I wasn't in London but I was lucky. Despite my wife being in bed, still fighting off whatever she picked up at the Japanese place we went to for Christmas, downstairs I finally caught up with the programming available via the Cleveland Orchestra's Adella streaming service, specifically this: conductor David Robertson leading the orchestra through Copland's Suite from Appalachian Spring; Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue; Ellington's New World A Comin'; and Copland's Suite from The Tender Land. With Marc-André Hamelin performing on both the Gershwin and the Ellington. Great start to the New Year. I had seen this concert in person, but watching the performers, including a favorite local sax man, Howie Smith, via camera close-ups was a much more intimate and moving experience.
Yes, in recorded comments prior to the piece he talked about studying Ellington recordings to get the feel and either he or Robertson commented on how inadequate notation is for conveying a jazz oriented score. Robertson has been a favorite of mine since the time I heard him lead the CO in a big romantic work (Tchaikovsky?) with a first movement ending in a crescendo. During the pause before the next movement he suddenly swung around and addressing the quiet audience said, "You people show remarkable restraint!"
KJM is producing beautiful and important work. If any Baltimore-area gigs are on your schedule (An die Musik?), the Amy Sherald exhibition @ Baltimore Museum of Art is worth a look—the paintings, short film and coffee table book are all fantastic!
Kerry James Marshall is the shit, no ifs ands or buts. For me, the revelation came through a massive career retrospective a decade ago, put together by the Met in the Whitney’s former Breuer-designed space. Stunning.
From a 2014 review I wrote of a Detroit Symphony Orchestra concert:
"Slatkin's work led logically to Benjamin Lees' Concerto for String Quartet (1964). Here was the find of the night — a 22-minute work, imaginatively scored, visceral, appealing to head and heart, its materials as concentrated as espresso. Lees (1924-2010) wrote in a tonal but colorful idiom, and his string quartets are particularly inspired. Here, the quartet functioned as a unit but also splintered, the individuals stepping into solo roles or dissolving alone or together into the full orchestra.
As a non-musician wanting to explore contemporary music, back in '97 I happily discovered Lees via his Concerto for French Horn and Orchestra (New World, Lorin Maazel and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, William Caballero, horn), still a favorite disc with Leonardo Balada's Lament from the Cradle of the Earth and Ellen Taaffe Zwillich's Concerto for Bassoon and Orchestra.
I’m intrigued by the juxtaposition of the two assessments: Graffman says most contemporary composers are reworking old masters (implying that Lees was not). Iverson says Lees is “easy listening.” (I don’t know Lees, but I do know Ginastera so I think I know what you mean.) there may be a logic that connects these two sentiments?
I’m also thinking about the relationship of folk music (national) to these composers.
h'mm I'm not actually following this comment, I don't think Graffman "says most contemporary composers are reworking old masters (implying that Lees was not)." Is that from somewhere else?
I guess he actually says: new compositions sound like Schubert or Mozart that I haven’t yet studied. Does that mean: BY one of the masters but NOT a piece that I’d consider performing?
He is perhaps not writing that clearly, but he means rather than learning 20th century rep, he is learning more Schubert and Mozart. I didn't include this in the article, but eventually Graffman recanted this position a bit when forced to play left-hand only works
Oh, I totally misread that. I now realize he’s saying when I decide to add something to my repertoire it’s Schubert or Mozart. Not: when I look at a 20th century piece, it reminds me of…
yes, exactly. "I tried, but it's not for me." Still, he did try harder later under pressure, and I personally would have liked to have heard GG play, Sessions 2 and Carter Sonata, for example
I agree that Graffman's recording of the first and third Prokofiev piano concertos (with George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra) is really good.
If you are going to list tragic classical pianist stories, there is also the Australian Bruce Hungerford, who died while recording a complete cycle of Beethoven piano sonatas. Judging from what he did finish, it would have been a good one. From thepianofiles.com: "Sadly, Hungerford’s Beethoven cycle and what could have been a glorious career came to a tragic end on the night of January 26, 1977. He was returning home after giving a lecture about Egypt at Rockefeller University when a drunk driver drove into the car carrying him, his mother, his niece, and her husband of 3 months. All were killed. Hungerford was only 54 years old."
I wasn't in London but I was lucky. Despite my wife being in bed, still fighting off whatever she picked up at the Japanese place we went to for Christmas, downstairs I finally caught up with the programming available via the Cleveland Orchestra's Adella streaming service, specifically this: conductor David Robertson leading the orchestra through Copland's Suite from Appalachian Spring; Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue; Ellington's New World A Comin'; and Copland's Suite from The Tender Land. With Marc-André Hamelin performing on both the Gershwin and the Ellington. Great start to the New Year. I had seen this concert in person, but watching the performers, including a favorite local sax man, Howie Smith, via camera close-ups was a much more intimate and moving experience.
interesting that Hamelin is playing the Ellington!
