{"id":12883,"date":"2013-08-16T02:38:42","date_gmt":"2013-08-16T06:38:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.musicalamerica.com\/mablogs\/?p=12883"},"modified":"2013-09-10T20:25:45","modified_gmt":"2013-09-11T00:25:45","slug":"george-benjamin%e2%80%99s-written-on-skin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.musicalamerica.com\/mablogs\/?p=12883","title":{"rendered":"George Benjamin\u2019s Written on Skin"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Sedgwick Clark <\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

British composer George Benjamin\u2019s opera Written on Skin<\/em> certainly doesn\u2019t need my praise after all the encomia it received at its world premiere at Festival d\u2019Aix-en-Provence in July 2012 and its London premiere on March 9 at Covent Garden. But I can report on the U.S. premiere this past Monday at Tanglewood\u2019s Festival of Contemporary Music in Ozawa Hall. In a word, it was thrilling.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The playing of the Tanglewood Music Center Fellows, a student orchestra, was flawless from top to bottom\u2014indeed, already imbued with the elder orchestra\u2019s Boston richness and depth of tone. Even in a concert performance, the young singers displayed a sense of drama and commitment fully competitive with the excellent Aix cast available on the recently released Nimbus CD set. They were: Lauren Snouffer (Agn\u00e8s), Evan Hughes (Protector), Augustine Mercante (Angel 1\/Boy), Tammy Coil (Angel 2\/Marie), and Isaiah Bell (Angel 3\/John). My concert companion had heard the Aix premiere and expressed misgivings about attending the Tanglewood performance, but after the first few minutes she turned to me, smiled, and nodded her assent.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The composer conducted the Aix and London performances and did so at this concert as well. On the evidence of this one concert, I have no hesitation in stating that Benjamin is a great conductor. Never for a moment was there doubt of his control over his youthful orchestra, and the precision of attack, allied with expressive warmth and natural freedom of phrase, was masterful. His biography states that he has conducted some of the world\u2019s great ensembles, in repertoire from Schumann to Wagner and, of course, works by many of his contemporaries. I hope to hear him conduct again\u00a0as soon as possible\u00a0. . . as long as it doesn\u2019t unduly compromise his composing career.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Program details of Bard Music Festival, \u201cStravinsky and His World\u201d<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

WEEKEND TWO: Stravinsky Re-invented: From Paris to Los Angeles<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Friday, August 16<\/strong>
\nSPECIAL SHOWING<\/strong>
\nFilming Stravinsky: Preserving Posterity\u2019s Image<\/strong>
\nWeis Cinema
\nFree and open to the public<\/p>\n

PROGRAM SIX<\/strong>
\nAgainst Interpretation and Expression: The Aesthetics of Mechanization<\/strong>
\nSosnoff Theater
\n7:30 pm Pre-concert Talk: Christopher H. Gibbs
\n8 pm\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Performance: Eric Beach, percussion; Judith Gordon, piano; Jonathan Greeney, percussion; Imani Winds; Piers Lane, piano; Peter Serkin, piano; Gilles Vonsattel, piano; Bard Festival Chamber Players and students of The Bard College Conservatory, conducted by Leon Botstein\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Igor Stravinsky (1882\u20131971)
\nConcerto for Piano and Winds (1923\u201324)
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Sonata for Two Pianos (1943\u201344)
\nB\u00e9la Bart\u00f3k (1881\u20131945)
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion, Sz 110 (1937)
\nEdgard Var\u00e8se (1883\u20131965)
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Octandre<\/em>\u00a0(1923)
\nPaul Hindemith (1895\u20131963)
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Kleine Kammermusik<\/em>, Op. 24, No. 2 (1922)
\nOlivier Messiaen (1908\u201392)
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0From\u00a0Quatre \u00e9tudes de rythme<\/em>\u00a0(1949\u201350)Tickets: $25, $35, $50, $60\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Saturday, August 17<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

PANEL THREE<\/strong>
\nLenin, Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini: Music, Ethics, and Politics<\/strong>
\nOlin Hall
\n10 am\u2014noon
\nTamara Levitz, moderator; Tomi M\u00e4kel\u00e4; Simon Morrison; Michael Beckerman\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Free and open to the public\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

PROGRAM SEVEN<\/strong>
\nStravinsky in Paris<\/strong>
\nOlin Hall
\n1 pm\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Pre-concert Talk: Manuela Schwartz
\n1:30 pm\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Performance: Xak Bjerken, piano; Randolph Bowman, flute; Sara Cutler, harp; Jordan Frazier, double bass; Marka Gustavsson, viola; Robert Martin, cello; Jesse Mills, violin; Harumi Rhodes, violin; Sharon Roffman, violin; Laurie Smukler, violin; Bard Festival Chamber Players\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Igor Stravinsky (1882\u20131971)
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Les cinq doigts<\/em>, for piano (1921)
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Octet for Wind Instruments (1922\u201323)
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Duo concertant<\/em>\u00a0(1931\u201332)
\nAlbert Roussel (1869\u20131937)
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0S\u00e9r\u00e9nade<\/em>, for flute, harp, and string trio, Op. 30 (1925)
\nBohuslav Martinu (1890\u20131959)
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0String Quartet No. 4, H. 256 (1937)
\nSergey Prokofiev (1891\u20131953)
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Sonata for Two Violins, Op. 56 (1932)
\nArthur Louri\u00e9 (1892\u20131966)
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Sonata for Violin and Double Bass (1924)
\nAlexandre Tansman (1897\u20131986)
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Sonatina for Flute and Piano (1925)\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tickets: $35\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

