Juilliard Orchestra Evoke Chinese Poetry at Lincoln Center

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Reviews

Published on Wednesday, 30 October 2024 14:21

Written by Jack Angstreich

Photo by Claudio Papapietro

At Lincoln Center’s Peter Jay Sharp Theater on the night of Monday, October 7th, I had the great pleasure to attend a marvelous concert presented by the remarkable musicians of the Juilliard Orchestra under the accomplished direction of Ken Lam, who is Tianjin Juilliard's director of orchestral studies and resident conductor of the Tianjin Juilliard Orchestra.

The event began brilliantly with a dazzling rendering of Juilliard graduate Zhou Tian’s splendidly orchestrated, vivid and often exuberant Gift, from 2019. About it, the composer said, “I wanted to create a reminder of the joy of music-making, and along the way explore my own musical identity after 18 years of living abroad.” According to the useful commentary by program annotator Carys Sutherland, “The title comes from a fifth-century Chinese poem, Music as a Gift of Decency.” She also provides an accurate description of the work:

The piece’s main motif is introduced [ . . . ] by the horns, which set the tone for the big-band orchestral texture to follow. A brassy, bright fanfare is accompanied by sparkling xylophone and sweeping glissades in the strings [ . . . . ] An eerie, neo-Impressionist interlude in the middle of the piece leans into the composer’s Chinese background with pentatonic scales in the woodwinds before leading into a rousing con fuoco section. The buildup to the piece’s epic conclusion evokes a maximalist John Adams in its repetitive rhythms [ . . . . ]

A superb soloist, Jamie Yoojin Lee, then entered the stage for a masterly performance of the beautiful, underappreciated Oboe Concerto in D Minor, Op. 20, of English composer Ruth Gipps, from 1941. The initial movement, which opens somewhat dramatically but acquires a more reflective ethos, is astringent if not harshly dissonant and concludes gently. The ensuing, exquisite Andante—which is redolent of the English Romanticism of Ralph Vaughan Williams, Frederick Delius et alia—is quietly lyrical but builds in intensity before its subdued close. The finale is jaunty, playful and charming for most of its length—although its second theme has a solemn character—and ends abruptly and emphatically.

The second half of the evening was maybe even more memorable, starting with an enchanting account of Richard Strauss’s delightful tone-poem from 1894, Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks, Op. 28., which is preponderantly ludic but acquires a certain gravity towards its finish even as it concludes humorously. The concert closed magnificently with a confident reading of Benjamin Britten’s wonderful The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, Op. 34, from 1946, narrated by actor Luk Rosario. The artists deservedly were enthusiastically applauded.

“Signature Works” From American Ballet Theater Presents an Eclectic Mix

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Reviews

Published on Wednesday, 30 October 2024 13:39

Written by Jack Angstreich

Cassandra Trenary and Herman Cornejo in Sinatra Suite. Photo: Emma Zordan.

At Lincoln Center’s David H. Koch Theater, on the evening of Saturday, October 26th, I had the considerable privilege to attend a superb mixed program—entitled “Signature Works,” presented by the marvelous American Ballet Theater.

The program began exhilaratingly with its most splendid selection, The Kingdom of the Shades, a glorious excerpt from Marius Petipa’s popular La Bayadère from 1877, seen here in a staging by Natalia Makarova from 1974. About the work, which scarcely could be be surpassed as an example of the pleasures afforded by classical ballet, she said:

The Kingdom of the Shades is one of the most important creations in the history of classical ballet. It is Marius Petipa’s choreographic masterpiece, and remains timeless—exemplifying Petipa’s vision of classicism in its eloquence, harmony, precision, and its crystalline execution. I tried to put more inner spiritual meaning into this act, which is my contribution to the Shades. The corps de ballet, descending one by one from the Himalayan Mountains are hallucinatory visions in the mind of the warrior Solor. Tormented by repentance and his love for the murdered temple dancer Nikiya, in his mind he sees the poetical image of Nikiya, her spirit multiplied into infinity.

The beautiful Romantic score is by Ludwig Minkus, here excellently arranged by John Lanchbery and confidently conducted by David LaMarche. The scenery was designed by Pier Luigi Samaritani and the attractive costumes by Theoni V. Aldredge, with effective lighting by Toshiro Ogawa. The cast was extraordinary, magnificently led by Hee Seo—who is one of the finest ballerinas in the company—brilliantly partnered by Isaac Hernández. Also wonderful were Yoon Jung Seo, Sierra Armstrong and Sunmi Park, while the marvelous corpsde ballet were simply stellar, with very few imperfections.

