MacMillan Leads BSO

James MacMillan, conductor and composer

The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra's season-long exploration of the Beethoven symphonies is drawing to a close. This week, it was Scottish composer James MacMillan's turn at the podium, after Marin Alsop (nos. 5 and 6) yielded the floor to John Adams (no. 7) and HK Gruber (no. 8), with Thomas Adès (nos. 1 and 4) still to come. Alsop has kept arguably the two most beloved Beethoven symphonies, nos. 3 and 9, for herself to conduct, in the last few weeks of the season.

MacMillan opened the second symphony, a dark-horse favorite of mine, with a brash first movement, emphasis definitely on the brio of the fast section, even speeding up the tempo at the opening of the development. The long second movement also proceeded at a good clip, a Larghetto approaching Andante, but suffered from a limited dynamic range at the soft end. The rollicking tempo preferences impacted the third movement the most, as the orchestra struggled to keep the B section clean at that demanding pace. Only in the final movement (Allegro molto) did MacMillan's haste seem appropriate, although even there the running notes of the main subject were cluttered at times, leaving little room for the coda in terms of speed. The BSO mostly rose to the challenge, with furious and technically thrilling playing.

Other Reviews: Tim Smith, Musical evening is Second to none (Baltimore Sun, April 5) Mark J. Estren, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (Washington Post, April 5) T. L. Ponick, Affecting MacMillan thrills (Washington Times, April 5)

The concert began with two of MacMillan's own compositions, a little overture called Stomp (with Fate and Elvira), composed for the 25th anniversary of the London Symphony Orchestra's Barbican Center in 2007. We have generally been impressed with MacMillan's music at Ionarts, and this short work provided much more substance that its occasional nature might suggest. MacMillan ingeniously wove one of his signature Gaelic tunes together with themes from the other two pieces also on the program at its premiere, the fate theme of Tchaikovsky's fourth symphony and Mozart's K. 467 piano concerto (the so-called "Elvira Madigan"). The piece relied heavily on the low brass, and those players responded with verve and crackling sound (after all, they went home early). The Mozart quotations were often obscured as the sound clustered, as if the score were being smeared on a wall.

Less successful was MacMillan's second piano concerto, a score that was actually created not for the concert hall but for the New York City Ballet. Without the corresponding visual diversion, the musical ideas held attention for only about two-thirds of the work's duration. Again there were jigs and other Gaelic tunes, both clumsy and elegant, as well as quotations from older music, hallucinatory bits from the heroine's mad scene from Lucia di Lammermoor. British pianist Rolf Hind was more than equal to the technical challenges, the romping flat-handed clusters and even the drum-like pounding on the body of the Steinway. It was a set of fascinating noises that could have benefited from a few more clarifying edits.

Compare James MacMillan's piano concerto with John Corigliano's piano concerto next week, when Marin Alsop conducts the Eroica symphony and two works by Corigliano (April 17 to 19). The composer will speak on the Composers in Conversation series next Wednesday (April 16, 7:30 pm).

Classical Month in Washington (April)

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Classical Month in Washington is a monthly feature. If there are concerts you would like to see included on our schedule, send your suggestions by e-mail (ionarts at gmail dot com). Happy listening!

April 1, 2008 (Tue)
12 noon
Noontime Cantata: Christ lag in Todesbanden (BWV 4) [FREE]
With organist Todd Fickley (Prelude, Largo and Fugue in C Major, BWV 545)
Washington Bach Consort
Church of the Epiphany

April 1, 2008 (Tue)
7:30 pm
Verdi, Rigoletto
Washington National Opera
Kennedy Center Opera House

April 1, 2008 (Tue)
8 pm
Beaux Arts Trio [FREE]
Library of Congress

April 1, 2008 (Tue)
8 pm
Swedish Chamber Orchestra
Music Center at Strathmore

April 2, 2008 (Wed)
7:30 pm
Gounod, Roméo et Juliette
Baltimore Opera

April 2, 2008 (Wed)
7:30 pm
Wagner, The Flying Dutchman
Washington National Opera
Kennedy Center Opera House

April 2, 2008 (Wed)
7:30 pm
Composers in Conversation: James MacMillan
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (Baltimore, Md.)

April 3, 2008 (Thu)
7 pm
National Symphony Orchestra
Mahler, 2nd Symphony (Iván Fischer, conductor)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall

April 3, 2008 (Thu)
7:30 pm
Verdi, Rigoletto
Washington National Opera
Kennedy Center Opera House

April 3, 2008 (Thu)
8 pm
Lynn Harrell, cello [FREE]
Library of Congress

April 3, 2008 (Thu)
8 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
With James MacMillan, guest conductor
Music Center at Strathmore

April 4, 2008 (Fri)
7:30 pm
Ilya Petrov, piano
Embassy Series
Embassy of the Russian Federation (2650 Wisconsin Avenue NW)

April 4, 2008 (Fri)
8 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
With James MacMillan, guest conductor
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (Baltimore, Md.)

April 4, 2008 (Fri)
8 pm
National Symphony Orchestra
Mahler, 2nd Symphony (Iván Fischer, conductor)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall

April 4, 2008 (Fri)
8 pm
30th Anniversary: My Spirit Sang All Day
Chanticleer
George Mason University Center for the Arts

April 4, 2008 (Fri)
8:15 pm
Gounod, Roméo et Juliette
Baltimore Opera

April 5, 2008 (Sat)
7 pm
Wagner, The Flying Dutchman
Washington National Opera
Kennedy Center Opera House

April 5, 2008 (Sat)
7:30 pm
Pacifica Quartet (includes Carter, Quartet No. 5)
Candlelight Concert Society
Wilde Lake Interfaith Center (Columbia, Md.)

April 5, 2008 (Sat)
8 pm
Vogler String Quartet with Daniel Mueller-Schott (cello)
Dumbarton Concerts

April 5, 2008 (Sat)
8 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
With James MacMillan, guest conductor
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (Baltimore, Md.)

