March 9–16, 2000

music

Review

Color composer: Oliver Knussen.

Hear the Rainbow

Philadelphia Orchestra, Oliver Knussen: conductor, Peter Serkin: piano, Academy of Music, Feb. 26

Although he did not specifically address the subject in his demurely witty remarks during the concert, Oliver Knussen’s program with the Philadelphia Orchestra was all about color. Had he used the standard Rimsky-Korsakov orchestration of Mussorgsky’s "Night on Bald Mountain," this may not have been the case. But Knussen chose the flamboyant Stokowski version (which also appears in the original Fantasia), with its brilliant, kaleidoscopic score, clearly influenced by early Stravinsky. And the English conductor, with his meticulous and alert manner, put a premium on the brighter side of a tone poem better known as a somber and bottom-heavy work.

Bookending the intermission were two works by the late Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu, receiving their Philadelphia Orchestra premieres. Written for Peter Serkin in 1984, "riverrun" is separated from "Asterism" by 16 years and an era of sometimes violent stylistic shifts in the world of art. The former is a quiet explosion of soft, deftly shaded color, assembled with exquisite craftsmanship. The latter has the bristling energy and sheer noise volume that reflects the 1968 vintage of the composition, but also revels in shimmering, carefully organized layers of sonority. In both works, but especially in "riverrun," Serkin demonstrated a precision in forming timbral and coloristic distinctions that rewarded careful listening and seemed utterly in tune with the composer’s vision.

Knussen’s own music also leans toward the brighter side of the orchestral palette, as befits music for a children’s opera. "The Way to Castle Yonder" is a suite of interludes from the opera Higglety Pigglety Pop!, with librettos by Maurice Sendak. This atmospheric, polychromatic material is children’s music with a bit of an edge, but what could be more appropriate for the dark-hued stories and drawings of Sendak?

The concert closed with a work from the ultimate color-obsessed composer, Scriabin, who claimed that he saw specific colors for each individual note. Ironically, "Poem of Ecstasy," even with Knussen and the orchestra’s ardent reading, proved to be the least brilliant music of the evening, as compared to the more delicate, coloristically varied music of Mussorgsky/ Stokowski, Knussen and especially Takemitsu. The lush, late romantic vision of Scriabin is always compelling, but sounded muddy and amorphous in this company.