nothin “Rite” On Time | New Haven Independent

Rite” On Time

Spring brings with it birth, creation, change, and a sense of renewal. In Igor Stravinsky’s legendary work, Rite of Spring,” all such sentiments are undoubtedly present, but his creation is accompanied with the sublime horror and forceful sense of composition that only a master artist can summon. When it debuted in Paris 100 years ago, the piece spawned a riot, to boot.

What a pleasure then that our city could behold RiteNow: A Centennial Celebration of Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring”, a powerful tribute in which eight modern composers redendered the original piece in new form. with conducting by the graceful virtuoso Paola Bartolameolli, the same man who commissioned this updated wonder to begin with.

The performance took place at Woolsey Hall Sunday night. Click on the video for a sampling of the sounds from the rehearsal, as well as interviews with key participants.

Paolo Bortolameolli, a Yale 2013 School of Music graduate, originally commissioned the pieces (and raised $10,000 for the performance on Kickstarter). He conducted the 85-piece Zephyrus Project Orchestra at Sunday’s one-night-only performance of the eight pieces. (Read more about the Project and the backgrounds of the participants here.)

To the newcomer, classical music such as Stravinsky’s might seem intimidating and unfamiliar. But after a few moments in Woolsey Hall Sunday night, as the atmosphere started to build, you realized that this is where you belonged.

This realization was further driven home when one of the eight composers, Matthew Welch, marched through the darkness to the stage as, accompanied by most of the orchestra, he fearlessly played bagpipes with green glow sticks dangling from them.

Beginning a show this way held all the promise of a grand evening. And it delivered.

Having interviewed all but one of the eight composers the day before the performance (I’d catch the Elusive One later on the day of the show) while
in the midst of rehearsal, I saw that that the styles of the young artists were as honed as they were original. No single composer’s answers came anywhere close to matching the others’ when asked about what drew them to Rite of Spring.” This heightened the diverse splendor of the event eight-fold.

The event’s co-producer, Justin Tierney, remarked that music from the same era as Rite of Spring” often can sound dated,” but that the asymmetrical rhythms of Stravinsky’s work, among other qualities, keep it eternally fresh” and by its prolific legacy immune to the rusting process of time. When Tierney’s dual works NYSA I & II” flowed from the talented fingers and breaths of the Zephyrus Project Orchestra, his understanding of the timeless nature of Stravinsky was well-realized. Tierney created two movements as his contribution to the production, motivated in part by his desire to make it mesh with his fellow composers’ works.

Solomon Weisbard’s dazzling and ever-morphing LED light backdrop was accompanied with shadowed, dendrite tree branches, producing an ephemerally bewitching, natural stage environment.

The darker components in Rite of Spring” spoke to composer Fay Wang when she created her piece, The Unbearable Roller Coaster of Being and Black Hole Burial.” Touching on the dramatic and crazy moments and gestures of music” in her life, Fay (the work’s title refers to the post-modern novel The Lightness of Being) sought to strike with the force of an erupting volcano” that gave no warning. Based on the looks on the faces of the audience, her intended delivery and metaphor connected.

Paul Kerekes’ Summoning” cascaded through the air of Woolsey Hall like a phoenix infused with lightning. I swear at one point that I spied, just for
a second, Stravinsky himself upon the stage. The large chords that Mr. Kerekes greatly admired in Rite of Spring” seem to be something he has a
knack for as well.

Daniel Schlosberg’s A Brief Descent into the Eleven Circles of Igor Stravinsky” stunned with literal shouts from the green light-soaked and shockingly vocal Zephyrus Project Orchestra. The pounding, searing waves of raw rancor in the percussion balanced with the measured distance and proximity to Rite of Spring” climax together in a symphony of pure magic mixed with melodic ichor.

Gleb Kanasevich described himself as a decibel junkie” when I spoke with him during rehearsal; his skill burst through all the more with his Moment D’extase.” He saw the gloomier, quieter moments” in Rite of Spring” as particularly poignant; he captured them with a counterintuitive love of loudness. As a man who never worked much with orchestras before RiteNow, Kanasevich definitely may want to look into doing it again soon. The world definitely deserves to hear more of this fellow in command of a full-sized crew.

The eager audience in Woolsey Hall the night of the performance was spellbound by each new delivery from the eight different interpretations of Rite of Spring.” When Rite of Spring” itself got its time in the second half, it all came together as perfectly as past and present could.

If he were alive today to witness this performance in New Haven, Igor Stravinsky would probably be more than proud. He would be flattered — and maybe even inspired.

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