November 10, 2005
The weekend: British, American composers lead New World bill
Julian Anderson is on of Britain's rising stars of classical composition, and local audiences have a chance to hear the U.S. premiere of his orchestral work, The Book of Hours, at a New World Symphony concert Saturday night.
Here's what one of the critics said about the work when it premiered in the United Kingdom in February:
The skill with which Anderson generates 25 minutes of free-wheeling, exuberant, high-octane music is miraculous . . . His use of electronics as an extension of natural instrumental sound is highly expressive and gives the music the effect of constantly stretching itself to break into new territory. The moment of crisis, which comes in the second half, is shattering; it’s as if the music has pushed too hard and is transfigured into a powerful cadenza for electronics only . . .
You can read the other comments here, along with Anderson's biography.
Composer Oliver Knussen will lead the New World in the Anderson piece as well as The Way to Castle Yonder, which Knussen compiled in 1990 from his opera Higglety Pigglety Pop!, to a libretto by Maurice Sendak.
Two works by the venerable American composer Gunther Schuller also are on the program: Seven Studies on Themes of Paul Klee and Of Reminiscences and Reflections, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1994.
This is quite a feast of contemporary classical music, and for me, it's a must-see, as I think it would be for most people interested in this art form. The concert starts at 8 p.m. Saturday, and I'm planning to head on down to Miami Beach to see it.
Getting ready for Dmitri's year: Friday night at the Kravis, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center is bringing an all-Russian program to the Rinker Playhouse.
In addition to the Sonata for Two Violins, Op. 56, by Sergei Prokofiev, which I've rarely heard, the musicians — violinists Ani and Ida Kavafian; violist Paul Neubauer; cellist Fred Sherry; and pianist Anne-Marie McDermott — will offer the D minor Trio of Anton Arensky (a lovely work); and the Piano Quintet in G minor, Op. 57, of Dmitri Shostakovich.
The year 2006 will mark the centenary of Shostakovich's birth, and you can count on hearing a great deal of this composer's music in the coming months. I'm particularly interested in his chamber music, but I won't be able to get away from work to catch tomorrow night's concert. Anyone who does, feel free to post a mini-review on this blog.
The concert begins at 7:30 p.m. Friday.
And for pianists: The Serbian-born pianist Misha Dacic appears at the Steinway Gallery in Boca Raton for a concert featuring the Op. 101 sonata of Beethoven, the Italian Polka of Rachmaninov and the Scriabin Fantasy.
This Web site offers some MP3 excerpts of his playing; I checked out the minute of Medtner he's got on there, and it's a sensitive performance. This particular sonata (A minor, Op. 38, No. 1) is on a brand-new disc by the Russian superstar Evgeny Kissin; perhaps Medtner's music is starting to make the rounds and we'll hear more by this rewarding composer.
The concert begins at 4 p.m. Saturday.
Thus endeth my plugs for the weekend.