April 5, 2008 (Sat)
8 pm
National Symphony Orchestra
Mahler, 2nd Symphony (Iván Fischer, conductor)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall

April 5, 2008 (Sat)
8 pm
National Philharmonic
With cellist Carter Brey
Music Center at Strathmore

April 5, 2008 (Sat)
8 pm
Alexandria Symphony Orchestra
With Lynn Harrell, cello
Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall

April 5, 2008 (Sat)
8:30 pm
JCCGW Symphony Orchestra
Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington (Rockville, Md.)

April 6, 2008 (Sun)
2 pm
Verdi, Rigoletto
Washington National Opera
Kennedy Center Opera House

April 6, 2008 (Sun)
3 pm
Post-Classical Ensemble: Artists in Exile
With Left Bank String Quartet
Clarice Smith Center

April 6, 2008 (Sun)
3 pm
Gounod, Roméo et Juliette
Baltimore Opera

April 6, 2008 (Sun)
3 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
With James MacMillan, guest conductor
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (Baltimore, Md.)

April 6, 2008 (Sun)
3 pm
Alexandria Symphony Orchestra
With Lynn Harrell, cello
Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall

April 6, 2008 (Sun)
4 pm
Brooke Evers (soprano) and Michael Gallant (tenor) [FREE]
Art Song Discovery Series
Vocal Arts Society
Temple Tikvat Israel (Rockville, Md.)

April 6, 2008 (Sun)
4 pm
Tomkins Zivian Duo (cello and piano) [FREE]
Phillips Collection

April 6, 2008 (Sun)
5 pm
Dame Gillian Weir, organ [FREE]
Washington National Cathedral

April 6, 2008 (Sun)
6 pm
Wolfgang Holzmair (baritone) and Russel Ryan (piano)
FAES
Congregation Beth-El (Bethesda, Md.)

April 6, 2008 (Sun)
6:30 pm
Chatham Baroque and Rosa Lamoreaux (soprano) [FREE]
La cetra amorosa: songs and sonatas of Baroque Italy
National Gallery of Art

April 6, 2008 (Sun)
7 pm
Garrick Ohlsson, piano
WPAS
Kennedy Center Concert Hall

April 7, 2008 (Mon)
7 pm
Wagner, The Flying Dutchman
Washington National Opera
Kennedy Center Opera House

April 8, 2008 (Tue)
6 pm
Brooke Evers (soprano) and Michael Gallant (tenor) [FREE]
Art Song Discovery Series
Vocal Arts Society
Kennedy Center Millennium Stage

April 8, 2008 (Tue)
7:30 pm
Benjamin Moser, piano
Young Concert Artists
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

April 8, 2008 (Tue)
7:30 pm
Verdi, Rigoletto
Washington National Opera
Kennedy Center Opera House

April 9, 2008 (Wed)
7:30 pm
Verdi, Rigoletto
Washington National Opera
Kennedy Center Opera House

April 9, 2008 (Wed)
7:30 pm
Rita Dokshitsky, piano [FREE]
National Museum of Women in the Arts

April 10, 2008 (Thu)
7 pm
National Symphony Orchestra
With Yannick Nézet-Séguin (conductor) and Julian Rachlin (violin)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall

April 10, 2008 (Thu)
7:30 pm
Pro Musica Hebraica
Juilliard Players (Itzhak Perlman, violin)
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

April 10, 2008 (Thu)
7:30 pm
Wagner, The Flying Dutchman
Washington National Opera
Kennedy Center Opera House

April 11, 2008 (Fri)
1:30 pm
National Symphony Orchestra
With Yannick Nézet-Séguin (conductor) and Julian Rachlin (violin)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall

April 11, 2008 (Fri)
7:30 pm
Mendelssohn Piano Trio
Embassy Series
Embassy of Hungary (2950 Spring of Freedom NW)

April 11, 2008 (Fri)
7:30 pm
Benno Schollum (baritone) and Russell Ryan (piano) [FREE]
Austrian Cultural Forum
Embassy of Austria

April 11, 2008 (Fri)
8 pm
Škampa Quartet with Iva Bittová (vocals/violin) [FREE]
Library of Congress

April 11, 2008 (Fri)
8 pm
Calder Quartet
The Barns at Wolf Trap

April 12, 2008 (Sat)
11 am
Cinderella
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Bob Brown Puppets
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (Baltimore, Md.)

April 12, 2008 (Sat)
1 pm
Master Class with Pacifica Quartet [FREE]
Kreeger Museum

April 12, 2008 (Sat)
2 pm
Sergio Tiempo, piano
WPAS
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

April 12, 2008 (Sat)
7 pm
Verdi, Rigoletto
Washington National Opera
Kennedy Center Opera House

April 12, 2008 (Sat)
8 pm
National Symphony Orchestra
With Yannick Nézet-Séguin (conductor) and Julian Rachlin (violin)
Kennedy Center Concert Hall

April 12, 2008 (Sat)
8 pm
Pacifica Quartet (Carter, fifth quartet)
Kreeger Museum

April 12, 2008 (Sat)
8 pm
Sublime and Ridiculous Songs
Great Noise Ensemble
Unitarian Universalist Church of Silver Spring

April 13, 2008 (Sun)
2 pm
Kennedy Center Chamber Players
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

April 13, 2008 (Sun)
2 pm
Verdi, Rigoletto
Washington National Opera
Kennedy Center Opera House

April 13, 2008 (Sun)
3 pm
Irish Chamber Orchestra
Clarice Smith Center

April 13, 2008 (Sun)
3 pm
Russian Chamber Orchestra
Mousetrap Concert Series (Washington Grove, Md.)

April 13, 2008 (Sun)
4 pm
Brooke Evers (soprano) and Michael Gallant (tenor) [FREE]
Art Song Discovery Series
Vocal Arts Society
St. Patrick's Episcopal Church (Falls Church, Va.)

