New Jersey Symphony Present South Korean Work Inspired by Kafka

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Reviews

Published on Monday, 27 January 2025 14:34

Written by Jack Angstreich

Kevin John Edusei conducts New Jersey Symphony

At the splendid New Jersey Performing Arts Center on the evening of Saturday, January 11th, I had the unusual privilege to attend a superb concert presented by the New Jersey Symphony under the confident direction of Kevin John Edusei, in his conducting debut with this ensemble.

The program began auspiciously with an impressive account of South Korean composer Donghoon Shin’s compelling Of Rats and Men. In a useful note on the program by Laurie Shulman, she explains that:

Shin’s point of departure for the movements of Of Rats and Men were two short stories: Franz Kafka’s “Josefine, die Sängerin oder Das Volk der Mäuse’ (“Josephine the Singer, or the Mouse Folk”) and the Chilean writer Roberto Bolaño’s “Police Rat.”

The composer himself adds:

The first movement, “The Singer,” inspired by Kafka, begins with an oboe solo melody which represents Josefine's song. The melody continues throughout the movement, although it’s endlessly threatened by the orchestra tuttis [. . .] which have much wilder characters with darker pitches than the melody line. Bolanõ’s “Police Rat” . . . is a kind of metafiction based on Kafka’s “Josefine.” Pepe the Cop, the protagonist, is a police rat and nephew of Josefine. It’s a story that reflects fear and violence in our world. . .” “The Cop and Killers” begins with a bassoon melody representing Pepe. While the low register melody continues, many different musical fragments are superimposed on it and they affect each other.

The fabulous soloist Jean-Yves Thibaudet then entered the stage for a magnificent performance of Maurice Ravel’s extraordinary Piano Concerto in G Major. The initial Allegramente movement opens quirkily but engagingly and jauntily, quickly evoking George Gershwin’s immortal Rhapsody in Blue; on the whole it is jazzy and virtuosic but with some moodier passages—it concludes forcefully. The Adagio assai that follows—it was inspired by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s unforgettable Clarinet Quintet—is exquisite and lyrical and ends softly. The Presto finale is propulsive, largely playful and frequently dazzling, closing abruptly and definitively.

The second half of the program was even more outstanding: a marvelous realization of the glorious Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 43, of Jean Sibelius. The Allegretto first movement begins charmingly but soon acquires a greater urgency with moments of sheer majesty; it finishes gently. The ensuing Andante, ma rubato movement has considerable forward momentum but with slower, even pastoral sections. The incomparable Finale, marked Allegro moderato, is stirring and Romantic with a sweeping rhythm that is interrupted by mysterious, even eccentric interludes; it builds to an amazing apotheosis, concluding nobly and powerfully.

The artists were deservedly, enthusiastically applauded.

January '25 Digital Week III

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Reviews

Published on Thursday, 23 January 2025 15:31

Written by Kevin Filipski

In-Theater Releases of the Week 

Rose 

Girls Town 

In-Theater/Streaming Release of the Week

Streaming Release of the Week 

Blu-ray Release of the Week

CD Releases of the Week 

Chicago Symphony Orchestra Play Carnegie Hall

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Reviews

Published on Thursday, 23 January 2025 14:42

Written by Jack Angstreich

Riccardo Muti directs the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Photo by Todd Rosenberg

At the marvelous Stern Auditorium, on the night of Tuesday, January 21st, I had the exceptional privilege to attend a superb concert presented by Carnegie Hall featuring the extraordinary musicians of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under the magnificent direction of the revered Riccardo Muti, one of the greatest living conductors.

The event began splendidly with a sterling account of Vincenzo Bellini’s pleasurable Overture to his brilliant opera, Norma, from 1831. In a useful note on the program, Phillip Huscher provides some background on the work:

Bellini was paid an unprecedented sum for the 1830 commission of Norma for Teatro alla scala in Milan, which suggests his preeminence in the operatic world at the time. Although the premiere was only a modest success, beginning with a run of performances in Bergamo the following summer, Norma grew to be revered more than any of the other crowd-pleasing Italian operas of the period, partly for the stately seriousness of its musical style and the elegance of Bellini’s expansive melodies.

Also rewarding was an impeccable performance of The Four Seasons, enjoyable ballet music from Giuseppe Verdi’s opera, I vespri siciliani, which is especially famous for its remarkable Overture. The annotator records that:

Verdi’s grand opera—it was translated into Italian in 1861 and has since become better known as I vespri siciliani—is set at the time of the French occupation of the island of Sicily in the 13th century and the subsequent uprising by the people of Palermo on Easter Sunday of 1282. (The bells that ring for vespers signal the start of the uprising.) In Act III, Montforte, the French governor of Sicily, and Arrigo, a young Sicilian who is Montforte’s son and sworn enemy, proceed to the great hall, where a ballet is staged for the entertainment of the governor’s guests. The ballet of the Four Seasons has no direct connection, either musically or dramatically, to the opera itself—the composer later said it could be omitted without harm [ . . . .]

He adds:

Verdi begins with Winter. A young woman, wrapped in furs and representing Winter, steps out of an ice-covered basket. Three friends, all shivering in the cold, arrive and light a fire, but Winter prefers to dance to keep warm. Soon, the ice melts to reveal bunches of flowers, from which rises the spirit of Spring, who begins to dance. Eventually, the flowers are replaced by ears of corn; Summer and her companions gather the ears. Too hot to dance, they choose to swim instead, until a faun chases them away. The basket is now covered with vine leaves and fruit. Autumn and her companions dance in celebration of Bacchus.

Each of the seasons is treated as a series of varied dances and tuneful episodes.

Berlioz praised the music, “particularly the pieces for Spring and Summer, which give the virtuosi of the opera orchestra a chance to display their talents,” he wrote, the adagio for Spring and the siciliano from Summer were especially beautiful.

The summit of the evening, however, was its dazzling second half, a glorious realization of Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s stunning Symphony No. 4 in F Minor, Op. 36. He wrote to the composer Sergei Taneyev, a former student, saying, “Of course, my symphony is programmatic, but this program is such that it cannot be formulated in words.” 

The initial, Andante sostenuto movement opens with dramatic fanfares that recur throughout it; the primary theme—marked in movimento di valse—is expressive and Romantic. The music increases in intensity but then becomes more subdued, although eventually building to a powerful climax. The second movement, marked Andantino in modo di canzona, is indeed song-like and full of charm but nonetheless somewhat solemn, closing quietly. The relatively brief Scherzo that follows is sprightly but even more playful in the ensuing Trio-like section; the music then becomes march-like before recapitulating the beginning of the movement and continues on to end softly. The Allegro con fuoco Finale starts forcefully and a more dance-like interlude ensues; the movement becomes more urgent and then jubilant, concluding triumphantly. Exceedingly enthusiastic applause elicited a fabulous encore: Giuseppe Martucci’s exquisite Notturno, Op. 70, No. 1, from 1891.

Muti returns to this venue on February 28th and March 1st and 2nd with the Vienna Philharmonic, which promises to be three outstanding evenings of orchestral music.