The Arts in New York City

The New York Philharmonic’s rehearsal on November 19th included works from a variety of excellent composers. The pieces performed included Liszt’s Les Préludes, Symphonic Poem No. 3 after Lamartine; Elgar’s In the South (Alassio), Concerto-Overture for Orchestra, Op. 50; and selections from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet.

Franz Liszt, born in 1811, was a masterful Hungarian composer who was the first to champion the “symphonic poem,” a “large-scale but single-movement orchestral piece structured to convey a literary program.” Liszt himself coined the term in 1853 and composed 13 such pieces, Les Préludes being the third. This work, one of his most famous, was indeed a revision and expansion upon his previous work Les Quatre Éléments: La Terre, Les Aquilons, Les Flots, Les Astres. The work also loosely connects to Alphonse de Lamartine’s poem “Les Préludes,” although the order of the moods differs. In Liszt’s composition, the “sequence divides into four parts, which focus on love, war, the natural beauty of the countryside, and destiny.”

This piece stirred up a great many emotions in me and in the space of the time in which it was rehearsed by the Philharmonic, it became one of my favorite classical pieces. Throughout the course of the composition, I closed my eyes, allowing the music to envelope me in a story; the symphonic poem lived up to that title and inspired my imagination to match a plot to the music. In its entirety, my imaginary world seemed to be set in World War II era Europe, perhaps France. The first section opened with a light and airy feeling which invoked the spirit of springtime in my own interpretation. I saw the blossoming of a new infatuation, which later in the part developed into a full-blown romance. Starkly contrasting against the buoyant mood of the love section, the transition into the war section was quite effective. The beginning of this part of the sequence made me envision the lovers attempting to flee from an oncoming darkness, denoted by sinister tones in the music. As the section developed, the war motif was incredibly clear to the listener; the powerful music created images of a charging cavalry and marching forces. This section fades into a much softer section in which I saw a serene isolated landscape of rolling green hills and a small home. I pictured the woman alone, her lover having disappeared into the chaos of war, tending to her laundry with a slight wind blowing. The scene continues to emphasize the beauty of the area in which she lives. In the final section, representing destiny, the pomp and grandeur of the music formed a reunion between the lovers in my imaginary story. The triumphant feel of the music made me feel as if there could be no other end to the story.

Edward Elgar, Britain’s leading composer of the Edwardian Era, composed his In the South (Alassio) after vacationing in the south of Italy in 1904. Upon visiting the village of Andora, Elgar was inspired and filled his piece with “references to his Italian surroundings…a heroic buildup of chordal textures meant to evoke ancient Roman soldiers, and a canto popolare of the sort the shepard [a local] might sing.” For the most part, I enjoyed this piece and it was performed excellently, although the source composition did not speak to me as much as its predecessor in the program. I believe because I was so enthralled with Les Préludes, that I set myself up for disappointment for the rest of the show. However, I was rather fond of the part in Alassio when the music picks up and evoked a battle scene.

The final act of the rehearsal was selections from Sergei Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet. While I felt his music was a bit unusual at parts, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Prokofiev’s score was originally scorned by members of the Bolshoi Ballet as “undanceable.” Today, however, it is regarded as “one of the finest ballet scores of all times.” My favorite piece was the “Death of Tybalt,” because of it’s dramatic tones and dark feel. I also enjoyed “Montagues and the Capulets” and “Romeo at Juliet’s Grave.” I definitely favored the darker pieces than the lighter ones. I did think, however, that “Juliet, the Young Girl” was fitting for a youthful girl with it’s light and fast paced nature.

Overall, my main criticism is that I felt that there were too many pauses and interruptions; however, I digress because it was a rehearsal and the stops were typical and expected. I enjoyed most of Conductor Riccardo Muti’s commentary as well, although at points I could not understand him. In the end, I regretted not being able to attend the performance.

All quotes from the Playbill’s “Notes on the Program” by James M. Keller

This past week I visited Slash: Paper Under the Knife– an exhibit at the Museum of Art and Design featuring art made out of paper. The exhibit celebrates the recent boom in the use of paper in creating art and is the third exhibition in the museum’s  Materials and Process series, which “examines the renaissance of traditional handcraft materials and techniques in contemporary art and design,” as the Museum website puts it. Many of the works have been done on site and specifically for the exhibit.