April 13, 2008 (Sun)
4 pm
Eric Himy, piano [FREE]
Phillips Collection

April 13, 2008 (Sun)
5 pm
Inscape Chamber Music Project
Stravinsky, Histoire du Soldat; new work by Hallman
Episcopal Church of the Redeemer (Bethesda, Md.)

April 13, 2008 (Sun)
6 pm
Rossini, Bianca e Falliero
With Vivica Genaux, Anna Christy, Teddy Tahu Rhodes
Washington Concert Opera
Lisner Auditorium

April 13, 2008 (Sun)
6:30 pm
Kate Hearden (soprano) and Marcio Botelho (cello) [FREE]
Music by Chausson, Debussy, Franck, and Massenet
National Gallery of Art

April 13, 2008 (Sun)
7 pm
Keyboard Conversations with Jeffrey Siegel
Austria and Hungary – Captivating Continentals
George Mason University Center for the Arts

April 13, 2008 (Sun)
7:30 pm
Efe Baltacigil, cello
Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington (Rockville, Md.)

April 13, 2008 (Sun)
8 pm
Altenberg Trio
Friends of Music Series
Dumbarton Oaks

April 14, 2008 (Mon)
8 pm
Altenberg Trio
Friends of Music Series
Dumbarton Oaks

April 16, 2008 (Wed)
7:30 pm
Composers in Conversation: John Corigliano
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (Baltimore, Md.)

April 16, 2008 (Wed)
7:30 pm
Musicians from Marlboro III [FREE]
Freer Gallery of Art

April 16, 2008 (Wed)
8 pm
Europa Galante with Fabio Biondi [FREE]
Library of Congress

April 16, 2008 (Wed)
8 pm
Emerson Quartet and Wu Han, piano
WPAS
Music Center at Strathmore

April 17, 2008 (Thu)
8 pm
John Holloway (violin), Jaap ter Linden (cello), Lars Ulrik Mortensen (harpsichord) [FREE]
Library of Congress

April 17, 2008 (Thu)
8 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Music by Corigliano and Beethoven
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (Baltimore, Md.)

April 17, 2008 (Thu)
8 pm
Monteverdi, Vespers of 1610
City Choir of Washington
Music Center at Strathmore

April 18, 2008 (Fri)
7:30 pm
Mozart, Cosi fan tutte
Maryland Opera Studio
Clarice Smith Center

April 18, 2008 (Fri)
8 pm
Pavel Haas Quartet [FREE]
Library of Congress

April 18, 2008 (Fri)
8 pm
Folger Consort: Highland Ayres
Folger Shakespeare Library

April 18, 2008 (Fri)
8 pm
Guarneri String Quartet (postponed from February 29)
Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center

April 18, 2008 (Fri)
8 pm
Donizetti, Lucia di Lammermoor
Virginia Opera
George Mason University Center for the Arts

April 18, 2008 (Fri)
8 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Music by Corigliano and Beethoven
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (Baltimore, Md.)

April 19, 2008 (Sat)
5 and 8 pm
Folger Consort: Highland Ayres
Folger Shakespeare Library

April 19, 2008 (Sat)
8 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (Casual Concert)
Music by Corigliano and Beethoven
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (Baltimore, Md.)

April 19, 2008 (Sat)
8 pm
Music of Philippe de Monte
Chantry
St. Paul's K Street

April 20, 2008 (Sun)
2 pm
Folger Consort: Highland Ayres
Folger Shakespeare Library

April 20, 2008 (Sun)
2 pm
Donizetti, Lucia di Lammermoor
Virginia Opera
George Mason University Center for the Arts

April 20, 2008 (Sun)
3 pm
Let My People Go! - A Spiritual Journey Along the Underground Railroad
Master Chorale of Washington
Kennedy Center Concert Hall

April 20, 2008 (Sun)
3 pm
Mozart, Cosi fan tutte
Maryland Opera Studio
Clarice Smith Center

April 20, 2008 (Sun)
4 pm
MarcOlivia with Gregory Sioles (violin, viola, piano) [FREE]
Phillips Collection

April 20, 2008 (Sun)
5 pm
David Hurd, organ [FREE]
Washington National Cathedral

April 20, 2008 (Sun)
6 pm
Music of Philippe de Monte
Chantry
St. Bernadette (Silver Spring, Md.)

April 20, 2008 (Sun)
6:30 pm
Davidson Fine Arts Chorale [FREE]
National Gallery of Art

April 21, 2008 (Mon)
7:30 pm
Ariel String Quartet
Haydn, Beethoven, and Kurtág (Six Moments Musicaux Dédies à Mon Fils)
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

April 22, 2008 (Tue)
7:30 pm
New York Festival of Song (with Steven Blier)
Vocal Arts Society
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

April 22, 2008 (Tue)
8 pm
Leif Ove Andsnes, piano
WPAS
Music Center at Strathmore

April 23, 2008 (Wed)
7:30 pm
Mozart, Cosi fan tutte
Maryland Opera Studio
Clarice Smith Center

April 24, 2008 (Thu)
8 pm
Camerata Pacifica [FREE]
Library of Congress

April 24, 2008 (Thu)
7:30 pm
Shanghai Quartet [FREE]
Freer Gallery of Art

April 24, 2008 (Thu)
8 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
With Yan Pascal Tortelier (conductor) and Yuja Wang (piano)
Music by Prokofiev, Berlioz, Yardumian
Music Center at Strathmore

April 25, 2008 (Fri)
7:30 pm
Mozart, Cosi fan tutte
Maryland Opera Studio
Clarice Smith Center

April 25, 2008 (Fri)
7:30 pm
Ensemble Aleph
Music by Crumb, Antheil, others
La Maison Française

April 25, 2008 (Fri)
7:30 pm
Countertop Quartet
Grace and Saint Peter’s Parish (Baltimore, Md.)

