Feast of Music

No Smiles This Summer Night

Ingmar Bergman (1918-2007)

"Intimations of divinity can be found in classical music, in which I think there is a sort of human holiness.” (from "Bergman Island," 2006)

"His use of classical music, especially in what to me is his greatest film, “Persona,” adds an incalculable profundity to his work." (Stephen Holden, The New York Times, 7/30/07)

From The Magic Flute (1975):

"He who wanders this street
Full of hardship, becomes clean
Through fire, water, air, and earth.
If he the terror of Death
Can overcome, he vaults
From the earth, heavenward;
Illuminated, he will be in good
Standing, to consecrate himself
Entirely to Isis."

Hallowed Ground

The weather held up yesterday, and the picnickers were out in force at Tanglewood, the storied summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and home of the Tanglewood Music Center, one of the world's leading centers for musical study. I've been coming up here pretty much every summer for the past 15 years, starting the season after Leonard Bernstein gave his memorable final concert here in 1990.

The legends of Tanglewood are legion: this was where Bernstein learned to conduct, where Copland learned to compose, where countless others have come to learn and/or teach. Bernstein used to say there is a magical quality to the place - something about the way the mountain air blows across the perfectly-manicured lawn, or the spectacular vistas of the rolling Berkshires - that makes everything sound better.

Tanglewood is also famous for it's serious and weighty programming: in past seasons, I've heard everything from the Brahms German Requiem (with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir), to Britten's War Requiem, to a concert combining Act I of Die Walkure with Act III of Gotterdammerung. (Tanglewood also has a strong commitment to contemporary music: last summer, I attended here the first staged U.S. performance of Elliott Carter's one-act opera What Next? conducted by BSO and Met Opera music director James Levine.)

Someone apparently forgot to tell that to Kurt Masur, who last night conducted Prokofiev's "Classical" Symphony and Beethoven's classical-sounding 1st Symphony. Masur, currently the music director of the Orchestre National de France, turned 80 last week, but still had the same passion and energy as when I used to attend his concerts at Avery Fisher, where he was the music director of the Philharmonic from 1991-2002. The BSO sounded like a well-oiled machine in both: I haven't encountered playing that precise and powerful since I heard the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra in Carnegie Hall last season (an orchestra which Masur conducted for over 25 years.)

In between, the BSO was joined by superstar violinist Joshua Bell, who, at least on this night, lived up to his outsized reputation in Prokofiev's 1st Violin Concerto. Bell attacked the piece, showing expressiveness in the Andantino's lattice-like cadenza, and fury in the tricky Scherzo, which he made look completely effortless. Surprisingly, there was only a mild ovation afterward: the few times I've seen Bell, the crowd typically goes wild afterward, demanding at least one encore. Tough crowd up here in Lenox.

During the intermission, I got to speak for a bit to one of the TMC Orchestra students about tonight's all-star performance of Verdi's Don Carlo, with Levine conducting. (He also conducted the opera last season at the Met.) She told me that they've been in rehearsal every day since Tuesday for six hours, and also had two sessions with Levine last week. Don Carlo is probably Verdi's most challenging opera, clocking in at nearly four hours and with powerhouse roles for six different singers. Still, she didn't seem concerned.

"We're ready," she said confidently. "I mean, these are great singers."

Not to mention a great - and generous - conductor.

An Ecstatic Experience

The best art makes you stop and think about your life. When the wind is right, it can even change the way you think about life. And, after an evening with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, I can justly claim such an experience.

Bill Jones is an extraordinary artist who, for the past 30 years, has mixed choreography and storytelling in unprecedented ways, and with unforgettable results. Tonight, he offered two recent works at Celebrate Brooklyn, both of which packed a forty-gallon punch. In Blind Date (2005), Jones overtly criticizes the Iraq war, complete with camouflage and onstage casualties. The musical accompaniment was Bach's deceptively serene Violin Sonata No. 1, played live by Amie Weiss in a remix by mutli-instrumentalist Daniel Bernard Roumain, who provided accompaniment on laptop, violin and piano. (They were also joined by Akim "Funk" Buddha, who provided throat singing and percussion.)

