Guarneri Hall Presents is a series of chamber concerts that began in 2018 and has continued to grow as a destination for classical music aficionados. In October, guest presenter Nova Linea Musica expanded the repertoire with the Dover Quartet at Guarneri Hall. Each event is presented with a talk from a prominent lecturer or musician. This week, a program of Arnold Schoenberg Pierrot Lunaire (Op. 12, 1912) based on Albert Giraud's series of rondel poems about the Pierrot character translated into German by Otto Erich Hartleben in 1893, was presented on two nights.
Poet, actor, and Johns Hopkins professor David Yezzi prefaced the performance. Yezzi gave an interesting talk about Giraud and Hartleben's translation. He regaled the audience with facts about Schoenberg's obsession with numerology and his triskaidekaphobia—fear of the number 13. A virtuosic and engaging performance of Pierrot Lunaire, Schoenberg's groundbreaking work, was performed by soprano Kristina Bachrach, the principal flutist of the CSO Stefán Ragnar Höskuldsson, clarinetist Graeme Steele Johnson, pianist and composer Daniel Pesca, violist/violinist Brian Hong, and cellist Alexander Hersh. The performance also featured actor/dancer Logan Few and was directed by Jim Iorio and co-directed by Lynsy Folckomer.
Pierrot Lunaire uses "Sprechstimme" vocals, which translates to speech and voice. The music is an unusual mix of crossed-out notes, with an adherence to rhythm being the only constant. Bachrach's velvety soprano transforms the hard consonants of German speech. She is an engaging actorr who uses her body movements and facial expressions to highlight Giraud's macabre and dark humor. In the post-performance Q&A, Bachrach commented that some versions are only spoken with no voice modulation, and some are mostly sung.
The poems' titles include Madonna, An Eternal Washerwoman, Gallow's Song, and Beheading. Yezzi told an anecdote about translator Hartleben requesting that his head be removed from his body after he died. He wrote the Vulgarity rondel, which features Pierrot making a pipe from a skull and smoking genuine Turkish tobacco. Bachrach makes a fantastic, wild-eyed, maniacal face as she speaks/sings. The poem has a Silence of the Lambs vibe that I found amusing.
The musicians were fully engaged in playing a score with accidentals (sharp, flat, and natural notations) on every note. Some had played Pierrot Lunaire more than once; for some, it was the first time. The piece is a study of atonality, texture, and musical onomatopoeia. The instruments produce images through sound from the poems and Pierrot's actions. Bachrach mentioned the flute or piccolo filling in for water running. On the second night, a performer was added to the concert as Pierrot. Logan New appeared in the whiteface and flowing clothes, acting out some poems. It was a good idea but did not add much to the performance. The space is too intimate and made for listening more than watching.
This concert fit my milieu perfectly. While I no longer play music or sing, I have an education in music and performance. I also have a fascination with the pre-WWI and WWII in Europe and the rise of fascism. Unfortunately, we are seeing some of that behavior emerging in our country. The ultra-conservative pushback against the arts, LGBTQIA persons, and civil rights is a disturbing matter. There is no homogenous context for national pride, but it can have a dangerous lean into nationalism.
Another contemporary parallel is the obsession with AI and other technology. It is a technical revolution and the arts reflect that. The conservative movement is pushing against it and trying to establish their version of morality. Performance arts underwent a shift in the post-Industrial Revolution years. The use of atonality and chromatics in music caused an uproar among traditionalists. Composers such as Igor Stravinsky, Kurt Weill, and Schoenberg elevated the romanticism of Mahler and the dissonance of Bruckner to a new level, defining modern music in the 20th century. This shift happened in other parts of Europe with poets like Baudelaire, Verlaine, and Giraud in France. In Italy, theater and stage performances entered Modernism. Pirandello influenced a theatrical movement, the Pierrot from commedia dell'arte experienced a renaissance.
Unlike the clown or jester, Pierrot is created as an emotional being who is moonstruck by love and longing. He segues through phases of romanticism, violence, dissolution, and macabre situations. In the early 20th century, fascist movements began an ascent that deemed modern music, poetry, and performing arts to be a symptom of a sick and decaying society. Anti-Semitism and nationalism forced artists to flee Europe and work in America, where they had artistic freedom.
Pierrot Lunaire is a fascinating and unusual composition. Bachrach, Höskuldsson, Johnson, Pesca, and Hong gave an excellent performance. Guarneri Hall Presents is something that discerning music lovers should make an effort to attend. The space is acoustically sublime and feels like a secret club hidden in a modern office building. Several performances are coming in 2025, and I highly recommend making an effort to attend. Guarneri Hall Presents is a curated series of music from performers from around the world. There are new compositions, obscure and rarely performed pieces, and music from composers not given their due, such as George Walker, an African American composer who won a Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1996.
Guarneri Hall is located at 11 E. Adams St., Floor Three, in the Loop. For more information, please visit https://guarnerihall.org. You can also watch performances on their YouTube Channel https://bit.ly/3FuRsLJ
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