April 25, 2008 (Fri)
8 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
With Yan Pascal Tortelier (conductor) and Yuja Wang (piano)
Music by Prokofiev, Berlioz, Yardumian
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (Baltimore, Md.)

April 25, 2008 (Fri)
8 pm
David Finckel (cello) and Wu Han (piano)
The Barns at Wolf Trap

April 26, 2008 (Sat)
7:30 pm
Mozart, Cosi fan tutte
Maryland Opera Studio
Clarice Smith Center

April 26, 2008 (Sat)
7:30 pm
Pavel Haas Quartet (all-Czech program)
Candlelight Concert Society
Wilde Lake Interfaith Center (Columbia, Md.)

April 26, 2008 (Sat)
8 pm
Fairfax Symphony Orchestra
George Mason University Center for the Arts

April 26, 2008 (Sat)
8 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
With Yan Pascal Tortelier (conductor) and Yuja Wang (piano)
Music by Prokofiev, Berlioz, Yardumian
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (Baltimore, Md.)

April 27, 2008 (Sun)
2 pm
Women in Opera: Strauss' Elektra
Washington National Opera
National Museum of Women in the Arts

April 27, 2008 (Sun)
3 pm
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
With Yan Pascal Tortelier (conductor) and Yuja Wang (piano)
Music by Prokofiev, Berlioz, Yardumian
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (Baltimore, Md.)

April 27, 2008 (Sun)
3 pm
Mozart, Cosi fan tutte
Maryland Opera Studio
Clarice Smith Center

April 27, 2008 (Sun)
4 pm
Michael Mizrahi, piano [FREE]
Phillips Collection

April 27, 2008 (Sun)
4 pm
Amadeus Orchestra: La Belle France
St. Luke Catholic Church (McLean, Va.)

April 27, 2008 (Sun)
4:30 pm
Contemporary Music Forum
Corcoran Gallery of Art

April 27, 2008 (Sun)
6:30 pm
Zuill Bailey (cello) and Simone Dinnerstein (piano) [FREE]
All-Beethoven program
National Gallery of Art

April 28, 2008 (Mon)
8 pm
Orchestre National de France
WPAS
Kennedy Center Concert Hall

April 30, 2008 (Wed)
5 pm
Guarneri Quartet: Open Rehearsal
Clarice Smith Center

James MacMillan Leads the NSO

J. MacMillan, The Sacrifice, C. Purves, L. Milne, Welsh National Opera, A. Negus (Chandos, 2010) Vaughan Williams, Complete Symphonies, London Philharmonic, New Philharmonia, A. Boult (Warner, 2012)

This month is all about the Wagner in Washington, but the area's two top orchestras are both offering excellent programs, too. Last night Scottish composer James MacMillan made his debut at the helm of the National Symphony Orchestra. As he did when he conducted the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in 2008, MacMillan brought some of his own music, which the NSO last played in 2013, when they presented the local premiere of his third piano concerto.

Welsh National Opera gave the 2007 world premiere of MacMillan's second opera, The Sacrifice. The libretto by Michael Symmons Roberts, derived from the Mabinogion, the Welsh national folk epic, tells the story of a woman torn away from her love to be given in a politically advantageous marriage. MacMillan extracted Three Interludes from the opera to make a rather pleasing symphonic work, played here for the first time by the NSO. The large orchestration creates the impression of a tribal world, with violent twists provided by blaring low brass and plenty of percussion. The first movement ("The Parting") opens with a wild clamor of sound, after which a menacing melody rises through the orchestra. The second movement ("Passacaglia") presents the eponymous bass pattern in the pizzicato double basses, where it stays, eventually doubled by low brass. Heavy use of high woodwinds often gives a screeching effect, perhaps to evoke fifes or other folk instruments. The third movement is faster and martial, the low brass and reeds thumping away on a march pattern, ending in a Shostakovich-like finale accompanying the murder of the couple's young son.

Along with Scotland and Wales, the British program included pieces by two English composers, beginning with Elgar's poignant cello concerto. Alisa Weilerstein has played this concerto, so associated with Jacqueline du Pré, in recent years with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and also the NSO, in 2013. Cellist Alban Gerhardt brought an intense, moody approach to the solo part, rising up forcefully on the A string to bring in the full orchestra in the first movement, and with a big pizzicato sound in the transition to the faster section. He played fast and furious in the Allegro molto conclusion to the second movement, with MacMillan carving out enough sonic space and subtlety of color for his soloist's sometimes small sound. Gerhardt's strengths lay in a tender and introspective interpretation, rather than broad strokes, to which this concerto is nicely suited, making the third movement's delicate softness the high point rather than the heady sweep of the finale.

Other Reviews: Anne Midgette, The NSO goes to Britain (Washington Post, May 13)

More performances of the Vaughan Williams symphonies are generally welcome, and MacMillan led the NSO's first performance of the composer's fourth symphony since Leonard Slatkin conducted it in 1999. (The last Vaughan Williams symphony played by the NSO was the 'London' Symphony in 2013.) The fourth is founded on a dissonance, a minor 2nd that opens the first movement with a bracing clash, part of a chromatic motif (F, E, G-flat, F) reportedly drawn from Beethoven's ninth symphony and disturbingly similar to the BACH name motif. MacMillan relished the general loudness of the piece, allowing the gnarled mass of lines to clot upon itself in the first movement, but also coaxed lush string playing and cooing brass accompaniment in the second theme.

The harmonic palette of the second movement sounded not unlike that used by MacMillan in his interludes from The Sacrifice, with a beautiful concluding flute solo over the movement's dying embers. The chromatic theme (and a second quartal theme) runs throughout all four movements, showing the influence of Beethoven as Vaughan Williams transformed it into a dancing scherzo theme in the third movement and a triumphant call in the fugato finale. MacMillan again marshaled the NSO forces impressively in the slightly maniacal fourth movement, with a hint of Shostakovich-style banality, as the chromatic theme was obsessively repeated and altered through many diminutions and augmentations, seething with tension.

