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Two Premieres and One Complete Pulcinella New York
David Geffen Hall, Lincoln Center
07/26/2024 - & July 27*, 2024
Johannes Brahms: Violin Concerto, Op. 77
Louis W. Ballard: Incident at Wounded Knee
Igor Stravinsky: Pulcinella
Heather Buck (Soprano), Chris Lysack (Tenor), Edwin Jhamal David (Bass), Benjamin Beilman (Violin)
Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center, Kazem Abdullah (Conductor)
Festival Orchestra Players (© Lawrence Sumulong)
“Already the once sweet-watered streams, most of which bore Indian names, were clouded with silt and the wastes of man; the very earth was being ravaged and squandered. To the Indians it seemed that these Europeans hated everything in nature–the living forests and their birds and beasts, the grassy glades, the water, the soil, and the air itself.”
Dee Brown, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West
The most striking part of the Festival Orchestra’s second summer concert last night was neither the young violin virtuoso Benjamin Beilman or the short pictorial Incident at Wounded Knee by the late Cherokee-Quapaw composer Louis W. Ballard.
No, the most impressive work was the complete–let me emphasise complete– Stravinsky Pulcinella.
This was not one of those castrated Suites or the truncated Suite Italienne. Conductor Kazem Abdullah was quoted as saying that Pulcinella was more than a ballet, it was a story. And that cutting any of those minor bits would alter the music as well.
Whether that is true or not, rare is the conductor outside of the ballet hall who takes more than the tarantella, more than the whooping trombone-horn and almost never the stunning vocal sections which demand voices neither operatic nor lieder.
Last night, Mr. Abdullah left his post with Germany’s Aachen Orchestra and came for our newly christened Festival Orchestra. And Pulcinella was his prize. Besides the effects (without dancers, without Commedia dell’arte masks), Mr. Abdullah had to produce Pergolesi music redone by the composer and give a sense of the dance.
Mr. Abdullah took the Festival Orchestra through its paces elegantly, immaculately. Except for the last two movements, it missed the “snap” which pulls the music out of Pergolesi’s less-than-inspiring originals. Yet just to hear the entire ballet–with trombones, horns and solo double‑bass–even without dancing, was engaging.
This is also a piece for three good soloists. Messrs Buck, Lysack and David didn’t stand in front of the orchestra, but sauntered from the back for each of their pieces. This was hardly distracting because of their expertise.
Soprano Heather Buck obviously has a good strong voice, but here she held it back to sing her pastoral plaints. The same was true with the pleasing tenor Chris Lysack. Bass Edwin Jhamal David gave more volume, but also far more personality. All three blended in with the chamber orchestra.
B. Beilman/K. Abdullah (© Stefan Ruiz/Peter Boetchner)
We had a preview of the Stravinsky with the first movement of the four-movement Incident at Wounded Knee. The power of the original book, the violence, the sobs, the forced movements of the tribes–much like the citizens of Gaza today–could never ever be put into a 12‑minute work. But Louis W. Ballard, a First American who produced a plethora of music during his career, tried his best.
Although he brought in many American Indian themes throughout the work, the opening could have been chamber Stravinsky. Sharp changes of rhythms, fragments of songs were almost balletic.
The other movements were short, emphatic. Sometimes a bit melodramatic, terse. The truncated Festival Orchestra was bunched up center stage. Stage right, though, three French horns sat solo, blasting out their calls when necessary. I felt that Mr. Ballard perhaps wanted a hint of the outdoors, and horns gave that feeling.
Starting the program with the Brahms Violin Concerto is not usual, nor did Brahms exactly coalesce with the other works. Yet two premiere performers gave it an elan belying the orchestra size.
Kazem Abdullah is far better known in Europe, where he lives, then in America. His competency is unquestioned, his relationship with the orchestra was evident. The other premiere was 28‑year‑old Benjamin Beilman, whose reputation is quite phenomenal.
Last night, Mr. Beilman showed that he was on the way to becoming a superb Brahms performer. One found nothing singular in his performance. It was done with expertise, with luscious tones and totally affecting.
Harry Rolnick
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