Post by Sordel on Nov 23, 2013 8:45:00 GMT -5
First Concert: The Book Of Heads performed by James Moore
The first concert took place in a small university recital room, which meant that it was very easy to follow Moore’s actions. He played twenty of the 35 études but I can’t say which because this is a work I’ve avoided in the past: its clearly theatrical elements means that you pretty much have to see it performed live and hearing a recording would be comparatively uninformative. Coming to the work fresh, then, I was entertained by the wackiness, and Moore kindly came back at the end to oversee the small audience as we perused his (musical!) equipment and the printed music itself. Clearly this is a work that is going to be preserved more in the performing tradition than in the heads themselves, which are difficult to fathom.
Second Concert: International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE)
The mixed programme by ICE took place in the Lawrence Batley Theatre, which is a medium sized theatre venue with, as it quickly transpired, a very good acoustic.
“The Steppenwolf” for clarinet - This solo piece is repetitive and comparatively consonant, exposing the soloist rather mercilessly since every flaw in the arpeggios is absolutely glaring (despite the fact that of course Joshua Rubin played it very well). This may be the purpose, of course, but I can’t say that I much cared for the piece and it made for an odd opening. I expected something more “in your face”.
“Occam’s Razor” - This is a very strong piece for cello and piano, played authoritatively by Michael Nicholas and Cory Smythe. Of the six pieces played in this concert this was pretty much my second favourite, with really nice writing for both instruments.
“The Tempest” - This was for me the best of the works in this concert: the forces involved (clarinet(s), flute & drums) seemed to work very well together, and the bass clarinet performance from Rubin was particularly enjoyable. Claire Chase on flute really threw herself into the music, creating almost the impression of the two wind performers competing with one another.
“Walpurgisnacht” - I don’t have this work, although it was of course released on Mysterium. It didn’t make a huge impression on me.
“Canon To Stravinsky” - I wish that this little canon had been given a few more repetitions: it’s an interesting bagatelle, but was very much “blink and you miss it”.
“Baudelaires” - This major ensemble piece called for harpsichord, guitar, strings and winds. I wanted to love it, but a lady nearby me commented that she rather lost focus while it was playing and I tended to agree. May sound better with more acquaintance.
Zorn appeared to take a bow at the end of this concert and was present at the evening concerts.
Third Concert: Arditti Quartet with Sarah Maria Sun
The final concerts of the day took place in St. Peter’s Hall, which is a converted church with a very nice atmosphere and acoustic.
“Necronomicon” + “The Alchemist” - I’ll take these pieces together because my observations would be the same. Not only were they very mature works in terms of their language and string writing, but the Arditti quartet absolutely nailed them. I’ve never felt previously that the string performers on Zorn’s works were in any way inadequate, but in the hands of a master quartet the change in sound and timbre is extraordinary. They brought an almost orchestral weight to the pieces (rather like Shostakovich’s early quartets) and every nuance of the frequent changes between harmonics, mutes etc. were beautifully handled.
“Pandora’s Box” - Zorn describes this as a “drama” and that’s what we get: a narrative rather like The Bribe only in this case we know the general outline from the original film, so that when the soprano gets “offed” in the final line, sung with her hands over her mouth as though silenced by Jack The Ripper, we know sort of where we are. The vocal performance was heroic although I did wonder whether we really needed quite so much sensation. Hearing the three works together made for a rather heavy concert experience: I half expected an encore of “Kol Nidre” to dissipate the atmosphere, but no such luck.
Fourth Concert: Sacred Vocal Music
“Madrigals” - A fairly simple, consonant piece for the vocalists. The least weighty of the three, but probably a good introduction.
“Earthspirit” - For three vocalists, the shortest of the three pieces, this one felt as New Age as its title might suggest: the texts seemed to me comparatively weak.
“The Holy Visions” - I heard this previously at The Barbican and felt that it was just as impressive on a second hearing. I found first time that one tended to notice the abrupt changes in styles, but these became progressively less obtrusive on reacquaintance.
Fifth Concert: The Hermetic Organ
I was thrilled to have the opportunity to hear the world premiere of the second office of this series of works. In St. Peter’s Hall the organist performs in front of the audience (no organ loft) so Zorn’s technique was very visible. He began by exploring the stops, almost as if he were experimenting with a synthesiser, and my impression was that there was less dependency on swell and block chords than in the recording of the first office. There was, however, very little musical line to the piece, and when he moved into a Masada-style section it sounded rather musically threadbare. I was also intrigued by his use of the carillon (maybe the wrong word for what he was using) which played what appeared to be a fixed arpeggio on small bells. Unfortunately by this point in the evening I was feeling pretty tired and may not have got as much out of the performance as it merited.
The concert series involved hearing a little over five hours of moderately challenging music spread out over about twelve hours. Personally I felt that the gaps between the concerts were too great, and I heard some members of the audience complaining at being cast out into the Huddersfield cold for another hour or longer between events. It was a great day of Zorn immersion, but would probably have worked better as a marathon.
Given the intimacy of the setting and small audience this was a wonderful chance to hear the works in an appropriate chamber environment. It was a privilege to attend the series and the festival organisers pulled off a real coup to stage it.
