August 27 Skaneateles Festival
August 27 Skaneateles Festival: Torke's 'Corner in Manhattan' prime property in I Love New York program
Jupiter Quartet draws shouts of approval in Torke and Dvorak works celebrating N.Y.
By David Rubin
Contributing writer
American composer Michael Torke (born in 1961) has an identifiable sound that makes his music instantly recognizable and, to this listener, immensely appealing.
Torke ‘s pieces have momentum and inevitability to them. The audience can follow their progression and anticipate where the music might go next. It is possible to remember them on first hearing. Unlike so much contemporary music that starts nowhere and goes nowhere, Torke’s music has something to say.
The Skaneateles Festival’s Thursday program in its "I Love New York" week offered Torke’s Corner in Manhattan, written in 2000. Each of its three movements for string quartet is titled with a time and location around Sixth Avenue and Houston Streets in New York City. Having lived a stone’s throw from this location for 19 years, I can confidently report that there is almost no connection whatsoever between the place and the music.
Corner in Manhattan is more accurately thought of as a three-movement string quartet. The first movement is fast and energetic; the second contemplative; and the third rhapsodic. The movements hung together nicely without the conceit of the title. The first movement is the most effective, and Torke at his best. He works by offering the audience repeated, insistent rhythmic patterns with melodic fragments that are tonal. He is not afraid to resolve the tensions he builds up. He is not a minimalist in the Glass sense. The music moves along a lot faster than that and changes color often.
The second movement was the most conventional in its composition. At times I thought I was hearing Vaughn Williams, with a dash of French Impressionism. The third movement goes on longer than it needs to, but the strong unison writing for the four players made for an effective ending.
The Jupiter String Quartet played the piece as if it were an old master they had been studying for a long time. It was clearly in their fingers. It is hard to imagine a better performance. The audience so liked the first movement that it broke out into spontaneous applause that was well merited. In a break with hidebound classical music performance tradition, it would have been nice if the Jupiters had encored that movement. It’s not very long. No such luck.
Those who liked Corner in Manhattan would very much enjoy Torke’s Adjustable Wrench (another loopy title), a work for a chamber orchestra that is perfect for a Brook Farm concert. It’s available on Torke’s CD Javelin on the Argo label.
The other substantial piece on the program was Dvorak’s String Quartet, Op.96 ("American"), his most popular piece in the genre and one of the few war horses from the chamber music literature being offered this summer. Its connection to New York is Dvorak’s visit to the U.S. in the 1890s.
The Jupiters chose tempos a bit on the slow side in the first three movements. They emphasized the emotion in the piece and phrased with passion – indeed a bit too much at times. This was most effective in a gorgeous Lento second movement that was perfectly judged. The slow tempos in the first three movements made the Finale seem more spirited, and the piece ended with a flourish.
As with the Torke, the Jupiters had prepared this piece carefully and were all on the same page. It was a splendid performance that put across their view of the work.
The two other offerings on the program were rather odd ducks. The program began with five spirituals by an obscure, early 20th century, Upstate composer named R. Nathaniel Dett. These were sung by baritone Derrick Smith, with piano accompaniment from Elinor Freer. I had been hoping for some rocking and rolling in the Mahalia Jackson manner, but these spirituals were, for the most part, somber and slow.
The most memorable was Somebody’s Knocking at Your Door, in which Freer re-creates the knocking in her difficult piano part, expertly played. The other four, while moving in the hearing, belong in a Sunday church service. They made for a muted concert opener.
Smith has an appealing voice, a bit short at the top of the range, but with a nice middle. He has sung Porgy and Crown in Chicago, and he would be fun to hear in those parts. Couldn’t Gershwin have been squeezed under the I Love New York banner?
The fourth offering was a transcription of five songs from Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story for clarinet and piano. Often a transcription can shed new light on a piece. If you are tired of the Brahms symphonies, get hold of the transcriptions for piano four hands. They breathe new life into these pieces and you hear relationships that don’t come across in the full symphonic form.
