Parlando opens season with music of the night
The chamber orchestra Parlando, led and fronted by conductor Ian Niederhoffer, who doesn’t just beat time and cue instruments but serves as host and MC, opened their new season Thursday night in Merkin Hall.
Parlando has been around since early 2022, and the ensemble and Niederhoffer have carved out a space with smart thematic programs and Niederhoffer’s enthusiastic, sometimes awkward introductions and explanations. Thursday night’s concert was another inventive program, with the theme of “night music” and pieces to illustrate moods and impressions of the world after sunset. There was the miniature Nocturne from Fauré’s The Shylock Suite, Toru Takemitsu’s Toward the Sea II, the Andantino from Mozart’s Concerto for Flute, Harp, and Orchestra, K .299, and after a brief pause Bartok’s Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta. Along with hearing how they fulfilled the theme, this was also an opportunity to chart the orchestra’s improvement over two seasons.
Parlando dashed off the two-minute, all-strings opening Nocturne with a lovely timbre and fine intonation, and a feeling they cared about the music. Niederhoffer then introduced the following two pieces as expressions of the night-like dark mysteries of the deep ocean and domestic coziness, respectively. Flutist Yoobin Son and harpist Parker Ramsay were the lead players in each.
This was a fine pair of pieces, not just for how they illustrated the evening’s theme but for their inherent quality. Takemitsu was a major composer who, sadly, has a marginal concert presence today. Toward the Sea II encapsulates his combination of Debussy’s organic forms and colors and Morton Feldman’s stillness in time, all through the prism of Takemitsu’s poetic lyricism. Son’s meaty alto flute sound was nicely balanced against Ramsay’s pointillist harp playing, and this was a rich listening experience.
The Andantino was as cozy as can be. Sweet and intimate without being cloying, Son and Parker sounded like they were sitting by the fire, making music together and just for themselves, while also letting the world listen in. The orchestra wasn’t quite as secure in either piece as with the Nocturne, with some shaky intonation in Toward the Sea II and slightly sluggish articulation in the Mozart, but these were occasional and minor.
Bartok’s haunting, visceral masterpiece stretched Parlando to its technical limits. In a concert about atmosphere, the atmosphere came out of the playing from the opening viola lines and remained to surround the ensemble throughout the performance. But at times technical problems turned this murky.
The violas were elegant and precise in the first statement, but both violin sections had some wayward intonation—there was a feeling that not everyone was confident playing this quiet and exposed music. Greater dynamics and faster tempos consistently brought everyone together. The Allegro was spry and exciting until its second half, when it sounded like the orchestra was stumbling down a steep slope. There was great spirit in the playing, though, and that powered through to the end. Call the Bartok an almost near-miss, but Parlando hit the target.
Parlando plays Unsuk Chin, Erwin Schulhoff, and Astor Piazzolla, in Merkin Concert Hall, 3 p.m., December 8 parlandonyc.com
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