This concert repeats tonight and tomorrow, in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall.

Nicola Benedetti Plays the Mendelssohn

Available at Amazon: Nicola Benedetti, Mendelssohn Violin Concerto (Mozart-Schubert-MacMillan), Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, James MacMillan (released on November 14, 2006)

Earlier this year, I wrote about Nicola Benedetti's first disc with Deutsche Grammophon. The young violinist, the daughter of a Scottish millionaire, was the BBC Young Musician of the Year in 2004, a competition she won by playing a rare and delightful work, Szymanowski's first violin concerto (1915-16). The 17-year-old subsequently signed a major contract with DG, to make six recordings for the impressive salary of £1 million. The Szymanowski was the major reason to buy that first recording. Although Benedetti is a great talent, this CD seems like a step backward from the promise of her first recording. In an interview-article earlier this year (Nicola Benedetti: from prodigy to professional, May 10), by Tim Cornwell for The Scotsman, Benedetti announced that she was switching managers, something that has happened since this recording was made in January:

I'm working with someone who will help me control things a lot more and, I think, halt my diary slightly more. Hopefully, I'll gain control over the next couple of years and be able to fit in everything I'd like to do. The ideal situation would be to do slightly less, and everything slightly better, and have more time to practise, more time to develop, more time to learn.

Other Reviews: Geoff Brown, Nicola Benedetti (The Times, May 12) Colin Clarke, Nicola Benedetti & James MacMillan (The Classical Source, August 6) Marc Geelhoed, Nicola Benedetti (Time Out Chicago, November 29)

The problem Benedetti has on this new disc is that the main attraction is a rather familiar work, Mendelssohn's E minor violin concerto, op. 64. It does not sound like she was quite ready to record the piece, technically or interpretatively. (One has only to read the page of her comments in this CD's liner notes, spelling errors and all, to appreciate Benedetti's youth.) Her recent performances of the Tchaikovsky concerto have come in for similar criticism. The rest of the program is a series of inconsequential miniatures -- some pretty Mozart, two Schubert arrangements (including a saccharine Ave Maria with harp accompaniment), and a piece composed for Benedetti by the talented Scottish composer James MacMillan -- all of which, except the last, feel like padding.

Benedetti has lovely moments, in some of the soft passages of the Mendelssohn, for example. MacMillan guides the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, an ensemble that has seen its reputation slide somewhat in recent years, in a capable and full-bodied performance. In the end, however, Benedetti's bravura and impetuous youth are not enough. On the other hand, it is good to hear her confronting more recent music. The MacMillan work, given its premiere recording here, is titled From Ayrshire, a reference to the region of Scotland where Benedetti grew up. Especially in its languorous first movement, it takes advantage of Benedetti's strengths, long lines, soft playing, and exotic, coloristic effects, the same characteristics that made her performance of the Szymanowski concerto so lovely. Judging from her own words quoted above, Benedetti knows what she needs to do at this point in her career, to let her remarkable talent blossom as it should. I am willing to keep listening, but you should feel free to skip this recording and hope for better things down the road.

Deutsche Grammophon B0007682-02

Briefly Noted: MacMillan Piano Concerto

J. MacMillan, Piano Concerto No. 2, W. Marshall, BBC Philharmonic, J. MacMillan (Chandos, 2006)

Krzysztof Urbanski is conducting quite a program with the National Symphony Orchestra tonight, combining Grieg's Peer Gynt Suite No. 1, op. 46, and Lutosławski's Concerto for Orchestra. In between will be Jean-Yves Thibaudet playing a piano concerto, either the new third piano concerto by Scottish composer James MacMillan -- tonight only -- or the old Thibaudet standby, one of the Saint-Saëns concertos (no. 5, "Egyptian"). Urbanski is the chief conductor of the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra and, since the peremptory dismissal of Mario Venzago, the music director of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. MacMillan's third piano concerto, premiered in 2011 by Thibaudet and the Minnesota Orchestra, is based on the structure of the Rosary, specifically the Luminous Mysteries added to the meditation of the Rosary by Pope John Paul II.

The third concerto has not been recorded yet, but tonight's local premiere sent me back to have another listen to MacMillan's second piano concerto, in a recording conducted by the composer. This score was expanded from a single-movement work, Cumnock Fair, which remains the first movement of the concerto, to serve as the accompaniment of a choreography by Christopher Wheeldon for New York City Ballet in 2004. The first movement begins with a frenetic orchestral unison, an introduction to a sometimes dissonant fantasy on 18th-century melodies by John French, a friend of Robert Burns who lived in Cumnock, with the piano often reflecting on them nostalgically. The slow movement has an old-fashioned, even schmaltzy quotation of the mad scene from Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor in the middle, which comes back like a nostalgic memory at the end of the third movement. The finale is a high-spirited reel, with all sorts of interesting percussive and harmonic effects laid over the top. It receives a fine if not all that remarkable performance by Wayne Marshall and the BBC Philharmonic on this Chandos disc, which is frankly overshadowed by the same soloist's rendition of MacMillan's hallucinatory organ concerto A Scotch Bestiary, from 2004, which is a wild ride worth your time. Hopefully, it is on Christoph Eschenbach's To-Do list.

The National Symphony Orchestra will play James MacMillan's third piano concerto only this evening (June 20, 7 pm), in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall. Also only tonight is one of the free recitals on the Concert Hall's new organ, just following the concert. This time, Russell J. Weismann, Associate Director of Music at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, where we spent time imprisoned as a chorister, will play the Cortège et Litanie by Marcel Duprè, Herbert Nanney's Sonata in E minor, and Dudley Buck's Concert Variations on the Star-Spangled Banner.

