About six years ago the movie theater under Carnegie Hall was turned into a “second stage” and everybody who’s anybody on WNYC has played there. I’ve wanted to go to a bajillion of the shows there, but somehow never made it. But Ann & I caught the Kronos Quartet doing a lot of “new music” on Friday.
There was a world premiere of some craziness by the drummer from Wilco. That was pretty cool. And a lot of really short pieces, some of which were fantastic and others that were just okay. I like when they get into a groove – when it is just random sounds, I lose patience pretty quick. That was the story with the second half of the program, a performance of “Black Angels” buy George Crumb. This may be a seminal piece of contemporary classical music, but to me it is a collection of abstract sounds that, when you aren’t in a reclining position, is impossible to listen to. Even when there are glowing glasses that people are “playing.” (I just kept thinking of Broadway Danny Rose.)
Anyway, below is a more astute description of what I saw. All I can tell you is that a little bit goes a long way with some of this stuff, but overall it was more positive than negative.
The press release:
On Friday, December 5 at 7:30 p.m. in Zankel Hall, Carnegie Hall presents Kronos Quartet and percussionist/composer Glenn Kotche, drummer for the rock band Wilco, in the New York premiere of Kotche’s Anomaly, part of a wildly diverse program that also features Kronos performing a new staging of George Crumb’s seminal 1970 work Black Angels and a number of world and New York premieres. Kotche’s Anomaly, his first piece written outside the percussion realm, is a 25-minute, 7-movement composition that treats the individual string quartet members like the limbs of a percussionist. Additional premieres on the program include Raz Mesinai’s Crossfader (world premiere), Ramallah Underground’s Tashweesh (NY premiere), Jacob Garchik’s arrangement of the traditional Greek folk song Smyrneiko Minore (world premiere), Judith Berkson and Garchik’s arrangement of the traditional Jewish song Ov Horachamim (world premiere), and Hanna Kulenty’s String Quartet No. 4, “A Cradle Song” (NY premiere). A pre-concert talk starts at 6:30 p.m. in Zankel Hall with Glenn Kotche in conversation with Jeremy Geffen, Carnegie Hall’s Director of Artistic Planning.
