The Rite of Spring

Tonight we went to the Yale Philharmonia's performance of Igor Stravinsky's Rite of Spring at the incomparable Woolsey Hall. It was quite possibly the best live performance I have ever been to, not just for the skill of the instrumentalists, but also the magnitude of the piece. (And it didn't hurt that we've been living and breathing the Rite over the past few weeks. I think the preparation and anticipation made the performance that much better.)  All I could think afterwards was, "Now THAT's how you use an orchestra!"

Is it perhaps my new favorite piece? Maybe. Would I go see it again any chance I get? Definitely!

It was such a real joy to go to the concert with the kids, too. After all the fantastic work they did getting excited about the Rite with our lessons and activities, the night out was a real treat. They all seemed to have loved it, and we were all quite literally on the edges of our seats! We were all tracking the ballet in our minds, cringing, for instance, when the Chosen One fell outside the circle for the second time or began her dance to the death!

The orchestra was great, and now when I listen to my recording of The Rite of Spring, I am sure to hear more nuances than before. We all loved the woman who played the principal timpani, she had such poise and energy. (There was quite a percussion section, including 10 timpani, a bass drum, a gong, cymbals, and a number of small instruments.) And the bassoon soloist nailed the beginning of the piece!

Fortunately there was no riot like at the 1913 premier. But there was a well-deserved ten minute standing ovation!

Congratulations, Yale Philharmonia, on a job well-done!

Writing The Rite

Putting together lessons on The Rite of Spring for the kids recently has gotten me really interested (OK, read "obsessed") with The Rite. Not just as a piece of music, as we will hear tomorrow at the concert, but as an event, a performance, a ballet, a turning point, a masterpiece . . . but most of all, as a work of art that has inspired many for the past 100 years.

Having access to Yale's vast collections is one of the benefits of working for the University, so I picked up a few tomes for light reading. In case you find yourself in the mood to learn more about The Rite of Spring, these should get you started:

• Avatar of Modernity: The Rite of Spring Reconsidered (2013) is an anthology of essays published just this year in celebration of the centenary of The Rite of Spring. It brings together experts from numerous fields with new scholarly writings. I think I am going to tackle this bad boy first!
• Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring (2000) by Peter Hill "provides a comprehensive guide to the work, telling in vivid detail the story of its inception and composition, of the stormy rehearsals which lad to the scandalous premiere on 29 May 1913." I'll take the cover's word for it as I have not yet started reading this volume.
• Nijinsky's Crime Against Grace: Reconstruction Score of the Original Choreography for Le Sacre du Printemps (1996) presents Millicent Hodson's research into the original Nijinsky choreography, which was lost following the ballet's premier. Her research was used in 1987 to stage the ballet with the original choreography for the first time in more than 70 years. The preface of the book is a good scholarly essay in and of itself.
• Stravinsky in the Theatre (1949) has several chapters which discuss The Rite of Spring.
• Since I am sometimes a dork and enjoy looking at the music while listening to recordings, I also checked out the full orchestral score of The Rite of Spring. The version I have was published by Boosey & Hawkes in 1997 based on the 1967 re-engraved edition of Stravinsky's 1947 revisions. (Say that 10 times fast!)

In the mean time, less than 24 hours until we hear The Rite of Spring live! Can you tell that I am excited?

The Rite Stuff - Lesson 5 - Interpretations

Introduction [15 min]

In the 100 years since it premiered, The Rite of Spring has inspired many people to create new and interesting works of art or interpretations of the piece. Watch excerpts from the following interpretations:

• Disney’s Fantasia
• Animated Graphical Score by Stephen Malinowski
• Arranged for 4 pianos & percussion
• Promotional video for the London Symphony Orchestra
• Paul Julius choreography
• Pina Bausch choreography
• Tero Saarinen choreography
• NPR’s #ritenpr project

What do you think about what you just watched? Were some interpretations better than others? Which one did you enjoy most? Least?


Activity [30-45 min preparation; 5 min performance]

Work together as a team to select a movement from The Rite of Spring and choreograph your own production. Use all you have learned as you consider the choreography, set design, and costumes, and how they relate to the story and the music. Perform the piece for your audience.

Results

We had to modify our activity for the evening as Luana sprained her ankle earlier today. We joked that she might actually die if she tried to dance the final dance of the Chosen One with a sprained ankle!

However, it sounds like the kids are excited to put on their own choreography at a later time, complete with costumes etc. I will be sure to post another update when they do!

