MUSIC
THURSDAY - SATURDAY, MAY 24 - 26
7:30 PM THURSDAY
2:00 PM FRIDAY
8:00 PM SATURDAY

Berio:  Sinfonia
New York Philharmonic
David Geffen Hall
10 Lincoln Center Plaza, Upper West Side, Manhattan

$22-$99
https://nyphil.org/concerts-tickets/1718/bychkov-conducts-alpine-symphony-and-roomful-of-teeth?clicklocation=hp_ue_2

New York seems to be experiencing an unplanned, unofficial Luciano Berio Festival -- all to the good, as Berio is a major late-20th Century composer in danger of fading from view, whose High Modernism yet has much to say to followers of the kind of classical music being composed now.  His most popular work, Sinfonia, is a case in point.  A mash-up mid-20th Century Modernism with Mahler, pop, Martin Luther King, Jr., and every common-practice orchestral cliche you could think of:  it's an intriguing listen that is by no means off-putting or unenjoyable.  What's more, the chamber-choir vocal part -- taken in the original performances by the Swingle Singers (for those who join me in being old enough to remember them) -- will be performed here by none other than Roomful of Teeth.  So this seems like a major event -- something the New York Philharmonic would be proud of, and would recognize as important and appealing to an engaged audience it should want to attract.  So how do they bill this string of concerts on their website?  "Bychkov Conducts Alpine Symphony"!  You wouldn't know, without a lot of clicking, scrolling, and reading fine print, that this major performance ofSinfonia was taking place if you didn't have someone like me to tell you.  And take it from me, the bombastic retrograde An Alpine Symphony isn't even good Strauss, much less good music.  The Philharmonic continues almost to revel in its cultural irrelevance.

MAKE A NIGHT OF IT:  You might consider leaving this concert after the Berio.  Then, the world is your oyster -- and you'll probably want to get the fuck out of the Upper West Side.  If you choose to tough it out through the Strauss (or want to hang in the neighborhood in any event), reward yourself with a visit to Tom Valenti's new American comfort-food spot, Oxbow Tavern.