VIEWPOINTS – Lincoln Center’s White Light Festival in full swing with the welcome return of THE MANGANIYAR SEDUCTION and James MacMillan’s searing new STABAT MATER

This past week found Lincoln Center’s White Light Festival in full swing with two offerings that exemplified, at its purest, the festival’s core tenet – the belief that transcendence and illumination of the human soul can be attained profoundly through art, particularly as mysteriously invoked by music.

"The Manganiyar Seduction", a White Light Festival offering, at the Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center.

“The Manganiyar Seduction”, a White Light Festival offering, at the Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center.

First we have The Manganiyar Seduction (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED), which made a welcome return to White Light for an unprecedented third visit at the Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center. I had seen the dazzling concert – performed by a company of Manganiyar (nomadic Muslims from northwest India) vocalists and instrumentalists who are gradually revealed on a striking Advent Calendar-like set – when it graced the festival in 2013. I’m happy to report that my initial swooning reaction to the piece was no fluke. Living up to its namesake, The Manganiyar Seduction seduced me all over again. Performed pretty seamlessly without an intermission, the music began humbly with a lone fiddle and worked up to a majestic, delirious climax that brought the audience to a state of ecstasy, including yours truly. The piece, directed by Roysten Abel with unabashed theatricality and visual flair, continues to be as crowd-pleasing as it is transcendent. Indeed, the affair is by turns hypnotic and joyous, all but begging the audience to start dancing to its vibrant rhythms. The final performance of the brief New York run is tonight.

James MacMillan's "Stabat Mater", a White Light Festival Offering, at Alice Tully Hall.

James MacMillan’s “Stabat Mater”, a White Light Festival offering, at Alice Tully Hall.

On a much more somber note, last week also saw a one-night-only performance of Scottish composer James MacMillan’s deeply personal new Stabat Mater (RECOMMENDED) at Alice Tully Hall. But before delving into the main course, the audience’s appetite was whetted by a gorgeous and prayerful Miserere, a choral piece also composed by Mr. MacMillan. It would serve to be a smartly programmed prologue, imbuing the evening with at least some sense of peace. That’s because the composer’s Stabat Mater – based on a 13th-century hymn depicting Mary’s suffering during the crucifixion of Jesus (which in the past has been set to music by the likes of Vivaldi, Dvořák , and Poulenc) – is a restless, harrowing composition, and not an easy sit. In four emotionally searing and draining movements, the piece conveys Mary’s intense anguish with a clear-eyed, unsparing intensity that hit me in the gut. Apart from Mr. MacMillan, much of the credit for the evening’s success must go to the sublime music-making by the Britten Sinfonia and the choral group The Sixteen, as soulfully led maestro Harry Christophers. Musical performances that are both as technically accomplished and viscerally transporting as these are rarely encountered.

 

THE MANGANIYAR SEDUCTION
Music
Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center
1 hour, 15 minutes (without an intermission)
Through November 9

STABAT MATER
Music
Alice Tully Hall
1 hour, 10 minutes (without an intermission)
Closed

Categories: Music, Other Music

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