Sequenza21/The Contemporary Classical Music Weekly

Last Night in L.A. - 20th Century Masters

Ravel, Stravinsky, Ligeti, Boulez (and the lunar influence of Schoenberg) were the subject of last night�s "Green Umbrella" concert of the Los Angeles Philharmonic�s new music group. The music may not have been "new," but it did present challenges to audience and players. The concert began with Ligeti and ended with Boulez; songs by Stravinsky and Ravel provided the lyrical leavening in the middle.

The Chamber Concerto for 13 instrumentalists (1970) by Ligeti is a bracing way to begin a concert: a cocktail of cold gin. [Clips of all four movements are here. The work has most of the elements of Ligeti�s mature style, especially the sounds of mice scurrying around the granary. The Phil�s Assistant Director Alexander Mickelthwaite is a young conductor on his way up, and he did well with this work. He�ll soon be music director of one of our major orchestras; he�s now at the stage where it seems more a matter of lucky timing and exposure.

Joana Carneiro, conducting fellow of the orchestra, then conducted eight songs for soprano and chamber group by Stravinsky and Ravel. Even while finishing Rite of Spring, Stravinsky was attracted by the group of musicians he heard at a Berlin concert of Schoenberg�s Pierrot Lunaire. Stravinsky rewrote a song for soprano and piano to use the Pierrot ensemble, which he modified to add more color, expanding the ensemble with an additional flute/piccolo, an additional clarinet/bass clarinet, and an additional violin. He liked that, and introduced the approach to his friend Ravel with whom he was working on a project. Ravel liked the approach as well, as did another mutual friend, Maurice Delage; their songs using this combination were premiered in Paris in 1914. Forty years later, Stravinsky came back to the combination one more time, rescoring two additional songs for the combination. In last night�s concert, the group performed Stravinsky�s Two Poems of Balmont (1911/1954), Three Japanese Lyrics (1913), and Ravel�s Three Poems of St�phane Mallarm� (1913). Hila Plitmann, whom we last heard in Salonen�s Wing on Wing, sang. She established a slightly different style for each group of songs, even changing her posture as well as her communication with the audience. Carneiro and Plitmann brought out all of the colors of the music.

After intermission, Mickelthwaite came back to conduct a sextet and a mezzo in Le marteau sans maitre (1955) by Boulez in his own, unique reaction to Pierrot. Is this a great work? I�m sorry, but I still can�t tell, because this work still does not communicate with me and I still fail to understand it. I�ve gotten to the point where I can appreciate some things: the interesting low timbre of the alto flute, mezzo, viola, and guitar; the color provided by the vibraphone, xylorimba, and percussion. But I�m still at the stage that if I play a CD of the work, I find myself doing something other than listening after about 15 minutes; when at a concert, I sit quietly and find myself thinking of something else. My applause was really for the excellent playing of the flute by our long-time principal.

posted by Jerry Zinser 1/18/2006