That was not the case here. These songs – including Maria, Somewhere, and Tonight – are so familiar that a clarinet cannot do them justice. I couldn’t hear past the voices in my head. Clarinetist Jose Franch-Ballester offered a nutty, elegant tone, with good breath support. His phrasing was intelligent. His piano partner, John Novacek, was ardent, if a bit too loud at times. But in the end, I was left thinking, "What’s the point?"
Perhaps if Franch-Ballester had the showmanship of Jean Kopperud, the clarinetist who played and danced a smashing arrangement of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue a few years ago at the Festival, this might have worked. But he is not she.
The 300 seats in the First Presbyterian Church downtown were almost filled, and the audience was, as usual, enthusiastic and appreciative. The Festival continues its love affair with New York Friday night at the First Presbyterian Church, and on Saturday at Brook Farm.
David M. Rubin, a regular contributor to the CNY Café Momus blog, is the former Dean of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. He is currently Interim Director of the Goldring Arts Journalism master’s degree program at Newhouse. He is also host of "The Ivory Tower Half Hour" on WCNY-TV (Fridays at 8).
Details box
What: Skaneateles Festival, Week 3 (‘I Love New York’)
Where: First Presbyterian Church, Skaneateles
When: August 27, 2009
Who: Jose Franch-Ballester, clarinet; Elinor Freer, piano; Jupiter String Quartet; John Novacek, piano; Derrick Smith, baritone
Time: 2 hours, including intermission
Call: (315) 685-7418
Ticket prices: $16 to $30
Website: www.skanfest.org (order tickets online or by phone)
Next: 8:00 P.M. Friday, Aug. 28 (Carter Pann Festival-commissioned premiere, Rachmaninoff, Barber, Novacek)
Jupiter Quartet draws shouts of approval in Torke and Dvorak works celebrating N.Y.
By David Rubin
Contributing writer
American composer Michael Torke (born in 1961) has an identifiable sound that makes his music instantly recognizable and, to this listener, immensely appealing.
Torke ‘s pieces have momentum and inevitability to them. The audience can follow their progression and anticipate where the music might go next. It is possible to remember them on first hearing. Unlike so much contemporary music that starts nowhere and goes nowhere, Torke’s music has something to say.
The Skaneateles Festival’s Thursday program in its "I Love New York" week offered Torke’s Corner in Manhattan, written in 2000. Each of its three movements for string quartet is titled with a time and location around Sixth Avenue and Houston Streets in New York City. Having lived a stone’s throw from this location for 19 years, I can confidently report that there is almost no connection whatsoever between the place and the music.
Corner in Manhattan is more accurately thought of as a three-movement string quartet. The first movement is fast and energetic; the second contemplative; and the third rhapsodic. The movements hung together nicely without the conceit of the title. The first movement is the most effective, and Torke at his best. He works by offering the audience repeated, insistent rhythmic patterns with melodic fragments that are tonal. He is not afraid to resolve the tensions he builds up. He is not a minimalist in the Glass sense. The music moves along a lot faster than that and changes color often.
The second movement was the most conventional in its composition. At times I thought I was hearing Vaughn Williams, with a dash of French Impressionism. The third movement goes on longer than it needs to, but the strong unison writing for the four players made for an effective ending.
The Jupiter String Quartet played the piece as if it were an old master they had been studying for a long time. It was clearly in their fingers. It is hard to imagine a better performance. The audience so liked the first movement that it broke out into spontaneous applause that was well merited. In a break with hidebound classical music performance tradition, it would have been nice if the Jupiters had encored that movement. It’s not very long. No such luck.
Those who liked Corner in Manhattan would very much enjoy Torke’s Adjustable Wrench (another loopy title), a work for a chamber orchestra that is perfect for a Brook Farm concert. It’s available on Torke’s CD Javelin on the Argo label.
The other substantial piece on the program was Dvorak’s String Quartet, Op.96 ("American"), his most popular piece in the genre and one of the few war horses from the chamber music literature being offered this summer. Its connection to New York is Dvorak’s visit to the U.S. in the 1890s.
