Sequenza21/The Contemporary Classical Music Weekly

Last Night in L.A. - Thomas Ad�

Thomas Ad�s managed to begin getting press attention and public recognition when he was quite young, and it doesn�t seem quite fair that he seems to deserve the praise, or most of it, anyway. He is currently in residence with the Philharmonic, and yesterday he conducted the Phil in a full program featuring two of his compositions. He conducts well, and not just his own music, but leading the orchestra in persuasive performance of Tchaikovsky and Sibelius. His music is stimulating, sometimes beautiful, sometimes exciting.

The first half of the program provided his Violin Concerto (�Concentric Paths�) (2005), a co-commission of the Phil in its U.S. premiere. The violinist was Anthony Marwood, for whom the work was written. The work is in three movements, fast-slow-fast, titled �Rings�, �Paths� and �Rounds�, respectively. The long, lyrical second movement seems the focus of the work, and it brings a singing melody into a completely contemporary work. The final movement has multiple rhythms in a shifting set of times; the movement ended abruptly, too soon, before I had grasped a working-out of the ideas. It felt truncated to me.

The major work of the concert was to present four scenes from his opera The Tempest (2004), and the performance was supported by four outstanding soloists who had sung their roles in Covent Garden or will do so this summer in Santa Fe when the opera is given its American premiere. Ad�s put together a pleasing suite from the opera, with scenes dealing with Prospero and his loss of control over Ariel and Miranda, culminating in the recognition of love between Ferdinand and Miranda. The music for Ariel provides a showcase for a coloratura soprano, and the song �Full Fathom Five� could become this century�s equivalent of a Queen of the Night aria as a soprano showpiece. The only problem is that the music is so high, and so rapid, that the lyrics are incomprehensible as all consonants vanish. Thank heavens that Disney Hall gives us surtitles so that we can read the lyrics, easily, while following the song --- and no rustling pages. The scenes between Miranda and Ferdinand showed off the composer�s lyric side. Based on yesterday, I�d really like to go to Santa Fe to hear the whole opera.

Rounding out the program were two other works of The Tempest. Tchaikovsky�s Tempest fantasia opened the concert. Much more interesting was the Sibelius Suite No. 2 from his stage music for The Tempest, nine extracts that are really interesting music from the mature composer.

Next week we hear Ad�s in a Green Umbrella concert that gives us a chronology of five of his smaller works. Even though we have heard the composer before, with Green Umbrella concerts and with the performance of Asyla at the Ojai Music Festival a few years ago, it�s really good to get exposure to a composer that the Phil�s residency program provides.

posted by Jerry Zinser 2/13/2006