Standing in a crowded lobby waiting for a concert to start earlier this evening, my right arm was gently nudged. I turned to see who had brushed past me, turned away -- and then turned around again, just to be sure that it had really been Mikhail Baryshnikov. Yup. No matter how long I've been in New York City, I continue to feel a little bit strange about those kinds of literal brushes with celebrity. (Part of me hopes I never get used to it.)
Of course, the odds of running into Baryshnikov tonight were far better than even, since the event in question was being held in a spacious rehearsal studio at the Baryshnikov Dance Foundation, housed in the 37 Arts complex on West 37th St. The first public shindig that the Foundation has hosted, tonight's event was the opening concert of a new series called "The Movado Hour," sponsored by the watchmaker and programmed by Baryshnikov's music director, pianist Pedja Muzijevic. The concerts, which start at 7pm, are all approximately an hour in length. And they're completely free of charge, which might make the trip out to very nearly Tenth Avenue more palatable to reluctant locals who know that the nearest subway stop is at least two long avenue blocks away. For you non-Gothamites, that's actually a pretty big distance on our habitual grid.
(I almost feel guilty, therefore, to confess that the venue is more or less literally across the street from the TONY offices. But hey, I have to schlep out here at least five days a week.)
The idea, according to Muzijevic, is to bring chamber music back into a smaller space of the sort for which it was originally intended. It's easy to sympathize, especially if you're used to dosing on chamber music in the numbing expanse of Alice Tully Hall. In fact, the Baryshnikov space was actually larger than it had been when I scoped it out a few weeks ago. Originally, the concert was to be held in just one of the two dance studios on the building's fourth floor, but given the initial response to this series, a wall was retracted and the space extended to both studios. Even so, we're still talking about a room with a capacity of 175 comfortably seated people.
The Brentano String Quartet inaugurated the new series with Franz Schubert's "Death and the Maiden" (which was duly announced in the press materials circulated a few weeks ago), prefaced by Anton Webern's Five Movements, Op. 5 (which wasn't). I wondered how the crowd would take to the Webern. Turns out I needn't have worried: In the hands of the Brentanos, this was heady romanticism, atomized. The quartet handled Webern's flinty surfaces and icy gusts with telling precision, but I can't remember hearing a more opulent take on the plusher passages. I don't think the group downplayed Webern's shock and awe; rather, when rendered by players equally mindful of what came before Webern and what followed, these mighty morsels simply sound like the rich classics they are. (In a sense, it was not unlike Levine's splendiferous BSO rendition of Ives's Three Places in New England at Carnegie Hall not so long ago.)
The Schubert quartet was gripping as well, and the audience hung on every note; you could literally have heard a pin drop between the expansive Allegro and exactingly characterized Andante. Not to push a dance metaphor too far, but first violinist Mark Steinberg often came off as an effortless primo backed by a supportive corps. The dynamic contrasts in the Scherzo especially benefitted from the room's clear acoustics -- fortes pushed you back in your seat, while pianissimos sucked you in. The Presto's hair-raising gallop capped a thoroughly dramatic performance.
Given the overall rosy tone so far, I should maybe mention my few kvetches. Two were of the unavoidable sort: a constant hum from the ventilation system, which was easily enough ignored, and the inevitable police sirens that regularly punctuate the pulse of Tenth Avenue. But I also couldn't see any real point in the quartet leaving the "stage" between pieces -- a stuffy, distancing gesture. It would have been far more natural had the players basked in the crowd's adulation for as long as they saw fit, then simply sat down and tuned up for the next piece right then and there.
Still, those are miniscule caveats, and they seem pretty petty in the context of an overall winning experience. The space was comfortable and sounded good. The complimentary champagne, wine, sparkling water and seriously sexy hors d'oeuvres were a classy touch. And the musicians -- in addition to whatever they were paid to play -- received complimentary Movado watches, we were told.
Two more "Movado Hour" concerts are scheduled in the coming weeks: On Monday, December 5, the St. Lawrence String Quartet plays Mozart and Ravel, and on Tuesday, December 13, Muzijevic plays Hummel solo, then serves up Schubert with violinist Jennifer Frautschi. (I'll miss the first of those for An American Tragedy, but plan to catch the second.) As I mentioned before, the concerts are free, but reservations are required. To grab a seat for either or both, call 212-218-7540.
Playlist:
Dimmu Borgir - Stormblåst (Nuclear Blast; 2005 rerecording)
George Rochberg - Symphony No. 2; Imago Mundi - Saarbrücken Radio Symphony Orchestra/Christopher Lyndon-Gee (Naxos)
Philip Glass - Symphony No. 6, "Plutonian Ode" - Lauren Flanigan, Bruckner Orchester Linz/Dennis Russell Davies (Orange Mountain)
Benjamin Britten - Les Illuminations; Serenade*; Nocturne - Ian Bostridge; Radek Baborák*; Berlin Philharmonic/Simon Rattle (EMI Classics)
Antonio Vivaldi - Gloria; Johann Sebastian Bach - Magnificat - Boston Baroque/Martin Pearlman (Telarc)
Kayo Dot - Dowsing Anemone with Copper Tongue (Robotic Empire)
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