PROGRAM EIGHT<\/strong>
\nThe \u00c9migr\u00e9 in America<\/strong>
\nSosnoff Theater
\n7 pm\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Pre-concert Talk: Leon Botstein
\n8 pm\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Performance: John Relyea, bass-baritone; Rebecca Ringle, mezzo-soprano; Bard Festival Chorale, James Bagwell, choral director; American Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Leon Botstein, music director\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Igor Stravinsky (1882\u20131971)
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Jeu de cartes\u00a0<\/em>(1936)
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Symphony in Three Movements (1942\u201345)
\nOde<\/em>\u00a0(1943)
\nRequiem Canticles<\/em>\u00a0(1965\u201366)
\nArnold Schoenberg (1874\u20131951)
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Kol<\/em>\u00a0Nidre<\/em>, Op. 39 (1938)
\nHanns Eisler (1898\u20131962), Score for\u00a0Night and Fog<\/em>\u00a0(1955), a film by Alain Resnais\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tickets: $30, $50, $60, $75\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sunday, August 18<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

PROGRAM NINE<\/strong>
\nStravinsky, Spirituality, and the Choral Tradition<\/strong>
\nOlin Hall
\n10 am\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Performance with commentary by Kl\u00e1ra M\u00f3ricz, with the Bard Festival Chorale, James Bagwell, choral director; Frank Corliss, piano; Bard Festival Chamber Players\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Choral works by Igor Stravinsky (1882\u20131971); Gesualdo da Venosa (1566\u20131613), Claudio Monteverdi (1567\u20131643); Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750); Sergey Rachmaninoff (1873\u20131943); Francis Poulenc (1899\u20131963), Lili Boulanger (1893\u20131918), and Ernst Krenek (1900\u201391)\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tickets: $30\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

PROGRAM TEN<\/strong>
\nThe Poetics of Music\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>and After<\/strong>
\nOlin Hall
\n1 pm\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Pre-concert Talk: Richard Wilson\u00a0<\/p>\n

1:30 pm\u00a0\u00a0Performance: Rieko Aizawa, piano; Imani Winds; Alexandra Knoll, oboe; Piers Lane, piano; Jesse Mills, violin; Bard Festival Chamber Players\u00a0<\/p>\n

Igor Stravinsky (1882\u20131971)
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Circus Polka<\/em>, arranged for piano (1942, arr. 1944)
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Septet (1952\u201353)
\nAnton Webern (1883\u20131945)
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Variations for Piano, Op. 27 (1936)
\nWalter Piston (1894\u20131976)
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Suite, for oboe and piano (1931)
\nAaron Copland (1900\u201390)
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Nonet (1960)
\nElliott Carter (1908\u20132012)
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Woodwind Quintet (1948)
\nEllis Kohs (1916\u20132000)
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Sonatina for Violin and Piano (1948)
\nCarlos Ch\u00e1vez (1899\u20131978)
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0From Ten Preludes (1937)
\nTickets: $35<\/p>\n

PROGRAM ELEVEN<\/strong>
\nThe Classical Heritage<\/strong>
\nSosnoff Theater
\n3:30 pm\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Pre-concert Talk: Tamara Levitz 4:30 pm\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Performance: Gordon Gietz, tenor; Jennifer Larmore, mezzo-soprano; Sean Panikkar, tenor; John Relyea, bass-baritone; Bard Festival Chorale, James Bagwell, choral director; American Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Leon Botstein, music director; and others\u00a0<\/p>\n

Igor Stravinsky (1882\u20131971)
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Pers\u00e9phone<\/em>\u00a0(1933\u201334, rev. 1948)
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Oedipus Rex\u00a0<\/em>(1926\u201327, rev. 1948)Tickets: $30, $50, $60, $75All programs subject to change.<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Festival Glutton<\/strong>
\nAbandoning my contrarian avoidance of summer-music, a week of festival gluttony has left me exhausted but happily so: the first weekend of Bard\u2019s Stravinsky deluge (8\/9-11), Tanglewood Contemporary Music Festival\u2019s U.S. premiere of George Benjamin\u2019s ecstatically received opera Written on Skin <\/em>(8\/12), and back home for David Lang\u2019s Whisper Opera <\/em>at Lincoln Center\u2019s Mostly Mozart Festival (8\/13).<\/p>\n

