Jonathan Biss James Levine and The MET Orchestra

The last concert of the 3 the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra played in its Carnegie Hall series was held Thursday 5/22. It was in the familiar format of a contemporary piece followed by a concerto by a noted soloist and a universally loved war horse after the intermission. Still with the contemporary composer being Levine favorite Eliot Carter and the soloist being the hot 28year old Jonathan Biss led to an exceptional evening. The scalpers and people looking for tickets in the crowed out front proved that there was some buzz too.

Eliot Carter’s Variations for Orchestra from the mid-1950s has obvious references many earlier composers: Ives, Schoenberg and Berg were obvious to me and I’m sure others caught more influences in the 10 variations. That said it was more Cater than anything else, like all worthwhile composers he is mostly himself. Carter was born in 1908 and has seen a lot of styles and has been influenced by many of them. The Met players played the variations well although they are difficult but after all they are used to playing a different style each night at the opera house, they are stars at adapting.

Jonathan Biss is well known already, although he is young, I was anxious to hear him play for myself. I was very happy with what I heard. His playing of the solo parts of the Schumann Piano Concerto were very mindful the works Romantic period but played with intelligence and feeling never with unnecessary flash. We may have come to a glorious time in performance history where intelligence is held in higher regard than gloss, or perhaps I’ve just been lucky lately. Levine and his forces also played in a restrained intelligent way, a perfect match.

The season started Oct 1^st with Lucia di Lammermoor, since then its been 7 operas a week, with the occasional Sunday for Carnegie Hall performances. For a last piece maestro Levine gave them Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4. This gives most of the musicians a chance to play all out and they seemed to have fun doing it. Not the most subtle music ever written but it gave each section a chance to strut itself. The audience loved it. At the end Levine asked each section to stand starting with the woodwinds and each section got a huge ovation. Levine got a larger ovation than and section and the whole orchestra the greatest ovation of all. It was fun for the audience too; it gave us a chance to thank them for a nice concert and a great season.

Chamber Ensembles

Many orchestras have created chamber
ensembles made up their first chair and
other leading players. They offer audiences
repertory that is not appropriate for the full
orchestra and they often offer more
sophisticated programs than their parents can usually present.
I saw two of these ensembles this weekend
and both provided interesting well played
programs both in the 600 seat Zankel Hall in
the basement of Carnegie Hall.

The first on Friday evening we heard the
Birmingham Contemporary Music Group
which consists of members of The City of
Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and was
formed by Sir Simon Rattle. They were
conducted by the composer Thomas Ades,
who conducted a program of his own music
on Saturday, which I unfortunately did not
attend. On Friday they performed a
chamber opera by Irish composer Gerald
Barry,’ The Triumph of Beauty AND Deceit'.
Its a short (52 minute) piece written
originally for Channel 4 in the UK. It turned
out to be a facile and rather minor work.
The evening was saved by the excellent
playing of the Birmingham group and the
spirited pacing by Mr .Ades. I know of no
composer of Mr. Ades' stature who does
some much to promote the work of other
composers.

On Sunday we had our regular subscription
concert with the Met Chamber Ensemble
conducted by their founder James Levine.
They are made up by leading players of
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.
The first piece was Mozart's Serenade in
B-flat Major k.361, which I was not familiar
with before this. Its scored for only
woodwinds and horns save for a single
double bass. Its a very complex work that
must have seemed difficult to listeners of
Mozart's time, its seems sophisticated to me
and was difficult for the players, they
seemed exhausted after playing for an hour.
After intermission we heard a Piece by
Gunther Schuller a living composer and
composition teacher. It is scored for all
percussion including Harp, Celesta and Piano.
It is a work of infectious energy that even
the skeptical women who sit behind use
ended up loving in spite of themselves. I
remember Schuller as a composer of exciting
third stream music in the '60s and '70s and
it made me feel good watching him get an
extended ovation.
The last work on the program was Mozart's
ever popular Eine Kleine Nactmusik. It’s all
strings and was played with warmth and
charm. It was the perfect end to an early
spring concert.

Slightly off topic but can any of you music
professionals explain to me why the women
horn and woodwind players all dress kind of
nerdy while the string players, regardless of
age, dressed in high fashion and even sexy?
Is it because the strings usually sit in front?