In the mean time, I thought I would put up the kids' favorite Rite interpretation, below. (They also enjoyed the dinosaurs from Fantasia.)

[Note: I sometimes enjoy reading music while listening to music, so I absolutely love these graphical scores. The same author has uploaded many different classical pieces, just click around YouTube to find them. They are fascinating to watch!]

The Rite Stuff - Lesson 4 - Setting the Stage

Introduction [10 min]

The set and costumes for The Rite of Spring were designed by Russian philosopher, archeologist, and artist Nicholas Roerich.

• Sketches
• Original costumes: 1, 2, 3
• Reproduced costumes: 1, 2

Discuss the importance of set and costume design in setting the mood and tone for stage performances such as ballet, theatre, or musicals. How might different costumes or sets change the way a piece is interpreted by the audience? Is there room for directors, set designers, costume designers, and choreographers to re-interpret the performance of the original ballet?

Activity [30 min]

Imagine you are a designer for a modern-day production of The Rite of Spring. Make a sketch for one of the stage backdrops you might use. Then, using a fashion-design underlay, sketch your own costumes for the characters in the ballet. Share your work with the group.

Results

In order to aid with our inspiration, we decided to listen to a recording of The Rite of Spring while we were drawing and designing.

Brayan (age 8) designed a forceful backdrop which shows the sun as well as the dark purple of the evening all in one. His costume designs are rendered in vibrant oranges in bold patterns. The male dancer's headband and the female dancer's braids are primitive in nature, taking inspiration from the revival performance of the ballet we watched previously. Brayan could easily grow up to be a fashion designer--his style is immaculate...and those shoes! Do you see the designer shoes on her feet!?

Luana (age 9) was inspired by the geometric patterns embroidered on the original costumes from the 1913 ballet when she drew her backdrop, a pattern of shining stars, circles, and triangles (inspired by the hats from 1913). The costume design, while paying homage to the "primitive" 1913 costumes, have lines, patterns, and colors all her own. I love the palette she chose. The seemingly opposing colors of the male and female dancers are all brought together in the backdrop. The female dancer's long beaded hair is really something! 

Lucas (age 11) suggested the ballet's theme of sacrifice quite forcefully in the design of his backdrop, which illustrates a giant hand descending from the clouds lowering a helpless maiden toward an infernal sun. His costumes are a study in contrast, with somewhat bulky male clothes in opposition to the tight dress on the female dancer. And I think she might be wearing fishnet stockings. I love their crazy hair!

I also tried my hand at a set and costume design. I was going for a bit of a minimal theme in the backdrop, so layers of spring greens fill the stage. Subtle orange and blue lines play off the predominantly blue and orange costumes of the dancers, which were intended to be minimal in cut and line, but with spring-like accessories. Both male and female dancers have vines around their legs and are wearing laurel crowns to welcome the spring.

The Rite Stuff - Lesson 3 - The Riot at the Rite

Introduction [15-20 min]

The audience’s reaction to the premier of The Rite of Spring is legendary. Watch an excerpt from the BBC movie Riot at the Rite [45:15 - 1:25:16 documents the entire ballet and the audience reaction; clicking through a few parts should be sufficient for the lesson; note if you are showing the video to children, be aware that there are some scenes, mostly outside this time range, which show aspects of the homoerotic relationship between Diaghilev and Nijinsky, however, there is a kiss backstage at the conclusion of the ballet at 1:23:32]. Now read from the 1913 article published in the New York Times, “Parisians Hiss New Ballet.” Then listen to an excerpt from Radiolab’s “Musical Language” [+/- 32:00 - 35:00] and then consider the following questions:

• Why do you think the audience responded in the way they did? [Conductor Michael Tilson Thomas of the San Francisco Symphony tells us that the audience would have been “expecting to see something bright, colorful, exotic, with lots of leaping, lots of diaphanous costumes that would give you occasional lovely glimpses of gorgeous anatomy. That's not what they got. They got a very dark piece with people mostly moving on the floor, even writhing on the floor. They were all wearing very dark costumes that looked like animal skins and they had very puffy sleeves and hats and very odd, strange movements that they made — very angular, funny movements. And, of course, there was a score, which was at that time being very courageously played, but which must have been right on the edges of what was comprehensible to the musicians and the public."]
• Compare your knowledge of The Rite of Spring to images of other ballets that preceded it, like Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, Don Quixote, and Les Sylphides. What differences do you notice?

