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Bach, Cavalli, Druckman, Kagel, Adès, Carter: Ensemble ACJW, Pablo Heras-Casado (Conductor), Zankel Hall, New York, 13.6.2008 (BH)

Bach: Orchestral Suite No. 4 in D Major, BWV 1069 (1717-23)
Cavalli: Delizie contente che l'alme beate (arr. Jacob Druckman; 1985)
Druckman: Delizie contente che l'alme beate, after Francesco Cavalli (1973)
Kagel: "East," from The Compass Pieces (1988-1994)
Adès: Chamber Symphony, Op. 2 (1990)
Carter: Asko Concerto (1999-2000)


In the last few months I've been to a number of concerts with young musicians tackling extraordinarily difficult music—scores that probably would have taxed their predecessors more heavily if the clock were turned back perhaps 20 years.  The fact is that many of these budding artists are more comfortable with complex or unfamiliar scores than some of their mentors might have been.  This has been particularly evident with the dozens of Elliott Carter readings here and there, as we enter the home stretch approaching his 100th birthday.

The most recent case in point was this splendidly accomplished Asko Concerto, which Carter originally conceived for the Netherlands-based Asko Ensemble, and here given a sparkling reading by the Ensemble ACJW at Zankel Hall.  Not only was the concerto rightfully placed as the finale, but also it demonstrated the group's collaborative abilities perhaps more clearly than anything else on the program.  Its roughly quarter hour offers unusual combos (clarinet and double bass, muted trombone and bass clarinet) with the entire group converging in some delicious chords.  But overall, translucence prevails, requiring each of the sixteen players to be at top form.  The conductor, Pablo Heras-Casado, is an up-and-coming talent who will be tackling Boulez's Le marteau sans maître and Stockhausen's Kreuzspiel at Opéra Bastille in October.  (He's young: actually 30, but looks about 20.)

The eclectic menu began with Bach's Fourth Orchestral Suite, and if some of the tempi seemed slightly too fast, and if the coordination wasn't as dead-on as in the rest of the concert, chalk it up to curtain-raising anxiety.  Given what followed, worries were temporary.  Jacob Druckman wrote Delizie contente che l'alme beate for five players and taped sounds, all riffing on a Cavalli melody that tries to make itself heard amid increasing electronic clamor.  The group elegantly programmed Druckman's arrangement of the Cavalli as an introduction.  And the first half ended with Mauricio Kagel's "East," one of the eight Compass Pieces, in which the ensemble transforms itself into a 1930s salon orchestra, and if some in the audience had jumped up to dance I wouldn't have been surprised.  Jared Soldiviero, showing that there is plenty of new podium skill to go around as well, led it with élan and the sly wit it requires.

The second half began with Thomas Adès's Chamber Symphony, the work of an insouciant young 19-year-old eager to test his wings—and not afraid of tapping a drum set and an accordion to complete the roster.  (I have heard it now twice in the last few months, also with Adès conducting the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group.)  It's an accomplished piece, and if perhaps not as substantial as what has come from him since, it's well worth the ride to gauge his growth.  It also sounds like wild fun to play, which was audible in the ensemble's fizzy, fun reading.

Bruce Hodges


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