The main event of the night was Another Evening: I Bow Down (2006), in which Jones juxtaposes the disaster of Hurricane Katrina with both the biblical tale of Noah, as well as that of his own upbringing. The dancing in the 80 minute piece was superb, but the true genius lay in Jones' choice of music. I mean, who, in their right mind, would think to combine the overture to Wagner's Parsifal with an onstage hardcore band: the Bronx's Regain the Heart Condemned? The battle between the two sent this particular listener into an ecstatic trance, with Wagner emerging as the eventual victor. (For good measure, Jones stripped to his waist and threw Regain's lead singer, Oscar Rafael Vargas, around like a rag-doll.) More meditative music was also supplied by contemporary Russian composer Anton Bagatov.

In the piece's extraordinary conclusion, Jones stands on stage and counts forward the years, starting with 2007. The wonder in his voice increases with each passing year - 2020...2030...2040... - leaving us all to wonder which exactly will be our own end date. In case the message was at all ambiguous, Jones encouraged us all to live life to the fullest, with the hope that we get to see it from all sides before we pass.

Jones won this year's Tony Award for choreographing Spring Awakening, and half-jokingly claims that his 90 second appearance on primetime TV reached more people than his entire 30 year career in contemporary dance. (You can watch his wild acceptance speech here.) One can only hope the 2,000 or so he touched tonight in Prospect Park will pass along word of his magic outside the bright lights of Broadway.

Up to the Mountains

The weather's not looking so hot for my trip up to the Berkshires this weekend, but fortunately there will be plenty of indoor activity to keep anyone heading up there occupied. Tomorrow, I'll be at Tanglewood to see Josh Bell and Kurt Masur with the Boston Symphony. Saturday, I'm opting for the annual Bang On a Can Summer Marathon at Mass MoCA, though many will be heading back to Lenox to see James Levine conduct Don Carlo with the students of the Tanglewood Music Center and an all-star cast. (I've been to Levine's opera with the kids the past two seasons, and each has been extraordinary.) If the weather clears up on Sunday, I'm going to try to make it back in time for the TV On the Radio show at McCarren Pool; otherwise, I'll swing up north to Vermont for the matinee at Marlboro.

Tonight, the main event is Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings at Castle Clinton, who stole the show last Saturday at Celebrate Brooklyn's Doc Pomus tribute. Tickets are free, available starting at 5pm.

A Kings (County) Day

7th Annual Village Voice Siren Festival, 7/21/07

Dr. Dog

Noisettes

Lavender Diamond

The Black Lips (seen from the Astrotower)

We Are Scientists

  M.I.A

Hal Willner's Doc Pomus Project, Celebrate Brooklyn

Lou Reed, with Knox Chandler and Steven Bernstein

Laurie Anderson

Shannon McNally

Eric Mingus

Sharon Jones

Ben E. King

Hal Willner w/Cast and Crew

Encore: "Youngblood" with Lou Reed, Jenni Muldaur, and Knox Chandler

A Day At the Beach

Tomorrow, I'll be spending the day out in Coney at the 7th annual Village Voice Siren Festival. The lineup at these events have grown noticeably less luminous over the past few years, but give the Voice credit for trying to uncover some new talent from around the Europe-US indie circuit. There are two acts total I've heard of on this bill: David Johansen's New York Dolls and the London MC M.I.A. Which, come to think of it, is kinda cool. Glasgow's The Twlight Sad kick things off (next to the Cyclone) at 1pm.

Folk Mother

Unfortunately, blues legend Bobby Blue Bland has canceled his Celebrate Brooklyn appearance tonight due to illness, but the replacement is no slouch: Odetta, the legendary folk singer who has been performing and recording nonstop since 1950. She is a key figure in the history of popular music in this country, and has inspired countless musicians of every stripe, including none other than Bob Dylan: 

"The first thing that turned me on to folk singing was Odetta. I heard a record of hers [Odetta Sings Ballads and Blues, 1956] in a record store, back when you could listen to records right there in the store. Right then and there, I went out and traded my electric guitar and amplifier for an acoustical guitar, a flat-top Gibson..."

Jazz and blues singer Catherine Russell opens at 7:30. $3 suggested donation.

She Did It Her Way

I didn't have a ticket to last night's Ani DiFranco show in Prospect Park, but I did manage to catch her set from outside the (loosely) covered fence. (Pardon the low grade cellphone pics.) The near-sellout crowd was largely comprised of her loyal screaming-girl fan-base, which knew the words to most - if not all - of her songs. DiFranco herself seemed generally overwhelmed by the reception, happy to be back in New York, and specifically, "out in the wilds of kinder, gentler Brook-lyn."

"I have the best job," she said, in a schoolgirl-teasing tone of voice. "Seriously, I wonder sometimes if I really deserve all this."

