8 THENEWYORKER,NOVEMBER18, 2019
ILLUSTRATION BY SERGIY MAIDUKOV
A common question about Requiem Masses concerns who they are
for: are they meant to humble the living, with their evocation of holy
wrath, or to mourn the dead, with harmonies that enshrine departed
souls? Verdi’s Requiem, which the conductor Teodor Currentzis and
the ensemble musicAeterna perform at the Shed (Nov. 19-24), argues
convincingly for the former, with a “Dies Irae” setting that sounds like
the earth opening up to swallow sinners whole. The late filmmaker
Jonas Mekas’s cinematic take on the piece, which accompanies the live
concerts, is a bit more ambiguous. It sets an innocuous tone, with shaky
closeup shots of nature—mostly flowers—and glimpses of human
interventions like sidewalks, fences, and buildings, before rebuking us
with images of war and famine. Toward the end, we’re reminded of our
fragility as a tsunami floods the streets and carries away everything that
came before.—Oussama ZahrINCONCERT
1
CLASSICALMUSIC
“Buried Alive”
Carnegie Hall
The young musicians of the Orchestra Now
can make even Leon Botstein’s most recherché
selections seem essential. In this program, they
play four works from the nineteen-twenties.
Two are nakedly programmatic: “Rugby,” by
Honegger, and Stravinsky’s Grimm-inspired
divertimento, “The Fairy’s Kiss” (his ballet
of the same name was sewn together from
Tchaikovsky offcuts). A concerto grosso by the
influential Greek conductor Dimitri Mitropou-
los embodies its creator’s nervous spirit, but
Othmar Schoeck’s song cycle “Buried Alive”
is the evening’s most intriguing attraction.
Performed here by the baritone Michael Nagy,
the songs depict the subterranean musings
and agitations of a man who, waking in a cof-
fin, finds “eternity in a single breath.”—Fergus
McIntosh (Nov. 14 at 7.)New York Philharmonic
David Geffen Hall
Bryce Dessner came to global fame as a guitar-
ist in the popular indie-rock band the National,
but in recent years he has become an estimable
presence in the concert hall. He’s featured as
both composer and electric guitarist in “Wires,”
a sirocco of colorful fragments and sharp edges,
from 2016, with the young Finnish conductor
Santtu-Matias Rouvali, who also leads works
by Tchaikovsky and Sibelius. On Nov. 16,
after the main event, Dessner is featured in
an intimate “Nightcap” concert at the Kaplan
Penthouse, where he presents his music along-
side works by Luciano Berio, Kaija Saariaho,
and Meredith Monk.—Steve Smith (Nov. 14 at
7:30, Nov. 15 at 8, and Nov. 16 at 8 and 10:30.)Annea Lockwood
Miller Theatre
Annea Lockwood, a New Zealand-born com-
poser who eagerly absorbed lessons from the
American avant-garde of the sixties, remains
best known for burning and drowning pi-
anos and for playing concerts entirely on
glass vessels. Her original and expressive
chamber music has received less attention,
which is why this “Composer Portrait” should
prove invaluable and illuminating. The pro-
gram includes a newly commissioned world
première, performed by the quartet Yarn/
Wire, and the trumpeter Nate Wooley re-
prises “Becoming Air,” a piece he created
with Lockwood for his 2018 For/With Fes-
tival. Also this week, in Brooklyn, Wooley
presides over the third edition of For/With
at Issue Project Room (Nov. 15-16). The
“For” of the title refers to new pieces writ-
ten for Wooley, this time by Sarah Hennies
and Eva-Maria Houben; “With” focusses on
collaborative creation.—S.S. (Nov. 14 at 8.)Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Carnegie Hall
It was a meeting of might when the conduc-
tor Riccardo Muti, known for his exactitudeTaking Back Sunday performs its acclaimed
début album, “Tell All Your Friends,” along
with one other record from its discography,
on both nights of this engagement.—B.Y.
(Nov. 15-16.)
Bicep
Knockdown Center
Andrew Ferguson and Matthew McBriar—
the Belfast-born, London-based duo known
as Bicep—have spent a decade specializing
in house records with a notably broad aural
vista, from simple piano-and-vocal tunes to
string-heavy, echo-laden tracks. Such dramatic
pacing and meaty production also extend to
their selections: their edition of BBC Radio’s
“Essential Mix,” from 2017, utilizes none of
their work as Bicep yet sounds precisely like
them.—M.M. (Nov. 16.)
Magnetic Fields/Robert Forster
Various locations
The recent death of David Berman left a void
within the upper echelons of indie-rock song-
writers; few true masters remain, and two of
them happen to be playing separate New York
shows on the same night. At Symphony Space,
Stephin Merritt inaugurates his far-reaching
autumn residency with his preëminent band,
the Magnetic Fields. (Subsequent dates will
spotlight his other projects.) Meanwhile, the
Bell House hosts the Brisbane, Australia,
native Robert Forster, the surviving half of
the Go-Betweens’ brain trust. Though the
songwriters differ stylistically, they’re united
by their unapologetic bookishness, musical
unpretentiousness, and effortless wit.—J.R.
(Nov. 16.)Matana Roberts
Roulette
The saxophonist, composer, and multidisci-
plinary artist Matana Roberts dips into U.S.
history and autobiography in her ongoing
cycle “Coin Coin,” a growing saga of arrest-
ing power. In “Memphis,” the newly issued
fourth chapter of the series, Roberts stitches
together elements of roots music, free jazz,
and avant-garde assemblage to invoke an
ancestor whose father was murdered by the
Ku Klux Klan. Here, in what’s billed as the
sole local performance of the piece, she leads
a band of similarly protean artists.—Steve
Smith (Nov. 17.)