Sequenza21/The Contemporary Classical Music Weekly

Jay Gottlieb at the International Keyboard Institute and Festival

An absolute treat yesterday at Mannes, the inimitable Jay Gottlieb presented a terrific program of compositions by Ives, Donatoni, Wolpe, Messiaen, and others. Gottlieb, an American expatriate living in Paris, is a commissioning machine who has worked with a veritable who�s who in post-1950 contemporary music: you made not have heard of him, but Michael Tilson Thomas, Kent Nagano, Gunther Schuller, Pierre Boulez, Magnus Lindberg, Poul Ruders, and John Adams have.

After a fidgety introduction in which he spoke of the work�s "Himalayan" monumentality, Gottlieb opened with the "Emerson" movement from Ives�s Concord Sonata. Gottlieb gave the piece a spacious, romantic reading filled with rubato and sensuous sonority. Ives felt more like an old master in Gottlieb�s hands than a radical modernist. (Richard Taruskin would have been pleased.)

The far-out mood established by the Ives was sustained by Giacinto Scelsi�s "Four Illustrations on the Metamorphosis of Vishnu." The work�s four short movements � Shesha, Veraha, Rama, and Krishna � were played with color and conviction, but Scelsi�s indulgent style and flabby sense of form left me far from satisfied with the work as a whole.

Fortunately things lightened up when Gottlieb turned next to excerpts from Franco Donatoni�s "Fran�oise-Variationen." These casual musical doodles, each only a page long, charmed the audience with their unashamed insouciance. Their slippery gestures disappeared just a second or two before overstaying their welcome, leaving a sweet taste in their wake.

Last on the first half was Stefan Wolpe�s "Stehende Musik." Played with great power, the work�s visceral brutality gave an invigorating shot of adrenaline to the ears.

A smattering of Messiaen opened the second half. Gottlieb proved equal to the extremes of touch demanded by "Le Chocard des Alpes" from the Catalogue d�oiseaux. The more introspective "Regard du Temps" from the Vingt Regards sur l�Enfant-J�sus followed, and the set concluded with "La Parole Toute-Puisante," a thunderous, explosive recitative also from the Vingt Regards.

Gottlieb then presented a suite of short works by various composers under the title "Four Pianissimo Pieces." The group consisted of Charles Koechlin�s wistful "Le Chant du Chevrier," Henri Dutilleux�s mysterious "D�Ombre et de silence," Luciano Berio�s shimmering "Luftklavier," and George Crumb�s mystical "Agnus Dei" from the Macrocosmos. After a series of rather combustible pieces, this pleasantly somnambulant suite was a small masterstroke of programming.

The concert closed with John Adams�s "Phrygian Gates." Due to the work�s length, Gottlieb frequently only plays the second half. Of course, he chops the piece in two at precisely the work�s most magical moment, but his reading yesterday was effervescent nonetheless, and it was all the more impressive considering he played from the score and turned the pages himself.

I can�t remember a program with so much music on it I wanted to hear. Gottlieb�s taste in repertoire could hardly be improved on and, even if his speaking style is a tad unhinged, one wishes him many returns to this side of the Atlantic.

posted by David Salvage 7/24/2005