DiFranco can take satisfaction in having succeeded on her own terms, famously eschewing the label system in favor of founding her own Righteous Babe Records, on which she has released 18 albums of her own music, plus a dozen others by like-minded artists such as opener Anais Mitchell and Toshii Reagon. As a relative newbie, I found her music alternately frank, earnest, edgy, gentle, and transporting. She sings in a high register, but with deep, emotive power, honed over nearly 20 years of nonstop performing. She lives up to her billing as one of the best live acts on the circuit, sustaining an impressively high level of energy straight through her 90 minute set, accompanied by drummer Alison Miller and bassist Todd Sickefus.

She came back for two encores (one with Reagon, who sang wordless backup) before the bandshell pulled the plug on what could have easily turned into an all-night affair. At least these happy kids had time to get their dance on in the middle of the Prospect Park transverse.

DiFranco will be on tour off and on for the rest of the summer and beyond.

Sunday in the Garden With...Pool

Ponderosa Stomp, McCarren Pool, 7/15/07

Tommy McClain with Yo La Tengo

Rockabilly Legend Ray Sharpe with the A Bones

Summergarden @ MoMA - The Marc Cary Focus Trio

Brooklyn Philharmonic @ the Bandshell

A funny thing happened to Brooklyn Philharmonic music director Michael Christie on his way home from the 8 Seasons concert Friday night. He stopped off for a beer at Eammon Doran's on Montague Street in Brooklyn Heights, and started chatting with the bartender, Seamus O'Toole, who apparently considers himself some sort of amateur conductor. One thing led to another, and eventually, Christie invited O'Toole to conduct "The Star Spangled Banner" to open last night's concert at the Prospect Park Bandshell. O'Toole dressed for the occasion, wearing a blue jacket, white pants and a red bow tie. His podium style was minimal at best, barely moving his baton. But, it sounded fine to me. And O'Toole got the thrill of a lifetime.

I get the feeling we can expect more such gestures from Christie, 33, one of the new breed of American conductors who understand the need to bridge the gap between the stage and audience, whether by offering guest conducting slots to unassuming locals, engaging the community with education and outreach initiatives, or by simply talking in between pieces in order to make them more accessible to an audience that, for the most part, have never set foot inside a concert hall.

The program started with a couple of familiar American favorites. Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man and Ferdie Grofe's Grand Canyon Suite, which offers a musical portrait of the natural wonder. Christie chose to speak before, during and after the Grofe, describing in vivid detail the canyon sunrise and sunset, the clopping of mule hooves, and the violent storms of the "Cloudburst" section. (Christie is also the music director of the Phoenix Symphony, and presumably has made the trip to the canyon more than once.) He warmly welcomed the audience's applause between each of the five movements.

Violinist Mark O'Connor comes from the world of American fiddle music, and is perhaps best known for his 1996 release Appalachian Waltz, with Edgar Meyer and Yo-Yo Ma. Since then, O'Connor has set his eyes squarely on the world of concert music, having written no fewer than six violin concertos, including the well-known "Fiddle Concerto."

His latest, a double concerto for violin and cello entitled "For The Heroes" received it's NY Premiere last night, with O'Connor and the exciting young cellist Maya Beiser performing the solo parts. (The piece was dedicated to Yo-Yo Ma in 2004.) The connections to Copland's music were immediately apparent: fast, driving rhythms, familiar folk melodies, open bowing on the strings. But, O'Connor takes it one step further, fully integrating the Texas fiddle tradition in which he was reared. Texas fiddle - as opposed to more familiar folk styles such as bluegrass or Celtic music - is known for its tight structure and adherence to melody, which gets embellished more and more with each repetition. The result is a rhythmic, accessible sound that makes an essential contribution, placing this music in its rightful place in the western musical tradition.

In the middle of the final movement, he and Beiser dueled on an incredibly long and exciting cadenza, with most of the audience swaying and tapping their feet throughout. When Christie cued the orchestra, the audience sprung to their feet in spontaneous applause, not realizing the piece hadn't yet ended. Fortunately, O'Connor had a suitable orchestral climax waiting, sending the audience of thousands into a wild ovation. For an encore, O'Connor played a demoniacally fast solo, which sounded like an Irish jig played at 78 RPM. 

There will be a couple of more performances of the 8 Seasons program with Lara St. John: Tuesday at Asser Levy park on Coney Island and Wednesday at the Naumburg Bandshell in Central Park. Both start at 7:30 and are free.