Sequenza21/The Contemporary Classical Music Weekly

Last Night in L.A. - Liebersons and Friends

The L.A. Phil gave a fairly rare recognition to Peter Lieberson in last night�s New Music Group concert: they invited the composer to be conductor and to select whatever music he wanted, his own and from others, for the concert. They even gave him outside resources when necessary. (There was one restriction, understood or stated; the music had to be for small orchestra or chamber groups.) So we were given a nice concert of four works by Lieberson, two with the performers for whom the works were written, supplemented by three works by British composers who, Lieberson felt, might be less known to the Los Angeles audience.

The concert was dedicated to one of these, his good friend Oliver Knussen, composer and conductor, who is in hospital recuperating from an operation (and who had to cancel his upcoming participation in the Ojai Festival because of that). The other two, Mark-Anthony Turnage and Julian Anderson, once studied with Knussen and have had their compositions conducted by him. The concert began with Turnage�s Snapshots (2002), written to celebrate Knussen�s 50th birthday, and this provided a nice, bright set of sounds and colors. Then a slightly reduced chamber orchestra of Phil musicians gave Knussen�s Two Organa (1995), two studies in sonority and resonance. Then Anderson�s Alhambra Fantasy (2000), an interesting study in textures. The first half closed with Lieberson�s Piano Quintet (2002), written for his friend Peter Serkin with the Orion Quartet; this is a virtuosic work of shifting moods, and it was very well played, Gloria Cheng joining four strings of the Phil.

Lorraine Hunt Lieberson re-opened the concert after intermission singing another of her husband�s gifts to her, Rilke Songs (2001), accompanied by friend/accompanist Robert Tweten. One of the good features of Disney Hall is the ability to lower screens from the ceiling to provide projected surtitles, so we didn�t have the interruptions of rustling program books as patrons tried to follow the words, letting us instead just concentrate and absorb the atmosphere of sound. This was followed by Free and Easy Wanderer (1998) which was dedicated to Knussen when it was written for the London Sinfonietta, a light, mercurial work. The concert concluded with his Horn Concerto (1999) with William Purvis, for whom the work was written for performance with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, as soloist. This concerto provides a real showpiece (and challenge) for the horn in its short 15 minutes. Purvis got a winner and gave us one.

posted by Jerry Zinser 5/24/2005