From Playbill, published earlier this week:
A Matter of Perspective- Zakir Hussain and Daniel Barenboim
By Anastasia Tsioulcas
06 Apr 2009
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Daniel Barenboim
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| photo by Richard Haughton |
Carnegie Hall’s Perspectives
presents a diversity of music and surprising juxtapositions. This
spring’s residencies will showcase Indian tabla drum virtuoso Zakir
Hussain (April) and renowned conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim
(May).
With his immense and generous collaborative energy, Hussain’s Perspectives
will display several facets of his extraordinary career. “I conceived
of this series as moving from the traditional into the new,” Hussain
observes, “from where I’ve begun to where I’m heading.”
With this in mind, Hussain begins his musical exploration in a
very traditional North Indian classical context, performing with santoor
(hammered dulcimer) master Pandit Shivkumar Sharma. Like his
father—percussionist Ustad Alla Rakha—Hussain has innovated the
traditional role of the tabla as musical accompaniment, turning
performances with other instruments into a dialogue between peers.
Beyond the music of his homeland, however, Hussain has dedicated
himself to forging new artistic paths with musicians rooted in other
musical genres, from his groundbreaking trio Shakti with guitarist John
McLaughlin and violinist L. Shankar, to George Harrison and Pharoah
Sanders.
As his Perspectives residency progresses, Hussain
experiments with Americana alongside banjo legend Béla Fleck and
bassist Edgar Meyer. “Such collaborations are about hearts and minds
meeting and thinking as one, and connecting on more levels than just
musically. This work with Béla and Edgar marks a new crossroad for
me.”
“I grew up with all kinds of music,” says Hussain. “When I was a
kid, my father would bring home cassettes of different styles he’d
heard all over the world on his tours, so I listened to everything from
Duke Ellington to The Doors to Jefferson Starship. Listening to them,
I’d imagine myself making music with all types of artists.
Daniel Barenboim is the first artist to return for a second Perspectives.
With his incredible array of professional interests and activities—as
conductor, soloist, chamber musician, and recitalist, as well as
author, lecturer, and peace activist—he is one of the most
intellectually engaging and imaginative forces in classical music.
Thanks to his curating, Carnegie Hall will be drenched in Mahler with
the complete symphonies performed by the Staatskapelle Berlin May 6–17.
“I have always thought about composers in cycle form,” he points
out, “even when I was as young as 17 and did a complete cycle of the
Beethoven sonatas. I’ve always been curious about the whole breadth of
a composer’s output, not just the most popular two or three pieces.”
The idea for this current Mahler cycle originated with the other
august conductor who will share the podium responsibilities: Pierre
Boulez. “He also thinks very much in cyclical forms,” says Barenboim.
“I said to him, ‘I’d never do a Mahler cycle by myself, but would you
consider sharing one?’”
“Presenting all of these in such a compact period of time is of
course most strenuous on an orchestra,” Barenboim admits, “but it
creates the most amazing journey for all concerned, both the musicians
and the audience.”
In the midst of this Mahlerian sweep, Barenboim interjects an
evening of music by another composer with whom he has an impassioned
connection: Elliott Carter, who celebrated his 100th birthday at
Carnegie Hall this past December in a concert that marked the start of
Barenboim’s residency. On May 11, Barenboim goes not to the podium, but
to the piano, joining members of the Staatskapelle for an all- Carter
evening.
“It wasn’t a programming juxtaposition made to prove a point,” says
Barenboim. “But Elliott Carter is a composer who, especially in the
last 20 years or so, has distilled complexity down to its very essence.
If Mahler had also lived to be 100,” the conductor laughs, “perhaps he
would have had the time to similarly distill his ideas!”
**
Zakir Hussain’s Perspectives is April 19–29, including performances by Shivkumar Sharma, Béla Fleck, and Edgar Meyer; Daniel Barenboim’s Perspectives, including the Mahler symphonies in sequence, continues May 6–17.
For further details, visit Carnegie Hall.