Seven Difficult, Impressive Words From James MacMillan

The United States, country of paradoxes and riddles, has a funny (sometimes sad, at other times perplexing) way of dealing with its religious history. There are politicians who rule as if this were a Christian country when, politically, it isn’t… who are only too happy to exploit religious sentiment; pander to prejudice over reason. There are cultural administrators who develop paroxysms pretending this isn’t a Christian country, although given its cultural history, it is. Easter, however, the drive towards religio-cultural sterility stops for a while – and we can listen to works like Bach’s St. Matthew Passion (as we did last Thursday--and, unlike last year, thankfully without the political-correctness disclaimer) or, intriguingly, the native Scot James MacMillan’s Seven Last Words from the Cross last Friday at Strathmore.

Although a dozen years old, MacMillan’s work received its premiere performance in the region by Norman Scribner and the Choral Arts Society of Washington (ChASo). Composed for a BBC television series for Holy Week, it has recently gotten a shot in the arm with an – upon second hearing – excellent recording by Polyphony under Stephen Layton on hyperion. The work and the recording have received highest of praise; responding to it in ways I admittedly could not, after an initial hearing. All the more exciting to hear the work live then. If the ChASo and Scribner did not outright deliver the answer to the question as to why (or whether) MacMillan’s Seven last Words is indeed a great work, they handed over the key to it.

Far from being a self-explanatory, easily digestible piece of music (as suggested by a gushing American Record Guide reviewer), these seven words (the setting a choral tradition in line with Schütz, Haydn, and Dubois, who all found very different answers to the challenge of setting seven utterances coming to a total of some four dozen words) are purposely challenging, variously spiky and austere. At times even grating and harsh. But around every corner also lure beautiful and overwhelming moments. Whoever wouldn’t be moved by the outbreak of Pärt-reminiscent, crystalline beauty, showered with sudden rays of sunshine to the words of “Venite adoremus” in the third part, after “Verily, I say unto you…”? It follows and is followed by an ancient plainchant, two basses taking “Ecce Lignum Crucis” above a humming drone, then tenors repeating the same, then mezzos, and finally sopranos. All suggests the sound of what we think music in ancient Palestine might have sounded like. It is here that the music betrays its TV roots; it appeared, even without the knowledge of its first such use, a sophisticated soundtrack for The Passion of the Christ or somesuch other film.

J.MacMillan, Seven Last Words From the Cross et al., S.Layton / Polyphony Hyperion

Alas, here, as throughout the work, there are abrupt changes in vocal, choral, and sometimes orchestral line that don’t make for easy following of the music. Understanding what the composer aims for helps tremendously in appreciating it as music. (Much like you don’t understand a word if someone quickly spoke to you in English when you expected French but, knowing it to be English, naturally understand everything). The edges and corners MacMillan throws into the music ensure that repeated listening produces increasingly greater enjoyment. Rhythmically the work tends to be simple, the tension it builds comes from attacking tonality from all sides, never leaving it but rarely settling in it comfortably. In Bach’s Matthew Passion, Jesus loses his halo (in form of the first orchestra's strings that always accompany him) as he loses faith and utters the words “Eli, Eli lama sabachthani?” In MacMillan, surely influenced by that work, if less audibly so to my ears than other commentators, that scene is set to a dark, sharp-edged music, if not too different from most of the broodingly shimmering rest of the work.

Other Reviews: Grace Jean, Choral Arts Society Bears 'Cross' Nobly (Washington Post, April 17)

The basses growl “I thirst” in the fifth section, the high voices shriek out the Good Friday reproaches. Part six, “It is finished,” displays the kind of doom that every commentator and MacMillan himself, perhaps, hear Shostakovich in – I hear Bernard Herrmann in it and the jagged attacks from the Psycho soundtrack hacking away like scavenging birds on a corpse. It ends with barely breathed, many small whimpers after which the composer specifically asked that no applause take place. Still holding his hands up, Norman Scribner walked off the stage, ensuring only a few ill contained bursts of applause.

Despite its difficulties, despite some curious choices (most of which become more logical upon repeated exposure), despite its stark nature, this may well be the best Anglo-American large-scale sacred composition I have heard since Adams’ El Niño and Lauridsen’s (somewhat sweet) Lux Æterna (both of which The Seven last Words actually predates). Far more inspired, inspiring, and moving than the samba, mambo, salsa-influenced, maracas-touting, semi-mediocre, pseudo-religious Masses and passions that have been performed and recorded in the last decade. The whole being greater than the sum of its parts, the ChASo’s performance made me revisit and thoroughly appreciate the recording with its more precise, clean, and better-defined chorus than this (still very good) live performance offered. The largest quibble: if you have to ask people not to applaud (because it’s such a very meaningful work, so sacred, oh-so moving), it’s probably a sign that you have failed on that account. It’s easily good enough a work to be enthusiastically or quizzically applauded. It’s not good enough for silence, reserved only for the most spiritual of Bruckner or most searing of Mahler performances.

Following MacMillan came the mostly-Mozart Requiem, K. 626; myth-laden, ever popular. Backed by a nearly 200-throat strong choir, it got a smooth, well-oiled, supple, and moving performance from Introitus full circle to Lux Aeterna. The chorus was excellent, the orchestra did what it was asked to do and did it well: no more and, more importantly, no less. The soloists were a fine Elizabeth Keusch (soprano, big voice, pleasant, lightly veiled), an equally fine bass in Mark Risinger, mezzo Linda Maguire (faux-operatic, affected, ineffective), and the overtaxed, lost-sounding tenor John McVeigh, who presented his strapping good looks but sounded like the roasted swan in Carmina Burana. None of these shortcomings prevented Scribner and his forces to give an appropriately moving, beautiful performance to which the crowd gave an enthusiastic reception.

Hope, MacMillan, and the Munich Philharmonic

Proof that good connections and aggressive management, astute choices of repertoire and collaborations are at least as important as talent in manufacturing a career is the rise of Daniel Hope. The violinist, one of whose greatest distinctions it was to have been Yehudi Menuhin’s last student (his mother was Menuhin’s assistant) and regular collaborator, was still a child when he played Bartók’s 44 Duos for Violin for German television (and a subsequent 60 concerts) together with the grand old master.

