REVIEW: The Knights, in Weimar, With a Pipa
Above, The Knights. Photo by Fadi Kheir.
by David Wolfson
February 29, 2024
My previous experiences with the Brooklyn-based chamber orchestra The Knights have led me to expect to leave the concert having been absolutely ecstatic throughout. This performance, in which they contributed to Carnegie Hall's ongoing festival "Fall of the Weimar Republic: Dancing on the Precipice," had both ecstatic and less-than-ecstatic moments.
I was less than ecstatic about the opening, Ravel's Le tombeau de Couperin, a piece I usually love. Jacobsen launched the orchestra right into tempos that probably were intended to emphasize the dance origins of the pieces, but instead felt too fast, or, in the case of the "Forlane," actually rushed. Principal oboist Gustav Highstein handled his heavily featured part fluidly, however, with the ubiquitous ornamentation feeling organic even at Jacobsen's pace.
(And I sorely missed conductor Eric Jacobsen's usual effusive welcome. One wonders whether this and the Weill on the second half, which also got no introduction, were somehow imposed on The Knights by Carnegie Hall; or whether Jacobsen felt the festival itself was providing enough context; or felt himself unequal to the task for some reason. In any case, the usual sense that this was as much a party as a concert was lacking.)
The evening's highlight was also its big-ticket item, the world premiere of Ears of the Book, a concerto for pipa and orchestra by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Du Yun, written for the pipa's most visible ambassador, Wu Man. Divided into ten continuous movements called "Polaroids," the piece purports to depict "moments frozen in time," with the pipa soloist as narrator.
Wu Man plays the pipa with The Knights. Photo by Fadi Kheir.
The pipa, for those who may not be familiar with it, is a traditional Chinese instrument in the guitar family. It's actually an ideal instrument for a concerto, as it's held upright with the fingerboard facing the audience; everything the performer does is in full view. It can generate wistful little bends, expressive tremolos, and violently percussive plucks; Du Yun and Man put it through all its usual paces and quite a few new ones.
Ears of the Book is beautifully paced and sonically inventive. The pipa has a couple of extended solos, first with traditional-sounding material to begin the piece, and then accompanied only by harp and percussion about two-thirds of the way through, but is playing nearly the whole time. The orchestra provides atmosphere sometimes, and sometimes climactic sound and fury. Grooves are hinted at, nearly coalesce, and disappear. The sense of narrative motion is irresistible. It's hard to say how much of the credit for that should go to the composer and how much to the soloist; in the end, the fusion of both created an indelible experience. (Ecstasy!)
Kurt Weill's Symphony No. 1 is pretty impressive for a twenty-one year old composer. It's a little overstuffed with ideas, and the fugal section at the end seems gratuitous. But it afforded plenty of contrast and juxtapositions for Jacobsen and the orchestra to sink their musical teeth into, and it was a lively enough ride.
The three short song arrangements that closed the concert felt more Knights-like. One was by Weill ("Alabama Song," from Mahagonny). The other two, Bob Dylan's "When the Ship Comes In" and Chico Buarque's "Geni e o Zepelim," were ostensibly modeled after Weill's "Pirate Jenny" from The Threepenny Opera.
Knights violinist Christina Courtin, also a vocalist and composer, provided arrangements for both the Weill and the Dylan, and performed vocals for both as well (joined by Knights flutist Alex Sopp for the Weill). The orchestral reinterpretation of the Dylan (originally just strummed guitar) felt over-ornate to me, but Courtin's vocalism paid lovely homage to Dylan's vocal style while not being trapped in it. The arrangement of "Alabama Song," with more to work from, was more successful, but the vocal performances, while perfectly adequate, were strangely lacking in theatricality for such a theatrical piece.
The Knights. Photo by Fadi Kheir.
The evening's other moment of ecstasy was the Buarque song, in an arrangement by Colin Jacobsen that featured Wu Man on pipa again, with the vocal performance by Latin Jazz legend Magos Herrera. Jacobsen's writing for The Knights reminds me of Duke Ellington's for his orchestra; imaginative, perfectly suited to the players' strengths and thus giving the impression of having been found in nature. And Herrera's performance was rich, layered, and full of drama, even to a listener who does not understand a word of Portuguese.
David Wolfson holds a PhD in composition from Rutgers University, and has taught at Rutgers University, Montclair State University and Hunter College. He is enjoying an eclectic career, having composed opera, musical theatre, touring children’s musicals, and incidental music for plays; choral music, band music, orchestral music, chamber music, art songs, and music for solo piano; comedy songs, cabaret songs and one memorable score for an amusement park big-headed-costumed-character show. You can find more information here.