The Jupiters chose tempos a bit on the slow side in the first three movements. They emphasized the emotion in the piece and phrased with passion – indeed a bit too much at times. This was most effective in a gorgeous Lento second movement that was perfectly judged. The slow tempos in the first three movements made the Finale seem more spirited, and the piece ended with a flourish.
As with the Torke, the Jupiters had prepared this piece carefully and were all on the same page. It was a splendid performance that put across their view of the work.
The two other offerings on the program were rather odd ducks. The program began with five spirituals by an obscure, early 20th century, Upstate composer named R. Nathaniel Dett. These were sung by baritone Derrick Smith, with piano accompaniment from Elinor Freer. I had been hoping for some rocking and rolling in the Mahalia Jackson manner, but these spirituals were, for the most part, somber and slow.
The most memorable was Somebody’s Knocking at Your Door, in which Freer re-creates the knocking in her difficult piano part, expertly played. The other four, while moving in the hearing, belong in a Sunday church service. They made for a muted concert opener.
Smith has an appealing voice, a bit short at the top of the range, but with a nice middle. He has sung Porgy and Crown in Chicago, and he would be fun to hear in those parts. Couldn’t Gershwin have been squeezed under the I Love New York banner?
The fourth offering was a transcription of five songs from Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story for clarinet and piano. Often a transcription can shed new light on a piece. If you are tired of the Brahms symphonies, get hold of the transcriptions for piano four hands. They breathe new life into these pieces and you hear relationships that don’t come across in the full symphonic form.
That was not the case here. These songs – including Maria, Somewhere, and Tonight – are so familiar that a clarinet cannot do them justice. I couldn’t hear past the voices in my head. Clarinetist Jose Franch-Ballester offered a nutty, elegant tone, with good breath support. His phrasing was intelligent. His piano partner, John Novacek, was ardent, if a bit too loud at times. But in the end, I was left thinking, "What’s the point?"
Perhaps if Franch-Ballester had the showmanship of Jean Kopperud, the clarinetist who played and danced a smashing arrangement of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue a few years ago at the Festival, this might have worked. But he is not she.
The 300 seats in the First Presbyterian Church downtown were almost filled, and the audience was, as usual, enthusiastic and appreciative. The Festival continues its love affair with New York Friday night at the First Presbyterian Church, and on Saturday at Brook Farm.
David M. Rubin, a regular contributor to the CNY Café Momus blog, is the former Dean of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. He is currently Interim Director of the Goldring Arts Journalism master’s degree program at Newhouse. He is also host of "The Ivory Tower Half Hour" on WCNY-TV (Fridays at 8).
Details box
What: Skaneateles Festival, Week 3 (‘I Love New York’)
Where: First Presbyterian Church, Skaneateles
When: August 27, 2009
Who: Jose Franch-Ballester, clarinet; Elinor Freer, piano; Jupiter String Quartet; John Novacek, piano; Derrick Smith, baritone
Time: 2 hours, including intermission
Call: (315) 685-7418
Ticket prices: $16 to $30
Website: www.skanfest.org (order tickets online or by phone)
Next: 8:00 P.M. Friday, Aug. 28 (Carter Pann Festival-commissioned premiere, Rachmaninoff, Barber, Novacek)
Posted by David Abrams at 8/28/2009 7:25 AM 
Categories: David Rubin, Skaneateles Festival, Chamber music
Tags: David Rubin Jupiter Quartet Nathaniel Dett Michael Torke Derrick Smith Dvorak Quartet Jose Franch-Ballester Leonard Bernstein
Categories: David Rubin, Skaneateles Festival, Chamber music
Tags: David Rubin Jupiter Quartet Nathaniel Dett Michael Torke Derrick Smith Dvorak Quartet Jose Franch-Ballester Leonard Bernstein
I also love the quirky titles. Torke shares that quality with Marc Mellits, another contemporary composer with the added bonus of being a CNY composer.