Out West Arts: Performance at the end of the world

Emanuel Ax and Dawn Upshaw
Photo: mine 2010

I wish I could tell you that I was more excited about Tuesday’s recital from Emanuel Ax and Dawn Upshaw at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in L.A. But the truth is, despite glowing reviews of their Chopin and Schumann program at its other stops in both New York and San Francisco, I was somehow expecting more than what we got. The show was focused almost exclusively on Lieder of the familiar variety from Schumann, and the not so familiar variety from Chopin. In between were Chopin Mazurkas and Nocturnes played by Ax and a newly commissioned song cycle from Stephen Prutsman entitled Piano Lessons. Originally, the pair had planned to perform a new song cycle from Osvaldo Golijov in these performances, but the work was unfinished so the substitution was made. Prutsman’s five short songs are a setting of poetry by Billy Collins about a young student’s joys and frustrations as a piano student. It’s whimsical poetry paired with whimsical music and it could be saccharine at times. Not that it wasn’t well played, it just struck me as kind of slight.

Of course, that criticism could be leveled about all the music on the program at one time or another. The Chopin songs, which Upshaw preformed in Polish, are certainly rarities. I never felt they quite came together, though. I certainly love Upshaw, and her vocal performance was warm and involved. However, I couldn’t get the nagging sensation out of my mind that I'd rather be hearing someone else sing this particular material. Upshaw has given near-legendary performances here in L.A. of contemporary works from Kurtag, Adams, and Saariaho. And while both the Chopin and Schumann songs were beautifully sung, I wouldn’t say that this performance of them ranked among the most memorable I’ve heard. However, I was rather taken with her version of Schumann's Er ist's which she paired with Hugo Wolf's setting of the same text for an encore. What I was impressed most with was the communication between Upshaw and Ax throughout the performance. The balance of power between vocalist and accompanist in a recital is often tilted more in the singer’s favor. But Ax seemed more a full partner in this evening even when he was not playing the solo works. Ax will be around for the rest of the weekend and into next week for performances of the L.A. Philharmonic including more Chopin for those of you so inclined.

Labels: Dawn Upshaw, Emanuel Ax

Geoff Nuttall and Dawn Upshaw
Photo: mine 2008

The contemporary music event of the Fall here in L.A. took place last night at the Walt Disney Concert Hall with the much anticipated arrival of Kurtág’s Kafka-Fragmente in a revival of a 2005 performance of the work with soprano Dawn Upshaw and violinist Geoff Nuttall. It was a remarkable evening filled with drama that was more than a little difficult to get your head around. Part of the reason why is the work's intensity. Kafka-Fragmente is a sprawling work ironically composed of 40 miniature pieces of music rarely going above a minute. The texts are short passages from the diaries and letters of Kafka that highlight a variety of emotional states from despair to ...not quite as sad as that. And while the musical settings may seem minimal, they are packed full of allusions and references both from Kafka as well as the composer. Unpacking all of this detail in a single performance is impossible, but the work does have a sensory draw that takes over the audience as it becomes acclimated to the piece's own internal logic.

Assisting in making the piece more accessible was director Peter Sellars in one of at least three different appearances he'll be making with the L.A. Philharmonic this season. Kurtág considered the piece a theatrical one and gives numerous directions in the score about the positioning and activities of the performers. Needless to say, this project was a natural fit for Sellars who revives his staging here on the West Coast and in New York this fall before heading off to Europe. The staging features both performers barefoot and in casual street clothes. Upshaw is engaged in a variety of domestic activities including scrubbing the floor, ironing laundry and washing dishes as she sings about topics from existential malaise to more humorous fare. She also burns her face with a clothes iron and later attempts to hang herself with an electrical cord in Part II: “The True Path”. In the pre-concert talk, Sellars discussed the way in which the staging reflects the everyday heroics of people's lives, each of Kurtág's brief movements being a memory or a memorial to something or someone else. He proceeded to tie this all in with ideas about an intellectual response to the Holocaust and the role of minimalism in art as a part of that response. And, while I'm not completely convinced of all this, I must say that the performance was at times harrowing but always fascinating as it uncovered the existential struggles in the everyday.

Upshaw handles the challenging vocal part, which involves as much guttural moaning and speech as it does actual singing. Her performance serves both as an internal dialog and a parallel process to the violin part. It’s truly an amazing performance that only confirms her status as the most important American vocal artist working today. This is one of two major performances she will make in L.A. this season and her appearances in Saariaho's La passion de Simone (also in a Peter Sellars staging) in January come very highly recommended based on my previous exposure to it in London. Nuttall has far less theatrical business to attend to, which is a blessing considering the demands of his own part which require three separate instruments tuned to different specifications. His performance may not involved as much housework, but it is equally cathartic, and the interaction between these two artists was formidable. There was also a video component to the staging, which consisted mostly of projected translations and a handful of photographs mostly of people. As envisioned in this revival, these artists clearly do see Kurtág's momentous cycle as a celebration of a normal life extraordinarily lived. Or at least I think so. It would probably take many more listenings to be sure, which if I had the chance to, I would certainly do.

Labels: Dawn Upshaw, LA Philharmonic 08/09