoire, Black will play works by Sweelinck and Buxtehude.
Sunday, January 16.
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Westminster Choir
Lane, Princeton. Box Office, 609-921-2663; 24-hour concert information,
609-219-2001. Website: http://westminster.rider.edu. Unless noted,
most programs $10 adults; $8 students & seniors. Christmas at Westminster
tickets go on sale November 1. Advance purchase suggested as this
series customarily sells out; $18 adult; $15 students & seniors.
J.J. Penna, piano, in Schumann’s "Dichterliebe." Sunday, September
26.
Bristol Chapel. Faculty artist Gavin Black begins the second year
of a three-year series of recitals featuring the complete organ works
of Johann Sebastian Bach. Free. Wednesday, September 29; Wednesday,
December 15; Wednesday, February 16; Wednesday, April 12.
baroque oboe, with guest artists, Free, Sunday, October 10.
"Toccatas and Gouls." Sunday, October 31.
and J.J. Penna, piano, perform music from the post-Romantic German
school. Sunday, November 14.
scenes from favorite operas. Friday and Saturday, December 3 and 4.
in the month-long "Christmas at Westminster" series. Tickets
go on sale November 1. Advance purchase suggested as this series customarily
sells out.
Singers present a seasonal concert, Allen Crowell conducts. Sunday,
December 5.
of Christmas" by the Westminster Jubilee Singers, Donald Dumpson
conductor. Sunday, December 12.
performs "The House of Winter: A Modern and Ancient Christmas,"
with music of Monteverdi, Charpentier, and Bach. Andrew Megill directs.
Sunday and Monday, December 19 and 20.
tenor, Robert Annis, clarinet, and Phyllis Alpert Lehrer in music
by Argento, Schubert, Faure, and Hahn. Sunday, January 23.
Corrections or additions?
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