Word: kirchners
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American Composer Leon Kirchner, 58, began the work, based on Saul Bellow's novel Henderson the Rain King, 18 years ago and finished it just before its première last week at the New York City Opera. The rather surprising title -the name of Henderson's second wife -came about because United Artists owns the rights to Bellow's title, and Kirchner feared a lawsuit. That is one problem avoided, but only...
Pristine Chants. Lily is a brilliant flop. A professor at Harvard and a 1967 Pulitzer Prize winner, Kirchner concedes the opera's transparent comment on American intervention abroad. In fact, he once considered (and wisely reconsidered) calling it Why We Were in Viet Nam. What he has produced, however, is a 91-minute, one-act work in which Henderson simply fails to come alive as an operatic hero. Possibly he is too rambling, too widely split a character to be captured in the broad terms that opera thrives on. Certainly Kirchner, who conducted the première, has come...
...WCRB in the 4-day period. These recording are not available at the Coop, Strawberries, or any other record dealer in or outside of Cambridge. They are the exclusive property of the orchestra (non-commercially released) and range from works by des Prez through Mahler, up to and beyond Kirchner. Stereo buffs would be wise to ready their tape recorders and stock up on tape for the 96-hour shindig, a unique opportunity to close out any near-completed sets. A list of these "historical performances" available for broadcast on-request is contained in the same catalogue as the premium...
...performance of Leon Kirchner's 1960 Concerto for Violin, Cello, 10 winds, and percussion which followed, also carried this sense of motion and drive. Kirchner, in comments on this work, has emphasized the extent to which he has retained roots in music like the Back, rather than concentrating only on the "nowness" of modern music. The Concerto reflects this concern, as Kirchner writes in the modern idiom, but with warmth and not numbing austerity. On Tuesday night, the brass and percussion were especially noteworthy; the former carrying out their role as an antiphonal block, the latter as understated punctuation. Lawrence...
...Kirchner, conducting the piece, largely succeeded in drawing out important lines and contrasting dynamics; his diminuendo in the final cadence, though, was inexplicable and seemed out of context. But all in all, a successful conclusion to a productive season of good music...