Sound On at the NY Philharmonic with Kwamé Ryan
As the 2023-24 season winds down, the NY Philharmonic held its last Sound On new music concert of the season Friday night with a program of unsettling, multimedia works led by guest conductor Kwamé Ryan, incoming Music Director of the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra. Although the Phil tried to connect the works on the program with the blanket title "Music of Connection and Displacement", this felt more like an after-the-fact justification for four distinct pieces best appreciated on their own merits.
If the ensemble of 20 or so musicians seemed visually swallowed up by the main stage of Geffen Hall - Sound On used to be held at the more intimate Appel Room at Jazz at Lincoln Center - the music had no problem filling the space. Ligetidyll (2022) by Ryan’s former teacher Peter Eötvös was a rollicking circus of metronomes, maracas, snare drums and cowbells written for the centenary of Eötvös’ own mentor - and fellow Hungarian - György Ligeti. Afterwards, Ryan requested a moment of silence in recognition of Eötvös' recent passing on March 24, which the audience obliged.
Michael van der Aa‘s Masks (2008) seamlessly blended acoustic, electronic and extra-musical elements like metronomes and gaffer tape to create a haunting, otherworldly atmosphere. This was music of intricate, almost pointillistic construction, requiring some deft playing on the part of the Philharmonic.
British composer Hannah Kendall's shouting forever into the receiver (2022) was a kitchen sink of elements intended to highlight the legacy of slavery on the worldwide African diaspora, including a pair of disembodied voices reciting passages from the Book of Revelation via walkie talkies (à la Steve Reich) while a music box played Beethoven’s 9th and other classics written “during the establishment of the (slave) Plantations.” None of this would have been obvious had I not read the program, but the music was affecting nonetheless.
Ending the concert was the world premiere of Mary Kouyoumdjian's searingly intense ANDOUNI (Homeless) documenting the horrors of Azerbaijan’s 2023 invasion of the ethnic-Armenian region of Artsakh. Commissioned as part of the Phil's Project 19 initative of new works by women composers, ANDOUNI featured interviews Kouyoumdjian conducted with locals affected by the invasion while wartime photos by fellow Armenian-American Scout Tufankjian were projected above the stage. While the work was deeply affecting, mostly thanks to Kouyoumdjian's juxtaposition of Armenian folk music with frightening orchestral crescendos, I couldn't help but feel it might have been better appreciated as a work of video art, say in the Whitney or MoMA.
According to the Phil: “Sound On will return in the 2024–25 season, featuring collaborations with artistic partners John Adams and International Contemporary Ensemble, as well as a tribute to Pierre Boulez, the former NY Phil Music Director and composer, celebrating his centennial.” Rug concerts, anyone?
More pics on the photo page.