Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Jaap van Zweden leads his NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC in an eclectic, disorienting program featuring Renée Fleming

• By drediman
• February 22, 2020
• No Comments

Renée Fleming and Jaap van Zweden with the New York Philharmonic at David Geffen Hall. Photo by Chris Lee.

Last night, I attended a performance by the New York Philharmonic at David Geffen Hall. The concert was conducted by the orchestra’s music director, maestro Jaap van Zweden, who gamely led an eclectic program of new music – via the Philharmonic’s welcome Project 19 programming (“19 Commissions to Celebrate the Centennial of the 19th Amendment”) – in addition to some pop music and a sturdy concert hall standard. The net result was an evening that was disorienting in its simultaneous experimental spirit and traditionalism.

The evening began with the world premiere of Ellen Reid’s “When the World as You’ve Known It Doesn’t Exist”, the program’s Project 19 entry. Ms. Reid recently won the Pulitzer Prize for Music for prism (an adventurous opera which I caught at last year’s Prototype Festival). Ms. Reid’s new work begins familiarly enough, with tinges of jazz reminiscent of Gershwin and Bernstein. But as the 10-minute piece unfolds, dissonant sounds start emerging from the orchestra (including three soprano voices used to unnerving effect). Then all of a sudden, the work lives up to its title, having pulled the rug from beneath the audience. In questioning the construct of music itself, the fascinating Ms. Reid opens up a Pandora’s Box of existential musings.

The concert continued with a segment featuring iconic American soprano Renée Fleming, who sang a quartet of short songs – a pair from Swedish composer Anders Hillborg, followed by another pair by idiosyncratic pop superstar Björk. The unsettling, pungent Hillborg pieces (“Dark Harbor XXXV” and “Dark Harbor XI”) are both set to the starkly evocative poetry of Mark Strand. Ms. Fleming proceeded with two lovingly-performed Björk songs, “Virus” and “All Is Full of Love”, both of which were sparklingly orchestrated for full orchestra by Hans Ek. Even if her soprano doesn’t quite have the famous creamy luster it once had, Ms. Fleming nonetheless still exuded the warmth and glamour we’ve come to expect from the much-loved diva.

After the intermission, the bill closed with a muscular, no-nonsense rendition of Bruckner’s majestic four-movement Symphony No. 4. Mr. van Zweden was particularly effective in firmly drawing considerable volume and force from his orchestra, which was especially fitting for the final movement’s concluding “wall of sound”. In summary, last night’s Bruckner performance was powerful and sonically magnificent – particularly in its Wagnerian heft and grandeur – even if it fell just short of transcendence.

RECOMMENDED

NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC
Classical Music
David Geffen Hall
Approximately 2 hours (with one intermission)
Through February 22