Yes, in recorded comments prior to the piece he talked about studying Ellington recordings to get the feel and either he or Robertson commented on how inadequate notation is for conveying a jazz oriented score. Robertson has been a favorite of mine since the time I heard him lead the CO in a big romantic work (Tchaikovsky?) with a first movement ending in a crescendo. During the pause before the next movement he suddenly swung around and addressing the quiet audience said, "You people show remarkable restraint!"
Wow, E.I., wow indeed! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Thanks, maestro
KJM is producing beautiful and important work. If any Baltimore-area gigs are on your schedule (An die Musik?), the Amy Sherald exhibition @ Baltimore Museum of Art is worth a look—the paintings, short film and coffee table book are all fantastic!
Kerry James Marshall is the shit, no ifs ands or buts. For me, the revelation came through a massive career retrospective a decade ago, put together by the Met in the Whitney’s former Breuer-designed space. Stunning.
https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2016/kerry-james-marshall
I missed that one, but now I'm up to speed. Thanks for comment Tim!
i suppose dying is the worst possible luck, indeed, but one doesn't have to endure the consequences of that kind of bad luck.
the story of paul Wittgenstein seems to me both more sad and inspiring, and there was even a M*A*S*H variation on the story.
great comment, Chris!
Very good read!
thank you!
Re: Benjamin Lees
From a 2014 review I wrote of a Detroit Symphony Orchestra concert:
"Slatkin's work led logically to Benjamin Lees' Concerto for String Quartet (1964). Here was the find of the night — a 22-minute work, imaginatively scored, visceral, appealing to head and heart, its materials as concentrated as espresso. Lees (1924-2010) wrote in a tonal but colorful idiom, and his string quartets are particularly inspired. Here, the quartet functioned as a unit but also splintered, the individuals stepping into solo roles or dissolving alone or together into the full orchestra.
Full context: https://www.freep.com/story/entertainment/music/2014/11/21/dso-slatkin-mctee-lees-gershwin/19366349/
thanks Mark! Great
As a non-musician wanting to explore contemporary music, back in '97 I happily discovered Lees via his Concerto for French Horn and Orchestra (New World, Lorin Maazel and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, William Caballero, horn), still a favorite disc with Leonardo Balada's Lament from the Cradle of the Earth and Ellen Taaffe Zwillich's Concerto for Bassoon and Orchestra.
I’m intrigued by the juxtaposition of the two assessments: Graffman says most contemporary composers are reworking old masters (implying that Lees was not). Iverson says Lees is “easy listening.” (I don’t know Lees, but I do know Ginastera so I think I know what you mean.) there may be a logic that connects these two sentiments?
I’m also thinking about the relationship of folk music (national) to these composers.
h'mm I'm not actually following this comment, I don't think Graffman "says most contemporary composers are reworking old masters (implying that Lees was not)." Is that from somewhere else?
I guess he actually says: new compositions sound like Schubert or Mozart that I haven’t yet studied. Does that mean: BY one of the masters but NOT a piece that I’d consider performing?
He is perhaps not writing that clearly, but he means rather than learning 20th century rep, he is learning more Schubert and Mozart. I didn't include this in the article, but eventually Graffman recanted this position a bit when forced to play left-hand only works
Oh, I totally misread that. I now realize he’s saying when I decide to add something to my repertoire it’s Schubert or Mozart. Not: when I look at a 20th century piece, it reminds me of…
Interesting! I expected a justification, but it was an acknowledgment (and arguably not defensive)
yes, exactly. "I tried, but it's not for me." Still, he did try harder later under pressure, and I personally would have liked to have heard GG play, Sessions 2 and Carter Sonata, for example
I agree that Graffman's recording of the first and third Prokofiev piano concertos (with George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra) is really good.
If you are going to list tragic classical pianist stories, there is also the Australian Bruce Hungerford, who died while recording a complete cycle of Beethoven piano sonatas. Judging from what he did finish, it would have been a good one. From thepianofiles.com: "Sadly, Hungerford’s Beethoven cycle and what could have been a glorious career came to a tragic end on the night of January 26, 1977. He was returning home after giving a lecture about Egypt at Rockefeller University when a drunk driver drove into the car carrying him, his mother, his niece, and her husband of 3 months. All were killed. Hungerford was only 54 years old."
I had a few Hungerford LPs in the 1990s, they were great.