Albany Symphony, Albany, NY
May 30 – June 9, 2019
by Michael J. Moran
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| David Alan Miller |
The Albany Symphony and their longtime (1992-) Music
Director David Alan Miller have a reputation for adventurous programming of
contemporary American music, making them ideal curators of the annual American
Music Festival for the past 20 years. This year’s theme is “Sing Out! New
York,” which celebrates the state’s “leading role in championing equal rights”
by observing the centennial of the 19th Amendment, giving women the right to
vote, and the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising. Two June 1 programs
paid notable homage to this theme.
An evening concert by the orchestra in Troy’s breathtaking
EMPAC concert hall featured music by three living composers, including one
world premiere and two major revivals. The world premiere opened the concert:
“Knit/Purl,” in which recent Yale Music School graduate Tanner Porter declaimed
a libretto by Vanessa Moody which draws on texts by leaders of the American
women’s suffrage movement. Porter’s soprano voice was amplified to blend with
the music she wrote for a percussion-rich ensemble, producing a dense but often
diaphanous sound mix. Her vocal virtuosity and the orchestra’s fluid
performance made a powerful impression.
This was extended by John Corigliano’s fiery 1968 piano
concerto, whose technical difficulties were handily mastered by rising British
soloist Philip Edward Fisher. The brilliantly orchestrated piece is, in the
composer’s words, “basically tonal [with] many atonal sections [including]
strict twelve-tone writing.” Fisher’s total commitment and the orchestra’s
virtuosity brought the concerto to vivid life and earned him a standing ovation
by the appreciative audience.
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| David Del Tredici |
The concert closed after intermission with a riveting
account of “Pot-Pourri,” the earliest among several major works by David Del
Tredici based on Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland.” The composer calls the
atonal piece, also written in 1968, “a kind of Cantata of the Sacred and
Profane,” setting texts from “Alice” and Carroll’s “Jabberwocky” alongside a
“Litany of the Blessed Virgin” from the Catholic liturgy of his childhood, and
a Bach Chorale. In addition to the orchestra, it calls for a rock band, soprano
soloist, and 16-member mixed chorus. The predictably wild-sounding result was
transfixingly rendered by all forces, particularly redoubtable soprano Hila
Plitman.
The jovial Miller gave often humorous introductions to each
piece and invited Del Tredici up from the audience to speak before
“Pot-Pourri.” After bounding to the stage, the amiable 82-year-old composer
read his droll manifesto “A Composer’s Ten Commandments.” The substantially
full house showed that Miller’s enthusiasm for new music has built a loyal
following. His announcement that these performances of the Corigliano and Del
Tredici pieces would be recorded for commercial CD release was a tribute to his
ensemble’s distinction.
Del Tredici was also the subject of the engrossing 2018
documentary film, “Secret Music,” by New York-based pianist and music educator
Daniel Beliavsky, shown in EMPAC’s theater after the concert. Examining the
composer’s stated goal “to create a gay body of music,” the film included much
interview and performance footage of Del Tredici, Beliavsky, and other
musicians.
It was revealing for this writer, sitting by chance beside
the composer, to witness his firsthand reactions to various candid scenes in
the film, including a compelling performance by Beliavsky, soprano Chelsea
Feltman, and baritone Michael Kelly of his incongruously gorgeous setting of
Allen Ginsberg’s “S&M” poem “Please Master” (Del Tredici even cracks a small
whip in the background). The filmmaker led a lively post-show discussion.
Only an hour and a half from greater Springfield, the
American Music Festival is a resourceful annual destination for all lovers of
contemporary American music.