"United in Sound: America at 250" at Carnegie Hall

Details

Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Reviews

Published on Wednesday, 01 April 2026 13:07

Written by Jack Angstreich

Gerald Clayton at the piano. Photo by Jennifer Taylor.

At the wonderful Stern Auditorium, on the night of Thursday, March 26th, I had the privilege to attend a splendid concert—presented by Carnegie Hall as part of its festival, United in Sound: America at 250—featuring the Orchestra of St. Luke’s under the superb direction of Louis Langrée.

The event started promisingly with an exceptionally compelling version of the powerful The Unanswered Question by Charles Ives. In useful notes on the program, Ryan Prendergast comments on the composer thus:

Most of his scores remained unperformed for many years, and he often undertook extensive revisions before their eventual premiere and publication. Such is the case with one of Ives’s most popular works, The Unanswered Question. Originally composed in 1908, the composer revised it in the early 1930s. Its debut did not come until 1946, its publication in 1953. The Unanswered Question shows all the hallmarks of the Ives sound: stylistic plurality, multivalent harmony, and rhythmic complexity. The score dictates three instrumental “units,” all of which play against each other’s tempos and rhythms. There is an offstage string orchestra, representing what Ives called “The Silence of the Druids.” Onstage, a solo trumpet poses the “Perennial Question of Existence” while a noisome flute quartet hunts in vain for the “Invisible Answer.”

A fabulous jazz pianist, Gerald Clayton, then entered the stage to admirably perform two excellent, infrequently heard works by Duke Ellington, beginning with Night Creature from 1955, transcribed by David Berger. The annotator explains:

Cast in three movements, the score depicts the activities of various “night creatures,” who, in the composer’s words, “unlike stars, do not come out at night—they come on, each thinking that before the night is out he or she will be the star.”

This preceded New World A-Comin’ from 1943. Prendergast reports that “The composer drew his title and his inspiration from journalist Roi Ottley’s book of the same name about Harlem life, published earlier that year,” adding that “This performance features the version by Ellington’s regular arranger, Luther Henderson, the piano part transcribed from Ellington’s 1945 recording.” Enthusiastic applause elicited a delightful encore of improvised jazz from Clayton.

The second half of the evening was even more impressive beginning with an outstanding interpretation of George Gershwin’s marvelous An American in Paris from 1928. The annotator records that “Orchestra of St. Luke’s uses the new critical edition by Mark Clague for this performance, which restores music cut before the premiere and Gershwin’s original scoring, which was heavily altered in the early published versions.” But the highlight of the evening was a magnificent rendition of Leonard Bernstein’s extraordinary, seldom played Symphonic Suite from On the Waterfront, completed in 1955. With perfect justice, the artists were rewarded with a standing ovation.

• Next >