The first concert took place in a small university recital room, which meant that it was very easy to follow Moore’s actions. He played twenty of the 35 études but I can’t say which because this is a work I’ve avoided in the past: its clearly theatrical elements means that you pretty much have to see it performed live and hearing a recording would be comparatively uninformative. Coming to the work fresh, then, I was entertained by the wackiness, and Moore kindly came back at the end to oversee the small audience as we perused his (musical!) equipment and the printed music itself. Clearly this is a work that is going to be preserved more in the performing tradition than in the heads themselves, which are difficult to fathom.
Second Concert: International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE)
The mixed programme by ICE took place in the Lawrence Batley Theatre, which is a medium sized theatre venue with, as it quickly transpired, a very good acoustic.
“The Steppenwolf” for clarinet - This solo piece is repetitive and comparatively consonant, exposing the soloist rather mercilessly since every flaw in the arpeggios is absolutely glaring (despite the fact that of course Joshua Rubin played it very well). This may be the purpose, of course, but I can’t say that I much cared for the piece and it made for an odd opening. I expected something more “in your face”.
“Occam’s Razor” - This is a very strong piece for cello and piano, played authoritatively by Michael Nicholas and Cory Smythe. Of the six pieces played in this concert this was pretty much my second favourite, with really nice writing for both instruments.
“The Tempest” - This was for me the best of the works in this concert: the forces involved (clarinet(s), flute & drums) seemed to work very well together, and the bass clarinet performance from Rubin was particularly enjoyable. Claire Chase on flute really threw herself into the music, creating almost the impression of the two wind performers competing with one another.
“Walpurgisnacht” - I don’t have this work, although it was of course released on Mysterium. It didn’t make a huge impression on me.
“Canon To Stravinsky” - I wish that this little canon had been given a few more repetitions: it’s an interesting bagatelle, but was very much “blink and you miss it”.
“Baudelaires” - This major ensemble piece called for harpsichord, guitar, strings and winds. I wanted to love it, but a lady nearby me commented that she rather lost focus while it was playing and I tended to agree. May sound better with more acquaintance.
Zorn appeared to take a bow at the end of this concert and was present at the evening concerts.
Third Concert: Arditti Quartet with Sarah Maria Sun
The final concerts of the day took place in St. Peter’s Hall, which is a converted church with a very nice atmosphere and acoustic.
“Necronomicon” + “The Alchemist” - I’ll take these pieces together because my observations would be the same. Not only were they very mature works in terms of their language and string writing, but the Arditti quartet absolutely nailed them. I’ve never felt previously that the string performers on Zorn’s works were in any way inadequate, but in the hands of a master quartet the change in sound and timbre is extraordinary. They brought an almost orchestral weight to the pieces (rather like Shostakovich’s early quartets) and every nuance of the frequent changes between harmonics, mutes etc. were beautifully handled.
“Pandora’s Box” - Zorn describes this as a “drama” and that’s what we get: a narrative rather like The Bribe only in this case we know the general outline from the original film, so that when the soprano gets “offed” in the final line, sung with her hands over her mouth as though silenced by Jack The Ripper, we know sort of where we are. The vocal performance was heroic although I did wonder whether we really needed quite so much sensation. Hearing the three works together made for a rather heavy concert experience: I half expected an encore of “Kol Nidre” to dissipate the atmosphere, but no such luck.
Fourth Concert: Sacred Vocal Music
“Madrigals” - A fairly simple, consonant piece for the vocalists. The least weighty of the three, but probably a good introduction.
“Earthspirit” - For three vocalists, the shortest of the three pieces, this one felt as New Age as its title might suggest: the texts seemed to me comparatively weak.
“The Holy Visions” - I heard this previously at The Barbican and felt that it was just as impressive on a second hearing. I found first time that one tended to notice the abrupt changes in styles, but these became progressively less obtrusive on reacquaintance.
Fifth Concert: The Hermetic Organ
I was thrilled to have the opportunity to hear the world premiere of the second office of this series of works. In St. Peter’s Hall the organist performs in front of the audience (no organ loft) so Zorn’s technique was very visible. He began by exploring the stops, almost as if he were experimenting with a synthesiser, and my impression was that there was less dependency on swell and block chords than in the recording of the first office. There was, however, very little musical line to the piece, and when he moved into a Masada-style section it sounded rather musically threadbare. I was also intrigued by his use of the carillon (maybe the wrong word for what he was using) which played what appeared to be a fixed arpeggio on small bells. Unfortunately by this point in the evening I was feeling pretty tired and may not have got as much out of the performance as it merited.
The concert series involved hearing a little over five hours of moderately challenging music spread out over about twelve hours. Personally I felt that the gaps between the concerts were too great, and I heard some members of the audience complaining at being cast out into the Huddersfield cold for another hour or longer between events. It was a great day of Zorn immersion, but would probably have worked better as a marathon.
Given the intimacy of the setting and small audience this was a wonderful chance to hear the works in an appropriate chamber environment. It was a privilege to attend the series and the festival organisers pulled off a real coup to stage it.