Activity [15-20 min]

Discuss what a critic is. Pretend you are a music critic having just seen a performance of The Rite of Spring ballet for the first time today. What would you tell others about the ballet? Write your own short review of The Rite of Spring and then share your review with the group. You may want to touch on your reactions to the music, the choreography, the scenery, the costumes, the dancers, and the story-line. Be sure to come up with a catchy newspaper headline for your piece!

Results

We had another really successful lesson and the kiddos were able to understand, even just based on their own preconceptions of ballet, why the audience might have reacted in the way they did. And they did a really great job on their reviews! I am so proud of them.

I have transcribed their awesome articles from kid-ese below.


Brayan (age 8):



The music was very wise. It was a huge piece of art. It was lovely. The dancers were a little rough at the second piece. It seemed like everything was blooming. The piece of music seemed like it was floating. The music was strong. In part two [it was] a little freaky [and] at the end [it] was nice [and] low.

SHATTERING GLASS
[Brayan said he put the title at the end of the review because the end of The Rite of Spring sounds like shattering glass, and so he wanted the title at the end of the review. Notice also the stage curtain surrounding the title.]


Luana (age 9):

THEY THOUGHT IT WAS ONE THING BUT IT WAS ANOTHER

I loved The Rite of Spring. There was lots of people there. In the beginning of the music it was nice and calm, the music was loud. I really enjoyed the ballet but there were some people that did not like it. They thought the ballet would be like pretty people dancing with tutus and high jumps but it was something totally different. It was unique. People don't usually see that kind of stuff.

Well I enjoyed The Rite of Spring because if you really thought about it and saw all the little parts and interesting things that there were I think you might enjoy it too.

The setting was nice for the background of Act 1. [It] was tall, bumpy, dark mountains. There was Act 2 and Act 1. They were totally different from each other. Act 1 was bright and sunny, Act 2 was sad [and] dark. All the costumes sort of looked the same.

I hope you enjoy when you go see it.

Lucas (age 11):

HUMANS THAT WEREN'T THERE, LISTEN

The music started out friendly. But after a couple of minutes it was scary and was that way through most of the ballet. There was loud low pitches that made you want to lower the music.

I could see how the music went well with the story. I understood that at the end when the girl was dancing she was tired and wanted to give up.

The costumes didn't look normal at all. The boys had tall orange hats, and some of the actors had animal skins on their backs. Their dresses and robes were long and loose. Long enough to trap air inside when the girls twirled around.

The stage looked like they were in a forest with a mountain. The mountain had a little bit of snow at the bottom so that kind of gave me a clue that winter was just about over and the people were celebrating spring.

The dancers sure had interesting moves. They were excited and put lots of effort into their stomps. They jumped very high and looked like their faces were petrified!

The Rite Stuff - Lesson 2 - The Story of the Rite

Introduction [10 min]

Now often performed as a stand-alone piece of orchestral music, The Rite of Spring was written by Igor Stravinsky as a ballet. It was first performed by the Ballets Russes in Paris under the direction of Sergei Diaghilev with choreography by the famous Russian dancer Vaslav Nijinsky. Discuss the following topics as a group:

• What is a ballet?
• What is a “Rite”?
• The piece was originally known as The Consecration of Spring. What does “Consecration” mean?
• What does “Spring” usually remind you of? How might the concept of “Spring” relate to the story of The Rite of Spring?
• The subtitle of The Rite of Spring is “Pictures of Pagan Russia in Two Parts.” What does “Pagan” mean?

Using the above questions as a framework, describe the basic plot premise of The Rite of Spring, in which pagan tribes celebrate the renewal of the earth in a ceremony in which a young maiden is chosen as a sacrifice to please the god of spring.


Activity [30 min]

Watch excerpts of the original ballet choreography, which was revived by the Joffrey Ballet in the 1980s. Pay special attention to the relationships between the music, the choreography, the costumes, and the scenery. At the end, share your thoughts about the ballet with the group. Did the ballet effectively tell a compelling story without the use of words?

Part 1: The Adoration of the Earth

• Introduction [0:00] - Instrumental
• The Augurs of Spring [3:00] - Spring is celebrated as an old woman tells the future
• Ritual of Abduction [6:08] - Tribal dance
• Spring Rounds [7:30] - Tribal dance
• Ritual of the Rival Tribes [11:14] - Tribal dance
• Procession of the Sage [13:03] - The old Sage enters and blesses the earth
• Dance of the Earth [14:08] - The tribes dance to celebrate the earth

Part 2: The Sacrifice

• Introduction [15:22] - Instrumental
• Mystic Circles of the Young Girls [15:50] - The girls dance in circles to select the Chosen One
• Glorification of the Chosen One [18:30] - The girls dance around the Chosen One
• Evocation of the Ancestors [20:30] - The ancestors are summoned by the girls
• Ritual Action of the Ancestors [21:05] - The ancestors dance around the Chosen One
• Sacrificial Dance [24:24] - The Chosen One springs to life and dances herself to death

Results

Before we watched the video of the performance, we had a lively discussion about ballets, rites, and pagan ceremonies.

