Assembling World Music

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The New York Sun

I have always found the modern Olympics to be an odd experience, and not just because they include ice dancing. Ostensibly designed to promote world peace and understanding, the point of each individual event is to quash your opponent. The classical music world fosters similarly unhealthy competition among instrumentalists at overheated festivals that award prizes, but as Pierre Boulez once said, “Music is not the Olympics.” Of course, when they come calling with a fat commission, then that’s a whole ‘nuther ballgame.


Philip Glass composed “Orion,” which was presented at Brooklyn Academy of Music on Tuesday evening, for the 2004 games in Athens. Well, “composed” might not be the proper word; rather, he assembled it. In some cases, he was directly involved in creating the music of the soloists, and in others he had about as much to do with the music as Ed Sullivan did with that of the Beatles. Like many of Mr. Glass’s constructions, “Orion” is best appreciated when you don’t think too much about it. Better to park your critical faculties with your car, sink back in your chair, and let the waves of sound crash over you.


On Tuesday evening, a parade of soloists, each from a different country, favored us with performances on their native instruments, backed up by an ensemble that employed Mr. Glass playing the second keyboard. The featured musicians ran the gamut of styles, from traditional to superficial, and the range of talent from master to empty technician. All this was conducted by Michael Reisman, although it was amusing to note that none of the players ever seemed to look at him.


A highlight of the piece was the music of Foday Musa Suso, the world-renowned Mandingo griot singer of West Africa. This is particularly sweet and nostalgic music, bardic poetry accompanied by expert kora (harp-lute) and nyanyar (a small bowed instrument). It was quite a thrill to have the man himself on stage to communicate this ancient music, although his giant stenciling off msuso.com on the side of his kora that faced the audience was perhaps a bit opportunistic.


In relative descending order of musicianship, the other solo instrumentalists were Uakti, a fascinating tubular drum trio from Brazil; Ashley MacIsaac, a left-handed fiddler from Canada who presented Scotch-Irish tunes complete with kilt and step-dancing; Mark Atkins, didgeridoo; and Wu Man, pipa (Chinese lute). Last and certainly least was Kartik Seshadri, who had the misfortune of being assigned a piece written by the deadly popularizing combination of Mr. Glass and Ravi Shankar. No instrument on earth, not even the piano, has a nobler history and repertoire than the sitar. What a shame that here it was relegated to this piece of Asia-trash.


But it was Wu Man who displayed in microcosm what was wrong with “Orion.” A fine practitioner of her traditional art, Ms. Wu has also performed contemporary pieces with the Kronos Quartet and premiered works of Tan Dun. The latter is always aware of paying homage to the ancient literature of Chinese string music, but Mr. Glass’s piece left Ms. Wu to noodle around and expose her naked virtuosity, with little regard for substance, form, or development.


What was perhaps most objectionable about the work as a whole was the attempt to enforce some sort of unity of feel. Rather than celebrating diversity, Mr. Glass seemed to want to squeeze these individual square pegs into one round hole. A rather forced pairing of departing soloist with their following act was usually unsuccessful. Only Mr. Suso and Mr. MacIsaac could relate to one another as fiddlers. For the rest, duos like didgeridoo and pipa or sitar and singer were just grating.


There were two singers on the program, and fittingly, the final number went to Greek mezzo-soprano Eleftheria Arvanitaki. There was also a virtually constant vocalise emanating from the backup band and singer Lisa Bielawa. Unfortunately, the voices were processed through such heavy microphones that no sense of their beauty remained extant. And amplifying the sound of the didgeridoo, one of the most intriguing noises on the planet, was simply inexcusable.


It was difficult to hear just what value Mr. Glass added to the proceedings. His striving for international homogeneity proved only that he can be tedious in any language. Backgrounds were vapid and repetitious. The work as a whole did succeed in shattering the illusion of linear time, coming in at slightly under 90 minutes, but seeming considerably longer.


If nothing else, I heartily recommend “Orion” to those who do not wish to spend much time on contemporary “world” music. You can put the whole genre behind you in just one evening.



Until October 8 at BAM (Lafayette Avenue at Ashland Place, Brooklyn, 718-636-4100).


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