Access Atlanta > Arts > Our Reviews > Archives > 2004 > October > 28
Thursday, October 28, 2004
ASO and Yoel Levi play Mahler 9
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Concert Review
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra
8 tonight and 8 p.m. Saturday. $10-$58. Symphony Hall, 1280 Peachtree St. N.E.
404-733-5000, www.atlantasymphony.org.
For a dozen years, through June 2000, Yoel Levi led the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra as music director. With a keen ear and enviable discipline, the Romanian-born Israeli conductor buffed the ensemble to a national-caliber polish.
But what concert-going Atlantans might refer to as "the recent unpleasantness" — the public and highly divisive squabble between conductor and management — continues to shade Levi's ASO legacy and, arguably, his entire career.
So it’s probably healthy for everyone that Levi is now conducting his final subscription concerts as music director emeritus — close that chapter and move on. (His last scheduled event with the ASO is the coming New Year’s Eve show.)
For these valedictory concerts, he programmed Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 9, a sonic poem of kaleidoscopic colors and moods. Although Symphony Hall was only half-full Thursday evening, several Levi loyalists gave him a brief standing ovation when he stepped on stage.
Mahler’s dense, moody symphonies, like Shakespeare’s plays and scripts for “The Sopranos,” lend themselves to psychological analysis. (The composer actually had a session with Dr. Freud, but that’s another story.)
Levi's Mahler 9 was impersonal and nonconfessional, what's called an "objective" approach. The performance was elegantly proportioned and precise to the letter of the score. He let the music speak on its own neutral terms, a noble achievement. The ASO played exactingly for their former boss.
Yet to my senses, Levi committed the cardinal sin: His interpretation was boring, giving off kilowatts of light but no heat, no emotion. Often he'd begin a section with an ear for beauty, but since he wasn't building drama, there was no payoff at the climax.
It left the impression of a highly capable conductor unable, or unwilling, to communicate deeper ideas or feelings. How does a listener respond to that?
Permalink | | Categories: Classical Music
Avril Lavigne plays Philips Arena
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Related
Canadian pop-rocker Avril Lavigne is good for many things, but beer sales are not one of them. Yes, it was a young-skewing crowd Thursday at Philips Arena, so young that a twentysomething reporter arriving with a messenger bag was asked if he’d come straight from school.
Atlanta singer/songwriter/producer Butch Walker opened the show, playing chunky rock and taking a swipe at Lavigne rival (and busted lip-syncer) Ashlee Simpson: “Avril and me would rather play than press ‘play,’ if you know what I mean,� he said.
Lavigne herself came off with a winning mixture of mall-punk sass and Canadian sweetness. At 20, she’s still cute as a ladybug. And best of all, she’s a budding talent. She played three instruments Thursday — guitar, piano and, on a cover of Blur’s woo-hooing “Song 2,� drums — and sang in a voice surprisingly strong at its high-end.
Safe enough for parents and angsty enough for teenage girls, Lavigne has synthesized the disparate elements that made Debbie Gibson and Alanis Morissette momentary mega-stars. Lavigne’s also musically literate enough to have artistic growth potential, and she’s got youth on her side. She could be around awhile.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Pop Music
Fiery Furnaces nearly go down in flames
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Signs something was wrong with the Fiery Furnaces during their show Wednesday night at the Echo Lounge:
Singer Eleanor Friedberger and her multi-instrumentalist brother, Matthew, barely acknowledged each-other. The exceptions came when Eleanor less-than-convincingly told the audience how much she loved Matthew, and when she glared at him during the encore for playing a song she said she didn’t recognize.
The band didn’t start until 12:30 Thursday morning, blaming their tardiness on a broken string.
The Furnaces played at warp-speed. As Eleanor spat out lyrics while staring through her Joey Ramone haircut at the floor, Matthew and two sidemen seemed competitors in a musical race. The drumbeats took on speed-metal cadences. The guitars and keyboards rushed. The bass hung on for dear life. The show whizzed by in less than an hour.
Despite all of this, the music was pretty interesting, drawing from the Furnaces excellently trippy 2004 record “Blueberry Boat,â€? a psychedelic, herky-jerky experiment gone right. Live, the songs were faster and more unhinged, but the band’s manic creativity was very much on display.