F.Mendelssohn-B., Violin Concerto, Octet et al., D.Hope / ChOE / T.Hengelbrock DG A.Berg, B.Britten, Violin Concerto(s), D.Hope / BBC SO / P.Watkins Warner

His popularity in Germany and the UK stems not the least from his work with Schnittke and the London Royal Academy, membership in the now retiring Beaux Arts Trio, projects with Klaus Maria Brandauer, Sting, and Uri Caine. Most recently a book about tracing his heritage (“a search for Hope's roots in Europe, Africa and beyond, weaving the disparate strands of his ancestry – prosperous assimilated German Jewish families who became refugees from Hitler, a young Irishman who sought his fortune in South Africa…”) was a most judicious move that garnered much of that all-important publicity.

Now he has an exclusive contract with the Yellow Label, Deutsche Grammophon, – and is in the company of violinists like Hillary Hahn, Gidon Kremer, and Vadim Repin. All superb artists that few experts would suggest Hope to be on the same level with. I, for one, had never been all that impressed with the recordings I had heard of Daniel Hope and only thought him “quite good”. My impression became much more favorable when I heard him twice at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC with the Beaux Arts Trio where he displayed musicality and chamber-playing instinct, rather than just serving as a ‘violinist patch’.

Still, his signing with DG was more than a mild surprise. I’ve not heard the first result of this collaboration yet (the Mendelssohn Concerto, Octet, and arranged songs with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe under Thomas Hengelbrock), but all the more eager was I to hear him in concert again, now as a soloist.

The opportunity provided itself when the Munich Philharmonic, conducted by composer James MacMillan, took on a nicely challenging and interesting program of Giovanni Gabrieli choruses for eight to fourteen brass instruments, Britten’s Violin Concerto, and his own “Vigil” Symphony. After the bright and impeccable brass pieces had been gotten out of the way, Hope displayed that Britten. With a nice tone, clarity, accuracy, and inner tensions, there was little to take issue with except perhaps the pianissimos which were not all evenly beautiful.

There was a movingly lyrical touch that Hope gave to the concerto, whether above the timpani pounding away (Beethoven’s spirit calling) or amid the brass glory in the unbound joyous energy of the second movement. (No influence of the impending war in Europe to be heard here.) The great Elliot Carter, 99 years old and still kicking, very aptly called the concerto the English pendant to Prokofiev's and Shostakovich's.

There is a dark brass front towering over the end of the second movement (“Vivace”), just before the pizzicato studded cadenza, that briefly has a Shostakovichian, threatening quality. But even that is not in any way war-like – and leads anyway to the glorious transition to the Passacaglia of the final movement. The brass continued sumptuously, Hope with contemplation. This was clean, impeccable, and a little more than that, too. Emotionally riveting it was not, but with the Britten it did not need to be for great effect. The concerto needs first and foremost to be played beautifully to work well, and that it was beyond any doubt.

I was much enamored with the difficult but enjoyable, profound but listener-oriented music of James MacMillan when I heard his “Seven Last Words” live (more so than listening to it on record) with the Choral Arts Society of Washington. “Vigil”, the third part of his 1997 triptych “Triduum”, and consisting of three movements: “Light”, “Tuba Insonet Salutaris”, and “Water” received its German premiere with the Munich Philharmonic and it fascinated more listeners than it disturbed, although it did that, too, and plenty.

Out of silence appear sounds of dim color like bulbs that are then violently interrupted with percussion. There follows a soft orchestral passage before another, dark and brass colored, bulb with growling phrases grows. The phrases become shorter and then longer again, all awhile brutal sounds alternate with light, lofty lines: This stop’n’go strategy dominates MacMillan’s first movement, veering between dark and tender, snarling violence and gentle touches. The Philharmonic at the Gasteig was filled with eastern sounds, shy shimmers of metal, ominous swells and ever recurring moments of portentous silence -- silences so complete that the ticking of my automatic wrist watch seemed embarrassingly loud.

J.MacMillan, Triduum III - Vigil, O.Vänskä / Glasgow BBC SSO / Pendrill, Wallfisch BIS 990 J.MacMillan, Triduum I & II - The World's Ransoming, Concerto for Cello, O.Vänskä / Glasgow BBC SSO / Pendrill, Wallfisch BIS 989

A brass quintet’s chorale introduces another orchestral clash (again providing a link to the Gabrieli pieces first heard), there is more ‘storm and retreat’ going on before the brass lets it rip in the Easter proclamation Exultet – “(et pro tanti Regis victoria) tuba insonet salutaris.” ("...Sound the trumpet of salvation!") The violent climaxes before the celesta create a false (?) sense of calm and idyll only to be – again – violently and wildly interrupted at random intervals.

These interruptions were taken as a cue for many audience members to demonstratively leave the hall, with the third movement not even under way. These fair-weather listeners thus sent to the exit in scores, the third movement – “Water” – proved even and flowing at first, more passive, dark with calm brass passages, lots of col legno additions by the strings which only now entered the action in this work. There is an elemental, raw power that sweeps before it the listener into the cacophonous climaxes in “Vigil”. It compelled this listener to a happy, inner and delighted laughter about the work’s audacity but also about its effect on others (either completely enraptured or uncomfortably squirming in their seats). After about 16 minutes of darkness in the first two movements (despite the misleading title “Light” of the first), light only comes into play in “Water” where its refractions blink and shimmer to the surface amid the many sounds swirling about. Mad gallops toward the end of the third movement sent yet another wave of listeners out of the hall – and during the work’s end over faint, silver touches you could hear those patrons just outside, discussing angrily what they had just been made to listen to.

