A Beautiful Peak*, Indeed
by Mark Greenfest © 2007
‘Second Viennnese Roots and Shoots.’ Alban Berg: Vier Stücke, Op. 5 – Anton Webern: Drei Stücke, Op. 11 – Hanns Eisler: Duo, Op. 7 – Kati Agocs; Immutable Dreams – George Perle: Night Song – Milton Babbitt: None but the Lonely Flute – Arnold Schoenberg, (arr. Webern): Kammersymphonie, Op. 9. Da Capo Chamber Players: David Bowlin, violin; Andre Emilianoff, cello; Blair McMillen, piano; Patricia Spencer, flute; Meighan Stoops, clarinet. Merkin Concert Hall, NY, NY. January 28, 2007.
Da Capo Chamber Players, whose name literally means “From the top,” put on a program of top composers, the Viennese Arnold Schoenberg and his protégés, Berg, Webern, Eisler, next-generation Americans George Perle and Milton Babbitt, and the brilliant young Canadian-Hungarian composer Kati Agocs, a Juilliard graduate. Both the Agocs world premiere, Immutable Dreams, and the classic Perle Night Song had been commissioned by the ensemble, albeit in different decades. Composers Milton Babbitt and Kati Agocs were present, as was Mrs. Shirley Perle.
The program opened with the Berg Vier Stücke (1913). With two young, exciting and virtuosic performers, Meighan Stoop and Blair McMillen (M.S.M. and Bard faculty playing clarinet and piano, respectively), this striking duet sprang to life. Webern’s Drei Stücke (1914) followed. This gem of three miniatures—a landmark of music, where every gesture tells, long or short, however inflected—received a magnificent performance by cellist Andre Emilianoff and pianist Blair McMillen. (They repeated—da capoed—the piece after a brief talk by Mr. Emilianoff that was longer than the piece itself.)
Hanns Eisler’s Duo (1924) was next. Is this a minuet or an off-kilter waltz? It’s very passionate—atonally astringent, but full of life and love, as the two instruments, violin and cello, serenade each other.
Then, the centerpiece of the program, the newly commissioned work by Kati Agocs (b. 1975), Immutable Dreams (2007), had its world premiere. This piece, written in the light of Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire, displayed new constellations of timbre—some raw, some effervescent, some irridescent, some incandescent, and some luminous. Composer Agocs marshals this galaxy of sound into a brilliant new composition that, metaphorically, is visually striking, and aurally gorgeous. The ensemble’s playing was wonderful. After intermission, the previously commissioned work, George Perle’s Night Song (1990) had its second perfomance in New York in a week; this night, by the ensemble, which had commissioned it. This nocturne, which is as vigorous as it is ethereal, is one of those rare works—a widened serial universe of sound. Its performance by Da Capo seemed perfect.
Next, Milton Babbitt’s playful None but the Lonely Flute (1991) was performed by Patricia Spencer, practically dancing across music stands. Although this is a modern serialist piece, it nevertheless, reminds me of a dance with pan pipes, and of Debussy’s Afternoon of a Faun—it has passionate intensity. Patricia Spencer gave a truly remarkable performance.
The final piece in the program was its anchor — Arnold Schoenberg’s Kammersymphonie (1906), which Anton Webern had arranged for private performance by a chamber ensemble. This is a landmark in music-chromaticism pushed to its limits. One imagines it’s as vivid today, in the ten hands and two mouths of these musicians, as it was then; the melody, moreover, is lyrical, even lovely at times.
Then, after the last loud round of applause, the audience and performers retreated upstairs for a post-concert reception. With gatherings like these (open to all), a sense of community develops between performers, composers, friends and audience, from concert to concert. Thanks, Da Capo.
*[ed. note: The name Schoenberg literally means beautiful mountain]
