Interesting Juxtaposition
Monday at the Harris Theater the CSO’s MusicNOW ensemble performed two works rather unrelated, one jazzy and the other very serious, that puzzled me.
As fate would have it, I plopped myself down next to Osvaldo Golijov and behind Mark-Antony Turnage.
Conductor Cliff Colnot was really into the jazzy “A Jazz Calendar” by
Richard Rodney Bennett, but I’m not sure how this piece fits into the mission of MusicNOW.
The second piece, by Turnage, “Twice Through the Heart”, was very powerful. It was sung by mezzo Barbara Rearick who had all the right stuff to express the torment of a murderer of her abusive husband.
On a lighter note, during the pizza & beer reception I talked with Deborah Rutter, who pointed out the new composers-in-residence, Mason Bates and Anna Clyne who had that deer-in-the-headlights look when I asked about MusicNOW next season. However, I expect good things will develop.
Bruce Oltman