When asked what a ballet was, Luana said, "it's dancing like this," as she put her hands in a circle above her head. Lucas added that the dancers wear tutus. We decided that a ballet was a dance that told a story without any words like a play or musical might have. I asked them to remember their preconceptions about ballets and see whether The Rite of Spring was what they expected.

We also talked about the plot of the ballet and how some "pagan" religions believed in offering sacrifices to their god(s) at different times of year to ensure a fruitful season. So as not to disturb the younger kids too much, I did soften the concept of the human sacrifice. Basically, we talked about how the Chosen One, once selected, would dance in a frenzy until she collapsed and died of exhaustion. Some of them were concerned that this might be a true story, and we reassured them that it was a fictional story and a piece of art to enjoy.

In the end, the kids really loved watching the ballet. Afterwards they described the story-line as "creepy-cool." One of them came to me later, clearly having thought about the ballet some more afterwards, and said, "you know, that was really disturbing." Luana was super-psyched about the whole thing and is actually watching the ballet again as I write this.

The kids were particularly taken by the Sacrificial Dance of the Chosen One in the last few minutes of the ballet. After the video finished, they were inspired to jump around the kitchen re-enacting the many leaps of the Chosen One (below right). They also joined hands and stood up on their tippy-toes in a recreation of the groups of dancers in the Spring Rounds (below left).

The Rite has even had an impact on their play. This afternoon I walked over to their setup to find the Disney princesses re-enacting the selection of the Chosen One. I never thought I would be so proud to overhear one of my children say (and with such glee), "they're deciding which one of them is going to die!"

The Rite Stuff - Lesson 1 - Listening for the First Time

Introduction [2 min]

Provide only a brief introduction to the piece so as not to influence the activity with preconceived ideas:

The Rite of Spring is a piece of music written by Russian composer Igor Stravinsky. It was first performed in Paris in May of 2013 and is now more than 100 years old.


Activity [35-40 min]

Gather art and craft supplies. Listen to The Rite of Spring using it as inspiration for creating a single piece of artwork or a series of “scenes.” When the music is over, tell the group about your artwork and describe how you felt while listening to the piece.

Results

Though I was a bit nervous before we started about holding the kids' attention for the half-hour-long piece, our first lesson was a real success. The kids enjoyed the Rite, and the artwork kept them focused for the duration. At the end, they were even begging for the next lesson! I was really proud of them.

The artwork the kids produced was great. We asked them to really listen to the piece and be inspired by it, not just draw something preconceived. Listening to the descriptions of their own artwork, it was clear that they took the assignment seriously.

Brayan (age 8) produced several pieces:

His first shows a wizard with a magic staff. There are raindrops on at the top of the page. The zig-zag lines and spirals are his visual representation of some of the repetitive elements of the piece.

Part of the piece reminded him of a ship in a storm. He drew the waves and sky rhythmically to the timing of the music.

His last drawing shows a conductor with a baton, in a frenzy of activity, conducting the Rite. (I love the stern expression on the conductor's face! And is that baton smoking!?) The footprints relate to one particularly heavy part of the piece with lots of drums. The little diagonal slashes on the lower left say "Pip, Yow, Pip, Yow," also inspired by the instrumentation of the piece.

Luana (age 9) also created a few different drawings:

During the mysterious beginning of the piece, she drew a woman laying in bed "giving birth." (Spring? Rebirth? There is some sort of deep and astute meaning that she picked up on in this one, I am sure.)

The next drawing presented the idea of different seasons during the different movements. From top to bottom she shows a lightning storm, gently falling snow, and then spring flowers.

Part of the piece reminded her of a party. This is a group of people dancing for Cinco de Mayo--notice the red and green decorations hanging from the ceiling. (She was particularly concerned that the gentleman on the right did not have a partner.)

Lucas (age 11) created only one drawing, but with many parts, layered on throughout the piece:

The concentric circles at the lower right represent that the piece builds on itself slowly to create something larger. The jagged lines and spirals represent different parts of the piece, both harsh and lyric. The red dots represent the end of the piece.

