SACKS?CO. c New flock T;im es October 11, 2010 A Meandering Thread Becomes James Joyce Lion Bootein liken In little eyebrows with the thematic po- groms he presents with the American Symphony Orchestra and at a glance the subject of the orchestra's season ALLAN opener at Carnegie Ilan Kellum on Wednesday evening, an James Joyce, may seem slightly quirky, since music anyone of the three woks Mr. Holstein dueled node use of Joyce's writ mg. But a musich pulse and sym- metry of lee work, and his way of reconfiguring the Eng- lish language has something in common, conceptually. with the Wily contemporary COMpOSerS have treated notes, rhythms and timbres. That may explain why works like 'Illysses,"Flimegaits Wake' and 'Chamber Music" have inspired composers of num). stripes. includum John Cage, Ste- phen Albert, Nils Vigeland, Vic- toria Bond and Libby Larsen. Some of their works could have enlivenrd Mr. floistein's program considerably, hot he 111141 some- thing dillerem in mind. He de- voted the hest halt to two com- posers whose music Joyce knew and admired. George Anthed and 0thmar Se twee k. and the second tail to Mats-as Sealer's "Ulysses' (1944 an introspect lee, slightly dour setting of a fragment of Chapter 17 of Joyce's novel. Sciber's dark, solledged or- cbewtratxm suits the test. tin ob- scure astronomical discussunt between Leopold Bloom and Ste- phen Dm-talus: the most interest- ing atom. melodically and har- monically. aeon In the often in- volved, shimmering choral writ. nig. Christian Reinert sang the solo tenor luxe in the calm, melt thirst manner that Joyce's hyp- notic text stems to demand. The Seder proved ohne thought ponoking II11111 exciting That could also be saki of OI lunar Schoeck's • Lebendig liegratwn" (1926), a creepy 40-minute set- ting of Gottfried Keller's cycle of ;gleam al a being buried alive. Joyce heard the work during a visit to 'larch in 1935 and liked it so much that he sought out the composer. There is much to admire in SchoeckX nth orciwstml minting. which skins tonality without do- 01K into harshness, evokes the otherworldly state between life 427 west fourteenth street new york, ny 10014 I • 11"t1,to., American *mpbony Orchestra Christian Reinert. tenor, oolong Sober '• •Uljrws' or COmepe. and death, and follows Keber's poetry in creating a state of won- der. rather than terror. Schoeck's vocal writing is less phasing: much of it Is talky rind shapeless, and it M often swamped by the string and woodwind scoring. Sohn Hancock. the baritone solo- ist was seriously underpowered and only nicely piper red the text. Presumably the porton I% arise that so Impressed Joyce was better balanced. Amheirs strongest connection to Joyce's work was his plan to wine a "Ulysses" wet a. a project Joyce endorsed. Hui the comps- et' seems to have written down only three bars of musk, and he was represented here by the •Balkt M(reankow* (1924),a porton oil the period when Anthell was pondering It •Ulys. sea' project. Mr. BotHein, using Anthell's comparatively spare 1953 rev,- von, led an ensemble of I pian- ists and I0 perrassionistl • inc ing ogle who used a Mac laptop, probably to prOdurr the oximis of the two airplane propellers called for in the score but no- where to be seen on taw stage. This as a piece that thriveson rhythmic intercomwordness, va- riety of timbre and rairpoMng changes of texture, and the vital performance by Mr. Bootein's musicians (augmented by per • tuononisis from New York tin wooly) was the evenings clear highlight. f I www.socksco.com EFTA01113078