Less than a year after he was appointed artistic administrator of the New York Philharmonic, Chad Smith accepted the job of vice president of artistic planning at the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the orchestra he'd originally left to come to New York. Filling his position here is Matias Tarnopolsky, who comes to the New York Phil from the Chicago Symphony, where he was senior director of artistic planning. (If you want a more detailed scorecard, look here.) Judging by what Marc Geelhoed has to say about Tarnopolsky, we've got cause for optimism here, and not a moment too soon.
In contrast to the normal Lincoln Center orchestral fare, at Alice Tully Hall on Saturday night I caught the first concert of the Riverside Symphony's 25th-anniversary season. I wrote about this orchestra's garage-band beginnings in this week's issue of Time Out New York. (You'll probably be able to access the article in the online archives in a few weeks; if you were at the concert, a cute little copy was tucked into your program, which was a nice surprise.)
The Riverside Symphony's basic premise is that it reflects the enthusiasms of its founders, conductor George Rothman and percussionist-composer Anthony Korf -- the latter best known for having founded and run Parnassus, the new-music ensemble he launched in 1974 while still a grad student. The keen thing is that these two guys enjoy a free rein to explore whatever turns them on, whether that's Biber, Honegger or Andrew Imbrie. That last composer is one artist whose profile has most certainly benefitted from Riverside's advocacy, as have those of Poul Ruders, Stephen Hartke, Marius Constant and Mario Davidovsky.
Given that the orchestra is an ensemble of freelancers, you might well be concerned about technical niceties, which is why it's such a treat to report that tonight's concert was remarkably well drilled. The band got through Stephen Hartke's gagaku-inspired Pacific Rim, in its local premiere, with vigor and enthusiasm. They then made a real meal of Mozart's Symphony No. 39. Following a handsome opening movement, the Andante con moto was given a gorgeous reading; Rothman lovingly shaped phrases to fine effect both here and in the Menuetto. The breakneck dash of the finale threatened to fly off the rails, but held fast to the end.
After the break, the orchestra provided a rare prime-time airing to Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf, a piece of solid craft and endless charm. Reading glasses pushed down on the arch of his nose, Sam Waterston dug into his role as narrator. You could easily riff on an extension to Prokofiev's scenario, one in which Assistant D. A. Jack McCoy springs the Wolf from the zoo on a technicality ("Your honor, as anyone can plainly hear, the Duck is in fact not deceased!").
It shouldn't come as any surprise that the orchestra performed so well; after all, these were some of the city's best players, many of whom occupy key roles in Orpheus and other big bands. Scanning the stage, I took note of how many of these musicians I knew from far different contexts: The last time I saw violinist Jennifer Choi was almost certainly in drummer Susie Ibarra's improvising trio, while violist Stephanie Griffin, who seems to run or play in half the new-music groups in town, was working Gerard Grisey's daunting Prologue from Les Espaces Acoustiques at Columbia University this time last weekend. Tara Helen O'Connor, the orchestra's new principal flutist, is a simply fabulous player and one of the best-known new-music specialists in town... but I never thought I'd get a chance to hear her play Prokofiev's Bird.
Beyond the rich programming, beyond giving contemporary-classical partisans the chance to rock some Amadeus, what truly impresses about the Riverside Symphony is its commitment to building and fostering its audience. Instead of pre-concert lectures, Rothman and Korf host salons for patrons, in which musicians and (sometimes) composers take part; rather than simply playing concerts in schools, the Riverside Symphony participates in Music Memory, which amounts to something of a four-year interactive quiz show involving some 10,000 local students.
The results were everywhere to be seen. Audience members were visibly vested in the group, pointing out and naming players as if they were bragging on their grandkids -- and actually chatting about the music during the break. And maybe it's due to Peter, but I saw more young faces at this concert than at any other event in recent memory. Inspiring, indeed.
Playlist:
Stephen Hartke - Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra, "Landscapes with Blues"*; The Rose of the Winds; Gradus; Pacific Rim - Richard Stolzman*, IRIS Chamber Orchestra/Michael Stern (Naxos)
4g - Cloud (Erstwhile)
Derek Bailey - Carpal Tunnel (Tzadik)
Sergei Prokofiev - Symphony No. 5 - Houston Symphony/Christoph Eschenbach (Houston Symphony limited-edition subscriber release)
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