Kim and I also participated in the activity:

Kim layered up one drawing throughout the piece, with representation of drums and trumpets in particular. The staircases represent ascending melodies. And like Brayan, she used waves and footprints to represent different parts of the melodic and rhythmic elements of the piece.

My drawing is sort of visual map of the piece, though I was not super prescriptive about using particular shapes consistently throughout the drawing. It was more about the feeling of the piece as it developed. However, curves generally represent strings or woodwinds, angular forms are brass, and drums or heavy rhythmic themes are generally slashes or dashes. Where shapes and lines overlap, it represents the layered instrumentation of the piece. Many of the strokes were laid down in time to the music.

Overall, I was really happy with the way this lesson and activity turned out. I am really looking forward to our next lesson!

The Rite Stuff - Introduction

As the new school year gets underway in earnest and routines start to establish themselves for the academic year once again, we decided to add a few items to our typical repertoire of activities to get us out of the house. Each month we will participate as a family in at least one cultural activity and one outdoor activity. Kim is going to organize our outdoor activities, and I am really excited to be taking charge of the cultural ones.

This month we are going to hear a performance by the Yale Philharmonia of the music from Igor Stravinsky's ballet The Rite of Spring, which scandalized audiences when it premiered in Paris in 1913. A century later, the work and its composer are much more well-known and the music from the ballet continues to receive top billing at concerts around the world. And though the history of 20th century classical music has perhaps softened some of the edginess of the Rite, it is still . . . well . . . a bit strange to tell the truth.

When I was younger, my Dad and I used to lay on the living room floor with our eyes closed surrounded by all-encompassing classical music playing from the family sound system. (Records anyone?) We listened carefully, sometimes over and over again, inventing stories about the music. It was in this way that I was introduced to many classical pieces which I continue to love to this day: Copland's Appalachian Spring, Strauss' Blue Danube, Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, Pachelbel's Canon, Bach's Toccata & Fugue in D-minor. (Dad, if you are reading this, these are some of my favorite memories.)

This love of music set the stage for my own "discoveries" as an adult of composers Steve Reich, John Adams, Edgar Meyer, Kevin Volans. And now with plans to hear a performance of The Rite of Spring next week, I fear I am only just now "discovering" Stravinsky and his Rite. (Regrets to Fantasia's dinosaur skit.)

Though there are times when simply immersing one's self in music is enough to elicit instant love-at-first-listen, I have found that, in general, I appreciate and enjoy classical music more when I understand a little more about the story surrounding the piece and its history. I find this true of 20th century classical music in general, and especially with more complex and storied pieces like Stravinsky's Rite of Spring.

I admit, I put the concert on our family calendar knowing simply that hearing a live performance of The Rite of Spring is a sort of rite of passage, if you'll excuse the pun. It was certainly not from a well-educated point of view that I listened to the entire piece from beginning to end for the first time only a few weeks ago to prepare myself. My reaction, perhaps like that of the Paris audience a century ago, was visceral. The haunting melodies that surge and emerge. The beat. The dissonance. I was intrigued by its strangeness.

Since then I have listened to the piece all the way through a number of times and to excerpts of the piece even more. I have also watched a performance of the original ballet choreography, which was lost for decades but revived in the 1980s after much research by the Joffrey Ballet (available on YouTube). In fact, watching the ballet instead of just hearing the music helped me appreciate the piece in a new way. Each time I hear the piece, I love it even more. It is beautiful in a terrifying way.

Because the work is so complex and unusual--and because I wanted my children to be able to truly enjoy the concert too--I worried that maintaining focus and interest at the concert hall next week would be too much to expect of them if they were not exposed to the piece ahead of time. Therefore, over the past few weeks I have been preparing a number of lessons and activities to introduce them to the piece and its history. We had our first lesson last night and it was a smashing success. Over the next few days, I intend to post my lesson outlines, as well as the products of each activity, so stay tuned!

Inhotim

Last Sunday before leaving Belo Horizonte, we took a day trip to Inhotim, a stunning garden and contemporary art center about and hour-and-a-half away from the center of BH ("bay-aGAH") in the campo of Minas Gerais. The immaculate and extensive grounds house 17 gallery situated pavilions among lakes, lawns, and spectacular tropical landscaping.

