EFTA01113078.pdf

SACKS?CO. c New flock T;im es October 11, 2010 A Meandering Thread Becomes James Joyce Lion Bootein liken In little eyebrows with the thematic po- groms he presents with the American Symphony Orchestra • and at a glance the subject of the orchestra's season ALLAN opener at Carnegie Ilan um on Wednesday evening, Kell an James Joyce, may seem slightly quirky, since music anyone of the three woks Mr. Holstein dueled node use of Joyce's writ mg. But a musich pulse and sym- metry of lee work, and his way of reconfiguring the Eng- lish language has something in common, Wily conceptually. with the contemporary COMpOSerS have treated notes, rhythms and 11"t1,to., timbres. That may explain why works like 'Illysses,"Flimegaits American *mpbony Orchestra Christian Reinert. tenor, oolong Wake' and 'Chamber Music" have inspired composers of num). Sober '• •Uljrws' or COmepe. stripes. includum John Cage, Ste- phen Albert, Nils Vigeland, Vic- and death, and follows Keber's toria Bond and Libby Larsen. poetry in creating a state of won- Some of their works could have der. rather than terror. Schoeck's enlivenrd Mr. floistein's program vocal writing is less phasing: considerably, hot he 111141 some- much of it Is talky rind shapeless, thing dillerem in mind. He de- and it M often swamped by the voted the hest halt to two com- string and woodwind scoring. posers whose music Joyce knew Sohn Hancock. the baritone solo- and admired. George Anthed and ist was seriously underpowered 0thmar Se twee k. and the second and only nicely piper red the tail to Mats-as Sealer's "Ulysses' text. Presumably the porton I% (1944 an introspect lee, slightly arise that so Impressed Joyce was dour setting of a fragment of better balanced. Chapter 17 of Joyce's novel. Amheirs strongest connection Sciber's dark, solledged or- to Joyce's work was his plan to cbewtratxm suits the test. tin ob- wine a "Ulysses" wet a. a project scure astronomical discussunt Joyce endorsed. Hui the comps- between Leopold Bloom and Ste- et' seems to have written down phen Dm-talus: the most interest- only three bars of musk, and he ing atom. melodically and har- was represented here by the monically. aeon In the often in- •Balkt M(reankow* (1924),a volved, shimmering choral writ. porton oil the period when nig. Christian Reinert sang the Anthell was pondering It •Ulys. solo tenor luxe in the calm, melt sea' project. thirst manner that Joyce's hyp- Mr. BotHein, using Anthell's notic text stems to demand. comparatively spare 1953 rev,- The Seder proved ohne von, led an ensemble of I pian- thought ponoking II11111 exciting ists and I0 perrassionistl• inc That could also be saki of OIlunar ing ogle who used a Mac laptop, Schoeck's • Lebendig liegratwn" probably to prOdurr the oximis (1926), a creepy 40-minute set- of the two airplane propellers ting of Gottfried Keller's cycle of called for in the score but no- ;gleam al a being buried alive. where to be seen on taw stage. Joyce heard the work during a This as a piece that thriveson visit to 'larch in 1935 and liked it rhythmic intercomwordness, va- so much that he sought out the riety of timbre and rairpoMng composer. changes of texture, and the vital There is much to admire in performance by Mr. Bootein's SchoeckX nth orciwstml minting. musicians (augmented by per • which skins tonality without do - tuononisis from New York tin 01K into harshness, evokes the wooly) was the evenings clear otherworldly state between life highlight. 427 west fourteenth street new york, ny 10014 I f I www.socksco.com EFTA01113078