It was a fine day for good new music and a courageous triumph for the Munich Philharmonic (which offered professional, if not great, playing). But it was also a monument to the lack of curiosity of much of its clientele. The Munich audience had proved by virtue of its absence that it will only pretend to be interested in modern music to a certain extent… and that programming a “modern, little known composer” like Britten (that’s sadly his status among many attendees) with a contemporary piece and some obscure renaissance prelude is far too much for them to respond to. As rich as the cultural environment is in Munich, and as much as it prides itself in its diversity, it cannot deny a certain provincial attitude that is often coupled with a plain ignorant and dismissive attitude of all (cultural) things Anglo-Saxon and, indeed, foreign. Give the subscription holders of the Munich Philharmonic their Strauss (either), Mozart, Brahms and they shall be happy. Give them Britten and they won't come - or come and leave mid-concert. A pity.

Undeterred, laudably, the Munich Philharmonic will offer Thomas Adès’ Asyla from January 30th to February 1st. James Macmillan will also conduct the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in Beethoven's second symphony, as well as his own second piano concerto and Stomp (April 3 to 6).




Directly Related: From today's (01/13/08) New York Times comes this article about Daniel Hope and his book: "How's the Family? Fascinating" by Matthew Gurewitsch.

Ionarts at Large: Martin Grubinger Beats it All

An extraordinarily attractive concert of the Munich Philharmonic promised the titillating combination of Arvo Pärt’s “Cantus in memoriam Benhamin Britten”, James MacMillan’s percussion concerto “Veni, Veni, Emmanuel”, and Shostakovich’s fifteenth and last Symphony – surely an underrated work in his admittedly uneven symphonic canon. All was to be conducted by the splendid Jonathan Nott who has much to do with the resurgence of the Bamberg Symphony.

Following hot on the heels of James MacMillan’s conducting his own “Vigil”, this would have been a fine opportunity to get repeat exposure to one of the most important of the reasonably accessible yet uncompromising composers of our time. It would also have fit nicely into the laudable effort by the Munich Philharmonic to give its very ‘central European’ audience the opportunity to experience Anglophone classical music on a regular basis this season: Next to said (and the planned) MacMillan also the Violin Concerto and War Requiem of Benjamin Britten and – just last week – Thomas Adès’ “Asyla”.

Alas, it was Nott to be, and with the young Slovakian conductor Juraj Valcuha (US debut in 2007 with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra) replacing the Britt, the program changed entirely. Mozart’s overture to “Le Nozze di Figaro” was now followed by Avner Dorman’s percussion concerto “Frozen in Time” and Maurice Ravel’s “Daphnis et Chloé” replaced the biting, yet lithe, Shostakovich symphony so full of odd humor, bitterness, and resignation.

I cannot be blamed for (initial) disappointment, made worse by my lamentable deficiency to find in Ravel’s piece – whether the whole thing or the two suites as performed here (without the chorus) – anything more than mildly enjoyable, usually boring. It’s an oddly evocative, subdued, and misty piece… dotted with martial bursts of vigor and joy, and it can splendidly show off an orchestra’s ability for color. But played at anything less than total commitment I find it a damp squib.

M.Ravel, F.Poulenc, Daphnis et Chloé, Les Biches M.Gielen, M.Viotti / SWR SO, EuropaChorAkademie hänssler CLASSIC A.Dorman, Piano Sonatas Eliran Avni Naxos

Sure enough it was well performed, sometimes even loud, and suffered – in a term of Jay Nordlinger's – from the quality of “okayness”. Musical wallpaper of the finest quality.

(Daphnis et Chloé was of course conceived as a 'soundtrack' to one of Serge Diaghilev’s “Ballets russes” which are responsible for so many of today’s well known classical hits - and some less known ones.)

The Mozart overture was engaged and explosive, as if the lessons the Orchestra took to heart from Thomas Hengelbrock the month before (Mozart and Schumann with Ramón Vargas) has still been present.

The real firecracker – and one that went off in all directions – was the Dorman Percussion Concerto. Just like there was a time where every avant-garde composer felt compelled to write a piece for solo flute, there is now a worrisome influx of percussion concertos from modern – usually tonal – composers. Even orchestral pieces without the appropriate warning label are often completely taken over by percussion batteries hammering away at will. This was, fortunately, a positive exception to the syndrome of extra bongos making up for lack of inspiration.

The Israeli-American Avner Dorman, born in 1975, was only known to me through a Naxos release of his piano music that I found “damn good” two years ago. Last season his “Variations Without a Theme” were premiered with the Nashville Orchestra (conducted by the secretly-superb Asher Fisch). “Frozen in Time” was commissioned by the young Austrian percussion wizard Martin Grubinger who premiered the work just two months ago in Hamburg and now presented it in Munich.

Grubinger was the very image of a little boy who, with unbridled joy and enthusiasm, red cheeks and a shock of obstinate blond hair, got to work on his noise-toy that had been built around him on all four sides like a little play castle. In three movements he charmed the dead-serious audience to appreciate and enjoy the humor and exhilaration of the concerto. “Indoafrica”, the first movement, is dominated by wooden sounds and organic shapes, and emphasized the marimba skills of Grubinger, the youngest finalist of the 2nd World Marimba Competition in Okaya (winner was MSU professor Gwendolyn Burgett Thrasher).

“Eurasia” is of a northern, metallic character. Extraordinary delicate and melodic moments, downright pretty (Mozart, by the composer’s own admission, never far away), and making much use of small Tibetan bells. Meditative parts with a prominent solo violin and more metallic plink dominate. The mechanical character of “The Americas” moves away from the multi-cultural ethnic and possibly ancient sounds that may well be “frozen in time” and arrives straight in the urban landscapes of America. Those who wish can hear tango and Afro-Cuban Jazz here – I heard reminders of Antheil and Varèse.

A stunning virtuoso feast of an encore (a work for a Pinzgau drum by Grubinger himself) had the audience in ecstasy: Drums, percussion – when well done – appeal to something deep within us… even deep within the most fun-and-joy-resistant European concertgoer. The inner aversion to all things frivolous caves before aboriginal, deep-seated responses to rhythm.

So they did, here.