I enjoyed the art to be sure. There was the Forty Part Motet, probably my favorite piece, which put a classical piece of music written in the 16th century for 40 voices in 40 different speakers arranged throughout a large room. It was pretty neat to walk around the room and be able to listen to each individual voice, then step to the center and hear the piece move back and forth all around you. Then there was Através, a study in barriers and transparency, where you walked around on broken glass--but only if you were not wearing sandals! And Celacanto Provoca Maremoto, a larger-than life version of traditional Portuguese azulejos, which I loved because it seemed so very Brazilian to me. Perhaps the most architectural of the art pieces was Invenção da cor, Penetrável Magic Square # 5, De Luxe, which was very much in the spirit of Latin American architecture, including the work of Mexican Modernist Luis Barragán.

But as an architect, I was also taken by the design of some of the galleries in the great spirit and legacy of Brazilian Modernism and the Burle-Marx-esque landscaping. It was really a spectacular day and a great visit to a stunning location.

Caught in the act! The architect taking pictures of an infinity-edge pool!

The main reception pavilion across one of the several lakes. The mountains in the background were really lovely.

This was my favorite of the galleries architecturally speaking (though it also contained one of my favorite pieces too, the one of the giant azulejos).

You entered the gallery across a causeway of sorts though a deep-blue-gree reflecting pool with a thin infinity edge.

After entering underneath the cubic gallery and seeing the artwork in a large, windowless room, a long ramp leads up to the rooftop for a great view of the surrounding landscape...

...then you exit across a metal-mesh bridge out of the opposite side of the gallery from which you entered.

This pavilion was pretty cool, too, with a sinuous bridge a la classic Brazilian Modernism.

The lake in front of this gallery had a much different feel than the reflecting pool in front of the other gallery. The appearance was more natural, but knowing a bit about landscape architecture, even the most "natural" of planned landscapes are planned just the same.

The education center had a really awesome water garden on the roof, with a number of different planting areas including some grasses and, one of my favorite, papyrus.

We ate at this restaurant, which had a series of really cool movable sunshades along the perimeter.

Some of the varied landscape around the grounds, featuring lush tropical vegetation.

Even some of the plants were architectural! I stepped underneath this grove and looked up thinking it was like the fan vaults of some great cathedral.

This was perhaps the most architectural of the exterior artworks, with bright colors and bold shapes. Very Latin America.

The pathways were made of huge irregularly-shaped stone pavers. The grass areas and lawns were immaculate.

A photograph up into a great grove of eucalyptus trees. I really love eucalyptus trees, which remind me of South America. Eucalyptus is found in Curitiba, and also where I was in Peru in February.

I know the photo is blurry, but there is just something about the colors of the houses and the color of the light at sunset in South America. This was taken from the bus on the way back from Inhotim to Belo Horizonte.

Caution! Modern Forms May Abound!

Whenever I travel to Latin America, I feel right at home. There is just something about the people, the sunlight, the landscape, the cities . . . the buildings.

Yes, in case you had not already guessed from previous entries, I love Latin American architecture. I love the courtyards, the gates and fences, the colors, the tiles, the lush gardens, the concrete pile fences, the inside/outside living. I love that in Latin America more than anywhere else I have traveled, Modern architecture with the capital "M" is everywhere and is thriving. Where you can see Modern forms at work, having fun, living a little, stepping out of the box. Yeah, I love fun Modernism!

Brazil is a country that appreciates its Modern architecture, and they are proud of their architectural heritage, especially their own Oscar Niemeyer, last of the great living true-Modernists . . . communist, exile . . . visionary, artist . . . And I might consider him the epitome of the "fun" Modernists!

I am writing this post from Brazil, where I am with my family on month-long vacation. (I have promised them I will not turn the whole event into an architectural tour, but how can I help what I see when we're walking to the market!?) Our first stop is the city of Belo Horizonte, where Niemeyer did some of his early work, that is pre-Brasilia work. In the suburb of Pampulha, Niemeyer designed a number of buildings, including among other works the famous Chapel of São Francisco de Assis. Though a visit to Pampulha is not planned until we return to BH at the tail end of our trip (yes, that I had approval to set aside a day for on the itinerary!), I have already had the opportunity to see one of Niemeyer's residential apartments, the Edifício Niemeyer (1955), located downtown at the Praça da Liberdade.

The Edifício Niemeyer is characterized by its sinuous curved floors plates, giant concrete overhangs, tile work and ribbon window enclosure, and being lifted above the ground in true Modern fashion. It is at the same time very Modern, very Latin American, very Niemeyer, very Brazil.

