Word: concertos
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They opened the night with a fun dance called "Concerto inF." choreographed by Billy Wilson with music by George Gershwin. Though music by George Gershwin. Thoush somewhat reminiscent of the dance seenes in West Side Story. "Concerto in F" merges the abstract with the thematic. It captures the feeling of deadly confrontation, speed, flight and emergency. Pairs, trios and groups run on and off stage turning and leaping with immaculate sharpness...
...entire group in unison begins to wriggle, writhe and shake. Then in a mutlisecond switch they are standing stiff as boards. These fast movements continue--appearing like a video set at high speed--until one can not absorb any more. Then the choreography slows down, even as Gerhwin's concerto continues to roll...
...ONLY PROBLEM in this electrifying piece is timing: a few groups of dancers could not synchronize their arm movements and steps. Otherwise, "Concerto in F" is quite overwhelming...
Gubaidulina's Offertorium (1979-80) uses the theme of Bach's Musical Offering as the takeoff point for a complex violin concerto that lasts about 35 minutes. Atonal passages mingle freely with tonal ones as the theme is atomized and then reconstructed in reverse; the modern orchestrational device of flutter-tonguing for flutes and brass is complemented by traditionally virtuosic writing for the solo violinist. Gubaidulina, 53, also evokes her Russian predecessors Stravinsky and Prokofiev, most strikingly in a passage of glissandi string harmonics that recalls The Firebird. By Western standards, Offertorium may be tame, but given the governmental restrictions...
Picker's Keys to the City, his second piano concerto, is a sometimes freewheeling portrait of the great bridge, most effective when brimming with the high spirits of Brooklynites George Gershwin and Aaron Copland. Unfortunately, though, the bonhomie is only intermittent. Despite delightful incongruities, like a six-note boogie-woogie that unexpectedly breaks out of some dense noodling, too often the piece is aimless and unfocused when it should be straightforwardly celebratory. At 30, Picker has compiled an impressive list of awards and commissions and has written other large-scale works, including a symphony and a violin concerto. What...