Ever the proselytizer, the Bard Festival\u2019s Leon Botstein can\u2019t resist sharing a cornucopia of music with his audiences, and those of us who share his passion are happy to follow. He and his artistic co-directors, Christopher H. Gibbs and Robert Martin, invariably concoct illuminating programs of music by the primary composer and complementary works by various colleagues. Preconcert talks and panels of experts dot the schedule, reminding us that Bard is a school. One never fails to learn and even be surprised. (Ever hear any music by Mikhail Gnesin, Maximilian Steinberg, or Andr\u00e9 Souris? I hadn\u2019t even heard of the latter.) Two programs this year feature ten composers, and they sometimes run close to three hours due to setups between works. Bard audiences are notable for their sitzfleisch<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Botstein\u2019s presentational approach to conducting is more in tune with Stravinsky, who claimed to loathe interpreters, than, say, Mahler, whose music is open to a variety of approaches. In a preconcert talk on opening night, Botstein said that, with few exceptions, Stravinsky\u2019s music is no longer difficult for contemporary audiences. But, he warned ominously about one of the works on the program, \u201cI assure you that Abraham and Isaac <\/em>does sound \u2018modern.\u2019 \u201d (Actually, it doesn\u2019t, being a 60-year-old serialist relic whose time has long passed in our current, neo-tonal era.) Interestingly, Botstein\u2019s easygoing performance of this ungrateful piece with members of the American Symphony Orchestra was quite the most digestible I\u2019ve ever heard, abetted by baritone John Hancock\u2019s mellow rendering of the Hebrew text. The most popular work on the program, Symphony of Psalms<\/em>, was unerringly paced but compromised by mushy choral articulation. Anna Polonsky and Orion Weiss, two young pianists who would shine in other performances throughout the weekend, brought the unaccountably neglected Concerto for Two Pianos to life. And Botstein led a taut Les Noces <\/em>that featured a characterful vocal quartet\u2014soprano Kiera Duffy, mezzo-soprano Melis Jaatinen, tenor Mikhail Vekua, and bass-baritone Andrey Borisenko\u2014to end the concert.<\/p>\n

The second program, called \u201cThe Russian Context,\u201d was one of those point-making Bard concerts performed largely by workmanlike festival regulars. Three Tchaikovsky works, for instance, Feuillet d\u2019album<\/em>, Op. 19, No. 3, and Humoreske<\/em>, Op. 10, No. 2, both for piano, and the song None but the Lonely Heart<\/em>, Op. 6, No. 6, were all adapted by Stravinsky for his 1928 ballet Le Baiser de la f\u00e9e<\/em>. The pianist in these, and several other works throughout the first weekend, Gustav Djupsj\u00f6backa, was discouragingly half-hearted, whether as soloist or accompanist. Fortunately, contributions by pianists Orion Weiss in works by Glinka and Stravinsky and Piers Lane in works by Rachmaninoff, Scriabin, and Stravinsky compensated. Most impressive, however, was the young, Curtis-trained Dover Quartet in Glazunov\u2019s Five Novelettes<\/em>, Op. 15, which had everyone marveling over the foursome\u2019s warm, full-bodied sonority and gracious Romantic style.<\/p>\n

A teacher, Rimsky-Korsakov, and two students, Steinberg and Stravinsky in works from 1913, dominated the third program, with the full American Symphony under Botstein reveling in the shimmering sensuousness of a suite from Rimsky-Korsakov\u2019s The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh <\/em>(1907) and Maximilian Steinberg\u2019s ballet suite from Les m\u00e9tamorphoses<\/em>. What a contrast with the savage Le Sacre du printemps<\/em>, conducted pretty much in one well-chosen tempo throughout, as the work\u2019s first conductor, Pierre Monteux, said was possible. There were no serious mishaps, and the Danse sacrale\u2014<\/em>the burial ground for innumerable past performances\u2014went perfectly. Unfortunately, the brass were nearly always too loud, overwhelming the strings, and rasping and ugly besides.<\/p>\n

Many performances of Schoenberg\u2019s Pierrot Lunaire <\/em>strike people as modern because they are so unattractively sung. What a revelation, then, to hear Kiera Duffy tackle the composer\u2019s Sprechstimme<\/em><\/p>\n

Tanglewood perf fully competitive with any musical performance I\u2019ve ever heard!\u00a0 And, upsettingly so, what a qualitative contrast with Bard’s standard\u00a0(still haven’t read your review)!!\u00a0 One wants to be\u00a0encouraging about Bard because there are so many\u00a0positive aspects of it, but the student orchestra and vocalists at Tanglewood were so vastly superior that the Bard performers–all professionals, after all, although Peter Serkin was the only “name” soloist at Bard this year–were nearly all thrown in the shade.\u00a0 I have no idea what the respective budgets are, but professionals must be paid, and students do not.\u00a0 It’s difficult when the weakest link in the festival is its leader.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Looking Forward<\/strong>
\nMy week\u2019s scheduled concerts (8:00 p.m. unless otherwise noted):<\/p>\n

8\/15 at 7:00. Rose Theatre. Mostly Mozart Festival. Budapest Festival Orchestra\/Ivan Fischer. Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro<\/em>.<\/p>\n

8\/16-18 (various times). Bard Music Festival. Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y. \u201cStravinsky and His World.\u201d See schedule above.<\/p>\n