We were looking for a supermarket, but found cool Modern architecture instead!

It reminds me a lot of a radiator . . . and of a model I once made in architecture school out of stacked paper.

The building sits on a sloped site, on a small triangular block. From the low-side of the site, the building really towers above the street.

A classic Modern detail: lifting the first occupied floor above the ground on columns--or in this case, concrete walls.

If you look closely, you can see the tile work on the exterior walls. I do not think any of the overhangs are balconies. Actually, now that I think about it, there may be 2 or 3 overhanging sunshades per level, which is a sort of visual trick to make the building look taller since you would normally expect them to just be an extension of a floor slab once at every level.

A view of the building from the plaza across the street. Yes, very Modern, very Niemeyer, very Brazil . . .

On another note, here are a few more shots from our walks around the city. The center of Belo Horizonte is actually quite compact, and we walked a significant amount to see what we could see. It has a great urban feel . . . although we have since learned that everything closes early on weekends, and almost all "touristy" things are closed on Mondays! Funny that our visit started on Saturday and we are leaving on Tuesday to fly to Curitiba!

A view along one of Belo Horizonte's main streets, Avenida Afonso Pena.

A view of the Palácio da Liberdade at the end of a palm-lined plaza. Actually, the Niemeyer building is just to the left of this building.

I have been instructed to include my family from time to time as I take pictures of architecture. It is actually a bit of a hard thing to do. I am so used to waiting until all the people leave the frame before I snap the shutter!

This was just a fun angle on a triangular building. Because of the angle of the view itself, it looked like a 25 story tall facade with nothing behind it! It was also an example of something that you never see in North America, but is really common down here: a skyscraper clad in tiles!

Oh, on the ride from the airport (which is a cool Modern building itself), we passed by the newly-consructed administrative center for the state of Minas Gerais, designed by Niemeyer. Very cool!

How Do You Get to Carnegie Hall?

Why, you buy tickets of course!

Since my previous post about Kevin Volans set the precedent to step out of the bounds of architecture and design into the realm of music, I thought it would be nice to write a little review of the concert I saw last Saturday at Carnegie Hall.

Last fall, my oldest daughter started taking flute at school and has since been expressing a desire to go to a classical concert. So when I found out a few weeks ago that the music of Steve Reich, one of the nations most famous living composers, was going to be performed at Carnegie Hall as part of the celebration of his 75th birthday, I thought it would be a great opportunity for a daddy-daughter date to celebrate her recent birthday!

After a trip down to New York on the train, a little walk around Midtown ("Wow, those buildings are tall, Pai!"), and a nutritious dinner at McDonald's (kids are so predictable!), we settled into our seats in the nosebleed balcony of the beautiful and famous Carnegie Hall. (Based on a lifetime of "practice, practice, practice" jokes about the Hall, it was a bit surreal to actually be sitting in it for the first time.)

The concert presented four of Reich's recent pieces, Mallet Quartet (2009, performed by So Percussion), WTC 9/11 (2011, performed by the Kronos Quartet), 2x5 (2008, performed by Bang on a Can All-Stars), and Double Sextet (2007, performed by Bang on a Can All-Stars and Eighth Blackbird). Mallet Quartet, WTC 9/11, and 2x5 were all being performed in their New York City premier, and Double Sextet was the piece for which Reich received the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2009.

The pieces were pure Reich and featured many of his signature elements. Like the use of pulsing rhythms and what seem to be his favorite instruments like the marimba, flute, and piano. Because I knew she had not heard music like this before, in order to prepare my daughter's ears and my own for the concert, I purchased a recording of Double Sextet and 2x5 (the other two pieces are not available on recordings yet). To tell you the truth, though, I did not even make it through the recordings in their entirety, I found the beginnings of the pieces a bit tedious and not at all my contenders to become my favorite Reich. Though I was excited about going to the concert with my daughter and to actually hear some of Reich's work in person, I was a bit hesitant about it because of what I heard in the recordings ahead of time.

But was I ever proven wrong! Saying you could understand a piece of music from a recording instead of a good live performance would be like saying you can understand all there is about a building from a rendering. It just doesn't work! I found myself leaning forward on the edge of my seat for every intensely bowed, banged, struck, or blown note. Even from as far away as we were, you could see the passion with which the musicians performed, making the performance even more outstanding. The pianists were especially amazing to watch--in a Reich piece, there is no rest for the weary!