Immediately when you walk into the first floor of the exhibit you see a large paper tank. Upon moving closer you see stag beetles covering the outer layer of the vehicle, and when you really look closer it becomes apparent that the paper the tank is made out of is not blank paper, but rather pages out of the Jewish prayer book, the siddur. The tank (a german tank) represents German aggression during World War II and the stag beetle, which, in Middle Eastern culture, typically represents a resilient native population. The artist is Pietro Ruffo and the piece is called “Youth of the Hills” (2008).

This foreshadowed the manner in which many of the works in Slash are viewed. Many have appealing and intriguing structures, but upon looking closer at the paper, a deeper message can be found.

Such is the case with the creations of Sangeeta Sandrasegar. Her reclining and rocking chairs made out of paper are cut out in the middle to depict war scenes with guns and barbed wire. The contrast of the comfort of a rocking chair and the backrest filled with violence is not a coincidence.

However, just because it has a meaning embedded into a structure made out of paper does not make it good art. Rob Ryan’s “Can We Shall We” is two lover’s atop a hill with steps leading up to it embedded with quotations of longing such as “can we” and “shall we.” It looked like house art or art that could be found in store for $20 dollars instead of an exhibit in NYC.

Not all of the pieces have a hidden message, some are very creative designs and other’s utilize the effects of bright colors  such as Oliver Herring’s “Alex”- a lifesize sculpture of a human covered in different color patches of paper, some of which are colored photos of that part, such as a photo of a toe on the toe of the sculpture.  I particularly was impressed the way many artists utilized the layering possiblities offered by paper as opposed to paint alone. This can clearly be seen in “Paperworks” by Andreas Kocks- a giant black inkblot looking form on an upper wall of the exhibit. Certain parts of it protrude outward as a result of layering paper, and this creates a sort of 3-D effect.

I think the exhibit was definitely worth my time. It was well put together and the layout was pleasing. I was very impressed and captivated simply by what artists could do creatively with paper. Besides for its novelty, some of the works I would consider fine pieces of art, but not many. It may not be worth a special trip, but if you are in the area or just looking for something intriguing, the Slash exhibit is definitely worth giving a try.

Barge Music, located just under the Brooklyn Bridge, brings great music to the public for a not so great price. Although I myself had not had to pay for my ticket, I have looked through the listing of different concerts performed at barge music and their admission prices. Going to barge music was an incredible experience.  It is conveniently located right off the Brooklyn Promenade, which gives you a really beautiful view of the city, and is also right next to the ice cream factory, which has very delicious ice cream (especially the strawberry one because they make it with real strawberries).  Stepping onto the barge, I had found out that the barge actually does move along with the waves.  I was given a program for the night’s performance. Michael Bulychev-Okser, a Russian pianist, was performing three of  Beethoven’s Sonatas. The inside of the barge is comprised of one room with a stage and chairs facing the stage, for the audience. It was a pretty small room, it could fit maybe 100 people, but it was a lot larger than what it seemed like from the outside. Behind the stage was a window, which provided a view of Manhattan. If you looked through that window, the movement of the boat became very apparent, otherwise it was barely noticeable.

Michael Bulychev-Okser started out by playing Piano Sonata No.29 in B-Flat Major, Op.106, “Hammerklavier”. I did not so much like this choice of melody because at times it seemed like there were too many things going on at the same time. What I mean by that is each hand was playing a tune that was both powerful and completely distinct from the other, and when both are put together it is very hard to follow the music. This however, was not the performer’s fault, after all he isn’t the one that composed the melody. This piece did do one thing though. It allowed us to see just how talented the performer is, that he was able to play two completely different melodies with his hands at the same time.  Following this performance was an intermission, during which I went upstairs to admire the view of the city. Surprisingly, you could not feel the boat’s movement at all from the top. After a brief intermission, Michael Bulychev-Okser came back and performed two more pieces for us: Piano Sonata No.8 in c minor, Op.13, “Pathetique” and Piano Sonata No. 16 in G Major, Op. 31, No.1. These last two performances were very enjoyable since there wasn’t any dissonance between the melody played by the right hand and the melody played by the left hand. The movement of the barge had at times seemed timed to the music and had only emphasized the music more. This made the performance even better.

Sadly there was only a handful of us that went to see the performance. Those of you that did not go, you missed out on a great experience and I would recommend that you at some point go to a concert at barge music.