Also remarkable was George Balanchine’s exquisite, famous Sylvia Pas de Deux from 1964–staged by Marina Eglevsky—set to another memorable Romantic score, here by Léo Delibes, expressively conducted by Charles Barker. (The costumes are by the celebrated Santo Loquasto and the lighting is by Nananne Porcher.) This also had an amazing cast most notably starring Gillian Murphy—arguably the greatest ballerina in the company—also admirably partnered by Daniel Camargo.

Enjoyable too was the sexy Sinatra Suite from 1983, by the renowned Twyla Tharp. The score—five songs performed by Frank Sinatra—is, of course, indelible: “Strangers in the Night,” “All the Way” (with music by Jimmy Van Heusen and lyrics by Sammy Cahn), “That’s Life,” “My Way,” and “One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)” (with music by Harold Arlen and lyrics by Johnny Mercer). The original costume designs are by Oscar de la Renta, with lighting by Jennifer Tipton.) Again, the cast was outstanding, including Herman Cornejo—still probably the best male dancer in the company—partnering Cassandra Trenary who continues to beguile.

More substantial was the mesmerizing final piece, Tharp’s In the Upper Room from 1986, staged by Shelley Washington with Blane Hoven. The sensational score is by Philip Glass—and the ballet is a worthy counterpart to the even more stunning Glass Pieces by Jerome Robbins. (The costumes are by Norma Kamali, with lighting again by Tipton.) This too had a superior cast including amongst several others: Devon Teuscher, Murphy and Armstrong again, Joseph Markey, Cory Stearns, Catherine Hurlin, Isabella Boylston, and Thomas Forster, but one dancer unexpectedly surpassed all the others in magnetism, the fabulous Aran Bell.

The artists deservedly received a very enthusiastic ovation.

“Choreographers of the 20th and 21st Centuries” at Lincoln Center

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Reviews

Published on Monday, 28 October 2024 13:20

Written by Jack Angstreich

Devon Teuscher in In the Upper Room. Photo: Rosalie O’Connor.

At Lincoln Center’s David H. Koch Theater, on the evening of Sunday, October 20th, I had the considerable pleasure to attend a superb mixed program—entitled “Choreographers of the 20th and 21st Centuries”—presented by the extraordinary American Ballet Theater.

The event opened magnificently with its strongest work: George Balanchine’s glorious Ballet Imperial from 1941, staged here by Colleen Neary, with exceptional stage and costume design by Jean-Marc Puissant and effective lighting by Mark Taylor. The piece is set to Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s second Piano Concerto—here admirably performed by soloist Emily Wong and wonderfully conducted by David LaMarche—a distinguished Romantic opus that is seldom played and is overshadowed by its enormously popular predecessor—I have some ambivalence about the selection of such a concerto as the basis for choreography but Balanchine nonetheless achieves a characteristically brilliant spectacle even if this may rank just below his very finest accomplishments. The production featured a marvelous slate of dancers—amongst the primary cast, Christine Shevchenko above all and Chloe Misseldine were stellar, ably abetted by Calvin Royal III. The remarkable secondary cast included Sunmi Park, Fangqi Li, Sung Woo Han and Jose Sebastian, with enchanting support from the fabulous corps de ballet.

Also compelling was Neo from 2021 by Alexei Ratmansky—probably the greatest contemporary choreographer that employs a classical vocabulary—which is set to music by Dai Fujikura—here performed by Sumie Kaneko—with costumes by Moritz Junge and lighting by Brad Fields. A brief duet, the piece does not have the grand ambition of Ratmansky’s greatest works, such as his glorious Namouna, but it was dynamically danced by an exquisite Isabella Boylston, confidently partnered by Jarod Curley, here replacing James Whiteside.

The evening concluded arrestingly with Twyla Tharp’s mesmerizing In the Upper Room from 1986–here staged by Shelley Washington with Blane Hoven—set to a incandescent original score by Philip Glass, with costumes by Norma Kamala and lighting Jennifer Tipton. The work is a worthy counterpart to Jerome Robbins’s astonishing Glass Pieces, even if it is not quite of the same eminence as that supreme masterwork. An amazing cast was especially noteworthy for the dancing of Devon Teuscher, Gillian Murphy, Hee Seo (here replacing Boylston), Hurlin again, and above all Aran Bell, who was truly superlative.