Though I am no music critic, many of the pieces performed seemed more melodic than some of Reich's earlier work with which I am more familiar. It was refreshing to hear the pieces move and develop in this way, even though I did feel it never stepped too far away from things he has been talking about and doing for many years. In fact, in the concert program, Reich himself commented about Double Sextet that "It's the kind of piece you would have expected me to write 20 years ago; it's not what you generally expect from 70-year-olds."

The concert began with Mallet Quartet, which followed the three-movement slow-fast-slow format of a number of Reich's pieces. The two marimbas and two vibraphones work together in a back-and-forth characteristic of Reich. There were four instruments and four musicians. But each musician held two mallets in each hand! How can they even think that fast!?

WTC 9/11, a sort of musical tribute to the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, was the second piece to be performed. As with Reich's Different Trains piece about World War II, WTC 9/11 uses music to imitate recorded human speech. The speech gives the music its melody while the music gives the speech the overall mood, much like a soundtrack sets the mood for a movie. The piece is actually written for three string quartets and recorded voice. Two of the quartets were pre-recorded as was the speech, so only one part was presented live by the Kronos Quartet. Perhaps it was the recording, the sound system, our distance from the stage, or any number of other factors, but I really did not enjoy this piece--even though conceptually I really wanted to. I found the pre-recording of two of the quartets a bit disingenuous for a live performance. I had wanted to feel some sort of connection to it, as I have felt listening to a recording of Different Trains, but I was just not able to. I am sure much will be said and written about the piece, so I will leave it to others to say it much better than I would.

Following an intermission, 2x5 was performed by two groups of five musicians each. In total there were 2 pianos, 2 drum sets, 2 electric basses, and 4 electric guitars. It definitely had a "rock" sound to it, but was still very Reich. As with the Mallet Quartet, 2x5 followed a fast-slow-fast movement structure with no pause between movements. Although the super-high electric guitar squealing prevalent in the piece is not generally my thing, I found the piece to be fun and enjoyable and interesting insomuch as it is a bit of a departure from Reich's typical.

I think the program saved the best for last, and I can see why Reich won a prize for Double Sextet, a piece that seems to consolidate 50 years of his work into one coherent piece. In the same way that it could perhaps be criticized as very easily recognizable "haven't you done this before" Reich, perhaps that is also its strength. It is really a very melodic piece, and develops quite quickly over its 20 minute length when compared to other work Reich is famous for. As with a number of Reich's pieces in recent decades, Double Sextet was written for two identical groups of instrumentalists with the option of pre-recording one group to then be played with live. However, in the Carnegie Hall performance last week, all 12 parts (2 pianos, 2 vibraphones, 2 cellos, 2 violins, 2 clarinets, and 2 flutes) were played live. This live performance of all parts really added a depth and joyous intensity to the piece. I definitely do not think a performance where half of the parts were pre-recorded would have held the same interest or had the same power. The two pianists are totally my heroes, so intense was their performance! And my daughter loved the flute parts, which came to the surface several times to color the piece.

One funny thing I found while listening to the pieces being performed live at the concert was how one could begin to recognize when the pieces would end--not that I was wishing for that or anything! To the untrained ear, including mine the first time I listened to Reich, it would be easy to think his music is a lot of sameness. But, although there are many similar themes and Reich does seem to have a distinct "sound," as my composer friend told me on the day he introduced me to Music for 18 Musicians, with music like Reich's, it takes a longer time for themes and melodies to emerge, but they are still there. (Here is a link to a good piece about Music for 18 Musicians.) It was amazing to hear how those themes and melodic lines were present, and start looking for clues as to what would happen next. Usually near the end, the musicians got a little more intense (if that is even possible in a 20 minute piece of continuous pulsing!), the piece got a little bit louder, and then . . . silence . . . as the last note rung through the hall, and people hung at the edge of their seats.

Overall, it was a really great concert and I am so glad that I had the opportunity to go, especially with my lovely daughter. Apparently, based on the photo I saw on a review headline (linked above), Reich was in the audience that night and came up on stage at the end. We, however, left while the applause was still ringing through the hall in order to try to catch the train home and not have to wait another hour.

We missed it anyway!

If you are interested in learning more about Reich and his work, NPR has a couple of good resources, including his Music Artist Page, with links to many articles, interviews, and pieces; a review of the Carnegie Hall concert, including a video of Mallet Quartet (as of this writing, I have actually not read the review, since I did not want to cloud my comments with the comments of others); and an interview from a few days prior to the concert in which he talks about WTC 9/11. YouTube also has a number of interesting resources if you are interested in hearing some more Reich.